I am writing this guide to the many people whom i've already helped and got to their first mq and to the many who read this looking to reach their first mq.

I am going to presume you worked out how to login to ladder slasher, should you have any problems with logging in look here: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=26928017&f=74 thanks to nara for the guide.

The aim of this build is to do as much as you can soloing so you feel you are doing something yourself and to be useful in the catacombs so you dont annoy all the nasty evil rich people and to do this as quickly as possible. I expect it can be done within a fortnight with maybe 2 hours per day.
Ok now we've logged in it's time to start!

To start click create.
In this guide I am going to be talking about a simple barb approach so select a barb.

the barb starts with high strength, medium dex, high vita and low intel.
you also start with 10 bonus stats to do with as you want, put all of these into vitality as we are going to make sure this barb can survive. Press C to open up the stats
For stats you get one additional stat every level up, i reccomend putting an extra 5 more into vitality then at level 5 or 6 putthe rest of the stats into str or dex (i prefer strength myself

go give the arena a try, for this is what is going to happen a lot . As you notice all the monsters take a few hits to die, this will continue to get progressively harder throughout the game.

next is to get some equipment. with any luck you already have at least 1 fg, if you don't, seek a donation from somewhere, we used to have a thread here: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=27602535&f=272 should a new thread or similar thread appear i will ask a mod to put that link instead, i hope it does as it will be of great use to you.

So to start with the first purchase:

so to begin with, you do not want to spend any more than 1 fg on any item, this guide is made for low fg
ad certainly you do not need expensive items to get from level 1-15.

so to start with, click the marketplace, you will already be on weapons.
leave "type" box empty, we will do something else later instead.
Level range (MOST IMPORTANT!) select TIER III to tier III
leave magic level empty as leave price as it is
click on the box below price, select "enhanced effect"from the list then to the side by "min" type in 30
Tick the box with "only items i can use"
Click searchand lots of weapons should show up.
You are then looking for the weapon with the highest enhanced effectwhen i searched there was only 1 item to buy, but this would be your PERFECT first buy (remember we are looking to pay ONE FG!!)
Once you have selected a decent weapon (highest ee possible) go and buy it by dragging as shown in picture then putting password and click buy, once you have it, go to town, press I to open inventory either drag weapon onto your current weapon, or hold ctrl then click on the new weapon to equip it. press I or space to close it.

After this start kicking the poop out of the stuff till you reach level 5-10. remember it ook about 3-5 hits before? taking a lot less hits now

Other items you will want to buy:
at level 5, search for tier IV ARMOUR! with 20+ ee. you should buy ONLY plate or chain, check the defences on the best ones. plate mail will usually have higher defense. Again we want to be spending a maximum of 1 fg
also at level 5 search for tier II to IV charms with a minimum of 10 strength, then look at minimum of 10 dexterity. buy the highest str or dex charm you can for 1 fg. you should get a minimum of 12 str/dex for 1 fg which is great for you atm.

so to sum it up a for marketplace:
weapons -> tier III -> III at level 0-5 (ASAP as it makes things so much easier) enhanced effect minimum of 30% items i can use "on"
armour buy when you reach level 5. tier IV -> IV 20% ee or more, look at the defence of all the armours for 1 fg, buy the highst defense (likely to be PLATE mail, or Chain)
charm: tier II -> IV (When you reach level 5), minimum of 10 str OR minimum of 10 dex (i reccomend you check both).

From the current equipment you have bought, you can reach a minimum of level 10, perhaps 15 if you tried :).

Levels 10 and onwards:

So with any luck your start has gone well and you are currently at level 10-15 and it probably didn't take too long either, probably took longer to read the guide :D. (wouldnt have done if you tried doing it without buying anything lol :D)

so at level 10 lets search for some new equipment.
again do a search in the marketplace:
weapons -> tier V to V -> enhanced effect minimum of 10% items i can use "on"

if you don't have anything showing up for 1 fg, then ouch, set ee minimum to 0. hopefully there are some items, again select the item with highest ee and buy it, equip it.
if you feel your armour needs improving get some new as well, although armour needs less replacing than weapons. again we are seeking for heavy armour with high defense.

