FAQ & Newbie Guide

=Newbie FAQ=

I've played the original Sacred Seasons (SS1). What are the main changes in SS2?

 * Improved graphics.
 * Quests that involve something other than "Complete XXX dungeon". There are now many quests for collecting certain dropped items, and for travelling to places to click things with exclamation marks over them.
 * Some dungeons have a number on a flag outside, indicating their difficulty.
 * Dungeons and outdoor areas are large, scrolling areas rather than small fixed screens. Dungeons are like mini-SS1-arenas: they often have multiple rooms, and once you die you cannot re-enter the same instance, even with the Go To button. This means Anchoring is now mostly useless.
 * Enemies can cast skills.
 * Stats: Attack (ATT) and Magic (MAG) merged into a single Attack (Att) stat. Speed (SPD) is now Agility (Agil) and Skill (SKL) is now Accuracy (Acc).
 * Players can queue their next action in battle. Six players can battle together against up to six enemies (both increased from five in SS1).
 * HP refills after each battle in normal dungeons. Some SP is gained on being attacked, and a fraction of SP is refilled after battle.
 * There is no escape option in battles. The only ways to exit battle are to defeat all enemies; die; or refresh or close your browser (which will kick you out of that dungeon onto the main map.)
 * Silver is no longer dropped in every battle, but is rewarded by most quests. However, you can sell some dropped/rewarded items, and bought weapons, for silver.
 * The /add (friend) command from SS1 does not work in SS2, you have to click "Add Friend" from the Friends tab at the top. There is a /s command which tells you what server you are on.

What class / season should I pick? What if I change my mind?
The classes in SS2 are all radically different, and have different strengths and weaknesses. For team play, all of the classes have something to bring to a party. It is hard to say which class is best for solo play at the moment, although Soldier seems to be the least popular at the time this guide is being written.

Upon character creation, you are prompted to select your character's (not your own!) gender: male or female. There are four gender-exclusive classes: Clown and Lumberjack for males, Witch and Charmer for females. All other characters may be played by either gender. You may not change your gender once you have started playing.

Once you have picked a class, you are not forced to use that class forever. In the Classes window you can "unlock" other classes for a one-off gold cost. (Classes with a lock in place of the character picture have not been released yet and are unplayable.) Your characters have different appearances, levels, and stats. Everything else is shared between characters: your inventory, money, world and quest progress, your current season, and your current season levels. Switching between characters once unlocked has no penalty and is instantaneous, and can be done at any time other than in battle.

The Seasons have their own levels. When you first start playing, your Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter are all at level 0. Any time any of your characters levels up, your current Season goes up in level also. If your character level and Season level both exceed certain amounts, Skills are unlocked. The Skills window in the game tells you what your Character and current Season levels are.

It is possible to change your Season, but this option is not available until late into the game (unlocked through a certain quest.) Choose your season carefully, as you will not be able to change for a while!

You can see what classes and Seasons the top players are using at the official Top Players page: http://sacredseasons.com/content/top-players -- but keep in mind, there aren't any wrong choices. Pick the one you like the most. See also the Class Details page.

I've started the game and done the first beach quests -- now when I go back to the beach I get killed!
At the start of the game you are on an "Intro" beach with easier battles. Confusingly, once you leave the beach, the battles become slightly harder than you can probably beat.

The easiest things to do at the start are Grisella's non-combat quests, the beach non-combat quests (fixing the ladder) and the Stella's Cellar dungeon, which is next to Stella in Plimouth. After gaining a few levels you can solo the beach fights.

Do I have to join a guild? How does multiplayer combat work?
There is no requirement in the game to join a guild. Doing so just makes it easier to band together, and makes it easier to ask questions in the game. If you do join a guild, you can talk to anyone in the guild by putting /g in front of your text. Orange text in the chat box is guild chat.

Whether or not you join a guild, multiplayer combat is easy to set up. You can start co-operatively battling with any one of: Once you are on the same screen as other people, all you need to do is go into dungeons and battles at the same time, and you will be fighting alongside each other.
 * meeting up with friends or guild members (using the "Go To" teleport button in the Friends window)
 * going to a heavily populated server (the lower-numbered servers such as server #1)
 * asking someone to help you in the kongregate chat system (adding them as a friend then clicking the "Go To" button, or agreeing on a server number).

Experience is shared by a formula and item drops are given to every member of the group. Players can buff each other with skills, and back row players take slightly less damage. Overall, the game rewards co-operative play, but it isn't strictly required by any part of the game. Anything can be soloed if you have a high enough level.

I did what the quest told me to, and yet the quest doesn't complete
There are still a few bugs in the quest texts in the game, and a few mysterious glitches. If in doubt, check the wiki's Quests page for details, selecting the page for the quest you are doing, then looking at the "Walkthrough" section or the "Discussion" button at the top of that page.

