A Newbie's Guide to Hexonyx
- Getting Started
- Wisely Choosing your Race
- Picking Your First Class/What are Multi-Classes?
- Getting Dressed - What You Should Know About Armor
- NOSUMMON, and AUTO Commands - Automatic Help from the Game!
- Good Newbie Zones and Directions, and Aliasing
- Setting Battle Prompts
- Alignment
- How and Where do I Level/Gain?
- What are Stats and Why are They Important?
- How Can I See my Progress?
- Why Do I need Gold and Where Can I Get Some?
- How Can I Get Some Help or Advice?
- Other Tips and Tricks for Successful Newbies
Getting Started
This guide assumes that you have already connected to Hex. If you haven't, you might want to start with the Hexonyx Help File.
Hex is not an easy MUD to play, but that's what makes it great. With three time zones, seven races, and tri-class system to contend with, it's easy to get lost just in the complexity of getting started. This guide is intended to help you sort through all the technical nonsense so you can enjoy the game. If you have a question that isn't answered here, mudmail Darrien or Paris, or ask another player online. We love newbies and we want you to have a good time!
For our longer term players -- this is not intended to be the comprehensive help guide for all of Hex. If you have a more complex question that needs answering, or if you have an answer to a complex question that you think would benefit all of Hex, mudmail it to us and we'll list it either here or in the Help guide!
Wisely Choosing Your Race
Race is a decision with lasting implications. Your race determines your strengths and weaknesses. For example, trolls are very strong and are extraordinarily stupid. Let's say that, excited by the prospect of having epic strength, you pick Troll as your race. What are classes are you then suited to? Well, nothing that requires advanced particle physics, that's for sure!
Essentially, you want to pick your race based on what you think you might eventually want to be. If you think you'd eventually want to be a Warrior, then Troll would be a good choice. You'd definitely want to avoid something wimpy but intelligent, like a High Elf, if you wanted to be a Warrior.
Under Prime Attribute, you'll find the most important stat for each class, and the best race for that class. (We'll deliberately ignore Dual Classes here, which are not a newbie concept.) Prime Attribute
- Clerics: Wisdom (Gnome, Human)
- Mages: Intelligence (High Elf, Gnome, Human)
- Warrior: Strength (Sylvan Elf, Dwarf, Troll, Human)
- Thieves: Dexterity (Gnome, Sylvan Elf, High Elf, Hobbit, Human)
- Monks: Constitution (Dwarf, Troll, Human)
As you can see, humans are pretty well suited to everything. They have average scores across the board, so if you're completely stumped or have a vague unease with the concept of RPG, human is usually an OK place to start. However, if you feel strongly about having a kick-ass character, think race through before choosing.
Bottom Line? - Make an informed decision, but don't ever feel like you're married to it. Most Hex players have three or more characters.
Picking Your First Class/What are Multi-Classes?
Picking your first class is your next big decision. Hex has a tri-class or multi-class system, meaning that you could potentially have up to three classes. In English, this means that you could train first as a Thief, then as a Mage, then as a Cleric, to eventually have a TH/MU/CL combo.
In the TH/MU/CL scenario, your final class is Cleric. This means that you have all of the spells of the Cleric, and some of the spells/skills of the Thief and the Mage. Although you're a cleric and can heal, you can also cast dragon talon on yourself (a Mage spell) and backstab mobs (a thief skill).
So, you see that picking your first class has lasting implications! That's true and not true at the same time. Hex comes enabled with a useful tool called forget, which enables you to leave your present class. You can't use forget to lose just some skills -- you lose everything, including your class designation (if you forgot Thief, you wouldn't be a thief anymore).
Generally, the easiest class to get started with is Thief. This is because Thief comes with Backstab, which is a very useful skill. It's very easy to level quickly when you're sneaking up on things and stabbing them in the back. Another very popular class to start with is Mage. Mage has a great protection spell called ice shield, and a mini heal spell with with energy drain. Mages also have battle spells and can enchant armor to make it stronger.
Bottom Line? - If you need instant gratification, start with Thief. Otherwise, start with Mage.
Getting Dressed - What You Should Know About Armor
Armor is just what it sounds like - protection against attacks. But did you know that, on Hex, different armor does different things?
There are four basic kinds of armor.
- Battle Gear
- Levelling Gear
- Regeneration Gear
- Max Mana Gear
By the time you start your third class, you'll want a complete set of Levelling Gear. By the time you're done with your third class, you'll pretty much want a complete set of each of the other kinds, too. Before you panic, remember two things: 1) If you don't have complete sets of Battle, Regen, and Max Mana gear at the end of your third class, it's not the end of of the world, and 2) a lot of the gear overlaps.