This trend continues until you cannot kill any more. this is likely to happen around the 25-30 mark where you can perhaps kill 1-2 monsters in the arena at a time. This is a very good time to join catacombs and try and level up in there.
NOTE: you are a barb with high defense and high life this means YOU SHOULD BE AT THE FRONT! dont be silly and go to mid/back unless you are asked to :P.

PLEASE DO CHANGE EQUIPMENT EVEN IF YOU ARE IN CATAS! keep searching for items that are your level (i.e at level 35 you search for tier X, the level is shown on marketplace in tier anyway).
It is quite annoying seeing a player whom is still using a level 15 weapon at level 50. It is usually a person who is new and hasn't read this thread

Other inforrmation/Updates:
To new players:
Hotkey list: I = open/close inventory, p = open/close proficiency, c = open/close character overview, space = close any open (see previous 3 hotkeys, closes these), hold ctrl when clicking items in inventory to equip them (doesnt work for alt charm), down arrow key during arena/catacomb duel on a monster/player = hold down the down key, then click the monster/player to autoattack (leave cursor on monster, you can heal yourself automatically using this also, and can change back to charm/wep also using the hotkeys shown next). q = change to weapon attack, e = change to charm spellcasting, r = change to alternate charm spellcast.
about alternate charm: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=14686569&f=272 (thanks to norlander)
fishing guide: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=32074153&f=272 and http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=31971461&f=272 thanks to (murtocs and dune1)
transmuting guide: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=30682240&f=272 (thanks to peter)
ladder slasher guide collection: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=18560908&f=272 (thanks to paparick and guide producers)
auto-attacking via numpad: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=34072706&f=272
glyphing: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=24087943&f=272 (thanks to skitty)

Seeking help to do:
Better readability, currently its mostly one colour and rather boring with one picture.
seeking you guys to give this link to new players with little fg as your current attempts to help look like this: http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=34091771&f=272 , this isn't a great deal of help for a game which requires a lot of time or a lot of decent items to reach mq (or both ofc). note how few replies and help offered by me compared to others... i hope this improves so that very decent advice is given to most new players.
ideas/thoughts on how this guide can be improved.

thanks for reading ;).

This post was edited by mclarke on Aug 13 2009 11:22am

nice guide, much needed with the constant help topics up!

If you can not find any EE Bronze items on MP for 1fg... what to buy???
.... +Max Life (150+)... this will ensure that you live longer... and you can pump your 10 starting stats into Dexterity

You forgot Bronze armor... again I assume you go for +EE on MP for 1fg.... if there is nothing... buy +150 Max Life Armor

Then there is the Main Charm... what to buy... well that is simple...

7+ Strength or Dex... there are some occassionally on MP from about 1-10fg... if not... then +150 Max Life.

_________________

So many options... so much to do...

i ignored bronze armour, for 1-5 all you need is a weapon to be whacking people with really yes 1 fg armour can be of use ofc but i didn't really think it was needed.

what i did forget was life regen gear for a high vita barb tends to need a minimum of 12 additional regen (i.e 4 on each piece of equip), i'll put an update to it at some point.

thanks for the comments though people, keep it up

You can buy +6 Regen Gear for 1fg on MP for your barb...
Just thought I would point that out...

As in:
wpn / armor / charm = 18 life regen

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Aug 13 2009 01:56pm

Finding HC shrinables is much easier/faster.

although i'd saw fewer players will go for HC rather than normal. Didn't mention anything about shrinables as heck if i explained everything it would be 5 pages long
i reckon a sentence or 2 may be of use though.

Gaining shrinables = no risk in FG loss, no FG investment needed, decent profit.

Why wouldn't you do it? It's perfect for starting out.

Spend your first day grinding 1-3 then rerolling on hardcore. Fill up mules with tier1 weapons, put all on MP.


Go to sleep, wake up with some FG. Buy softcore gear... as you level up you'll keep getting FG from people buying shrinables and be able to upgrade your softcore gear.

people still buy HC shrineble?

reckon someshould try a rusted sword cata test
nothing but a rusted sword (no armor) and see how far they can get to mq (before deaths and being kicked out of cata games)

I don't see why not, when I did my "start from scratch" run people still bought them. Except they only seem to buy weapons now, instead of all armos/weapons/charms.