a few newbie questions

[Eachann]

I just learned how to mine last night... I learned a place where I can mine gold.    How does one know where one can mine a particular mineral, are there teltale signs?   A method of prospecting?   Or do I have to randomly try to dig in every square foot of the world?   I did read in the FAQ a few of the known mines... was just wondering if there was any way to spot a mine.   

Regarding Glyphs,  my characters history predisposes him to using magic, especially healing arts.   I found the magic shop and saw the glyphs for sale and was wondering if certain glyphs work with certain "ways of magic" or if they all have combinations that work in each "way" ?     I'm specifically looking for the Crystal Way of course, and I assume that I would be strong in the ally "ways" as well... inspecting the glyphs didn't give me any clue though as to what "way" of magic they benefit.     They are quite expensive to buy so I hate to randomly pick one,  and end up buying glyphs that make "dark way" spells or something of that nature.

Is there a limit to how many progression points you can get?   In otherwords, if I gve myself sword and armor skills, am I then reducing the amount of progress that is possible for my character in magic use? 

I did a /who on a character and it said he was level 1.    How are levels determined?   I haven't seen any "level" for my character, only skill levels.    And on that note, how does inspecting a monster determine their strength relative to mine?    I've found that so far things that have the same strength as me actually hurt me fast, but I don't have much trouble fighting things that appear to be weaker than me.    My problems with things of my own strength may be due to the lack of a weapon.   At what point am I able to progress to more difficult creatures?

Thanks,  I tried not to ask anything that would be a spoiler... hopefully these questions are answerable

[Helm]

An nice way to discover which way the glyphs belong to is by their colour, which usually tells you something...

Flame goes for red way
Brown goes for brown
Black with red light goes for darkness...

etc...



I only found it out when I bought one glyph of each and tested! I advise you to do the same! In the worse case you can always ask the people around you for help. Usually the magic shop is full of digging people! 




You can improve your strength and hit points as well as agility. This helps you with your fights. Also a good weapon is the key to defeat your monsters, specially when they are the same "level" or slightly more powerful than you. When they are much more powerful than you (i.e. Trepors and Ubernauts) RUN! As fast as you can! And scream for help!

[VMann]

I just learned how to mine last night... I learned a place where I can mine gold.    How does one know where one can mine a particular mineral, are there teltale signs?   A method of prospecting?   Or do I have to randomly try to dig in every square foot of the world?   I did read in the FAQ a few of the known mines... was just wondering if there was any way to spot a mine.   

there is no way to spot a mine except trying it (or finding someone already mining, or getting told by someone)

I did a /who on a character and it said he was level 1.    How are levels determined?   I haven't seen any "level" for my character, only skill levels. 

Players and creatures have no level in PLaneshift, what you saw was probably the guild level that player has, but most guilds have more creative level names than "level 1" level 2" and so on

[Karyuu]

Hiya Eachann,

Those are excellent newbie questions that I'll be sure to add to our stickied guide. Thanks for posting :)

How does one know where one can mine a particular mineral, are there teltale signs?

I personally wish there would be, and though I haven't asked, it may be a possibility in the future. For now mines exist in certain locations only, and you can learn further details on those locations in-game by asking other players. The Magic Shop is a very popular mining spot, so other miners there may be able to give you better directions than random passerbys.

I found the magic shop and saw the glyphs for sale and was wondering if certain glyphs work with certain "ways of magic" or if they all have combinations that work in each "way" ?

Along with Helm's reply, you can actually quickly and easily find out which Way glyphs are grouped in by examining your PlaneShift files :)



I will list them as well:
Azure - Air
Blue - Cold
Brown - Armor, Rock, Summon
Crystal - Arrow, Energy
Dark - Darkness, Weakness
Red - Fire, Hand, Lightning, Meteor, Might

Thanks Vmann :)

Is there a limit to how many progression points you can get?

Not at all. You can train any skill and any stat to its max, regardless of what else you train.

And on that note, how does inspecting a monster determine their strength relative to mine?    I've found that so far things that have the same strength as me actually hurt me fast, but I don't have much trouble fighting things that appear to be weaker than me.

The more Intelligence you have, the better you will be at determining the real strength of your opponent. You start to understand someone's strength level once your Intelligence is over 50, and your perception extends even further once it is over 100. Although something may be of the same strength as you, it is your skill that mostly determines how much damage you will do. Thus training your weapon or melee skills will make the fight easier.

At what point am I able to progress to more difficult creatures?

When you take on a more difficult creature without dying, I guess :) There is no guideline in this regard, but if you can survive a fight with several of the weaker creatures attacking you at once, there's a good chance that you can move on to something else.

[VMann]

The only glyph I couldn't find info on, as it doesn't have a graphic at the moment, is Lightning.

Lightning is red way

[Laith]

theres no way to prospect the rocks unfortunatly

[Karyuu]

Check the stickied Gameplay FAQ :)

[Mordaan]

Cool.  You learn something new every day.