From:  Zarya bint Tala'an 
ID:  eJ8y9Xhrr96
Date:  1/18/01 at 3:21 pm
Subject:  Zarya's Journal, 01.18.01 - Pretty Pictures and Dev Chat!
 


Expeditionary Journal of Zarya bint Tala'an, Aspiring Battlemage


01.18.01

Hmm...no questions to answer from yesterday, so I guess this post will be shorter than usual.

Well, today started of pretty slow. Spent a lot of time sorting though things and helping people mule...also helped a vassal in Corpse Recovery from under some Mid-Banderlings, which are now extremely easy to kill for me (Lightning Vuln V + Lightning Bolt V = Dead Banderling). I stood around, chatted, and looked over the monthly chat transcript. Sat around and chatted for a good bit of the night, then finally decided to get off my butt and do something.


Today's Expedition - Obsidian Plains

I stocked up on components and mana stones, then started out at Plains BSD. Buffed up and went outside to begin on my regular leveling route. Unfortunately for me, it seemed that quite a few people were using the same path, so hunting was meager at best, I was finding one or two Tuskers at a time per spawn point, it seemed. Continuing along the route, I encountered a twinker and his twinkee that seemed to be appear everywhere I went...pass them by, move along some, then they'd be in front of me again...strange. With the relatively scarce xp being yielded by my route these past few days, I decided to puzzle out a new route for myself.

I started by looking for wide spaces, wide enough to travel through and not attract notice from creatures. I found a suitable location for this midway though my route, leading inwards to the deeper portions of the Plains. I'm going to attempt to stick a map here, but I suck at html, so help me out here if it doesn't pop up:



*scared to look*

Alright, I hope it appeared.

As you can see, this is a map of the Obsidian Plains, cut out from the "Big Map"...I hope I don't get in trouble for this :\

Legend:
The blue line is my regular leveling path.
The magenta line is my exploration path.

Green markers are light spawns. In terms of Tuskers, it means 2-4 per dot. However, on top of that, expect a pair of Golems, a single Diamond Golem, a few Virindi, Wisps, or a family of Druges/Shadows/Grievvers. hour. Light spawns are the spawns that the majority of plains hunters level on, for an average yield of 500k or so an

Yellow markers are medium spawns. 4-8 Tuskers per dot, as well as quite a few other monsters...2 groups of shadows, 4 Obsidian Golems, 8 Virindi, Druges, Greivvers, etc. In terms of numbers of monsters, usually double the size of a light spawn. Most major corpse recoveries operations occur in these spawns, and are the stuff of tall tales when people talk to their friends..."Yeah, it took 8 level 60+ people 10 minutes to clear out!" or "There was sh*t flying all over the place man, so many casters!" or "There was major lag and I couldn't see anything around me until I was dead, then I saw all the damage at the lifestone!" They're not as bad as people say they are, most people tend to deceive themselves by having their imaginations exaggerating what they see there...a single level 70 mage should be able to clean out a spawn within a single buff period.

Red markers are Phat Spawns, hehe. Phat spawns actually seem to be multiple light and medium spawns packed together in the space of two or three medium spawns. A good place to view a pseudo-Phat spawn is the one on my regular course, just before where the exploration course begins...although it covers a wider area than usual, maybe twice the normal area. If you were to circle around and view the full spawn, you would probably see something to the order of 20+ Tuskers, 10+ Obsidian Golems, 4 Diamond Golems, 6 groups of Shadows, 4 Wisps, 6 Dual Fragments, 5+ groups of Greivvers, 4+ families of Altereds, etc. Not something you would want to die in the middle of, and most people have the sense not to. Usually when you vuln a Tusker in one of these groups, a good quarter of your Radar turns orange and rushes towards you. An experienced hunter can easily handle the load, and establish a route though 5 or 6 of these spawns to make ~1.5 million xp an hour...that's like having 1.5 BSDs to yourself. I believe it's the best method of garnering xp before Aerlinthe. The downside of leveling on Phat spawns is that you might accidentally stray too close and pick up something nasty, like Imperil/Blud Vuln VI from a Diamond Golem.

