General gameplay tips/Basics

User Interface

• Note: In this picture you can also see a players Inventory(top right), party window(bottom right), and player Chat on the left.

For the current User Interface a player has 3 main panels.
These are Main UI Bar, Equipped Skills, and your Special Abilities.

1. Main UI Bar

   	Support	A place to report bugs, Un-stuck toggle, Give Suggestion, Report Abuse.	Chat	Panel for talking to other players.
   	Inventory	Shows players current carried items	Skills & Abilities	Panel that shows the players current skills and their level in each.
   	Map	Shows the zone map in which the player is currently in, if applicable.	Quest Log	Shows the players current quest, stuff to do, and a notepad.
   	Books & Lore	Books and Lore that the player has read.	Crafting	Shows all recipes that the player has learned.
   	Persona	Shows current Equipment, Player Statuses, and Player Abilities.	Options	Shows various options.. key commands, Mouse and Movement Parameters, Graphics, GUI and Windows, Sound, Special Settings, Logout, Quit Game.
   	Social	Shows players hunting group and Friends list.




2. The Equipped Skills bars, at the bottom of the screen, are where you can see your currently equipped skills, be they combat, animal, performance ect.
   The default controls for a player's Equipped Skills are:
   • For the top bar: numbers 1⇒6.
   • For the bottom bar: Ctrl+1⇒6.
   These are the abilities that you will be using regularly.

To the left and the right of the Equipped Skills are two additional buttons:

Pets	Shows the players current pet(s).
Loadouts	Shows the player's available Loadouts.




3. The Special Abilities bar, far left of the screen, holds special action skills such as First Aid, Armor Patching, and even items from your inventory, allowing you to use items instantly.
   • These generally have a longer cooldown times and have better long term effects special in that some cannot be used.
   • Note: Players cannot switch armor or weapons if they are currently in combat!

Controls

For a complete listing see Controls.

Player Controls

	Default player Controls
Command	Key	Alternate Key
Turn Left	←	A
Turn Right	→	D
Strafe Left	Q	None
Strafe Right	E	None
Move Forward	↑	W
Move Backwards	↓	S
Jump	Space	None
Run	Left-Shift	Right-Shift
Toggle Run/Walk	'	None
Use Ability 1⇒6	1⇒6	None
Use Ability 7⇒12	Ctrl+1⇒6	None

• Default Movement Controls
• Standard WASD or Arrows Movement
• Holding RMB + LMB will make your character move forward.

GUI Controls

Default GUI Controls
Command	Key	Alternate Key
Show Inventory Window	I	Ctrl+I
Show Chat Window	C	Ctrl+C
Show Persona Screen	P	None
Show Quest Screen	None	None
Show Config Screen	Shift+O	None
Show Map Window	M	Ctrl+M
Close Last Panel Can also open options menu.	Escape	None
Select Next Enemy	Tab	None
Zoom Camera In	Numeric Keypad:+	Scroll Wheel ⇑
Zoom Camera Out	Numeric Keypad:-	Scroll Wheel ⇓
Select Next Non-Combatant	None	None
Use Selected	U	None
Screenshot	Ctrl+P	None
Screenshot: High-Res	None	None
Turn On/Off GUI Windows	=	None

• At the bottom of the options panel, the player can see their current Ping, FPS, and Game Version.
• Typing "/wiki chicken" in the game chat will open an internet browser and search this wiki for 'chicken', quite helpful when first starting. (Yes, there is a chicken page.)
• Select Next Non-Combatant is Useful for selecting ground items, especially if they are hidden in foliage. Highly Recommended
• Use Selected is Handy to use in tandem with Select Next/Previous Non-Combatant, to quickly loot ground items,
  or shuffle through a pile of dead mobs.
• For High-Res Screenshots F12 is suggested.
• For capturing screenshots in general and in particular screen portions Lightshot is highly adviced.

  Especially with it's default PRT-SCR key-usage.

Combat

Short and sweet version here check out Combat for a full run through of all buffs/equipment/effects.

