Server geography, and starting out.

[coredump]

First I want to be sure I understand how the world is set up.

As I understand it, there are multiple Avlis servers. Each server contains a certain amount of land, from just a single city, a single country, or multiple countries.
You can go from server to server
*In game using the boats, which will put you on a different server.
*In game using a portal, which bounces you out of game, and you *must* select the server that you are portalling to. (Or you get dominated and booted)
*Out of game, by logging off for an hour, and picking a new server when you start.
So far so good?

As I understand it, there is only one occurence of any piece of geography. In other words, there is *NO* duplication of locations between the servers. There is only one way to be in Port Eridanus, and that is to be on the Ferrell Server.
Correct?

Second, I want to find out what I am doing wrong... or rather what I should to to make things right...
I was starting with a halfling, so it seemed to make sense to start in Ferrel (I wasnt' even sure if I could start anywhere else... but picking ferrell made more sense character-wise anyway)
There is nothing to do in Ferrel. I found one dungeon, and even rats are too tough for me. I have found a handful of Fed Ex quests, but even those are hard to come by, and give pretty low XP.
I have since hopped on a boat headed to Mikona. I have found a bunch of money, but no quests, one dungeoun, but way too dangerous. (I have not been in Mikona long, and only in 3 areas so far.)

Where would a halfling go to try an find some interesting work? Or even boring work?

Thanks

[Darkfire]

Sounds good, except for part of it.

For your 1st question...

*In game using a portal, which bounces you out of game, and you *must* select the server that you are portalling to.

Slightly incorrect. the IG portals are all automatic, it's pretty much like transitioning between areas in a server, with a slightly longer delay. It's relatively seemless. The only difference between portalling (server to server) and transitioning (area to area, same server), is the slight time increase and your character loses any buffs they had.

I'm in the middle of a few other things, so your second question would take a bit more time to dedicate to. I'm sure someone else will help with that one soon enough.

Hope that helps!

-Darkfire
Veteran DM, Avlis Team


edit:

http://wiki.avlis.org/Atlas_of_Avlis

Servers:
Mikona
M'Chek
Elysia
Le'Or T'Nanshi
T'Nanshi
Deglos
Ferrell
Visimontium
The Underdark

Each server has a few different ways to connect to it, but generally, for example, if you travel North while in the T'Nanshi server, you'll eventually get to the server portal that will take you to Deglos.

[maxinion]

I'll attempt a general answer to the second question...

Mikona is a slightly difficult server to start out on. If you do want to work around there, talk to the named NPC's in the city, who will set you up with fetching quests at least. If you haven't run into other pc's yet, a good place to do so is either the Market or the "Rock," an area just north of the City Gate district. There's a good chance you can convince some people that you run into there to show you around, help you with quests, and give you a better introduction to the city in game. There are a number of "lowbie" dungeons on Mikona, but your solo'ing options at low level are really minimal, so find people, really.

If you decide Mikona isn't to your liking, I would suggest trying Elysia-- since you said you already found some money, you should be able to afford a boat ride or a portal to that city. There are quite a few lowbie quests around here (again, talk to named NPC's). The local pc population is probably a bit "nicer" IC (as they tend to lean toward Good, and Mikona is more Neutrals and Evils), so you can expect to be shown around and so on there as well. The main meeting point is the Elf Gate entrance to the city, which I"m sure you'll find in your explorations.

I hope this helps, and I look forward to meeting you in game!

[spool32]

First I want to be sure I understand how the world is set up.

As I understand it, there are multiple Avlis servers. Each server contains a certain amount of land, from just a single city, a single country, or multiple countries.
You can go from server to server
*In game using the boats, which will put you on a different server.

All correct, though even the single city servers (Mikona, Elysia, Visimontium) have somewhere between a little and a lot of outlying areas around them to explore.

*In game using a portal, which bounces you out of game, and you *must* select the server that you are portalling to. (Or you get dominated and booted)

Incorrect, as Darkfire said. The ingame server transitions are seamless, just like an area trans, except they take a little longer, and you arrive with NO spells cast on you. If for some reason you crash while transitioning servers, simply rejoin on your DESTINATION server.

*Out of game, by logging off for an hour, and picking a new server when you start.

Correct.

As I understand it, there is only one occurence of any piece of geography. In other words, there is *NO* duplication of locations between the servers. There is only one way to be in Port Eridanus, and that is to be on the Ferrell Server.
Correct?

Dead right.

Second, I want to find out what I am doing wrong... or rather what I should to to make things right...
I was starting with a halfling, so it seemed to make sense to start in Ferrel (I wasnt' even sure if I could start anywhere else... but picking ferrell made more sense character-wise anyway)
There is nothing to do in Ferrel. I found one dungeon, and even rats are too tough for me. I have found a handful of Fed Ex quests, but even those are hard to come by, and give pretty low XP.
I have since hopped on a boat headed to Mikona. I have found a bunch of money, but no quests, one dungeoun, but way too dangerous. (I have not been in Mikona long, and only in 3 areas so far.)

