Total Beginner’s Guide

This guide is aimed at people who are in their first levels (like level 5 to 50). It assumes that you are out of your “dreamland” region and that you have read the really quite helpful hints the game gives you during the very first quests. Players beyond level 50 won’t gain anything from this guide. In fact they may point out that some issues I raise are not important or more complicated than I present them. That may be even true but I try to keep this guide simple – every beginner will learn his way during the game eventually. This guide only tries to help them with their first steps. Oh, and I nearly forgot: I won’t touch “player versus player” (PVP) content because I am purely a “player versus environment” (PVE) person. And Atlantica allows you to be exactly that – at least nearly so.

Updated 2012-07-21 (deleted references to the pre-Spelltower-patch situation, several tweaks and small changes here and there).

Claudia’s Total Beginner’s Guide (for PVE players)

Where are helpful other resources?

1. If you are interested in numbers and in a list of all quests available, atlantica-db is your website of choice. For a beginner this site is quite confusing but patience will be rewarded – do try to understand how this site works. It is totally worth it.

2. The official forum of Atlantica Online is not very helpful in my opinion. Lots of trolls, threads are prone to derail very soon into flaming, insulting and such – amusing to read sometimes but don’t expect too much help there.

3. A resource often overlooked is the in-game help. You find it at Game Info – Help. It is short, to the point and quite often enough to clear up questions you have. Also very nice is the in-built data base of classes (meaning available main characters and mercenaries), items and monsters.

4. For a beginner’s guide to TBS see here. And here are some tidbits of information which I collected over time.

Which main should I choose?

Okay, you have already chosen a main because if you belong to the target audience you are at least level 5. But may be you reconsider – you haven’t invested much in terms of playing time up to now, have you? I will now present some mains which I deem very good. Other mains are not bad either – if you know what you are doing, don’t hesitate to choose one of them. But you, being a total beginner, should be careful to choose a melee main. Correctly played they can hold their own but the following mains are easier to play:

a) Cannon main: This is currently the best overall main, even in the long run. Not only that you have the satisfying feeling of landing really big balls on your enemy with a nice phump noise but you have a great debuff (Deep Insight) and an even greater debuff later on (Devastation Shell). Cannon main is good in PVE, great in TBS and good in PVP.

b) Staff main. A good main for beginners. The staff main has an awesome skill named “Evanascent Scud”. It totally rocks in the early levels. Max it out as fast as possible. The staff main is ok later on in PVE and TBS, can’t say anything about PVP.

c) Musician main. His bread and butter skill is “Ravaging Melody”. And his normal attack is not bad either. The musician is also easy to play in the first level but can hold his own in later levels, too.

Which mercenaries should I choose?

The first mercenary is a swordsman. You can’t avoid him. But you would if you could. He is the first to go as soon as a good opportunity arises.

Cherish your viking which you will get quite early for free. Freezing Axe is a very good skill, especially in your first levels. He is a bit on the squishy side but he is very useful and that includes the later stages of the game as well (where he transforms into a Northern Viking which is even better). I saw even people with a front row of 3 vikings. That is a bit extreme and not feasible in higher levels but you will wreak havoc in the first few levels with that. Not that I would recommend it, mind you, because you would waste 2 spots in your formation for other mercenaries you want to level.

You need one shaman. You need her even when you are a staff main because your staff main is for killing with Evanascent Scud, not for healing. The two skills your shaman need is Blessing Of Life and Brutal Will. She will be replaced later (about level 76) by an oracle.

If you did not choose cannon main, get an artillery man. You will be glad about his Deep Insight. It does not look like much (very low damage) but the debuff is great.

Gunner – cute and can be quite deadly.

Gunners rule. Now, the first gunner type mercenary does not rule, exactly, but she is not bad either. Later on when you get janissaries, an inventor or even a sheriff it is not the worst of all strategies to have a complete mid row with gun-type mercenaries. Even so you have to cope with the elementary gunner, take one or even two and train them properly. Their skill, Wild Shot, is not worth that much, though – their regular attack is what you will come to cherish.

