Dark Elf Shadowknight starting tips
 

Just got into Project1999 recently. Used to play live (stopped at PoP). I was 11/12 years old back then so my understanding of the game was elementary at best.

Anyways, decided I really want my main to be a Dark Elf Shadowknight. Never played an evil character before. Any tips/warnings as far as leveling goes? Places to avoid? It goes without saying I can't twink him out since I just started. Concerned about not knowing where I will be KOS. Especially since the XP penalty as an SK is already enough to send most people running away screaming, I also don't want to be dying unnecessarily otherwise it will really take forever.

Thanks in advanced for any advice.

I find sticking to ec for the first 10 or 11 levels to be pretty good. You will not be kos to the freeport militia but the merchants wont sell to you. Start by selling bone chips for 10pp a stack and hq pelts. Dont beg for hand outs but you will find that people are pretty kind to true fresh starting people. The faction issue really isnt so bad as eventually youll be able to fd bank anywhere. Try going for full banded, 5/55 rings, and maybe a sword of skyfire to start.

Like the poster said above, slaughter every black bear you see. Sell those HQ pelts for 30pp a pop and you will have enough for the basic starter gear in no time. Check the wiki for gear advice

I've personally found leveling in the nektulos/freeport area to be unrewarding and boring, but YMMV. I'd find a friendly druid in EC to port you to SRo, run you to grobb, and bind there. Trolls have the best noobie hunting grounds in the game, imo. Mobs there are rich in the froglok equivalent to cloth armor. Alligator skins are more plentiful than HQ bear skins and should sell for a tidy profit in EC. You can graduate into UGuk groups for fantastic exp and still good loot.

I agree with a few of the posts, kill in Nek forest for bone chips and as you level kill the black bears for HQ pelts. If you can get that going, banded or jump straight to small bronze armor.

And suggestion on starting stats, split them between str and sta. STA is what you will lack the most as a DE SK.

Winga offers some sound advice for leveling. EQ can be pretty terrible for leveling. Grin is much better, but if you don't want to travel that far just get bound in EFP and hunt in NRo, much greater mob availability.

Rogu's suggestion for str/sta split on stats is solid. STa is important end game for raids, str is important for leveling and less important at end game since you will have much from gear/buffs. Str offers a much greater quality of life improvement overall leveling and if you do not see yourself ever raiding end game, I would forego upfront sta investment altogether and go full str to avoid encumberence issues. If yor goal is raiding though and you are certain you will reach 60 then sta is worth much greater consideration. Just expect sand accept a bit more challenging crawl to the top.

Don't worry about the xp penalty. You will miss some group opportunities because of it, but for the most part players who actually understand the penalty prefer knights because they are vastly superior when it comes to aggro management.

roll ogre, its like getting tons of free starter str gear/hp

Playing Orge or Troll is NOT worth it at all.

My Troll Shaman has a bank full of Alligator skins he can not move. They are only used for the Leatherfoot Raider Cap quest and the people who run that (mostly druids) have the ability to acquire them quickly so much that so selling them the quest parts is a chore.

Thanks for the advice guys! Selling bone chips/HQ bear pelts, I got myself some banded armor and I almost have enough for a Sword of Skyfire. Made life a lot easier.

Definitely thinking about moving towards the troll starting area or NRo. Neriak/ECommmons feels a bit lacking now that I've hit lvl 6/7.