Found this Guide on the Darkfall Beta Forums. It is very well written. I had Val color code the sections for you to make it easier to find sections of information. Hope this helps you.


Post DFUW Beta Starting Guide. Updated Mar15 2013

As the title suggests, I am putting together a "Generalized Noob Guide" for DF:UW Beta. I do not know everything about DFUW because it is a lot different than DF1, and if anyone has anything they think should be added/removed/changed, just drop a reply and Ill edit it in. Please don't flame if I have a typo or if I am less than accurate, instead be constructive and help me by letting me know, thanks. Now to get on with it.

Installation and Common Errors
Spoiler
When installing Darkfall Unholy Wars or running the client you may run into various errors. Most can be fixed by the following.

NetSSL Error
-Installing Service Pack 1 for Windows 7. (Found at the Microsoft website as a standalone executable, shouldn't conflict with less than noble versions of windows 7.) To check your version of Win7, click the start button in the bottom left corner of the desktop screen, and in the small white text box, type 'winver' (short for windows version) and press enter. You may be running Windows 7 6.1 build 7600. After the SP1 Update you should be running Windows 7 6.1 build 7601.


Trouble Finding Service Pack 1
Spoiler


- Installing latest Java update.

- Installing DOTnet version 4.5. (Or most current.)

Run Time Error
-Install Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64/x86)

-Make sure you aren't missing data files from your Darkfall UW Data folder. (Click options on the launcher/patcher and check mark "Validate and Repair Data Files." then rerun the launcher/patcher.

AMS Server Error
This error is known to be caused by one of two things. Before that though, I believe A.M.S stands for Account Management System (Server?) not sure though. Basically, its the account server.

1) You typed your password in wrong. (Check capslock, with it toggling autosprint in game a lot of people are leaving it on.)

2) The AMS server is down. You can check the AMS server here;
AMS
If this webpage fails to load, the account server is probably down.



Keybindings/Controls
Spoiler

A very important part of Darkfall:UW, that is important in all games really, is keybindings/controls. In Darkfall 1, players made very elaborate scripts to help access the 100 hotbar spots you had to use. (0-9 = 10 times 10 hotbars.) In DF:UW you really won't need such a thing, however, good key bindings can make the difference in your success in PVP. By good key bindings I mean, easy to access and fluid. In these types of games muscle memory is crucial, therefore I made key bindings one of the top subjects. The earlier you get your keys set the better off you are. So you just finished your tutorial (or not) and you need to get ready for the vast world of Agon.

NOTE* By default 'G' will switch your camera perspective from 1st person to third person. (Not weapon dependent!) (Thanks Lando924) Mounts are still third person.

NOTE* You can press "Q/E" when in active mode to switch the active Radial Menu. Designated by a white circle around the active wheel.


Setting Up Your Radial Wheels
First of all, press 'O' to open up your options and on the left side there is an "Input Options" button. Click it.

Press 'TAB' to open up your Radial Wheel/skills menu.

Place your skills where you want them, leaving room for the 4 unlockable skills. I suggest placing Heal Self and your 3 conversions (Mana to Stamina, Stamina to Health and Health to Mana.) on 5-8 on the right radial menu. These skills will be static across all classes and it simplifies things to remain consistent.

I use a Naga Razer Mouse, so 2/3 of both radial menus are on the 12 thumb buttons. So this next part I will throw out ideas.

After you have placed all of your skills on the radial menu, click on the "Input Options" gui (that should be opened on the left side) and assign keys to the corresponding radial wheel spots/skills.

If you use the AutoSprint toggle ('CAPS') that frees up your shift key to use as a modifier in conjunction with, 0-9. (ie. 0, Shift+0, 1, Shift+1... etc which is 18 total keys. Although Shift+9 can be hard to push fluidly) Find what is comfortable for you. I moved the Toggle Attack (From vertical to Horizontal) From 'T' to 'Y', freeing up the 'T' key.

I also changed the Alt+Right Click radial menu access to Right Ctrl+Right Click. Left Alt is my Push To Talk Key for Communication Programs. (This also frees up Left Alt to be used in conjunction, same as Shift.) Again, it is very important to rearrange/assign keys you find comfortable early on, it helps a lot. So later you don't find yourself trying to rearrange keys for efficiency and making mistakes during the "Reprogramming" of your muscle memory.

