WoE

[GvS]

I guess It's time we start to prepare for WoE. For now, you have to gather PvP equipment. I didn't really WoE on iRO yet, but here is short summary from my observations and pserver experience:

1) Equipment

Top headgear:
Beret (http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/5172/) – it cost around 400k
Better version – Feather Beret (http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/5170/) - ~30m, upgradeable

They give 10% demi-human reduction, so it's best choice for anyone, unless you have some MvP cards or you know you can survive without it.

Mid headger:
Sigruns wings if you don't have kafra points or Robo eyes if you do.
Later you can aim for Takius ( http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/5101/ )

Low:
Evolved pipe (kafra item) if you need vit, WCP( http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/5574/, cost a lot) if you need dex, pirate dagger if you need phys attack (it's cheap, just around 20m).

Armors:
http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/2394/ - it's basic KvM set. Those items are not slotted so you don't need any expensive cards, just patience to farm it.

There are also specialized sets for each class, like this one: http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/2379/
Some classes should use them instead and get cards for them. I don't know current best gears for every class so check iRO wiki forums. You can also look at high level players on ropd database, they are sometimes cached with PvP gears.
More expensive good choice is Valk Armor (http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/2357/) for +1 to all stats and being Indestructible. Obvious cards you want to put in armor: marc card, evil druid card (undead property gives you many advantages: you can't be frozen, you can't be provoked, you can't be target of aspersio) and ghostring card.
Elemental armors are also good, especially wind one.
Remember to hidden enchant your armor for +1-3 stat before putting card inside or upgrading! (http://irowiki.org/wiki/Hidden_Enchant)

Shield: Obvious choice is Valk Shield. It's worth investing those 60m now, it will be still best shield in renewal according to my research. If you can't afford it just buy cheapest one for your class. Thara price is 1,2m so it's not big deal.

Weapon: Every class have different ones. BG or KvM is usually good and cheap choice. If you need just defense use combat knife.

Garment: KvM or Valk mant. Some new, very expensive items which I haven't considered yet. Cards: raydric is still the best, noxious second. In some rare cases, like fighting against MvP carded wizards you might need elemental resist cards in garment.

Shoes: KvM shoes are cheapest and decent. Valk shoes are good and cheap alternative for some classes, Diabolos shoes, Variants if you got more zeny. Cards: green ferus, gold acidus, matyr.

Accessories: Same as above. BG medals or KvM rings are decent choice + hide accessory. If you got some zeny to spend for great justice – buy horong accessory.

2) Other Supplies

Another important aspect of woe is getting supplies. Two best hp recovery items are ranked (made by alchemist in /alchemist ranking) slim white potions - around 11k each and mastelas (recently nerfed, but you can buy them from npc in Hugel).

For sp you should always carry some ygg seeds or ranked blue pots.

You should also use stat foods if you can afford them. They last 30 minutes and give +10 to one stat. You can get them from kafra shop: 120 points for 10.

Another good item from kafra shop is gym pass (http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/7776/) – it cost 75 points each and permanently increase your weight limit which is very useful on WoE where very pot counts. Hardcore players go to WoE with 89% weight and just use sp items when needed. I'm not expecting that from us yet, but keep it in mind if you feel that your power level is rising.

Other supplies depend on class: green pots, holy water, cursed water, elemental converters, elemental resist pots, deadly poison. Wizards also need crystal fragments to avoid damage from soul liner magic reflect.

You can't rely on heal on WoE and you will often spam pots like crazy, so it could cost like few milions, but it should be easy to earn that just by playing few hours a week.
It migh seem expensive, but it's worth it. Remember to always restock your storage before WoE so you won't run out of pots on last minutes.

3) Organization

WoE is all about team play. We have to stay together to profit from such skills as magic string and ME. Don't stay behind, don't rush too much forward, don't try to be a hero. We must work together to kill or disable our enemies and destroy emperium.
We have to have good communication, so using ventrillo is a must.
You must also understand that woe is kinda similar to real war and you have to follow orders even if you don't agree with them. We can discuss our tactics on forum after woe but never during the fight inside castle.

WoE preparations start 30m before WoE. We need that time to clear equipment from loots, change gears, restock, organize parties, warps, prepare warper and linker.

4) How to get better before we actually start?
Watch WoE videos! It's great source of information. They are usually uploaded by people who are proud of their skills and know how to own on woe. You can also record woe on your own and watch it afterwords to review what you missed, check what killed you etc. FRAPS is software that allows you to do it (http://www.fraps.com/).
It's important to know your enemies and I know we have some new players, so if you have any questions about other classes - post here. If you are woe veteran - post some pro tips for others.

5) Plans for near future

I would like everyone active to get PvP gears and enough zeny to afford at least few intensive WoEs before we start. Exam session is coming, so I guess we'll have to wait till end of July before everyone is ready, maybe earlier, that depends on you. Go farm BGs, earn some zeny, buy necessary cards and equip and when you feel you are ready – post here.
We also need guild skill called “urgent call” which allows me to bring everyone online to me (I will usually try to use it in emp room, so we could break it before defending guild kills us).

We won't go on WoE 2 for now. It requires much bigger guild with proper class balance and it's even more expensive and demanding than normal one. We'll slowly get used to WoE 1 and try to recruit some new members first.


