After 3 years break: Some questions!

Hey guys,
phew, it's been 3 years and I've just opened a time capsule logging on and seeing all those mails from 1,100 days. After swallowing down some melancholy about all the time that I haven't seen the funky guys I exchanged letters with, I tried to get back to the game and have to admit, comming from GW2, it's like running into a wall a bit. I feel home and cosy, but also kind of lost. However, my attitude towards online games changed a bit, so I will be alright here again!

* First of all, I want to do some killing where I left of as Blackmage, and I do not want to waste any EXP - but then several questions came to my mind. Is my level tied to the ingame story? I tell you right out: I have not advanced much in the story. I think I've stopped right after the credits of ARR. Now I'd like to buy the expansions, but then: Is there anything that prevents me from advancing as Blackmage? Let's say there is a quest giver in the new expansion area, and I am like 100 hours of gameplay away from that, I do not need to buy any expansion yet. But it'd like to advance with my profession(s), even if that's just in ARR areal.

Also, I see I just can buy the complete package - with ARR, HW and SB. It says PC download and such, but how does it work? Is there a setup.exe and then it checks and downloads the stuff by itself? It looks odd that I can not purchase HW alone.

* Another thing I loved about GW2 is: Consistency. There is no gear treadmill (which also turns the game a bit stale, everything's the same numbers..), but at least my looks were always the same (in a good way). Just like the gentleman waiting for the train at the same time in the same, clean clothes, I also wish to keep my clothes.

Before I put my Lalafell on retirement, I finished the Evenstar set and put a screenshot of it on my Windows7 loginscreen (it's the signature in fullscreen). My mom visited me in my appartment and was like "Who's that? He's cute" and since then not only me and my mom share the love for cute, pointy-eared midgets, but also one wish: I never have to change my Evenstar set. It grow on me from 2014 to 2018, now it's on my Win10 loginscreen. It's just "me".

In GW2 they have a wardrobe. Here it seems to be also a wardrobe - the one in the inn room. Glamour, eh? How does it work? As far as I understood, I can later (the quest is not done yet) "destroy" items in order to sacrifice them for a "skin" that can be put on as many upcoming items. That's exactly what I am looking for. I mean, my current equipment is original May 2015 - Evenstar set, Atma Stardust. But I love that, and I'd like to look like that despite I upgrade my gear. Could someone explain that to me?

* I know this question is very odd, but coming from GW2, with all the dodging, I felt ashamed that I got hit by so many mobs. Yes, I do understand we have the trinity here, so if everyone can avoid getting hit, we would not need tanks and healers. But every hit by a Level 1 enemy (that gang up on you, I mean, Gridania is dangerous!!) was an insult to me and I was like "Man, is that normal?". I just can't remember in the open world that it's totally normal to get hit until your enemy (or you) die. Maybe it was like that all the time, but it feels so odd. You know, in GW2, it's more like "Don't get hit at all, that's noob", here is it like "I can get hit and when my enemies are down, just replenish health later and keep going".

* I wish I could dye a certain set of equipment. In this case the Acolyth set from Level 15 or something. However, it's undyable. But I think I can remember seeing a white Evenstar hat - how is that possible? Aren't both undyable or was it a different item?

* Okay, that's not a question, but I feel a bit of anxiety raising up. I am not used to be "forced" to play with others again, I could do Solo in GW2 a lot. Hope that goes away soon...^^

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

* First of all, I want to do some killing where I left of as Blackmage, and I do not want to waste any EXP - but then several questions came to my mind. Is my level tied to the ingame story? I tell you right out: I have not advanced much in the story. I think I've stopped right after the credits of ARR. Now I'd like to buy the expansions, but then: Is there anything that prevents me from advancing as Blackmage? Let's say there is a quest giver in the new expansion area, and I am like 100 hours of gameplay away from that, I do not need to buy any expansion yet. But it'd like to advance with my profession(s), even if that's just in ARR areal.

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First of all welcome back! Your progress in the MSQ is gated behind level once you start getting into Heavensward 3.0 MSQ. If you don't buy the expansions and stay with just ARR you will be locked at level 50. So if you have any plans to advance you should buy them. I believe you just missed a sale on them though.

