Emeraldwind Chronicles - Development of a War Machine! Part 7

Emeraldwind Chronicle - Development of A War Machine! Part 7

Part 7 of this journal comes after a very, very big patch. It changed a lot of things in the game, from monster spawn locations, to the amount of certain monsters that were regarded as mage-fodder. So almost everything you’ve read before has to be disregarded… locations to hunt have changed, maybe even items to acquire, and skills to get as your character develops. So read on to find out how the face of Dereth has changed… you might just like the new surprises.

Template Definition

Strength - 60
Endurance - 50
Coordination - 10
Quickness - 10
Focus - 100
Self - 100
Specialize: War Magic, Mana Conversion
Train: Item (my choice) or Creature or Arcane/Healing
Post Skills: (choices are yours but these were mine) Life @ 16, Arcane @ 26, Creature @ 60

As I've always said, the important thing is to specialize War Magic and Mana Conversion. This chronicle follows my choice of Item magic at the start, Life at level 16, Arcane at level 26, and Creature magic at level 60. Enjoy!

New monster spawn locations! The face of Dereth has changed… as such, you won’t be in the Obsidian Plains anymore. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend going there for a long while… there’s no reason. The tuskers have run off of the plains, aside from the Tusker camps… and I find camps boring… and I would think you would too, unless you enjoy tanking (perching is very lame). So now it’s time to find new things to hunt, which is a GOOD thing… after the cramped halls of Geraldine Constulate and those tuskers camps, it’d be good to find other things to hunt. What made this patch so great isn’t just the name (“Keep Your Enemies Closer” I like that patch name) but the fact that a lot of the loot machines that used to be dungeon only (Olthoi nobles) or Island (as in Aerlinthe) only (Maulers, Manglers, etc) have now moved to the Dires in full force. But don’t think the Dires is crowded now. In fact, it’s easier to hunt out there now… the debuffs, albeit higher level, aren’t as prevalent as they were before. You don’t need to buff everything to high heaven just to run to a dungeon 5 clicks away from your portal drop off. So instead of hunting just tuskers, you’ll now be hunting Olthoi nobles, soliders, Lugian Extas, Tiatus, Umbris, Bander Thrashers, Manglers, Maulers, and, yes, you will still find some groups of tuskers out there, so throw those in there too. Isn’t the variety of both experience and loot machines ever so nice?

I’ve heard a ton of complaining about buffing in the Dires. People say they have to buff for everything… whatever. I don’t know whether they’re trying to be invincible or not but you don’t have to buff for everything. By this time you should have your Quiddity Orb and if you chose Arcane Lore and gave it some major loving, you’ll be able to use it adequately. If not, then, hopefully your Creature magic is up high enough. At about level 35 to 40 or 45, you’re going to be hunting Olthoi, Lugians, and Tuskers. All you need to buff for is Piercing, Acid, and Bludgeoning. Toss those protections on. For banes, you need Impen and Bludgeoning. That’s it. Are you going to be tanking? Hopefully not. Granted, War Mages are made for endurance fighting but we don’t want to do endurance fighting. Vuln a noble or solider from afar, land 2-3 bolts, move on. Only let it get one or two hits on you. The faster you kill, the better. If you want to fight something like a mangler or mauler, toss Fire and Cold protections on. Do you need the banes? You can use them if you want. Though it’s an endurance fight, you should be safe enough to fight toe to toe with Manglers and Maulers. If not, do some pot shots. You will be safe enough. Lugians are even easier to take down. They like to toss rocks for ages. Vuln, blast, blast, blast, blast. Dead. Easy 9 to 15k experience. Move on. And since the spawns aren’t crowded, if you’re not buffed for a certain advesary, you can just move around them with no problem. The Dires just got a lot easier and more fun to hunt.

As you can see, I got myself a sweet suit of green amuli. Doesn’t that just fit me o’ so well?

Armor and magic techniques abound now. Have a good set of armor. I would say hang up the robe but you don’t have to. Make sure you’re lobbing Vs in Life and Item and VI’s in War. You don’t have to successfully cast War VI’s all the time, but at least as an opener or finisher, they will be good. My set up is easy. Staff of Clarity and Quiddity Orb being used for my focusing items. If you have Creature Magic, you can wield a focusing stone and have even more fun. Now, you want to get a good set of amuli armor. Amuli, plus a good helmet, gloves, and sollrets. Cast on all your armor. This patch also added a timer for spells, so you can see that your level 5 spells will probably last 17 or 18 minutes. I’ve been able to buff in under 2 and a half minutes. Why? If you’ve played your cards right you should be able to do your Revitalize – Stamina to Mana trick. Easy and fast buffing… in fact, I beat some of my melee friends in buffing. That’s an accomplishment.