Some helpful links for further reading:
http://irowiki.org/wiki/War_of_Emperium
http://irowiki.org/wiki/Battlegrounds
http://ro.doddlercon.com/wiki/index.php ... ttleground
http://ro.doddlercon.com/wiki/index.php ... _Equipment
http://forums.irowiki.org/showthread.php?t=25 - most of them are form premiums, but you can find few from Valk

[1WingedAngel]

We should KVM together to train and gear up for WoE. =D

[Crow]

We could, but KVM is seriously mostly about farming from what I see. Even a semi-organized group should own the random afk noobs that show up there. Unfortunately it is also hard to get a 5 people group in, when it is in progress. We could get more action out of joining other BGs in the 'alts' team and killing people who try to farm it.

Thanks for a very good overview, GvS. The thing I would especially like to put emphasis on. As GvS pointed out - use pots. This is one of the key aspects of WoE and the reason why a single semi-decent player can kill a full guild of noobs. No amount of good gear will help you if you do not spam pots. I think currently even normal white pots could be enough for us (especially if you bought gym passes) for a starter, but make sure to move to mastelas and slims as soon as you can afford it. I think 1 mil zeny per WoE is a good estimate of what you can expect to spend during our initial weeks.

One more thing I would like to add - we will be saved near an inn most likely. Make sure, to use it every time you die. It is 5k z, but that is not much compared to how much you will be burning on pots. And you absolutely do not want to die in first SG hit after you have been recalled to enemy emproom. Also, when GvS will say on vent, try to avoid engaging enemies. If you are still in town do not even enter the castle. Everyone needs to be at their full HP, high amount of SP and possibly fully buffed after recall.

I have majority of the gear needed to start WoE - beret, cranial valk, immune, KvM shoes, tri-vital solid violin. The only thing I lack to start is an unfrozen armor, but I can get it when we are about to start.

[Noire]

Soooo, I went today on WoE 1.0 which is not as hardcore as WoE 2.0

Getting to an Emperium Room was easy as pie (I went there unbuffed, with no WoE gear or pots):
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1627/s ... rie542.jpg

The Sniper tried to detect me, but I managed to stay hidden. I had to show them myself or else they wouldn't even knew where I was.
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6268 ... rie544.jpg

Another castle, another Emp Room:
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/553/ ... rie557.jpg

Funny story, because those guys:
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/2701 ... rie558.jpg

...were looking for me like 3 minutes and they were searching everywhere, but not Emperium. Again, I had to show them myself xd (translation: And I'm sitting here near Emp):
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/1094 ... rie560.jpg

Still, I couldn't do anything because we need Guild Approval (go, go exp! Only 20 mln!)
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/275/sc ... rie561.jpg

That's how it was on WoE 1.0 - for comparision I'm posting here screens from WoE 2.0:
(not much, since I was dying so fast I didn't even had time to click on 'Print Screen button :D)
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/1584/s ... rie468.jpg
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8255/s ... rie479.jpg
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/6981/s ... rie485.jpg
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/9313 ... rie487.jpg

[GvS]

Some of you might get an impression that we are playing this game just for fun, but it's wrong! WoE is serious business and it's true purpose is to create god items for our guild. It takes time and it's very hard, but totally worth it. Here are WoE 1 god items:

http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/2410/
http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/2629/
http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/2630/
http://ro.amesani.org/db/item-info/1530/

Obviously Meg is best one, and that's why castles that drop it's ingredients are hold by Valkyrie guild and their allies. We can't handle them right now unfortunately. Second best imho is Mjolnir - +40 dex helps pally cast devo on wizard inside precast. It's worth less since wizards can get insta cast and we don't have active palladin, so we'll skip it. Next one is Sleipnir. While it's not as imba as meg it's still very good. Great HP bonus, good def and mdef and walking speed bonus. Bris kinda sux, it's like retarded little brother of Meg – do not want.

So here are castles that we would like to win at the end of WoE:

Meg:
Britoniah 3
Britoniah 4
Britoniah 5
Balder 2
Balder 3

Sleip:
Britoniah 2
Balder 1
Balder 4
Balder 5
Luina 4

You can check their maps (click on small item icon left from castle name) and also some other stuff here: http://choobs.org/valkwoe/index

[Crow]

The screenshots posted by Noire shed a new light on our WoE plans. Up till now I thought that atm we can go there and just kill some random people to have PvP fun. It seems however, that we can easily take a castle in Pront or Payon. This is a bit problematic as we probably don't want to be precasting for one and a half hour, without any action, only to have a godlike geared LK solo it from us last minute... Either way we should level guild to get approval asap and try to ninja a castle as soon as possible. Some added loots would surely help.

[Crow]

Ready to roll in!

gear.jpg (18.69 KiB) Viewed 5982 times

Need to get Medeal of Honor now and KvM Ring. Mostly need few job levels though to reach dex bonus...

[1WingedAngel]

Is there a site that tells where to get the equips you mentioned GvS? Much of that gear didn't exist back when I last played.

[GvS]

There isn't and I was also confused about some of them. For now you should just get 80 level and get Battlegrounds or KvM stuff. Those other equips are either high end MvP drop which we can't kill yet or from some old iRO events impossible to make now, so you have to buy them from other players.