Interview - Keba

Name, level, server, message board name : Too many names (Keba on FF, K'Fizzle on LC, although I've played many a char on LC as well (including Keba of course), I've played 10+ chars past lvl 50 the old fashioned way - highest level is 77, and I currently play LC and FF, my nick on forums and irc alike is Keba
Favorit message board : none any more - used to be CoD before it became popup city, and ACVault is too much like a pissing contest with their 'stars' thingie for my tastes.

How long have you been playing AC? Since I could get it shipped to the UK - Jan 2000.

How much do/did you play every week? I used to play around 4 - 8 hours a day, but that has reduced somewhat over the last few months, with writing stuff for decal taking up a ton more of my time than AC ever did - not sure if thats good or bad to be honest. I've learned a ton of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise, so hopefully that will all work out for the best.

What template of mage do you currently Play? BattleMage - I've done the Og, the all trained and a few others, and the BM wins hands down imo for all aspects of a mage - both K'Fizzle on LC and Keba on FF are BM's.

Is AC your first MMORPG? in not what others have you played and did you play a mage? Yup, I was a MMPORG n00b! AC saw me stop playing SPG's altogether - which has almost saved me a ton of money - it would have if I hadn't bought multiple accounts of course.

What was your first mage character? Do you still play it? Keba on LC. He was an alltrained mage that started with Alchemy trained - Alchemy is a mage thing right? *grin* I don't play him at all any more - he's just a mule who can hardly wear a robe....

How do you play AC? Are you in it to power-level, Dungeon Dwelling, adventuring, friends, etc. I used to play AC to enjoy doing stuff online with my friends and we spent most of our time running around the surface - however most of them stopped playing at the same times as me, and that evil decal thing stole me away as well. I guess the main thing I do when playing now is either to take a break from coding, or to test out some code I've just written.

What do you feel was the best thing to happen to mages in the game? The level vii spells. Playing a low level mage on FF again has shown me just how stupid the 15 minute timer on the lower level spells really is. Personally I care not about the buff increase - its the time increase that is the key there.

What do you think is the worst thing that affects mages? Hollows without a doubt. They were a cheap 'fix' to attempt to balance the affects of shields and life magic, and sadly the live team devs seem to think they are a fun 'toy' to play with. They didn't work as a fix imo, and just make certain areas of Dereth annoying to the point where I will hunt elsewhere.

Are mages overpowered? No. Playing a mage is far more involving than a melee or archer due to a lack of 'auto-repeat attacks'. Its rare to find somebody who can play a mage well and be able to talk while hunting for instance, and I think the 'power' that comes from not having to switch modes between a weapon and a wand is counter-balanced by the concentration a person playing a mage has to keep up while playing. If I wanted the easy life, I'd pick an archer and gripe about hollows... So no real change in what I gripe about I guess!

What are your thoughts on Drain Health I? Its a silly implementation with drain i being just as effective as drain vii for killing stuff. Personally I think the drain i spell should do a lower percentage and the higher drains a higher percentage of damage - but I'll probably get stoned for saying that :)

What template do you advocate for a starting mages? For starting mages? Something with war and life. Starting as an Og is stupid if you want to learn how to play a Mage, as no war cripples your play style, and a newbie will probably learn to rely on drains/harm far too much in the long run. That said, the BattleMage is hard to level in the medium term - but I'd advocate somebody going with just life spec'd or maybe an all trained and play it to around level 40 to learn the game - no twinking allowed! Then I'd tell them to play a BM (and twinking is their choice once they know how to play). Exp chains and twinking have ruined peoples learning ability it seems - and I see more and more high level chars getting killed in really stupid situations and doing really stupid things than I like to see :/

What do you feel turbine needs to do with mages, if anything? Yes I do think they need to do something - have a major chorizite failure and kill all the bloody hollows off and make them completely extinct! Failing that, lengthen the time on the spells - rebuffing isn't fun for anybody, and everybody and their cousin buffs now... And to the people that say 'Arcane is the length substitution', I say 'show me a piece of armor that is baned in all elements past unparralled just via arcane' - Mages don't have shields to hide behind so arcane isn't really a good substitution in my mind...

After the primary skills have been obtained what skill do you think a mage should take? Arcane, Healing, Lockpicking, or MeleeD? Lockpick. The only skill after the 4 magic schools and manaC that a mage can need to do more in the game is lockpick. Arcane and Healing come a close second in order to give a wider range of options for things like less buffing (at a cost of lower protections/buffs) or easier healing - but lockpick is the only thing that stops me personally from doing _all_ the content of all the dungeons and I wouldn't advise otherwise. MeleeD is a waste of time for a mage - no defender bonus on a wand makes the skill pointless, as the monsters meleeD is adjusted to take defender on weapons into account imo. Basically if a person can play a mage to say level 50 without healing or arcane, then there is no reason why they can't play even longer without it. With no lockpick however, they will always have to rely on somebody else to have that skill to see all of some of the best quests in the game (Aerlinthe being one of them).

Care to reminisce? What has been the best patch or moment or epiphany that you have had in AC. The Shadow Wars - I still remember that as the best time I had - total lag, nothing updating for minutes on screen due to the numbers of people and shadows - but it was still a blast. I couldn't touch shadows let alone umbris, and the numbers of them that swarmed us was great. If there is one thing I want to see in AC2, its MASSIVE wars like that with no lag :)

Comments? Shout outs? Nothing drastic - I'd like to thank those few people that have really had an impact on my life while playing AC - people like yourself and Topheron and Og the One Eye who have shown a great knowledge of the game and shared it with everybody they can, and people like Greyed and Asriel and Mekle, who have pointed me out in the right directions with code stuffs and continued to help me even when I'm showing why I change my nick on irc to 'Keba|Brain{Jello}' from time to time. Two other people that really deserve a lot more publicity than they get is Wembly who does the windowed mode patch for everybody and Kalroth, who writes some of the best utils for looking in depth into AC as it stands. I stand on the shoulders of giants - and its scary to think how many giants out there have been nice enough to let me trample all over them :)