This is your basic status meter. You'll find it at the top left of the screen originally, but like most things in the game you can move it. Personally, I have found little reason to move any of the status boxes that appear, but this is up to you.

CP are your combat points. This is only used in player versus player (PvP) and as you take hits, your CP will start to go down. When it reaches 0, then your HP will start to go down, as normal.

HP is your health meter. If you Hit Points reach 0, then you're dead. When you are hit, it will take points from this meter. The HP will regenerate over time, (even when you are in a fight) and this regeneration can be speeded up by sitting down somewhere safe.

MP are Magic Points and are used whenever you perform certain magic tasks or skills that need them. Like HP, they regenerate by themselves over time.

XP stands for eXperience Points, and that is what the silver bar notes. As you gain experience, your character goes up in levels. When the silver bar reaches 100%, then you, "Level Up," and the bar returns to 0%. In this example, the character Kirana, is level 23 and is 32.4% on the way to the next level.

The higher the level of your character, the better and stronger the equipment and armor you can use and wear. More on that later.

This is your message window. Whenever something happens of any note, it shows up in this window.

You will note that different types of messages are different colours. You will soon learn to differentiate the colours and be on the lookout for the different types of events.

Note the bottom of the screen that there are a number of tabs. This controls the, "chat." If you type anything on the keyboard that Lineage 2 doesn't recognise as a command, it will be put in the chat line. When you then press RETURN, the chat you have typed goes in to the game.

Who can hear you depends on how you start your message. If you don't precede the chat, then everyone in a certain vicinity can hear you, just like in real life. You can talk to an invidividual, however, by typing a double quote, followed by their name ... eg. "Gordon I'm going in to attack! would have then appeared on Gordons message window, (in purple!) no matter where he was in the game. Note that you don't have to finish the quotes like you would do in English, and also on pressing the quotes, the game will automatically fill in the name of the last player who you talked to, or of who talked to you. This way of doing things works well for 90% of the time, but there is the odd occasion where it makes life difficult. Talking to another player directly is also known as whispering.

Keep an eye on your message window, as you never know if anyone is trying to talk with you. There is a smaller message window above the first, and this is usefull if you are in a town where there is a lot of talking going on, as this smaller window doesn't actually show the conversations; only the important system messages.

Other precedences are "!" to shout to a larger radius (don't use unless you have to; GM's are the only ones who can shout to all players regardless of location) and also "@" which allows you to talk to everyone in your, "clan," if you join one. Should you join others in a party, then "#" will send the message to everyone who is in your current party.

Precede the text with a "/gm " to send a message to any logged in GM's (Game Monitors) but on some servers this doesn't work, so it is best to whisper to a GM if you really need some help.

The map shows you where you are. The shortcut key to bring it up and stow it away again is ALT + M. There isn't actually much to the map (or at least, not much that I have used!)

The arrow in the centre shows you where you are (you are the center of the arrow) and it points in the direction where your, "camera," is looking. This isn't the direction that your character is looking, but where you, yourself are looking in your third player perspective.

If you put your mouse over the map and hold down your left mouse button, you'll find that you can drag the map around so that you can venture around it. You can not use the map, however, for giving directions like you can in other games. ie. you can't click on a point on the map and expect your character to go there; it won't work.

On some servers, the map has to be obtained before it can be used, and to get it, you have to complete a quest. The quest is usually located in the starter towns.

The last word on your basic screen display is the quick bar. You can drag prety much anything in here, so that it can be used quickly. You will note that the numbers down the side, relate to your F keys on the keyboard. Obviously, the things you put in here will vary from character to character, but I'll explain the few I have here...

The first three are from the, "actions," menu. The top one is attack, the second is target next closest enemy and the third is to sit.

The second two are skills, or possibly spells, and these use some of the MP ability. One is power strike, which gives me a better chance to do more damage when I make a strike. However, once used, it takes a while to recharge so I can not use it on every strike I make. When it recharges, the icon goes dark, and a sweeping hand of colour comes back in to it like the hand of a clock as it recharges again.

The lower two are from my items. The sword is one of my weapons. If I have two weapons, I can put them both in here, and it allows me to swap easily between them.