The Turquoise markers are Minion spawns. The Tumeidon Minion Camp is the one I visited. These spawns consist of 3 Hollow Minions, 3 Druge Raveners, 5 Tusker Gaurds and 1 Virindi. These spawns are static, and on a ~3 minute timer. The westernmost spawn has a Virindi Master, so its a nice place to try to get masks...I also believe a Reinforced Steel chest that spawns level 6 Blasts/Volleys/Streaks is located there as well. A nice place...3 months ago. Now its a favorite perch for twinkers/low level mages, and is always camped. Its a good place for people who want a fast reliable spawn that has little risk/travelling involved, for a lesser amount of xp of course. I believe this location will be as Camped as BSD one of these days, unless the come out with a new MOB to level on. Unfortunately, people here tend to be rude...its kind of like an open air BSD where you didn't have to move anywhere and had 2 minutes to talk between spawns. Mages/Melees/Archers who tank are respectful in the fact that they leave you to your 5 Gaurds if you're attacking them, but are rude in another way where they race to get to the spawn first so they can get the first attack in. Perchers, however, are the worst, since they have more time to talk, and seem to think the spawn that they are perching belongs to them and only them, they automatically launch flames at you if you come too close/attack *their* Tukers...like this sterling individual:



I attacked the Tuskers while he was lying down on top of his column, and he got up and flamed me, then buffed his life and tried to skim from my targets. Another 133t d00d in the making, I guess. Personally I'd like to stay as far away from here as possible, just to avoid bigots like this guy/girl/whatever...when he gets to Aerlinthe, I'll be sure attract and fight Silver Tuskers and Relic Bones 5 feet away from him while he's buffing for Corals...that way its convenient for him to skim off me, right?


Since last night was the Dev Chat, I guess I'll voice my opinions on answers given for mage-related questions.



cell_> What happen to the mage love for the lvl 1 to 40's?They have no shot in casting a lvl 7 so Where is there love? When ever there is love it always seems to always go to the high lvl mages,archers or anything like that.Are the lower lvl's mages getting love

Translation: Higher level mages are the only once that seem to be benefiting from the mage lub introduced this month, namely those sexy level 7 war spells. Content seems to be catering once again towards the higher level bracket, which also happens to be the minority of players. How about the people who are casual players? New players? When are we getting something cool?

cardell@turbine> Well, we've increased the availability of spell components all across Dereth.
cardell@turbine> That alone aids mages of all levels for convenience.
cardell@turbine> Done.

Unfortunately this component distribution solution is *not really* a fix. A really good example of a modified store inventory would be Lin. Lin is a base for many players levels 10-20, because pretty decent game is close at hand (Lugians and Golems). However, though the mage shop does sell supplies past level 1 now, the prices are absurd. Do the devs think that 30 or 40 starting strength mage is going to pick up every Lugian Axe and Lapis Lazul (s)he sees? Might as well make the run to Mayoi to sell and restock, since it would probably take twice as long to lug 20 Lugian axes around just to be able to buy components in Lin...of course there might be a hidden message behind all this, which would be play more AC to get to a higher level, so you keep your subscribtion and we have more money to work with, muaha.

IMHO, mage lub should be in the form of skill enhancements of some sort, or brand new spells. Even a level 2 or 3 spell with little use, but a nifty effect would quell most people until something solid and groundbreaking comes up...I mean, look at how many people were satisfied with the ring/wall spells. Of course nit pickers like myself and grief whiners would point out flaws and the improbable use of these spells, but we still content spending a heck of a long time researching just to figure them out. And of course, to anyone else not so analytical or pessimistic, the ring spell in particular was "COOL!" it didn't matter what it did, it only mattered that it existed and looked awesome.







