Emeraldwind Chronicle - Development of A War Machine!

Hey there. All right, I kind of started a thread lower down about my new War/Mana C spec'd, Item trained mage but that was really poorly written and I have a lot more to say according to the development of this mage and how much fun it actually is to play it! I'm going to go over what I had before, in case anyone is reading this for the first time, adn that will also allow me to actually write the way I usually write (which is coherently). So let's begin.

To start out, here's the template I used and the reasons why:

Strength - 60; armor will be your friend... you need strength for armor
Endurance - 50; a nice amount of health will be your friend as well. You'll also be pumping this up in later levels for your stamina when you get life magic
Quick and Coordination - 10; no need to waste points on these... conserve those for later
Focus and Self - 100; duh... if I need to explain, you shouldn't be here!

Specialized - War Magic and Mana Conversion; War magic because we're gonig to be using it to attack (duh!) and Mana Conversion because without life, we need to conserve as much mana as humanly possible
Trained - Item Magic; it won't get heavy use early on but using those 8 points to train a skill in which we can bane our armor and portal is a lifesaver (this can be interchanged with Creature if you want, but I didn't do that... portaling is FAR more important to me, as I'll explain below)

Now that that is done, I'll explain the reasons this character came to be (essentially, the long term plans):

1) Two very nice quest items are Exarch Plate and the Lugian Staff (I still don't remember the name and it's on the tip of my tongue)... though this character can be created with these two goals in mind, there are others to achieve (these are listed because they are nice goals to want)
2) Level 7 War Magic... being able to cast them either without buffs or minimal (and depending on if you picked Creature over Item, low level) buffs is VERY nice
3) Ability to blast things head on (again, Level 7 War Magic) without vulns
4) Future War Magic love (we know this is coming, so why not get prepared for something?)
5) Eventually (Level 50+) a mage capable of owning Aerlinthe (ok, maybe not owning it, but competing VERY well)

A few others reasons this character was created (my own personal) are listed below:

1) No more wall hugging... see the sky, smell the flowers, blast the shreths!
2) Being able to impress my friends with my "L33Tness"
3) Able to survive, primarily, on my own
4) Quests! (War magic is nice on quests!)
5) Because I like Mages, because someone said I shouldn't do this kind of mage, and because I want to prove to them that this type of mage is not only highly playable and fun, but helluva powerful addition to any gaming environment!

Now that I have those squared away, I suppose I should tell you how to build one up. Well, actually, I'll tell you how I built myself up, thus far (level 13 and a half as of this moment), the help I've had along the way and the "strategies" that I think one should take when playing this kind of mage (up to the point I'm at right now). So below is my little "guide" to playing, what I'd like to entitle (I know, I know, I don't get to name anything since people have probably done this mage a million times over, but I like the name I gave this one for myself!) "Warring Mana Mage."

I started in some random newbie town (actually, I started in Yanshi because my mules were there) and made my way to Eastham after I suited up. (Note: No new player would have this option but I'm going to assume that you have a steady source of cash, armor, jewelry, etc for this character... meaning that you aren't a newbie) Like I said before, you got Strength so that you could get armor. Armor will be your friend for a long time to come. Though you have Item magic, you'll be busily bumping up your War and Mana Conversion and won't have the time or points to bump up Item magic (until a bit later, but I'll get to that!) Another thing that you will want to think about is mana potions. When I began, I bought about 24 of these. This put me at a nice even 155%-160% burden or so (I don't remember exact numbers, so don't quote me on this... of course, I had Kouija armor on). Mana potions can be your reserve mana, since you don't have Life magic. Though I don't use them anymore (I have an explanation as to why later on), I would highly recommend carrying at least 6 of these when you start out and sipping them only if you're in dire straits. If you have any spare jewelry or can find some, please don a Mana Renewal 1 or, if possible, 2 accessory. This will greatly help you gain back mana in your first 16 stages of life. The idea is for you to become self-sufficient without needing Life magic. A suggestion that I was given was that you should try to acquire Explorer wands. I recommend this, even though I don't use any myself. They are great little devices that you can use for most of your career (I'd say getting rid of them by level 35 would suffice) and they are VERY helpful. If you want, acquire the Life Magic mastery, so you're able to cast Stamina to Mana. This is something I didn't do but would have made my level gaining much easier, much faster, and much smoother than it has been thus far (explanations later!).