Sometimes the game can be convinced to let you click quest items by leaving the room (NOT the whole dungeon) and entering the room again.

If the quest involves clearing a dungeon and you are doing it with a group, make sure you get into the last battle or else it won't count towards the quest.

What do the stats do?
Stats, also known as Attributes, affect combat only. If you have played an RPG-type game before, most of the stats do fairly obvious things. Data on this subject hasn't yet been fully collected, but here is an approximate explanation of how stats are used:
 * The "hit" formula and "damage" formula in SS2 is not publicly known and hasn't been calculated at this time. It is probably not based on dice rolls as in traditional table-top RPGs, but we will use the verb 'roll' this way for convenience.
 * When a player does a normal physical attack, firstly their Accuracy (Acc) is rolled against the opponent's Agility (Agil) to decide if they hit or miss. If it's a hit, the Luck (Lck) of the player is rolled, and if successful the hit will do double damage. Finally, the player's Attack (Att) stat is combined with a small fraction of their Agil and Acc and rolled against the opponent's Defense (Def) stat to determine the actual damage. That quantity is then removed from the enemy's HP.
 * Some opponents in the game are magic users; they perform magic attacks instead of physical attacks. These attacks differ from physical ones only in that Resistance (Res) is needed to reduce damage from them, instead of Defense.
 * Skills use stats in different ways, sometimes indicated by the skill itself. Skills can miss depending on a built-in miss percentage and/or on the opponent's Agility. Other stats may affect whether a skill will hit or how much effect it will have; it is not publicly known at this time.
 * Attack Rate (AR) is the stat that determines the amount of delay between attacks and skill uses. It is measured in seconds. Be aware that a weapon marked -26% AR actually increases the frequency at which you can attack -- or in other words, decreases the delay.
 * An official record of the base AR of all classes and growth rates of the other stats can be found on this page, which is also accessible in-game from the Growth Rates button in the Inventory window.

I've been playing for a few hours and I still don't have a weapon yet. Is this normal?
To some extent, yes. There is a staff and a club you are given very early, but some classes can't use either. Your first weapon will probably be bought with silver from either the World Store or the stores in Plimouth or Native Trails. For example, a Hunter class will probably buy the level 4 Stone Bow followed by the level 9 Firefly bow -- or might skip straight to the Firefly bow, using no weapon until level 9.

What happens if I die?
If you die in battle, you are transported Plimouth and your HP and SP are refilled. You cannot re-enter the dungeon you were in. There are no other penalties.

I was beating every battle very easily until I got to Redoubt, then something one-shot killed me
That's probably a Bear Bull. They have two skills which, when both have been cast, makes them do insane damage. The best tactic with these is to watch carefully and attack any Bear Bulls that cast skills on themselves, indicated by an icon in the bottom-left, or a yellow +NUMBER in the stats window when you hover the mouse cursor on them. Ignore any other enemies until all Bear Bulls are dead. You may wish to queue your attacks more slowly until you find out which Bear Bulls are casting skills -- wait until your orange bar is nearly full before choosing a target.

As a general approach, being higher level means you can survive a single attack by enraged Bear Bulls, making them a lot easier. Fighting in a group also makes them much easier. Bear Bulls are only the first enemy in the game that can potentially do massive damage...

How do I get more gold? Are there any silver-only weapons?
Gold may be obtained from various quests, opening certain chests, logging in, or buying it (including third-party offers.) Most purchasable equipment costs gold, but there are some silver-only weapons in the World Store, among other stores.

If you don't have enough gold or are just feeling lucky, you can try 'farming' for your dream weapon. Many weapons can be found as loot, including some which are not in any store (see next section.)

Where do I find this item, or that weapon?
For items, try their individual wiki page first. Each item's wiki page should have an explanation on them, although quite a lot of these are not complete yet. Some items are simply not possible to obtain at this time, and we await game updates that make them possible. Other items need to be bought from shops, found in Containers, or are in much higher level areas than the quest-giver.

A full list of weapon (and loot) drop locations can be found at Loot.

This guide is rubbish, it didn't answer my important newbie question!
This guide is new, as is the game; a lot of which is still being changed and updated. Please add the question either to the guide or the discussion page. Try to restrict questions and answers in this guide to things almost everyone will want to know when they first play the game, though.

=Glossary=

Locations
Ceno - Cenotaph, a large dungeon within Hollow Oak.

FT - Fall Tower, either the area or the tower itself. The area is also known as Scrapyard/Scrap Yard.

HO - Hollow Oak

Islands - Rainbow Islands. Dungeons within this area are often referred to by a particular island's initials followed by the dungeon flag number, for example TI10 for Turtle Island 10.

