Refresh my memory please...

For the factions PvE preview event (I would assume the same would hold true for this weekend's event) were we able to see/use the new skills for the previous professions, or were we just able to use assassin/rit skills? I can't wait to see what new Elementalist spells there will be, but I can't remember if we will be able to use them this weekend or not. Thanks!

Yeah. You don't have to make a Dervish or Paragon. If you really wanted to you could make an Elonian wammo. lol


Also, if you go to the priest of Balthazar during the even you should be able to see all the new skills in the unlock window.

Yeah I can't wait to see how each proffesion looks in Elonia.

sweet! thanks guys

All skills were avialable at the priest for that weekend. Even the old profession skills. At the PvP event they didnt show alot of skills, but at this pve one, all are there. NOTE THOUGH that alot of balancing and tweaking is done to the skills before the game comes out (Some Assassin Skills even had their name changed between the event and game launch lol).

For factions any character you started on the continent were auto-lvl20 and came with skills unlocked for them already so you didnt have to spend faction unlocking skills on your account for them (a handful of skills, and a few elites, so you had some choice as I remember). Also Storage was disabled and there was no way off or into the continent so that no items or money from the event were leaked over, But any unlocks you got (rune wise, or weapon mod wise) stayed with your account.

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Below is just some rambling on, and you in no way have to read it unless you want to know about the factions weekend
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Funny thing was, for the preview event, Marketplace was the HUGE Kaineng City town with all the traders that come with being a "big town" (Marketplace then was bigger too as I remember) and was the only Kaineng city town on the map. By the time the game was released they changed Kaineng Center into being the Trader having town and marketplace was reduced to some waypoint between the island and Kianeng Center.

When you left The Marketplace you were in the valley outside Maatu keep (Pomgmai, or w/e). The Jade Castle was weird. The Jade Knights and Ritualists had no skills and 0 in all attributes. Kenshi Steelhand was the boss outside there where Xaotho or w/e is now (she now is in the city between marketplace and center) and she too had no skills [except of couse her elite] and had 0 in all attributes. Making that the easiest cap for the weekend, and the easiest farming site for rune unlocking (A freshly made warrior with the default skills could tear through every jade near that castle in a minute). Also noted is that Perfect dagger mods were dropping LIKE CRAZY that weekend because they knew you couldnt keep them anyway I got Perfect sundering, perfect fortitude, and perfect Enchant mod all unlocked from chests in the valley - among others.

As for caps, Only a handful of bosses were placed in for your capping pleasure. Bosses that are in these places now were not during the event - literally there was just a handful of bosses. This was even true after Factions release lol, it took them about a week to fill in bosses for most of the elites, and like 2 weeks before they finaully patched in Assassin's Promise.

The event took you through both sides of the territory up to their second mission (Eternal Grove and Gyala Hatchery) and the town that follows. There were no 10k faction quests of course, you just got the quest you needed straight on. You also didnt need quests or anything to go into Cavalon and House. Besides the bosses and quests to get into the areas lacking, they surprisingly gave us access to MOST of the quests you can get in these towns now.

As I remember it, It was a HUGEEEEE Status Symbol for that weekend if you made it to Vasburg Armoury. Most people didnt even make it south enough to get to Eternal Grove gates. This is because they gave you REALLY CRAPPY default skills to test out and the henchies were cruddy (they were still cruddy after game release, and were fixed in the first patch after factions release ).

A few people were lucky enough to get 1 set of 15k Kurzick. It was a guild effort for most of them, the guild as a collective got together enough amber to buy 1 set. This is because you had to EARN all the amber to get the armor, they werent in the trader yet, and there was NO economy in Cantha that weekend because noone had much money (couldnt get in storage).

/useless Ramble. I FREAKING LOVED that weekend man. It was like starting over in the game and EVERYONE was in the same boat...No newbies No elitest, for one weekend in Cantha everyone was equal and exploring new things - like how it was when chapter 1 first came out

That screwed me up so bad when I actually bought Factions...

Tell me about it! Had they actually showed the city in the PvE event of Factions, I might not have bought it... probably was a good move...

You would have skipped the whole of Factions if you they've shown you Kaineng Center instead?? Wow... so you hate Kaineng enough that you'd skip the entire campaign and the pvp additions? Interesting.... I didn't know Kaineng garnered so much hate.

Not Kaineng Center, but the whole city, or rather the slums. Yes, I might have just not bought the game if I knew that was a big chunk of it. I don't like being forced to go through all that to get to the 'good' parts that were shown in the PvE event. I didn't like the first time, and I still don't like it.

I don't PvP a lot, so I could care less about the extra skills and characters. Though I have now grown to love my Rit. Like I said, it was a good move. I don't regret getting it now, I think I got $50 worth out of it, just saying I would NOT have gotten it if I saw the city was a big chunk of the game.

I'm not a big fan of the slums either... They are extremely annoying. Everything looks alike and your map is completely useless, all it shows is where a bridge is. Every other enviroment in the game was Awesome though, first time I saw the Jade Sea I flipped out

I'll go ahead and put this question here:

I've never kept a character created during a PvE preview event. I know all your items and gold are wiped, but what about unlocked skills? How does that work?

Do you have direct access to the regular skills you unlocked during the Preview upon retail release? Or, do you have to buy them from a skill trainer, just like if you unlocked them in PvP?

If you unlocked them with balthazar faction; they stay unlocked. If you went to a skill trainer they don't get unlocked for pvp and when it goes live; it will be as though you never bought it.

Thanks, Knight. That actually does make sense, now I think about it.

The befriending quests were there. They were a lot easier, because the normal quests had reward of 3k Faction and the repeatable quests had reward of 1k Faction.

Keep in mind that everything - gold, items, armor, *character* will be wiped out after the weekend. So don't get too attached to your <insert profession here> 'cause he/she won't be waiting for you when Nightfall officially opens.

They say that, but I believe the name and profession will still exist (although you can't use him/her until the official release).

Why would you want to waste a slot saving a new character with no skills or items? To reserve the name, of course. I'm going to try it anyway, and see if it works.

Worst case scenario: I'll have to rename a character if it does get deleted, and the name gets taken.

Actually it will be waiting for you when Nightfall opens. Same name/profession/face. But you'll be lvl 1 with starter armor.

(click pic for full screen)

As you can see, I still have my Dervish from the PvP event. But it's locked and I can't use it til Nightfall goes live. The name stays reserved and your character's appearance stays the same. They will lock characters the same way after the PvE event.

p.s. The ritualist on the end is reserving my name for campaign four and sometimes when I'm bored I just use it to hang out in the guild hall and dance around in a naked fashion .

^Im only going on the chapter 1 preview here, but all my toons were reduced to level one, no secondary, no items. The face/hair etc will stay the same (with regard to any final tweaking they do to them) and you will keep your name. Granted, many people will delete and remake just out of habit when the game launches (or rather, the head-start) but as far as the basics go, youll have nothing to worry about.

(im still not adding my broken toy code til launch just to be safe tho :P)

also keep in mind the Pre-Sale bonus slot *Might get re-locked completely anyways... so you might not even be able to delete it hehe.

Actually; the prerelease bonus slot wont be available at all in the preview. If you don't have any free slots; just make a free account instead.