Big running battle
My vassal (Mortok) had a body in a bad spot. (End of three towers quest.) I ran to the Mayoi Direlands portal. I was thinking of powering up after going in like I mostly do. Instead I stopped and powered up early.
While in portal I saw two Umbris shadows moving my way. I started fighting as soon as I was out of portal, then ran. I hoped to draw the one I was hitting and fight it alone. Both followed and I was jumped by a bunch of other stuff as well. I shook off the Umbriss and killed the other stuff.
Ran over to the spawn site. I can say to myself that I wanted to clear the portal but I will be honest, I wanted the Umbriss. Both attacked again so I decided to fight them. About 10 seconds into the fight a two Pans and two LTs joined in. Well, I was not going to stand still for a gang-banging so we were off to the races. This time I was able to trap one of the Umbris and get it alone. Sellable loot only.
Headed back and tried to get the Umbris to the same spot I killed his brother. (Her sister?) Instead I got the two LTs. That was a bit harder. Then I got a Pan and that was not hard.
I charged the spawn site where the Umbris and Pan were. After they started chasing me I would weave and try to get one alone. I got them to separated several times. When I attacked one the other always joined in. I decided the hell with it, I will fight them both.
They had me to 50 points several times. A quick shot of heal elixir and a few heals got me back. A quick spell by either one might have took me out then. It took them about two minutes to run out of mana. After that I was doing more damage than they were. A fighter came up during this. I typed, "Take the Pan". He know better. He ran over and started to toss heals on me instead. Brave act because if I died he was dead too.
After the Umbris fell he joined in on the Pan. Said he did not get a single hit in. I opened up the pan for him to loot and looked at the Umbris. LOL Armor V pants diff 200+. Cold protection V Sho diff 144!
That was the only good loot I have ever gotten off a Umbris.
A very busy day
The above adventure was the middle fight in a long day of fights. After hunting the Nest a bit I got a ride to a spot close to the far n/w fort. Damien Daring had given me two bars and a bunch of motes. Great vassal Damien is. Now I need to get some diamond scarabs.
This run was a lot shorter than my last one. (From the Nest) I got there quickly using my running setup. (Armor VI pants, shirt, quick V bracelet, sprint VI shoes.)
After getting the 10 scarabs I ported back to AB. There someone was spaming a trade for chorizite powder. I guessing with permabuffs gone the powder is going cheap. I traded him 1 key for the set of 40. Now I needed to get to my mule. He can make it into a potion.
Someone opened up a portal so I jumped in, hoping it was the subway. Found myself in one of the citadels. Going outside I saw it was the one east of Mayoi. It is a quick run to Lin from there. After that I could take the Tou-Tou portal and then get to Awric. Knowing the portal system makes moving around easy.
I was about halfway to Lin when I saw a portal. Floating City? What the hell, I can only die. Found myself in a big maze of rooms. Nothing dangerous there, bandies mostly. Another portal to Floating City? That lead to a different set of rooms.
I found another portal for Floating City. In that one I found another person. He had been killed by a Reverant and was wondering how he was going to get his body back. I was finally forced out of my running gear into combat mode.
Killed a bunch of undead with him and found still another portal. There we found an archer. The three of use killed some more and we jumped into another portal. This put me back at where I had started.
I still had a lot of things to do so I said my goodbye and ported back to AB.
I took the portal there and ran to the web maze. That got me to Mayoi. I ran to Lin and stopped in to see of there was someone to combine my bars. Killean had a player who could do that for me. Family support is so nice.
I dropped off the powder on my mule in Awric along with the potions needed to make them into chorizite potions. My mage would pick it up later. Ran over to the Subway and to the Holtburg portal. That is the closest city to the crater.
The run there was not bad, even in my running gear. I would not recommend it for a low level but not bad otherwise. My problem came in finding a route up the to the ridgeline. While going up and down the mountainside, trying to find a way, I found a body. I send a message to the person, giving him the location.
I finally found the route up and, after a bit fun exploring, the way into the Crater. Not the right way as I took some damage bouncing down. I'm guessing the quest that fills the Crater with monsters was going on. I saw stuff I don't see there. I did not have time to fight them and was still in my running gear.
My vassal by this time had sent me a message asking for help. I was in a hurry to get my claw and help him. So much of a hurry I forgot to buff myself. Did not matter as I'm a 309 raw unarmed skill but would have like to buff, just in case.
Got my claw, ported to AB and ran to Mayoi. The Saint was going to help us but he had to log. After my battle with the Shadows I avoided monsters and ran to the three towers.
Mortok was fighting when I got there. I helped him clear the place and we started on the quest. His body was at the very end. He knew the way so I was just there for muscle. Stuff spawns, I kill. He ran around doing the levers.
