Your priorities are to buy the skill gems finding, purchase a creature for the lowest price possible, armour up with War Pants to enable you to PvP as if you had prayed Speed, and to reach level 2 using your daily PvP mana only (we'll start levelling MUCH faster after three days... but first things first).
Day 1: Buy 30 metals and 30 gems (in that order) at the stores (in The City) and sell them at the market (in The City). Metals sell for 300 (never less) and gem prices fluctuate, so click on 'unit price' in the gem market to get a sense of the lowest prices being sold at. The metals will sell fast... the gems depend on your price. Selling 30 gems at market-low prices usually means they move fairly quickly.
Once the gems sell, buy the gems finding skill (under Skills) and activate it immediately. You'll find 0 gems... but it's important that you activate it EVERY day. The skill will increase 2% with each activation (1/day maximum) and decrease 1% each time you forget. Getting gems finding to 100% is important enough to warrant your always activating it before you do anything else.
Use the remainder of your mana to pray at the Temple of Tiipsi (in The City) for Strength. For now, and the immediate future, you need pray only for Strength. People who told you that you have to PvP where telling the truth. People who implied that you need Speed to do it, have their heads up... some dark place. Average prayers would give you about 2.5 to 3.5 points of Strength. Don't worry if you have less. You'll survive as long as you get 1 point.
Request a knife and wool gloves (My Town - Armoury) and while you're in town apply for gem-free revival (My Town - Healer)... because you will die eventually (don't worry... it's curable). When your equipment arrives (you'll get mail), equip it (My Equipment).
This, of course, assumes that you're already in a town. I recently got mail from a newer player (not in TG) who got a hold of this plan and was following it. He made the mistake of buying equipment... because I assumed that anyone reading this would already be in a town.
Do not spend your own money on equipment. EVER. Join a town. They'll provide you with everything for free.
Now, use the Sum-It-All (in The City - Council Building - ML Ranking) to find weak opponents. The last page shows the weakest players in ML... and you still have PvP mana (a special form of mana that can only be used to fight other players). Click on a name to see if that player lives, and if so, kill 'em. Do this five times. With your wool gloves and knife, it's highly unlikely that you'll suffer a single loss. Remember to heal between fights when wounded (The City - Reviving Fruits), or to revive gem-free at the town's Healer. If you've managed to win any gems, sell them... otherwise you might lose one if someone kills you... and gems are fairly valuable, especially at your age. While we're on the topic, metals are even easier to steal, and you can lose all of them at once... so NEVER carry metals around with you. Buy metals... sell metals... avoid losing metals.
Finally, vote for ML (The City - Vote Here) for a little extra gold and a very small chance to win a mana reload (don't use it until you know it's value).
Day 2: Activate your skill, buy and sell metals and then gems, pray for Strength (check to see if you can use better weapons or armour... here in the MLE's Choosing Equipment section. Request and equip whenever you can), PvP 5 weak opponents from the bottom of the Sum-It-All, and vote.
If you manged to win all 10 of your fights, and weren't killed in between, you'll notice that your maximum PvP mana has increased to 6. PvP increases .2 points for every 2 consecutive wins you manage against players at your level limit (the minimum level character you should be attacking) or higher... but decreases .2 for each loss or attack below your level limit. Level Limit is simply 60% of your level, rounded up.
Day 3: Okay... today is a big day. Ready? It's time to buy a creature (or pet). Creatures will allow you, later, to utilize difficult-to-use PvP mana (due to target scarcity) to hunt for metals... and lots of them... like 200,000+ gold coins per day... easy. No player needs a creature more than the high-Strength PvP build... and that's what we're building here.
The trick in getting your creature as cheaply as possible is a two-fold one. First, you're still 1st level, and creature prices are level-based. Next, creature prices are wealth based...that is to say that the more gold and metals you have, the more gold and metals the creature will cost. Your goal today is to have exactly (or as close as humanly possible) 63 metals (30 from the store, and 33 from the market) and 2500 gold. All the remainder of your wealth should be in the form of gems. It's also important that this all happens fairly quickly... as you don't want metals in your possession.
Buy and sell gems first to get as close to, but no less than, 15,100 gold. Now it's time to hunt the metals market. It's easy to find metals being sold in groups of 30... so buy 30 metals (be quick... it's often a race). Sell 27. Buy another 30 metals... and, having 33, go to the metals store to buy the other 30. That will leave you with 2500 gold left over. Go buy your creature at the Creature Black Market (The City). Name and type/race are unimportant and can be changed later.
