Getting bad memories out of the way.
My blood boiled, my fists clutched. All I could think of was retribution.
I know that we now have a resolved nation. I watched for years as terrorist camps trained monsters and we let them. I watched as words replaced action and self-serving politicians weakened our country.
I saw people who should know better think a war would be fought from afar. I saw an aspirin factory blow up to cover an immoral politician's up coming court case. I saw my brothers in arms going on food stamps to feed their family.
I now see a liberal media try in undermined our president, the same people who had nothing but excuses for the last one.
I saw people push forward to shake the hand of our President. I saw people put their hands in their pockets to not shake the hands of fakes and liars.
Today there are no hyphenated Americans, there are only Americans.
I know that people sacrificed themselves and fought to crash their plane. They knew by then what was going to happen and they resolved that if people must die it would only be them. This is what the terrorist will be facing now. They have no idea how strong we are.
The people how did this terrible act may feel happy. That will not last. I know the people who supported them are feeling the heat and regret their actions. They are starting to understand that we are nice because we a good people, not because we are a weak people.
Those that commit terrorist's acts and those that support them will feel our wrath. The days of "Feeling your pain" are over, now it is "Feel our anger".
For the stupid bigots only
For those to stupid to understand about attacking someone for others acts, let me explain. These cowards attacked Americans for being Americans. If you attack someone who looks slightly like what you think a terrorist looks like, you are no better.
Across the street from my father-in-law's house someone who looks Arab works. He has had threats and cannot work. This is stupid. Save your anger for those who did this, not those that look somewhat like them. We are all Americans!
For stupid liberals, treat the above acts for what they are, a crime. If an Arab is assaulted, it is assault and battery, not something mystical we can call a hate crime. Let the police solve crimes and stop trying to push an addenda at the expense of America.
A whole new ball game.
This is one of those patches that changed the game in total. There have been patches that have done this in the past. Changing the dire spawns comes to mind. Overall no change has affected everyone like this one has.
The Dires are about as fun as the island now. Things you only found on the island are now camping my LS. The tent cowards are having a field day. I even died going into the C-note fortress. Bunch of Bandies jumped me as I looted a Diamond golem. The Undead and Diamond golems in the Fortress started de-buffing me as the Bandies attacked. A few fizzles later I was at the LS.
A nice change is steel chests in the Dires. I'm carrying my keys now. When I run across a chest I use one. I don't have the mind set for camping so after one pull I move on. With so many chests I don't need to camp.
While the spawns are harder in the Dires the hordes of monsters on the plains are gone. This means people have hunting room. Before hitting one monster might mean fighting 20. As the monsters that are there are very strong this makes it an ideal hunting ground for the big guys.
I was there with Balash and a vassal of his this week. We had the ideal setup, melee, mage and archer. We need to do it more as our teamwork sucked. That will come in time.
One problem I see is melee proof monsters. My preferred tactic is to imperil and Vuln and let the others kill it off. This cuts down on comp burn and mana management problems. By making monsters that either cannot be hit (Ascendant Drudge) or have such high armor that imperil has little effect (Virindi Executor) this tactic goes away. There are far too many of those on the plains.
This meant was they had to stand around while I fought. Not fun for them and creates friction.
Diamond Lords are forcing Melee's to befriend a Mage. A Mage has no use for the shield but few melee's can fight a Diamond Lord. Our alliance has people searching the Dires for Diamond Loads with Mages on stand by. Rizean has killed a bunch while I have come up empty.
Fighting Ascendant Drudges and Virindi Executor's are quite exciting for me. Saw my first Ascendant Drudge near the C-note Fortress. I really expected to fight it like I do other Drudges. A fire vuln, a few drains and a fireball. With a 355 life I landed the Vuln. I got a few resists of my drains. With 340 war, resist, resist, resist. Said the hell with it and tossed a yield VI. Resist, resist, resist. Added focus stone, this pushed my creature to 356. Resist, resist, resist, landed! Fireball with now a 347 war, resist, resist, resist, regain mana, resist, resist, resist, resist, regain mana, resist, resist. Well you get the picture.