- Battle Gear is gear that you wear in a fight.
- Levelling Gear is gear that you wear when you're ready to gain a level. Levelling gear raises your stats (more on that soon) and helps you with better gains (more on that later, too). The good news is that, when you're done levelling, you won't have to carry most of this gear around with you anymore. Try combinations of gear until you get your stats to their high limits, then level.
- Regeneration Gear helps you recover hit points, move points, and mana (if you're a magic user).
- Max Mana Gear is primarily for magic users, like clerics and mages. This raises your natural mana to new levels! If you start out with 1230 mana, your maxmana gear might help you raise it to 1900 mana, which means you start out your next battle that much better prepared.
You can't wear all armor. In fact, most decent armor has rests (short for restrictions) on it, which means that it can only be worn by certain classes or certain alignments. How can you find out if a piece of armor is good for you? Well, you can try it on. Or, if you want to be more certain, go to the magic shop in the present. Buy yourself a scroll of identify, and "recite scroll (object name here)". That will give you a listing of the item's properties. Thieves, you can "assess" an item by typing assess (item name here).
Slots to Wear Armor
You can see what slots have been filled on your body by armor by typing eq.
Here is an example of a fully equipped Level 70 Tri-Class Mage. Although as a newbie your armor will not look like this (unless you know someone generous), this illustrates all the places on your body you can wear armor.
| <used as light> | a Dragon Banner |
| <worn on finger> | a ring of wizardry (blessed) |
| <worn on finger> | a gold and sapphire ring (soft glow) |
| <worn around neck> | a cravat (blessed) |
| <worn around neck> | a cravat (blessed) |
| <worn on body> | a suit of field plate |
| <worn on head> | a golden helm (soft glow) |
| <worn on legs> | a pair of golden leggings (soft glow) |
| <worn on feet> | Lightning Boots |
| <worn on hands> | brass knuckles |
| <worn on arms> | a pair of Moorish bracers (soft glow) |
| <worn as shield> | a golden shield (soft glow) |
| <worn about body> | Cloak of Zeus (soft glow) (humming) |
| <worn about waist> | a large dragon tail (humming) |
| <worn around wrist> | a golden bracelet (blessed) |
| <worn around wrist> | a golden bracelet (blessed) |
| <wielded> | a blazer rifle (soft glow) (humming) |
| <held> | a sceptre of order |
| <worn on face> | a human skull (blessed) |
| <floating above head> | a targeting computer (soft glow) |
NOSUMMON, and AUTO Commands - Automatic Help from the Game!
NOSUMMON, AUTOLOOT and AUTOGOLD are three commands that will help you infinitely.
NOSUMMON is helpful because, believe it or not, not everyone likes noobs. When I was first a noob, a certain legendary player (*cough Techweb *cough) summoned me, repeatedly, to my death at the hands of Yaz, King of the Bunnies. This can be avoided by typing in NOSUMMON and hitting Enter. You will occasionally have to turn NOSUMMON off, especially if you want to be summoned from say, a bottomless pit, but as a rule, you should generally have it on.
AUTOLOOT, AUTOGOLD, AUTOSPLIT, AUTOEXIT are four of the five commands that make up the AUTO Command family.
- Autoloot allows you to automatically loot corpses for all the items you can carry. Be careful with this, as you can pick up too much crap and/or cursed items.
- Autogold should be turned on immediately! Automatically loot corpses for their gold.
- Autosplit should also be turned on. This will make you popular in groups -- any looted gold is automatically split amongst the players in your group when you've looted the body.
- Autoexit will show you the exits in a room one of four ways: off, brief, normal, complete. As the names suggest, you get more complete information depending on which you use. If you're just beginning, you might want to start with autoexit complete, and then progress to autoexit brief with experience.
Good Newbie Zones and Directions
In an effort to attract new players and to help you get started as a newbie, Hex's builders have established plenty of newbie zones. In addition to these, there are some basic areas that you'll visit regularly. This section provides you with directions, and instructions on Aliasing.
Aliasing is a way to set shortcuts to get you to a place. An alias is a series of commands that are given a name. For example, as a Mage, if I'm in battle, I don't want to have to type Cast 'disintegration' every time I want to use that spell. So, I would create an alias. I do that by typing alias disint cast 'disintegration' and hitting Enter. Now, each time I want to use Disintegrate in battle, I type disint and the spell is cast!
Copy the entire alias line into your client and press enter to set the aliases.
