Getting Started

Well look who decided to show up! It's time to get to work, so pick up your gun, put on your armor, and get to raiding! 

Wait... Where is your gear? 
Oh God, it's your first time, isn't it? Well, you came to the right place. All of this can be quite confusing if you haven't gone through the tutorial yet. 

First and Foremost, Welcome! We are so glad to have you here and hope your existence improves the morale of the others. 
After you have arrived in at the station, please make your way outside to the town center safe zone. 
You must find Alyx, she will give you the rundown of this place and what you need to do. She is located in the center area on the right side. 
 

Talk to Alyx  to finish Tutorial 'A Warm Welcome'.

Learning the Ropes 1: Crafting a Sidearm Alyx wants you to craft an M1911 so that you can shoot your way out of sticky situations. Open your inventory and navigate to the Crafting Tab (The Crafting/Cooking section of the guide can give you a rundown of how it works). Right in front of you should be the M1911, of which you know how to craft (Don't ask me, it's you we are talking about). Please select it, click ‘Craft x1’ at the bottom, and select the materials Alyx gave you. Go ahead and smack that rainbow 'Craft x1' button to build your sidearm. Turn in the quest to Alyx to begin 'Learning the Ropes 2'.

Learning the Ropes 2: Crafting a Melee Alyx wants you to craft a Hatchet so that you can slice your way out of hairy situations. Open your inventory and navigate to the Crafting Tab.  Right in front of you should be the Hatchet, of which you know how to craft aswell. Please select it, click ‘Craft x1’  at the bottom, and select the materials Alyx gave you. Go ahead and smack that rainbow 'Craft x1' button to build your melee.  Turn in the quest to Alyx to begin 'Learning the Ropes 3'.

Learning the Ropes 3: Upgrading your Gear Alyx handed you some Dust. This material is the key to becoming stronger. She wants you to upgrade your hachet so you can slice and dice easier.  Open your inventory and unequip your hatchet, if you have it equiped. Right click it and hover over 'Upgrade/Modify'. Select 'Upgrade Rarity'.  The amount of dust or whatever material is required to upgrade your weapon's rarity will be shown next to that button.  Once the upgrade if finished, go talk to Alyx and turn in the quest.

Learning the Ropes 4: Crafting a Primary Alyx wants you to craft an AR15 so that you can spray down the hordes to come. Open your inventory and navigate to the Crafting Tab.  Right in front of you should be the AR15. Should it not show, select the 'Primary' section and find it. Please select it, click ‘Craft x1’  at the bottom, and select the materials Alyx gave you. Go ahead and smack that rainbow 'Craft x1' button to craft your primary.  Turn in the quest to Alyx to begin 'Learning the Ropes 5'.

Learning the Ropes 5: Repairing your Gear Well it seems that Alyx didn't give you the best condition materials available. So, here's a repair kit. These can be used to repair your gear  should it lower in quality. This is important as you don't want them reaching the 'Damaged' state or you need a special item to be able to  repair it again. Open your inventory and right click one of your pieces of gear. There should be a 'Repair' button. Go ahead and select it to  begin repairing your gear. Be warned though, the durability on the repair kit will decrease as you repair your gear, so you may need to craft more.  After you are satisfied with the repair job you did, talk to Alyx and turn in the quest to begin 'Learning the Ropes 6'.

Learning the Ropes 6: Crafting Armor Now you are ready to kill those bastards! WAIT! Don't go rushing in just yet, Alyx forgot to show you how to make armor. The materials she gave you will be key to this.  Open your inventory and navigate to the Crafting Tab. Right in front of you should be Iron Body Armor. Should it not show, select the 'Armor' section and find it.  Please select it, click 'Craft x1'at the bottom, and select the materials Alyx gave you. Go ahead and smack that rainbow 'Craft x1' button to craft your Armor.  Turn in the quest to Alyx to begin 'Learning the Ropes 7'.

Learning the Ropes 7: Adding Tech As thanks for "joining" the cause, Alyx gave you some tech. You can use tech you find and craft on your weapons to give them a boost. These boosts  come with a drawback for another stat on your gun, but you will figure that out later. For now, open you inventory and unequip your AR15 if you haven't already.  Right click the gun, hover over 'Upgrade/Modify', then 'Modify Tech', pick a slot, and add in the tech.  Talk to Alyx to begin 'Learning the Ropes 8'.

Learning the Ropes 8: Changing Classes Alyx wants you to pick a class, don't worry these can be changed later. Open your inventory and navigate to the 'Character' tab.  You can read up on each of the classes on the right-hand side of the UI in the 'Skills/Classes' tab of this guide. For now, select what you want to play.  Talk to Alyx to complete the quest and bgin your Final tutorial for this questline.

Learning the Ropes 9: Weapon Testing One last thing before you are done. Alyx points at the entrance of the gun range behind her. You can go there and print any weapon you want to test out and experiment with different rarity. Take your time and feel free to choose any weapon from the weapon dispenser. Please note that these printed weapons will disintegrate as soon as you leave the shooting range.  Feel free to test it out on the combines around the shooting range.

Learning the Ropes FINAL: Beginning a Raid Now that you have the basic gear and the knowledge to make yourself powerful, take this key and start your own raid. The portals are to your right. Each of these  raids have their own themes and challenges that come with it. Go ahead, take your pick! Once you are done with that raid, return back to Alyx to recieve a reward!

"How do I progress?"

During your raids you will begin to accumulate loot. This can be more guns, armor, backpacks, junk, or currency. Gem Fragments are used to upgrade your armor and will  have a chance to drop when you kill an enemy. 
They can also be used to upgrade gems which are explained later in the guide. All the gear you obtain will serve to help you on the path to progression. 
All the weapons are roughly the same in strength once completely maxxed out on upgrades, so take you pick and start the grind!

As for grinding, Dust is used to upgrade your weapons and gear. Your strength/defense will increase based on which you choose to upgrade, but both will help you along. 
You can obtain dust using the Dust grinder located on the left side of the safezone. For any loot left, you can either deconstruct them for parts and materials to make tech and repair kits or take them to the Shop and sell it to the traders for money. 
Money is used to buy things from the traders, repair your gear using the Repair-o-matic or use Repair Kits (more info can be found in 📄Repairing) and trading with other players for their gear.

As you level up be sure to talk to Alyx. Every 10 levels up to 60 will allow you to learn more about how to upgrade your guns and assist you by providing you with relevant upgrades. 
These upgrades are soulbound and conversely make your gun become soulbound if you use it on your gun, so make sure that this is the weapon you wish to upgrade.

~Good luck, you're gonna need it!~