The Troll

Well my troll was level 15 and on a whiw one day I thought I'd go see Kunark. This is a brief chronicle of what it takes to get there.

You'll have to hop onto two boats to reach Kunark. The first is really a raft that leaves from the dock in the Oasis of Marr. The dock is extremely easy to find and if you don't know where it is, just ask anyone. The raft has a tendency to spend a lot of time docked so you'll need to be patient. Once it gets going it will drop you off at an island in the Timorous Deep. It won't stop at a dock there, and instead edges up in shallow water. Remember this drop off place, or write down the loc... it's impossible to find on your return trip if you don't know what you're looking for. See last paragraph for a cool tip about the raft.

You'll have to travel south and through an ogre village to get to the dock for Kunark. My starting faction put me at dubious with these ogres. I recommend not killing them. To hurt your faction with these guys can make this journey rather rough. Since they are dubious to me they won't trade with me so I don't know what kinda supplies can be bought on the road. I have also been told that by killing them you ruin your Kunark faction and can make it so you can't bind yourself there.

The boat to Kunark can be found at the end of a long, rickety-looking pier. It takes a while to arrive, and even longer to get you to Kunark. Once on the boat you can drift away from your PC for about 15-20 minutes. When it does arrive at its destination you'll be greeted by the weirdest sight...

An undead guard stands on the pier removing its head and replacing it. You have been delivered to an evil city filled with undead, dark elf dragoons, and mechanical gnomes. Assuming you haven't somehow screwed your initial faction, you are safe in the city and you can trade and be bound here. Actually, the city is part of a huge zone and you can be bound anywhere in the zone... the city just happens to be safe. Be aware that this zone--The Overthere--is a high level zone, said to be levels 15-40. Only one beast conned yellow to me while I was here so I simply ran through to another zone, but it is a very scary and fascinating run. Kunark is definietly an interesting place.

I didn't explore much, but I did learn a couple of things... you're more than likely to experience a lot of lag in certain zones due to the improved graphics (i.e. trees swaying in the wind) and as a troll YOU ARE KOS IN CEBILIS. I chose to leave Kunark so quickly because I didn't like the thought of having to run through a 15-30 zone naked as a level 15, especially without a SoW.

The return trip is just as dull as the ride to Kunark, but on the whole I found just a little exploration to be quite invigorating... a look at the future for my troll.

One final thought... it's really a sneaky trick that I'm probably not the first to realize. By stepping onto the raft in the Oasis you can get monsters off of you... they lose their aggro on you. I tried it once just to see and it worked--but really angered the people sitting on the dock. Another time I was in a very close battle with a croc right by the hut. The battle was looking like anyone's game and a Dry Bones Skeleton starts casting on me. I yelled for help twice, but realized that at 4am there are only 8 or so people in the zone. At a loss, and so close to leveling, I pulled onto the raft and both beasts turned away and I was spared. I know first hand that this trick does work.

Palooka, 16th level troll warrior, Quellious server

I left the swamp around level 8 to head for the Commonlands and when I got there I quickly realized that I didn't know exactly where I would be safe. I turned to the message boards and came up empty handed so I asked around in the game and have found a few things that I would like to share with all of my fellow newbie, and KOS, trolls. To begin, though, I should toss out this disclaimer: I am a troll warrior who prays to Cazic-Thule. I have heard that religion, class, and race all add to your degree of KOS.

Places to get a bind around the Commonlands include either East or West Freeport (as far from the guards as possible) or in Neriak.

You can safely run past the dark elf guards in Nektulous unless you've somehow tweaked your initial faction with them. You can enter the first two zones of Neriak, but should avoid exploring too much. The first zone is quite safe and you can sell here as well as buy food, drink, and bags. The second zone is more dangerous and I would advise you to avoid the guilds for the different classes. An ogre pal of mine bit the dust in the necro guild as soon as he spoke to one of the NPCs. The second zone has the bank... the only one I use in this half of the world. Neriak has become my home away from home and I purchase all of my food here and do all of my banking here. I am told that it's possible to sneak into the North Freeport bank, but I've never tried.

Places to sell... in East Commons you can trade with the Shady Swashbuckler deep inside the tunnel without any fear. I have never gone to any of the huts, but alas my poor ogre friend has and as soon as he right-clicked to sell the guards ran in and dashed his brains out. The Swashbuckler has very little to purchase. In West Commons there is a hut just outside of Befallen where it is safe to trade. She'll ***** you on prices, but it's a fast way to unload while your group camps the Dervs. She can be found in a free standing hut, unguarded, just north of the line where sand meets grass. In West Freeport you need to find the underground tunnels. In the north tunnel is a halfling named Toxdil... I've sold stuff to him only once and that was before I had ever killed any halflings. I haven't approached him since and I'm probably becoming KOS with the twerp.