Above, you can see your characters Health (Red), Armor (Yellow), and Power (Blue) as shown in-game. These are the players main resources while in combat, used to stay alive, protect health, and use player skills, respectively. They can be regained through five diffrent ways: out-of-combat regain, in-combat regain, combat refresh, player skills, and consumable buffs. These diffrent types of in/out of combat are especially important to pay attention to as they have very diffrent rates.

• Out-of-Combat, is the regain when the player is not currently fighting any mobs. It is quite high compared to the other states, and it's free!
• In-Combat is a markedly lower regain of stats state while the player is fighting enemies. It's low regain makes it necessary for players to efficiently use their Combat Refresh while fighting. *Some player skills are healing skills or can be modified to give heals when they are used.
• Consumables are the food, flower, statue, meditation, ect... They require a item to be (surprise!) consumed  or used to gain their buff, the better the item the better the buff, usually.
• Combat Refresh is the system used to restore armor, health, and power while in-combat. Activating a skill's basic attack will activate this, on a 10 second cool down, not all skills have basic attacks that will activate this however. See page for details.

A chicken's Stats

Armor, as a resource, plays an important but subtle function in combat, it mitigates 1 point of damage for every 25 points of armor remaining and is lost when mitigating damage. So then armored becomes more effective per point, the more you have of it.

Power is consumed by most skills but there are some skills, like emergency abilities, that have no Power requirement, and typically have a longer cooldown. The amount of Power available and your ability to recover Power between encounters is very important if you hope to take on more than one enemy at once, or even solo dungeons. But be aware! Running while in combat will drain power.

This goblin is in vulnerable state as indicated by the overhead icon.

Rage is a special resource used by monsters to activate their special attacks. As you hit monsters or they hit you, they gather Rage, and when their meter is full (an orange looking hand), they user their super power. There are some skills that "manage rage', as they decrease a mobs rage or slow its ability to produce rage somehow.

Vulnerability is another special mechanic for monsters, they periodically go into this vulnerable state and some abilities have a chance to cause it. Some attacks do extra damage against vulnerable monsters, so it’s sort of a whack-a-mole mechanic — you use your vuln-boost ability when you see the monster flashing vulnerable.

Click on Expand to view currently available non-animal combat skills. Individual skill pages provide information on discovering these skills!

Skill	Description
Animal Handling	The art of taming animals and teaching them to fight alongside you.
Archery	Expertise with using bows to hunt and kill.
Bard	Bardin'
Battle Chemistry	Using alchemical concoctions in the heat of battle. Not for the faint of heart, or the particularly sane, this combat style specializes in area-effects of all types. Advanced practitioners can also ingest their formulae directly to take on new combat personalities. Masters can even create homonculi to serve them in battle.
Cow	Cows are fast and furious!
Crossbow	Pew pew pew.
Deer	A majestic deer hanging out in town.
Druid	Druidin'
Fairy Magic	A sub-skill of Mentalism that focuses on psychic links to the fae realms.
Fire Magic	Using Fire to destroy your enemies. This is a very potent offensive skill, including long-range and area-effect attacks, and even some Cold attacks for versatility. However, there are drawbacks: Fire Magic is extremely Power-intensive; all creatures generate extra Rage when they are burned; and many creatures have some resistance to fire.
Giant Bat	Spooky, but vaguely adorable.
Hammer	If I had a hammer...
Ice Magic	A specialization of Fire Magic that focuses entirely upon lowering temperature instead of raising it. It has protective and controlling abilities as well as offensive abilities.
Knife Fighting	Using daggers and thrown knives in combat. Knife combat is extremely damaging, relying on traumatic injuries, poison, and subterfuge.
Lycanthropy	Skill in fighting as a wolf beast. Also indicates your ability to control and suppress the beast mode.
Mentalism	The power of mind over matter: psychic powers! This combat skill focuses on recovery and restoration, but also has multiple damaging abilities.
Necromancy	Necromancy is control over the undead, along with other powers that trifle with mortality. To use necromantic abilities, you must be wielding or wearing a necromancy gem.
Pig	An example of a player pig.
Priest	Officially the 'Priest of Arisetsu' skill, this represents your attunement with Arisetsu, the goddess of Warmth and Hope. When fighting alongside allies, you can bring hope to even the most impossible battles... but you cannot do it alone.
Psychology	Understanding the mind of sentient creatures. Also, using that knowledge in combat and other stressful situations.
Rabbit	The art of living and fighting as a rabbit or hare. Note: rabbits are not known for their ferocity, so sentient rabbits should carefully consider their choice of secondary skill.
Shield	Expertise in the use of a shield, both as a weapon and as a defensive tool.
Spider	Ew, they're icky!
Spirit Fox	Mastery of the techniques of the spirit fox: an awakened fox with supernatural powers.
Staff	Mastery of the staff as a martial weapon. Staff fighting has a mix of both offensive and defensive abilities.
Sword	Expertise with swords, rapiers, and the like. Swords are very damaging and can reduce an opponent's rage.
Unarmed	The skill of fighting with your body and minimal weapons.
Warden	Skill in using the secret powers of the Wardens.
Weather Witching	A rigorous magical discipline focusing on manipulating and engaging with the environment around you. Elves are the undisputed experts of the field, which causes some races to view it negatively. It is also sometimes mistaken for (illegal) Chaos Magic due to its chaotic and dangerous nature.

