Vanguard Gnome PSI Quickstart Guide

Vanguard Gnome PSI Quickstart Guide by Misbik

This guide is intended to get a gnome PSI quickly to level 12. Afterwards you will also have a +25 speed mount, a 12 slot bag, and a 12 slot saddlebag.

Mekalia is a rather nice starting area, as the initial 10 levels worth of mobs and quests are all found within a fairly compact area, so there is not a lot of running around to be done. This makes it easy to get to level 10, and I have some recommendations for getting through the dreaded level 11-12 slump when you seem to have difficulty soloing even level mobs with any efficiency. Here we go..

The gnome newbie starting area is pretty linear and should require no explanation. Complete all the quests you find in that area which will culminate in you being sent into the tower in the newbie area to talk to someone. That person will then send you into the main city itself. By the time you head out of newbie land you should be level 5 (If you can squeeze out level 6….all the better).

You will at this point have quests to go find your crafting, harvesting, and diplomacy trainers. You may opt to skip the crafting and diplomacy trainers at this point, but I highly recommend you go see the harvesting trainer, go through his tutorial, and purchase whatever tools you need to perform your desired trade. I personally am going to be an outfitter so that I can make clothes for my class (bags never hurt either!), so I will be picking up reaping as my primary and skinning as my secondary. Once this is complete, and you have trained any new abilities from the PSI trainer, head out into the world.

You will come to a bunker just outside of town which will provide you with a plethora of quests. I recommend you complete the quest to kill the level 5 stray hyenas just behind the bunker. These are wonderful for working on your skinning, and there’s 1-2 jute plant spawns in the area for working on reaping as well. Get to level 6 on these stary hyenas and then head back into town to train your level 6 spells if you haven’t already.

Next I recommend heading into the mine towards the library to collect your armor segments. Fight your way through to the back and by the time you reach the library you should have all your armor segments and be close to level 7. The door to the library is guarded by two level 7 mobs which are linked. They are soloable at 7, and possibly at 6 if you know what you are doing and have some kiting room, but they can be a bit of a challenge. Once inside the library you’ve struck paydirt. You may now use those armor segments to summon a “Hollow Armor Ally”. This is a pet of equal level which kicks some serious bootay. Try to keep this guy around for several levels if you can. In beta at least, he would follow you around the world until you logged or got disconnected (or possibly recalled, etc.. although.I never tried taking him back into the city to train spells). Using your friend, solo the level 7 mobs in the first room here and complete the quest for the gas cylinders. Also, continue to kill mobs until you get some sort of ancient book to drop. This book when right clicked will begin a series of 3 more quests in the library given to you by the two gnomes standing directly outside the mine. At this point, take your new found friend out with you to turn in the book outside the mine and the quest back at the bunker.

Using your new armor ally, you should be able to easily solo the level 8 guardian hyenas (again, great for skinning!) and complete the quests at the eastern excavation trench. This will get you up to level 8. Go back to turn those quests in before once again heading back in to town to train your level 8 spells (hopefully with your armor ally still intact afterwards). With your level 8 spells, you should be able to head back into the mine to the library and complete the follow-on quest from the bunker of poisoning the cylinder and the the follow-on quest from the book. Continue running in and out of the mine to finish the quest line with the gnomes outside the mine. This quest line culminates in you going to the very bottom floor of the mine to kill some Lieutenant. After completing all of these you should be a little ways into level 9. Turn in all your quests and you should have one quest remaining, which involves heading north to the docks.

Head to the docks and get the quest to kill the crocs and vultures. After completing this, you will receive one more quest to capture some animals and then another to head west along the shore to another bunker. This area is also rich with jute plants for working on reaping.

At this point I would suggest the following. Hold off on going west until you grind your way to level 10. Continue skinning crocs and reaping jute plants also until you are 100 skill in both as you will not be able to skin or reap the next tier of resources without 100+ skill.

When you reach level 10, head back into town and train your new spells. I highly recommend at this point that you go see your diplomacy trainer. Complete the entire series of introductory diplomacy quests in Mekalia (takes a few hours and you have to find 50+ people and beat them all in parley..). By the time you complete all the I-4 diplomacy quests you will have a 40+ diplomacy skill, have earned a little spending cash, and be able to train in civic diplomacy. Also, at the end of those I-4 quests you will receive a couriers pouch which is an additional 12 slot bag! The diplomacy chain continues by sending you out to the bunker to parley someone there. The person in the bunker then sends you on a horse ride (have to be level 10 to ride the horse they give you!) as a courier to the same point where your adventure quests is taking you.

Make the timed diplomacy quest delivery. There’s a really neat gnomish accelaration tunnel connecting the bunkers that runs under the water, but sadly it’s just as fast to swim across. Complete the diplomacy quest, but do not yet accept the follow-on quest. Your reward for the diplomacy quest that you just completed is a 12 slot saddlebag. At this point head back to the south side of the river, kill the krokoduses (sp?) to finish up your adventure quest and then go turn it in.

At this new bunker on the north side of the river there are several quests available to you. Just about the only one of them that is reasonably soloable to you at level 10 is the one requiring you to go kill wildlife, pick aukfruit, and kill 9’ish gnolls (don’t remember the exact name). Complete only this quest and turn it in. Then head just a little bit west to a smaller camp where you will find another quest giver. This camp gives you two quests. They require you to go north across the path to slay a number of smugglers (slayers, savants, swiftblades, and quickblades) and to collect some pottery from their camp. These are level 9 mobs and easy to solo. Complete these quests and turn them in.

At this point you should be getting close to level 11. Return to the guy you made the diplomacy delivery to and accept the follow on quest. He will again give you a horse and send you on a long ride to parley three people and make a delivery to the horse race track in Lomshir. This is a long way to go and its timed, plus you must beat 3 people in parley along the way. However, the reward for this quest is that you get your very own +25 speed horse!

While at the horse track, grab as many quests as you can. There are plenty of quests here that are easily soloable and will get you halfway through level 12. Actually I was able to solo every quest here except for the Lair of the Green Witch (didn’t try it though..) However, there seem to be 3 or 4 quest givers who require faction with the area before they will give you their quests, but through completing all the other quests you can get, you will eventually have enough faction to obtain those quests as well. From here you may gate back to Mekalia to train, run to Khal, or maybe they have put in a PSI trainer in the Kurashasa area since I was last there.

But now you should be level 12, with a +25 speed horse, a 12 slot saddle bag, a 12 slot courier pouch, and a whole world to explore!