Where would a halfling go to try an find some interesting work? Or even boring work?

Thanks

This weekend, nearly everyone is in the Coventry Fair area up the hill behind the Port Hole in Ferrell, inside the auction building at the Fabulous Ferrell Trade Fair. Tomorrow (Sunday) especially, there will be constant RP from dozens of people all day long as the auctions go on downstairs. After Sunday, your best bet for easy quests is at and around Elf Gate, on the Elysia server, followed closely by partying up with people at the Rock, north of the City Gate and Garrison area on the Mikona Server.

-spool32

[K'Tomma]

What time is your normal gaming time?

My character does spend a lot of time sitting on the rock outside Mikona ... but my normal game time starts about 1300 GMT. I've seen a few new characters run by ... but not many seem willing to stop and talk; even when hailed. I'll be busy with RL today; other wise I'd try to keep an eye out.

[GunnJ]

The unfortunate thing is that you started playing on the weekend of the Trade Fair! The rest of the servers were pretty deserted while everyone is packed into that building.

That was me last night who sent you a couple tells, asking if you wanted to find your way to the Trade Fair Hall. (I noticed your login name was similar to your board name.)

We allow a bit of what we call good metagaming, where we send tells to people to let them know where everyone is.

If you're not logged in now, log directly back to Ferrell, then send a tell to someone asking how to find the Trade Fair, you will meet a lot of characters that way!

[Nighthawk4]

Welcome to Avlis.

The one thing I would add to the information already given is the IC explanation for the 'waiting an hour and then logging in to a different server' part. In theory, your character has traveled by land or sea from the server you were on last to the server you choose next. This takes some time in game, which explains the one hour delay. You just weren't there at this time.

OOC, the reason the time delay was added was to prevent people from jumping from one server to another more quickly than could be explained away by this means.

Therefore, it is OK for you to login on a different server each day if you wish.

Hope that helps. Try to login to Ferrell and enjoy the Trade Fair, even if you can't afford the auction. There will be lots of people and therefore lots of RP.

[ScottG]

I recommend Elysia to start and there should be a few options for your character and usually more people around.

[spool32]

First few levels are rough and with the new experience for not logging in, it might be easier to just wait until your character has leveled but there are various quests.

I only recommend doing this if you don't actually plan to log in more than once or twice a week... and don't really care about the RP opportunities in the game. Levels aren't everything.

[Stravento]

I recommend three strategies depending how many people are around:

NOBODY
a) Solo strategy: Elysia. There is a long multiple stage fedex quest and the possibility to work with farmers. As soon as you make enough money go to Ferrell and Mikona where you can fish, fishing helps a lot when there is nobody around, it's a daily stream of coins and xp. With the new xp code this strategy is painful, masturbatory and lonely, but still viable.

TWO THREE PEOPLE
b) many times I log at unusual times and I can't find anybody, but there are two three four people on the server. In such situation I send OOC polite tell asking people if they want to join me to do something. 90% of the time there is somebody willing to meet, maybe just to chat, help, most of the time you find somebody willing to join you in some quick adventuring that is nearby. Through this method I have met a lot of unusual people that I would never meet through my usual rp. With the new xp system you will make ton of xp in the first 6 levels. A run in any low level dungeon gives your weekly cap and let you rp the rest of the time.

TONS OF PEOPLE
b) find where the crowd is (elf Gate in Elysia and the rock in Mikona are the two "usual places", but the underdark has an ongoing dmed event once a week that is open, and FEAT has open events in ferrell, and the sentinels have open events in visimontium) and start rping with them,tell them your story and you soon will be entangled with guilds, plots, you will become soon a bodygard (read meatshield), a slave, an apprentice, an herb collector, a fellow schemer. At times you'll see a bunch of people on the server, but nobody at the usual gathering points, that means that there is a major DM event going on. I used to leave the server in such situation to reduce lag, but now with the BEAST (i.e. the new server) you don't have to, lag is dead. If you are bold you can send polite tell around to see if there is a way to join, but I have never done it cause I am too shy. But we are a mature community of players so a polite tell to a player or a dm is always answered politely, so do not fear to ask, maybe you'll make the cameo appearance in the main event of avlis year...

But the most fun thing to do is to join guilds (as many as your main can IC do) and roll one or few alters that are very different from your main and have them join different guilds. This way you get a good panoramic of Avlis activity, you meet very fast many people, and you always know where the hot action is and you have an alter ready to join. It took me a bit to learn "the diversifying alters strategy", also in the beginning I thought I had to level my characters before joining any guild. Don't make such mistake and join guilds from the start. If your character is one of those loners and it's not IC for him/her to join anything, I would recommend that you roll an alter to enjoy the social part of Avlis. You should still develop your main, and maybe you should try to build a group of fellow antisocial for him (challenging but highly rewarding rp can be found in guildmaking), but at the same time you enjoy Avlis the easy route.

ahh and a super welcome in the community!

