Pandora Saga Newbie Guide

Pandora Saga Newbie Guide by Calsetes and Proakis

Hello everyone,

Pandora Saga is an awesome, highly enjoyable PVP based game. It sets apart a standard from the other games available as the success in PVP is mainly based on skill more than anything else. Of all the games I have played I have to say that this game has the BEST PVP so far. I am Drow, one of the mentors in the Varik Confederation.

This guide is specifically for newbies who have just joined the game and want to understand the basics. I have put everything that I understood after a long time for the convenience of the new players. Special thanks to mentors of all the nations and the GM’s Shortcake and Bux for their valuable input.

Basically I will be covering the following in this topic:

• Character and Class Basics.
• Basic Map of Astir – The New Player Zone.
• Abilities and Proficiency.
• Nations.
• Job Change.
• FAQ’s

Character and Class Basics.

So, you just started the game, selected the server and you have to start a new character. In Pandora Saga there are 6 races to choose from and four basic jobs.

The jobs are as follows:

Warriors: Front line units, can evolve to become Knight (Defensive) or Gladiator (Offensive).

Scouts: Sneaky unit types, can evolve to become Provocateur (Close combat, traps, bombs) or Archer (Ranged Combat).

Mages: Magic unit types, can evolve to become Wizard (Offensive Spells) or Sorcerer (De-buffs and annoyance).

Acolyte: Support unit types, can evolve to become Ascetic (Front Line Support) or Priest (Heals and Buffs).

To Summarize, it is as shown below:

Further specializations will be made available at level 45.

Now that you have decided on the job that you will be playing, you need to know about stats before you can choose the race you can build your character on. Stat points are awarded at each level which you can allocate to make your character better, which once assigned, cannot be changed. The following are the different stats available in Pandora Saga:

STA (Stamina): Directly affects your base life points (LP), LP recovery rate and duration of status effects (sleep, stun, poison etc). Also each multiple of 10 reduces the physical damage received by 1%.

STR (Strength): The main stat for the physical damage dealt. This DOES NOT influence the amount of stuff you can carry. Each multiple of 10 gives you additional bonus damage. ARCHER damage is also based on STR.

AGI (Agility): This stat affects your Dodge and your attack speed. This DOES NOT influence your move speed. Each multiple of 10 gives you additional dodge bonus.

DEX (Dexterity): This stat affects your Accuracy, Casting speed, critical hit rate and the base damage dealt by bombs. Each multiple of 10 increases your critical hit rate by 1%. This DOES NOT influence damage dealt by bows.

SPI (Spirit): This stat influences your basic mana pool (MP), MP regeneration, magical status effects duration (de-buffs) and increases spell interrupt resistance. This also influences the success rate of your de-buffs. Again a multiple of 10 gives a bonus to your MP pool. Gloom Damage is affected by SPI. Read below:

Thunderlike said:

INT (Intelligence): This stat influences the magical damage you deal, decreases the MP cost for skills and decreases skill cool downs. Each multiple of 10 adds a bonus to your Magical attack.

Now that you have decided on the job and know about the basic stats, you are well informed to pick a race and form your character. There are five races available to choose as a base to build your character and each race has three different racial skills out of which you can choose one. Pick wisely, as you cannot change this later. The six races are as follows:

Human (Male and Female): Well rounded stats. Good for any of the jobs.

Elf (Male and Female): Base stats are towards INT and SPI. Most suitable for any job that wants to cap INT (Mages and Acolytes) and archers (one racial skill that increases range)

Myrine (Female): The hottest race in Pandora Saga. They have high base agility. Most suitable for scouts because of their racial skills.

Enkidu (Male only): The big boys in Pandora Saga. These guys have the highest STA. Most suitable for Warrior class.

Dwarfs (Male only): The chubby boys in Pandora Saga. They have the highest STR and an attraction for Axes and blunt weapons. Good for warriors and ascetics.

Lapin (Male/Female): The cutest race in Pandora Saga. They have high SPI and INT. Most suitable for Mages and Acolytes.

Once you have decided on the job, race and the racial skill, pick a name and enter the game!

Basic Map of Astir – The New Player Zone.

assume that you are logged in the game right now and just finished seeing the cut scenes. Now you might be wondering what to do here. The first thing, as in every other game is to get yourself familiar with the location. Astir is the neutral nation, the place for new players. Astir city is composed of four maps, and you will be starting in one of them at random. The four maps that make up astir are as follows:

• Central Plaza: The heart of Astir, where all the players sell their goods and bustling with activity 24×7. You usually find a GM or some active mentors here.
• Confederation Street: This is to the North of central plaza. If you move north of this map you will go to the Northern Soplar highway (outskirts). Any quest that says confederation road means the NPC is in this map.
• Imperial Way: This is to the West of central plaza. If you move west in this map, it will take you to the Western Soplar Highway (outskirts). Any quest that says Imperial way means the NPC is in this map.
• Royal Street: This is to the East of central plaza. If you move east in this map, it will take you to the Eastern Soplar Highway (outskirts). Any quest that says Royal Street or Kingdom Street means the NPC is in this map.