Finally after a long time the fireball landed. Fortunately I only needed to land one war to win. Next one was better but still a hard battle. I'm not one to avoid a monster because it is hard to fight. Instead I find a way to defeat it.
The biggest problem was my 347 War was not enough even with yield VI on it. Because my 362 Life seemed to be hitting well I knew I was close. It is costing me over 6 million points for war so adding that would be slow. Better was to get Yield VII.
I had that scroll but give it away a while back. Figure I would never need it. Very stupid of me. No one seemed to have one available when I asked. Several members searched their mules for me. I had picked up a Sing key in the Bore last week. Figured I could use it for trade bate.
I hit the boards and got several people answering. Only one could read. He met me in Lin and we did the exchange. I had a few "other" spells I was missing. I pulled them off my mule and ran to the creature place.
This was right after the patch. I expected it to be harder but this was ridicules. Some of the harder Dires stuff like Bandie Enforcers are now in the northeast. The drop off at Bandit Castle is a death trap for all but the strongest. A very different world now. That spell got me an added 5 points off the Drudge's magic defense.
I started putting points into creature and got it to 359. Getting that first Yield is important as they will raise their magic defense if they resist a spell. I will be pushing Creature a lot more than I planned now.
Now the test. It turns out like this, simple and hard. If I land the Yield I should have no problem landing the Vuln. Then there is a good chance of the war making the kill. So if lucky it is three spells. I got that in about 1 in 5.
A hard battle will be a resist fest. I'll win in time but it is not easy or fast. Still I'll win in time for two reasons. One I'm going to keep at it as I know I can win. Two their AI sucks. I had many a battle where they would just stand there. Ever so often it will run over and grab a drain then run back. I have fought a spawn of 4 where after a few attacks all but what I'm fighting run back to the spawn. With level VI spells they mostly try to melee when they bother to fight at all. No de-buffing is a big help as well. All this I'm glad of as if they fought smart I would not fight them.
The rest of the battles very between a few resists to a load of them. I have killed over 20 so far. Why this is I have no idea but the loot sucked. You would think that a 245 monster that is melee impossible and a 360 magic defense (estimated) would have great loot. As is I only killed them for the ego rush.
Luck or reward for deeds?
Sometimes I feel purely blessed. Many times I have been rewarded for deeds I expected no gain for. True if I had not been willing to help people these rewards would not have come my way. I'm sure if I had done it with the expectation of reward I would not have gotten them. The island adventure the other day is a good example.
I'd been hunting on the island had logged there for the night. The next evening and hit the Corals. I'm working my stats for the island quest so grabbing a few thousand points off Corals helps. If it is camped I'll quickly move. If more than two other people are hunting them I'll move. Bandies and Drudges may be less xp but I'm not stumbling over other hunters.
I killed a few Corals but saw there were too many other hunters and headed out. As I passed the entrance point I got a tell from two fans of the column. While talking to them Brite Eyes asked me if I would help her. I did not know her but that is not unusual.
Brite Eyes was about to set out on the Island quest with a handful of people. I checked them out and felt the party was far too low to make it, even with my help. Despite this I decided to go with them. William had told me that a small party who knows the quest can do it.
The party was Portal to Teth (54), Brite Eye (76) Og of Krunch (47) Qui Tai (??) and The Profit Kato (69). The loot was for The Profit Kato.
After running around the island we started buffing up. I noted that we only had one melee and that was a level that would not hit much. I was sure this was not going to work but I was going to hang in as long as possible. I also noted that The Profit Kato was PK, which meant we were not able to heal him.
In the doorway of the first part we lost Brite Eyes. As that was the only high level besides me so we had to wait. She got back in about half an hour. The next part was not smooth but we were never in trouble. We did lose one person.
After leaving that dungeon we were in the center bay. The run to the Foundry was nasty but I out ran the monsters and was in the clear. The party was well in back so I stopped to imperil the Diamonds from just out of their range.