Places to train... I haven't found anyone who'll train me yet. There are evil trainers under Freeport (see www.eqatlas.com for maps of tunnels) but they wouldn't help me. I suspect it's because of my religion though. Fortunately, after level 8 I got no new skills as a warrior until level 13, so I had some breathing time between runs to Grobb.

Getting a little off-topic here... the Deathfist Slashed Belt deal... I couldn't do it. I had a ton of belts (I bashed orcs before realizing other things to slay--see next paragraph) and didn't know how to turn them into the guard captain in West Freeport for better faction. I was made invisible and approached the captain, but as soon as I clicked a belt onto him I was smitten... instant death at my level. Someone else had to drag my corspe into the outskirts of town for me. Someone suggested that I go in in the form of a wolf, but I've decided to be proud of being evil and to blow off Freeport all together. The belts still have a good resale value if you're needing money though.

Finally, and this is a little off-topic too, if you really wanna be evil then don't level up by killing orcs... instead kill the halflings in Nektulous. They're mostly between levels 8-13 with the big exception being the Leatherfoot guys... they're tough. You'll need a group to fight with because these guys aggro the whole camp and they hit fast and stun a lot... meaning that you don't get your attacks in too much. They're also casters. The only faction changes I had were all halfling/Rivervale related... a city that I could care less about. They drop crummy loot, but it is the evil thing to do. On a small footnote, killing these halflings might affect your standing with Toxdil (the halfling trader in the Freeport tunnels), but I haven't tested this yet.

Palooka, level 13 troll warrior, Quellious server

So yer tired of everything wanting to kill ya eh? Here's some handy advice I wish I would have had a bit earlier in my career.

You can gain two zones that you can bind in, and a bank, by killing gnolls and orcs in highpass until faction is maxed on both.

Killing goblins in butcherblock, runnyeye, and beholder maze will raise your faction high enough that you will not be KOS to any of the warriors except the gnomes on the entire continent of Faydwer with no negative faction hits. This will not help with merchant faction however.

After you've managed to become not KOS to dwarf warriors you can turn in crushbone belts/pads in the dwarf warrior guild to bring your faction as high as warmly and become non-KOS to the merchants inside and outside Kaladim as well. I would not advise killing orcs for them as this ruins your dark elf warrior faction.

Bandits in lake rathe and raiders in north karana both give better highpass, karana residents, and qeynos guards faction with no negatives that matter.

Goblins in Warsilk woods will help your iksar warrior and firona vie faction with no negatives worth mentioning.

Killing minotaurs in steamfont will raise your gnome warrior faction, but I wouldn't bother myself.

Blackburrow gnolls will raise your faction with qeynos guards yet again, possibly making you non-kos by now if you've maxed it off bandits etc, as well as qeynos merchants.

Killing dwarf bandits in butcherblock could possibly make you non-KOS to dwarf rogues, I'm currently trying to find out if the cap on them is high enough to raise faction with minersguild628 to dubious. This would allow you access to anywhere in the first zone of kaladim and as far in the second zone of kaladim as the bank.

If you've managed to get all this done without gathering any negative faction hits you should now have twelve, possibly fourteen, safely bindable zones and six, possibly seven or eight, banks.

I have found several good post here and in the class section about starting out as a troll shaman..that being said I seem to do things differently from most folk it seems and so I thought I'd put down a few of my ideas..

Starting out as a Troll shaman, OMHO, is one of the easier beginnings a player can have. First..trolls regenerate so those 1dmg hits by newbie critters dont add up like they sometimes would and your life bar stays relativly full as long as your not fight'n out of yuor element and even when facing multpile blues, which is one of the keys to fast progression in the swamp. Anyhoo..the first thing you do when you start is do the guild note thing and get your little shirt (which btw can be sold for a nice 8 silver). At this point I like put 5 points into 1hnd blunt. It will make live much easier for you especialy because trolls are dumb and skill lvls go up slowly (even though I added that extra 5 points to int during creation which I think is the best place for it because you dont have a spirit of intellence spell and a higher int makes skills go up faster and trade skil attempt succeed more often)