Setting Up Quick Slots
Quick Slots are also important to be able to switch between. You assign weapons, food, and potions to your quick slots, and fast access is crucial. Access your Quick Slots by pressing "P", this opens your paper doll (that displays the gear you currently have equipped.) At the bottom of the Paper Doll you will see 8 circles that are staggered slightly, they are your quick slots. You change the keys, using the same Input Options as your Radial Wheels. Difference is, you Drag and Drop your items from your back pack ('B') to the Quick slots though. I have mine as follows. Staff, 2 Handed Weapon (Sword), Bow, One Handed Sword (Dawn Blade); on the next row, Shield, Potion 1,2,3. (I replace The potions with Food-Potion-Mount, using Rejuvenation Potions that heal all stats.)

I assigned my Staff to, "T", Great Sword to "G", Bow to "Z", Potions to "F1,F2,F3". This way, if I change my sword to a better one, or staff, all I have to do is drag and drop the new one onto my quick slot and the key is set. Find what is comfortable for you. The new Scroll of mouse wheel design is cool and all, but it isn't going to be enough to put you in the top PVP spot.

NOTE* I sometimes replace a potion slot or the bow/staff slot with my mount. This allows me to fast spawn my mount for close call escapes. (Thanks Asolar for mentioning this.)

NOTE** One Handed Swords can be placed on top of a Shield on the same Quick Slot, so that both are activated from one button press.

AutoHotkey and Macros
As far as I know these are still acceptable things to use for increasing your fluidity, but aside from a Sword and Board Script, I don't really see the point. Further more, DF:UW blocks virtual keystrokes while you are in active mode. Making scripting these with AHK more of a pain than it's worth. If you insist on using AHK though. The trick is to simply send the key down and the key up separately. The delays after key down and key up may take some trial and error.



Random Starting Tips
Spoiler


-Hold 'F' on banks (if in clan) and on mounts (any object with multiple functions.) to access all the related functions. This is used for player interaction as well.

-When you are viewing your backpack or bank, and have more items than fit on the row, click the black part of the backpack/bank once, and use A/D to scroll Left/Right quickly.

NOTE** In the tutorial at the "Bow" part. You shoot the targets. Not the training dummies!

-To Craft mounts, Get 20 Gold, 1x Steed Grass(Some mobs drop, Harvested from bushes), and 1x Inferior Anima(Skins on most mobs, also known as Q1 Anima). Go to laboratory, in magic side of town, look for flags with hand icon and eye in hand). NOTE* Tamer Whistle is no longer needed. (All crafting tools have been removed from DF1-DFUW)THANK GOD!

-I would take the time to make some bags/sacks once you start getting many items. (Or before preferably...See Crafting Simplified and Crafting (Under 3 C's).) Once you have the Bags/Sacks you can Right Click them and Rename them. I suggest making bags for; Weapons, Staves, Robes, Heavy Armor, Crafting Mats, Enchant/Stackables... atleast. Place these bags in your bank. Never take them out, use them for organization. They will help once you start getting a lot of items.

- Bindstone/House Recall: Open your Map ('M') and in the lower left corner on the border gui you click the respective recall. You can also use the recalls from the buttons located on the left side of your mini map.

-Safe Zones: Every NPC city is a safe zone. If you open your map ('M') you will see grid lines that show where the NPC City's zones end. NOTE* A green shield near your minimap (Upper Right of screen) indicates if you are safe or not. (Shield with a green circle indicates pvp safe, and a sword with a red circle indictates pvp active.)

-There is a 20 second cool down timer for entering and exiting safe zones. Be wary!

-Mob spawns on your Map ('M') show the difficulty of the mob. Also, humanoid monsters drop raw gold. (Your Mom Darkfall Map, Google it.)

-Note, Pressing 'R' or Double Clicking with an arrow 'knocked' or spell charging will cancel the cast/arrow. (Thanks Cordox & kilrain!)

-Use '~' to reset your active radial wheel. This button can be changed in the Input Options as well. (Thanks Cordox!)

-I would go through and finish the "Starter" feats that are displayed in the top left corner. (Open Map turn on bank, etc.) This will get you some prowess needed for leveling up and a mount when you finish.

-If you are wanting to level up efficiently and get right into the good fighting skip ahead to the Feats,Prowess,Leveling section.

- You will probably want to farm mobs at this point to get your fat loots up, that is good, but first I encourage you to search the town you start in for a few things. I have been to many different NPC cities and have found at least one of each of these in/around the city. Return to these regularly, they are very helpful.

A)Resource Stash: (Gives 1-50 of a random resource, Timber,Cotton,Iron ore etc.) Refreshes every 15 minutes. (Thanks Imrys)

B)Weapon Rack: Gives 1-3 random weapons. Normally (always?) found near the weapon seller. The weapon rack also has a fairly good chance to give out arrows, 20-50. (Thanks Creaca for mentioning arrows.) Refreshes every 40 minutes. (Thanks Imrys) These can give rare high end weapons too. Like Selentine Barbaric Greatswords and Leenspar Polearm. (Confirmed got these myself.)