As my spell was going off one of the party ran by me and the Diamonds stood up. Both sent out shockwaves. To my surprise both spells were vectoring in on me. I hit my slide keys for a left hand slide. At the same time the rest of the party shows up and a few Silver Tusker are with them. One of the Tuskers stops on my left side. Sure enough my slide is blocked and both spells hit, just as the Tusker takes a smack at me.
I go from 236 hit points to dead in less than a second. To say the least I was pissed. The party was never a team so I should have expected it. Not their fault as teamwork takes time. I admit that I should have stayed with them and not run ahead. Good advice but in a field of monsters, hard to follow.
I quickly worked off the vit and got into the Fortress. From the portal I ran to the turn before Bone town. (Relic town) I waited there as several of them died trying to finish the Foundry. By death items were now spread over two people. Brite Eyes said they had to stop the quest as we were stepping on Mott the Hoople's quest.
It seemed that this quest was not on the list. There was a few hours gap that a strong party who really knows the quest might have used. This party did not fit any of that.
So the quest was off. Or was it? The Profit Kato and the rest stubbornly kept at it. They were not making much headway. I had ported out and ran back to the Island by this time. (Going back through the lava fields is harder than fighting into the fortress.) I was talking to Mott the Hoople and watched the progress of the group. I learned that most of Mott's group had left and their quest was off.
I decided to try and keep things going. It was clear to me that the original party was not strong enough to finish the quest. Maybe by combining Mott's remaining people and ours we could salvage something. They agreed to help. I have to commend Mott the Hoople and his group for their selfless actions. Their quest was ruined by our miss-planning but rather than be angry they helped us.
The remaining people in the Foundry ported out and some of them joined us. I might have a few names off this as not everyone got in the fellow. The new group was Brite Eyes (76), Hot Ice (58), Kassar (51), Mott the Hoople (66), Yuric the Cruel (55), Nassar (??), Og of Krunch (47) and Wenra Elassar (58). Some of these joined us at the Crater but most were with us in the Foundry.
At this point The Profit Kato was not with us. Mott's party wanted to get the loot for me. I was honored and joked I would die before we got there anyway. I was sure that The Profit Kato would get back and he would get it. Still at this point I had hope.
This group knew the Foundry well. Additionally they were mostly melee. This let me imperil everything and let the melee's dispatch them. I was very busy targeting and imperiling. I also watched people and sent a lot of heals their way. The biggest pain is the lag.
Even small lag caused problems when watching monsters and peoples health. I found myself imperiling a monster that appeared to be at full health. It actually it was almost dead but the bar had not been updated. The same happened with people. I would send a heal at a half dead player only to see it heal for 0 damage.
We had a few deaths in the hallway of death. These deaths occurred despite their better tactic of drawing most of the monsters into the pit. The only time I did this quest we charged forward and the lead guy lasted about 2 seconds.
We also did not do the jump of hell. Instead we back tracked to the lava pit and took a portal outside. Much better. We waited for Mott the Hoople who was pulling the levels to get with us before moving out.
We headed to the center crater and waited for the big guy to show up. Someone said a buffed player should go down and watch for it. I still had about 10 minutes on my buff so I headed down. As I got near the bottom I saw The Profit Kato charging the Behemoth of Tenkarrun. He was supposes to run back to tell us it was there. Instead he was fighting it alone. In hindsight he may not have known we were there.
I quickly toss an imperil on it for him, then a cold vuln, hoping he was using a frost weapon. Then for the mages I hit it with yield. I quickly noted that The Profit Kato was no longer fighting. A Plasma golem joined in the fight and Kato was running. Being he is PK I could not heal him. I sent a frost bolt or two after the big guy. I did not watch the results. I ran back up the hill and shouted that the Behemoth was here.
I ran back and started firing more Frost bolts as the rest joined the battle. With all the fighting I was too busy to watch the screen for what was dieing. I was imperiling Golems and healing people. Several people I healed for over 100 points. I was especially watchful over the archers. They take a lot of damage quickly.
