New player, when do I stop missing?

[ld420]

I have been dying a LOT because I cant hit anything. Im trying to kill stuff 2-3 levels below me, and I get strings of 8-10 misses. Max skill, fast weapon, but still, miss, miss, miss, miss. I am level 13 now, and when I think of how much XP I have lost it makes me nauseous. I am a new player, Shaman, I have really awful gear, how do you get anywhere on this server if you cant kill stuff? Mobs have 0 problem hitting me, why can't I hit them back? There are times where I chase a mob to the point of it gaining enough health back to re aggro me, so I cant kill it, and it ends up killing me. My main question is, when do we reach the point where you stop missing so much? :(

[gildor]

on a shaman? never..you are always going to miss

use that mana! dont use the latest and greatest nuke until a few levels into the spell cycle or it will just melt your mana away..

use your slow! at lvl 13 use your lvl 5 slow liberally..should save you :)

[RDawg816]

Yeah. Slow and dot it, or root and dot it. Also, a lot of your dots stack.

[RDawg816]

http://wiki.project1999.com/Greyweasel's_Shaman_Guide

This is a pretty handy guide for a new player. It gives you a better understanding of your options as a shaman.

[Trungep99]

you also may want to look for groups until your armor is better if it is really weak.

[DMN]

Pull with your best DoT spell, then try to learn how to best time your nukes between weapon swing. The weapon delay is ticking down when casting, so if you can synch up your nuking and melee you will be functionally doing both at the same time.

shaman is really terrible untwinked early on though, before meditate at least.

[Trungep99]

i am also uncertain if you have been healing between weapon swings. i have a 10 sham and i make sure to put a few heals in the mix with a harder foe. i usually open with tainted breath then sicken. then i slow the mob. swing a bunch, heal some. if it is too hard to run before i get too low. SoW is always on me so i wont be at risk for dying.

[Baler]

Shaman is a Priest class not a Melee or Tank. Keep that in mind.

[Josa]

Good advice so far, but I would add

1. Group! Until you get root, soloing is terrible. Lvl 13 is especially bad, since your spells are nearly obsolete.

2. If you have to solo, try this. 1st, pull with poison dot, then slow, melee, target self use short duration strength buff, target enemy, melee. If you get below 50%, start twisting in healing by targeting self and then heal, target mob. I use E to toggle between myself and the mob.

3. Use inner fire to heal out of combat. If you can time it right, it's nearly free.

4. Try a 2 hander. Easier to twist spells in between swings. Once you get root, you can also joust the mob if your timing is good enough.

Just some ideas to get you started. The biggest one is to group. Everyone loves having a shaman around, and there's no reason to go it alone before you have the tools to make it easier.

[Spyder73]

making a tank friend is honestly your best option =\

[Pope Hat]

Grouping really is your best option.
But if you want to solo remember to always have sow on and if the fight is too hard just run. You have to run before you get too low health though or else you will be slower and the mob will catch you.
Also you have a ton of buffs. Make sure you are buffing yourself.

[Jimjam]

Something to consider is to upgrade your weapon so you can attempt more swings, or make it so that the swings which do hit do more damage.

Player bought upgrades are relatively cheap.

[RDawg816]

Something to consider is to upgrade your weapon so you can attempt more swings, or make it so that the swings which do hit do more damage.

Player bought upgrades are relatively cheap.
Generally speaking, faster weapons are better for this. Slow weapons make you cry when they miss. Landing a hit 30% of the time, you'd almost always be better off with a 6/17 over a 12/34...as an example.

[Gumbo]

What weapons are you using?

[Jimjam]

Generally speaking, faster weapons are better for this. Slow weapons make you cry when they miss. Landing a hit 30% of the time, you'd almost always be better off with a 6/17 over a 12/34...as an example.

On the flip side, slow weapons mean less damageshield/riposte damage and easier to cast spells between swings without sacrificing melee dps.

[Subidoo]

On the flip side, slow weapons mean less damageshield/riposte damage and easier to cast spells between swings without sacrificing melee dps.

