Increase spawn rates?

[Macros the Black]

I guess that knowing that trash piles disease you and that there is a Stone Skin pedestal in the city would have helped you greatly

Indeed. I think I forgot to save before clicking the trash pile, so I got stuck with a diseased person. But the rats can disease you too and you can't always avoid them. I guess I underestimated the dungeon and so didn't save as much as I should have, and then I got stuck with no gold or food and that made the dungeon really hard to do.

I mean, I've found difficult dungeons in MM before, but this was the only case where I was wondering if I should just start a new game.

[Drakeero]

Indeed. I think I forgot to save before clicking the trash pile, so I got stuck with a diseased person.

I always clear the dungeon completely before I search the trash piles. Use the same person each time for every pile and then get them cured just once at the temple.

[prince87x]

I have another question. What kind of skills are best to focus on first/early game when leveling? Like should I pick up identify item to save money and don't have to go to a shop to have my items identified? It seems nice to have, but you would have to sink points into it instead of something else. What skills do you guys usually put points into first?

[GreatEmerald]

Learning! Learn to learn, then learn other things. Meditation is good, armour and weapon skills are also good. I generally spend my skill points on what I can master in the current town, like Leather in Harmondale and such.

[Macros the Black]

I have another question. What kind of skills are best to focus on first/early game when leveling? Like should I pick up identify item to save money and don't have to go to a shop to have my items identified? It seems nice to have, but you would have to sink points into it instead of something else. What skills do you guys usually put points into first?

Personally I always get the Scholar NPC so I don't bother with Identify Item past expert (if even that).
Learning is of course the first skill to focus on and get up to the highest mastery level your character can get it asap. If you have to be promoted to get a higher mastery level, spend the points in advance anyways.
Aside from that, there's repair item (I always at least expert it), disarm trap, air magic, body magic... you'll want to expert these before doing anything else. Then I guess you could go for merchant, magic skills, weapon skills and armsmaster. Armor skills, perception, stealing are least important imo. Body building and meditation should just be upped when you feel you need more hit or spell points.

Of course mastery of water should wait until you can get to Nighon, but that's obvious

[prince87x]

Learning does make sense. I didn't think about the Scholar NPC for Identify Item. Disarm trap would definitely come in handy. I always remember opening chests and without it and having an explosion kill or almost kill my entire party

How about Alchemy for making potions? When, if at all, is a good time to worry about that skill?

[GreatEmerald]

Actually, it depends on your party if you need perception or not. If you have a Thief, then you don't need it, otherwise it's a very useful skill if your party can't open chests easily, since with perception you will be able to dodge chest explosions. And yes, Scholar is a very awesome NPC.
Alchemy is good to learn up to Expert before you go into the Red Dwarf Mines. At the expert level, you will be able to mix Harden Item potions which are extremely useful and will save your gear; in fact, you should get some of those potions even before you learn to mix them yourself and put on your body armour, since it breaks whenever your party members go unconscious or die. As for higher levels, if you have a Druid, learn Grand Master when you can, since that will let you get a lot of money and a lot of powerups for your party members. I never saw any use in white potions (Master level), so I usually don't bother going past Expert.

[prince87x]

Alrighty, I'm just about to start up a new game! Now with a better understanding of skills and strategies. I always love playing the M&M games (specifically 6-8) from time to time. They have such a nostalgic feel to them.

[Macros the Black]

How about Alchemy for making potions? When, if at all, is a good time to worry about that skill?

When you've got your last druid promotion, because only the black potions are really worth making

Problem with alchemy imo is that mostly spellcasters get the skill. If knights were the ones to grandmaster alchemy for instance, it would be alot more useful for parties that lack a dedicated spellcaster, since most of the potions emulate the effects of beneficial or curative spells.

Edit: oh yeah, harden item potions may be worth experting the skill for.. Personally that's a bit too much micro-management for my taste, but I agree that it might be a good strategy.

[prince87x]

How about Alchemy for making potions? When, if at all, is a good time to worry about that skill?

When you've got your last druid promotion, because only the black potions are really worth making

Problem with alchemy imo is that mostly spellcasters get the skill. If knights were the ones to grandmaster alchemy for instance, it would be alot more useful for parties that lack a dedicated spellcaster, since most of the potions emulate the effects of beneficial or curative spells.

Edit: oh yeah, harden item potions may be worth experting the skill for.. Personally that's a bit too much micro-management for my taste, but I agree that it might be a good strategy.

For my team setup it looked like a good choice. And the harden item sounds good too. I don't so much mind the micro managing.

I'm just about to leaving the starting island and I'm thinking my Knight could go two ways. It appears when he masters swords he can dual-wield them and at grandmaster he even gets an AC bonus? This means I probably should take shield if I do that, but that also means 1 sword and no shield until I can wield two of them. Should I just hold off until I can use two? He can use plate anyway I guess so he should be fine?

[GreatEmerald]

Talking about shields, well, you can go two ways - either have only a sword and no shield for speed increase, or have a shield for AC increase. Even at rank 1 for Shield you can get good AC deals, so I tend to have my knights equipped with them.

[GrayFace]

Speaking of increasing spawn rates, I never take Perception and prefer to invest into Learning after Air/Water.

[GreatEmerald]

Speaking of increasing spawn rates,

At least when playing for the first time, Perception is very useful. Shows traps and you dodge trap fire. Don't confuse with Perception from MM6

[Macros the Black]

I'm just about to leaving the starting island and I'm thinking my Knight could go two ways. It appears when he masters swords he can dual-wield them and at grandmaster he even gets an AC bonus? This means I probably should take shield if I do that, but that also means 1 sword and no shield until I can wield two of them. Should I just hold off until I can use two? He can use plate anyway I guess so he should be fine?

For whether or not to use a shield until you can dual-wield it's basically a question of whether you want your knight to deal more damage (less recovery time if not using a shield) or to stay alive longer. Since the knight already survives most anything the other classes don't, I tend to prefer him to fight a little faster. I mean, if your cleric or paladin is whiped out, what good does a knight do except to run away? Why would you need more AC when he can already survive what they can't?

Actually the best weapon combo for the knight is spear+sword. The spear gets +damage per skill point and the sword gets reduced recovery time. Due to a bug in the game (or faulty design), when dual-wielding, you don't actually strike with each weapon seperately. Instead, both weapons strike at the same time for one attack, and the fastest weapon's recovery time is used to calculate when you can attack again.
That means by dual-wielding a sword with a spear, the spear becomes as fast as a sword, but retains the +damage per skill point bonus. Not to mention, both the spear and the sword give +armor class from their skill, which means you'll get as much +armor class as you would from wielding a shield (which gives +armor class per skill point twice), except for the armor class the shield itself would give. Although of course, wielding a sword or spear with a shield would give even more.

[Paviel]

How about Alchemy for making potions? When, if at all, is a good time to worry about that skill?

Take Basic Alchemy as soon as possible, so that you can brew orange and purple potions (i.e. the cheapest way to cure disease and poison early in the game). Other than that, don't worry about it unless you have a druid.