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

* Also, I see I just can buy the complete package - with ARR, HW and SB. It says PC download and such, but how does it work? Is there a setup.exe and then it checks and downloads the stuff by itself? It looks odd that I can not purchase HW alone.

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Once you buy the expansion, the launcher will do the rest of the downloading for you. HW is now included with SB. You don't need to buy them separately anymore.

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

* Another thing I loved about GW2 is: Consistency. There is no gear treadmill (which also turns the game a bit stale, everything's the same numbers..), but at least my looks were always the same (in a good way). Just like the gentleman waiting for the train at the same time in the same, clean clothes, I also wish to keep my clothes.

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This game as you should know is a vertical progression system. You will not and should not keep the same gear as you progress. You can however glamor pieces so you will be able to keep the same look all the time. It used to be you couldn't unlock glamor until level 50, it's now been moved to level 15.

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

Before I put my Lalafell on retirement, I finished the Evenstar set and put a screenshot of it on my Windows7 loginscreen (it's the signature in fullscreen). My mom visited me in my appartment and was like "Who's that? He's cute" and since then not only me and my mom share the love for cute, pointy-eared midgets, but also one wish: I never have to change my Evenstar set. It grow on me from 2014 to 2018, now it's on my Win10 loginscreen. It's just "me".

In GW2 they have a wardrobe. Here it seems to be also a wardrobe - the one in the inn room. Glamour, eh? How does it work? As far as I understood, I can later (the quest is not done yet) "destroy" items in order to sacrifice them for a "skin" that can be put on as many upcoming items. That's exactly what I am looking for. I mean, my current equipment is original May 2015 - Evenstar set, Atma Stardust. But I love that, and I'd like to look like that despite I upgrade my gear. Could someone explain that to me?

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You can either glamor pieces individually with prisms or you can create a glamor plate using the dresser in the inn rooms. Right now if you put stuff in it you can't get it back, but that will be changing very soon with the next patch. Glamor plates are basically glamor gear presets. You can't change glamor plates wherever you want tho I think, and I don't personally use the dresser/plates myself i just glamor prism everything.

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

* I know this question is very odd, but coming from GW2, with all the dodging, I felt ashamed that I got hit by so many mobs. Yes, I do understand we have the trinity here, so if everyone can avoid getting hit, we would not need tanks and healers. But every hit by a Level 1 enemy (that gang up on you, I mean, Gridania is dangerous!!) was an insult to me and I was like "Man, is that normal?". I just can't remember in the open world that it's totally normal to get hit until your enemy (or you) die. Maybe it was like that all the time, but it feels so odd. You know, in GW2, it's more like "Don't get hit at all, that's noob", here is it like "I can get hit and when my enemies are down, just replenish health later and keep going".

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As long as you're 10+ levels ahead of the enemies they won't even bother looking at you in open world stuff.

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

* I wish I could dye a certain set of equipment. In this case the Acolyth set from Level 15 or something. However, it's undyable. But I think I can remember seeing a white Evenstar hat - how is that possible? Aren't both undyable or was it a different item?

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Some pieces of equipment are undyeable yes, usually green dungeon gear (with some exceptions). The old soldiery equipment you are referring to is the Evenstar set. It starts out as "Weathered" and you can upgrade it to being dyeable with items you can now buy with poetics (sands of time for body left side pieces).

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

* Okay, that's not a question, but I feel a bit of anxiety raising up. I am not used to be "forced" to play with others again, I could do Solo in GW2 a lot. Hope that goes away soon...^^

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MSQ is meant to be done solo, but you will have to party up with people to complete dungeons and other instanced content. But most people are friendly. Enjoy your return to Eorzea. ;)

Probly easier to annotate this...

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

Hey guys,
phew, it's been 3 years and I've just opened a time capsule logging on and seeing all those mails from 1,100 days. After swallowing down some melancholy about all the time that I haven't seen the funky guys I exchanged letters with, I tried to get back to the game and have to admit, comming from GW2, it's like running into a wall a bit. I feel home and cosy, but also kind of lost. However, my attitude towards online games changed a bit, so I will be alright here again! Welcome back!