I went on a few of the new quests added. They are perfect for my level. The shield and helm are pretty decent… not the best but they do have some highly prized spells on them. I know that I’m going to get the helmet for my archer eventually. The new dungeons are all located in or around the desert area of Dereth, which is good. I like the fact that now the Gharu lands are highly used for a number of dungeons and quests that involve a lot of lore and some great items. These dungeons, unlike some of the other Virindi styled dungeons, are made in the vein of the Singularity Bore dungeons. In case you haven’t seen those, they look like messed up red Aluvian, Gharu, and Sho houses… the interiors are all freaky looking and if you are in the right areas, you can hear screams or snickers or murmurs… spooky! The new dungeons have a never before seen enemy… humans! Or at least human LIKE enemies named Simulacra. Most of them are very easy but the Subtle ones aren’t so subtle with their Level VI spells. Along with the Crafters or Masters at the end of the dungeons, who hold the special items you’re looking for, they can put up quite a fight. It’s easy to tell the different simulacras apart… the lost ones wear blue chainmail armor… the ones higher wear purple… subtles wear robes, and the crafters wear amuli armor. And they all use singularity weapons. At level 38 to 39 you should be able to solo all the dungeons except the one to get the gem. That dungeon is slightly harder, with subtles all over the place, but that dungeon is even soloable. I did the shield dungeon by myself, went on the helmet dungeon with a few friends, and did the orb/gem dungeon with one person. All three items are very decent items and I’d recommend their usage, even though I’m not using any of them. Very fun and straight forward quest… something to do in an hour or two if you have the time.

What do my stats look like now that I’m level 39? These are my unbuffed numbers. Your numbers will be different than mine but these are around about what your numbers should be at level 39.

As you can see, my attributes are all evened out. I’m going for 195 by level 40 for Focus and Self. Those two actually cost less than my independent magic skills, so I should be able to hit that easily. I want 150 health and 215 Stamina. I love my Stamina reserves… so easy to pull that extra bit of mana that I need to kill an enemy. My Strength of 140 will be bumped up to 160 or so why level 45. Endurance will get some love and move from 130 to 150 or so. Coordination at 60 and Quickness at 90 will be left alone. They aren’t needed that much anymore.

My skills are very evenly raised. Mana Conversion is so very nice… 190. By level 45, I want this to be base 200 or 205. 205 would be very nice to have as a base score. Since I don’t need to concentrate on all of the extra skills anymore since they’ve panned out very nicely, I’ll be able to work heavily on magic for 10 levels or so. War Magic is 225. By level 45, I want to have 240 War Magic. That’s something to shoot for and I can do calculations to see if I’ll make it but I’m going to set my goal at that. By level 45, I want 180 Arcane Lore. 220 Item Enchantment from it’s 200 score right now should be met by level 45, as long as I can hit 205 by level 40. Life Magic will hit 205 in 2 points, so I’m not worried over meeting that goal by level 40. I hope to have it at 220 or 225 by level 45, however. Magic Defense and Run probably won’t be touched directly for a long time to come. With 160 Run, I can outrun or at least lose a lot of enemies that I don’t want to mess with.. the only thing that’ll get me is lag.

As you can see, my development is going very nicely. My goals for level 40 are as follows:

Strength – 140 (goal met)

Endurance – 130 (goal met)

Coordination – 60 (goal met)

Quickness – 90 (goal met)

Focus – 195 (4 away)

Self – 195 (4 away)

Health – 150 (9 away)

Stamina – 215 (3 away)

Mana – 270 (goal met)

War Magic – 225 (goal met)

Mana Conversion – 190 (goal met)

Life Magic – 205 (2 away)

Item Magic – 205 (5 away)

Arcane Lore – 170 (2 away)

Magic Defense – 120 (5 away but not getting raised)

Run – 170 (10 away but not getting raised)

That last part I did for anyone who doesn’t have graphics turned on or can’t see the pictures.

Well, that’s my report. The Dires are fun to hunt, there are some great items to get, and played a War Mage, albeit not being made easier, has gotten much more fun with lots of creatures that cater to our abilities. So have fun and until next journal (probably level 45) happy hunting!