The Maps and the way they are connected are as shown below:

The red lines represent the portals to the next map.

Now, once you are in the game you will be offered a choice to be explained or to look around on your own. Listen to the explanation and a quest will be awarded to you. Continue along these quests to learn more about the game and progress through the levels.

Abilities and Proficiency.

At this point I assume that you are well versed with Astir, done a few quests and gained a few levels. Now, I would like to introduce you to the character menu. The character menu can be accessed by pressing Y in game. It will bring up the following menu:

As you can see, this will show you the available points and you can use them to put into any of the stats as shown. Make sure you are satisfied once you invest your stats as once you click confirm, it will be allocated and you wont be able to change it again.

In the same menu the next tab lists your abilities as shown below:

Again, this shows the available ability points and the amount that you have invested. Note that there is a green part, a red part and a limit. In the above picture, let us consider grace. Our toon has a limit of maximum 25 grace, out of which he has invested 8 points. In that 8 points he is proficient upto 4.7 (green part). If he continues to use the skills he learnt by investing in grace, his proficiency in that field will improve till it reaches 8 points (all green). He has to invest more points to take his ability beyond 8. Note that skills will be learnt from investment in points and use of that skill increases proficiency. More proficiency = more effective skills.

In the same menu the next tab lists your profile as shown below:

Here you can see the basic information about your character, the amount of honor you have and the achievements you have earned in war. You can also type in a nice introduction for people to read when they see your profile.

The learnt skills and the requirement to learn more skills can be seen by pressing K. Let us consider the example below:

Here we can see that we have a toon who has put some points into trapping, and in order to get the next trapping skill he has to invest 26 points into trapping, which will enable him to plant mines. Using any of the trap skills will increase the trapping proficiency and in turn increase damage / effectiveness till maxed out.

Nations


You have progressed through the quests, you feel you are quite strong enough (level 15 ish). This is the time you have to consider joining a nation. Ideally you can go and join a nation at level 20 as you can get the job change quest, but try to make it to one of the expeditions that are run so that you wont encounter any problems while running. This is because running to a nation is insanely tough at low levels as the monsters you encounter can be even level 50+. But this makes for a great preview as to what is waiting in future levels for you. The three nations are as follows:

Confederation – Varik: In order to reach this nation you have to travel North of Northern Soplar Highway, reach Mt.Jotiro and reach the north end of this map. You will get a blue gem next to your name on speaking with the guard and entering, voila! You are now a Varik member and can access Varik national chat (Realm)

Empire – Latuguan Empire: In order to reach this nation you have to travel west to Western Soplar Highway, travel to end, reach Himurart desert and reach the other end of this map. You will get a red gem next to your name on speaking with the guard and entering, voila! You are now a Empire member and can access Empire national chat (Realm)

Kingdom – St. Pfelstein: In order to reach this nation you have to travel east to Eastern Soplar Highway, travel to end, reach Nelstad Plains and reach the other end of this map. You will get a green gem next to your name on speaking with the guard and entering, voila! You are now a Kingdom member and can access Kingdom national chat (Realm)

All the people you see will have any of these three colors next to their name. It signifies that they are from that particular nation. All the three nations are in continuous wars with each other. If you enter any PVP zone, they will start flashing in red and you can kill or get killed by them.

Why join a nation?
– To get to the next job.
– To participate in national wars.
– To access special areas available only to members of a particular nation.


Job Change

At this point of time, I assume that you have joined a Nation. Now go and do the quests at Astir till you reach level 20. At level 20, you can return to your nation to change your jobs. Refer to the picture I posted above in the jobs section. Each of the basic class have 2 specializations. You have to speak to the respective trainer to get the quest for that particular job change. When you speak with these trainers, you can see what are the abilities you can invest your points in, and the limit of those abilities as shown below:

In the above example we see an acolyte wanting to change into a priest. He can invest in the abilities to the extent shown above. You can see that his grace and blessing levels are extended.

We see the same toon checking out how it is to be a Ascetic. The abilities for an ascetic is as below:

Again you can see that exorcism is extended more, same with the melee abilities.

You will need 3 Gold Crystals to complete this quest. This can be obtained from Crawlers at the entrance of Himurart Desert, Mt.Jotiro or Nelstad Plains. Once you gather these, speak to the trainer. You will be offered an abilities reset. Take it if you have messed up your abilities, or if you want to change some things. You will NOT lose the proficiencies that you have gained when you take this reset.

Practice the job that you choose well. There are side quests that can be taken once you hit level 20. A very nice guide has been done by Rosencruz for the side quests which can be found HERE.

Do the side quests. This is a PVP game, do PVP also from time to time. PVP and side quests really helps in fine-tuning your build, how to be aware of your surroundings, how to maximize the usage of your skills, what to do when in a group, positioning, usage of terrain and movement. This is invaluable when you hit level 30 and start attending nation wars. Nation wars are the ultimate test of your PVP skills. It tests your awareness, your ability to work as a part of a large group. Prove yourself here, earn honor and achievement medals, which you can trade in for better equipments / gear. You can sign up for nation wars by speaking to the Ridelium Battle Attache in your nation. I would recommend anyone level 30+ to sign up as a regular and gain PVP experience while fine tuning your build.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Some quest are really hard. How to do it?
A. Mentors provide help for main quest till level 20. Make use of this. You can easily reach till level 25 or so doing these quests.

