Missions

Missions: Money, gear, survivability uncertain

Missions are the main way to:

• learn about the game
• get gear
• get experience
• get black bullion and marks of the pantheon
• get challenges done
• learn about the lore
• foreshadowing of what's to come

These are the main types of missions:

• Main - These  Blue missions  are NOT repeatable (Save for the ones in Kaidan). If you want to do them again, you have to make a whole new character. 
• These are not meant to be done all at once, if you do, you're eventually going to run into a brick wall (read very hard or devastating level missions). 
• They're designed to be done gradually after doing other missions in the area.
• Action - These  Red missions  mean you can go around and be an action hero. Kill everything in sight, or at least what it says.
• Sabotage - These  Yellow missions  rarely require you to kill anything, most of the time it involves puzzles, timing, and avoiding death or being seen. There's achievements for many of the sabotage missions and you even get a cool balaclava (the "spy mask" not a dessert, although it would be awesome if it was both) if you do all of the achievements.
• Investigation - These  Green missions  may have you using the internet to /google translate/cheat and use a walkthrough to find help or get clues. Sometimes they involve killing, sometimes not. They all require a bit of brain power and note taking, though.
• Side - These  Teal missions  aren't necessary to complete the zone, but gives a nice ap/sp/xp boost along the way while you're doing other quests.
• PVP - Missions you only receive in the PVP areas, such as Fusang. They do not show up in your normal quest log when you're outside that area. Massive ap/sp/xp/black bullion/marks of the pantheon boosts.
• Dungeon/Raid - These are  Purple missions  that you receive to complete the dungeon for the first time, or upon subsequent returns. Generally repeated for an ap/sp/xp/black bullion/marks of the pantheon boost.
• Scenario - These are Gold missions  that you receive to complete scenarios once you start it up in Venice.Generally repeated for an ap/sp/xp/black bullion/marks of the pantheon boost.

 
These are the main difficulties of the missions:

Very Easy - You'll one shot things
Easy - You'll have no trouble
Intermediate - You should be able to do this without trouble. This quest is at your QL level
Hard - You may have some trouble
Very hard - Expect trouble/death
Devastating - You WILL die

Gear and You

Gear and You

Gear of course is the be all, end all of any game really. This is a simple guide on the basics of gear within TSW.

Terms to know:

• Talismans - the 7 talismans you wear as your character (Not your clothes)
• Weapons - The two main weapons you'll be using in the build
• Auxiliary - a third weapon that becomes available after specific missions
• Glyph - a craft-able object you can insert into certain gear to boost stats
• Signet - an object found as mission rewards, or in lairs, that can be inserted into certain gear to boost stats or what certain active abilities or weapons do.
• Customizable - certain QL 10 epic talismans and weapons can be upgraded to be end game gear.
  •     Talismans and Weapons can be upgraded to 10.9
  •     Glyphs only from the Nightwatch Glyph Toolkit once slotted into the talismans and weapons can be upgraded to .5
  •     This is your endgame gear.
  •     Place signets and epic glyphs in lower quality or uncustomizable epics at your own risk.

• Main stats: - obtained by the type of talisman you get
  
• Heal Rating - increases healing
• Health - how many hits can you take?
• Attack Rating - increases damage

• Secondary Stats - obtained by the randomizer on talismans, or slotting in a glyph
• Crit rating - how often you will critically hit
• useful for healing/DPS
• Glyphs made by the Lu Runes
• Crit power - how strong your critical hits are
• useful for healing/DPS
• Glyphs made by the Denkyem Runes
• Penetration - controls how often your hits ignore the enemies block/protection
•  crit doesn't matter if you don't have this
• Glyphs made by the Trinity Runes
• Hit - controls how often your hits will glance against the enemy  
• crit doesn't matter if you don't have this
• Glyphs made by the Wheel Runes
• Block - how often will you block enemies' hits 
• most useful for tanking in dungeons
• Glyphs made by the Earth Runes
• Evade - how often will you glance enemies' hits
• most useful for pvp
• Glyphs made by the Yggdrasil Runes
• Physical and Magical Protection - Useless. 
• I think there's maybe one or two fights in the entire game that this is useful for tanks.
• Glyphs made by the Koru and Pentagram Runes, respectively

• Glyphs can be custom made by taking 4 runes of one type, or two of two different types, and using them in the crafting window along with a glyph toolkit
• For more about crafting, please check out Yokai and Sarcan's Crafting Tutorial and FAQ\
• Signets can only be obtained through missions or through lairs.
•  Signets can only be upgraded if you combine 10 of the same type and rank (uncommon or rare) to 1 of the next type. 
• Some signets are super valuable so it's recommended you don't use them in anything other than customizable rare QL 10 gear. Otherwise you'll be spending points in the store on a signet extractor. 

What you need to pay most attention to:

1. have you taken a look at my skill points guide?
2. Build - what are you aiming to do? What weapons will you be using?
3. Skill points - how many do you have and what are you trying to accomplish?

