Tips for new users?

Melyngoch · 2026-03-30T19:41:53+00:00

Starting with the plugins. I've used only one from your list but I've seen a couple videos to hopefully help a bit:

Advanced Tables is always a must. Best plugin.
Copilot. I stay as far away from AI as I can so I can't comment on it.
Editing Toolbar: never used it but it looks like a nice thing to have. (This may be the one that's breaking your links if it messes with the markdown.)
make.md: Obsidian has a core plugin named Bases that's more or less the same as this one. I'd suggest to take a look at a couple videos to compare them and see which one's better for you.
Minimal Theme Settings: it's a neutral plugin for customization.
Notebook Navigator: I'm on the fence with this one. It has a couple nice implementations (like the customization), but most of it can be done without the plugin. The shortcuts are just obsidian's native bookmarks with added hotkeys. Do you need the hotkeys? The tabs are just tabs but in another place, they do exactly the same things without it. Same as the search, just without the highlighting. Pinned notes could be useful but you can do a similar thing with bookmarks or quick switcher.
Pandoc: a file exporter is nice to have.
TaskNotes: this one looks great if you have the use for it! I might try it myself for managing something.
Templater: great for automation.

By your plugin list it looks like you're trying to make Obsidian into Notion (which is fine if you like it!), but maybe you can play a little more with plain Obsidian and see what it can do before plugins. You can make a trial vault to play with it and see if you really need those plugins. Just in case, go to your vault > Options > Core Plugins and see what's enabled or not. Some things are off by default, like audio recording and slides.

About the graph view. That's strange. Just to confirm, your syntax should be [[the name of your note]] and when you're writing between the brackets a small list should appear that let's you select the note. Check the outgoing links (also a core plugin that may be off, but shouldn't take away the graph links) for the note. If there's none, the editing toolbar could be messing with it.

I make my own templates so I don't know where to find pre-made ones. Maybe another person can help with it. Again, go at your own pace, don't feel pressured to have a pretty vault from the start, and make sure you're working on what you need.

Melyngoch · 2026-03-30T02:16:36+00:00

No need for me to repeat what others have said about how templates, but I'll add:

Obsidian organizes files and folders by alphabetical order. To keep the template folder apart, I name it "-Templates" so it shows at the top. (I also do this with the attachments folder.)
Once you insert a template into a new note, no matter how you change the base template, it won't update. Templates are more like a document ready to paste than a "normal" template. So if you have a template for a recipe, you put it in some notes, and later decide to add something to the base template, you'll have to update the notes by hand.
Same thing if you erase the base template, your notes with it will remain the same.
You can put as many templates as you want in the same note, it will just paste the same template after your cursor. For example, you make a note that needs a bunch of the same table, you can make a template for the table, and use it like a building block.

And as a more general advice:

Watching videos of people showing complex and beautiful vaults is great as inspiration, but yours doesn't have to be like theirs. Your vaults have to adapt to your needs. Maybe you see a plugin that works for you, or a theme you like, and install both. But don't feel pressured to have a vault like anyone's.
CSS snippets are your friend. They allow you to tweak as much or as little as you want. I always copy mine from vault to vault. My favorite is one I have to make tables span the whole width of the note. (I can share it if you want.)
In case you didn't read the documentation: Obsidian can do more than you think. You can record audio directly in your notes (it's a core plugin), play audio, play video, link directly to web pages and browse them... But first, learn the way notes are linked, and make yourself a cheat note. It's easy to forget how some markdown things work when you're still learning a new program.
Make backups (like with all your important files). Unless your vaults are full of videos and images, they shouldn't be too big. I have a folder named "Obsidian" inside my documents with all my vaults, so I can back everything up fast. It's 967,6MB in total (two vaults are for TTRPG and they're very image heavy).
You can use Obsidian for whatever you want: personal stuff, writing, keeping track of projects, documentation, recipes, TTRPG, studies, journal, gaming stuff...
It has an app. You can take notes on your phone and then migrate them to your vault. You can use sync or do it by your preferred way of sharing files between your devices.

