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I'm sure there is much debate on how useful/good for the game the Mines of Gloomingdeep and the associated tutorial are for the game. Personally, I am very impressed. I have been playing a bunch of new characters recently in bursts due to lack of real game time. As such I have been hitting this zone a lot. I have helped a few people out in here and was asked for an email from one of them. One of them had two other friends who were going to be starting in about a week. I agreed to write up what I knew about that zone. I already have a list of links I recommend, but I'd appreciate some input on my pseudo-zone/tutorial write-up. Also any new information would be appreciated. I'll probably just link them this thread in the email...
What I have found / things to do.
Do not skip this tutorial.
The first step is rescuing a prisoner (Arias) which involves killing a single Kobold, looting the key and returning it to the prisoner. Depending upon your race's XP modifier this may be enough to get you to level 2.
You then have the opportunity to go straight to your Guildmaster… DON'T! There is too much good stuff here to skip.
You can return to the mines by clicking the tutorial button from the character select until you ding level 6. Feasibly you may want to leave to grab a few more spells once you acquire some funds.
Tell them you wish to help the revolt and this will zone you into the slave revolt camp. From here it will tell you to talk with the revolt leader (a dwarf named Valtron Ogrebane) and guide you into the tutorial. Valton tells you about grouping and talking with other people in game.
In the process of going through this tutorial you will acquire a very modest amount of money, A few pieces of gear, Stat food, an excellent buff, another free spell, a free potion, an upgrade to your starting weapon, and a 2nd backpack.
First you get a Kobold Skull Charm for merely hailing a few NPCs and answering some flavor text. This is a superb charm that fills a slot that normally would remain empty for quite some time. You do have to complete all the tutorial lessons to get it fully maxed, but for an experienced player who doesn't need to listen to the speech this can be done in under 3 minutes. If you are new to the game, pay attention.
ARMOR. The Vah Shir, Vahlara, that you speak with will inform you that she makes armor. Trading her 3 unstacked Gloomingdeep silks will get you one random piece of armor. This basically has the same stats as cloth, however, it does have visible graphics. This quest will fill in all of your slots except your two ears, two fingers, primary, secondary, range, charm & ammo. Duplicates will happen, but these can be sold to the merchant for extra money, which can in turn be used for buying any pieces that you haven't been lucky enough to get. I have also noticed other players are more than happy to trade around.
WEAPONS. Part of the tutorial is handing you weapon to the weapon master (a half-elf named Absor). This will decrease the speed on your starting weapon (you get to attack more often.) In addition if you find a chunk of bronze on one of the Kobolds he will fashion you an even better weapon, and if you get the chunk of iron off the main Kobold, you get an even better weapon. This are hardly crucial but can save you a bit of cash if you are truly new to the game.
BUFFS & FREE SPELL. An erudite, Rytan, will instruct you on buffs (and if you are a class that can cast spells at level one, give you a free spell. Say "I wish to be blessed" and poof you get a pretty nice hit point buff for around 30 minutes. You can also use this to effectively heal yourself. You may return here as many times as you want until you leave the mines. If you are looking directly at the Erudite to your right will be a barbarian, Kesh'yk Vahren, who will give the melees a free rock throwing discipline. To the left of the Erudite (close to the wall) on the floor are some ground spawning mushrooms. Two spawn there. Grab both of them. They respawn very quickly, so you can collect more, but two is really all you will need. (These will get you a potion)
FREE POTION. The dark elf female, Xenaida Akh'zrial, by the bridge will talk about mushrooms and making potions. If you hand her one of the ground spawn mushrooms (beside the erudite buffer) she will give you a potion. It is Lore, so you can only have one, but you can immediately drink the potion and then turn in your second mushroom for a "packing around" potion. This potion increases your agility and a few other stats.
FREE MASK. A Gnome by the water (Poxan) mentions that he has dropped his sword in the water. If you are facing him, turn to your left and walk off into the water. Turn a bit more to your left and swim over the rock. The sword should be very close and on the floor. It can be a bit difficult to see. Watch your air. I honestly don't know if this sword is better than what you get questing the weapon, but it respawns fairly quickly as well, so I doubt it is very good. After retrieving the sword, return to the gnome and he will give you a mask for your face slot. It is better than the cloth equivalent, so again, unless your twinking it wouldn't hurt to do this quest. <Note: There are multiple "lost" swords--my directions are merely to one of them. All swords generate the same reward>
FREE STAT FOOD/TRADESKILL. Frizznik Hailstorm, a gnome, stands by the ovens. In order to completely upgrade the charm you will have to make at least one rat steak with him. As long as this steak is in your upper left slot. Or if a backpack is there inside the backpack in the upper left, and you have no other food outside the bag you will get an extra 5 hit points until the food is gone. You can repeat this piece as often as you like. And make as many stacks of rat steak as you want. It is no drop, but stock up, food can be an annoying expense if you are a new player, and you wont be buying much stat food at lower levels. In addition, this recipe can increase your baking to 15.
Other things I have noticed but do not have details upon.
A named spider Willowfang occasionally spawns... I have killed it 3 times I have only seen it drop the Glooming deep silk. It spawned twice at the closest spawn point to the camp, and once in one first room with kobolds.
A named rat also spawns. It rarely drops a belt that is 1 AC better than the quested belt.
Random named Kobolds also spawn that drop Armor 1 AC better than the quested items.
The merchant has a number of low level spells, but rarely more than 1 for your class. I'd recommend staying in this area until level 5, the only downside is that you probably wont have access to your next set of spells, and even some of your first set if you stay here. But I believe the free buff/potion will greatly speed your leveling. I have seen a 5th level Shaman spell on the vendor multiple times, and seen OOCs that certain spells have dropped. I have also been told that mroe spells do drop, so with enough work you may be able to flush out your spell book a bit more. I do not know what they drop off of though.
I have not yet found a use for the Gold Coin that you receive in the bank. I do know you can sell it to the vendor, but it may be needed for some quest.
I'd like to thank Madyania, Yyidth, & Branaman Starbinder for the additional information.
Good Luck,
Mordlu
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