Interview with : 

Yom of Leafcull

Name, level, server, message board name:

Yom, Level 102, Leafcull, Yom_of_Leafcull

Favorite message board:

Lately, I spend most of my board time in AC Vault's Magic Shop with an occasional side trip to go "slumming" in the Warrior's Stop. ;-)

How long have you been playing AC?

I started playing AC in early 2000. Frore had recently been solved and The Great Work destroyed. Hoary Mattekars had already been hunted to extinction. And everything about the game was still new.

How much do/did you play every week?

I still play a couple hours a day on the average. Even after a couple years, AC remains an incredibly fun game, and I still look forward to each return to Dereth.

What template of mage do you currently play?

My current main is Yom, a Warrior Mage which is essentially a four-schooler with spec UA. I also play Melekon, a Battlemage, Creature-first of course, and Traybor Dragule an Og Mage. And when I want a break from magery, I play Thrud, my barbarian pure-melee Axer.

Is AC your first MMORPG? If not what others have you played and did you play a mage?

I have played no other MMORPGs, but I've been a pen-and-paper and computer RPG'er for years. In virtually every RP game I've played, I always had a mage named Traybor Dragule. Indeed, I've been using that name for my mages for 22 years now. Bleh, now I feel old.

What was your first mage character? Do you still play it?

The first Traybor Dragule was created with Alchemy and with a horrible misunderstanding of the skill credit progression. He was deleted at level 14 and rerolled as a classic four-schooler. That Traybor achieved level 45 and was the monarch of a growing allegiance. Tragedy struck in the form of a malicious hacker who deleted all the characters on Traybor's account. The Og Mage template was becoming the popular at the time, and so the newly rerolled Traybor Dragule was created as an Og Mage. I still have that Traybor and use him from time to time. I like Yom's template better, but Traybor still holds a great deal of sentimental value for me.

How do you play AC? Are you in it to power-level, dungeon dwelling, adventuring, friends, etc.

I've done it all, but I most like questing with friends. My fondest memories of AC are always of exploring someplace new with a group.

What gear do you normally hunt in?

Yom has worn preGSK for his entire career. His kabuton, gaunts, and solls are high AL with the same protects as his armor. He wears Armor VI and six Life Protection spells on jewelry and clothing to reduce buffing. Occasionally, Yom will wear his mage armor coat in place of gaunts, sleeves, and breastplate. He also has a Major War helmet for when getting the highest War skill possible is absolutely critical.

For the longest time, Yom used a Focusing Stone exclusively, but now he's addicted to the extra mana when using the Buadren.

Because Yom is half melee too, he carries a full set of UA weapons and a shield. He can even use his Sim Helm and Sim Shield to go hunting as melee without buffs when he wants to take a break from the mage-thing.

What do you feel was the best thing to happen to mages in the game?

The best thing has been how Turbine has made routine tasks less tedious. This is, after all, a game and shouldn’t be more work than, well, work. I think comp buying alone would have driven me insane had they not added @fillcomps to the game. Longer spell durations, especially the Level VII buffs, eased the tedium of buffing. Peas and weightless pyreals were added to ease burden. All of this keeps you playing the game instead of doing basic accounting chores.

What do you think is the worst thing that affects mages?
Are mages overpowered?

The fact that you have to ask that second question is the answer to the first. The balance between mages and melees is very poor. It is much more difficult and time-consuming for melee, especially pure melee, to kill high level content. And that is not fair. As a result it generates a great deal of animosity toward mages. Some mages will be quick to point out that War costs 28 points to spec and thus should be more powerful, but that's a specious argument. Melees and archers would have willingly bought a 28 point killing skill had it been available. But the game does not even offer that as an option, so in the very core design there is a basic inequality. Melees, archers, and mages should be equally competitive. Not identical, but equal in access to content, loot, creatures, leveling speed, etc. "Are mages overpowered?" No, it's more that melees and archers are underpowered. Fortunately, Turbine is making changes to help the situation, and the steps so far to improve the lot of melees and archers seem promising.

What are your thoughts on Drain Health I?

People harp on how powerful it is, how fast it is, and how unbalancing it is, but they are missing the real problem with Drain Health. It is strong, there is no doubt, but eventually mages turn away from it and use War primarily while and using Drains more for their intended purpose: a quick heal while tanking. The real problem is that Drain Health (and Harm) lets mages kill creatures in complete safety, and that never should have been allowed. Reward should be relative to risk, and Drains circumvent that.

What template do you advocate for a starting mages?

If the plan is just to try magery out for a few levels and then reroll a more serious template, the good ol' fashioned four-schooler is just the ticket. Go with a good bit of Endurance and have fun blasting stuff on the beaches while learning basic mage tactics.

If they think they may keep the character (and it is easy to get attached to a character), then I'd recommend spec War, train Life, Mana C, Arcane Lore. That's not quite as strong as a Battlemage, but then it completes much earlier and avoids some of the frustration you hear from Battlemages getting close to graduation. If they stick with it, it will still be a fine template at higher levels getting War VIIs at a relatively low level. If they do dump it later, they'll have good experience for leveling a mage.

What do you feel Turbine needs to do with mages, if anything?

Nothing, really. At this point, mages are pretty well off in Dereth. Just introduce some cool content and lore for us to explore.

After the primary skills have been obtained what skill do you think a mage should take? Arcane, Healing, Lockpicking, or MeleeD?

Of this group, I tend to favor Lockpicking. Magic can duplicate or be a substitute for the other three, but no spells get you through that locked door, open that chest, or carve sing keys for you. And especially if you like questing, I'd strongly recommend Lockpicking.

Arcane is a close second because helps you to avoid some of the tedium of buffing. It gives you a better chance to find cool Major Cantrip items you can use. And it lets you actually use some of your quest items.

Healing can help your survivability. While not necessary, it is quicker than spells and uses no mana. Trade elixirs can suffice, so I put it third for most mages. But if you plan to melee a lot or PK a lot, then you should get it first.

The investment necessary to make Melee Defense work, even beyond the skill credit cost, is huge. I would not recommend it for a pure mage, certainly not before they've gotten the other three. If you do plan to melee quite a bit, then I'd bump that up to a cautious recommendation. But even in that case, you still should get Healing first.

Care to reminisce? What has been the best patch or moment or epiphany that you have had in AC.

The past two years of AC has been filled with wondrous adventures, monumental triumphs, and more than a few tragic losses. So much so that picking out even a handful of moments to share is virtually impossible. But the common thread in all of these is the people who were there to share the experience. It wouldn’t have been the same without the companionship of the following: Bluelight, Moosai Missiah, Nickodemus, The Archmage, Derek Wildstar, Agrias, Hirihoto Sakai, and so many more.