C)Armor Rack: Gives 1-3 random pieces of armor. Normally (always?) found near the weapon seller same as Weapon Rack. Refreshes every 40 minutes. (Thanks Imrys) These can give rare high end armor as well! A few confirmed items are, Dread Infernal Gauntlets, and Elegant Elementalist Robes.

D) Food Crate: Gives some random food much like a resource stash. Found 2 of these in many cities. They also give materials for cooking better food, onions, potatoes etc. (Thanks Candy Flip!) Food Crates Refresh about every 5 minutes, and can drop high end cooked food! (Thanks Imrys)

E) Fish Barrel: Gives fish that can be cooked, a random type of fish and a varying amount. Also drops fishing poles. Refreshes every 15 minutes (Confirmation on Refresh?)

F)Tool Box: Gives 1-3 random attachable tools. Sickle, Wood Cutting Axe, Pick Axe, Fishing Pole. etc. (Thanks Sanshi44)

G) Treasure Chest: My personal favorite, the treasure chest gives 1-3 chunks of gold, from 1-500 per chunk. (Most I have seen so far.) It can also give random items, found items are fused materials like Leenspar Cloth (Enhanced cloth for higher level crafts). Refreshes every 20 minutes. (Thanks Imrys)

H) Magicians Box: I have not found any of these in the NPC cities, but I did find one in a goblin spawn. In DF1 they gave a small random amount of spell reagents. The one I found gave me some elementalist powder I believe. (Maybe it was mandrake... point being they exist.) Magicians Box can also give materials need in alchemy such as empty bottles. (Thanks Por Nostar) They can give Staves, r0-r40 confirmed. (Thanks Lord Naxious)

Once you have located the various freebie stashes there are some decisions to be made. What class you want to focus first, (Focusing one at a time is crucial to early game pvp fun/success.), focusing crafting or pvp (Can do both of course, but it will be a lot easier to focus one at a time.), and whether or not you want to jump into a clan immediately.


Other Important Tips and Comments
Spoiler


-Don't fret over other jerks looting your corpses as you farm. Most of the low end gear/materials you could get from the safe zone mobs isn't worth the time it takes to double click it.

-If you are having trouble farming monsters and are bound determined to do so. You may join a clan and live out of a clan city to farm the monsters near it. Then if someone tries to loot your grave, well you can kill them. +1 for Vigilante Justice. Alternatively, there are chaos stones you can bind to, that have banks near them. There aren't any shops though, so stock up before you attempt this method.

-If you join a clan but have a far travel to make to get with them, have them "Summon" you with a portal shard. They do that by adding you to their friends list. Through the social gui, (or right clicking your name in chat and clicking Send Friends Request.). There is a summon button inside the social gui. The "Summoner" has to have the portal shard in his backpack. Further more, once the summoning is complete and the "Summonee" gets a notification in the bottom right corner and clicks the check mark, the "Summonee" must not move or it will break the summon. (It has a high cool down. One hour I think.)

-If you get into a clan, the prowess you earn while you are in the clan is given to the clan as dominion on a 1:10 ratio. Example: If you join the clan 'Awesome Awesome Dudes of Awesome' with 1000 prowess, and then earn another 1000 for a total of 2000. The clan will get 100 dominion from you. 1/10 of the 1000 earned while in the clan.

-Early on it may be more enjoyable to explore naked and earn some prowess from your exploration feats.

-Feats are the best way to earn prowess and help break the monotony of any single task. (Ironically, some feats I found monotonous.)



NPCS and Interaction
Spoiler
There are more NPC's than necessary in my opinion, but they add life to the game and I can't remove them so...

Buying
Approach an NPC Character and Press 'F'. This will open the NPC's Shop Gui. It defaults to the buying feature and to purchase an item or skill you need to have the required currency, (If gold have it in your back pack.) and simply double click what you want to purchase, and it will do the rest for you (ie.placing your purchased item/skill in your backpack or skills section). (Tab for skills section.). Some NPC's have items categorized, they use black and white icons with some text as "Folders" to access the items inside. To purchase items inside you double click as before. But, if you want to return to the 'parent' folder, or the previous menu so to speak, click the word on the left most side of the buy window. This word is written vertically from down to up. This will help you navigate without having to escape the NPC's gui and return to it.

Selling
Left of the buying window on the border gui you will see small bag icons with curved arrows. One is for buying, one is for selling. The bottom one is for selling. (If memory serves, not in game atm.) Hover your mouse over them to see which is which. Click the 'Selling' button and the buying window will empty out to a black ribbon. Drag and Drop items in your backpack to the sell window (ribbon) to place them in the selling "que". The window will display how much gold the item(s) you are going to sell are worth. Once you are satisfied with your choice, click on the 'Check Mark' in the bottom right corner of the 'Sell Ribbon'.

