Atlantica Beginners Guide Part 1

Atlantica Online is a free to play strategic turn-based MMORPG. The game brings a lot of unique features to the MMO genre that you don't typically find in other MMO's. Mainly, the combat system is unlike anything you are used to in traditional MMORPG's. Also, the game allows you to hire mercenaries to help you along the way. The game can be played as a solo endeavor or you can join a guild and participate in group and guild activities. It also features an intuitive PvP combat system.

Aside from those unique features you will find all of your typical MMO features, such as crafting and an economic system (commonly referred to as auction halls). The game is a really unique experience that all MMO fans should at least try out once.

The learning curve for Atlantica is pretty steep as learning all the unusual features can be pretty confusing at first. In this guide we will get rid of a lot of confusion that new players will most certainly have.

After you have downloaded the game and signed up an account, the first step you have to do is create your character. While playing the game, you will be able to have up to eight additional mercenaries in your group, but the character you first create is going to be with you forever and will represent what other gamers see you as.

Atlantica offers you nine different classes to choose from. The names of these classes are based on their skill types. For example, if

your into being on the front lines and wielding a sword and a shield and being a traditional tank, then a sword class would be best for you. If you are more into the casting and the magic part of the game, then a staff character will be more in line with that. Shuffle through all the different classes and read the short description for a better idea of a specific class.

Unlike other MMORPGs, it generally a good idea to start yourself out with a basic understanding of each class, regardless of which one you choose as your main. As you play the game you will be able to select up to 8 different mercenaries to join you in battle. The mercenaries are simply characters that you control during combat and can add to your group while you progress through the game. The class choices for the mercenaries are the exact same as the class choices you are presented with while creating your own character. So, if you were so inclined to you could actually have all seven classes in your group.

Upon creating your character you can enter a name and a greeting. The greeting is a short message that is displayed to all players in the area when you first log in. After entering that information in click on Gender | Weapon to expand the class selection fold out tab. Click on all of the weapon classes and take a look over their stats and read the short class description. After that, you can modify the appearance of your character by clicking the Apperance roll out tab. When you are done, simply click create and log into the game.

You may have noticed by now that some npc's have an exclaimation point or question mark over their head. If you see a golden exclamation point then go ahead and talk to the npc as they will have a quest for you to complete. If you see an npc with a golden question mark over their head then you should talk to them to turn in a completed quest. You will see both the exclamation point and the question mark in a greyish and semi-transparent color. This just means that you either haven't completed the quest yet or you do not meet the requirements to start a quest.

You can also take a look at your mini-map to find quest npc's who may be out of visual range. If you take a look at the mini-map you will see a few icons. A blue dot with the letter N represents an NPC that you can interact with. A puprle square with a golden exclamation point represents a quest that you can do.

One of the most useful features you can use for doing quests is the auto-move feature. Pressing the auto-move button will move your character to the area you need to be in for your active quests. At any time you can see all of your quests in the top left area of your screen. The active quest is denoted by a black box. So be sure to use it whenever you feel lost.

In order to engage in combat you will have to get in range of a wandering enemy creature, or mob. This will trigger the battle field which displays a group of creatures and your party. If you take a look at the memebrs in your party, you will see a health and mana bar below or above their name along with a number. The number represents the amount of action points they currently have. Eveyrthing you do in combat requires action points. When you use a command such as attack, move, defend, or an ability, the required action points to do that action will be subtracted from that number. You or a mercenary can have a negative number, however, if your turn comes up and you still have a negative number you will not get a turn for the player round. In order to do any action you much have a number greater than 0. The action point number also determines how many times a mercenary attacks during one order. For example, if you have a mercenary to attack a creature and the mercenary has over 100 action points, they may attack more than once on the same turn.

One important thing to keep track of is how much stamina you have. The amount of stamina you have directly relates to how much EXP you get and the type of items you get during combat. Each battle you take part in will consume 1 stamina point unless you are killing in a dungeon or taking part in a guild event. If you happen to use up all of your stamina then you will no longer gain EXP from killing mobs and they will no longer drop items for you to pick up.

Stamina resets each day at 6 AM and unused stamina carries over each day. Aside from waiting for a stamina reset you can also regain stamina by not doing battle for 10 minutes. You can also get stamina by answering help questions, giving gifts or sharing information but its limited to five times a day.