One thing to pay careful attention to, now that the characters you are starting are going to be around a long, long time, is faction. Here're a few pointers: Poor faction = buy/sell at bad prices. This isn't too bad. Bad faction = no buying or selling. This stinks. Really bad faction = KoS (Kill on Sight). This really stinks, as the merchants of Norrath are one tough bunch (all that elite merchant combat training, methinks). Some mobs adjust faction in ways you wouldn't think. For example, aviaks around Butcherblock are loved by the guards - therefore, you kill enough of them, the guards take a dislike to you. This is really bad if you happen to be a dwarf! In beta, bandits would also adjust your faction negatively towards the race of the bandit (ask Krys, he killed enough dwarf bandits to be KoS in Kaladim), which, in my opinion, is wrong, but that's how it is. Another bad effect was killing human bandits, which are KoS for most folks, made the gypsies dislike you, which was a hard lesson when you traveled all that way just to buy some good weapons. A general rule of thumb is that if it walks on two legs and doesn't attack on sight, it probably has a faction hit to it. This seemed to be pretty true for me throughout beta. Of course, wolves and bears kill your faction with those tree-lovers in Qeynos, so it's not an absolute. If your uncertain and don't want to risk poor faction, then do what I do: if it's a 2-legger and it doesn't attack you, don't attack it. One of the great things about Norrath is that not everyone is gonna like you, no matter what - so don't sweat it too bad. Your race or class alone can make some folks hate you no matter what you do. Try to avoid these characters when selling items, however, since your goods will fetch higher prices when selling items to those with whom you have a good faction standing with, such as those within your class's guild. In P3, debug code was in place that displayed what kind of faction hit you were taking for killing a mob. This usually helped only to determine if a mob was a free kill (no penalty), or if somewhere, something hated you just a bit more because of the kill. While this code has been taken out, some mobs will give a hint to what your faction hit is by their dying sentences. When you kill a Crushbone orc, and the last thing he spits at you is "You'll have all the Crushbone orcs after you", you can be sure that's a faction hint. So don't ignore those words - they play an important role. Finally, the way to determine another mobs attitude towards you is with /con. Here's a quick rundown: XXXX scowls at you, ready to attack. [REALLY hated] XXXX glares at you threateningly [hates you, but *might* not attack if you don't hang around too long] XXXX glowers at you dubiously [won't sell to you or talk with you except insults, but won't attack either] XXXX glances at you apprehensively [you aren't their favorite person, but they will sell to and deal with you] XXXX regards you indifferently [just what it sounds like] XXXX regards you [they like you] XXXX regards you warmly [they REALLY like you]  top