Having gone through all that, you ca now forget about your creature. Do not train it against friends... do not give out the bonus points... do nothing. The most valuable creature is one with 0 experience points... absolutely untouched until you know what you're doing.
Okay... before you finish your day, this is your last chance to choose a mentor at the Sage (The City). A mentor is a player who receives certain in-game rewards for helping you to learn the game. It doesn't cost you anything and is an easy way to repay that player for his/her guidance. Once you reach 2nd level, you're no longer allowed to choose a mentor for the first adeptcy. If a certain player has been helpful to you, ask him/her if they're a mentor, and sign up under that player.
Activate your skill if you haven't already. Do not sell gems anymore (unless it's for buy low sell high games on the market). The most important thing you'll be doing over the next weaks is buying mana (100 gems per point of maximum mana at the Tall Tree of Mana in the city). Never fall below 2700 gold (to buy metals at the store), but other than that, every time you gather 100 gems, buy mana (maximum once per day... up to the maximum allowed mana of 50 + [Level*3]). Go ahead and pray for Strength, and do a little victory dance if you reached 10. The war pants and dagger you can now equip are important for PvPing at 2nd level. Don't worry if you don't have 10 yet... it's actually not important until tomorrow... and you get to pray again. Either way, as soon as you reach the 10... request and equip the dagger and war pants.
PvP today requires a bit more care. You will, after a few fights, reach 2nd level. As soon as you do, your level limit also increases to 2... meaning that if you attack a 1st-level player, even if you win, you will lose PvP mana... which is just about the last thing you want. Once you've levelled up, it's time to use the Sum-It-All to find ML's weakest 2nd-level players. You'll find them with a Sum-It-All rating of 63. Instead of fighting those 2nd level players, click Add To Blacklist on about 100 of them (yes... 100). Once you're finished, go to your Blacklist. You now have 100 targets and can see who's alive at a glance. The Blacklist becomes very important later, when targets become scarce. You can click many fights nearly simultaneously using it. For now, finish using your PvP mana, vote, and call it a day.
II. The next three days.
Your priorites are to increase PvP mana dramatically and start to level aggressively.
Day 4: Activate your skill, buy and sell metals, buy and keep gems, and vote (get it out of the way). You should only pray today, 5 mana at a time, if you still need to reach 10 points of Strength. Once you do, and have equiped your war pants and dagger, you're ready to go on a killing spree the likes of which should be remembered.
The trick is that, although PvP mana can't be used as normal mana... normal mana can be used as PvP mana. Use your Blacklist and start killing. Once you've used all your PvP mana, you'll notice you can continue using normal mana. Use it all.
Don't worry about your level limit upon reaching 3rd level... it's still 2. Upon reaching 4th level, however, you need to delete your entire blacklist, and use the Sum-It-All to replace it with 3rd-level, targets... 3 being your new level limit. 5th level can also PvP 3rd level without sanction, but at 6th level you need to repeat the process of replacing your blacklist, this time with 4th-level targets. Make sure, whenever you level, that your Blacklist is full of 100 or so of the easiest (weakest) targets at your new level limit.
Later, when you have a better sense of the game, you can start Pvping players at higher-than-limit levels. The higher the level of your target, the more experience points you earn for beating it. For now, however, stay at limit.
Once your mana is spent, the slaughter is over, for today.
On the day that you reach 5th level (and, subsequently, have Intelligence 5), you can request your first spell. Spells are free and only require a few days waiting to learn. Go to the Spell Shop (in The City) and request Immunity by clicking on it. It will show as learned under Spells in five day's time.
Day 5: Repeat day 4.
There's a pretty good chance that you can buy a point of maximum mana today... if you can get those 100 gems together... do it. Remember to buy mana EVERY time you can get 100 gems together. Use extra gold to buy gems from the market. Buy mana! The name of this game might as well be Manaland... that's how important this stat is.
Day 6: You'll want to continue your PvPing until your PvP mana is at 20. 20 PvP mana will allow you to continue levelling at a steady pace, while enjoying the luxury of being able to pray for Strength with all your normal mana... after activating your skill, of course. If you have mana left over after reaching 20 PvP, do exactly that. Pray for Strength. Remember that you need 5 mana to pray, so if you have, for instance 17 mana left when you reach 20 PvP, go ahead and fight two more opponents.
