Shattered Kingdoms

So, after a nice long (long [long]) time destroying the lives and dreams of Zakami beasties, I decided to go buy myself some new weapons. I had amassed roughly 1 Obsidian and 1 Platinum from the slaughter (The highest ammount I've ever even seen in my short time) and thus, I decided to spoil myself and buy myself something nice.

I wandered around and finally found a shop that sold Grooved Mithril Shortswords. They were 5 platinum and change a piece, so clearly, seemed like an upgrade from my dagger and blade. I purchased one and was quite pleased to find that I was nearly unstoppable with this weapon. So I went on another hunting spree after buying some more trinkets and decided to visit the shop again, just in case I might find something similar.

Well, holy f---, another Groove Mithril Shortsword! I bought it though it left me with only a few copper, and was proud to finally wield to great weapons into battle. Time to kick some [REDACTED]!

Then my screen went berserk (problem which, thanks to the bug forum, I fixed) and I came back, ready to continue my attack on the Zakami race.

"Since your last adventure, thieves set upon you and stole some of your items!"

Well s--t.

After a bit of research, I found out this had to do with my level being too low to have such a nice item. And that's fine, I should've kept that in mind before logging off. But is there any way to tell wether or not an item will be stolen BEFORE I buy it? Or, if not possible, at least once I have it?

Best thing to do, if you aren't sure, is to have a higher level buddy hold onto your best equipment for you when you log off. Also, several professions have the ability to tell you more about your equipment. Don't feel bad. You aren't the first nor the last that this has happened to.

Eh, the training to make up the money isn't gonna hurt me in the least, so I'm not too worried about that, though it did hurt to lose such a nice Shortsword, as I was literally decimating the Zakami with it. I'm quite new, so high-level buddies are not exactly a commodity I have (or buddies in general, though a couple of people have helped me and I do consider them friends) but I will look around. Thanks for the advice

This is not totally accurate but if an item is outrageously expensive for you, like those weapons were, chances are it is also of a much higher level than you. I've used a basic rule of thumb (which is inaccurate but helps in guesstimations) that for every gold coin it costs, it's another level.

Er. According do pushing40's formula, that would mean that mith shortsword would have been a level 51 weapon. Since that's NOT POSSIBLE, it's safe to assume you can ignore him. *luff to pushing40*

Get a priest or sorc to help you with this one. They shouldn't be THAT hard to come by.

Certain material types are always higher level when it comes to both armor and weapons (but not necessarily treasure items). See below for the material types to keep an eye on as a newbie to the game. As long as you're low level, you have anywhere from a small to large possibility of losing them:

tanso steel (if you are very low level)
water/ flame/ mithril/ diamond/ energy/ adamantite

This is just a very, very general idea of what you can watch for as a character without the ability to "identify" or "lore" an item. By no means is it a guarantee that you'll keep/lose the above or keep any items made of materials other than those listed above. As someone else mentioned, you can also watch the prices of what the shopkeeper is selling. This can be unreliable, though, as there are some shopkeepers who hike up their prices and sell things at a much higher price than their actual value (just like in real life).

The best way to know if you are at risk for losing an item is to have someone "identify" or "lore" an item and tell you what quality it is. A journeyman character will probably lose items that are "outstanding" or "near god-like" in quality, but have no problem keeping anything that is "poor" or "average" quality.

As has just been said, pretty much the best way in general to figure out whether you'll lose an item is if you can buy it. Another general way is that if you can request an item, you can keep it (not much help to grays/darkies).

Keep in mind that SK's weapons can be very counterintuitive. Weapons of stronger materials do not do more damage, and for lowbie purposes the cost is rarely worth it. A tanso steel sword, for instance, will get you very far without ever needing to buy/procure a replacement till 30+, really.

I've found that the weapons in SK that cost in coin the most are RARELY worth the cost. I remember when i first started playing SK and i traveled to seawatch to buy like the 6 platinum bastard swords which weren't any better than the tanso one i already had for 1.5 plat.

This is a hugely bad idea. I did something similar once and Alshain took all my gear and later gave it to the HF of his faith.

Go figure.

Ah, the wonder of gifts. A kind soul was nice enough to give me a backpack (along with some other gear) so I stuffed all my things in the backpack.

Lo and behold, the backpack was stolen.

Good thing I really like this game. I'm going to NOT put all my things into a backpack I didn't even know I wasn't strong enough to wield. Newbie equip, here I come.

Buy the cheapest backpack or sack in your local backpack or sack store, wear it, and keep your stuff in it. There should be a sack in every starting city which is level-appropriate for even a lev 3 amateur.

Or... Go thrash a bunch of newbie school NPCs and get a few levels under your belt. More levels = Less stuff stolen.

Peace,
Bux