ShmaRO

Training Grounds and You

A Novice guide on how to survive on nothing at all.

• Introduction
• Part 1: Hello World!
• Part 2: Let's get ready to rummmmmmmble!
• Conclusion: Parting Words

Introduction

Welcome all to the first installment to what will be, unfortunately for you, a series of helpful guides to help you, the player, get through some of the finer points of ShamRO in one piece. Do note this is a family-friendly guide, so Mothers, don't worry if you hear your kids talking about this new awesome guide they read on the Internet.

Getting to the point, in every server I've played, I've always noticed many follow the trend of warping into the "real" RO world as fast as humanly possible. While I do understand it can be a time-saver for alt-characters, it always surprises me to see a "fresh off the factory-line Novice" standing in Prontera unable to sit down, party, or wipe his own poor Novi-behind. "FREE ZENY 1K PLZ" is a phrase we're all familiar with, and so this guide is a random shot in the dark to put an end to those begging days forever!

In short, this poor excuse for a guide is dedicated to you, the confused, penniless Novice who has entered the world with nothing but the shirt on his back, and is looking for a chance to survive. For those about to rock, we salute you.

Part 1: Hello World!

You've made your Novice, so now what? Do you click on the Warper and hit the streets of Prontera hard with a beggar's cap and the spamming prowess of Viagra Inc's Email-division? Of course you don't. You talk to Shion, the lady in front of you that your lost little character's been staring at since the moment you arrived. Fortunately for you, Shion knows you're about to enter a world of hurt, so she'll send you off with 9 free pity levels if you talk to her a second time. Not too shabby.

Now, I know we've been over this once before, but I feel I have to say it one last time. Leave that warper chick alone. She may look approachable, but she isn't your type. Take it from me, she'll send you halfway across the world the second you let your guard down, and her sisters in every town are exactly the same. Lets leave this one alone for now.

Walk across the bridge to the east and you'll soon, come across two castle guards, who like you, are also experiencing their first day on the job. This is evident by how easily you're able to waltz right in without them even batting an eye. Talk to the bouncer here, and spell out your name so he can let you in. This is to weed out robots, spammers with poor spelling, those with a broken caps-lock key, and anyone suffering from severe short-term memory loss. As far as I know, it is case-sensitive, so don't try to fool him. This man was the Rune-Midgard spelling champion for 9 years in a row. He can do it blindfolded.

Once you're in, walk right up to the Interface Tutor, and pound away at your Enter key for 8 job levels and some armor. Do the same with the Skill Tutor and he'll teach you how to patch yourself up. He'll even cleave away half of your HP so you can practice tending to your wounds right there on the spot. What a nice guy. Lucky for you, the Item Tutor also shares his appreciation for pain. She'll send you off with some potions, but not without leaving you in a near-death state beforehand. If you think these guys are bad, you're in for a big surprise.

Click on the Kafra lady, and warp yourself to Practical Course.

Tip Box I

Most standard, Microsoft-compatible keyboards are equipped with not one, but two enter keys. Feel free to alternate if you've destroyed the first one by now, or to use both for double the speed. Do note that use of a keyboard or mouse can result to serious bodily injuries if not conducted in an appropriate manner. Picking up your keyboard to use it like a guitar for free versions of Guitar Hero Online, is an example of such behavior.

Part 2: Let's get ready to rummmmmmmble!

It's time to turn up the heat. Talk to the Helper, and let him tell you all about the wonders of whatever it is he teaches about. Take it from me, the enter key was designed for great things, pressing it to skip what he has to say is one of them. Once you level, cancel out of his teachings or you'll get stuck in a loop.

You should be Level 23/9 by now.

Now for the good stuff. Talk to the entrance guard, and get yourself in the game. As you've probably been learning, talking to the NPCs gets you good things. Talk to Trainer in front of you, and complain about how the chump-change here isn't strong enough. In the new field, show nature no mercy and stab/poke/punch/bludgeon your way to Level 25. Practical Course huh? Piece of cake.

Tip Box II

Here's a fun little trick that almost everyone misses, and it only costs you a Butterfly Wing. Use one to warp back to the previous room and talk to the entrance guard. He'll give you 50 more potions and boosts you to Level 29.

Now that you're done, pour yourself a cold one to celebrate, (kids ask your parents to buy one for you,) and head on through to the personality test. Just spam away on your Enter key here, since ShmaRO has a job changer, and you don't need to worry about what some old guy behind a counter thinks of you. You're the one going on the adventure, what does he know!

Conclusion: Parting Words

I suppose here's where I say congratulations, set off the fireworks, call in the supermodels and make my award-winning speech. Though to be honest, I'm just not feeling it today. So instead, I'll just send you off on your way like most NPCs do, and say these final words:

Kudos for going through Novi grounds. You have supplies, levels, and you are more than ready to jump right into Payon Dungeon and start messing stuff up. Please do not take this as an opportunity to start asking everyone in Prontera for free loot, because if that was your intent all along you just wasted precious time by following this guide in the first place! There's a warper right by Shion! You can get banned faster that way! Be efficient!

Remember kids, knowledge is power. Use the following links for the greater good, as well as the following commands:

Useful Links

Rate My Server

Everyone's favorite RO database

IROWiki

Everything you wish you never learned about RO and then some

Item Refining Success Rates

Weapon Type vs. Monster Size Table

Yes Champs, asura with a mace, not a fist, unless you're hunting baby chars.

ShmaRO Control Panel

Hey, some people don't know about it!

Useful @commands

@who, @who2

Shows the Name/party/level/joblevel/class of the specified character. Example: @who2 Redline would result in: Name: Redline | L:170/50 | Job: Badass. No more needing to ask people what level they are! Covert OPs yo, this is military stuff.

@mi

Shows all information for the current Monster including stats, drops, and drop rates. You must input the Mob ID in order for this command to work. Example: Typing @mi 1031 will show all the information for a Poporing. Since the drop rates here are based on a Logarithmic system, the actual rates will vary greatly from what you see on RateMyServer.net.

That's it folks. If you have nothing better to do, be sure to check out my Leveling Guide if you're looking for tips, or just something to keep you busy.

Thanks to Redline for the guide.