Contents of Frequently Asked Questions:

----------

Player Stat Points - Post #2 http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10007#51763

Town Buildings - Post #3 http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10007#51764

Skills - Post #4 http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10007#51765

Companions - Post #5 http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10007#51766

Guild - Post #6 http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10007#51767

Multi-player Missions - Post #7 http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10007#51768

General Game Questions (misc) - Post #8 http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10007#51769

Game Tips - Post #9 http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10007#51770

----------

It would be awesome if an admin could linkify the table of contents to the posts below (I've made it easy for you by providing the links)

If I have missed any important questions that should be added here, please reply on this thread and I can edit the posts to include them.

To link to this post in game chat when anyone asks a question that is answered here, you can use this shortened link: http://bit.ly/sotfaq

----------

Disclaimer:

This FAQ is based on some notes made by Annie, Elharith and I. No players were harmed during the making of this FAQ (well, only the ones in the top 20 of the arena). Do not read while operating a motor vehicle or heavy machinery. If rash, irritation, redness or swelling develops, discontinue reading immediately and seek advice from your doctor or pharmacist. If you print this FAQ: Do not eat. Not a toy.

Town Buildings
----------

Q: When can I build the...?
A: Buildings are unlocked based on the player level. Here is a list of levels that unlock new buildings, and a short description of their primary purpose:

Blacksmith - Level 6 - Upgrade and craft equipment

Fishing Hole - Level 8 - Catch fish for extra stamina

Arena - Level 10 - Fight other players PvP

Hall of Trials - Level 10 - See how far you can get to earn tokens for spending on rewards

University - Level 15 - Upgrade stats and production

Gold Mine - Level 21 - Produce extra gold per hour

Shard Quarry - Level 24 - Dig for equippable shards that give bonus stats

Brotherhood - Max Level - Perform tasks to earn tokens for spending on rewards


Fishing Hole:

Q: How do I fish?
A: Fishing is an idle activity. Just click on the water and wait. Fishing is limited to a maximum of 20 stamina per day.

Arena:

Q: How does the arena pick my opponents?
A: Opponents are randomly chosen from 20 players ranked around you (between 15 above and 5 below). Close and re-open the arena to generate new random opponents.

Q: Why can’t I beat anyone?
A: Be careful not to advance too fast in the arena, or you may get stuck around players that you cannot beat. (For daily tasks you need to be able to win 10 times a day.)

Hall of Trials:

Q: Why is the Hall of Trials (HoT) so hard?
A: The HoT is supposed to be hard. It’s the ultimate measure of how strong you are.

Q: Why am I not getting any loot in HoT?
A: HoT mobs do not drop any loot. It only rewards tokens when you beat the bosses.

Q: Do I lose my tokens if I reset?
A: No. You should reset the HoT every day to start from the beginning, to earn tokens daily.

Q: How many tokens does each boss reward?
A: In order, the bosses reward this number of tokens: 1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5 (from boss level 5 to 40)

University:

Q: What are the best stats to upgrade first in the University?
A: Speed, Attack Damage (for Warrior & Ranger), Ability Power (for Wizard & Ranger), HP.

Shard Quarry:

Q: How do I equip a shard I found in the quarry?
A: Inside the quarry, click the “Take All” button, then click “Equip” (to open your shard inventory). Drag the shard into the slot on your character.

Q: How do I level up a shard?
A: Drag one shard into the shard you want to level up. You can also use the “Combine All” button, that will automatically combine all shards into the best quality shard.

Brotherhood:

Q: What is the max level of stats in the Brotherhood?
A: 100 each stat (20% bonus when maxed)

Companions
----------

Q: Can I give my companions equipment I have found?
A: Yes! since an update on Friday, March 20th 2015, you can now give companions equipment.

Q: How do I level up companions?
A: Companions can be levelled up to the maximum level of your tavern, in your tavern, at the cost of ‘green goo’ (companion xp orbs)

Q: Where can I find more companions?
A: As you progress through the campaign story, you will meet new companions that will join you. The first new companion you’ll meet is early in the Desert area (after completing the Temperate Rainforest).