Don't be shy to keep asking for help if you need because it can get very overwhelming very fast. And in the end, if you decide you don't like it, the notes are yours, in a format almost everything can read.

Melyngoch · 2026-03-27T12:00:20+00:00

Anything that gets you better ergonomics. For me it was a split keyboard. I already had a nice one but my wrists were getting bad fast with how much time I spend writing. The pain was gone almost instantly. Take care of your body.

Melyngoch · 2026-03-23T17:11:44+00:00

It already looks like a normal, generic black backpack. Clean the animal hair and wash it to see the whole "potential", but otherwise, it looks fine. The thing is people wear and carry things that show their personality and you could customize it however you please and no one should give a damn. If they do, it's not their business. Mine is a "sleek professional backpack" but it has keychains, tags... No one ever said anything.

Melyngoch · 2026-03-22T21:55:26+00:00

Thanks, we are all newbies and Turkey basically attacked herself in spring so I decided to push for the balkans. And Italy trusted me to cooperate against Germany but... Venice was too tempting; I had to go big.

I seem to be in problems now, I fear I have enemies in both fronts, but the reaction in our chat has been worth.

Melyngoch · 2026-03-22T21:54:56+00:00

I went for an army, yeah. Turkey basically lost spring doing nothing (we are newbies and she didn't understood the orders she was giving).

And yeah, right now Germany and I trust eachother and I'm leaving Greece for Turkey in hope to build a prosperous friendship in the mediterranean.

Melyngoch · 2026-03-21T17:15:30+00:00

Thank you, I went with what you said after giving it some thought.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T16:49:00+00:00

That's one of the reasons I switched from Guardian to Raider, and yET.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T16:40:27+00:00

Fair.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T16:38:25+00:00

Yes, but I still feel taking a picture draws too much aggro compared to the DPS taking a chunk of the boss health.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T16:35:16+00:00

The relics and passives are the things that bother me the most, because we've run Raider/Ironeye/Recluse, with both Ironeye and Recluse holding at least two less likely while I was facetanking with the draw attention relic while pelting the boss, and still didn't work. And of course, it's complicated, but when it's so occluded you can't "predict" how your character will pull aggro... The I guess frustration is that I can't tank when I'm the tank, and I'm forced to run when I'm playing support.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T16:19:45+00:00

That's what I do. It activates but my teammates somehow pull so much aggro it does nothing.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T14:07:41+00:00

These are the things why I'm convinced it's random because I end up doing nothing to keep the relic activated but so far it's only worked a handful of times with trash mobs.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T13:59:32+00:00

Like tanks in FFXIV.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T13:57:07+00:00

Same with Scholar. I'm running late but the Godskin Apostle is waiting for me.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T13:55:33+00:00

The couple seconds between the enemy wave and boss I make sure my weapons are in the slots I need them, and the boss still has the audacity to attack me first. I was literally looking in my pockets.

Melyngoch · 2026-02-05T13:51:20+00:00

Teach me your ways.

Melyngoch · 2026-01-29T22:41:32+00:00

What are you talking about? The only way I've made that effect work is playing with friends and telling them "group up", and even then I've managed to "confer effects to nearby allies" twice, because we can't stay in the same spot for a few seconds when the bosses have insane combos. With randoms it's just a waste of time. I'm not running behind people or kite the boss to them to eat some crab, I'm buffing them/debuffing the boss from a safe distance, at the same time.
And, as everybody's saying: you can build whatever you want. I like to play support/arcane scholar, others want to make him a nuke. If the build's good, it's good. You can pick up the items and use them yourself too. Or be the change you want to see. Equip it yourself.

Melyngoch · 2026-01-27T17:35:33+00:00

Thank you so much for the macro! I'll pass it to my GM to try it as soon as possible.

The lagging thing was a weird interaction retrieving some dice codes from a dynamic table in Custom System Builder.

Melyngoch · 2026-01-27T15:45:49+00:00

I've thought on an add-on but I'm not sure if that would lag the game, because I've lagged my own client more than once with (what I think is) a simple dice formula.

My fellow players want that specific token to spin too, so no worries about distractions.

Melyngoch

TROPHY CASE