Thread:Deathstalker666/@comment-1496755-20160820115218

Time for my special report about my own blundering, misadventures and glorious messes in the world of... ARENA!

Yeah, I have started a more serious character with the CD version of the game (1.07), to make sure we played exactly the same thing. And here goes:

Race: Dark Elf. I like these guys. Plus, I think a dark creature with red eyes hailing from a harsh volcanic land is an excellent in-game representation of my real life self (I want to immerse myself into this wondrous random-generated world as fully as possible). The volcanic wasteland can be a nice metaphor for Bulgaria, actually :P

Class: After much deliberation, I finally decided that I want my first serious playthrough to be with one of the three main classes (Thief, Warrior, Mage). And I obviously chose the Thief - Warrior is way too simple (whack-whack, slash-slash) and Mage sounds like a hassle, at least for now (plus, spellcasters are usually more suitable for more experienced players).

I am happy with my choice - it is very fun to engage in "thieving" activities. At first I only pickpocketed random citizens, but then I learned to break into people's homes at night. And last night I realized I could break into equipment stores, temples and even the Mages Guild and loot whatever I find inside (plus kill a few random-spawned monsters - apparently, religious orders prefer to hire Minotaurs as night guards).

Now that's some pretty good roleplaying - very simple and limited, indeed, but still better than WoW where you can hardly act "in character". A WoW Rogue can only pickpocket some enemies and that's pretty much all the thieving you can do.

Current level: 20 (updated October 01)

Questing: Being a "serious" character, I adopted a more serious approach as well. With a test character I'd usually rush straight to Rihad and then to Stonekeep. But not anymore - this time I am taking it slow and I'm being more systematic. I do a lot of side-questing, including an Artifact Quest, which got me a very nice Ring of Phynaster :)

Side questing paid off - I got some nice gear, a decent reserve of gold, and a few level-ups that made Stonekeep (and Fang Lair) a bit easier to deal with. I think I'll level-up at least once more before I move on to the Ice Fortress thingie... so, apparently, I have one piece of the Staff already and I'll soon be hunting for the next. At this point my high level gets me a lot of Palace quests, which also gives me some random new dungeons on the map (more opportunities for loot and experience).

Annoyances: The most annoyings things so far:


 * City layouts - seriously, I have the feeling the game delibertaely throws obstacles and dead-end streets at me every time I'm in a hurry to get somewhere. And when I really need to find some place, all people around it mysteriously disappear so I can't ask anyone about its location. Grrr.
 * "There are enemies nearby" - camping and recovering health is pretty painful when you are constantly ambushed by random-spawned hero-wannabes (every time I slay a Rogue I think "Oh no, was that Ricky?")
 * Nocturnal cities - reaching a city at night can be annoying due to the need to find an Inn. But it's even worse when I'm on a palace quest because I can't afford to sleep (causes ambushes by the Thieves Guild or some other faction). I remember one case when day turned into night mere seconds before I entered the palace. I was sooooo mad! (Compensation - during the night I can break into houses, stores, temples and mage guilds, muahaha!)

Current quests: Apart from the obvious need to hunt for the second staff piece, I got a quest to slay some monster in a random dungeon. I am also urgently looking for a better weapon (preferably Mithril) as I recently failed a rescue quest - the person to be rescued was guarded by a Fire Daemon and my weapon was useless against it (and I really doubt I can defeat such a fiend by pickpocketing it, or by breaking into its house in the Infernal suburbs). At any rate, I will probably encounter more powerful creatures in the future, so having a better weapon is a must (especially since a Thief's choice is limited).

So that's pretty much it... oh, here is a screenshot of this lovely young fellow.

 