Hey man, welcome to DC.
for such a simple game there is a bit to it.
here's a few random points to maybe help.
increasing your stats will increase your odds of a successful encounter with a beast.
You can read up on the guts/wits/charm stuff at RO's site
www.angelfire.com/games3/clanskyriders/This site is the place for info. Some of it is a little out of date but the majority of the info is solid. You really should check it out. People that have played for years still use it as a reference almost daily.
There is a ton of stuff on the W & W forums as well if you look around. Omniscient Oracle board has a lot of stuff.
This game grows as you do. Huh?
As you go up in levels the beasts also get stronger. Your stats are increasing as you play and quest and such. When you gain a level you will notice that you will encounter the same critters but they are just a bit tougher.
Getting guild skills in the forest will help.
Fighter skills will let you use a 'berzerk' attack on a beast if you didn't get it on the first hit. Also, until you reach level 31 and can wear gear from every level, getting a few fighter skills can help. If you are level 18 with 3 fighter skills you can wear level 21 gear, or level 16 with 10 fighter skills and you can use level 26 gear.
If you get 3-5(or more) Trader skills you will be able to more successfully run from some critters. Why run? because some of them have nothing you want and you may get your quest back if you run. possible wits gain
Mage skills will let you mez (hypnotize) some beasts. possible wits gain
Sage skills will help protect you from them mezzing you.
Different skills will be more important at different stages of the game. A new player will make more use of fighter and trader skills, as you get stronger , you will be able to mez critters. Trader is always good, as is Sage. The stronger you are, the more successful your encounters will be obviously
. I like to keep the guilds mostly balanced but everyone has their own opinion on what is best. It's fun to experiment anyway. Getting guild skills will take points from your guts/wits/charm depending on which skill you get. Be careful you don't decrease too much. get a couple of skills, quest a day or so to get your stats back and then go get more guild skills. It's easier to build your stats when you are a lower level so I try to get as many skills as I can when I'm small. Again just a personal choice and there are lots of opinions on how to do it best lol
DON"T put flame or glow on anything. Worms(mounds), Snakes(Docks), and Anacondas(Azteka) can strip a glow or flame item off you. They are the only critters that can do this and only to glow or flame items. You may get your item back of you manage to kill the thing but it will have deteriorated. It will have decreased stats and probably will have some rust.
Speaking of rust... OIL everything 5 times and keep it that way. As you log in each day you will lose one oil on each item. Replace the oils daily. If you go to the court you can get blessings.
100,000 give you the small blessing and protects the items you are wearing. 500,000 will protect the items in your pack also. Your items will be protected from decay until you login again. Real time means nothing here. A day or a week or a month in real time is the same here. Only when you login next time will the blessing wear off. It is a good idea to keep things oiled x 5 (all they will hold) and get the blessings as well if you can. Then you just replace the blessing each login and you're all good.
Your items in Silver Storage are not protected by the blessings. ONly oil can help you there.
Also, everything is subject to decay. Things you can't oil but have left in storage can go 'missing'. You had 400 turnips in there and when you logged in again there were only 390 or so. When you logout make sure everything is in your pack instead of storage if you can. Same thing when you mail stuff. A percentage may go to the rust demon. Oil will protect gear items from this but stackable stuff like apples and gems etc will suffer decay.
Before you go questing, empty your pack into your storage temporarily and take only what you need to go questing. If a critter mezzes you and you aren't protected you can lose half to all of your stuff.
How to protect yourself when questing;
You need to bring 3 things every time you go questing. In addition to your healing salves and apples and rope or torches etc, you need to have;
1.Thief insurance...protect you from swindling critters who will make these bogus deals where you will find yourself to be the proud new owner of the brook land bridge and it only cost you everything in your pack... there's no bridge.
2.Bottled fairies..when the beast does mez you the fairy will transport you to the healer tower before you can get robbed by whatever just smoked yer butt.
3.sage skills can help protect you from getting mezzed in the first place.
There's strategies about whether to kill, run, feed, mez or whatever for each critter. Certain actions on creatures will increase your odds of stat gains or weapon drops and ....... too much for this one post.
I've just sorta rambled on , let me know if there's more or specific answers you need.
Hope this helps and
Happy Questing!!
orrv
btw, did the package I sent go missing or was it at the post office? I didn't see if you answered anywhere but I'll send another package if the first one went astray. ;D
oh yeah, if anyone sees a error in my explanashun please feel free to correct me ;D