I'm not against leading but he knew the place better. I have seen many an adventure where the highest level decided that made him the leader. Most of them failed.
With my flashing Centus we cleared everything in record time. Got a key and a skull after getting his body. Then waited for it to re-spawn so he could get one.
In the next place there are a bunch of chests. The key had 5 uses I think. I got some nice armor for some future vassal. The Saint was asking about a Focus V. Mortok found one and gave it to me for him.
Nice end for a long day.
I got a tell from my vassal Damien Daring. He had a friend who wanted to meet with me. Shava Elefin is a role player. He has a lot of vassals who are also into role-playing.
I had just returned from the island when I got a tell from Elefin asking me to meet him at GW. I lucked out and got a portal to the Subway.
Now a lot of players think role-playing is talking funny. That is not the case. It is playing a role. In this case I'm a fighter of the evil that infects the land. I have many faces in that battle, Fighter, Mage, Archer and Bard. They wished to join me in my quest. The key to role-playing is to stay away from RL stuff as much as possible. It is even possible to exchange e-mail address while staying in your role. Not easy mind you but possible.
Anyway Fist de Mage now has a new set of vassals. All of them are playing their role. It is a bit of a switch to get in to my role at times but a lot of fun. Most of the people I work with are having fun playing the game and there is zero role-playing. I'm enjoying my part and I think it adds a lot of fun.
Leveling with a Vapor Golem
I was hunting on the island with Fist de Mage and was close to getting 46lv. There is a Vapor Golem that camps the other side of a bridge going to a castle. I tried to kill it once before but had to run with it at a sliver.
I learned something in that fight that I promptly forget in this one. What I learned with this misty looking Golem was not effected by shockwave much. Why I forgot that I'll never know. I did a bit of reading after that and knew I needed to use cold.
So there I was. I had it to a sliver, ready to fall. I was also hurting a lot, at 50hp. Fired shockway V for 19 points. That was when my brain kicked in. A bit late because a nice fire ball sent me to the LifeStone.
I got back as fast as I could. I don't leave anything but death items on my body but like to recover anyway. One of the key things with this mage is to never carry anything I would not want to lose. You might say he is made to die.
I lost three points of vit when someone killed the Vapor for me. He sent me a message saying to use cold. I thanked him for clearing the vit.
I got the body ok and was clear of all vit by then. A few bandies will do that. Now I was going to take that blasted Vapor. The first four Yields did not take. The fifth yield VI hit. Then I did a few drains to get my health and mana back. Cold Voln V and some more drains.
It was getting to about the point I was at before. I was a little worried. Cold V and it dropped at my feet. Amazing what using the right spell will do. I was engulfed with a big rainbow as I made 46lv off it.
Dispels and the Island
One of the things I hate about the island is Altered drudges. Get close to the darn things and you get Life and War ineptitude V on you. In a full battle I will have Bafflement and Confusion as well. After that it is fizzle resist city. The answer was to learn life V dispels. As I use level VI life spells, dispels will not effect me, other than to take off the bad stuff.
After Fist de Yuma was able to get some chorizite and scarabs I had to learn the spells. I picked up the stuff off my mule. Then stocked up at the Tired Mage shop. A quick run to the Mayoi hall put me in a mana pool. Dam thing was full of macros users. I mean packed with about 10 people stuffed in there. It was so bad I had to turn off my speaker. I was even having a hard time targeting myself as the computer players would block me.
To get this I was going to have to be lucky. Otherwise I would burn all the chorizite before I got the spells. Well I was lucky. I was on the third taper when it hit. Splitpea then narrowed the tapers for level V to 3x3 so at most I was going to have 27 tries. I got it on the third taper and had 29 chorizite powders left.
It works great! I fight Altered Drudges without fear now. At the end of the battle I might have to toss life purge twice but after that I'm ready go fight again.
Lamers hurt us again.
There are things people do that are not in the best interest of the game. When that happens Turbine will try to fix it with code. I hear the other games (EQ and UO) make blanket bans instead.
The first big change was the xp reduction for perchers and drainers. It did not work because they put in code where if two people attack the xp goes to full. Most places where people are perching and draining there are many players doing it.
Who was hurt was the lone fighter where the code reduces the xp for an unknown reason. Turbine has insisted that it will not happen but several have proven that is does.
Now they are talking about reducing the amount of xp you get from actions such as tossing a spell. This is a big nerf to an already hurting class, the mages. We found that if two players fight in fellowship, a fighter and a mage, the fighter will level faster. So already there is less xp given for tossing a spell than swinging a sword and avoiding a hit. With this change it will be even worse.
There is also the matter of mules. I'm sure that Turbine does not like mules. There are several skills that are a waste for a fighter, cooking, fletching and alchemy are jobs for mules. ID'ing stuff is also their job in many cases.
