Getting started

First steps as a Cora

First steps

After creating a character you appear in the first location, the Cora HQ. Open the map with M.

Press the + next to "Cora HQ" on the map: that is where you are. Your character is the red mark. Keep an eye on the map at first to learn the layout, the exits from the base and, most important, where every NPC on the base is and what they are called. NPCs on the base:

• Commander
• Clerk
• Banker
• Merchant
• Armourer
• Blacksmith
• Hero

Levels 1–3

You have appeared at the base (Cora HQ); the Commander hands you starting equipment for your class.

With your weapon in hand, leave the base and kill the very first monsters on the ground around it (Flems, their young, and Vertobots). Your level will rise step by step. Pick up as many items as you can (fill the inventory) and sell them to the NPCs who buy. Save money and buy extra bags to widen the inventory.

Tip 1: use your skills often, both attack skills and the positive ones (buffs) that raise your abilities (the skill menu is S). The earlier you start, the easier the experience comes later.

Tip 2: fill the inventory with expensive things. While space is short, pick up weapons and armour to sell: they fetch more than resources and other items.

Tip 3: RF Online has experience points, mastery points and skill points, so experience is distributed by what you are armed with and which skills you use.

Tip 4: after a short while the race Commander asks you to take your first quest. Accept.

Tip 5: keep doing every quest you receive: they help you find your feet in the world and in your character's abilities, and they reward you with items, experience and some local currency.

Levels 4–7

At level 4 you can wear your first armour. If the hunting went well you can buy the whole set, but to gather more money later it is better to buy a bag first.

Tip 1: press J for the quest log: everything about your current quests and where the monsters for them are.

Levels 8–12

From level 8 you can choose where the character revives after death (the save point), at the NPCs on the bases who offer it. Pick the most convenient place. From level 13 every class can wear class armour, provided the class mastery is at least level 4:

• a Warrior wears reinforced armour: melee mastery points required;
• a Ranger wears light armour: ranged mastery points required;
• a Spiritualist wears enchanted armour: Force mastery points required;

Tip 1: if you find class A weapons or equipment while hunting (with a special property; there are several kinds, affecting the character's skills), equipping it gives your character that ability, which helps later growth.

Tip 2: at level 12 the quest "Sample collection for the Research Institute" rewards a protective suit.

Levels 13–24

From level 13 new equipment gets hard to find by hunting, so trade and barter. After level 19 armour and weapons are sold by the merchants at each race's military camps (outposts), apart from the expensive merchants out in the locations beyond the bases. The fastest way up is hunting the monsters your quests need: quests are both a good reward and the best way to level.

Tip 1: these quests give weapons and equipment:

Lv 15: Secret mission → level 16 armour set

Lv 15: Plague silver → level 16 armour set

Lv 17: Infected crabs → level 18 weapon

Lv 18: Defence of the vibro-magnetic systems → level 19 armour set

Lv 19: Viral infection → level 20 weapon

Lv 22: Desert storm → level 23 armour set

Lv 24: Track down Anabola → level 25 weapon

Levels 25–29

At level 25 you can at last take part in the race wars for control of the planet's main mines. You are still weak, but take part anyway and do everything in your power for Cora's victory.

Tip 1: Unlike the other races, the Cora move slowly. A Spiritualist can raise speed with the Dark Force "Haste"; when going out to hunt, ask a high-level Spiritualist to share it with you.

First profession, levels 30–34

At level 30 comes the first choice of profession, so think ahead about the class you want and prepare, especially if you plan a multiclass: consider which skills to develop for balanced growth.

The profession is chosen, and the class raised, at the Race Manager. Decide which class you want to grow in and make your choice.

At this stage the difficulty of each level depends on equipment. Hunting gets easier with upgraded weapons and items improved to grade C.

From level 30 you can found a guild: gather 8 people (yourself included) of level 30 or higher, go to the Clerk NPC, pay 24,000,000 and create it.

At level 30 Cora Spiritualists can summon the servants of the other world blessed by the creator, Decem: the Animus.

Levels 35–39

At level 35 you can travel to Ether, a hunter's paradise. Buy a ticket for the passenger ship from the NPC at the port, wait for the departure, and the shuttle takes you there.

Potions sold on Ether are stronger and better than those on other territories.

Second profession, levels 40–44

At level 40 comes the second change of profession, again at the Race Manager. Choose your final class, check its details and change.

Skills develop best at this stage, so raise them as high as you can.

As for rank at level 40: once you pass 50 skill points (novice and master skills already open) you can use the highest rank, Expert. Develop mastery and skill points properly, and use skills to the full.

Tip 1: from level 40 weapons and armour get hard to come by. Join a guild by then: more people means more weapons of every kind, and more good weapons means more luck.

Tip 2: this stage adds quests with pit boss hunts. A pit boss has enormous strength and considerable size, so do not try it alone. Players gather in several parties to defeat a pit boss and finish the quest. Take part.

Levels 45–50

The final stage of a character in RF Online, the last barrier before level 50.

From level 45 the Caldera volcanoes open.

From level 45 monsters are strong, big and very dangerous; hunting them alone is hard. Party hunting is easier, faster and pays better. In a party you get high-class items and level quickly, especially in the dungeons, where the difficulty and the quality of the items are higher. Grow your strength in group combat.

At level 50 your appearance changes; you gain enormous power for the final goal and a sense of superiority like no other.

Tip 1: At this level you mostly solve the race's problems. Your strength depends on the race, and its prosperity depends on you; do not forget your responsibility.

Source: rfonline.ru (Innova, 2007–2009), recovered from the Internet Archive. original page