All directions are from recall. There are three recalls: past, present and future. You must get to recall before you start to use an alias. The easiest way to do this is with a recall scroll. You can buy a recall scroll at the Magic Shop in the Present Time Zone (see below).
| Time | Type | Zone | Alias |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | Recall | Present Time Portal | alias presrecall n*n*n*n*n*n*w*s |
| Past | Recall | Past Time Portal | alias pastrecall s*s*e*e*e*e*e*n*w*w*n*w*w*w*w*w*n*w*w*w*w*w*w*w*n |
| Future | Recall | Future Time Portal | alias futrecall s*s*s*e*e*e*e*n*n*n*n*n*n*e*e*e*e*e*e*s*w |
| Present | Guild | Cleric Guild | alias prescleric s*w*n*w*n*w |
| Present | Guild | Mage Guild | alias presmage s*s*w*w*s*e*s*e |
| Present | Guild | Monk Guild | alias presmonk n*n*n*w*s |
| Present | Guild | Thief Guild | alias presthief s*s*s*e*s*e*s*e*s |
| Present | Guild | Warrior Guild | alias preswar s*s*e*e*s*e*s*e |
| Present | Shop | Weapon Shop | alias weaponshop s*s*e*e*n |
| Present | Shop | Magic Shop | alias magicshop s*s*w*w*n |
| Present | Shop/Training | Winona | alias acolyte s*s*s*e*e*e*s |
| Present | Newbie Zone | The Hive | alias hive s*s*w*w*w*w*w*w*w*s*sw*w*w |
| Present | Newbie Zone | The Daisy Patch | alias daisypatch s*s*w*w*w*w*w*w*w*s*s |
| Present | Newbie Zone | Light and Dark Forest | alias lightforest s*s*w*w*w*open gate*w*w*w*w*w*read sign |
| Present | Newbie Zone | Newbie School | alias n*n*e*e*n*w |
| Present | Newbie Zone | The Dump/Elliot's Playground | alias elliot s*s*s*s*s*w |
| Present | Newbie Zone | Proving Grounds | alias angels S*S*E*E*E*E*E*E*S*S*E*E*E*D*E*E*E*E |
| Present | Advanced Newbie Zone | The Watchtowers | alias watchtower s*s*w*w*w*n*n*n*n*n*n*n*u*s |
| Past | Beginner-Advanced Newbie Zone | The Munchkin Tower | alias munchkin s*s*e*e*e*e*e*e*e*n*read sign |
| Past | Advanced Newbie Zone | The Daimyo's Fortress | alias daimyo s*s*e*e*e*e*e*n*n |
| Past | Advanced Newbie Zone | Hill Giant Smial | alias smial s*s*e*e*e*e*e*n*w*w*n*w*w*w*w*w*n*w*n*n*n*n*n*n*n*w*w*w*n*n*u*u*n*w*s*e*n*open door*w |
| Future | Newbie Zone | Gangland | alias gangland s*s*s*e*e*e*e*u*n*u*u*s*s*w*w*w*w*s*w*w*w*s*s*s*s*e*e*e*e*e*e*s*w*s |
| Future | Advanced Newbie Zone | Crime Syndicate | alias crimeland s*s*s*e*e*e*e*u*n*u*u*s*s*w*w*w*w*s*e*s*e*s*d*open door*e*e*s*s*s*s*e*e*s*e*e*open |
Setting Your Battleprompt
Before you even start your first fight, you should reset your prompts to something a little more user friendly.
Copy and paste these commands into your client and hit enter to reset your prompts. Ask around for other prompts, if you don't like these!
- batprompt %2|%S%7TANK%2|%1|%f%c%p|%0 %i/%H %n/%M{%GGold}{%x/Credit}{%aAC}{%AAL}%3<%T %t>
- PROMPT %9%7%3%h/%H%1|%3%m/%M%1|%3%v/%V%9%7{%x/Credit}
Alignment is an important aspect of your character. Alignment is the characteristic that shows if you're good, evil, or neutral, and is a reflection of the types of Mobs you kill. For example, say you've discovered that killing the watch in Dra'adim is easy and you get lots of XP for it. You'll also find that you quickly turn very, very evil. That's because the Watch are good aligned mobs. If you kill good mobs, you turn evil. If you kill evil mobs, you turn good. If you kill neutral mobs...you get the idea.
Alignment is especially important to equipment. Many pieces of quality equipment can only be worn by certain classes with certain alignments. If you have a cherished dagger, for example, and although you are a thief and meet all the requirements for wielding the dagger, you find you suddenly cannot wield it, you may have the wrong alignment.