* First of all, I want to do some killing where I left of as Blackmage, and I do not want to waste any EXP - but then several questions came to my mind. Is my level tied to the ingame story? I tell you right out: I have not advanced much in the story. I think I've stopped right after the credits of ARR. Now I'd like to buy the expansions, but then: Is there anything that prevents me from advancing as Blackmage? Let's say there is a quest giver in the new expansion area, and I am like 100 hours of gameplay away from that, I do not need to buy any expansion yet. But it'd like to advance with my profession(s), even if that's just in ARR areal. So your level isnt directly tied to your story progression. You do have to have expansions on your account to go past level 50, but you dont have to be "done" with the story to continue leveling. With that said, to attempt your next black mage class quest i do believe(im not sure though) you need to at least get to the starting point of the HW storyline. The quests(at least for BLM) continue to originate in the same place(where they will end up sending you obviously changes with each quest). The 2.x patch series quests take most players a week or two to get through, though looking at a quest list can make it feel longer than it actually is.

Also, I see I just can buy the complete package - with ARR, HW and SB. It says PC download and such, but how does it work? Is there a setup.exe and then it checks and downloads the stuff by itself? It looks odd that I can not purchase HW alone. The Stormblood expansion includes the Heavensward content(thus they stopped selling HW alone). So just the expansion should be fine, though if the price is better for complete then go with that. When you get the expansion(s), you get an activation code. Log into your mogstation account and put the code in to activate. Then the next time you try to log in, it will download all the new stuff. Depending on your internet connection, you might want to do that before bed/work/school so that when you get back to your machine youre ready to play again.

* Another thing I loved about GW2 is: Consistency. There is no gear treadmill (which also turns the game a bit stale, everything's the same numbers..), but at least my looks were always the same (in a good way). Just like the gentleman waiting for the train at the same time in the same, clean clothes, I also wish to keep my clothes. If you choose to ride it, the end game does have a bit of that treadmill effect going. Though very little content requires you to have anything near the best.

Before I put my Lalafell on retirement, I finished the Evenstar set and put a screenshot of it on my Windows7 loginscreen (it's the signature in fullscreen). My mom visited me in my appartment and was like "Who's that? He's cute" and since then not only me and my mom share the love for cute, pointy-eared midgets, but also one wish: I never have to change my Evenstar set. It grow on me from 2014 to 2018, now it's on my Win10 loginscreen. It's just "me". So if you havent already, theres a quest(in either revenants toll or horizon) to unlock the "Glamour" system. This lets you assign the look of one set of gear to a different one. It has a few rules. The appearance cant be higher level than the actual gear(no making a level 5 armor look like a 50), and you generally cant assign an appearance that the user cant legally have(so no ninja fighting in a chefs coat). You use a glamour prism to assign any new looks(these are craftable by any crafting class at a low level and usable for any piece of gear), and there are also glamour dispellers to cancel looks. You can reassign and remove glamours fairly freely(you arent stuck if you change your mind). And finally, they added plenty of level 1 glamour gear sets to give a variety of looks to any class(these are basically stat-less and equipable by any class).

In GW2 they have a wardrobe. Here it seems to be also a wardrobe - the one in the inn room. Glamour, eh? How does it work? As far as I understood, I can later (the quest is not done yet) "destroy" items in order to sacrifice them for a "skin" that can be put on as many upcoming items. That's exactly what I am looking for. I mean, my current equipment is original May 2015 - Evenstar set, Atma Stardust. But I love that, and I'd like to look like that despite I upgrade my gear. Could someone explain that to me? In addition to the basic glamour system, they recently added a new furnishing called the Glamour Dresser. Essentially, you use a prism(same as above) to transform the item from something you can wear into an image that can quickly be put over your gear. Currently you cant turn the items back into actual gear, though that should be changing with the next patch. Then once you have some items stored in your dresser(it can also pull images from your armoire if you have stuff in there too), you can edit a "Glamour Plate" with gear in whichever slots you want. Save the look when you have it right, and then you can apply that image over your gear(applying a plate doesnt use any prisms). Any slots left empty on the plate will ignore the gear you have in them(as in, they wont change). And in particular, any plate that includes a weapon can only be usable by that particular weapons class(so even though a summoner can use the same armor, the plate wouldnt apply properly because summoners dont use staves).

