Emeraldwind Chronicle - Development of A War Machine! Part 5

Whoa, it's been awhile since I gave a little update. Just so you know, it's been I've been actually PLAYING the game instead of worrying about doing a report or keeping my character as a bunch of statistics to be tested and compared with other templates used by her peers. And that's why I haven't updated.... anyway, on to my report.

I am now level 28 but my report involves level 24 to 26. Like I said, I've been busy playing and worrying about playing and not worrying about reports. But I owe to myself and those people who might be slightly interested on what this Warring Mana (or War) Mage is doing. Like always, I'll give a basic run down of the template I used to start with some variations that people have suggested for others to use:

Strength - 60
Endurance - 50
Coordination - 10
Quickness - 10
Focus - 100
Self - 100
Specialize: War Magic, Mana Conversion
Train: Item Magic (my choice) or Creature or Arcane Lore and Healing

I took Life @ level 16, Arcane @ level 26, and will get Creature @ level 60.

I figured that getting to level 26 would be a long haul like getting to level 16 from 14 was (if you remember one of my previous posts, that was the first Maturity stage). It wasn't. It wasn't because I didn't think about it. When you're not managing experience, not even looking at your skills or attributes to click on the green triangle, you level faster. I've found that the more I pay attention to just playing the game instead of trying to maximize the efforts of this template, the more I realize how even more fun the template is to PLAY.

So when it came time to do the rainbow dance, I was just as surprised as the drudge that was near me.

At level 26, my stats were as follows:

As you can tell, my attributes haven't changed much from level 24.

But my Spec'd skills have gone up a little. That was through both use and extra experience points I had after dumping all available points into Arcane Lore.

The same can be said for my trained skills.

As you can tell, Arcane Lore bumped up to a nice and healthy 150. My estimation of 150 had been correct on paper and in Splitpea (actually, SP had it listed a little higher but SP doesn't take into account experience you gain that goes towards a next level but doesn't become expendable because your skills raise through use, if I'm not mistaken of course). Coming out at just a little over 56k per point to raise, I think I did very very well (considering my Focus costed, at that point, 17 or 18k to raise a pop), and can now concentrate on my other skills and get them to the levels I've been wanting for awhile.

(As a side note, I did a comparison to Dizz and I think my progression is really well, considering I've taken 4 complete levels and not raised anything during the time I was playing those levels)

My hunting areas are changing more and more these days. With that, I've been doing more quests as well. When I hit level 25, I went with Dirk Phoenix (my patron), Draykis (his patron), and several others, to Geraldine Constulate. What I found was drudge heavan. It might only be stalkers and lurkers, but they come en masse... and I do mean en masse. With level 4 buffs (item and life), I did fine but as soon as I began to use my Level 5 Item (I've been lazy about learning my Life buffs, with the mana pools broken... and I haven't made it to Holtburg for the mana ring yet), things got much better. Every now and again I would get lucky and score a 0 from a hit. It was rare, but I'm getting there. Anyway, back to Geraldine Constulate - if you haven't heard, this is the place you get the 3 new spells, Dark Flame, Arcane Restoration, and Unnatural Persistence. Dark Flame is just a nicer looking Flame Bolt 5 (in my opinion; might be used for more later on), Arcane Restoration is a 100% Mana Restoration Spell, and Unnatural Persistence is a 100% Heatlh Restoration Spell. Very nice indeed. The latter two require Life 6 ability to cast, the former requires War 5 ability to cast. I added these 3 spells to my spell book and have been very happy ever since.

GC is a great place to hunt. As I said, the drudges are lower level dark drudges (lurkers and stalkers) but they come at such a rate that you can quickly and easily gain a lot of experience. I would suggest this place until level 28 (where I'm at now) or so. Then you'll want to move on, as the experience required to level is growing at such a rate that if you don't find bigger game, you'll be stuck in perpetual boredom for many levels to come. To be truthful, I've grown tired of Drudges. After awhile, you get to the point where they aren't even a problem. Bolt, Vuln, Stamina To Mana, Drain STamina, Bolt, Dead, Move on. You don't even need luring tactics. So you get rusty... and it's time to find bigger game. I'm not actually sure if I'm able to fight tuskers yet but I'm going to learn my Life 5 spells and find out (yes, I'll probably stare at the lifestone quite a bit as I'm testing out overland tusker hunting). If I'm able to move on, now, then I'd suggest doing that, as drudges are boring now, bandies are all right but more for loot than experience, really (plus they're kind of annoying to be honest), and golems don't seem to yield the best possible experience anymore. So it looks like it's time to test the tusker waters.

I know this report is sporadic but a lot has happened and I wanted to get a few more thoughts out. First, Arcane Lore was the best choice I have ever made in the creation and playing of a character. My normal buff cycle which involves Impening and Baning my robe (dress now, though I'm thinking of switching back to a white robe) with Blade, Blud, and Pierce (other banes come if I know specific creature types I'm fighting or want to watch out for, like silver rats and their acid vomit), and toss Armor, Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning protections on. That's my regular buff cycle, unless you include Rejuventation and Mana Renewal. Nothing beyond that (what's the point?). My buff cycle has now been cut down to Buffing my robe and tossing a Slashing and Bludgeoning protection on. So much mana saved! Whereas I used two bars of mana (most of the time now even full) to buff, I use a single bar now. Thank you Arcane Lore (would love to see people say it has no use... it sure has use for ME!). So I'd suggest taking Arcane Lore. That extra mana can come in the form of another bane, another protection, or just easier rebuffing (imagine having to do a speed rebuff in a dungeon with a fast spawn! This can be a savior!)

I killed my first Obsidian Golem. Because of Arcane Lore, my self buffs (level 4 jewelry) in War go up to about 225 (I'd have to check again because I don't remember exactly), and because of this, I tore through an Obsidian. I've been told that the golems in the Lyceum go from Granite, to Obsidian, to Diamond in difficulty. So now I'm out to get a diamond and see how good I tear one of those apart. That won't come until at least level 35. But this was another obstacle that I wanted to get over and I did. I'm very proud of myself (kind of mad I didn't make a screenshot though...).

Anyway, as I said, I'm level 28 now. I don't know when the next report will come... maybe level 30, maybe level 35. Whenever, I will continue with my tales and tell you everything you need to know about my adventures! Until then, happy hunting!

~.~EmeraldWind~.~

Warring Mana Mage of LeafCull