Soulshot is the lower icon, and it is important. This ability greatly enhances the damage you do when you make a strike. You have to right click it to activate, or de-activate it. If it is active, it will shimmer a little. If you are in doubt as to whether is it active or not, just right click it and see what the message window says about its status.

You will notice, on the top of the bar, the little arrows and the number. You can keep multiple copies of this bar, and have different skills, actions or items in each one depending on what circumstances you are in. When you are in town, for example, you will probably want talking and trading actions ready to hand.

Also, while here, a quick note about, "buffs." Buffs are active skills, which you must select to use. Rather than have a direct effect like an attack, however, they alter the characters attributes for a while, or they can even be used to buff another characters abilities. The range of buffs and their effects are quite wide and differ from one race and career path, to another. They are obtained like any other skill and can also be placed in the side bar for use. A buff typically has a time limit associated with it, and it can be seen in the top left of the screen. Hovering the mouse over a buff will tell you what it is, what it does, and how much time it has left to run.

TRANSFERING AND STORING ITEMS

As your character has a limit to the amount of weight they can carry, you can go to a warehouse and store items there. You can call in to any warehouse you like and retrieve the items at a later date. The basic warehouse and transfer rules are as follows...

Personal Warehouse can be accessed from any warehouse in the game. You can put an item in to your personal warehouse in one town, and extract it in another. It does cost to deposit items in the warehouse, but not to withdraw them.

Freight is the way to transfer items between two of your characters. Operates just like the persoanl warehouse, with the exception that the character has to pick up the freight from the same warehouse in which it was deposited.

Clan Warehouses are the same as personal warehouses, but are accessable by all clan members.

Not every warehouse member can handle freight, by the way. Normally, there should be one warehouse staff who can handle freight, though, just try them in turn.

Also note that the behaviour of freight can be changed on the server, so if you are having problems, check with a GM as to the server specific rules.

In order to join a clan, a member of the clan must invite the other character to join. That means both characters have to be on line at the same time. If you can only have one account on-line at the time, then using the clan warehouse as a freight-type option without the location restriction, is much harder to pull off as you would need both your characters to be on line at the same time.

I wasted an awful lot of Adena in transport fees finding all this out.

Trades can be initiated between two people in order to pass items between them. Dropping items on the floor for another character to pick them up is not recommended, as some game bugs have seen the items stuck to the floor and thus lost, as no one can pick them up again.

This is a look at the inventory window. It controls items that you are wearing in the top section, and in the middle section you can see items that your character is currently carrying.

Note the, "quest," tab. This will show you the current quest items that you are carrying. It is also useful as a reminder to where you are in some quests, as well as looking at the quest window itself.

In the wearing part, you can see sections for the various items you can wear. Two rings, two earings and a necklace are the more usual fare. These are usually items used for defence against magic spells cast by enemies. To the left you can see the more usual slots for helmet, armor, shoes, gloves and weapon/shield. You can drag items from the list in the middle, in to these slots. Remember that enabling an item that is above your characters grade will handicap your character.

You can also drag items from here in to the quick bar on the right, so that you can access them by pressing the F keys. Remember that this can work for a variety of items, including weapons (for quick change) and spells such as soulshot and spiritshot.

At the bottom of the window is the amount of Adena (money) you are carrying, (you can also store money in a warehouse, trade it to someone or freight it to another character) and also your current weight status. As your character progresses, it is possible to carry more weight, but the average is 50% of your capability. Anything over this, and you are burdening yourself. 100% weight and you will hardly be able to move. Don't do what I did, which is to stock up with 10,000 soul shot and wonder why you can't walk. Some servers report that soulshot carries no weight, but on most, it does.

This shows you what happens when a character is carrying too much weight, or some other bonus/handicap is applied beyond the normal play. Hovering the mouse over the icon will give you an explanation of what the penalty is, and why you've got it. In this case, because I'm carrying too much, my rate of recovery is slowed down.

The image above shows the figures that are displayed if you hover the mouse over the weight bar. The figure on the right is your 100% maximum, and the figure on the left is your current burden. Everything you carry, including armor, etc. will have a weight associated. Sometimes, magical items are available to help with the weight issue. As you level up, your natural ability to carry more also increases, so you will be able to wear heavier, more powerful armor as you progress.