* I know this question is very odd, but coming from GW2, with all the dodging, I felt ashamed that I got hit by so many mobs. Yes, I do understand we have the trinity here, so if everyone can avoid getting hit, we would not need tanks and healers. But every hit by a Level 1 enemy (that gang up on you, I mean, Gridania is dangerous!!) was an insult to me and I was like "Man, is that normal?". I just can't remember in the open world that it's totally normal to get hit until your enemy (or you) die. Maybe it was like that all the time, but it feels so odd. You know, in GW2, it's more like "Don't get hit at all, that's noob", here is it like "I can get hit and when my enemies are down, just replenish health later and keep going". Enemy auto attacks arent really dodge able. Telegraphed attacks and AoEs on the other hand you can typically avoid if youre paying attention.

* I wish I could dye a certain set of equipment. In this case the Acolyth set from Level 15 or something. However, it's undyable. But I think I can remember seeing a white Evenstar hat - how is that possible? Aren't both undyable or was it a different item? I thought Evenstar was dyable, so maybe double check that. Some gear just isnt though. Of course, if you havent already make sure you do the quest to unlock gear dying(horizon) to get those options open to you.

* Okay, that's not a question, but I feel a bit of anxiety raising up. I am not used to be "forced" to play with others again, I could do Solo in GW2 a lot. Hope that goes away soon...^^

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Yeah, you will be forced to play with others a bit. Youll get used to it soon. With the expansions they added a new feature allowing you to "unsync" older dungeons/trials/raids. This allows you to do level 50-60 content with fully equipped level 70 characters. Theoretically that would allow you to solo some more of the upcoming fights, but getting high enough in levels not to have to group would kinda defeat the purpose(and once you get to the level 61 section of the story you wont have the option anymore - it only works on stuff from previous expansions). But what this would let you do is get one or two max characters to take you through a few upcoming fights to ease your way back into grouping again. You dont get any exp in unsync groups(so you dont want to do it all the time), but it can be an alternative - especially if youre looking to do some of the older stuff that doesnt fill a que very quickly. To create and access these group options, you use the Party Finder rather then the Duty Finder.

Best of luck getting back into it, and happy hunting!

Cool stuff!
That glamour system sounds alright! That was my main "problem".
I do of course know how the basics work, I mean, I was here until iLevel 100 at least (I think it's 106 with my earrings and such). That was exactly the reason why I asked for glamour. Unlike in GW2, where you hit the ceiling and nothing changed anymore really, here I changed my gear every couple of weeks. But once you get used to one of your gear, when it's really reflecting your personality (yes, I love tail-coat wearing midgets with tophats and gauntlet gloves!), then I'd be in a bad situation - and could only wear my trademark outfit in the towns or in low-level areas. Thank god none of the stipulations tied to the glamour system do not matter then. When my gear changes - which will be always higher than iLevel 100 - I hopefully can keep it.

Just out of curiousity, does it not seem strange to see a person wearing low-level clothes while actually it's glamoured full-stat gear? As far as I understood Frizze (and that's also the better approach to the whole thing) I can make look good gear look like beginner's gear (but not the other way around, which would not be the case because everything > Evenstar's iLevel now^^). It appears to also work on weapons. My Atma Stardust - which stats are outdated and probably to be replaced soon - can be "put over" the new staff?

Also thanks Frizze about the auto attack thing. I totally forgot how that was. It feels just strange to me coming from a game with fast-paced combat into a game where I take hits while casting. Sure, I know the enemies will die from it, but it looks like I am enjoying some voluntary spanking. Dr.Who up there is right with the level difference, but if I start the beef..............


The grouping in itself is not bad. Actually, it is why I remember this game fondly. I have "file footage" from January of 2014 (that's when NV_ENC - a.k.a. ShadowPlay was available for my GPU) where I had nice chats because of a tank that left and we waited for replacement in Aurum Vale. But before quitting, I met so many elitist people it was just insane. Even math could not help them and we took like 30 seconds longer because I used a different rotation in Brayflox Hard (Haha, all this ancient stuff you probably not even remotely play anymore, I feel like that grandpa telling old stories!) and it caused much mad beef. Tanks were $@~# because they could, friends ganging up on you and kick you before the boss room to let friends in and the general French group that does not understand a single word of the world's language, forcing you to skip cutscenes (those you can't rewatch at the inn) really ASAP which made the missions feel disconnected and in general want players to know the dungeon BEFORE entering it, which is like reading the Tomb Raider guide book before actually playing with Lara.. Maybe that's where my concerns are coming from.

