Emeraldwind Chronicle - Development of A War Machine! Part 9

September of 2001’s patch, like September of 2000’s, has proven to be a patch of complete wonder. In 2000 we were given new enemies as well as all other sorts of nifty treats. This year, we had spawns rearranged and an entire month to think and drool over the expansion pack that is Dark Majesty. But September is also special for another reason. It was the month (more like early October was the month, but let’s not get technical here) that Emeraldwind got her wings… and if you want to find out more, you’re just going to have to read.

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. I know I do this every journal but I just want to make sure that anyone who might start in the middle of the journals and read knows what the template is about and knows how I decided to play my template. Enjoy!

That, right there, folks, is what we call the Rainbow Dance. But it’s not just any rainbow dance. No, this one is special. As you can see, Emerald is sprouting wings from her back like an angel and she’s flying away. Flying to where? To Aerlinthe Island, that’s where.

I worked hard for it and I finally did it. It’s always been my dream to see the Island, to tell all my friends who aren’t able to go what it’s like. I finally get that chance to bring back “phat bandie lewt” and to “kill the lady,” not that either of those things is going to happen at the start or for awhile mind you. If you don’t know my history, then let me explain. I have never been to Aerlinthe. I have a melee who could go but she’s too gimped against current content (And even the Aerlinthe content… I’m glad I didn’t take her little gimped butt) to really survive and thrive there. Emerald, albeit not as extreme as some, can however. So she’s finally going to go and see the sights. I was extremely excited and portaled out of Asteliary about ten seconds after I snapped this shot. I wanted to see Aerlinthe dammit!

Through a complicated process of running from Al-Jalima to some portals, we (that being Dirk Phoenix my patron and I) ended up at a lifestone. No, I hadn’t died, I was with Dirk at the time. It was his lifestone, the lifestone he used because he goes to Aerlinthe daily. It’s very near the D-note entry-way. Now, paying a D-note might seem bad but it’s really not. If I need to get money, I can hunt around the lifestone… it’s in the Dires and though there aren’t any bandies (only spotted a thrasher) running around readily, there are other things, like Panumbris, Tuskers, Olthoi, Tiatus, Sclavus, and some of the special steroid kittys called Ascendant Drudges (I don’t mess with those… never will). But I should never be so bad off that I’d need to hunt around there just to go to the island anyway. We scooted over to the entryway, which is cluttered with desert rats and Nomad Mu-miyahs (who are annoying), and Dirk paid for entry. Let’s just say that emissary seems to, first, learn the spell the old fashioned way (apparently she’s looking up taper rotation on the internet) and then decides to cast the spell with her 4 billion skill (yes, first time cast but damn does she take a long time to do it!). I was getting chewed on by desert rats and since ring spells don’t work on them (they are too low to the ground), I had to deal with bolting each and every one… grrr. But once that spell was cast, in we went!

Emeraldwind’s mouth drops. She’s in complete awe of the lighthouse standing no more than 30 yards away from her.

Yeah, that’s exactly what I was like. It might be the same old lighthouse used every other place in the game but something makes it all the more impressive when presented with one of the lushes backdrops I’ve ever seen in this game!

Dirk materialized out of the portal and while I was gawking, managed to pull me out into the harbor. That’s when I was even more impressed.

Is it just me or does Aerlinthe look beautiful? The reason he had to drag me out into the harbor is that, to buff, we have to be somewhere safe… he explained to me that the actual land of Aerlinthe, though filled with phat lewt critters, is camped by all those things that want me dead. Anyone sane wouldn’t go in-land to hunt on a regular basis. Most of the people either hunted along the harbor’s shore, though not going onto the other side (oh there is a story to this!), or along the outside shore.

So we buffed up and ran off to hunt. He wanted to show me a special castle that contained lots of golems, relic bones, and cursed bones around the back, so we’d make our trek back there. Along the way he explained the monsters to me. I had already been introduced to Manglers, Maulers, Altered Kitties, Fire Wisps, and Malus streths. There were new enemies, though, white wasps and wasteland rats. Let’s just say annoyance is their top priority. He explained that though I could take altered’s, I better not, since they have a tendency to debuff everything on you (Magic abilities!) which can make your stay at Aerlinthe all the shorter and all the more painful. So avoid them kids, even if you did take Creature at 40. They will not be fun to play with. Manglers and Maulers are easy but they can come en-masse… they have a much tighter circle on Aerlinthe than they do in the Dires, though there aren’t any thrashers, enforcers, or other pests around to ruin the fun (Thrashers are annoying because of their persistence, Enforcers are annoying because of level 6 Imperils… need I comment further?). Malus streth also come in groups, which can be fun but dangerous, so you have to watch yourself. They also drop pyreal peas on occasion, so that warrants killing them.