NOTE* The "Sell" interface should automatically toggle on when you drag items from your backpack while in a Shop GUI. Thanks Aventurine for simplifying this for all.

Who Sells What?
There are two NPCs for Physical Classes and two for magic classes, there is a common skills/siege stone npc, and there is a 'Stuff Seller'.

Magic Sellers
The two magic sellers are located near the laboratory in the cities and can be found using the Map. ('M'and clicking points of interest on the left side of the gui border.) There is 'Arcane Supplies' that sells elementalist powder (Magic Ammunition). There is another 'Magic Trainer', that sells spells/magic skills for prowess.

Physical Sellers
Much like the magic sellers, one Physical NPC (The Smithy) sells Arrows, the other sells skills for physical classes.

Siege Stones and Common Skills
This NPC is normally near the bank in the city and sells 3 common skills. Slow Fall, (To prevent fall damage.) Heal Mount, (Heals your mount...slowly.), and Unburden increases carrying capacity slightly. All common skills cost 500 prowess. The siege stones are used when besieging a clans holding.

Stuff Seller
Sells stuff... notably, tools for harvesting.



The Three C's. Clans,Crafting,and Classes.
Spoiler
The three important C's to decide on...

Clans
Pros:
Clans are a great way of meeting friends and getting help. Often times you will get 'zerged' (Outnumbered) in Darkfall. Having a group of guys is awesome to alleviate that disadvantage. The greatest joy in Darkfall (IMO) comes from the sieges (Group PVP), and a clan is necessary for them. Further more it helps to have a few friends when farming prowess.

Cons:
You are almost required to have a headset and a voice communication program like Ventrilo,Mumble,Teamspeak or Skype. Some clans are very immature and tend to 'Nerd Rage'. Darkfall has a very competitive atmosphere so emotions can run high. Some clans have very high expectations as far as time devotion and things are concerned, this can be more stressful than its worth. Having said that I suggest finding a clan you mesh well with. There are Clans that only recruit older (very mature exceptions) players.

NOTE* I have gotten messages, and replies on the thread of recruiting clans. I will not "advertise" clans in this guide, However I will note that most clans have personal website/forums, that you need to register on first before they will even consider adding you in game. Good Luck!

Official Clan Management Video

Crafting
Pros:
Crafting is a very important aspect of Darkfall and it is recommended for players who enjoy that aspect of games. There are a few main crafting stations;Work Bench, Laboratory and Anvil. Crafting gives a great amount of prowess and works great as a source of income in general. Another great thing is that although many clans have crafters, nearly all clans will accept a dedicated crafter. (Good ones can be hard to find, and it is very unfortunate to be preparing for a siege and not have a crafter online that you need.)

*IMPORTANT*
Salvaging
*IMPORTANT*

Workbench, Laboratory, and Anvil
Spoiler


Cons:
It means that you will be harvesting a lot of resource nodes; bushes, trees, iron ore, stone. You will probably fall behind in some of the pvp aspects. (Skill grinding and practice.)

Classes
Early on the stat differences from the classes can be a huge factor. However, mid/late game you will have worked your base stats up so that there is a better balance. Warrior seems to be the most viable class at the moment. Especially for newer players who need survivability. Warriors also solo monsters the best which makes farming prowess easier. I use Warrior to farm prowess for leveling my Mage.

Elementalist:
Low Health, Moderate Stamina, High Mana. Casts ranged spells that do a lot of damage. Wears robes that offer very little to melee protections.
"The Glass Cannon"

Warrior:
High Health,Moderate Stamina,Low Mana. A melee bruiser of sorts, that has an arsenal for up close and personal damage and crowd control. Has a great personal heal, perfect for sustaining the front line damage. Uses Heavy Metal armors that offer the highest of protections.\
"The Tank/Bruiser"

Skirmisher:
Medium Health, High Stamina, Low Mana. Basically an archer. Has evasive skills and high damage skills. Uses a bow primarily but isn't afraid to bust out a melee weapon. Wears medium armors like padded, offers fair protections to melee and magic.
"Robin Hood"

Primalist:
Balanced Health, Stamina, and Mana. Wears robes that offer low protections, but more so than Elementalist robes. They use heals, revive, and buffs primarily. They can do moderate damage under the correct conditions.
"The Medic/Support"

You can switch between roles fairly frequently. (Every 15 minutes. (Thanks Elelish!). So, testing the different ones out is easy enough. However, some skills (the Ultimate's for each class/role require a fair amount of prowess. 3k.) have to be unlocked, and it can be risky to unlock a skill and not like it after using up your hard earned prowess. Ask in global chat about a certain skill if you are unsure.