CableChewer> Is anything coming for a mid-range no-drop mage quest item? Items w/ Casting Mastery II or III (boosts all trained schools) or maybe a wand that can be cfged with gems
CableChewer> (like the Silifi). Target users w/War skill of ~150. Limiting mage love to lvl 7 spells will dissapoint. Eagerly awaiting rebalance of monster resistance mentioned in prev chat...
CableChewer> PS Please remove the mana pools. I've seen up to 10 macroers in the Yaraq M.H. abusing them. Multiply by the number of meeting halls -perhaps 100+ of them per night per server.
CableChewer> ga

Translation: Once again, focus for content seems to be geared towards higher level characters. How about some mid-level quest items with requirements associated to magic skills? How about an Atlan-Type wand quest, such as the one D posted last month? Oh yeah, please put an electrocution switch for the mana pools at the back of every meeting hall, macroers suck and I think they cause lag.


ken@turbine> There is currently a quest that results in wands with casting masteries II on them
ken@turbine> they are also effectively no drop
ken@turbine> im not sure that answered your question...but done

Alright, they made nice convenient no-drop Explorer Items...and they're wondering why we aren't satisfied? (btw, there is no explorer Willpower item...mage nerf! ;p). What about those mages in transition from low to high levels? Low levels are happy, they have a quest. High levels are happy, they get looting capability, Aerlinthe and Level 7 War. What do the mid-levels get? The only quest I can think of off the top of my head is the Impious Staff...there's also the Branith's Staff and Portal Scroll Quests in Mite Maze, but those are a joke. I really do believe that mid (level 10-40) level magery is boring. You're too mature for the Explorer Quest, too young for Aerlinthe or High-Level loot monsters...or level 7 War, unless you're War/Creature Spec...that mage template that's inbetween and ultimately useless at higher levels, IMO. A good solution for this constant outcry of boredom and feeling of oppression would be some come cool new quests for mages.






BluMonkey> What are the current plans for lvl 7 item magic(IE:Will we be able to cast spells like the ones on the ravenous weapons or will it be something different(read:new types of spells)), if any at all?
BluMonkey> I'd also like to say "WAAAZZZZZZAAAA" to Valkis, Tarod, Errhandler and Zomerous of Leafcull, done.

Translation: Now that we have seen Level 7 War, when are we going to see Level 7 Item? What will it look like/do?

cardell@turbine> Well, the spells on the ravenous weapons are unique to the process. Therefore, Level 7 item spells will not be able to duplicate their effects.
cardell@turbine> Level 7 items will be unique in their own way, however, much like level 7 war spells are. Those Essences sure are tricky.
cardell@turbine> Done.

Level 7 Item Enchantment spells are in the works, and they're going to be 'unique in their own way,' just like Level 7 War was supposed to be 'unique in its own way,' well, I *suppose* that is true. The new spells will be delivered ala essense of...craft, i guess, and steel chests will probably be the source of your essense treats. SIK value is going to be shooting up, folks, collect em while they're still cheap. As for what the new spells will do, I don't think they'll follow the pattern of the War spells though...~+50% protection/damage for an Item Enchantment? That would mean Impen VII would be adding 300al to your armor, and Post GSA will be unparalleled against everything when buffed (see two posts ago for info), also BD VII would be +30 damage plus spell econ...hmm...7-13 Bandit Rapier with BD VI = 17-35, BD VII = 21-43 (without spell econ)...I shudder even thinking about it. Perhaps there will be cause/effect Item Enchantment spells that give an Ashbane-type effect...HS VII would be "Berzerker," which would increase an Attack Skill modifier by 20% while reducing the Melee Defense modifier 10%. Who knows, we'll just have to wait to find out.






Aphonous> Are the new war spells the end of current efforts to make war more viable at high levels? War(with life) has never had a problem with damage done when a spell hits, but the issue has been the difficulty in hitting at all due to bad pathing...
Aphonous> slow casting animations, and the permanent 15% vitae for mages (life/war inepts) in high level play. 40k scarabs?! Congrats to everyone's hero "A Sorcerer" who just hit level 101. :)

Translation: After 15 months of suffering, War Mages should have discovered a way to have 'sticky magic.' Who wants a Nuclear-Warhead-that-takes-6-hours-to-launch-and-has-a-good-chance-of failing-to-launch-you-just-shoot-and-hope-the-target-will-be-where-you-think-it-will-be-but-chances-are-you're-going-to-miss? We want tracking! We want cruise missiles that uses Image Recognition and GPS, we want it be ready to fire close to a moment's notice, and we want it to be fast! This is WAR MAGIC, made for WAR, not Lawn Darts. Do you think the other guy is going to sit there and wait while you waggle your fingers at him and chant 'Tra-la-la?' Heck no! You're going to have 3 feet of steel in your belly and you're gonna be on the ground squealing like a pig! In War, speed is the name of the game. I got that from somewhere, I don't know what book it was from...

