View source for Guide:Fala's General Guide

== Introduction ==
A common question new Walkscape players have is what they should be doing. There are some more step-by-step guides, but I thought about writing a more general guide on what to shoot for, and you can try to find your path there.

Some people like sticking with a small selection of skills, but the best items in the game require you to use all of them. Especially now, when trading is still not in the game, a generalist approach can be a good choice in the long run, which is what this guide will focus on.

== Character Progression ==
Overall character progression consists of tiny improvements that, over time, make you very efficient. This progression can mostly be seen through skill levels and gear upgrades. Skill levels give you a tiny boost to work efficiency, allow you to wear new gear, and unlock better, more efficient activities and recipes. Gear upgrades give more notable bonuses, but take longer to get. Chasing better and better gear is usually what most of your time playing is spent on. There are many sources of gear upgrades, which I'll go through next, with the most notable being achievements, activity drops, chests, crafting, and shops. 

=== Gear upgrades ===
'''Shops''' are the source that is most relevant early in the game or when starting with a new skill. Most shop items are pretty cheap, but they also get outclassed by later drops. Still, it can be a great idea to drop by a shop like [[Northstar Mercantile]] to get a boost to your early-game skilling. 

Maybe the most common source of new gear is through '''chests'''. Without trading, getting specific gear this way can be quite luck-dependent. Early on, chests are pretty rare, but they often offer at least common gear, which is a good upgrade at that stage of the game. Getting all the different gear available from a chest usually requires you to open hundreds, which is easier to achieve later when you have better gear and can effectively target farm for chests.

'''Activity drops''' range from relatively common and easy to find upgrades like [[Ice Saw]], to incredibly rare and good items like [[Blue Ice Sickle]]. Most items that drop this way are unique to one activity. Not every activity has a unique drop. To find this out, you can either find the drop tables from the wiki or try using the in-game tool Walkpedia (accessed through the burger menu, bottom right of the screen) to see how many unknown drops you have left. 

'''Crafting''' is another source of good gear in the game. One of the developers' goals is that the best items in the game would be player-crafted, and not found through random drops. Getting the highest level of crafted gear takes a lot of time, from gathering the materials to mass crafting the desired item until you get lucky. To make this easier, incremental upgrades are again a good idea, and putting in the time to get good gear for crafting pays off.

'''Achievements''' are another good source of upgrades. You can find all the achievements through the profile icon in the top left of the screen. Some achievements like [[My Back Hurts]] can directly give items as rewards, but most achievement related items are gained through the [[Achievement Points]] (AP) rewards track. There are static checkpoint unlocks, which reward you when you reach a specific amount of AP. some very notable items like [[Omni-Tool]] are gained this way. Two items are gained through the percentage of total AP gained, [[Cape of Half-Achiever]] (COHA) and [[Cape of Achiever]] (COFA), the latter of which is the singular best item in the game. The amount of AP required for the capes is determined by the amount available through achievements. However, each [[collectible]] you find is also worth 1 AP, which is counted as extra. This makes gathering collectibles a good idea, especially later in the game.

'''[[Jobs]] and [[Faction Reputation]]''' are other sources of items that should be left for later in the game. They are a good source of extra chests and faction-specific items. They are best utilized later when you have many extra items in your bank that have no other purpose. Unfortunately, the first job board is available in [[Kallaheim]], which makes many players think that is what they should be doing, when those resources sent to the job board would benefit them much more when used to craft new gear.

== What should I level early on? ==
==== Agility ====
It can be an excellent idea to level up your [[Agility]] early on. It will always be helpful, as traveling between locations will require agility as a skill. Leveling it up and getting better gear for it will make travel quicker, which will always be beneficial. Agility is also a very self-contained skill, meaning it does not rely on any upgrades from any other skills, meaning you can get pretty far just leveling agility.

==== Crafting ====
[[Crafting]] is the source for the best items for most gathering skills (Foraging, Mining, Fishing, Woodcutting), so leveling it will make many other skills easier and faster. It is not the easiest thing to level up early on, but it will benefit you if you can figure out how to do it.

==== Cooking ====
[[Cooking]] is another skill that can provide small boosts to every other skill through [[Consumables]]. While many early game recipes aren't great, some later ones, like [[Sweet Carrot Pie]], are a must-have. The skill is reliant on [[Fishing]] and [[Foraging]] to get the needed materials for cooking recipes.

==== Anything else ====
As said previously, leveling all the different skills is a good idea. One thing that might change your priorities is getting a good drop from a chest early on. This might allow you to make more efficient progress with those skills, which can help you make some early money and buy the tools you need to level other skills more effectively.

== Goals ==
Many different goals can be beneficial in the game. Most importantly, do something that you find enjoyable. However, here are some ideas for goals in various states of the game to get you started.

==== Early game ====
* Explore all of Jarvonia, see where you can go, see where you can't 
* Finish all the Easy achievements (These should help you get familiar with many of the game's mechanics)
* Look for an item for every inventory and tool slot you have. You can upgrade all your items later, but filling the slots is the first step. Look out for ring slot, neck slot, and cape slot items!
* Two key Achievement point unlocks are the Ring of Homesickness with 15 AP and Adventurers guild with 20 AP.
* Get those steps in! By reaching [[Character Level]] 20 (20,562 steps) you will unlock a fourth tool slot
* Get to Syrenthia & GDTE

==== Mid game ====
* Your fifth tool slot unlocks at Character level 50 (466,132 steps)
* Get all skills to level 50
* Get enough achievements and collectibles for COHA
* Crafting Steel/Tarsilium/Hydrillium perfect tools.
* Look for activity unique tool drops to build up your tool repertoire
* Find collectable items that permanently boost your stats and bump up your AP. Best done after you reach 70 AP and get [[Treasure Hunter Set]].
* Progressively unlock AP rewards. There are some very useful items you will use well into the endgame on the way to 100 AP for Cape of Half-Achiever
* Max out your job boards in all regions

==== Late game ====
* Unlock final tool slot at level 80 (9,135,913 steps)
* Chase best in slot items for different skills and activities, via chest drops
* Progressively improve your gear and crafted tools by crafting higher tier items
* Grinding high-quality amulets and rings
* Craft yourself an [[Amulet of the Animal Kingdom]]
* Cape of Achiever
* Grind for ultra rare region chest drops