Suddenly it was all over. As an afterthought I checked the big golem to see who got the kill. LOL Fist de Mage. Guess a few frost bolts hit.
I was surprised to find that my old friend Cameronlock was with us now. I guess someone asked him along. I was happy to see him and noted he is now 92 level.
Cameronlock asked me is he could have the black stone. I said it was not my call. I thought The Profit Kato wanted it but he said no. After a bit of the stone laying on the ground, people were busy fighting, we agreed to let Cameronlock have it.
At this point I was sure my chances of getting the loot was over. The Profit Kato was first and Cameronlock acted like he wanted it as well. I was not upset, as I know I'll get it someday. I did not join the quest to get the scroll.
Bone town was a mess as always but we had enough power to not be in danger. Once inside we buffed up and headed into hell. Even though I jumped the full length of the hallway I still had my buffs dispelled. Now I have said before that there is no excuse for swearing with the keyboard. I take that back. My fingers type my thoughts without my knowledge. Someone was so surprised he took a screen shot.
I buffed up as fast as I could. Luckily half my buffs are Item spells on my armor, which were not dispelled. Still it is rather scary to be standing next to a Diamond golem with no buffs. I would pause from buffing to toss an imperil from time to time.
At the last gate we had an epic battle, a constant wave of Golems, Umbris and Bones. I don't know what the hold up was but we waited there for a long time while they found the switch. There were too many for imperils so I just blasted.
The door opened and I found myself fighting alone against a horde of Rats and Wisps. Health got low a few times but as I whittled them down things got better. A few people charged forward to the Ladies room and I guarded their backs. I missed who killed her.
I got to the room and someone shouted for me to get the loot. I did not see The Profit Kato or Cameronlock there. I found out later that the Lady has a rather unique spell, Portal Other. She had ported out The Profit Kato and Cameronlock.
I think Brite Eye was a little ticked and I did not blame her. This was her quest for The Profit Kato. As sorry as I was about their bad luck I'm not a hypercritic. I was overjoyed at my good fortune.
From there I had to go to the chest. Everyone ported out and only Brite Eyes, Yuric the Cruel and Og of Krunch were with me. Brite Eyes headed off to pick up loot and the other two headed to the chest with me.
We dispatched a Firestorm and moved in. Surprise, all our buffs are dispelled. There is another Firestorm. I will say what without the bravery of Yuric the Cruel and Og of Krunch I would not have made it to the chest.
Yuric the Cruel attacked the Firestorm while Og and I buffed. Yuric was just swinging and healing but he could not touch it. After a few creature buffs I tossed some level VII on Yuric hoping that would let him hit the Firestorm. No dice. Here the three of use formed a team and a team is hard to beat. I had just enough buffs to keep Yuric going. (Creature spells but no life protections.) We held the Firestorm off while Og was able to buff. Og attacked and that let me get a few more buffs.
The second one spawned but we were clicking by then. One fell then the other. To say the least I was very grateful to the both of them. Without thinking and in a big hurry, knowing the Firestorms are in a fast spawn, I looted the chest. I'm kind of ashamed as I really should have let Og of Krunch have the robe and Yuric the Cruel the sword. There both no give.
At that point we ported out. A special thanks for Brite Eyes, The Profit Kato and especially Mott the Hoople. Mott's effort got me the scroll and Brite Eyes and The Profit Kato did not hold a grudge over it. I'm not sure many others would be so understanding.
I carefully read the scroll. I have heard of people giving the scroll to the wrong translator and losing it. This is a surprise as the instructions are very clear. I got the spell! Just in time they have fixed the portal bug as well. My money problems will be solved as I can go loot, portal and sell. I'm beside myself with joy!
Like I said at the start, I'm truly blessed with luck and friends.
To hard for new players?
There is a lot of talk how it is too hard for new players to play now. They say if you don't have a tweeker you're not going to do well. I of course say, "Bull". As proof I got this letter from my vassal today. He is a beginning Battle Mage. I know several players who refuse tweeking and do it on their own. When the tent cowards say their way is the only way I think of the ones who bravely stand and fight.