Feats, Prowess and Leveling Skills
Spoiler



Character Development is very important and has three main aspects; Feats, Prowess, Leveling.

Feats:

The Feats and Prowess system in Darkfall is one of my favorite additions to the game. The system is similar to achievements in other games, but with meaningful rewards gained through the system.

The prowess system is designed in Tiers. Completing a "Beginner" Feat will unlock other and more difficult feats to complete. The more difficult a feat is, the more prowess completing it is worth.

To view your Feats go into the GUI mode ('ESC'). On the right side of the screen click on the star icon. The Feats menu will open on the left side. With this menu you can view feats you have completed, view feats that you recently unlocked, view feats that haven't been unlocked yet, and track the progress of current feats.

The 8 dotted circles located at the top left of your screen is your 'Feat Dock'. Drag and drop Feats from the feat menu onto the dock to quickly keep track of your progress. Also, the star icon on the right side of your feat dock toggles the docks different display modes. (Click it and see.)

If you place a feat on the dock for farming a monster. Your map will display star icons (even over the fog of war) indicating where that monster can be found. If you hover your mouse over the feats star icon on your map it will show a black box with the name of the feat. Below the name it will show (Prowess Earned/Total Number to Kill). For example, if you place the "Master Brown Bear Trapper" Feat on your feat dock, star icons will appear on your Map over all Brown Bear Spawns. Mousing over any of those stars will display "Master Brown Bear Trapper" and "319/150". You need to kill 150 Brown Bears (Land killing blow) and you will receive 319 prowess for it. You can then hover your mouse over the Feat Icon on the Feat Dock to see how many you have killed so far.

Prowess

This may be apparent to most people but a few important points about Prowess; You can view your prowess at the top right of the screen, (Near Minimap) it is displayed near a blue bust icon. 'Current Prowess'(Total Prowess). You can view other players prowess that is in your clan within the clan menu. A player's prowess is displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen when your target is on them. And it is basically a rename of experience points for anyone who has played an RPG in the past.

You earn prowess from just about everything you do; Crafting, Harvesting, and Monster killing. When you craft you earn different amounts of prowess based on what you are crafting. Higher rank items give more prowess. Harvesting can yield rare items randomly that are worth more prowess when obtained. Monster killing is worth prowess per kill based on the monster.

NOTE: Killing monsters in a party rewards the player who lands the killing blow 50% of the prowess for the kill. The other 50% is split evenly amongst other party members that are within range.

To earn fast prowess I suggest completing PvE feats that over lap with each other. For example, if you kill 30 Greater/Lesser Ice Elementals (Feat Name: Competent Ice Elemental Disruptor) and then kill/complete the 150 Master Ice Elemental Disruptor feat that it unlocks, and be sure to skin them all you will complete many feats at one time. You will complete a feat for the Ice Elemental kills, for killing Villian rank monsters (Mouse over any mob spawn to see its rank next to its name), for collecting the skins (Skinning; click on tomb with skinning knife out.), and you will complete the Elemental Feat that is for 150 of any elemental (Ice,Fire,Air,Earth). This will add up to a lot of prowess gained, a total of about 4300 prowess. 1357 for Ice Elemental, 1357 for Any Elemental, 921 for Villain, 3 x 225 for Skin feats.

Note that if you then went and killed 150 Fire Elementals you would only get the Master Fire Elemental Disruptor feat complete for prowess. This is because the "Skinning" feats, "Villain" feat and "Any Elemental" feat were completed when you did the Ice Elementals.

TIP*To speed up farming, I suggest having 3 or more players at the spawn. All monster spawns below "Terror" level (confirm Terror level?) can have their spawn rate increased drastically if 3+ players are there.

If I can hold a spawn down easily and safely, I will bring 2 of my extra characters and stash them nearby while farming on my main. This will cause the spawn to go crazy so I can kill 150 quickly. If running 3 instances of the game is out of your power for whatever reason, I suggest finding other people doing the same feat or generous clan mates to help you.

Leveling Skills
Excluding Crafting Skills, all skills are leveled with prowess. Your base attributes are also increased with prowess.

To level up your skills you need to go into your "Skills Menu"('K'). By clicking on the Staff/Sword cross icon on the top right side of the screen (GUI Mode). Find the skill you want to level and click the green up arrow beneath it. This will open the 'Level Up' window. In here you can distribute prowess by clicking the + sign. This window also displays the total prowess cost for the leveling, the amount of prowess you will have left, and how leveling up the skill will benefit you. (eg. Lower Cool down, Greater Magnitude, Less Mana Consumption.)