On the island, at 45, your diet will consist of these creatures – Manglers, Maulers, and Malus. As such, you should buff accordingly. I use all protection spells, though I only have to cast 6 because I have Armor and Acid 5 protection bracelet and ring. Though we’re only generally fighting things that aren’t lightning, acid, slashing, etc it’s better to have that form of protection than no protection at all. Besides, some of the trash casts or uses these various damage types and only Life protections will save you from that. Bane accordingly. It took me a while before I could get my buff cycle back into the 2.5 minute range but I managed to get it there. Impen all armor. This is a must, as Malus hit you high, and banderlings hit you low. You don’t have to throw any banes on your helm or shoes if you don’t want but it would be ideal. If you have a set of armor that has good banes on it (level 4 or higher) to begin with, that makes life all the more enjoyable (and easier buffing!). I would, however, recommend a good set of amuli armor, gloves, helmet, and either sollerets or steel toed boots. Bane your primary armor, that being the top, the bottom, and the gloves. Bludgeoning, Fire, and Frost should do you. If you want to be extra safe, you can toss these onto the helmet and boots but that might be overkill… as a War Mage, buffing is your worst enemy… do as little as possible. If you want to get it in under the 3 minute mark, use this strategy. First make sure you have a full tank of mana, or close to it and hope that Mana Conversion is going to kick in (I have 261 buffed Mana Conversion. It kicks in a lot). Cast all of your protections. Revitalize to Stamina to Mana twice to get your mana back to full tank. Do all your impens. Revitalize to Stamina to Mana. Now, if you played your cards right you’ll be at 1 minute and 45 seconds on the clock. I time this with my buffs clock. (My protections last 17 minutes. I always end at or around 14:35). Do your Banes on your primary armor. You might have to do two sets, then the third one last, after a quick fill up. Then do your Revitalize technique to get yourself up to full or half mana tank, and you’re ready.

Banderlings, on Aerlinthe, must have better loot profiles than those in the Dires, since I was getting some awesome stuff… most of it was stuff I would sell but there are some keepers to be had there. Dirk and I worked our way around to the back and made it to the castle. I got my first real taste of what Aerlinthe had to offer… Vapor Golems. But first I would sight see a little.

Holy mother of … now that’s a castle. This bridge, though broken, is still impressive in its own right. Dirk stands in the distance asking me if I’m ready to go and to close my mouth and stop gawking… I must have been embarrassing him or something! We jumped down and ran around to the front of the castle. First, the castle fires at you. You hear this recharging sound after you hit a pressure plate in the ground (they are all over, so I don’t think they can be avoided), and then a streak spell shoots out at you. Unless you’re the slowest human being in the world or you stop, you won’t get hit. While we were running around, I heard a golem forming. But I hadn’t seen anything. Then I turned around and got smacked in the face by heat. That’s when I knew what it was. A Vapor golem. I had heard of them and seen pictures but never really “seen” one. I have seen Plasma golems but never Vapor. Dirk turned around, vuln’d it with Cold, and, because of his buffs, I proceeded to lay waste to the puppy. That was a rush if there ever was one! We got to the front of the castle and went up the hill. Some bones started rising. I have a strange apprehension of seeing those und00ds rising from the ground. I always harken back to when I first encountered the Skeleton Bone Knights the day they were introduced with last year’s patch. The lifestone did flinch mightly that day. Though I can kill Bone Knights now and everything, I still get a little apprehensive when und00ds are on the rise. Cursed Bones and Relic Bones. I had no idea how tough they were. A couple shockwave 6s sent them shuttering back to Lady A herself. That would teach them! We went inside the castle but all of the golems were dead. Dirk explained to me that a Plasma and some diamonds spawned inside and that I should be careful. The inside of the castle is… wow… there is a floating advocates tower and a glowing green tree. I didn’t get any pictures simply because I have too many already and don’t want to clutter up the journal with anymore, but it’s impressive to say the least (I could’ve been smart and said … I don’t have a picture because you should go see it yourself! But, no, I’ll tell the truth). The diamonds spawned, we took them out. I felt incredible. The plasma spawned… I can’t remember what happened, but somehow Dirk was missing and said he was at the Lifestone. I don’t think he died but I didn’t stay to find out. I quickly left. After all, I was running off of his buffs… (creature) … I didn’t know what I was and wasn’t capable of yet on the island alone.