What I found especially funny was he used a bug to get into a place too high for him. When I see 100+ levels fighting in BSD I have to laugh. Other than ego buff what are they getting out of it? Here is someone fighting way above his level while so many fight below theirs.
Hi all,
Well I had a great time with Abin this weekend. It was nice to play hard and see the results of the work pay off for me. I leveled from 20th to 26th all on my own. Well that isnt completely true I guess, having Toromada make hearty foods certainly helped .
Abin is tied to the GDC, which is near Qual, and a very good place to mages esp. Battlemages to cut their teeth. You have to have a high level character come in and get past the portal restricted entrance for you, but when you do that it is fun. You port in on a platform that has ramps down either side. Down the ramps there are halls that lead to rooms that have about 6 Stalkers and Lurkers each. I either get close enough for them to notice me or I target one and throw a vul on it. I then run back up the ramp and move towards the end furthest from the ramps. This way the Drudges cant follow you and kick your arse. Also when you pull them like that they come out from both tunnels so you have plenty to kill. At that point it is a matter of draining health/stam and finishing with fire bolt.
I did this till 25th and was getting a bit bored, so I decided to explore a bit. There is a passage directly under the platform that has two Stalkers, once finishing them off the following room has about 8 Stalkers, so the exp really begins to fly there. Using my exp with Damien in OHN, Id get myself into a corner so they couldnt get me from behind, and drain health/stam and finish with fire bolt again. But this time Id have to be more careful because they could hit pretty hard with weapons and spells. Remembering what Fist told me about hunting way back when, Id sometimes have to target another Stalker to fill up my heath again because the one I had been fighting was too low in health for me to be protected against what the others were doing to me.
To me it was as if you combined BSD and OHN and had Stalkers instead of bugs or monkeys. Going this way instead of hunting straight off the platform Ive been averaging 50k exp a buff cycle. Not huge but nothing to sneeze at either, at my level Ill take it.
Another area Id been hunting in was the area around the Tired Mage, I was doing this to make some money and to give myself some variety. Nice thing is that there are a variety of spawns out there so that I could have fun. I ran into some Raveners, enjoyed beating them up as well as some Lithos and Gigas. I found the Monoguas to be ok but the Ferocious ones are more magic resistant than the others. At least at my skill level that is.
Ive also discovered that frost bolts travel slower than molasses to their targets. But the hunting was fun because like I said I got a bit of variety although Ill be hunting GDC a lot. I know it might sound like Im trying to level, but with this new patch the world for the Battlemage template really changed. Not in a bad way but it has made things much more difficult than previously. I know a bunch of others who were running Battlemages either are re-rolling or glad that they hadnt made 20th yet. The new landscape seems to favor a Battlemage who takes creature first. Unfortunately I took item but what the hell right? Even though Im only using a creature II wand I can cast my masteries so my Life/War are at 205 each fully buffed. It was enough for me to learn my level 5s in Life for protections, every little bit helps. Im going to keep focusing on raising them till I get them to 225, then Ill start working on my other stats.
Its funny because when I look at my different characters you can see some similarities but such huge differences based just on beginning decisions at character creation. Abins strength is less than 20 points lower than Toromadas unbuffed strength, 34 levels higher than him. Abins mana is 18 points lower than Damiens mana, who is 25 levels higher. His Life isnt that far behind Damiens either, what is truly frightening about this template is how high the skill variance will be when he hits 51st and then 60th, to compare him to Damien and Toromada. Im sure that Fist has done some of the same comparisons with his characters as well. If I had taken creature instead of item I can honestly say that my magic skills would be the equal of Damien right now or damn close to them.
I purposely played a lot this weekend, I needed to get my mind off things and not think about the view from my office of NYC.
Take care
R. Scott White
CAAARS Dept.