Now that you are suited up, it's time to head to the beach. The beach will be your friend for the first 7 levels of your life. I would recommend you travel along it northwards until you reach the portals that take you to Arwic and a few other places. Why? The first 5 or 6 clicks (I think) of the beach northwards are generally camped with a few relatively decent spawns here and there but by the time you're level 6, you'll want something meatier, which happens to be the golems. You'll start out hunting the azure gromnies and blue phyntos wasps, avoiding the shallow lurkers and golems as best you can. You MIGHT be able to pull off hit and run tactics on the golems out at sea but I wouldn't recommend it. As you advance, you'll want to move onto the golems full time. Seek and destroy.

Skill organization is a must, even this early into the game. You have to think of where you want to go, what you want to do, and how you'll get there. For myself, personnally, I knew that I wanted to cast level 4s in War magic successfully by level 20. That was a personal goal of mine. I rose both Focus and Self to 120. Nice even round number. I invested into War magic thereafter, pumping it and Mana Conversion up nearly simaeltaneously (yes, I spelled that wrong, no I'm not correcting it). My goal was to make sure that Focus, Self, War, and Mana Conversion either each cost the same to raise were were about the same level. The one that was the cheapest to raise generally got risen, while the others sat where they were. You might want to raise differently... this is just how I did it. By the time I was level 7, it was time to move onto bigger game, as my skill costs were either 1.5k or 2k+ to raise (I do believe... I'm trying to remember how much they cost in relation to how much they cost now... not just pulling arbitrary numbers out of thing air). Accordingly, I exited Eastham with my gear and moved onwards.

I had a toss up. I could either go to Mayoi's mountains and work there or Qalaba'r's mountains and work there. I actually journeyed to Mayoi and though it has a nice arch-mage close by, the mountains were not to my liking. The main reason lies within the realm of the fairies, also known as Zefirs. My entire morning was spent doing corpse recoveries because of them. Time I could have been racking in the experience, I spent trying to get my breastplate, leggings, or sleeves, whichever happened to fall off that time. So, knowing better hunting terrain (I've done nothing but explore Dereth since November 2nd, 1999... hell, I explored for the couple of days that I played Beta 2!), I moved to Qalaba'r and set up residence.

To the east of Qalaba'r, on your way to Linvak Tukal, you'll encounter a nice little mountainous countryside. It's an untapped ground for low (level 7+) to mid (level 30) players. Where everyone is worried about getting the next kill in BSD and running around everywhere looking for a quick spawn, I was happily racking in experience point after experience point from the nice sandstone, limestone, and ice golems littered about, being careful to avoid the Gigas Lugians, ash gromnies, and other meanies that like to chew on little mage toes! Though I died several times, I was also able to recover my body. I would recommend getting Decal and the Sixth Sense plugin, to help you find golems. On the configuration tab, Add a new item, title it "Golem" and make sure that it is checking for monsters, save it and begin running around. All sorts of neat things will happen. You'll pick out golems that are no where near you, and you can use the coordinates to find them. Nice hm? I'd also suggest you put on some of those nasties that like to eat you and spawn or pop up on top of you (these happen to be gromnies for me!). It can save you a lot of frustration if you know what to avoid.

I have been here from level 7 to level 13 and I won't level until level 15. These mountains are just untapped. Golem spawns are plentiful and there's always a way to get around any obstacles keeping you from your destination. I even did a little scouting of Linvak Tukal. Though I've been there with my Unarmed, explored it inside and out, camped the Commander, and jumped off the side to see how hard I can go splat, it still amazes me that four or five months of work is finally in the game and stands as a testament to what both Turbine, Microsoft, and even the playerbase is capable of (I've heard rumors that a player passed on the idea of a big Lugian stronghold to some Devs and that started them talking about the idea of Linvak... could be false, I don't know).