After a couple more days on the island, I can safely say what I am capable of at level (now) 46. A lot. Not so much that people will be writing home saying “Emeraldwind is the greatest!” (Never was anyway), but enough that someone might take notice of a little level 46 owning batches of banderlings. As long as I stick to those things I’m good at, which is killing banderlings, I’ll be fine. My buffed War magic is 310. I want to get it to 315-320 before I start using level 7s religiously. Fizzle plays a big part in using those spells and I really can’t afford to fizzle, especially with Platinums costing as much as they do (I don’t care if they burn less than other scarabs and a tad more than Diamonds, I’m still not casting 7s until I’m good and ready!) Once I hit that point, I’ll blast the crap out of things. When it comes to Aerlinthe, it’s a place I can call home. I achieved one of my original goals, and that was to be on Aerlinthe nearly religiously at level 45. I am there. It’s not as religious yet since I have to get the money to do such things, but it’s close. Am I owning Aerlinthe like I said I would? Well, give me 4 more levels and I’ll tell you, but as it stands, by 50 I’ll be competing even better than I ever have. And with the end of the Aerlinthe part of this journal, I’ll give you one more picture… it’s me at the castle, looking at the bridge leading to it. Maybe it doesn’t say anything to anyone else but it really does say something to me… it says “Emerald, you’ve come a long way… keep on going girl.”

Before I move on to the rest of the journal I wanted to take the time to address something that I think a lot of War Mages deal with – Doubt. Maybe I deal with it more because of the approach I took with this template. Playing Asheron’s Call is almost a duty when you’re this high level. I say that because it seems like you have a duty to finish either your template or a goal you set yourself out for. Mine is level 60, when I’ll get Creature magic and finally mature. That’s 14 levels away. Might not seem like a lot… but when you realize that the last 5 levels, the levels I’m saving all of my experience during so I can bump Creature up to 255 base, cost as much Experience as the last 46 levels of my career, it puts things into perspective. That perspective is “How do I get there? And is this really for me?” A lot of my War Mage colleagues will finish or have finished at level 40. They are mature. But I took a different route. Why? Arcane Lore is just a useful skill for me. It reduces my buffing times as well as the near constant fear (even with the new timers) that my buffs will wear out at the last minute. Its disadvantages lie in finding the right equipment and mana stone cost (though this is never a factor for me, since I always make profit). Does it have short comings? Of course. No economy bonus. But I realize that if Turbine took out the bonus, well, we’d just be at base values anyway (which is why I don’t understand people complaining about the spell economy unless it’s a negative number… there’s a bonus… you’re getting something added onto the base value…). So I work with what I have and I think I do pretty well by it… but I still have my doubts. My doubt is getting to level 60. I want to get there but can I really make it? I’m not going to lie, there are times that I wish I had spec’d Life and been a Battle Mage. My Life and War magic would both be 251-252 base right now. That translates to level 7 spells in both schools. There are times that I wish I had Creature already. This shows more when I’m hunting with my vassals, whom I can’t buff with Creature. There are times that I wish Life and Creature were spec’d so I could vuln and yield the crap out of critters so I could take them down (grievvers being the big example of this). There are times when I question why I took Arcane Lore and kick myself for taking it over Creature. There are times when I think that Mana Conversion is a waste of a skill and should be burned. But when everything is said and done, I look at my buffed 261 Mana Conversion (level 5 Focus and Self, level 6 Mana C) and my buffed 310-311 War Magic (level 5 Focus and Self, level 6 War Magic, +10 from Exarch Plate) and I smile. Something about pulling a level 6 bolt out of your butt with 2 mana or casting that level 6 Life or Item spell during buffing that makes me smile. I look at my buffed 220 Arcane Lore (level 5 everything) and I smile. There’s something about picking up items off the ground that I can’t ID, equipping them and having a level 6 spell cast on you that makes me happy. I always have my doubts and always will, even when I’m mature. Did I do this right? Did I do that right? Who doesn’t? But I will always, in the end, be happy with the choices I’ve made and the character I play. It’s not necessarily the skills that you have in a certain order (though specing all Appraisal skills won’t exactly get you anything) … a lot of 00ber d00ds have found that out trying to play Battle-mages and Ogs. Skills only tell a little of the story. It’s how you play, how you learn, and how you grow that’s important. Some say I’m powerful. I don’t think I’m anymore powerful than my colleagues. I just might be more skilled than some of the people they’ve seen playing because I know my character inside and out. So will I be able to make it to 60? I’ve gained almost 10 levels in the last two weeks. Though leveling is a little harder now, I always play during off peak hours (because of work, I get home at 7 in the morning, so I’m able to play then) so I can get some leveling in during that time. Can I make 60 in a reasonable time frame before I get burned out again or lose my mind? Only one way to answer that question.