A few notes on PvPing. You'll notice that targets are becomming increasinbgly difficult to find at any time of the day other than reset, and, maybe, wars. At reset, everyone in the game is simultaneously revived at the same time Mana, PvP mana, and Magic Points (important later for casting spells) are refilled. This is the PvPers time. As unfair as it may seem, ML has one reset... at California Midnight (8 AM in London). If you're unable to be on-line daily at that time, you'll be at a disadvantage to those players who can.
EDIT: ML is going through a process of testing out various revival plans in order to make PvPing more accessable, and thus fairer, to more players. Right now, in addition to the two times mentioned above (reset and wars), there are three optional revival times, at 6:00, 12:00, and 18:00, ML time. Although not as many targets choose to revive then, instead of reset, it is an additional opportunity to find a handfull of targets.
The second chance to PvP at higher levels is around wars. The participants are revived, and survivors can be killed after the wars are over (there's a PvP block in effect during wars). Wars are generally run daily, four hours after reset.
III. From now until you've maxed your mana.
You're now in a situation in which you'll be able to level well using just PvP mana, allowing you to pray all your normal mana (after you've activated gems finding) into Strength. That's the plan. You'll do this as long as it takes to reach max mana (50 + [level*3]). It's fairly easy to reach 10th level this way... and a few levels more. Eventually we'll need to start training to maintain steady growth, but not until we need to do so in order to stay ahead of our mana limit... and, because we're not buying Speed, we'll be in perfect form to do it well.
Remember... ALWAYS activate gems finding first. This is the key to your eventual regular mana purchases. Between the 30 you can buy from the gems store, the handful you'll take for PvPing, and the ever-increasing gains from your skill, you'll soon be able to scrape 100 gems together every day without stress.
Note: One of the best ways to assure extra resources for mana purchases, as well as the occassional fish and MP, is to "play" the ML markets. Buying incorrectly underpriced gems, or larger bundles purposefully underpriced to move quickly, and repackaging them in smaller bundles (100 sells very well), is time consuming... but can lead to quite the advantage. It's so time-consuming, in fact, that I can't bring myself to even recommend you do it... but the potential is there. I just thought I'd mention it.
IV. Maximum mana achieved.
Now we're ready to begin.
Hopefully you're a bit over 10th level, and have reached (or are close to reaching) the point where daily mana purchases are possible... as long as your level allows.
Until now, we've enjoyed the luxury of spending a lot of mana on praying... but no more. Until you reach level 60, the only reason we'll pray is to enable us to continue levelling.
Here's the chart (it would be a huge accomplishment never to have to pray for Intelligence... that is to say, that after assuring your mana purchases, you had sufficient resources left over to buy fish from the Magic Food Market in order to increase Intelligence sufficiently). Stats are neither minimum nor maximum... they are the goal. Try hitting them as close as possible... without going too far over.
Strength at 105-120 (105 is already enough... 120 guarantees almost no healing is needed), Speed at level, Intelligence at 18... train on Undead Knight to level 20 (remember to keep PvPing... it will save you more normal mana with which to pray for Strength). Your goal is to reach 50% of the required mana to the next level each day... including experience gained from PvPing. Do not level faster. Any mana (divisible by five) left over after training should be prayed into Strength. Once you reach the target level, pray to the stats needed for your next monster.
If, while training, your stats exceed those required for the next monster, switch immediately to the new level-goal.
Speed is assumed to be at level... i.e. level 30, speed 30.
The Strength range are estimates based on armour. The low number given is my estimate of when you should be able to defeat this opponent easily (though you might be able to do so much earlier, healing cost will be high). The high number is overkill... it's the point where your armour is about at your opponent's maximum damage.