If your alignment gets messed up, which it inevitably does, it's easy to fix. Here are some hints.
- You are very, very good and want to be evil or neutral -- kill the Watch in the present, or the BUGs in the future.
- You are very, very evil and want to be good or neutral -- kill the evil lamias in Thalos, in the Present.
Level/Gain at your guild when you've reached a credit. Using the prompts above, you should know when you've killed enough stuff to amass enough experience to advance. Also, you can type SC to see your current Score. When you've gotten a credit, the game will alert you, so keep your eyes open! Return to your guild and type gain.
What are Stats and Why are They Important?
As discussed earlier, certain attributes, like Wisdom or Strength, make you suitable for a guild. But you have to work at increasing those stats through training in order to become stronger, smarter, and to get better gains in your final class. If you want to end up big, smart, strong, and with a crapload of MP and HP, you need to train, train, train.
You should really have your stats completely trained before you join your third class. Here's what you need to know:
"The cost of training varies, depending on how many stats(attributes) you have left to train. The cost varies from 100 gold and a minimum of level 1, up to a maximum of 325,000 gold, and a minimum of level 67. Depending on your negotiating skills (charisma), you may be afforded a slight discount. To see what minimum level and gold payment is required for your next training session, simply type train at Winona to view a complete schedule of services available to you. While you're training, remember that different guilds have different minimum stats required for joining. For example, the warrior guild requires sufficient strength, so if you train strength last, you will not be able to multi to warrior at level 50."
You can always view your present stats and XP left to level by typing either SC or Score.
Why Do I need Gold and Where Can I Get Some?
Collecting Gold for fun and profit should be a priority for you. You will need it for everything from buying equipment to training your stats. As in real life, you can never have too much gold (or bling). If you're in need of gold, some good mid to low level zones are: Mage Tower and Kalindor Keep. Plan to collect equipment from corpses and try selling it. Most of it isn't worth a whole lot, but if you're broke and desperate, you'll sell your own mother!
This is a listing of some shops. There are others scattered throughout Hex, which sell different things and will give you different prices for your goods. Explore to find them all.
| Shops | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Time Zone | Directions |
| The ACOLYTE | Present | s*s*s*e*e*s* |
| BIGSBY | Present | s*s*s*e*n*n |
| DR. BRAHEEM'S LABORATORY | Future | s*s*s*e*e*e*e*e*e*E*e*E*n |
| EVE | Present | n*n*n*n*n*n*n*w*w*n |
| The GROCER | Present | s*s*e*n |
| The MAGIC SHOP | Present | s*s*w*w*n |
| The MYSTIC BIZARRE | Present | s*s*w*w*w*n*n*n*n*e*n |
| The PAWN SHOP | Present | n*n*n*n*n*n*e*n*n*n |
| The PET SHOP | Present | s*s*e*s |
| The TANNERY | Present | s*s*s*w*w*n |
| The WEAPONS SHOP | Present | s*s*e*e*n* |
| ABDUL the Armorer | Future | s*s*s*e*e*e*e*s*e*e*er |
| IGOR's Implements of Destruction | Future | s*s*s*e*e*e*e*s*e*s |
How Can I Get Some Help or Advice?
There's a newbie help channel available to you. To use it, type nhc and then whatever you have to say. Asking for help on Gossip is also sometimes helpful. If you ask for/beg for gold, chances are you won't get squat and you'll irritate the other players, so try to avoid it.
Other Tips and Tricks for Successful Newbies
Here are some other things that you should know:
- Mithrandir is a spellbot that lives in Dra-gadim. A spellbot is a Mob or Mobile, more commonly known as an in-game monster. Mithrandir casts spells on you for money. Sometimes he's in the game, sometimes he isn't. Mith will charge you more as you get bigger, but it's worth it. Spell up, baby, it makes you stronger, faster, and all-around harder to defeat.
- Spells are always better when they're from Gentry-level spellcasters that are current-class member of the owning guild of the spell. What? If you want a really good dragon talon, find a level 70 mage. If you want a kick-ass bless, find yourself a level 70 cleric.
- Globals are effects that help or hinder the whole world at once. They most commonly increase your ability to regenerate, cause injury, or gain experience. You can see if any globals are currently set by typing glo.
- Identify Scrolls or Scrolls of Identify are useful to you in assessing a mob. If you are unsure about doing battle with a mob, you can type con (mobname). Or you recite an identify scroll at it, to see what it's made of.
- Yaz, King of the Bunnies is not now, nor will he ever be your friend. If you teleport into him, just keep teleporting. The same goes for Rage.