To level up your attributes click the green "Up Arrow" next to the attribute name in your paper doll('P'). This will open the 'Level Up' window the same as it did for skills. Attributes are undoubtedly more important (and more expensive) than skills to level up at first. At least the attributes that compliment your chosen role.

Leveling Crafting:
You level the crafting skills by crafting items. "Level by Doing". The higher the crafting skill, the better the gear that can be crafted. And the higher the success rate of crafting the lower/same rank items.

Official Prowess Notes



PVE Tips
Spoiler

Leveling Mobs:
Many mobs in pve are capable of "leveling up" in Darkfall Unholy Wars. A leveled up mob will be slightly more difficult and have a chance to drop better loot. A typical monster that drops a handful of gold will often drop 50g when killing the leveled up version.

To level up (transform) a mob, just simply let him hit you repeatedly while parrying using your weapon or shield. It is based on the damage done to you, so allowing them to get back hits in is faster, but may get you killed. Further more, you can rest to tank them, when they level up they get full health.- Try to use short sprints occasionally to heal yourself or raise your stamina level using your Mana to Stamina spell.

-Another note about leveling mobs is that of the mobs that can be leveled they have specific "transformations" they take on. There are other titles that mobs take when they level up. One is 'Champion' (Hob goblin veterans can do this). The champion dropped a bonus 200 gold. Goblins can "Rage" and Ghoul Flesh Crafters transform as well. The Goblins give a bonus 50 gold. Ghoul Flesh Crafters aren't called "Champion" but drop the bonus 200.

Monster Strengths & Weaknesses:
Monsters in the game have various strengths and weaknesses. They were similar in DF1, but magnified in DF:UW even further. Be wary of the fact that the monster's Strengths and Weaknesses vary based on your role and the armor you wear and type of damage you do. (Thanks fizbanii)

Strengths:
Some common types of strengths.

-Melee or Magical Damage. (Furthered by multiple elements.)
-Having both ranged and melee attacks.
-Possessing strong heal spells. (Witches Brew)
-Invulnerability to Melee or Magical Damage.

Weaknesses:
Some common types of weaknesses.

-Physical Damage or Magical Damage.
(Furthered by specific types of Physical damage, and elements of Magic. Examples; Fire is super effective on trolls. Bludgeoning is super effective on skeletons. Arrows are weak on skeletons.)

-Having only melee attacks. (No ranged skills; Bow or Spells)



Races and Stats
Spoiler

(Thanks Creaca and others for help and ideas pertaining to this! and Special Thanks to residente for full confirmation.)

Races:
There are 6 races in Darkfall:UW. Each race has a base stat distribution that varies slightly and can affect the early game but is negligible mid/late game.

Mercians (Humans)
Humans are a very balanced race.
They have 20 Strength, 20 Dexterity, 20 Intelligence, and 20 Wisdom. (Thanks Mycke!)

Mirdain (Elves)
Mirdain are adept at archery, giving a slightly higher dexterity stat than some other races.
They have: 18 Strength, 24 Dexterity, 20 Intelligence and 18 Wisdom.
(Thanks StormTrooper)

Alfari (Dark Elves)
Alfari are adept with magic, giving a slightly higher intelligence stat than some other races.
They have: 16 Strength, 20 Dexterity, 24 Intelligence and 20 Wisdom. (Thanks Mycke!)

Tovarr (Tall Dwarves)
Tovarr are slightly wiser and stronger than most other races.
They have: 22 Strength, 16 Dexterity, 20 Intelligence, and 22 Wisdom.

Mahirim (Werewolves?)
Mahirim are slightly stronger and dextrous than most races.
They have: 22 Strength, 22 Dexterity, 20 Intelligence, and 16 Wisdom.

Orks (Orks)
Orks are very strong, giving a slightly higher strength stat than some other races.
They have: 24 Strength, 20 Dexterity, 18 Intelligence, and 18 Wisdom.

Stats:

Strength:
Strength increases your melee damage and maximum health.

Dexterity:
Dexterity increases your melee attack speed and maximum stamina.

Intelligence:
Intelligence increases your spell's (Elementalist Spells) damage and your maximum mana.

Wisdom:
Wisdom has a moderate affect on maximum mana and increases magnitude of Primalist Spells. Wisdom affects all common skills magnitude. (Healself,Conversions,Heal mount, etc.)



Crafting Simplified
Spoiler

A lot of the material here has been covered in other parts of the guide, and may be self explanatory. However, I felt that some of it was over complicated a little.

Basically, Crafting is broken into 3 parts. Harvesting Materials, Processing Materials, and Crafting Items.