Strength 280-300, Intelligence 30... Skilled Ninja to level 26
Strength 305-335, Intelligence 35... Baby Dragon to level 29
Strength 335-355, Intelligence 40... Skeleton King to level 32
Strength 355-385, Intelligence 57... Young Copper Dragon to 35
Strength 385-410, Intelligence 63... Illythid to level 38
Strength 425-445, Intelligence 75... Young Shadow Dragon 44
Strength 445-475, Intelligence 105... Copper dragon to level 49
Strength 490-520, Intelligence 113... Gold Dragon to level 52
Strength 520-545, Intelligence 120... Shadow Dragon to 54
Strength 545-580, Intelligence 128... Chromatic Dragon to 57
Strength 590-615, Intelligence 145... Wyrm to level 60
*Please note... these Strength scores are maximums, and are sometimes quite high. You'll find yourself able to kill most creatures with less Strength. Feel free to do so... just make sure it's not costing too much in healing costs. You'll need that gold for fish. By the time you start fighting the wyrm (at the latest, 57th level), you'll want 88 Intelligence above level. Ideally, that means 88 fish. You really don't want to waste prayer mana on Intelligence.
At level 60, your stats should look something like Strength 613 Speed 60, Intelligence 148, Mana 230. If so... sit back and pray. Do not start using either the MFM or forging skills until after 3rd cap... do not break your bank buying fish or MPs every day... but don't worry about saving money either. Once you've reached the goal stats, you'll be able to earn the 200K per day that you'll need for mana-gems, MF, and MPs, through training.
Pray to 1135 Strength... and then 185 Speed. Pray to 180 Intelligence, in so much that you're unable to increase it using fish. Actually, on second thought, if you're close, and can reach it soon by buying fish, don't pray for Intelligence. Fish is the bargain-hunter's MF. You're better served by praying for a little extra Speed... and sticking to Fish for Intelliegence.
1500 combined stats (1135, 185, 180) are the end of our tutorial. You can now train easily on Kaolor (yes... ironic as it seems, we've skipped Weapon X, everyone's favorite training partner, altogether). Train until you can't level in three days before stopping to pray Speed. Keep buying fish to keep your Intelligence at 2x the level of your next training partner... buy meat once you're there. Feel free to start using the MFM skill once you have 200 Mps daily to spare... though it doesn't really get good until you can spend 300. Start forging only on the day when you can SAVE 200K per day (after mana, MP, and 2 MF... your creature should cover that, though, if you're able to Pvp with it).
Speaking of PvPing... I'd like to ask that you view it differently. PvPing experience, in this growth plan, is good for stats. Every 5-20 (depending on what level you're at) PvP mana used will save you 5 normal mana. By save, I mean you won't need it to level. You can pray it. This saves you time when you do have to pray... often doing away with the necessity altogether.
I'll add more as I think of it... I just wanted to make the priliminary post to get some feedback.
Lucifer
P.S. Here's my levelling chart... in case someone was looking for it. I'm in the process of checking and improving a few details.
Training and levelling
Here's a quick levelling guide based on the theory that "if you can level from two days mana, do it." The equation is a simple one... but I thought I write it out as a visual aid for newer players.
The idea is to calculate two day's training mana (2 * [max mana - 5 (skill activation)]), and multiply that, for each level, times the experience bonus given by the various monsters available as training partners on the beach.
For instance, listed next to the Undead Knight (the first training partner... before that, other players should be your target), has the target level 19. This means that once you can train, with 100% success, on the Undead Knight, you should level up to 19.
Keep checking the next opponent whenever you improve your armour a few steps, or reach a new weapon. Switch to the more powerful training partner once you're winning 100% of the time.
If you reach a target level and are unable to defeat the next monster, it's time to power up through prayer until you can.
You'll notice some monsters were skipped. These were those who only offered minute gains relative to the jump in power... or were actually more difficult to defeat than higher-level monsters... and were, therefore, not the most efficient targets.
Undead Knight 20
Skilled Ninja 26
Baby Dragon 29
Skeleton King 32
Young Copper Dragon 35
Illythid 38
Young Shadow Dragon 44
Zombie Lord 46
Copper Dragon 49
Gold Dragon 52
Shadow Dragon 54
Chromatic dragon 57
Wyrm 60
Weapon X 65
Kaolor 76
Apocalypse 92
Gargantua 108
Cayne N/A
You can also determine which stats are appropriate for which level in this way (i.e. at level 30, you should have whatever Strength provides you sufficient protection to kick the crap out of the Skeleton King (@ 355), 30 Speed, and 40 Intelligence (training partner's level). Those are, of course, bare minimum values designed for players who really want to push their growth to assure a high level before the run-for-the-Apoc-and-Astral praying time (level 55-60?).