FIGHTING MONSTERS

When you look at a monster look for the level number on top of the name; something like Lv12. If there is an asterisk after it, like Lv12* then the creature is agresive and if you come to close to it, it will attack you. Otherwise the creature will wait for you to attack it. In the pictures, the Premo Prime is agressive, and would come for me if I got too close. The Titan's Creation, Bemos, would only come for me if I attacked it first, or attacked another of its kind in close proximity to it.

Be aware that not all servers will show this number, so you will have to rely on the drop calc, or your intuition, as to whether or not you get in a fight with it. Again, if there is a drop calc available, it should give you the information you need to determine the level and agro of a mob.

If you attack a creature, and there is another of its bretheren close by, whether active or passive, the other creature can come to the assistance of its felow and you can find yourself under simultanious attack.

You can outrun most mobs if you get in to too deep a pickle. Keep running and eventually they will give up the chase. Rather run than death. Rules on death also vary from server to server; sometimes you have to return to the spot of your death to pick up dropped items. Don't leave it too late to run if you have to, as some mobs cast spells that can cover a little distance.

Some of your magic defences and attacks are more effective on some monsters than others. Experience will tell you which work, and which don't, although chance does play a part. Rewards in terms of experience and skill points, as well as drop and sweep chances, are also variable from one server to another.

Don't expect the normal rules of physics to apply. I've found an Orc Archer underwater, and I've also been chased half way across an island by a shark!

By chatting with people, you can become part of a party, or clan, and take part in group raids and activities that you otherwise wouldn't be able to undergo alone. If you become part of a party, then be aware of the party settings in the options menu, as this governs how spoils, drops and experience points are distributed among party members. Most people I have played with prefer working in clans as they help each other level up, and by the time they get involved in the serious action, no one is too bothered about who gets the kills.

By looking for a non-player character (NPC) with a big yellow exclamation mark above their head, you can generally pick up a quest from them. This involves killing some kind of creature or other for a reward. These vary greatly. Sometimes, however, the NPC will be lying and won't actually have a quest, and other times you can find quests with characters that are not advertising them.

The positioning of some of the creatures for quests, assuming you are not playing on an official server, may have been moved by the administrators, for strategic reasons. If you scour an area and can't find the mob in question, don't waste hours scouring the area, but get in touch with a GM who should be able to put you straight.

On top of all this are further mass scripted quests, for which general anouncements will be made, but I'll cover that when I understand more about it myself. If you want to know about these, it is likely you will need to be a high level character, and will porbably have struck up some friendships in the game, so if I haven't covered the subject yet, ask someone in game. They will likely have more of an idea of the server specific quests anyway.

There are some dungeons (or areas) in the game which can only be conquered by going in mob handed. If the administrators have set up an area of large numbers of agressive mobs, then you'd get slaghtered if you went in there alone. It would take good numbers of players to get in to this kind of area and survive.

REMEMBER - that creatures respawn in a short period of time. If you've just had a battle with an agressive character, then move away from the area before you sit down for a rest, otherwise the mob will respawn and start attacking you before you have had a chance to recover.

There are also Bosses and Raid Bosses around. These are seriously kick ass beasts which you don't stand a chance of taking on alone. Although their charcter level might look to be within range, they have serious powers and can absorb loads of damage. These characters can typically be spotted as they are sometimes larger than life, and have an entorauge. If you're reading the drop calculator, then a mob which only has one spawn pouint in the game is usually a boss or raid boss. This is done, as these mobs are geared up to take being hit by a party and the rewards for parties taking them are usually sweet, like multiple piece of high grade armor and similar. If you are seeking an item that is dropped or spoiled by one of these bosses, then your best best is to look for a recipie, 'cause you ain't going to take them alone!

Some mobs are in restricted areas, like the Necropolis' as this is down to another part of the games team play element called the Seven Signs. More on that later when I experience it and add it.

You can also siege castles as a clan, and can thus take a castle for your clan. There are also clan halls within the game so that people of particular clans can get together with a little privacy. Generally, if you're a member of a clan and you get killed, if the clan has a castle or hall, you'll see these options pop up as respawn points. I'll post more on the basic rules of castle taking when I experience it myself!

