Some questions about the game for new players

[RedEclipse]

Hi, a friend of mine and myself want to try the game out, we have some questions about it:

1. How is latency for US players? We heard the servers are in Europe, will that be a problem for US players due to ping issues? We're on the east in the US if that matters.

2. How competitive is the pvp for new players? Can new people join in and do stuff, or do you pretty much get destroyed by veteran players? We have no problems with grinding and learning of course, just it probably wouldn't be fun if as a new player you literally can't do anything in pvp and are just fodder for other players.

3. How hard is it to get good gear in this? Again, we have no problems grinding and doing the work to get gear, just hope that it feels like a progression where your character gets stronger, and not a situation where you grind nonstop for months and you still can't do much of anything in pvp. Basically, avoiding a situation where you can't have any fun until an extremely long time of playing.

Thanks.

[Jabba]

1. The server is in France, so yes US players do have a higher latency, but it's perfectly playable.

2. For rvr, level brackets are 1-15 and 16-40, while for SC's the brackets are 1-15, 16-39 and then 40s. So while you're in T1 (1-15) you will be fighting against people around your level, there is a bit of a power jump at around level 10 as that's when classes get some of their stronger skills in T1, but it's quick to get to that yourself. You might also meet the odd person that's rolling an alt/twinking in lower tiers who gears out their lowbies in full on BiS talis etc, these will have a definite advantage over you if you haven't done the same, but it's not that common and T1 is not where you spend the majority of the game.
When you get to 16+, you will be fodder against people in rvr if they know what they're doing and are geared, bolster alleviates the issue somewhat, but you will be at a disadvantage for sure as you're missing lots of your skills. Your best bet in rvr is to join or follow a pug warband and leech off them a bit. If this isn't for you, you can just stay doing SC's to level. Here it will be similar to T1, you will be at a disadvantage as a fresh 16 coming up against higher levels who have kept their gear up to date as they level, but you can catch up quickly yourself. The mid tier pop rate is also really solid now since they made it 16-39.

3. You have multiple routes to get gear, which is best depends on what class/spec you play. Levelling up, gear is easy to acquire for the most part. Rvr/SC gear is cheap at lower levels and you can just buy accessories/jewelry from capital city vendors.
At 40, you have to grind for your gear, but you can get into conqeuror or dominator gear as a 'starter' set really quickly, especially if you leeched some rvr medals as you levelled.

Ask in chat (guild is best if you join one) for someone to make you talis for your levelling, blue talis cost people basically nothing except a bit of time if they have played the game for a while. There will be people willing to make some cheap blue talis for free or who have a bunch of spares lying around collecting dust.
If you join warbands and you're in a group with higher level people, ask them to pass on currency drops, will help out your gearing alot. Most people have no use for conqueror medals anymore, people are less likely to pass on vanquisher medals but everyone that passes on them increases your chance of getting them.

Written enough, sorry if I missed anything

[Drys]

First off - Hi and welcome. It's great getting new players and I hope you and your friend try it out and stick around. This game only gets more fun as more new folks join in!

1. I also play on the east coast US and I don't find latency issues to be a big deal. Obviously on massive 300 vs 300 player fights, there can be some lag -- but everyone experiences that. That being said, some classes, such as Witch Hunter (WH) and Witch Elf (WE) are highly position dependent and the latency could make a difference if you think you're behind the opponent, but you're not. For all other classes though I don't think it's a big deal.

2. The PVP is competitive, but the thing to keep in mind is that this isn't really a 1v1 game. So find a warband and stick with them -- once you do that you'll find that your level/experience balances out. While you'll lack certain key skills at lower levels, you do get a "bolster" that bumps up your stats. (Personally, I enjoy having skills unlock and then re-tooling my build for the next 1-2 levels.) During certain times, either order or destro will have the obvious advantage of numbers on the field. Scenarios are 15-minute matches that have more balanced numbers on each side (and more similar gear-levels) so that's a good change of pace.

3. Gear comes naturally from PVP rewards and comparable gear can be gotten from PVE dungeons. It's important to keep in mind that PVP gear has both a regular level and renown level requirement, and renown only comes from PVP. So if you let your regular level go up too fast, you'll find that you might not be able to equip some PVP gear until you get your renown level up.

[Drys]

First off - Hi and welcome. It's great getting new players and I hope you and your friend try it out and stick around. This game only gets more fun as more new folks join in!

1. I also play on the east coast US and I don't find latency issues to be a big deal. Obviously on massive 300 vs 300 player fights, there can be some lag -- but everyone experiences that. That being said, some classes, such as Witch Hunter (WH) and Witch Elf (WE) are highly position dependent and the latency could make a difference if you think you're behind the opponent, but you're not. For all other classes though I don't think it's a big deal.

2. The PVP is competitive, but the thing to keep in mind is that this isn't really a 1v1 game. So find a warband and stick with them -- once you do that you'll find that your level/experience balances out. While you'll lack certain key skills at lower levels, you do get a "bolster" that bumps up your stats. (Personally, I enjoy having skills unlock and then re-tooling my build for the next 1-2 levels.) During certain times, either order or destro will have the obvious advantage of numbers on the field. Scenarios are 15-minute matches that have more balanced numbers on each side (and more similar gear-levels) so that's a good change of pace.

3. Gear comes naturally from PVP rewards and comparable gear can be gotten from PVE dungeons. It's important to keep in mind that PVP gear has both a regular level and renown level requirement, and renown only comes from PVP. So if you let your regular level go up too fast, you'll find that you might not be able to equip some PVP gear until you get your renown level up.