needs help badly!Follow

Well, to be fair, it's pretty pointless to update all spells to Adept level at the lower levels. It's just not worth the investments, there are a couple of spells, at best, in which you could consider this, but if it's the first time, don't bother.

Under lvl 50, you get all new spells at apprentice I level. The lowest lvl. After that you have the II and III level before going to Adept I level. After that there's the Master level. Adept I is the level of a spell you should be going for after you hit 15 or so. The adept I spells are dropped of mobs and are sold on the broker, so is the master I version, all other versions are player crafted.

The main focus at first would be the quests, it's important you try and do as many quests as you can, not only will this give you a lot of armour and other wearables, also weapons and cold cash are given a lot. Apart from the physical rewards, you will get a hang of the game a lot faster. Quests will force you to play using all your abilities and spells and possibilities. The hints should help with the new elements.

Progression on all spells works the same and is as follows:

app1 - the starter level spell gifted to you when you "learn" the spell by dinging that level. (note - this only works until lvl 50 after which there are no free rides and you must purchase each new spell)

app2 - NPC vendor sold.

app3 & app4 - player made from common materials (until crafting lvl 10 you can make all your own spells no matter which crafting profession you choose. After lvl 10 you'll need to be a scholar to continue making your own spells)

adept1 - dropped by mobs of the appropriate level in zones throughout Norrath. Also usually available for purchase on the broker from other players.

adept3 - player crafted from rare harvested items and sold on the broker. These tend to get a bit expensive and I don't recommend you invest in them early on (say not till lvl 30 or so)

master1 - mob dropped from master chests and available on the broker but almost always expensive.

master2 - available as a free upgrade, one spell from a list of 4 once every ten levels beginning at lvl 14.

Each time you step up in quality (say from app4 to adept1) you will see a small increase in effect. For this reason it is best not to bother with app2 (since there is only a tiny improvement over app1) and to at least go instead directly to app4 or adept1.

As you reach higher levels you will find there are spells that are so important that you'll not "bother" with anything less than adept3!

There is something else you'll need to start working on as soon as you can - and that is to get (and keep) your armor and weapon quality up whenever you can - improving the stats on your armor will increase the way your spells work - for starters, as a dirge you'll want to find armor that increases your agility. This will increase the basic size of your power pool (allowing you to cast more combat arts before running low on power) and will also increase your avoidance so you take less damage from the mobs.

Good catch, Calthine... I always forget that crafting has been modified to remove sub-standard player made product! :)