Common mistakes

There are many existing guides on how to play this game, but good playing habits are also constantly being discovered and innovated. The same is true of bad habits. Most players are very effective at discovering new ways to make mistakes. This is generally because of one major mistake: laziness. Still, laziness can come in many forms. In general, people are not patient enough to read or think, leading to major errors. Instead, some would rather concentrate on FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) because FUD is the lazy person's approximation of thought.

Still, there are some mistakes that are completely avoidable:
1. Ignoring the daily task list. This means that major portions of the game are missed, resulting in avoidable problems.

2. Ignoring event lists. Some people completely ignore all events, and this causes them to miss important items.

3. Ignoring guild resources. The guild has an altar that provides rare items. Many helpful people in the guild are eager to provide good advice. A guild is a community that benefits through mutual aid. Players provide some of that to each other, but the game provides aid to guild members too. Take advantage of what the game offers!

4. Ignoring all other players. Many players treat this like a solo game, randomly joining in groups or not taking part in activities at all. This ultimately results in weak characters and in players who have no sense of community. The value of a community includes idea exchange and positive emotional reinforcement. Forming regular teams with friends results in more effective and enjoyable game play. Some players also completely ignore guild chat and the forums, meaning that those players are much less likely to improve their characters. Some players should be ignored (such as trolls and annoying people), but it is unwise to ignore helpful and thoughtful players.

5. Selling items that should not be sold. Do not sell something unless you know exactly what it is. Also, avoid selling useful armor by enchanting it at least once, which will cause a prompt to add an extra step that can hopefully prevent you from mistakenly selling it or recycling it. A similar problem is synthesizing items that you should be using--always pay attention before clicking the synthesize or recycle button!

6. Spending unwisely. Some people take a brute-force approach to spending whatever currency they have, which is ultimately a doomed approach. It is best to know what you are buying, and understand how you plan to use it. For instance, there's no reason to buy 500 socketing rods at once. Socketing rods are useful when they can be used, but unused socketing rods are not useful.

7. Completely negative attitude. Another major cause of mistakes is a bad attitude, especially concentration on negatives (fear, impatience, distrust, tragic thinking). Many people exaggerate every negative event while ignoring every positive event. Some are fearful and distrusting, for no reason at all. Successful people focus upon exciting possibilities, while unsuccessful people focus upon frustrations. It is not possible to avoid all mistakes, and it is also not a tragedy if something is missed through an oversight or through a change in priorities. No amount of stressing will repair a mistake. Instead, stressing will only make future mistakes more likely. Negativity also limits fun, which is what game-playing is all about. Thoughtful decision-making will avoid future mistakes, and a balanced emotional attitude will allow you to have more fun. Thinking about possibilities leads to innovation--while frustration over impossibilities is at best a waste of effort.

8. Not maximizing things that can be maximized. An example of this is lazily completing all white-quality quests until the bounty limit is reached, when a bit of patience will allow you to complete purple or orange quality quests instead. Patience and thoughtfulness eventually leads to a better character. Laziness leads to stress, which makes lazy people even more tired. There is nothing inherently wrong with laziness if it is approached wisely--especially in realizing that the best way to conserve energy is to make the right choices to begin with.

9. Believing that others will solve all of your problems. There are helpful people in every community, including guilds. However, nobody can help you as effectively as you can help yourself. This is a balance. Others can provide some help and information to you, and you should seek out a helpful amount of advice for that reason. However, nobody can solve every problem for you. It is impossible to effectively help those who will not try to help themselves.

10. General insecurity or needing to prove something. Some players feel like they must be the best, or better than some particular person, or they will not be acceptable. Such beliefs are counterproductive, because they eventually lead to frustration and self-induced emotional agony. Nobody wins every competition, and nobody gets every desired result. It is possible for any person to eventually "prove" something by beating another player who is of a different rank or former power level. All that proves is that it is possible to beat that player, which is an obvious fact that had already been proven to all who actually pay attention to their surroundings.

11. Focus on owing and entitlement. Emotional debt is a burden that isn't fun. There's no reason to impose it upon yourself. Guilds are full of people who aid one another because mutual aid makes a guild stronger. It's not full of people who owe one another. Likewise, it is not full of people who must serve another player's interest on demand (entitlement). Again, people must learn how to aid themselves and make a healthy effort to do so, or nobody can help them when it is the proper opportunity to help them. It is also common for people to ask for help and then immediately log off before anybody can help them--such people are looking for attention, not help. Pure attention-seeking is a psychological addiction that should be avoided.

12. Pessimism. I commonly see people feeling weak or left out because they did not try hard enough to find help or find groups. All of us have been left out at some time. The difference between those who seem successful and those who seem left out is what we do about it! Those who succeed keep trying and eventually find what they need (but not always exactly what they want). When I lose, I always spend some time analyzing what my opponent did right, in addition to what I did wrong. Also remember, if you barely say a word, and then log off, there is likely nobody who knows that you need help! Likewise, if somebody promises help but you log off before help is possible, it is your fault for not trying hard enough to get help!

13. Not seeking information. Search engines are easy to use. If you do not know something, search for it on the Internet. This will likely lead to useful information.