First off:
What Doesn't Work in SL
RK Health & Nano kits and stims - You need to buy separate coils and spindles. The good news is that the coils act like HoTs while you're seated, and the spindles each have 2 ticks rather than 1. Flying - no yalms, Quantum Wings, or Calia's Parrot (you can get the buff for runspeed/swimming but no flight). You can also use the Hoverboard or Hoverchair (phasefront nanos) for the speed buffs. Grid-based nanos - no gridding, no grid armor, no RK fixer runbuffs (GRIDspace freedom etc) Most RK weapons - OK, so they still work technically. But as you get up through the zones, it's going to get tiring seeing min dmg, min dmg, min dmg all the time. Beacon Warp and Single Reflects - who knows why. Engis and Soldiers have reflect auras though, and apparently there is some SL beacon warp that no one really uses b/c it is so buggy. SL nanos Most SL nanos require "specializations" to use - basically you need to run around and camp some books, fun I know. Implant/symbiant swapping - no surgery clinics in SL and portables don't work either. Complete Heals - well they do, but they also carry a massive taunt, so you'd better prepared to have every mob in the vicinity aggro you if you pop one of these!Next, we have
SL Zones
SL is split into 7 zones: (in order of ascending level of mobs inside) Nascence, Elysium, Scheol, Adonis, Penumbra, Inferno, and Pandemonium. Nascence and Elysium can be entered directly by going through Jobe; to access higher zones you will need to have the access ring for the next zone and the appropriate faction with the Guardian of Shadow.
The access rings are obtained through various quests/mob drops, OR given for free by Ergo when you reach a certain level for Scheol (level 80), Adonis (level 130), and Penumbra (160).
Guardian of Shadow faction requirements to enter the zones are:
Scheol - 1,000
Adonis - 5,000
Penumbra - 10,000
Inferno - 18,000
Pandemonium - 30,000
In addition, you will receive an environmental DoT in parts of Adonis (the underwater Abyss) and all of Penumbra, Inferno, and Pandemonium unless you are wearing the appropriate protective gear in those areas. The protective gear for Adonis Abyss and Penumbra are given free by Ergo when you receive the ring to enter the zone; the gear for Inferno (boots) and Pandemonium (Hold Hell At Bay ring) must be quested for or purchased from another player.
Gardens / Sanctuaries
There is 1 Garden and 1 Sanctuary for both clan & omni for each zone (except Nasc and Pande only have Garden). The Omni Gardens in SL are Thrak (Nascence), Shere (Elysium), Roch (Scheol), Dalja (Adonis), Vanya (Penumbra), Mordeth (Inferno), and Machiavelli's Sanctuary (Pandemonium)
Gardens are basically your one-stop shop in SL, and offer a centralized location for
- Shops (vendors located on the E edge of the garden, beware you cannot buy backpacks here!)
- Bank (the spiky platforms around the center)
- Save point (step onto the center platform to save)
- Statues (basically an SL "grid" of sorts, transports you to set locations in the zone)
- Transport Statue (the big statue to the SE, transports you to a different Garden/Sanctuary when you click the right key on it)
- Missions (Adonis+, a NPC in the garden will give out missions, level reqs apply to pull e.g. 180-210 for Penumbra)
- Key quest NPCs (self-explanatory)
Pretty good deal right? There are a couple of different ways to access these nice places:
Machiavelli's Sanctuary (Pande) doesn't require anything special - just right-click on the statue. This is the only garden you can access for free, and it also doesn't have any corresponding insignias/keys. You can enter the other Gardens by using "insignias" (1-time passes looted off some mobs in the zone) or the corresponding "Garden Key" (quest reward) on the appropriate statue. Using a statue inside the Garden does not require an insignia. Sanctuaries can only be accessed by questing for the "Sanctuary Key" Death is also a popular way to return quickly to the garden. You must have the corresponding key to be able to buy nanos from a Garden/Sanctuary. Garden/Sanctuary Keys are wearable in HUD1 (beware the level reqs!) and provide some nice bonuses (First Aid/Treat, and inits for Sanc Keys)
Once you have the key for a Garden/Sanctuary, you can also warp there directly from Rubi-Ka using the transport statue for your side. The Omni statue is located in Southern Artery Valley, SSW of the 10-3 whompa. You can also warp quickly from any garden to any other Garden/Sanctuary by using the appropriate key on the Transport Statue located to the SE.SL Nanos
With SL, you now have access to a variety of fun extra nanos to use! Most of these are shop-buyable from the "Official of" NPC in the various gardens or sanctuaries, however, these are not only fairly pricey but also can only be bought by someone who has the key for that garden / sanctuary.