Harvesting Materials
You gather different materials by killing monsters (and skinning them with a skinning knife.) and by harvesting "nodes". Nodes are trees, rocks, iron deposits and bushes. Bushes yield Cotton, Trees yield timber, Rocks yield Stone and Iron deposits yield Iron ore.

Processing Materials
During the processing stage you take the materials and convert them into usable materials. There are stations for the different conversions. Smelter converts Iron ore to Iron Ingots. The Workbench has three converters; Weaving, Tanning and Woodcutting. Weaving converts cotton to cloth, Tanning converts rawhide to leather, and Woodcutting converts timber to wood. Each conversion has a 5:2 ratio of input to output. Except Raw Hide is 3:2. (example, every 5 timber converts to 2 wood. Assuming you don't fail.). Once your converting skill is a high enough level. You can add magical properties to the raw materials to produce better converted materials. Example, Take cotton add a rare essence (eg. Selentine Essence) and bam you have rare cloth.(Selentine Cloth,etc)

Crafting Items
This is the good stuff. You use the processed items, add in a little gold and maybe other specified ingredients to make other stuff. So this is self explanatory, but A+B+....=Awesome!


A Closer Look at Cooking
Spoiler


Agon Culinary Academy:

In DF1, food was very important. Food increases stamina regeneration and later in DF1, food would increases important stats like Strength or Wisdom. When we eat food, we get a buff called nourishment that provides the regeneration.

As a starting Cook, we have 2 recipes available to us; 'Baked Potato' and 'Vegetable soup'.

I've made Baked Potato and it seemed to provide a regeneration buff for 3 minutes when consumed (Used by Double Clicking it in your backpack, or from Quick Slots). In DF1, some of the more difficult food to craft would provide a 25 minute nourishment buff. I imagine some of the higher level recipes have increased nourishment buff durations.

Food ingredients are available in the loot tables of multiple mobs in the starter areas. Hivekins seem to drop a lot of potatoes.

At Cooking level 50*, we can start making some fish recipes. Fish can be harvested via the Fishing gathering skill.



PVP Basics
Spoiler

(Thanks Asolar)

So, most of us play Darkfall for the hardcore PVP action. However, that action is a lot less fun if you are getting your butt kicked non stop. Having said that we are going to cover some basic aspects of PVP, and perhaps later some advanced Role specific aspects.

Stats and Maintaining Them
This may seem obvious to many, but for new guys this is very important. You have three stat pools, Health, Stamina, and Mana.

Health is probably pretty intuitive (I hope so.) but basically if you lose it, you die (See Reviving & Ganking.)

Stamina is basically like health, if you lose it you die. The difference is you don't die immediately. (Just very nearly). Instead you can't sprint, you can't cast much of anything, you can't jump, you pretty much just die. Stamina is used in all basic movements and in casting many skills from the Warrior/Skirmisher Roles.

Mana isn't as scary to run out of like Health and Stamina, unless you're a mage, then you're probably going to die. Mana is used for most (all) common skills, and all spells a mage uses. It's your energy pool for putting out the damage and it's important.

Conversions
There are three conversions (Mana to Stamina, Stamina to Health and Health to Mana.). They are self explanatory. The effectiveness of conversions is determined by your Wisdom and the level of the conversion. It takes high level conversions to get positive returns.

Heal Self is a self heal... that costs only 2 mana! And at higher levels can heal for a solid amount. Wisdom also increases the effectiveness of Heal Self.

Reviving and Ganking
Once a players Health is gone, they fall to the ground and die (Moan in pain). At this point you can walk up to them, look down at them and press and hold 'F' to interact with them. You can always choose to revive. But you can only choose to gank if you have a melee weapon out. (Pole Arm, Great Sword, etc.) If the player is left to moan in pain long enough they will revive on their own. (Don't know if this is changing at official launch, it didn't exist in DF1) If they die in water they will instantly "Decap" and go to the load screen as if they were ganked. You revive with little to no Health and Mana but full Stamina. If a player is ganked, their body is replaced with a tombstone that can be accessed using 'F'. The tomb will open up a window like your bank, except it has all the items they had on them at the time of their untimely demise. LOOTS!!! Note: The tomb functions just like mob tombs that you may have seen in noob areas; anyone can take from it.

*PRO TIP: If you are in a clan, Do NOT battle loot (looting before fight is over.), Do NOT bag loot, (steal a whole bag versus a few items out of it) unless the "Loot and Scoot" call has been made. Do NOT touch a clannies tomb who died, without calling it out BEFORE you place your head in the tomb. These things have very negative effects, and your reputation will follow you in Darkfall. And for the sake of preserving Alliances, never touch an allies tomb, let his people (Clannies) do it, until you have strong relations and have proven yourself trustworthy enough (to them) to loot their gear.