It out to hunt for your troll shaman now that you've practiced and whatnot. The swamp is home to a bunch of newbie critters that you will want to kill and eat..the only type I dont kos at the rats...to begin with..because they dont drop anything real usefull..you should start your collection of snake scales at this time that you will need later in lifea as a component for the scale skin buff. Hunting snakes also helps you colelct snake eggs...which are used by the rare master bakers to create nifty food..make sure to bank these quickly (as you will eat them like food if you dont) and auction them in neriak for several pp for a stack. Its tough to find a baker but if you do they will pay well. Also apperently Troll's cultural craft will be baking ..whenever that cultural stuff goes live..so trolls should just hang onto the eggs in case they can be used to create stat-buffing foods or whatever heh. Kobalds are the big exp rewards around here at newbie lvls but you should becareful because they tend to hit harder and will assist eachother. They also will drop bags and boxes..which if you didnt buy one in grobb behind the bar at the warriors guild, will be very useful. Frogluc tads and decaying skeles are the breadwinners. The skeles drop both bone chip, which sell to necros for 2pp+ a stackm, and sometimes rusty weapons which can be sold or sharpend in the forge in Ogguk with sharpening stones purchased at the troll SK guild. THe frogluck tads drop netted armor which you casn sell or use till you head over to the Rathe mountains to hunt for your ruined bear pelts needed for tailoring or otherwise produce patchwork. Now once you hit lvl 2 run into grobb real quick and liquidate your sellable items ...not the scales or chips...and buy the spell "burst of fire" and any other buffs you can afford...ther are some quests for burst of fire but they aint worth the trip to ogguk. Now you should return to the swamp and continue the hunt until your inventory is full or you hit lvl 4. I like to pull 3 snakes at a time and drag them into the water so I can practice swimming at the same time as fight'n. At lvl 4 you should head back to grobb and train in channeling (only one point) and maybe pick up the spell "frost rift". You can also buy milk from the first merchant you see for 6 copper which is a good deal until you can summon water flasks. I found no better food item prices than 3 silver 2 copper for a ration. Now once your set you should head out of the city and along the wall a bit till you start running into fungus man trackers, giant rats and swamp aligators..fight these till lvl 6..it will go quickly as the exp is good but the cash aint. At lvl 6 your should be able to go fight froglucs around the enterance to guk...I like to pull them from the island to a wall with sicken.. as long as they die quick and dont run away you should be fine...the money will roll in at this point and I would stay and fight frogs in front of guk till lvl 7 or 8...I do not recomend, as many guides here do, fighting at the tower...I find that the kobald hunters often gang up on you and totaly molest you, the skele spawn just aint quick enough, and then a mummy spawns and your screwed. Add to that the long walk home and the frogs assisting eachother as well...its just too hard to be worth the trouble. The minute you hit 8th run back ot the city..train one point in meditation and buy ALL your lvl 9 spels not forgeting te ones for sale at the hand in the swamp...hopefully you've stayed around guk killing lots and lots of weak blues and greens FOR CASH so you can buy all your lvl 9 spells and make a run for neriak. Some people like to stay and fight lizaards near CAzic or in the Rathe mountians or orcs in the desert...but that only works if you can get a small group together and I find that its just easier to get a group of inkies and whoop on Lavastorm a bit...which is one of my favorite zones in all the world. The key to this being that you did spend extra time killing weak frogs and SLOWLY lvling so you can afford to leave the area bacause there aint no place to buy shaman spells in Neriak and you really dont want to run all the way back once you get there. Once you get to neriak hunt orcs, giant spiders and various kats (and the occational lightie if yer pvp like me :P)in the commonlands until you get 9th then mem your new spells and join a group in lavastorm..where you canstart soloing drake (dont forget to have resist fire on at all times) around 10-11. If you can obtian a magic weapon do so and go fight willowwisps in the commons as they drop mucho denero and good exp too..closest thing prob to killing faeries! muhaha

Thats really the end of newbiedom OMHO..a few pointers to go with...make sure to swtich between 1hd blunt and peircing weapons to keep you skill up (another benefit of fighting TONS AND TONS of easy blue frogs) as you can never be sure with will be the first form of magic weapon you will come across..some people use 2nhd blunt...but later in life you wont depend so much on melee and you'll want the free hand for a shield or wis upper. Make sure to alwatys bash as much as possible as it helps to increase your offense skill quicker and is usefull to stun casters and interupt spells. Dont use Inner Fire to heal in battle or otherwise...it casts too slow and it doesnt help your healing casting skill (cant remeber if its alt or abj) you will be thankful when you get light heal and you arnt fizzling your mana away. Dont cast the drowsy spell EVER..it really really is not worth the mana..its fun to debuff things but the change in speed is just not worth the mana (which they actualy lowered once alreay I beleive) which can be better spent on a frost rift or 2 minor heals...later version of the spell are better ..this one sucks...especially when you dont have med and mana saved is an extra life emergancy heal earned. Do cast Fleeting fury when you can..its a fun spell that uber buffs your tanks for a short time , its cheap, and it reminds your tanks your doing something back there other than scratching yourself...people just "like" you for casting this spell..its kinda a wierd karma thing.
Woven armor..desired by casters for its look and often stat increases can be found on forgluck foragers that lurk in the northwest (upper right) courner of the zone. Monks like this stuff too for its wieght. It also drops off frogs in upper guk..but its easier (rare drop regardless) to find the foragers in the swamp. I have seen foragers around guk ent but never have they dropped the armor so I guess it only is found on the frogs in that one area

I've seen lots on the net about troll regen, sitting, standing, and what it is at higher levels.