Finally, most (but not all) of the SL nanos require you to have a certain number of "specializations" complete. The specializations are basically 4 mini-quests of collecting books and then handing them into Professor Dreadloch at the IPS in Jobe Harbor.
The specialization books are:
-Spec 1: The Mariner's Father (1-4)
-Spec 2: The Girl Who Saw It All (1-4)
-Spec 3: Kanel's Story (1-4)
-Spec 4: Africe's World Catalogue of Books (1-4, book 5 is useless)
These books can drop off Redeemed/Unredeemed mobs and chest loot in SL, or you can receive them as part of some of the various SL zone quests. Only spec 1 is tradeable (though every piece as well as the combined book are unique); everything else is nodrop.
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Okay, now that you are in SL and starting to get comfortable , here's what you can do in this strange place:
Making Money in SL
You no longer get any creds from looting corpses in SL! Also, most of the common loot (Immortal Fungus etc.) is useless AND doesn't sell for anything. Never fear though, there are still viable options for making credits in SL:
Shopfood - Pearls are amazing shopfood and drop off most monster mobs... get them cut first for a nice boost to the value. The sit-down health coils and nano coils (chest loot from static dungeons or SL missions) sell nicely as well. Quests - Each zone now has several quest lines you can do, most of them have reasonable credit rewards as well as XP/SK and nifty items/nanos. PB Patterns - Dyna bosses in SL (and occasionally regular mobs as well) drop "pocketboss" pattern pieces that can be combined and spawned for symbiants. PBs that drop nice/rare symbiants are obviously valuable; PBs that drop crappy symbiants make for reasonable shopfood (just don't combine the pieces first if you are doing this!) "Weird-looking" Nanos - rare drop from static dungeons chests, these can be very valuable to other players (e.g. Weird-looking Cut Red Tape, Weird-looking Continuous Reconstruction, Weird-looking Semi-Sentient Augmentation Cloud, etc). Just make sure you don't try to repair the crystal; it will turn into the regular version! Dyna drop items - Similar deal to RK, except that any specific item only drops from a specific boss or group of bosses and vice versa.Leveling in SL
There are quite a number of ways to level in SL, and contrary to popular belief, not all of them involve hecklers! Here are some ideas to get you started.
Hecklers - Let's get this one out of the way first. Hecklers are located along the brink (sides of the zone) and can provide a lot of XP as they are very high level relative to the zone. On the other hand, they don't provide any variety and very little moneymaking opportunities, so it's best not to spend too much of your time here, particularly on a first/main toon. Quests - Various quests are available in each SL zone, and now feature very nice XP rewards as well as credit and special items rewards. These are also great for learning more about the area, or about the history/storyline of SL if you are into that sort of thing. AO Universe has some nice guides for these. Static Dungeons - A personal favorite of mine. Each zone has various dungeons that are set up somewhat like RK team missions. These are not instanced but not many people go there so you can often have the whole dungeon to yourself/your team. Keep an eye out for those "Weird Looking" nanos in the chests. Jexai's site has great info for finding these dungeons. Do note that some dungeons have sided mobs inside, so avoid unredeemed dungeons if you are omni (or redeemed if you are clan.) Outdoor hunting - The outdoor dyna camps in SL provide excellent hunting opportunities, as well as the opportunity for nice loot such as PB parts, pearls, and the occasional special item drop. Mortiigs in Elysium are a popular example, but there are plenty of other nice spots for solo or team leveling. SL missions - SL missions are available in Adonis, Penumbra, and Inferno (however, Adonis missions are often located in the Abyss which generally ends up being more trouble than it's worth) in both solo and team flavors, and can provide very nice XP. These are pulled from the "Soul Devourer" NPC in the gardens.Getting Back to RK
You've had enough of SL for now and want to get back to good old Rubi-Ka? There are a couple of ways to do this.
Run out - From Nascence you can run back over the Frontier Bridge to Jobe and back out, or from Elysium run back through the portals to Jobe. Use Nascence/Elysium key to travel quickly to these gardens from a higher zone's garden. Jump out - You can jump/fall off SL back to RK in many places, particularly around the brinks. Each jump off point in SL has a specific corresponding landing point in RK, so you can sometimes use this to your advantage to quickly get to remote places in RK. Warp out - 10 veteran points or 500 paid points can buy a "Rubi-Ka Recall Beacon" which is my favorite way to get back to RK from SL (or dungeons, remote RK wilderness, etc.) 10 minute cooldown and warps you to Omni-Ent, Tir, or Newland depending on faction.