Co-Owner Accounting
For more information on mage stuff
http://pub55.ezboard.com/bdizzsbattlemageforums
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George and his wife have been here before. I envy him a lot. It is hard to get my wife even near the game. She hates it.
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Several stories and thoughts, kinda strug together.
Spear just might not suck
Pretty much every one I have talked to at length knows I am kinda drawn to this under used weapon. Tridents and Naginatas dont seem to be terrible weapons for the point cost of the skill. I must admit, having a specialized attack, melee defense and lore as well as having item and life trained by level 32 while retaining missle defense REALLY appeals to me. After a false start I made Snorri (More related to Sturluson than the dwarf). His performance on Lugians is even more impressive than Nasiers. It should be interesting to see how he works out in the long haul.
Why does everything that begins with "Black" not impress me?
I went to see two dungeons I had not been in before. Black Spawn Den and Black Death Catacombs. Boy was I singularly unimpressed. The apes are good experience...when you can find em. I was bored out of my mind in one buff cycle. So, Barra and I decided to check out the big bug house. I am impressed with how big that place is. I can imagine it would take a while to be able to navigate it well. I must be getting better, the bugs were a yawner. I even made it a point to jump into the pit with the nobles and soldiers and stuff. The bugs died quickly and neither of us was in any danger.
Things are not always what they seem
Barra and I decided to start a new life in the palm trees and head off for the Vesayans. We get to the last island and decide to kill our way across it. Much to my delight, the moarsmen cannot lay a hand on me. We dispatch them and Sclavus and move inland. I catch motion out of the corner of my eye and I am nose to nose with a Nalif Zefir. My rapier leaps forward and the evil little pixie dies on my steel. This isnt so bad after all. Barra, ever the sharp eyed one, points out a trio of Magus. I chuckle and remove my bow from its case and ask her to imperil. I loose the shaft and she casts...and nothing happens. I dodge the VERY large spell and do it again, with the same results. Twenty shafts gets me two hits.
Hmmm, this wont work. How do I kill three powerful casters who dont want to charge me? Wait, thats it! They dont want to close with me. I told Barra to stay directly behind me and do as I do. I move from one Banyan tree to the next, always keeping a tree trunk between us and the magus. I finally get almost close enough to reach around the tree to grab one. Barra looks at me and says "Now what?"
"We wait"
"For what"
"Them to burn out and charge. Enchant your blade."
After a couple of minutes, they finally come around the tree with weapons in hand. Barras sickle and my rapier make quick work of them. I stare at the very dead magus and remember how stupid I am to use a rapier and remind myself to give it to the nearest town crier. About this time, I sense Zakamotos presence. We run to the beach to meet him.
He offers a tour of this island of I accept with great enthusiasm. We run along the beach, killing things that get in our way. As Zakamoto and Barra mop up some Magus I see some wasps up the beach in our path. I know I have excellent electrical protection, so I run ahead to spare my friends the beating. As I engage the first wasp, I see an orange flash from the corner of my eye and hear Barra yell "LOOK OUT, ZEFIRS!"
The words echoed in my ears as I reformed at the lifestone.
Well,...that was dumb.
The rest of the tour was uneventful but there is some beautiful scenery along the way. Now I am resolved to get a recall to sanctuary scroll. This could be fun. : )
My name is Nasier, I wandered the Naqut desert as a scout for the Malika and I volunteered to see what lay beyond the swirling vortex. Since that time I have met many noble souls and fought unimaginable terrors. I even managed to return to Ispar, though I have no memory of the event. Since I chose to return to the island of Dereth, this is my home and I will protect it to the last. I lead a force tracking the shadow retreat from the Direlands and an assault to free Kara in the shadow wars and last night the Virindi learned to fear my name as well.
We have known the Virindi were coming but I did not expect them to move so fast. I awoke to find one of their floating towers threatening my home of Zaikhal. I asked around and found that the counter attack was already well underway but Cragstone was also threatened. Barra and I came to Cragstone to find the camps of the Tumeroks that lead to the heart of their forces.