Q. I put a soul in my weapon. How to remove it / put another soul?
A. You have to speak to a shaman. They can remove with a 60% chance. If successfully removed you will get back both your item and your soul. However if it fails you will lose both.

Q. Levelling is so hard after level 30. What to do?
A. Usually there is one quest at each level. This will test your playing skills at that particular level. Some quests might be hard. Party up for these. You should gain about 3/4 of the level through these quests. The rest you can obtain by doing Pythons / Tiger snakes, just ask for a party in your realm. Again, I stress the importance of learning how to use your skills against different PVE mobs and PVP’ing.

Alright, after answering the same question about 15 times and going into great detail three times in Newbieland chat, I figured I’d put up a quick little guide for newer players.

Please note – I’m not an expert at the game, but I think I understand most of the basics.

Q. I’m using a ranged weapon. What stats should I increase?

A. Increase dexterity and strength. You need dexterity to hit the enemies, but it won’t increase your damage with ranged weapons (yes, we know, it’s not like that in other games.) You need strength to increase ranged damage. If you need some actual real-world-ish reasoning behind it, think of it like this – you can be extremely nimble, but without the strength to draw your bow fully, or to reset your crossbow, you’re just a very accurate person who can shoot as strong as my grandmother, and she’s been dead for quite a while.

Q. Where do I buy arrows?

A. In Supply shops, located near Weapon and Armor guys. They sell arrows, bolts, potions, and random trinkets you’ll probably use at some point.

Q. Skills confuse me. I want skillz that killz.

A. Well, I don’t know what “skillz” are, but skills in this game can be a bit complicated. There’s a few things to understand. First, spending skill points will only unlock some new powers for you to use with those weapons / spells / whatever. Using those weapons / spells / whatever will actually raise your proficiency level with them up to your current cap (the end of the red bar, or the number in parenthesis.) In addition to the powers you get for raising a specific skill to a certain level, you’ll get general powers for raising all usage skills of a type to a certain point. For example, there are powers you unlock just by putting points in slash until it reaches 8. There’s also a power you unlock by getting your actual usage of all the melee skills, no matter what ones, up to level 3. Using one weapon type can satisfy the requirements, using three weapons will work, too. However, it’s best to stick with only a few skills overall – no use in raising bludgeon and slash when you can only hold one or the other.

Q. When can I change jobs? When can I pick a nation?

A. When you’re level 20, nd you belong to a nation, you can change jobs. You can join a nation at any level – even 1 – but you have to walk to that nation’s town first. If you can’t find an escort party to take you, or you decide to try on your own, then just head in the direction of the nation you want to join (Kingdom to the east, Empire to the west, and Confederation to the north,) and avoid enemies on the way by walking behind them – or by giving yourself lots of running room if you have to pass in front of them. There’s an outpost in each map between the highway around Astir and the nation you want, but it’s not marked on the map. Finding out where it is first is extremely helpful – you can set your respawn point here in case you die. Also, the best time to go is right after you gained a level and have little to no XP left in your XP bar – you can’t delevel, and you can’t go in XP debt, but you can lose XP if you have it in your bar.

Q. Which nation is the best?

A. They’re all the same, except for political structure, color of the gem by your name, and location relative to Astir. About the only difference I can tell from the forums is that Empire tends to be more non-English speaking players. Go join your friends if they already picked, or be decisive and pick whichever you feel is the best.

Q. What does Stat X do?

A. Strength boosts all physical attack damage – auto attack, skills, whatever. If it uses a weapon, strength boosts its output. Dexterity boosts your accuracy so you can hit stuff easier. I’ve also heard it boosts critical hit chance, as well as casting speed, but I’m not sure about those. This does NOT boost ranged damage – just your chance to hit. Stamina boosts your HP, and supposedly provides a small physical damage resistance boost for every 10 points in it. Agility boosts your attack speed, your evasion rate, and I think that’s it. Intelligence boosts your magic attack power (this is ONLY for attacking spells and I believe healing spells,) decreases the cooldown and MP needed for spells and skills, and I think that’s it. Spirit boosts your MP pool, provides a resistance to magic damage, and boosts I believe buff / debuff strength. It also increases your spell interruption resistance, meaning getting hit won’t make you lose a spell mid-cast as easily.

Q. Does the proficiency level have any effect on your current skills? For example, would ice spear’s damage change going from 71 proficiency in elemental to 90 proficiency in elemental (assuming everything else remains the same?) From Parka1

A. Proficiency level does affect your damage output – higher numbers means less variation in your damage range, and a higher “minimum” damage. A proficiency level of 1 might cause anywhere from 10 to 600 damage on a high-level monster, while a high proficiency level will variate less (between 500 and 600 damage.) The same may be true for physical skills. From P*eh