Anyhow, my skill building and attribute building routines have changed slightly. From level 7 to 10, I pumped all mana into Focus, Self, War, and Mana Conversion. At level 8, I factored in Item magic. I waited this long so that I could successfully take down golems without being resisted too much. I was also still doing level 1 spells for a variety of reasons. The first lay in the fact that restocking was non-existent. Level 1 spells either don't burn comps or burn so rarely that you'll never see the town mage again. This allowed me to stay out and gain 1 level per hour (there about, considering the first couple of levels happened in less than 20 minutes). Though I'm capable of, now, level 3 spells and possibly level 4 (what's the minimum skill you should have?), I didn't want to waste the time restocking when I could be leveling. I had also stopped carrying potions for a variety of reasons. Killing golems is very profitable, not because of motes (I found several), but because of gems. Yes, gems. They are your friend. Though the effects don't last very long, gems can and often times do last long enough to get you out of a sticky situation. So save them, use them when the time is right, and you will get that extra kick. I have quite a number of level 3 gems on me ranging from Armor to Mana Renewal to Focus and Self. They are my substitute for Healing, Life Magic, and Creature Magic. And they'll be that until level 16, when I get Life Magic. From level 10-12, I shook things up and decided it was high-time to raise Run, Quickness, Strength, Endurance, Health, Mana, and Stamina for once. So I tried to evenly distribute points as best I could. My mage became faster, I am now able to carry all my comps and armor without being burdened, and I have a LOT more life and mana to work with!

Eventually, I had learned my level 2 War spells. The reason? Faster killing. My mana conversion had gotten high enough that I convert a lot of my level 2 spells into 1-5 mana points now. That is my average. Of course, I sometimes get the cast of the normal mana usage, but 1-5 on average is not bad... in fact, for 10-15 more damage points, it's very good. Using the same amount of mana as before, doing more damage, killing faster, and leveling smoother. You have to love a Warring Mana Mage. I had a little help in leveling tonight, though, in the name of Dirk Phoenix, a level 36 Battlemage. He vuln'd things for me and buffed me with Life protections while I delivered killing blows to mattekars, lugians, and anything else that was deemed neccessary to annihilate. Thanks Dirk! I don't know if others will have some twinking help but a good friend along is always welcome. Conversation is always a strong point in a good human relationship (all right... what have I turned into? BACK TO WARRING MANA MAGES!).

And as of now, I am level 13, halfway to level 14, am in Qalaba'r, and after a quick restock, I'll be heading out to show some golems how this mage likes to dance.

My short-term goals are as follows:

1) Get War Magic to 135-140 (It's 128 right now) by level 14
2) Get Mana Conversion to 115 by level 14
3) Get Focus and Self to 135-140 by level 14 (I actually have no idea how high these are right now)
4) Save every point I earn from level 14 to level 16 to dump into Life Magic
5) Change hunting locations and try a few minor Dires spots (put my feet in the water and test the warmth basically)
6) Possibly try out the Lugian Citadel and see how I fare in comparison to my Mana C spec'd, All-trained (Item at 26 and she's 21 right now) mage.
7) Start toying with the idea of Arcane Lore or Creature Magic (don't have to make this decision for a long while!)
8) Continue drooling over the prospects of Exarch Plate and that Lugian Staff and my fiery orange hair, green eyes, and sexy self standing on Aerlinthe (hey, I can dream can't I?!)

I'll try to update this little thing as much as possible... might even make a website to chornicle my little adventures. I'm excited about this character, the items I can get, and the adventures I can have and am very sure that she will be played heavily! I hope you enjoyed my litle chornicle thus far. I do plan to update it because I just want to see if this template can become either 1) popular again (was it popular in some fashion before?) and 2) recommended. Well, that's it from me! Tell me what you think!