This might sound really bad but I suggest you get yourself Decal. No, not for Sixth Sense, since I think that’s cheating (plus I had it a long time ago and it brought my system to its knees since it searches the crap out of a landblock just to track things). There are other programs that are good for Decal. One of them is Text Hack. This is one of those programs that you use and jump for joy once you get it working. Highlight your friends’ names different colors, highlight expiring spells different colors, filter out the “The magic xxxxx through you” crap, component burning, and your personal power words (I mean, who cares about that stuff), and get it all down to the nitty gritty. There’s an @coords, @time, and some other @ commands that are really useful. (@coords tells you your current coordinates and copies them into the clipboard for easy posting to a fellowship!). Suffice it to say, this plugin is one of the greatest ones ever invented. Your spells only register damage or that they’ve been cast on your or an enemy or a weapon. Do you know how useful that is? And expiring spells… I have mine as a pinkish color (yes, I like the color, yes it’s easier to see that way) so seeing them expire is sooo easy… the only thing… the plugin reads actual characters meaning it looks for the word “expires” so it can highlight that line… that means “Your vitae penalty expires” always get highlighted, which is kind of funny. Another good one is XP-O-Meter. I learned how much Banderlings were for experience, how much Simulacras are (17,500), how much the Crafter is (21,150), etc. I also learned how much experience I could earn in an hour at one point (I had it at 780k in an hour at one point cause I was on a roll!). AutoSort is also good but you can’t have Stretch UI working for it to work and sometimes it acts bugged, but it can be very helpful to say the least (it moves your components into the proper bags after you’ve bought them so you don’t have to do all the finger work). The last one I use is Magellan. This is good for when I need to find a place but don’t want to log out (I can’t Alt+TAB because my system locks up when I do that). And that, my friends, is what Decal can do for you… get those programs… they make life sooo much easier!

I had seen every housing type except for a mansion. Running to Tou-Tou (since I couldn’t find a subway portal), I finally found one on the coast. Beach front (back, side, whatever) housing at its greatest! I had heard that they were huge but never seen one and been able to tell. Usually if I see a picture of a huge structure in Asheron’s Call I just kind of look at it… it doesn’t really tell me anything. I usually have to see it for myself in the game. Mansions were the same way. Are they big? Yeah. Can you get lost in them? I didn’t manage to (of course I’m known for remembering dungeon layouts, minus Mite Maze, easily). But they are big. Are they gi-normous? No, not really. But they are big. I did a little exploring inside of it. They are actually really pretty. I’d live there if I could, minus all the beach front animals wanting me dead. One of the prettiest things I saw was the following:

Something about that deck and those mountains… wow. I’ve always loved this game because of the landscape and giving me a view like that is cruel and unusual punishment (since I wish this world was real and we really lived in it… would be fun, I think). That deck didn’t look so big until I got out on it though.

… now that’s a deck. You could have parties on it and everything! Am I getting a house? No. Why not? Well, I owned one in a previous game and though virtual property can be nice and all, it doesn’t have the draw for me that more personal items can/do. Items like War mage Armor, Staff of Clarity, those kinds of quest items. If some of my friends get a house, I’ll try to hook up with them and help with payments, but I’m not going to run out and get one myself. The allegiance is looking to buy a house. I’ll tell them about this one. It would be nice to recall here and see my friends every so often being silly on the deck… that’s just what we do.

Well, I think my journal is coming to a close. There won’t be another one for awhile… not at level 50 or 55… well, actually, maybe 55. The next time I do a journal, regardless of level, will be a little after Dark Majesty has come out. I want to give you the run down on the things that a War Mage is capable of on that beautiful new island of Marae Lassel. Until then, happy hunting my friends and keep that chin up… not everything seems so hard at first.

Note: In case you were wondering about my history… my very first retail AC character (even my Beta character) was a War Mage. Don’t believe me? This is me back when the Lugian Outpost near Qalaba’r was the place to be. Spec’d War, Mana C, and Arcane Lore. The template eventually got Life magic… but I stopped playing her in favor of a melee character… Aisubeki Wabei… of LeafCull. Enjoy.