[tid242]

With the new xp code this strategy is painful, masturbatory and lonely, but still viable.

mmmm... plz uplod pik here plz.!1!!1

[Cromagnon]

TWO THREE PEOPLE
b) many times I log at unusual times and I can't find anybody, but there are two three four people on the server. In such situation I send OOC polite tell asking people if they want to join me to do something. 90% of the time there is somebody willing to meet, maybe just to chat, help, most of the time you find somebody willing to join you in some quick adventuring that is nearby. Through this method I have met a lot of unusual people that I would never meet through my usual rp. With the new xp system you will make ton of xp in the first 6 levels. A run in any low level dungeon gives your weekly cap and let you rp the rest of the time.

This works more often than I expect it to. Usually those two or three other people are wishing for some interaction as well. Sometimes you meet up, and your goals/alignments/attitudes click perfectly. Other times they don't. Either way, it's a good RP experience.

[tindertwiggy]

There is always the SAMMUH! option. If you see the PC Sammuel Valorian the server with you shoot him (me) a tell and you'll be well taken care of

[DanishPastry]

Having seen you online my advice to you is...

Talk to people!

Whether they be PCs or DM controlled NPCs. Ask them stuff your character wants to know (i.e. where to earn some gold, see some knife in back action, etc.).

Game on!

DanishPastry
aka. Valok

[K'Tomma]

There is always the SAMMUH! option. If you see the PC Sammuel Valorian the server with you shoot him (me) a tell and you'll be well taken care of

Ummm .... thinking of greeting a new player with a Boom? I still remember my first one ...

And yeah ... as I kinda touched on and Danish clearly stated ... talking helps.

(Not much my character can do to help a naked and badly wounded person running out the gate and east from the rock if they don't pause to answer a simple question of wether aid is wanted or not.)

[Moonyju]

Yep yep yep.. talk to people is your key. Elysia is easier to start with, especially solo.

I usually play on Ferrell if you wanna learn a bit more about that server. What's your usual game time? I normally have a little time in my morning (EST so late afternoon/early evening GMT) and when I get back from work, around 0500 GMT. If you see Jalya (me) on, feel free to shoot me a Tell and ask questions! I'll be happy to help in whatever way I can!

Cheers and welcome to Avlis!

[Pip Garthyk]

Another option on the Elysia server is the series of "fetch me this thing" for getting into the Keep. You basically have to get a series of writs to gain access to the keep, and in order to get those, you have to do some quests for various people. Some get you XP, some get you Gold, some get you both. But, once you have all the signatures you need, you can get into the Keep. There are people in the Keep that will give you quests and offer to buy things that you find.

Keep in mind, though, that not all of the writ stuff is easy.

[coredump]

First, thanks to everyone here for so much helpful advice.

Second, my apologies to those in game that I have not responded to. It was for a variety of reasons, and none because I intended on ignoring anyone. Mostly it was not noticing the tells, not being familiar with commands, and similar. (And one person that kept trying to be nice, but I was afk....)

I have caught on (somewhat) and had some fun RP with a couple of people, and have had lots of people offer assistance in game. I restarted my character. I started in Ferrel again, but now that I know it is not the busiest place, I will work my way to Elysia. (And yes, I did find the portal, just haven't used it yet.)

I am currently beating up some rats under the Temple in Kitanya. And learning that a phase spider is *much* too tough for a single 1lvl character. OTOH, I am almost second level, and will feel much better once I make it there. I will probably clear out as many rats as I can, then head to Elysia. (Spent some time in Mikona, kind of like the town... will have to go back sometime.)

It is also amazing how many people know I am new, just because they don't recognize the character, or because they do recognize my player/forum names.

See you in game...
Coredump/Beloroc

[itsabughunt]

I suggest that you go check out Le'Or'T'Nanshi, preferably with guide(s). Its not too far from Elysia Elf Gate and I bet you could arrange a for someone to show you a safe way to get there. Le'Or has excellent scenery, the best FedEx quests and several places that a low-level character can reasonably fight creatures at. Everyone always talks about how great Elysia is for starting out but IMO the only thing it really beats Le'Or at is having a consistent population of fellow PCs.

But do heed the warnings about abandoned platforms...they are not joking. However, I can think of one that you should visit with a little help before you get too high level.

[nwmblondy]

I doubt I can add much to all that text,so, welcome to Avlis

[Cromagnon]

I restarted my character. I started in Ferrel again, but now that I know it is not the busiest place, I will work my way to Elysia. (And yes, I did find the portal, just haven't used it yet.)

You might want to ask around from other characters in-game a bit for alternative methods of getting from Ferrell to Elysia that will cost you a lot less.

Like feet.

[Gorgon]

Like feet.

*is real lazy, and likes the sound of gold falling out of the holes in his purse*
Don't ask Smeec

It may be less of a walk than using the portal even... too lazy to check *gets distracted again by more coins hitting the ground* Yay!