General tips for choosing between the combat skills:
- As a newer player consider having 1 primary combat skill and choose a support skill (e.g. Psychology or Mentalism) as your secondary. That will give much better ways to heal up during combat. There is also chart to indicate which combat skills can be used together.
- As a newer player the Archery and Fire Magic can be very expensive to level in above level 10. (Archery requires specialized higher quality arrows for the higher level abilities. Those arrows are generally not available to be bought from vendors. You would have to also level Carpentry and Fletching to be able to make your own arrows.)

Levels & Skills

• A short explanation: (see Level for a thorough walk-through)
  • Most MMORPGs use a numeric Level system to indicate the power of players, NPCs, and mobs. Project Gorgon does not do this. Skills begin at level 0, and do not show in the player's skill panel. To get level 1 (and a usable skill), the player will need to find the appropriate NPC/quest or item that teaches/gives the skill they desire.

• Skills
  • These are what players use as abilities/skill/attributes that allows them to accomplish things in the game world. See:skills
  • In Project Gorgon skills are increased by using them, so the more a player uses a specific skill the higher their level will be in that skill.
  • It is important to note that if active skill levels are too far apart (more than 25 levels), abilities that are above the 25 level difference are grayed out on the skill bars and unavailable for use. The player simply needs to select lower level abilities in the skill in order to use the same abilities.
  • To change active skills (archery, sword, necro, etc) click the arrow button that is on the left side of the skill bar you would like to change.

• Combat Level:
  • A player has two combat-abilities they can bring to a fight, each with their own skill level, as well as the armor items that the player has equipped, this leads to a, hmm, 'hazy' view on what the effective level a player really is in combat. Generally players are considered on the levels of their two currently equipped skills with the assumption that they have equipment that is reasonably close to their skill's levels. NPC Foes are judged on a case-by-case basis, with none really having at true 'level', the player will have to make an educated guess by looking at the mob's stats, again see Level for complete details.

• First time's the charm
  • Most events in the game reward bonus XP the first time you complete them. This applies to using recipes in various Trade Skills, to eating all types of foods (Gourmand), slaying foes (both common and bosses), dying in different ways, and even Binding yourself to a Teleportation Circle!

Death

• Death is a unique and new experience in PG for most experienced MMO players for a few reasons.
• Death is a skill, as in, each death is unique and each time a player dies they get experience in the Death skill that does in fact give bonuses to some attributes and other useful abilities...
• The game does have a Death Penalty, but only when fighting bosses. When a player falls in combat to a boss they will be cursed with that boss' unique curse, and the curses effects vary, from mildly amusing to being downright unpleasant. The player is then stuck with the curse until they defeat or find some other way to remove the curse.
• Otherwise when a player just dies, for whatever reason, they respawn at the entrance to the zone that they are in.
• One last Note on Death, it is possible for there to be a Death Penalty at all times, players who enjoy this type of play style can check out Hardcore Mode.
  • To activate a player must interact with the sign in Serbule Keep, and it is 100% voluntary.