Q: How many companions can I use at once?
A: 2.

Q: What is the loyalty of companions used for?
A: To enable companion side-missions (where they find new equipment), you need to have their loyalty to a certain level. The current known loyalty levels are (in order): Stranger, Friendly, Honored, Revered, Exalted.

Q: How do I increase companion loyalty?
A: Loyalty is earned very slowly, just by using companions in battle.

Q: Can I play missions without any companions?
A: No, you always need to have 2 companions with you. The only exception (where you don’t use companions), is in the multi-player dungeons.

Multi-player Missions
----------

Q: How do I play multi-player (MP) missions?
A: At player level 15 you can upgrade the Shard Gate to level 2 (at a cost of 50k gold) which enables joining the first MP mission.

Q: When can I play The Crystal Crusade (Desert MP)?
A: You need to complete the Temperate Rainforest and reach level 25.

Q: Do MP missions cost stamina?
A: No. But players are limited to 5 multi-player games per day.

Q: What is the main benefit of multi-player missions?
A: The MP missions have rare (blue) items in the mission reward cards. MP missions also give much more experience than single player missions (due to their harder difficulty).

Q: Is it possible to play multi-player missions alone?
A: Yes, but you need to be very strong. There is actually an achievement for completing the MP missions solo.

----------
Additional FAQ added thanks to poisondwarf - http://forum.codenameentertainment.com/?thread_id=10007&page=2#53535
----------

Q: What is this with heroic and tiers
A: When reaching the max level, you can play not only normal MPs but also heroic ones. These are available in different difficulty levels from T1 (simple heroic) to T6 (mad heroic). The tiers are available for all MPs, that is forest (The Untouched Incursion), desert (The Crystal Crusade), and 6 different Brotherhood bounties.

Q: Can I choose any tier of heroic?
A: No, you have to play normal to play T1, T1 to unlock T2 and so on. Play = win the boss fight. But you don't have to do it every time, just once. The game remembers you.

Q: I am level 30 can I manage all tiers up to T6?
A: No, never ever. As Lvl30 is the current max level there is a huge variety of strength between players. As a new Lvl30 you may even have difficulties in winning a T1. I don't know any player team who won a T6 by now. If you are not sure about a MP, go with a party of people with higher battle rating/speed/damage who know the MP. They can tell you if it's worth it.

Q: How difficult are the different tiers?
A: Difficult to answer...mostly it depends on the right combination of skills, but here's a try (all assumed that you are Lvl30 player):
* Forest: The run through the dungeon is not that hard. A party of new lvl30s should be able to do T1. The boss could be a stopper. He has ridiculous health and if he gets a chance to hit you, he will probably 1-hit kill you. One or two wizards with freeze and/or a warrior with overpower could save your lives. As of T2 one freezing wizard and 1 OP warrior are strongly recommended.
* Desert: For a party of new lvl30s, T1 is doable. Good health is an advantage because the boss has those 4 pillars with shock. A party with average 65-70BR should be able to do T2. Average 70-80BR could do T3. Everything further will require health and much damage.

BH Bounties:
Bounties have one advantage: you can have a first impression by choosing the single player version of it before. For all bounties apply: Be prepared for several tries at boss. And bring good heroes with you.
* Jimmy the Thief: Several smaller fights, the 2nd and 4th have 2 waves. Slyder at the end has 2 waves with each 5 bandits and a healthy and strong Slyder.
Around 50BR you should opt for normal and no heroic, except you go with experienced players, then you can try T1. For T2 you should already have a strong party, a freezing wizard/OP warrior for Slyder is recommended. T3 is only for killers and you will probably know by yourself then if it is made for you.
* Spiderlings: They have low health but they are fast, very fast. As of T3 they bite you twice or more before you can even move and they come in bunches of 4-6. So: Try T1 and decide if you are fast enough for T2 or T3. After a while T2 should be in reach for a well balanced and average educated party. T3 is for experts.
* Starswirl: Starswirls' flames also come in bunches. They are not as fast as spiders but more healthy and harder to kill. Here also: T1 is doable, T3 is only expert mode.
* The three newer bounties 'Captain Seadog', 'Chef Candice' and 'Science Lab' are a step harder than the 3 older bounties. The bosses get weird already with T2, so: stay at normal as new Lvl30, try T1 with good educated players and T2+ is expert mode only.