Despite having 600 days of experience as Scholar, Bard and Blackmage, I am trying to find a newbie guild. I never managed to keep virtual friends that long, and Pugs, oh dear...

Oh, about the BLM 50+ quests, appearently and according to the BLM page on the Lodestone, the questgiver is the same as before (the Lalady in Ul'Dah), but I might trigger these really only upon stepping a feet in HW. That would be not so great, all the queue times together are several weeks, not to mention the 46,303 wipes :S Understandable, don't get me wrong, but also kind off-putting. So far, Nanamo has not even had her "delicious" wine....

Yeah, annotating much easier then multi-quoting.

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

Cool stuff!
That glamour system sounds alright! That was my main "problem".
I do of course know how the basics work, I mean, I was here until iLevel 100 at least (I think it's 106 with my earrings and such). That was exactly the reason why I asked for glamour. Unlike in GW2, where you hit the ceiling and nothing changed anymore really, here I changed my gear every couple of weeks. But once you get used to one of your gear, when it's really reflecting your personality (yes, I love tail-coat wearing midgets with tophats and gauntlet gloves!), then I'd be in a bad situation - and could only wear my trademark outfit in the towns or in low-level areas. Thank god none of the stipulations tied to the glamour system do not matter then. When my gear changes - which will be always higher than iLevel 100 - I hopefully can keep it. Yeah, it doesnt sound like this will be an issue for you.

Just out of curiousity, does it not seem strange to see a person wearing low-level clothes while actually it's glamoured full-stat gear? As far as I understood Frizze (and that's also the better approach to the whole thing) I can make look good gear look like beginner's gear (but not the other way around, which would not be the case because everything > Evenstar's iLevel now^^). It appears to also work on weapons. My Atma Stardust - which stats are outdated and probably to be replaced soon - can be "put over" the new staff? That blue coat you can just barely see in my headshot is glamour gear. Its actually an ilvl 360 robe, but it looks like a Uraeus Coat(level 1, no stats - mine is dyed storm blue). Some people choose to fight in bathing suits. I was in a group the other day with a tank wearing a full-body pig costume. Other people dont care at all about appearances, and they often have ugly mish-mash outfits with clashing colors and styles. Most people dont think twice about what their teammates gear looks like(as long as their stats are somewhat up to date), or will toss out compliments for a good glamour. And yes, you can glamour weapons too. Im using my anima for appearance right now.

Also thanks Frizze about the auto attack thing. I totally forgot how that was. It feels just strange to me coming from a game with fast-paced combat into a game where I take hits while casting. Sure, I know the enemies will die from it, but it looks like I am enjoying some voluntary spanking. Dr.Who up there is right with the level difference, but if I start the beef..............


The grouping in itself is not bad. Actually, it is why I remember this game fondly. I have "file footage" from January of 2014 (that's when NV_ENC - a.k.a. ShadowPlay was available for my GPU) where I had nice chats because of a tank that left and we waited for replacement in Aurum Vale. But before quitting, I met so many elitist people it was just insane. Even math could not help them and we took like 30 seconds longer because I used a different rotation in Brayflox Hard (Haha, all this ancient stuff you probably not even remotely play anymore, I feel like that grandpa telling old stories!) and it caused much mad beef. Tanks were $@~# because they could, friends ganging up on you and kick you before the boss room to let friends in and the general French group that does not understand a single word of the world's language, forcing you to skip cutscenes (those you can't rewatch at the inn) really ASAP which made the missions feel disconnected and in general want players to know the dungeon BEFORE entering it, which is like reading the Tomb Raider guide book before actually playing with Lara.. Maybe that's where my concerns are coming from. One of the things they probly added after you left is the roulette system. You pick one and que(most can be done with groups or solo), and you randomly get assigned a duty from the list of the roulette you picked. You get bonus exp and currency(gil/seals/tomes) for playing via roulette. This system is used to help fill ques. Aurum Vale is in the "Leveling" roulette, Brayflox hard is in the "50/60" roulette. People still wind up in these all the time. There are still some elitists(and some massive slackers), some tanks are still "that way". Most people are good to each other. They added some more of the duty-related cutscenes to the inn, so you can see more of them now if you did skip. And if you tell people youre new before the dungeon starts, 99% of them will cut you slack for not knowing it. Now people wanting you to know how to run savage/extreme level content before you go in is still a major thing, but its not really there for dungeons.

