Leveling-Up

There are numerous strategies for raising a balanced character, and just as many for creating characters with extreme stats in one or two areas. I tend to just push for raw strength or magic until I get into upper levels, since items can supplement defense - but to each his own. Leveling in Seven Swords is as easy as gathering experience, which is as simple as defeating monsters (you can gain huge experience and money in successful wars, but I'll cover that in the war post). The areas closest to your Capitol city are the mildest, growing tougher as you move toward the center of the map. In Nox, the easiest monster is a blue Slime. Take one out for about 38exp. No money, but experience. Get enough and you level up.

Most people should be thinking, "Well, duh - it's an MMORPG, fool! Everyone knows how to grind experience," verily, thou speakest truly~ however, there is a snag that some players miss when leveling for first time. It's called the "Status-up button" and it appears in your Status menu each time you achieve a higher level. It is by assigning your status points that you develop your character. Without using that, you can level up all you want and you'll stay about the same in combat.

So, beginners: remember to check your status when you earn a Level Up; assigning stat points is where the real power comes from.

To elaborate for those who may not initially find the indicators to be obvious, touching the status up button in your status menu opens a simple dialog box that allows you to assign your newly earned stat point(s) to one of three principal attributes governing your character's in-game fighting ability. It's basically Strength, Defense, and Magic. Choose wisely, as I do not believe you can get the points back once your choice is confirmed. Naturally, the two physical fighters (gladiator and scout) will benefit greatly from strength increases, while the mages (sorcerer and cleric) benefit from magic boosts. Both can benefit from defense, but this is more dependent upon your fighting style than anything else (like I said, there are a lot of strategies). The gladiator and the cleric are the two ends of the spectrum, but both tend to benefit from defense more than the other two. The scout and sorcerer will rarely enter melée combat if they are played normally, so defense is not such a big deal, but gladiators will always be on the front lines and clerics are always targets because of their weak combat skills and their ability to keep aggressive allies fighting with their healing abilities. That is not to say that gladiators have no need of magic- some prefer to fight with a ranged attack. That grows more powerful the higher your magic level grows. Meanwhile, a cleric with a decent strength stat can be a potent threat to unprepared enemies. How you choose to boost your stats is up to you, I'm just here to remind newbies that it is there, so they don't get discouraged or give up while status-up points sit unused in their status menus.