Am I where I need to be?

[Lotherd]

Until now, I've just been running every quest as I get them; I haven't worried about my weapons skills.

I am wondering if they are falling too far behind, and if so, where can I level them?

I'm level 13 and all of my weapons skills are at level 5, with the exception of Cutlass, which is at level 6.

Is this normal or should I be somewhere, leveling these skills up? If so, where do you recommend I go?

[Chris]

you should be lvling your weapons more its tedious but i twill save you hours of fustration as your noto goes up u should lvl up right now on tortuga and port royal

[Angel]

I agree. I would do all weaponry early. I made that mistake on my first pirate. My second one was so much easier doing weapons first. I didnt start questing until lvl 23 actually and finished at 30 for my staff!

[KATIE4149]

For leveling the doll what I did was I went up to Fort Charles and attuned one or two of the vets/sergeants and ran around in big circles until they were dead. It might be time consuming, but it works.

I would stick to staying around Tortuga and Port Royal until your a bit higher, also having a healer is a blessing too if your taking on enemies higher than you.

I'm level thirty and 95% done with the black pearl quest so I'm spending a lot of time training my weapons and its quite boring, so doing it early is probably the best way to go.

Good luck to you.

[Lotherd]

So, you're suggesting that if I were to start over, I should level all of my weapons up before I start questing? I actually thought about doing this but I thought it would be pretty boring. I would do the weapons and teleport quests.

[Bilgepump]

I'm not too convinced that this has much of a long-term effect. How much total notoriety do you get from the BP quest? 10000? 15000? 20000? That's less than one level's worth once you hit the high 20s.

But earlier on, it really makes a difference. How much rep you get depends on both your overall notoriety and the current weapon level vs the level of the mob (I could be wrong, but I think it works that way). It's possible to get to level 10ish with mostly quest exp.

So you're level 10, but have level 3 in weapons. And suddenly the mobs that you can kill with your current weapon skill levels don't give you much exp. So you have to grind a bit. That's no fun. Plus, when you level weapons, you get more hit points and more voodoo. Not as much as a full notoriety level, and the amount depends on the weapon, but it adds up. That 40 HP you get from going to level 3 to level 8 on cutlass can make the difference between killing that mob for even more XP, and a trip to jail.

Here's what I'd recommend:

1. Don't do the BP quest until you're in your late 20s, and they've fixed the boss battle. Really, until they do that, there's no point.

2. Only do the weapon and teleport quests, or quests that give money. There are several of those on Port Royal, and I hit them as often as I can. In particular, Bartholomew Watkins (I think that's his name). He hides behind some barrels, and will give you 105 gold for every boat trip where you sink something. It adds up.

3. Try to keep your weapons at roughly the same level. When you level one, switch to another to level it up too. When you get a new weapon, concentrate on it to get it to parity with the others.

Since I finished with the BP quest, I've been concentrating on my weapons. I've got them all to 15/16, except staff (8) and grenades (10). Just got the staff, and spent all day yesterday getting them and the grenades up (8 staff levels, 4 grenades). The HP I got from those made a big difference in my survivability.

I made a third character for the screenshot contest (Vote for "They're always after me Lucky Charms!" here!) and decided to keep playing him. I skipped the BP quest with him, and have noticed that the weapon/teleport quests are a little easier, as I have more HP than I did with the last character, plus he's better with his weapons.

[Lotherd]

Bilgepump,

Thanks a lot for that post. I started another character based on the advice you gave. It makes sense to me.

Now, another newbie question: I'm assuming the BP quest is the one where you get sent all over the darn place trying to get crew members for Mr. Gibbs?