Sorry for that rather incoherent and emotional outburst *composes herself and hides the cleaver*, being a long time mage in AC, I've suffered the sad excuse they have for a 16/12 credit skill designed with one purpose: to kill. As for the scarabs, burn rate is really low, so I have no complaints ;p

nei@turbine> they let me answer the fun ones... whee!
nei@turbine> nah, it's never the end... it'd get boring if new things didn't happen...
nei@turbine> those *crazy* mages are always up to no good..
nei@turbine> it just is a matter of getting them out and trading power for... um... erm... reliability?
nei@turbine> ah never end though...
nei@turbine> done

Translation: We have definite solutions for this issue, and we're going to dish it in bite-sized morsels.
Jesse is now my hero, he gave an answer that basically said yes, not maybe/considering it/tech/resource allocation problems. I love you Jesse, where do I send the fan mail?







LionHe4rt> Q: Will you please add a new island with Powerful melee monsters - like a olthoi with 3000hp that even a fully buffed mage would be hit for 20-50 a shot, something fun for high lvl groups to actually hunt, not just mobs of spell casting bandies or shadows
LionHe4rt> I've played since beta, love the game, just tired of rerolling each time I get a character to lvl 60+ range, again great job on the game, GA

Translation: I don't think Lugian Miners/Raiders, Grievvers and Hollow Minions are good enough at killing mages, therefore we need something cool, like an island full of hollow level 242 lightning-breathing rats. Give them high melee D like a Silver Tusker so only spec'd melees can hit them, low al but high magic and natural elemental resistance(like hitting a tusker with lightning bolt), absurd attack skill and power so you must wield a Shendolain Shield at all times or you'll be hit for 20-50 per shot...at the attack rate of a rat. We can make them more anti-mage as well, give them drain modifiers like Grievvers and Niffis, give it the ability to counterbuff like Grievvers instead of making them just immune to magic like Lugian Raiders/Miners. That way, the mage will think (s)he has a chance and we can all laugh our arses off when she gets totally owned by it. Oh yeah, might as well make the portal warden Accept these tokens that you buy for 80k at the Lytelthorpe Tailor, so only people with over 240 Strength can buy them. For added humor, we can call them Devilmice, after our favorite nerf fiend(didn't I say I loved him a few moments ago?)



Actually I wouldn't mind something to that effect, though not that extreme. Maybe new Olthoi that had Chorozite in their fungus meals and now suddenly have carapaces composed partially of Chorozite. Make them more mature versions of Nymphs, since they're the ones that are supposedly growing up, thus more susceptible to composites in their diets. Make a dungeon full of them...Olthoi Nursery or something, make cooridors full of them...20 in a chamber or something. Make the spawn rate 5 minutes. Since they're relatively small, 12 of them can surround you and pick you apart with semi-hollow/hollow weapons. Picture yourself getting tunred into a pincusshion by a bunch of Nymphs with glowy blue and purple bubbles moving all over their bodies, hehe. I wouldn't mind it. Encourages group play, provides a challenge. Sounds like fun.

ken@turbine> no concrete plans on when, but we have been discussing something along these lines, vaguely similar at least
ken@turbine> done

Well, they're thinking about it.





Drexus1> Will war VIIs stay as is or will they be altered? Some think they are to expensive, others think they are to powerful. My first opinion, war was utterly broken. I still feel that way to an extent, but I know life will never be nerfed. War VIIs are NOT to
Drexus1> powerful. The burn rate is perfect. The cost of plats is a tad bit high. I could see 22k or 25k but 40k is just to much. Other than that two thumbs up on VIIs. Now where did you hide that war VI-life VI orb...

Translation: Is the current set of War 7 subject to change? I don't think there's any problems with it, though the Platinum Scarab cost is questionable.

nei@turbine> i'm in again! yay me.
nei@turbine> no... war 7s wil pretty much be staying as they are now... (the spells themselves, that is -- mana cost, power, diff, etc)
nei@turbine> the surrounding elements (specifically the comps) are still being ponderized.
nei@turbine> (that wasn't a word...)
nei@turbine> done.

