Let's assume you have read all the stuff on reincarnation, assessed all the pros and contras and decided to go through it when the time comes. Here is my advice what to do.
Mindset / approach[]
Most things you now have, or will have before reincarnation, is temporary. Unless you are willing to buy permanent items and sworn swords with Gold, that is.
- You do not need (non-permanent) Peerless or Legendary Sworn Swords - you need many cheap ones, preferrably Common. You want to do many Quests, Adventures and probably Player to Player Actions simultaneously.
- You do not need a variety of buildings and skills - you only need to be good in one or two things. It is a good idea to make use of your (first) Fealty Talent. For example, if you are Stark, you could concentrate on getting your Battle score and Aid bonus for yourself and your Sworn Swords.
- You do not need defense, you can focus on attacks. You are safe from other players for a week (unless you make an attack on another player earier) anyway. (Note: There seems to be a bug now, allowing attacks on people under protection.)
- However, you will want to save to your next life those few things you can.
Preparation[]
Make sure that you...
- Completed Volume I for the reincarnation to be available. You need to do Volume I each time, if you are planning to reincarnate more than once. (Note: If you work on all Chapters at the same time, you can complete the whole Volume II and parts of Volume III by the time you reincarnate.)
- Reached whatever Achievements you planned to get (e.g., you need to have a combination of Backgrounds and Alignments to gain Title Achievements).
- Grabbed those Bonus Reward items which you can take with yourself to the next life. Most importantly, the Valyrian Steel Dagger and (if possible) the Obsidian Dagger. In addition, any Consumable which is usable to reduce a game timer, such as Ale or Pennyroyal. (Note: Buying many Local Maps is a cheap way of getting shop purchase targets.)
- Created enough Fresh-Baked Bread, Mead and (possibly) Nettle Poultice so that you can use them to speed up things in your new lives. Your silver and resources go away when you die. (Note: Now you can also create Arbor Gold if you unlocked the Tyrell Fealty Building.)
- Made your choice whether to make some of your items permanent with Gold.
- Selected the Talent Point you would like to make permanent. By default, it should be the level-13 Fealty Building Talent, which will allow you to build more than one (or even, all) of the Fealty Buildings at the same time. Think twice before choosing any other Talent, as they may be less useful and probably buggy as well.
Do not spend Gold on opening Premium Talents that you will not use in your later lives. You will not be able to add any points to them, and you lose all non-permanent points.
Starting the new life[]
Select your name, sex and portrait - they will be reset/random, so you need to type your name again. (Kind of inconvenient, because most people would keep their old settings.) You start at level 1, just as the first time, beginning from the very first quest to claim your fort.
- If you want a Title Achievement, select your Background and Alignments accordingly. (It is a good idea to concentrate on getting high Alignments by selecting your quest options systematically.)
- Equip as soon as possible your permanent Items on yourself and any sworn swords you acquire.
- Try to set up an advancement strategy, to quickly make Buildings and gain Sworn Swords. Some buildings, like the Counting House will be particularly important to upgrade early on. (Note: I find it very useful to hire as many cheap Sworn Swords as possible, to have a total of 5 after 24 hours, quickly expanding to 10 in a few days. Getting cheap ones is difficult though.)
- Use your consumables to speed up timers. Four Fresh-Baked Breads will allow you to instantly complete a 2-hour Quest. Money is essential in the first day, and Quests give loads of silver, if you can get through them fast.
- Send your Sworn Swords regularly on Adventures. Easy adventures do not take long but give you resources, a bit of coin and Sworn Sword experience. You need a lot of resources especially early in the game. You get some from Quests, the Village Center and from Fealty Buildings, but I would call adventuring the best source.
- To get quickly on your feet again, Friends can help a lot! Active and helpful Friends may send you Favors you can use or sell, invite you for their Boss Challenges and help you in your own ones. A strong Friend could finish your challenge in a few minutes, which could take you otherwise hours to get through.
Losses and gains[]
Losses: With reincarnation, you lose your game progress and most items, talents and buildings. This could come as a shock if you are not prepared and may put your decision to reincarnate into question. You would also be of lower level compared to those who never reincarnate.
Gains: You may get more Power, access to more Buildings and gain some Permanent stuff. You may like to replay all the quests again. You may be more powerful when you finally manage to build everything to the maximum.
However...[]
And here comes my major concern. With the possibility of buying permanent stuff, now even Sworn Swords, with Gold, the losses associated with reincarnation can be greatly reduced if you are able and willing to pay real money for the game. Eventually, the bonuses from the permanent stuff are big enough to put the usefulness "free to play" gaming into question. With a blunt example, a 10th level "premium" player with permanent Peerless stuff could walk through the defenses of a 100th level "free" player without effort.
To make matters worse, the recent changes move the game towards a more aggressive style, meaning more Player to Player Actions, including a high number of harmful attacks. Of course, many are going against easy targets. High level but under-equipped heroes are perhaps the best targets because of the possibility to get Seals, yet the risk is relatively low. But low level people are also commonly attacked.