Holdings and Sieges
Spoiler


Player owned holdings are pretty cool, and pave the way for Darkfall's best aspect; Sieges. Sieges are large scale player versus player events where entire clans or clan alliances fight for ownership to a city or hamlet.

Holdings
There are two types of player owned establishments. These establishments can be upgraded with new structures. To upgrade your city or hamlet you need to be the founder of the owner clan or have permission to build from the founder.

Hamlets:
Hamlets are small 'out posts' of sorts. They don't have all of the things cities have. Namely, they lack a keep, barracks, and walls. Hamlets have at least one resource amenity (Mine, Grove, Quarry, Farm).

Cities:
Cities are... cities. Some cities are better than others based on upgradable structures. Six of the player cities are monument cities. Monument cities have extremely difficult to build structures (Wonders) and in Darkfall Online these structures offered buffs to the owning clan no matter where they were in the world! (Not sure in DF:UW)

Sieges
To take a city or hamlet, you have to siege it. Sieging a holding can be really easy or really hard. If a holding has no current owner (early server life) you only need a founder (or permitted member) to go to the bind stone of the desired holding and press 'F' while looking at it, then select claim. To claim an open city a clan needs 5k Dominion. For an open Hamlet the clan needs 1k Dominion.

If you want a city that someone else owns, well, things get a bit funner. First of all, you need to go into the 'Clans' section of the GUI and browse for the clan that owns the holding you want. Click on the Clan Name and then click the (i) on the right to access clan overview. From here you click the (i) next to the name of the holding you want to siege. Inside this 'Holding Overview' window you will see a timer that reads --.--.--, Wager: 20000 (Gold cost to attack hamlet, or 50000 to attack a city), and a red circle with an exclamation mark in the center. This lovely exclamation mark icon starts the fun and begins your attack on the holding you are viewing. The gold needs to be in your clan bank.

The timer will show how long until the siege becomes active ("Goes Live"). There is a 22 hour wait from the time an attacker starts(drops) a siege and the siege goes live. You have one hour from the time you click "Attack!" to place a siege stone(s). Siege stones can be purchased from an NPC near the bank in NPC cities. Small siege stones are 5k gold, and Large are 20k gold. You can place up to 2 siege stones per attack. Small Siege Stones (1500 Health) for hamlets, Large Siege Stones for cities (possible small for cities too, confirm?). Siege stones must be placed out side of the target holding (above or below won't work) and within 800m of its bind stone. (Have someone in your party stand at bind stone and use the map while mousing over their 'P' dot to judge distance.) Once the siege goes live you must protect your siege stone(s) from being destroyed for an hour and then destroy the holding's bind stone while still protecting the siege stone(s). If you place two stones both must be destroyed before you lose the siege. Other outside clans can drop sieges on the same holding as you during the 22 hour countdown period. This can lead to some true chaos. Also, Siege and Bind stones can only be damaged by Battle Spikes or Ship Cannons.

Good Luck! Happy Sieging!



GUIDE HAS REACHED 50k CHARACTER LIMIT!!!

There are numerous other things I would like to cover that are eluding me at the moment. Please help me by adding in constructive replies. On an important final note if you are a new player and need help, the majority of the time I am in game and available to answer questions. You can shoot me a private message with

/w Grim Fate (Message)

/w Silent Widowmaker (Message)

/w Sendog Sin (Message)

(If I end up with 100,000 pm's all asking the same thing, I may not reply, I am not being a jerk, I will simply update the guide with the answer. Replying that many times is unrealistic, please be reasonable, and check back often!)

Credits
Spoiler
Credits for anyone who makes a contribution to this guide.

Umer (Forum Name)(x4+)
minjinni (Forum Name)
Sanshi44 (Forum Name)
Creaca (Forum Name)
Mycke (Forum Name)
Por Nostar (Forum Name/In Game Name)
StormTrooper (Forum Name)
Asolar (Forum Name)
Candy Flip (Forum Name)
Elelish (Forum Name)
Cordox (Forum Name)
kilrain (Forum Name)
Lord Naxious (Forum Name & In Game Name)
Imrys (Forum Name)
residente (Forum Name)
Lando924 (Forum Name) Lord Lando (In Game Name)
Fizbanii (Forum Name)
Dreadlord Xeen (In Game Name)
Drago Palmas (Forum Name)

I obviously specify 'Forum Name', if anyone who has contributed to the guide wants their in game name listed here send me a private message, with your in game name, and stating so. Thanks!


Also, I would like to give credit to everyone who took the time to reply and thank me, or just give some support. When working on something as tedious as a guide it's very helpful to know the guide is appreciated!