Equipment

Yo! Hi, new guy here. I just have to say the item system in this game is terribly unintuitive. I've hit level 25 and haven't changed a single piece of gear in 20 levels. And most of it I didn't even find. Other players just gave it to me. And taking pity on a new person is fine and all but this is meant to be an RP-based game, and the very OOC stuff being thrust on you can be frustrating. 

Weapon and armor shops aren't fully stocked. Or are, but don't actually sell anything useful, or its way over-priced. Other than selling possibly found weapons and armor what is the point of these shops? I haven't come across a mob that has useful equipment aside from the one that another player killed for me to take his weapons. 

The lore command is useless if it gives me different readings every time. What is the point? Does it ever become 100% accurate? 

Leveling guides aren't useful if you tell me something is level 20 and I try to kill it, and it destroys me. Since apparently, item and enemy levels are different. I've spent the last few hours using the item/ranking guide/maps on the website to no avail. I'm still using the same exact gear I was as when I started. The places on the map, aren't clearly defined, the mobs carrying the stuff I need are far higher in level than the guide says, or the list is incomplete. 

Where do I go to get fully-equipped? As a berserker I know that I'll want hit/damage items. But the problem with that is it looks like there is really only one or two items per slot that are useful to me. Which means, at a certain point, are all the berserkers wearing exactly the same thing? On my first day in the game, which was billed as an RP based game, I was given a "t-shirt". I was then told that I wouldn't changed that for like 25 levels or something. 

So there I was, a minotaur berserker in fantasy realm... wearing a magic t-shirt. Doesn't that seem just a little ridiculous? I expected things like, leather and mail, and plate, and steel, and a whole plethora of unique made up materials. 

It should be more intuitive. More natural. And less complicated to outfit yourself with non-ridiculous sounding equipment.

There is a lot of different eq in, the problem will be that on your first char, you will probably not know where.

Few people bother getting much eq before they hit around level 25-30, where you will wish to swap out of newbie gear and into mid rank gear, then swap an item or two as you gain the mid-thirties. 

I recommend to make an adventurer as a first timer and learn where to find what and what to use when. The identify spell will give you an exact stat of the eq, the lore spell will only give you where the item is found. 

As to the I love Rheydin t-shirt:

It is a joke. Rheydin was destroyed when planar rifts were opened inside and the resulting explosion multiplied by stacked oil barrels. It ended up being a crater in the middle, into which you had to climb down, then up again, and a lot of very weird stuff on the fringes. The t-shirt is a leftover from that place/time.

Yeah. The problem is I'm sorta in that weird in-between level. I can just sit here and grind away on mature vampires for another few levels, possibly? I'm not sure how the xp will drop in the next few levels. But in order to get to the next mob in the tier, Vampire... soldiers? I think. I'll need new stuff. I barely made it out of there when i tried to move on.

For a neutral, there are a lot of choices where to hunt, you could try north of Val Miran or everwild or the labyrinth. Also a good time to train some defenses if you have not done so yet.

I think dodge and parry are the only ones I have. And those are automatic, right? So, would I just say.. equip a weaker weapon and just let mobs beat on me?

Defenses are automatic, correct and the more mobs beating on you the better.  There's several places around that have a plethora of weak mobs like the scarecrows in Tarandue.  Drop your hit/dam to negatives, keep your AC up and go to town.  Bring food/water.  Milk is a very cheap staple in game.

A bit out of topic, but just out of curiousity, how did you stumble upon FL, Forhekset?

I went through an adjustment period here as well. The journey to your final level is a completely different experience than it is existing as a level 50 character here. In my opinion the low level equipment is not really necessary. I did a quest line stemming from finding my guildhall, and was setup with a basic suit, and as stated higher leveled heroes do give you equipment. 
The game is fantasy RP based, but you are going to have elements that you should consider laughing over. I laughed over the mudschool diploma after all. I found the Wiki an extremely useful resource. The maps where very useful, and gave me a rather firm grasp on basic area layout, the rest was done by an absurd amount of OCD driven walking. I recommend you take your character to level 50. The Roleplay I have found is in the journal system, and striking up conversations with other heroes you meet in your travels. I have had a mostly positive experience.