ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Hello - I've recently started playing, and have ended up with a list of questions I was hoping to get answered:

1. - I have a couple 1.4 characters going through the prides - If I go back to playing them, will I still get achievements? (ie if I haven't beat the game, go back and do so on a 1.4 character, will I unlock adventurer in 1.5?)

2. - Is there a way to make sure you get class specific artifacts? I currently have a doombringer, and every 2H tier 5 artifact I've found seems meant for sun paladins - is there any way to ensure or increase the chances of getting something like dethblyd?

3. Speaking of artifacts, is there any general advice on which slots are best to buy from the merchant? My sun paladin went for a weapon, and got something that was not very good for him, so since then I've been trying gloves/boots as those seem to be more likely to be useful. Is that thinking correct?

4. Is the Vor Armory supposed to be so hard? My recent characters I've played (TW, oozemancer, sun paladin, doombringer) have been played on normal, and on all 4 I have only ever died to that. Going through the prides after has been cakewalk in comparison, as was dreadfall.

5. Is there anywhere to get plain voratun amulets besides random drops? I've done the quest for the jeweler in the east, have some good tier 5 gems, but have never seen the plain tier 5 amulet.

6. Are there any classes that use exotic weapons? I've seen some cool whips and tridents, but not til later, and only seen the exotic weapons unlock on escort rewards.

7. At what difficulty (if any) does it become necessary to drown NPCs and/or using an addon to choose escorts? I'm doing fine on normal without it, although getting correct escort rewards seems to have a huge (almost too big?) effect on the difficulty on some characters. Is this needed on nightmare, or not really until insane?

dogofgunther wrote:1. - I have a couple 1.4 characters going through the prides - If I go back to playing them, will I still get achievements? (ie if I haven't beat the game, go back and do so on a 1.4 character, will I unlock adventurer in 1.5?)

Don't export them, if you wanna keep going with them i recommend using the option of downloading the old engine you get when you try to load em

dogofgunther wrote:2. - Is there a way to make sure you get class specific artifacts? I currently have a doombringer, and every 2H tier 5 artifact I've found seems meant for sun paladins - is there any way to ensure or increase the chances of getting something like dethblyd?

Nope, just good old RNG

dogofgunther wrote:3. Speaking of artifacts, is there any general advice on which slots are best to buy from the merchant? My sun paladin went for a weapon, and got something that was not very good for him, so since then I've been trying gloves/boots as those seem to be more likely to be useful. Is that thinking correct?

Weapon is good if you don't have anything decent, other good options are utility slots like Lite, pickaxe, rings/amulets, gloves

dogofgunther wrote:4. Is the Vor Armory supposed to be so hard? My recent characters I've played (TW, oozemancer, sun paladin, doombringer) have been played on normal, and on all 4 I have only ever died to that. Going through the prides after has been cakewalk in comparison, as was dreadfall.

Vor armory is one of the hardest zones in the game, you're right about it.

dogofgunther wrote:5. Is there anywhere to get plain voratun amulets besides random drops? I've done the quest for the jeweler in the east, have some good tier 5 gems, but have never seen the plain tier 5 amulet.

They're pretty rare, you get 2 of them when you kill one of the postgame optional bosses

dogofgunther wrote:6. Are there any classes that use exotic weapons? I've seen some cool whips and tridents, but not til later, and only seen the exotic weapons unlock on escort rewards.

None, pretty much the only reason to go exotic weapons is if you plan to get Legacy of the Naloren prodigy, since you get one of the best weapons in the game with it

dogofgunther wrote:7. At what difficulty (if any) does it become necessary to drown NPCs and/or using an addon to choose escorts? I'm doing fine on normal without it, although getting correct escort rewards seems to have a huge (almost too big?) effect on the difficulty on some characters. Is this needed on nightmare, or not really until insane?

Insane and higher is the only ones you really need to care about it, since on normal/nightmare you won't really find mobs to drown on the towns (I guess you can now on nightmare, but it's not really needed)

dogofgunther wrote:2. - Is there a way to make sure you get class specific artifacts?

Not specifically. But, I keep almost all my artifacts in Sher'Tul Fortess on an alt who beat the game, who I call the Banker. Whenever I get a character to the Fortress, I go looking through the bank, and see what suits him.

dogofgunther wrote:4. Is the Vor Armory supposed to be so hard?

It's a grinder, no doubt about it. I always try to be extra careful in there.

As long as you don't open the Room of Death, Vor Armoury shouldn't be too hard.

Vor:A is arguably the hardest part of the east besides HP and the final bosses (though HP is mostly running). No digging allowed, mages are teleporting bitches and your stun res gets lowered, you get frozen and flameshocked over and over. If you're playing a ranged class that isn't neo archer, gnarg's -3 CD rush will probably give you trouble, but usually you can isolate him.

On my most recent run the only reason I beat it was because of stone walls and a lucky dreamwalk. I still say it's the hardest even though my solip died in the prides (which usually are relatively boring and easy I just suck).

HousePet wrote:As long as you don't open the Room of Death, Vor Armoury shouldn't be too hard.

well the room that actually kills you is the one that you have to go through

room of death by comparison is super easy since the wyrms dont teleport everywhere