Spearmen are so-so. You may want one to have a first row with melee-type mercenaries because they (the melee type, not especially the spear man) tank best. But their damage is nothing special.

Monks suck. That is debatable, I know. I have levelled a musician main lately (last month or so) from level 2x to now level 97. I don’t have a monk in the formation and I don’t miss him. He may be useful in PVP but as I have already mentioned – this guide is not for PVP people. In PVE he does not do damage, awakening and holy guard is only useful in boss fights and the passive spells (Protection/Shield Of Protection) are nice but I could totally do without.

Witches are great. As soon as you can get your hands one her, take her and increase her Meteor Strike. In low level TBS missions (at least until level 95) she will rock totally. More on TBS later.

The Beast Trainer is also a good mercenary. Her summon ability is nothing to make a merry dance upon but her regular attack is quite strong and she tanks well.

If you can get your hands on a Tarkan (Attila) mercenary, don’t hesitate. Get her. She is at least as good as a sheriff and that means: she is REALLY good.

Basic formation rules

1. You have access to your formation outside of battle with Alt-F (My Info – Formation).

2. The first row consists of tanks (basically melee type mercenaries – viking, swordsman, spear man, beast trainer).

3. The second row consists of range type mercenaries (gunner, artillery man) and in the centre of it you position your witch if you have one.

4. The back row has the squishy mercenaries, like shaman, monk (if you really must), your staff main.

How should I proceed generally?

1. You do all the main quests the game challenges you with.

2. You do all recruiting quests the game gives you if you want the mercenary you will get at the end.

3. You do sidequests only if they are combine neatly with the main quests. Don’t be afraid to not finish such a quest if it is inconvenient.

4. You don’t have to grind. Ever. Mostly. Only sometimes :) Seriously: Atlantica will give you enough quests to keep you occupied until in the late 80’s (level-wise).

Alternatively you can go the fast road. But I recommend to resist the temptation. You will omit a great part of the game, and some of the landscapes and foes are designed quite nicely. And what is even more important: you don’t learn the game if you go the level-95-in-2-days way.

How do I get from A to B?

Click as indicated to automove

1. Use the auto-move feature. Be aware that you can navigate even while auto-moving, especially if you want to avoid strong monsters that are in your way. Click on both mouse buttons at the same time and maneouvre.

2. Enter all towns you can. You can only teleport to towns (and dungeons) you have entered at least once. If you are very diligent you can even invest some hours to run to every town on the map – use automove. The most important towns (besides the ones near your quest giving NPCs) are Rome and Bucharest. From level 20 on you will have a button on the right side with which you can always teleport to Rome. Bucharest is a town where you have to walk to the first time.

3. Use the travel agency. Every town has one.

4. When you are in a dungeon and at least at level 20: Teleport to Rome, then use the travel agency to teleport to the nearest town where it is convenient to walk to your target location.

Attributes

Don’t make the same mistake I did until I was level 80. There are growth vials in the game and you should use them. You get several for free during your questing. These growth vials increase your attributes and every increase is good.

Skills

1. Focus. Try to determine which skill to develop. Like staff main: Only raise Evanascent Scud first.

2. There are vials of potential in the game. You won’t use them as a beginner because they are too expensive but keep in mind that you will have 30 (or 60 if you use the level 2 edition of these vials) extra skill points later on.

Gear

1. The most important pieces of gear are your weapon and your body armor. The body armor gives the most defense against physical attacks (and these ones are in lower levels the most dangerous attacks – which will change later drastically, by the way). The weapon should be good because dead monsters can’t kill you. There is an exception: Magic users (staff main, monk, shaman) don’t need good weapons that urgently. What they cherish are hats – they give them additional intelligence. There is a reason why witches are always depicted with high, pointy hats.