Macros are very handy tools and can help you out of all sorts of spots. Basically, everything you click on is actually sending a typed command to the program. The icons are already macros. Try issuing the commands /sit and /stand at the console. Note that your character sits and stands, just like pressing on the icon ... well, almost!

A macro (in case you're not sure) is a string of pre-typed commands. You hit the button, and the macro, "runs," executing those commands one after the other, just as if you had typed them one after the other at the keyboard.

To start with, I'm going to teach you a wonderfully useful macro that was taught to me by the wonderful Jane Muffin. If you have ever come across a mob that you can't attack because the system just won't let you, then you need /attack force - yes typing this in at the keyboard will do the job, but on most servers you may need to do it more regularly. First off, access the Macro section by pressing ALT + R together. The Macro window will pop up. Click the Add button and you will now get the macro edit window. Give, "Attack Force" as the name, "atkf" as the acronym (you've only got four letters) and in the 00 box, type, "/attack force" and click save. Congratulations, you've now made your first macro.

Now you can see that green button on it with the four letters that is your acronym. You can actually drag that button, just like everything else, in to your side bar. Many people overwrite the default attack button with this macro, as it is so useful. When you're done, you can just close the macro window.

Another of Janes useful tips is to put all your buffs in a macro. That way, you just have one macro button in your side bar, and it triggers all your buffs automatically!

Like before, press ALT R to get the macro window up, and press New to create a new macro. While that window is open, now also open your skills window. You can drag and drop your skills in to the 00, 01, 02, etc. slots on the macro editor! Note that the commands themselves actually appear in the macro editor. Once you've put all your buffs in here, you can just give the macro a name and an acronym, then you can save it. Finally, you can drag the macro button in to your sidebar and use it to fire off all your buffs. You can also do this with the buffs that you use on other characters. It saves a lot of time.

One final word about using macros for things like buffs, is that even if you click on something else, the macro will stop running, so be sure to stay still throughout the macros execution.

A pet is quite a drain on your resources, but good fun to raise. My experience is based on the hatchling. (and thanks to Nic for the advice!)

If you think that the quest for a hatchling is a pain in the rear end, then check out what you have to do level the pet once you've got it. Firstly, you need equipment. Without equipment, you're newbie pet won't be able to kill a level 1 Imp, let alone anything larger. Check out the pet shop, and the most expensive hatchling equipment will set you back two milion adena for a start. Then you have to buy food for the beast.

You can't unsumon a pet that is hungry, so always make sure you've got enough to satisfy its stomach before you send it back, otherwise you've got a hungry pet on your hands which won't leave your side until its belly is full; and unlike your character, the pet is always becoming more hungry by the minute. Generally, somewhere around 50% fed will enable you to unsummon your pet away again. I haven't yet let my pet go hungry, but I guess that it probably dies.

To feed your pet, drag some pet foot in to the pets inventory, (on the server I play on, about 40 units is usually enough to go from 30% fed to 80% fed) and then double click on it in the pet inventory to have the little terror eat it.

Levelling up your pet is done in battle. You attack a mob, and instruct your pet to attack it also. The mob will attack the one doing it the most damage (you) so your pet will get away unscathed. Pick a mob that is around your level, and don't use soulshot. If you do more damage than your pet does, then your pet will get a lower share of the XP and won't level as fast. However, be ready to click on your shoulshot if the battle doesn't seem to be going your way.

My trick is to find a suitable group of mobs (when I was level 36 I picked the small group of Wyverns, Basilisks and Road Scavengers that are between the South end of Death Pass and Giran Town) and I would start hacking in to them, one by one. When I juded that I was getting in to dangerous HP teritory (after about four or five fights depending on the strength of my armor and weapon) I'd feed my pet and unsummon it. Then I could sit down and rest without my pet getting hungrier, and then resummon it when I was ready to go again. Be warned not to risk dying, as I'm not sure what state that will leave your pet in ... probably dead, so be ready to have some form of ability to resurect it in case this happens.)

Another note is that every time you summon a pet, you need to transfer their mour and weapon in to their inventory, and enable them. Armed items in your pets inventory are seen surrounded by green.

If your pet has died and you need to target it in order to resurect it, try using the /target command, eg. /target cuttie pie - and then use the resurect scroll.