We managed to piece together that the camps must fall, in sequence before the passage to the next may be opened. I summoned my young apprentice Snorri to take the honor of felling the first tower. As he arrived on the scene, we heard the doll that controlled that tower dying.
We dashed off to the next camp to find that we were still too powerful to help in this assault but Rokus, an apprentice of Ripcrow and Wen Tzu could. They blew through the drudge servants of the Virindi like a force of nature and in moment the tower was theirs.
Barra and I further enchanted our weapons as we arrived at the last camp. We dove into the high Tumeroks and the Virindi servant and made swift work of them. The way was clear. As we arrived in the reinforcement camp, we noticed Rokus had followed behind us. The man always was more brave than clever.
We began to move forward. Reinforcement camp indeed, as we pressed deeper into the complex the high Tumeroks became rather numerous but were not able to concentrate their fire enough to offer a good resistance. As we went down into a pit, we began to meet the true masters of this camp. Every corner seemed to hold a Virindi master and a pair of foul smelling ape guards. The fighting now became more serious. Positioning was crucial so as not to alert more than one set of guardians at a time. Finally, we dispatched the master guarding the portal to the tower controller.
We refreshed the enchantments on our weapons and used gems of stillness to remove the harmful magics (who would have imagined I would stoop to using a Zharalim device?) since we would likely be facing powerful magics at close range.
The battle was over before it really was joined. The virindi controller was being guarded by a pair of minions and apparently, none of them expected our arrival. I leaped from the portal and drove my rapier through the center of the virindi and his robes fell at my feet. As he did so, he screamed into our minds that this was only a setback (The shadow commanders claimed as much also but fell just the same) and the magic that held the minions unwound and they evaporated.
A message to the Virindi; Tell the Quiddity to dispatch more attack towers...you are going to need them.
Nasier
Leafcull
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Greyscout one of the most respected players in the game. He discovered that even templates made for solo battle can fit into a team. I find that an Og and BM team are very effective. Add in a good Melee and Archer and you have a team that could do about anything. I'm sure he is kidding about the patch, I bet he is killing more than his share.
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Greetings,
Since few of us can actually still play the game due to the last "Patch" Id like to share a little story about an encounter I had just previous to the infamous "Patch".
I encountered a Battle Mage and learned that in many ways there could be quite a bit more balance then many folks are willing to admit.
Note, that my encounter was entirely pleasant.
Grey Buzzard, my 3 school tank archer (read GIMP, since everyone tells me I got too much strength, too much melee, not enough life magic, since I only trained it), was hunting in the Vesayans, as he does quite frequently. I was on the island with the Shadow hub, somewhere between the portal and the bridge where all the Golems congregate. My goal was to get to the golems to smack them around long enough to collect a half dozen obsidian hearts. However there where a lot of distractions along the way. Lots of Mosswarts and Sclavus and assorted other stuff popping out from under rocks and behind trees. Eventually I made it to my favorite little spot overlooking the Golem camp. I take out one lone Obsidian Golem and prepare my war dance, freshening up all my buffs and getting my life and creature magic up as high as I can to take on the Diamond Golem below. Then, little wand in hand, I creep to the edge. Magic Yield on Diamond sticks the first try (I got lucky, usually takes several tries), followed by imperil and Bludgeon Vulnerability. So far so good. As I switch to bow, I notice a white dot coming in at an angle and stopping. Chap in a robe, likely a mage, judging from the elaborate orb in his hands. Naturally I conclude: "This little twit is going to take the Golem after all my luck, dang..." But no, as the Diamond falls to a quick barrage of arrows, right at my feet, I get a quick healing from the mage. Diamond Golems little buddies are now lumbering up the hill, and all 3 or 4 of them are lit up with debuffs. I think: "He wants them, I certainly feel hes welcome to them after being so nice and not messing with my Diamond" I step back but no more spells are coming from the mage...then it dawns on me that the mage had been casting imperil, a spell rather useless to magical attack. So rather then let the chap get chased away or flattened I take out the Obsidian Golems. 2 of them actually try to strike me and one gets of a war spell at pointblank range. However, I evade the melee attacks and resist the war spell. As the smoke clears, I take a closer look at my companion. I call him that as its obvious now, we are on the same team. Level 51, same as I, attributes would tend to indicate a 3rd generation mage. A follower of Amid, a well known and respected allegiance on Thistledown. So far Ive had nothing but good experiences with his people. However, I failed to note down the fellows name.