Overview of gear

Talismans - There's three types of talismans, head, major and minor

• If it's split, it means it's an uncommon quality. If it's a "pure" it's at least of a rare QL quality

• Head talismans - 
• these provide the best bang for your buck, so you want to work on these first. They give the highest totals for heal rating, health, or attack rating. Same with the glyphs. 
• Main Stats -
• Ashes - Even Health/Attack Rating or pure Attack Rating
• Pigment - High Health/Low Attack Rating or pure Health
• Blood - Even Health/Heal Rating or pure Heal Rating

• Major talismans - Finger, Neck, Wrist
• Depending on how you build you gear and who gives you advice, you may change these out often or rarely. These are the second largest bang for your buck and the core of many sets. For example, I have a bracer that I use for all of my dps sets, my soloing sets, and for my tanking sets. 
• Finger Talismans- 
  • Ring - Even Health/Attack Rating or pure Attack Rating
  • Knot - High Health/Low Attack Rating or pure Health
  • Band - Even Health/Heal Rating or pure Heal Rating
• Neck Talismans- 
• Pendant - Even Health/Attack Rating or pure Attack Rating
• Medallion - High Health/Low Attack Rating or pure Health
• Amulet - Even Health/Heal Rating or pure Heal Rating
• Wrist Talismans- 
  • Bracelet - Even Health/Attack Rating or pure Attack Rating
  • Bracer - High Health/Low Attack Rating or pure Health
  • Timepiece - Even Health/Heal Rating or pure Heal Rating
   
• Minor talismans - Luck, Waist, Occult
  
•  these are your utility talismans, depending on how you build your gear and who gives you advice, you tend to change these out most often. Expect once you start getting into the QL 10 gear to start keeping at least 10-20 spaces of bag space for minor talismans.
• Luck Talismans -
• Dice - Even Health/Attack Rating or pure Attack Rating
• Coins - High Health/Low Attack Rating or pure Health
• Cards - Even Health/Heal Rating or pure Heal Rating
• Waist Talismans -
• Chain - Even Health/Attack Rating or pure Attack Rating
• Belt - High Health/Low Attack Rating or pure Health
• Buckle - Even Health/Heal Rating or pure Heal Rating
• Occult Talismans -
• Effigy - Even Health/Attack Rating or pure Attack Rating
• Bone - High Health/Low Attack Rating or pure Health
• Charm - Even Health/Heal Rating or pure Heal Rating

Weapons - There's three different types of weapons

 (Check out my weapons and synergy guide for a more in depth look)

• Expect once you start getting into the QL 10 gear to start keeping at least one of each type of weapon and auxiliary weapon.
  

• Melee - Hammer, Blade, Fist
• In exchange for range, you have a lot more chance for crowd control, tanking, damage, or even healing. 
• Guns - Assault Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun
• Mid to long-range weapons that give you a good utility for dps, healing or leeching.
• Magic - Blood, Chaos, Elemental
• mid to long-range highly versatile weapons, can be useful for dps, healing, leeching, tanking, and crowd control. 

Auxiliary - There's only 5 auxiliary weapons available for now, but room for 4 more if and when Funcom releases them.

• Rocket Launcher -Used mostly for mobility
• Obtained through the mission "Venetian Missile Crisis" in your faction HQ by your faction representative. 
• Most useful for Death from Above called "Rocket Jump" in game, or Clusterstruck for massive aoe damage.
• Flame Thrower - Do you want dead adds? That's how you get dead adds.  
• Obtained through the chain of quests that starts with "Who Horrifies the Horror" by Carmen Preda in Besieged Farmlands and ends with "The Nursery" in Carpathian Fangs.
• Most useful for Dragon's breath as you can sweep it back and forth, killing tons of adds in dungeons/soloing.
• Whip - Used mostly for tanking or add control
• Obtained through "The City Beneath Us" and "The City Before Us" from Saïd in the Scorched Desert
• Most used Whippersnapper as an extra impair for tanks, can be useful in soloing.
• Chainsaw - used mostly for tanks as a shield, can be useful as single target dps
• Obtained through "Just a Flesh Wound" from Dr. Aldini in New York
• Most used Diamond Grit for tanking, or Timber for single add dps. 
• Quantum Bracer - The most polarizing auxiliary weapon, you either love it or hate it.
• Obtained through "The Uncertainty Principle" from Moose in Kingsmouth.
• Mostly used for Charge-Density that gives you an extra group wide heal over time. 
• You can decided on this one, read the complicated text for its abilities, and make up your own mind. 

 Special Gear: 

If you hear people talking about "Woodcutter" those are three special neck talismans obtained by purchasing the short first person horror game "The Park" by Funcom (Featuring the park from Savage coast!). The game is $20 (unless on sale). These aren't necessary to ever, EVER, "win" or get top dps, however, they do help you get better gear sooner. 
Woodcutters Wrath - DPS necklace, massively improves crit power, attack power, and penetration
Woodcutters Regret - Health Necklace, massively improves health (but has magical and physical protection) okay for if you have nothing else tank-like.
Woodcutters Sorrow - Heal necklace, massively improves crit power, attack power, and barrier strength (blood skills)