-Why the Guide, and why here?
-The guides at major guide sites such as GameFAQs are horrendously outdated and generally more for private servers based on pre-renewal than say, the official server, so I went through some crushingly wrong steps. I want to prevent others from as much pain as possible, because Novice is a long road to take.
As for why writing it here, the very nice Perma Novices of our forefathers have published their guides on the official site and major guide sites, unfortunately and unintentionally causing immoral merchants to overcharge such noted gears. Think about it.. should Smokie Card really be more expensive than a say, Muscipular Card? The Merchants will skew price at any chance. By posting the guide here, I can relay the informations to people who matter--my guildsmen--while hopefully keeping the merchants ignorant of things they can overcharge with. Finally, it also serves myself as a memo of info.
-Why should I care, if I'm not a Novice?
Everyone has to go through a Novice phase at trans; called High Novices. Although they have 25% more HP and SP than a normal Novice, their strategy are the same as normal Novice counter parts. You can save time when you get there, and perhaps you can impress your other trans friends while at it. Also, for those wanting to be a Super Novice, one has to stay as a normal Novice until level 45. Finally, most strategies employed by a Novice that does not involve the Play Dead skill can also be done by someone else of other classes.
-What's good about rolling a Perma Novice, anyway?
Novices have no exp death penalties, and respawn at 1/2 max health. This means, for those novices and super novices who are not planning to get the death-free buff of +10:
free travel back to last save point; and spawnpoint-exploit grind at Beacon Island, and other world towns; and relatively stress-free playstyle wherein it's completely ok to fuck around.
Another thing about Novices is that, since there hasn't been any class changes yet, it's possible to exploit the class change quests to move around for free. Notably, free travel to Einbroch and Amatsu. Novices are allowed to carry weight-free equipments. For High Novices, this means neat things like the ability to park 3 Fabre cards in his/her Novice Cutters for 300 extra HP. With Adventurer's Suit(+700), that number becomes +1000 extra HP and those cards are inexpensive.
Finally, while doing a story based quests and talking to NPCs in general, Novices are treated differently than another class character would be.
-Strategy
-Novice-only skills
Play Dead! Play Dead, to my knowledge, will bypass every PvE attacks, to include MVP skills. To use it offensively, the Novice should cancel hit animation of self during attacks with a Play Dead. If timed correctly, the mob will carry on as if it never noticed it was hit. As long as the Novice has enough SP, s/he can hunt every creature that is not aggressive. Lag is a factor on this strategy, as is base AGI.
On PvP, a Novice can use PD to trigger a Hunter's trap, and take no damage from it. However, most people at this point, are aware of the direct counter skills to Play Dead: Provoke; and Dispell, so it is unwise to Play Dead in WoE settings.
-Skills in General
Novices too can use normal skills. There are three kinds of skills:
(1)skills that activate while you attack something;
(2)skills that activate while you get hit; and
(3)skills that have to be manually cast.
The (1) and (2) skills have to make contact to activate, meaning "miss" does not trigger the skill.
Generally, the first two kinds of skills are free of SP for the Novice, thus, are much more practical on the Novice than the last one. SP doesn't come easy, and not only that, they tend to be more well-known so are more expensive on the market.
-List of notable Skill-granting gears that Novices can wear:
Banana Hat(Provoke)(1) 50kz - 200kz
Fish Head Hat(Endow Tsunami: Water Enchant)(1) 5mz-10mz
Kettle Hat(Deluge or Water Ball)(1) 1mz-5mz
Lesser Elemental Ring(sense, find stone, item appraisal or greed)(1) +
(1st Aid, back slide, leap, sprint)(2) 5mz-10mz
Carmen Miranda's Hat(Charming Wink)(2)
Asprika(teleport)(3)
(Adjective) Wig series(hiding)(3) cash item
Bell Ribbon(Angelus)(3) cash item
Ice Cream Hat(Frost Diver)(3) cash item
Observer(sense)(3) cash item
All in One Ring(teleport and Heal)(3) cash item
-Set combos that grant skills:
Angel set(Assumptio)(2) 800kz-2mz for the set
Lude and Quve card set(Endure or Increase Agility)(2) 3mz-5mz for the set
Owl Duke and Owl Baron card set(Lightning Bolt)(1) 15mz+ for the set
Monk card set(Rideword, Cookie, Fur Seal, Wast Stove Cards)(Signum Crusis)(1)
Merchant set(weapon perfection)-insignificant rate and duration, not worth it
-List of notable skill-granting cards:
Bloody Knight Card on Weapon(Meteor Storm)(1) 30mz-40mz
Bongun Card on Accessory(Bash + knockback)(1) 50kz - 500kz
Chepet Card on Weapon(Heal not on self)(1) 5mz-10mz