The only way a mule, in most cases, can level is by doing their job over an over again. Most players do this the right way. The macro's are letting the computer do it. In trying to stop the macro players they could really hurt mules and mages.
I don't blame Turbine. The macro players are totally against the concept of the game. Hell there is talk of players getting 700k an hour that way. This will have them at high level while on vacation. Those of us who sweat every drop of xp with our blood are getting less than that.
The mana pool is being sucked dry by the computer players. Lag is worse around them and I'm sure that overall lag is more because of them. Role players have to work around them. Anyone who wants to use a mana pool has to deal with them. Alliances using the halls have to suffer the noise and visual effects. So macros must go, but I hate seeing real players suffering because of the lamers again.
New group tales
In this tale Namu goes where no mage should go.
I log and my vassal Jehospahat tells me about how you can make permanently enchanted items. Sounds cool, not many seem to know. Jehosaphat has been playing longer than I and is melee. Hes a great guy and keeps this dumb mage abreast of melee stuff (as does my friend Tariq ibn Jaffa, who threw a fit when I sold a 8-16 pointy thing ...).
So we need some chorozite potions. Last time I went to the excavation site, I sat outside and provided distant moral support on a body recovery. Ore is in medium mine but is still death to mages. Jeho asks if Im coming and we head off from Ayan. Subway, Tou Tou, Lin and a run from there. I figure Im along to buff his weapon and am still wearing my matty robe. We arrive, I buff him a bit and he says Ready ? Hmm. Im going in ? I guess he thinks I am.
Ah well. I trust him and say Wait one. AL 40 robe is not going to be much good. I just hope they hit my nonce a lot (AL 185 kabuton, looks nice :), or hands (fashion victim with very nice AL 185 white plate gloves from my sugar daddy Tariq). I buff my melee (old style 4 schools mage and melee, I just love it). So with 200+ melee d I hope they wont hit often. Its the rocks that worry me.
Im in portal and downloading when Jeho tells me Ill lose all my mana at the entrance. Great, now he tells me. I know about the magic traps and to stay next to wall so when Jeho heads in I stick left like glue and avoid the trap. Ok, not too bad. I have Jeho targeted and we start moving through. He goes ahead and I heal/stam as needed from range. This is going well until he heads back shouting Run, a trail of Lithos in tow. A mild panic but we get over it.
sidenote:
Tariq a while back took me sight seeing at the new luggie fortress. Very impressive. I also got killed when I let him talk me in to landing an imperil on an Tiatus. I landed it and started running. I died a moment later as a laser guided rock took my head off. So I know about hollow rocks. Tariq also said that from where he killed the Tiatus it could only have just seen my head. I also ran diagonally so its deflection shooting is non too shabby either.
So in a hollow mine Im not giving line of sight to anything. Im healing Jeho when, whack I get smacked hard. I turn to notice I had given a lug maybe 0.5 degree on a corner and it was throwing like a master. Smack, I get hit again as Jeho reaches it. Jeho clears and we move down.
Now it gets tricky as were in the mine proper. Big halls and no hiding places. Jeho gets in a scrap and Im running and trying to imperil/heal with Lithos trying to splat me. Things dont go so well and Jeho takes a Lithos hit from behind and dies :( Just for the record, I didnt land a single yield/imp V or IV with a 270+ critter/life skill. Was I unlucky or are these more magic resistant SOBs that, even if I am stupid enough to come down to face, I cant touch?
At this point another guy has shown up and cleans house. Hes lvl 57ish and called Ironman something (sorry about the name). Im talking to Jeho, as Ironman clears, figuring Ill recall. Jeho has other ideas.
"See that pick axe on the ground ?"
"Yup."
"Pick it up and follow that other guy."
Hmmm. That other guy is long gone but I tell him and he says its clear. He clears way to ore and grabs it. Fair enough, Ill wait. He suggests I wait in corner and makes ready to leave (out comes a wand). Im stood in the corner with this huge pick axe waiting and peeing myself. Ironman is in to a cast. I have other spellcasters squelched so I am assuming its a recall (not really paying attention), when the Lithos respawn.
My experience of recalling is never to dither. Make a decision and go with it. Indecision kills you. Recall earlier rather than later. I decided pretty quick and was in cast when I saw Ironman pulling a weapon. DAMN ! Im back at Ayan with Jeho (nothing worthwhile on his body) with a Lugian pick axe and no ore.
"That was the most heartpounding fun," I tell him.
"Hehe," he replies.
"And we got to go on an adventure together," says Jehosaphat.
Yup we sure did. Damn fine vassal and friend.
Namu
47 Mage Leafcull
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