Newb: Twenty (20) Things (1-5)

1. One can travel between cities using Teleport.

I can almost hear people saying /DUH! But as a total newb not everybody knows this simple fact. I personally played for 3 weeks and never caught on except that a forum member here on SRF told me (thx, Glavie).

By the time I did learn about the TP system, I had thousands of 2nd Degree Wind but still didn't like the fact that I was charged real $GOLD$ for the quick transport.
My friend had patience with me and after discovering the "secrets" of the stall network, I never turned back. Thanks again, Glavie, yer cool and I very much appreciate the support you were willing to give to a newb during their Silkroad travels!
Certain quests prevent Teleporting and the use of Return Scrolls.

2. The characters on a single account all share the same storage.

This is an important fact when later you are trying to better yourself through the game economy because you can position one of your characters in a different city and designate him as your “Stall Character”. Yes, it takes gold to deposit things into storage and it also takes gold to transport your 2nd character (to Hotan, for instance). But as your coffers become full of elements from following the guidelines below it is well worth it.

Even newbs can spend silk. Somehow I knew almost immediately that I would this game except for maybe a couple things. I don't like picking stuff up and I don't like having limited inventory space. Buying a "grab-it pet" (mine is a monkey) was one of the best decisions I've made. Side benefit is that one can fill the monkey inventory, put the pet into storage (for 1g) and transfer things to other characters on the cheap.

You'll need to be level 5 to use a 'grabber' pet so might as well complete the inventory expansion quest while your at it for your 2nd character.

3. SP Farming isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.

First thing to do is to choose what “Build” you might like. If you have no clue consider looking at the various Guides here at SRF [LINK to SRF Guide Lists] and find one that people say is difficult to mess up like Pure Strength.
Then make your character but don’t worry too much about your initial selections – they can be changed later if you like.



The next thing (after you’ve leveled up and completed a couple quests) is to take a look at the SP calculator and understand the basics of “Gapping” your character. [URL for Nivlam Skill Planner] & [URL for Nivlam Skill Point Gap Calculator]
If you spend up your Masteries as soon as you can so that your highest mastery (doesn’t matter which one – weapon or force) … IF your highest is equal to your current level your character is Zero Gapping.
If your character is level 16 and your highest mastery is level 7 your character is “9 Gap”. Creating “gaps” between your masteries and character level determines the ratio of SP vs. EXP you earn per kill. The greater the gap, the more the SP earned. The greater the gap (this stops becoming beneficial at Gap 9) the lower the amount of EXP you earn per kill. By 9-Gapping you slow down how fast your character gains level and increase the amount of skill earned per kill, hence the term “SP Farming”.
http://www.silkroadforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=82102

4. A character is not locked into their initial Clothing Equipment choices.

If you wear Garment, you cannot mix-n-match. Full Garment gear (equipping all six (6) pieces) will grant 20% bonuses: +20% Movement speed & less Mana consumption. Garment gives the greatest protection against Magical attacks.
Protector and Armor can be worn at the same time but you will need the Full Protector set to get the bonuses. Full Protector gives +10%.
Heavy armor gives the greatest defense against Physical attacks (Tank gear).

5. There is a very nice “HELP” system in game for newbs (other than what you learn from General Soysauce (Sonhyeon). To open the help system you press [ESC] then choose HELP or just press “H”.

The Help system includes Basic information on each aspect of the game.
There is a complete Quest Guide on the Right Tab on top as well.