I say: "Sorry about not taking out those things sooner. Took me a sec to figure out what you were doing. And thanks for the help."
Mage: "No problem. Just doing little things without getting in the way. I saw what you did with that Diamond. Impressive."
Me: "Thanks, I got lucky this time. Its getting easier though. Youre a battle mage, right?"
Mage: "Correct. Not many archers can both land spells and then tank those and still hit them. My old archer would have been stomped at level 60."
Minor interlude as a lone Obsidian respawns, mage dispatches him efficiently after I say: "Yours, please. I dont claim to own this spot."
Mage: "Mind if I ask you how you have built yourself?"
I explain my characters skill set. We discuss for awhile the various nuances of bow fighting.
Mage: "I think your template actually should be very effective, even long term. I didnt realize it before I saw you fight, but out here, you rule. Btw, how are you with the big Moarsmen?"
Me: "I can take them out, but generally avoid them unless theres a good enough reason to fight them."
Mage: "I ran into 3 of them in the dark and got ripped apart. Cant get to corpse, they resist too much and are way too fast for me."
Me: " Thats a good enough reason for me. Show me where you died."
Not far away, one of the persistent Putrid Moarsman spawns, 3 of them camping the corpse of my new friend.
Mage: "I doubt I should try to imperil them till they are full and well engaged with you, but Ill try and I will heal you."
We refresh our buffs, paying special attention to acid protection and banes.
I shoot, critical hit 73 hp. 3 Putrids charge us. The wounded one drops about 20 yards away. Second one strikes twice, misses, hits me for about 10 hp, dies to a final Greater Frog arrow. Mage heals the little damage I took, then lands an imperil on the last Putrid after a resist. Putrid seems to resent the imperil, turns to mage and promptly dies with an arrow in its backside.
Mage: "Wow!! Thanks. This was easy with your help. I couldnt do this alone. Shall we team up for a bit?"
Both of us only had a half hour before needing to log of, but boy did we have fun. Mage debuffed and healed. Once in while added a War spell. I acted as artillery tank. We romped. Mage complimented the fact that he didnt need to worry about buffing me, as I could do an adequate job of that myself.
Two very diverse 3rd generation characters built largely for self-sufficiency still turned out to have skill sets that really complimented each other in this setting. Much fun.
Then, of course we got "The Patch". Have hardly dared leave the allegiance hall since then.
Greyscout, Thistledown
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This last short is again about teamwork. Papa Duru finds that the solo part of the game, while fun, not the all to end all.
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A couple nights ago, despite the lag, I teamed up with 3 friends and the four of us went hunting in the south dires. We had an Unarmed, and Archer, a Battlemage, and a 4-schooler. My god it was fun! It was the most enjoyable session Ive had in months.
Id vuln the first couple of critters, the Unarmed would engage, and the Battlemage and Archer would provide artillery support. We mowed em down with awesome efficiency. Just when youre in trouble, your buddy takes the assailant out. Just when hes near death, you notice it and throw massive healing his way. The teamwork was inspiring. The Unarmed and Archer always waited for us mages to buff, we always threw them buffs as well so they could cut through the opposition more effectively. I even had great fun throwing some wall spells at large groups of medium level monsters. My Unarmed buddy said it was an amazing sight when, just as he engaged the first lugian, his screen lit up with bright purple as I sent wave after wave of lightning walls at them.
All of us left that evening RAVING about what a high it was. This is the best it gets. Battles worthy of a song! Men and women tearing large bites of life with shining teeth! God, I need some Klingon blood wine now. :-)
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