Can someone lay down the "real" rule?

Level 1 sit/stand
level 10 sit/stand
level 20 sit/stand
level 30 sit/stand
level 40 sit/stand
level 50 sit/stand
level 60 sit/stand

Thanks

Having played a troll for 51 levels I think I can safely say that I know quite alot about the pro's and con's of playing our esteemed race.

First lets look at the good things about being a troll :)

1)We are rare at higher levels. My number one reason for choosing a troll, was the fact that there are very few people who stick it out and reach the upper levels as a troll. We have many disadvantages that the advantages really don't offset all that well in my opinion. Of all the post 50 warriors that I know of on my server.. I can only think of 3 that are trolls (there may be more, but I have yet to meet them if there are ;) )

2)We regenerate. This skill makes us able to solo for far more levels than most other races can. at lower levels you regain HP at 2 every 6 seconds standing, or 6 every 6 seconds sitting. Only iksar have this ability, all other races heal at 1 HP every 6 seconds standing and 3 HP every second sitting down. After level 50, the regeneration effect increases to 4 HP every 6 seconds standing and 12 sitting. I was able to solo effectively until I was level 47 and I think the fact that I regenerate helped keep me soloing for so long>

3)We get the slam ability. All the large races (Trolls, Ogres, and Barbies) get the ability to slam. Slam is basically exactly like a shield bash that smaller warrios, paladins, and SK's use. It does damage and has a chance to stun the target. This ability is awesome when you are fighting mobs that cast spells, as a successful bash will interrupt them 99% of the time.

4)We get infravision. Although everyone says we get infravision, I really think that it is ultravision that trolls get. I can see way better with my troll than I can with my other characters who have infravision.

Now for the downsides to being a troll, and there are many ;)

1)My single most hated attribute is my sheer size. I have a terrible time in most dungeons because we are a huge race. You will learn to use the "D" key alot, and learn how to jump over short peoplel and you will die alot because you can't get past the mob you are fighting and run away. Once you get high enough level you can start stocking up on shrink potions but they are on average 40PP everytime you want to shrink yourself (it takes two to get you to the smallest size and they are typically 20PP apiece)

2)Faction. We are hated by most everyone. When we start, there are 4 places where we can bank/sell/buy. These are Grobb, Ogguk, Neriak, and the outpost in Overthere. I personally have raised my faction to where I can travel through Highkeep unmolested also. I know that you can gain enough faction with Firiona Vie also, but I have not done it myself so I can't tell you how. You will need to make friends with a druid/wizard early on, or you will end up running out of food/water alot, and also end up destroying some loot cause you can't carry anymore.

3)Lack of Equipment. Many of the best melee gear in the game can only be worn by medium sized races (and barbies). Some of these include Hero Bracers, Granite Imbued Spalders, Goblin Forged Armor, and Sebillite Scale Armor.

4)Experience Penalty. As trolls, verant has deemed that we have too many advantages, and as a consequence we(and iksar) have the most sever racial experience penalty in the game. From what I have read, it is about a 20% penalty. This means that if it takes a smaller 5 kills to see an amount of movement on his experience meter, it will take us 6. In the 40's when it takes up to 500 kills for them to get a level, it will take us 600 to get that same level.

The good and at the same time bad things ;)

1)Stats. As a troll we have fairly high physical stats and low mental stats. Seeing as how stats are basically not worth much at all for a melee class, it is only a slight benefit for the warriors and sk's out there for melee purposes. For the troll shaman and sk's though, this means that they are going to have a bit less mana than some other races that can be thier classes.

2)Roleplaying. Trolls have to be one of the funnest races to roleplay. This can be a good thing, but can also be annoying when certain groups won't accept you because they are all roleplayers and don't group with "evil" races.

Well that is about all for my pro's and con's message about trolls. If you want my honest opinion, I love my troll and would never think of playing anything else, despite all the hardships that we have :)

Always keep an eye out for this female troll. She isnt KoS to you but is a key element in a quest a number of higher lvl characters do. And if they are asking for her, be sure to offer aid, as they will most likely have a few nice weapons to give a way at the end of there quest.