The current set of War 7 spells is going to stay the same in terms of mechanics, though they *are* pondering the components...formulas, or component prices, or burn rates? Hmmm...this, combined with the previous answer by Jesse to Aphonous give us some more clues as to the war magic that will undoubtedly be coming up. My guess would be completely new spells using new mechanics/tech are in the works (hey, all that new 'tech' that they never have time/resources for must not be available currently for a reason, right?). Mmm...Fireball, Fires an Ilservian's Flame that deals 110-180 damage to the first thing it hits, then creates a level 7 ring spell at the point of impact...I can dream, can't I?






Daluran> Q: Could minor magical cantrips be implemented, such as a light spell etc.
Daluran> Possibly added as "Illuminate self/other" =) I feel it would help during an AC night for those of us that hunt the wilderness.
Daluran> Might be a technical task, but would definitely be neat. - - done.

Hmm...a very interesting idea, I wish I had thought of it.

cardell@turbine> Actually, there has been a lot of thought around here about new spells that deviate from the research norm.
cardell@turbine> As for a light spell? Sounds like a promising idea.

sean@Turbine> Dynamic lighting such as you ask for, (ie: a spell) does not work outdoors. Works fine inside houses and in dungeons, but not outdoors. There is no way to change that in this engine. Adding a spell to add light to a character, would do nothing outside...
sean@Turbine> ...where many people would want to use it.
sean@Turbine> done

Wow, this is one of the few times I've seen the Devs, and more than one at that, consider an idea presented by a player...and say that it's possible/does not require tech. This would probably come out as a Creature spell sometime in the next half a year or so, but it is mage luv of sorts none the less.






AC_White_star> Are there any changes in the works to make Magic Defense a more viable skill other than to PK?
AC_White_star> Creatures seem to have such a high magic skill that it would be impossible to resist the level 6 spells cast by them.
AC_White_star> Oh yea...FEH!

As seen by our recent research here, Magic D may not be borked as many think it is...its just a question of the stupidly high casting skill Monsters have.

cardell@turbine> Magic resistance is not a worthwhile skill as it currently stands.
cardell@turbine> We've looked at it for a while, and we've begun fixing the issue. Currently Wasps have already been modified, and hopefully the process will not stop there.
cardell@turbine> But then again, it is a free skill.
cardell@turbine> Done.

They're actually doing something about it! w00t!



Woah, did I say something abot short? I'm having too mch fun with my board editing skills I think. Well that's it, I learned how to do some basic board editing, discussed some stuff and used up my break between classes. Comments/Questions/Flames are more than welcome, feel free to post!

Zarya bint Tala'an

P.S. I can roleplay too!

 

Q & A / Discussion of Journal 8

Question:

Can you give me an idea of how you prep for one of these runs with regards to your buff cycle, comp load out, etc?

Answer:

As far as buffing goes, the order I cast in is Rejuvenation Self V, Armor/Blud Pro Self VI, then Item Vs. I use the Rejuvenation as a timer for my buffs.

Question:

Do you kill only tuskers on your leveling path? And about how much xp per hour do you get?

Answer:

On the standard leveling path, I've been making roughly 500-800k an hour, depending on the traffic in the area. For example, last night was horrid, there were people everywhere, so I just gave up and decided to try to figure out a path with more xp. Keep in mind though, this is the path that I used for my early 30s, so its absurdly easy for me now.

On the exploration path, I spent most of my time memorizing the spawn points. I got most of my xp from the chain of Phat Spawns near the magical fountain. I actually recorded the numbers and it came out to roughly 1 million xp in an hour on level 6 life and level 5 item buffs. I didn't even do much running around, I move over a screen, found the next swarm of Tuskers and systematically brought the groups down. If I didn't have to run away from too many Tuskers so much I would have made much much more.

I hope you're not on Frostfell, I think I'll hunt there for the next 11 levels ;p.

Question:

How many tuskers can you tank at once now? And do you only fight the tuskers? or do you take off the golems and shadows also?

Answer:

I only fight Tuskers, all the rest is a waste of my precious leveling time. I can easily tank 4 Tuskers, any more than that and I have to start pulling off some buggy slidecasting tricks.

Original Thread