OP - Overgrown Path

PC - Poison Caves, also known as Spring Village.

SF - Summer Fields.

SF27 - Abbreviation for Whorled Fields - the final dungeon in Summer Fields, infamous for its size and time to complete. This dungeon used to have a '27' flag outside it, hence the name.

Town - Currently the only town in the game is Plimouth.

General Terminology
Alt - Alternate character. As players may switch classes (once unlocked) without penalty, some players have another class(es) that they sometimes play. Sometimes players raise an alternate character with the intention of eventually making it their new main character.

Anchor - Some players create accounts solely to teleport to (at the entrance of a frequently visited dungeon, for example). Not a common term as in SS1, due to teleporting restrictions.

AoE - Area of Effect, referring to weapons or skills that damage and/or affect all (or some) players, or enemies.

Battle - Battles are found in dungeons, marked on the ground by an icon of two crossed swords upon a raised platform. Once all monsters in the battle are defeated, experience and sometimes loot are awarded (rather than piecemeal as each monster is killed). All players have their HP and some of their SP restored after each battle.

Buff - Beneficial skills that boost the stats or attack rate of one or more allied players (or monsters).

Debuff - Detrimental skills that lower the stats or attack rate of one or more enemy monsters (or players).

Ding - The "sound" of a player gaining a level, often announced to other players.

DoT - Abbreviation of "Damage Over Time".

DpH - Abbreviation of "Damage Per Hit".

Dungeon - Typically marked by small unlabeled arrows, they consist of several "floors" with multiple battles on each floor. Some dungeons have a numbered flag outside, roughly indicating relative difficulty.

Grinding - Repeatedly clearing a particular dungeon (or select battles within) in order to gain experience and/or loot.

Guild - A group of players who have voluntarily affiliated themselves with each other. Being in a guild provides no bonus other than the ability to chat with your entire guild (through the /g command), though your guildmates will be more likely to help you than random strangers. You can only be in one guild at a time, and may choose to leave a guild at any time.

GCInnnn - Poison Cave Dungeon, home to the "Giant Death Crab". (abbreviation for Giant Crab Invasionnnn)

gz, grats, gratz, cg, Q - Short for "congratulations". Usually the response to another player's "ding".

HoT - Abbreviation of "Healing over Time".

HP - Hit Points, health.

HP Items - purchased from the World Store, among others, and can be used to restore some or all hit points of any single player or the entire party in battle.

IGN - In-game name, your SS2 account name. If you are playing on Kongregate your Sacred Seasons name may be different. As Sacred Seasons names are case sensitive, make sure you use the appropriate capitalization when telling another player your in-game name.

Instance and Split - The game generates a copy, or instance, of a dungeon whenever a player enters, which remains open for a short time (to allow a party to gather). If teammates fail to enter during that time, they will not be in the same instance and are said to have split.

ISO - Short for "In Search Of". Usually when someone is gathering a party.

Leech - A player who participates in battles too difficult for their character to make any significant contribution. This results in them "stealing" rather than "earning" the experience. Nice players may rarely let others leech, most players will not, and a few will be furious if you attempt to leech them. Not as prevalent compared to SS1 due to teleporting restrictions.

lvl, lv - A level, or to level up.

Main - Main character. A player's highest level or at most frequently used class. See also "Alt".

Mob, Monsters - A term used to describe AI-controlled enemies in the game.

plvl, plevel, power leveling - If a high level player is nice, they sometimes will assist a beginner in leveling up quickly. The player to be power leveled essentially leeches off the higher level player. Don't expect to be power leveled unless you are friends with a high level player (and even that is no guarantee) or can reciprocate (i.e. two high level players power level each other's alts).

Run - A run in Sacred Seasons is the play-through of a dungeon.

Solo, Soloing - Battling without the help of any other player.

SP - Skill Points, mana.

SP Items - purchased from the World Store, among others, and can be used to restore some or all skill points of any single player or the entire party in battle.

'''Teleport. port, tele, TP''' - To teleport is to warp to a friend's location. This is done by first adding the player you wish to teleport to (if necessary), bringing up your friends list, and selecting the "go to" option for the appropriate friend. Teleportation will bring you to your friend's server if you aren't already in it. You cannot teleport to players in a dungeon, on the Rainbow Islands, or in battle. You can, however, teleport out of a dungeon.

TNL - Abbreviation of "To Next Level". Mostly used in battles, when informing teammates how much EXP you need to level up. e.g. "I need 3k EXP TNL".

Whisper, pm - A command used in chat (/w Whispered message) to send a private message. Rarely, can refer to a life whisper or skill whisper which recover a few hit points or skill points, respectively.

WS - World Store.

XP, exp - Experience points.