For a shaman, this is truth.

[RDawg816]

On the flip side, slow weapons mean less damageshield/riposte damage and easier to cast spells between swings without sacrificing melee dps.
Yeah, but at lower levels ds and riposte aren't much. If the mob is fleeing and he misses enough for it to regen, I think the faster weapon would be better for now.

He should be casting more though, so technically this is irrelevant mostly. I'm mainly talking about lower level characters where you miss a lot more and it really hurts when you have a slow weapon (assuming non-twinks).

[ld420]

Question answered. Guess ill just have to keep toughing it out til I can afford less crappy gear. Forgot how expensive spells are, even just buying the ones you NEED. Thanks for the responses.

[Brontus]

Priest classes are inherently horrible at melee. It seems by design. For example, I routinely miss when trying to kill the level 1 orc pawns that walk directly over where I sit at the WC druid rings. I kid you not, even a level 40+ druid often misses when trying to kill a level one mob.

[Josa]

Did you hit 14 yet? If you are troll/ogre, you can do the orc camps in the forest part of South ro. You'll end up with a full set of rawhide armor, and you can sell the rest. Also, these camps drop deathfist belts, which you can sell to players for 3pp ea. If you are barbarian, you can do the karana bandits in the farm house, and grab every rabid Wolf/ bear pelt to turn in for serious plat. That combined with the sashes and regular bronze drops from the bandits will get you 100pp an hour, if not more. You really just have to pace yourself with a shaman.

[Josa]

If, on the other hand you just went to the "best" places to level, you probably will be competing for money camps. Karana bandits are better XP and money than the sisters in lesser Faydark, and almost never camped.

[Calthaer]

Those rabid wolf and bear pelts are serious plat. Wolf = 2pp; Bear = 3pp when you factor in selling the spell they give you. Then the bandit sashes quest often rewards you with a bronze weapon that goes for 1-4pp. Rake in the money; rake in the XP. It's really only good for classes with a speed boost; the Karanas are a huge place and wandering around looking for these things can be time-consuming for most. Bards, rangers, and shamans are probably best for it, I'd guess.

[ld420]

I went Troll, for the regen. Bandit sashes and rabid pelts are no go for me =P Im starting to find the XP penalty and being evil, are kinda hard. However, I figure if I tough it out to 60 it will be rewarding in the long run.

[Josa]

It's really not bad if you strafe run everywhere. Especially if you can bind. Just bind yourself in front of the paladin turn in, bank on the way out, then do cleric turn in. Sell and out. around a 10 minute run every hour or 2 without SoW. I honestly could have gotten to 18 or 19 there, just got too easy and I went out looking for greater challenges.

[kevjax]

I did rabid pelts was awesome exp/cash and a good semi afk camp if you just do the bear...can also farm the gnolls at entrance for fangs for even more exp...if your evil do kurns...i got to 24 in the basement killing the lesser charbones / icebones only...made like 500pp from bonechips from 15-24. If your patient and find an iskar that will sell for you for a cut you can make even more looting words / rhino armor, the armor sells for 1-3pp per piece and you can get buranyi armor to wear / sell for 5-20pp each in EC

[Josa]

I went Troll, for the regen. Bandit sashes and rabid pelts are no go for me =P Im starting to find the XP penalty and being evil, are kinda hard. However, I figure if I tough it out to 60 it will be rewarding in the long run.

Yeah, I tried troll, I think the regeneration will be worth the effort once you get cannibalize. Though, I prefer barbarian to troll for xp, zones, and higher starting stats where it matters. Also, kilts. Troll is more fun for role-playing, and guk isn't blackburrow, but it's still a good dungeon.

[Trungep99]

Yeah, I tried troll, I think the regeneration will be worth the effort once you get cannibalize. Though, I prefer barbarian to troll for xp, zones, and higher starting stats where it matters. Also, kilts. Troll is more fun for role-playing, and guk isn't blackburrow, but it's still a good dungeon.

guk is better than BB. Guk can accomidate many more levels