Gazeti Card on Accessory(Cold Bolt)(1) 3mz-5mz
Hatii Bebe Card on Weapon(Frost Diver)(1) 60mz-70mz
Greatest General Card on Accessory(Summon Spirit Spere[atk+3])(1) 300kz - 1mz
Hydrolancer Card on Accessory(Spell Breaker)(1) 50mz-70mz
Kasa Card on Garment(Fireball or Fire Bolt)(1) 40mz-60mz
Maero of Thanatos Card on Weapon(Decrease Agility)(1) 3mz-8mz
Metaling Card on Weapon(Divest Weapon)(1)100kz-500kz
Mutant Dragonoid Card on Weapon(Fire Ball)(1)15mz-25mz
Owl Baron Card on Accessory(Lex Aeterna)(1)10mz-15mz
Owl Dude Card on Accessory(Impositio Manus)(1)1.5mz-4mz
Poison Toad Card on Accessory(Envenom)(1) under 50kz
Stormy Knight Card on Weapon(Storm Gust)(1)
Turtle General Card on Weapon(Magnum Break)(1)
Wander Card on Garment(Snatch)(1)4mz-5mz
Wickebine Tres Card on Accessory(Divest Armor)(1)3mz-7mz
Wind Ghost Card on Accessory(Jupitel Thunder)(1)3mz
Alarm Card on Footgear(sight)(2) 500kz-1mz
Aliza Card on Armor(charming wink)(2) 1mz-4mz
Amon Ra Card on Footgear(Kyrie Eleison/guard)(2)
Anolian Card on Armor(Improve Concentration)(2) 1mz-2mz
Antonio Card on Armor(Teleport)(2) 20mz-40mz
Clock Card on Armor(Guard)(2) 100kz-500kz
Dark Lord Card on Footgear(Meteor Storm)(2)
Detadeurus Card on Armor(Magnetic Earth)(2)
Errende Ebecee Card on Accessory(Pneuma)(2) 7mz-10mz
Geographer Card on Armor(Blessing)(2) 500kz - 1mz
Grand Peco Card on Headgear(Gloria)(2) 50kz - 300kz
High Priestess Card on Armor(Assumptio)(2)
Ifrit Card on Accessory(Earthquake)(2)
Ktullanux Card on Armor(Frost Nova)(2)
Loli Ruri Card on Armor(Heal on self)(2) 10mz-12mz
Margaretha Sorin Card on Headgear(Lex Divina)(2) 5mz
Muscipular Card on Shield(Heal or Increase Agi on self)(2)
Shinobi Card on Accessory(Cloaking)(2) 5mz-10mz
Poison Spore Card on Accessory(Envenom)(3) 20kz - 100kz
Obeaune Card on Accessory(Cure)(3) 100kz-300kz
Horong Card on Accessory(Sight)(3)
Joker Card on Accessory(Steal)(3) 1mz-2mz
Smokie Card on Accessory(hiding)(3) 1mz - 2mz
Marine Sphere Card on Accessory(magnum break)(3) 1mz-3mz
Pirate Skeleton Card on Accessory(discount) 5mz - 10mz
Stapo Card on Accessory(stone fling)(3) 20kz - 500kz
Vitata Card on Accessory(heal)(3) 5mz-10mz
Creamy Card on Accessory(teleport)(3) 1mz-5mz
Seeker Card on Shield(stone curse)(3) 1mz - 2mz
Sidewinder Card on weapon(double attack)(3) 5mz-10mz
Assassin Cross Card on Garment(Cloaking)(3)
Frilldora Card on Garment(Cloaking)(3) 5mz-10mz
Lord Knight Card on Headgear(Frenzy)(3) impossible for use until 200 SP is available.
As you can see, price does not reflect practicalities.
-PVE survival
Most mobs are aggressive. However, there will be many mobs that will change its mood from aggressive to passive, after chasing a Novice for a long distance. Most of the time, this can be seen after the monster displays /swt emote. For that very short moment, a Novice can use PD exploit or a long range skill to damage the monster, and go back to running away until it is "tired" again. The moment you see a "target ring" cast on your toon, Play Dead. You will be able to avoid most every PvE attacks. Use Play Dead to get back up from laying, and an aggressive monster will move towards you. This is useful in a party when you need to pull a mob away from your friends,
and when luring a mob into natural corners of a map you're on.
Build Strategy
-Dodge Novice
focus on agi and luk. This build type has the best survivability. Pet: Lunatic or Poring
-Critical Novice
focus on str, dex, and luk. The most well rounded buid. Pet: Chonchon Set: Grand Peco + Peco Peco Combo
-Wanna be Super Novice
focus on int and dex. Heavily relies on defensive skills. Slowest to level, most rewarding. Pet: Drops, Munak or Baby Desert Wolf
-Looter and High Novice build
focus on Agi and Str, use HP adding equips and cards. Fastest to level. Pet: Peco Peco
-PVP
Novice will not beat anyone on 2nd Job and above. That is just the way it is.
A Novice generally has easier time on Mages and harder time on Acolyte and Swordman.
Current iRO support all item use to include fly wing, if a Novice is on a match with melee type, the Novice should expoit this, and use magic scrolls.
-Novice, or Super Novice?
As you can see above, in theory, most skills that Super Novices naturally have can also be done by a Novice, although it takes an insufferable amount of play time to reach such feat. Also, the way a Novice casts a skill tend to be unreliable. A Novice has Play Dead, and Super Novice does not. If all else fails, and someone gets sick of playing a Novice, he can change class to another class that most complements his build. Super Novices cannot, however, they do get to use more skills at once, which is their strength. A Super Novice generally will beat a normal Novice on PvP. Generally speaking, Super Novices are regarded as the worst of the final classes, one only recommended for those who like Novices. However, it begs the question, if someone likes Novices, why would he stop playing as one?
Please comment on the guide and let any mistakes known.