Despite having 600 days of experience as Scholar, Bard and Blackmage, I am trying to find a newbie guild. I never managed to keep virtual friends that long, and Pugs, oh dear... Shout a couple times in town/put up a PF for it. FC invites arent hard to drum up.

Oh, about the BLM 50+ quests, appearently and according to the BLM page on the Lodestone, the questgiver is the same as before (the Lalady in Ul'Dah), but I might trigger these really only upon stepping a feet in HW. That would be not so great, all the queue times together are several weeks, not to mention the 46,303 wipes :S Understandable, don't get me wrong, but also kind off-putting. So far, Nanamo has not even had her "delicious" wine....

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If you havent done a single quest beyond the ending credits, then this is what youre looking at. There are 100 patch quests. Lots of running around, lots of talking to people, some fetching and killing(a lot of important upcoming story developments start to happen during these quests so it can be good to pay attention if you want to follow along). Along the way you run 3 required 4-man dungeons(there are a couple dozen optional dungeons and raids available), and 6 trials(all trials are 8 man starting with the one at level 49). Each of these duties is available on a roulette(50/60 and trials respectively), and the ques should fill fairly fast during normal hours. None of those should be hard enough to require more then 1 wipe(most will be clearable with no trouble - even running blind). And as i explained, any of these can be run unsync'd(and most of those fights are soloable at 70) which bypasses the ques entirely. Another option is putting up a Party Finder group to get people to help. You select the instance you need to run, and you can write a short note to attract people from your data center to join. If you say that youre doing something for the first time for story progression, you will often get people to join up in a hurry(either to help you or to help themselves - the devs added incentives to helping newer players with stuff). So when i said a week or two, i meant for everything. If you skip all cutscenes, mash through dialogue, and get FC members to unsync everything for you the whole set of quests and everything can be powered through in under 3 hours. A normal person watching scenes, reading dialogue, and playing the dungeons and trials takes around 25 hours. You can figure out for yourself how many days itd take you to get 25 hours in. With all that said, if you have the expansion youll be getting exp whether you can do the first HW quest for BLM or not. You need to do the quest at 52 to learn your next ability, so thats when itll start hindering you(though if youre still in the patch questline then youll only be doing level 50 fights anyway, so you wouldnt be able to use that new ability yet).

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

* I wish I could dye a certain set of equipment. In this case the Acolyth set from Level 15 or something. However, it's undyable. But I think I can remember seeing a white Evenstar hat - how is that possible? Aren't both undyable or was it a different item?

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For healer classes, you can get a Lv50 dyeable version of the Acolyte robe called the "Cashmere Robe of Healing". The Casting equivalent is a dyeable Battlemage robe (dungeon loot from Brayflox's Longstop).

There's also a grey version of the Acolyte robe that you can get from doing Hall of the Novice tutorials - either the healer course, or the DPS course as a mage.


Re. the Evenstar set, there was also a second set of gear that reused those designs with different colours, somewhere around Lv60 I think.

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

Just out of curiousity, does it not seem strange to see a person wearing low-level clothes while actually it's glamoured full-stat gear? As far as I understood Frizze (and that's also the better approach to the whole thing) I can make look good gear look like beginner's gear (but not the other way around, which would not be the case because everything > Evenstar's iLevel now^^). It appears to also work on weapons. My Atma Stardust - which stats are outdated and probably to be replaced soon - can be "put over" the new staff?

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It can look strange, I guess, but glamour effects are available from early in the game so you expect it to be the case, and you can always check a person's gear to make sure they aren't actually underequipped!

Glam is the true end game. Many changes have occured since you left with the glam and extra inventory space.
I cannot add to what others have already said but welcome back o/

As for elitists you may still get some but i have not come across many since when i first began over 3 years ago. Best bet is to find a friendly Free Company to help you out and have fun