2. The next important gears are pants and rings. And with rings I mean vitality rings. Don’t wear other rings. You need defense and hit points first. But both (pants and rings) are only good to buy if you have money to spare, weapons and body armor come first.

3. Skip tiers. At first you will get boxes galore. Especially spirit and ocean equipment. Wear what you can use but never buy one of these. My equipment “strategy” was: Systematically target at level 25 equipment, then Gilgamesh equipment (level 60), then level 90 (Dragon) equipment. Other equipment I only bought when it was especially cheap or when I got it during quests. That saves a lot of money. You can make exceptions for weapons and body armor – see above.

4. Don’t enhance gear that you don’t want to lose. Enhancing means: Go to Vulcanus (Rome, Bazaar), invest a piece of gear and an appropriate enhance stone and see how Vulcanus destroys it. Enchanting on the other hand can be worthwile. But don’t buy enchant stones if they are not especially cheap. Enchant stones level 1 ARE especially cheap. That is the reason I wore level 25 equipment for so long: it was cheap to enchant it to unbelievable levels.

Titles

Ever wondered where these nice titles like “Guardian Of Detroit” come from? Don’t wonder anymore. They come from women. Near Athens there are 4 female NPCs (Pandora, Thalia, Kleio and Calliope) who give out title quests. You can have up to four title quests active at the same time, one from each muse. There is a great in-depth-guide at atlantica-db about that. Read it and begin early. Remember only to take title quests which you can do easily in early levels (see the comment of David Byron below).

These titles are not only for show. They grant you buffs for a limited time. For example, the title “Total Newbie” (kill 50 evil sky spirits) gives you a bonus of 5% on physical attack, 5% on physical defense and 5% on experience gained in fights (not for the quest rewards) for 60 minutes. The time starts as soon as you choose the title. It will pause during being offline. The title resets at the general reset time (now 9 am server time), so that you can use it every day. There are titles who are much better, but sadly they come later. If there is an event like the valkyrie event again, look if there is a title to get for the flyers/coupons (whatever). In the valkyrie event you got the Patriot title (+20% attack, +20% defense, 60 minutes) and that was the best item you could get in this event.

Atlas Ore

Never, ever use Atlas Ore. It is not for you. May be if you are level 113 and beyond – but then you would not read this guide, would you?

Item Mall

1. That leads us seamlessly to the item mall. You don’t need it in your first levels. The only convenient item I miss on my alt Fritz (which I play totally without item mall items) is the teleport license. You may buy a warrior pack now and then – but need? No. Especially don’t buy the random boxes. If you want to get a shiny mount (which is unnecessary but of course glorious to ride on) buy 1000 Atlas ore, sell it and buy the mount for it. And while I am on it: Buying 100 Atlas ore for 10.000 Nx (10 US$) and selling them in game for about 1.4 billion gold (current price on Delphi) means that all your gold needs are satisfied for a long time to come.

2. Later on, when you are not part of my target audience anymore (that is, way beyond level 50), you will like to have a blessing license. You can achieve this effect also with blessing potions – which you can get at and after level 85 for free if you do the Momotaro quest over and over again (you can reset this quest with a special kind of license which you can buy on the market or craft yourself – but I won’t explain it in detail because that is way beyond this guide).

Playing With Others

1. Party up as often as possible. Especially in low levels the bonus you get in a party is very nice. You can even party up when you are not playing near to one another (“long distance party”, LDP). Every time a battle is finished by you or your other party members, every party member will get an experience bonus for the lowest ranking mercenary and a small experience book. That adds up, believe me.

2. Try to join a good guild. A good guild is of course consisting of friendly people. It should also have a decent crafter or two and let you get access to guild craft now and then. And it should control a town. But the latter is not mandatory, more important is the overall tone in the guild. Don’t join the first guild which invites you. Look around, speak with party mates.