Q: I want to try a tier I never did before. How can I do this?
A: Ask other players in world or in party chat if they help you. They will. Don't sneak in a high tier MP and spoil the session for all.

Q: What is a build run?
A: To have the best chances at the boss it is necessary that the rage/mana/energy (the bar at the right side of your skill set) is full. A build run is made to fill that up so that all party members have their hardest weapon on hand at the next kill run. In a build run, you use furious/aim/phase (or whatever skill you use to charge your weapons) and don't do any serious hits on enemies, i.e. you don't spend energy, just collect it.

Q: Must I leave when I die at boss?
A: No. Everybody wants to test their skills and often there are MP runs where all members of the party are at the upper edge of their abilities. And a good part of winning a boss fight is to be lucky...to get the first crit on boss, to not have them crit all dead in 1st round, to have a perfect match of skills among party members. So most likely, in challenging runs the first try on boss will be disastrous and your party will die. You then do 1 or more build runs and try again. And once more, and several times if needed. Some runs can last more than 1h if the party is stubborn.
If your party want you to leave because you are the 'weak link' that makes winning impossible, they will probably tell you.

Q: Are there other netiquette things I should know for MPs?
A: It would be nice if you could keep a few things in mind...
* Don't sneak in a high tier MP and spoil the session for all if you are not sure if you can do it. Ask the party if they are happy with you before the run starts.
* When you have 54BR, just don't enter a T2 run, you won't be helpful!
* If you are the host of a MP, it would be polite to ask all people in your lobby if they are happy with the party before you drag them into the run. Especially with players you don't know yet. When everybody says 'Hi' in Lobby, one can check the profiles of each by clicking on the player name and decide if the run is doable.
* Don't leave a run just because you died at the boss. As illustrated above, it may have been just an unlucky start.
* Never ever leave without notice! If you think the party won't be able to finish or if you think you are the cause of this, ask your party if you can/if they want you to leave.
* Same is valid when real life stuff comes inbetween. Don't leave the rest of players hanging there! You have fingers, you can type! Tell them! If you are keen on very fair play and time allows: try to get replacement for you.
* Don't step into a sync circle until all players are fully loaded in the MP! It causes lags and sometimes throws a team member out in town...
* Whack whackables nice and slow! If fast player whack too fast, you tend to hang in the whackables and spoil them for the others. So they won't get loot from them. Nice and slow, one whack after the other. No need to hurry!

Game Tips
----------

Guild potions of different levels can stack together. For example, you can use End lvl 1, + End lvl 2 + End lvl 3 to gain 6% bonus.

Rather than waste loads of money on attempting to enchant, buy luck runes from the guild shop.

When you run out of stamina, you can continue playing for 'free'. This gives you no mission rewards, loot or experience, but you can advance through the campaign. This is especially useful for 'travelling' missions in-between main missions.

Click a target in battle to focus your attacks toward the selected enemy.
(Thank you 'Wank', for suggesting the tip to be added, because they didn't realise you could do this until late in the game)

When you reforge equipment in the blacksmith, the little green bars to the right of each of the secondary stats tells you how your stat compares to the maximum that can be rolled on that item (mouse-over to see numbers).

Use the space bar to skip dialogue.

reserved

No, there is no limit to how many active potions you can have. You can use one of every type and one of every level to be buffed up for 1 hour. But using 2 of the same identical potion only extends the time of the bonus effect.

I've edited that guild tip to be a little clearer.

Thanks Betina,

I've added the following question under the town buildings:

Brotherhood:

Q: What is the max level of stats in the Brotherhood?
A: 100 each stat (20% bonus when maxed)

And bump!

Stickied.