3. If you are entering a shadow dungeon you get a message on screen that you are just doing so. Now that is not a very valuable piece of information, I know, but my point is: PARTY UP NOW! You don’t want to solo any shadow dungeon on your own. You will have to fight nearly always against 3 groups of monsters (that means: against up to 27 enemies) and if you are new to this game and below level 50 you will get screwed.

4. Choose a good referrer. More about that in my guide to lose all fun and level fast.

TBS

If you have read my blog you know that I totally like the “Tactical Battle System”. I won’t repeat the basics, you can read about it here. I can only recommend to do your missions as soon as possible. And it is possible as soon as you reach level 50. Then you can do “Scouting Party” which you can even solo at this level (I tried it, it really works, see here – this article contains a video link). But of course, partying up is more fun.

TBS gives the most experience and rewards in the game. It should be your first priority if you want to level up fast. That is also true of the TBS skirmish regions, by the way. Do the side quests there which are often very, very profitable, but pure questless grinding shouldn’t be necessary to advance properly in the game.

1: to Rome, 2: friends, guild, nation, 3: Town Menu, 4: notices

Buying or crafting?

1. If you want to craft or not is at least up to level 50 a question of personal taste. For the nicer equipment the workload you produce is too low, meaning: crafting will take forever. If you want to know what you need to craft a certain item (and you haven’t a high enough crafting skill yet), look at Game Info – Items for the item you want to craft. Most often buying is cheaper but not always. Only at very high levels crafting can be profitable (yeah, I know, very simplified – I am aware of the exceptions, but level 5 to 50 guys don’t need to know them…). On the other hand crafting can be quite satisfying.

2. Crafts you want to have later on: License, Crystal, Medicine. But don’t worry about them now. If you are in a guild all these crafts will come to you freely because especially crystals will be guild-crafted like crazy.

3. How to buy on market: Go into a town, access the town menu, choose “Market”, click on “Buy”. Then you can choose the item you want to buy from the drop down list or search for it.

Things I missed early on and you should know

1. If you have difficulties because you don’t see all the enemies: You can adjust the view with the arrow keys. I played until level 95 or so and was quite angry that when 3 groups of monsters joined I could not see the outermost mobs in the groups on the left and right side.

2. When you can autobattle (you will get some free licenses during your questing) you can switch skills of your main and your mercenaries on and off in the skill window (Alt-K, then the “Magic” tab – or “My Info”/”Skills”/”Magic”).

1: (De)activate chats; 2: Your might

3. Angered about the gold sellers spamming your chat window? You can switch off chats, especially the peers chat.

4. A guild with a town it controls gives you a new teleportation target which you can use without a teleportation license. Click on the scroll-like button on the right side of the screen, choose the guild tab and – you will see it right away.

5. During battle you can only use what it is in your quick-slots (that are the slots attached to your character and accessible with F1 to F5 – but the last ones only if you are in a guild with a town controlled).

6. If you are doing a guild quest or a town quest (you will know what that is when the game or your guild leader confronts you with it) make yourself bare naked. The guild quest’s difficulty will be determined according to your might, and your might depends of the level of your characters and the equipment you wear. No equipment worn: the quests you get should be dead easy.

7. Recommended settings:

a) Switch off the in-battle cut scenes (System – Settings – System – Camera Effects). They use up valuable time.

b) Switch off the chat filter (System – Settings – System – Use Chat Filter). The problem with this filter is that it filters too much.

c) When your computer is not that good with graphics, try the following: In System – Settings – Graphics switch off all below “Game Graphic Setting”. Set “Normal Avatars” to “all” but “Battling Avatars” to “Use Simplified Character”. Personally I want to see what is upcoming so I set “View Distance” still to 5.

d) Don’t use a 16:9 graphic resolution. You don’t see more on the right and left. Quite to the contrary: there will be things cut off at the top and at the bottom. 1366 x 768 shows less than 1024 x 768. Oh, and don’t use the full screen mode – it crashes more often than the windowed mode (at least it does on my computers).