Confused...

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by benjamint, Nov 19, 2016.

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  1. benjamint

    benjamint Avatar

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    I am new to this game, so forgive me if this is stupid...but I really don't understand the changes to casters. This is going to be long, so please bear with me. I wanted to play a caster. I wanted to be a necromancer just because it sounded fun. I got started with fire spells. Why? I don't know, but I am, so I use them and my skills start gaining skill points. Quickly, I realize that necromancy is pretty much impossible to utilize by itself at least until higher levels because the only damage you can do is to yourself. But I don't want to use fire...because I just don't like using what has been given to me...so I choose to couple death with earth (which has a very similar tree to fire). I have this thought that I will skill up both magic skills to a certain point then turn off earth and make death my main. In the meantime, I have turned off bludgeon skills because I don't feel poking something with a stick (wand) for two points of damage should be anything I continue to develop skill in...then release 36. Talk about how specialization is key to achieving the ultimate peak at higher levels in any given school. Also talk about resistances to magic...this doesn't sound good...

    I still had that early quest to bring Geof an iron blade from East Perennial Trail. I went. You have to kill undead to get the blade...this is a one skull zone...death touch no longer damages them...so, in order to kill these guys I now need a different magic school or proficiency with a weapon...so I am being forced to not specialize, or to have to always run away from certain mobs. Or I am supposed to be some kind of hybrid player and magically know at the exact point in time to shut everything else down in order to achieve the peak in my school of preference.

    The resistance part seems especially harsh on those who have chosen death magic since undead are so prevalent. I have yet to walk into a one, two, or three skull scene to find a low level chaos demon or fire elemental.

    Also, since I am a mage...and don't expect to run around in plate and carry a shield...is there a defensive attunement for not getting my head bashed in with a hammer? Or possibly one for not getting shot with arrows? Because apparently the other side get theirs...

    I suppose too that there are animals or creatures of some kind that can also not be pierced with a sword...and that they run around in big packs in common scenes...

    Remember, these are questions from a new player...and everyone will be a new player at some point...and to this new player, it seems like a bad choice to be a mage...
     
  2. King Robert

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    I think you should ask EVL players in the TeamSpeak they have for help. They can help you. Good people.
     
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  3. kl4nk

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    Get a bow, start killing things and specialize in death in a few days. Its gonna make your life so much easyer. Start making money and xp pool.
     
  4. benjamint

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    Thank you for the responses. Let me clarify a little. I am "new" in the sense that I have only been playing sparingly over the last few weeks, rather than for months or years. I am almost to my third tier in earth spells and have my skeleton pet in death. My question is more about continuing to be a caster, considering the changes that have begun to be implemented as of release 36. So, rather than how to play, it's more does this make sense? A pure caster...especially one who specializes (which is required to get your best results) seems nearly impossible, whereas a pure archer or fighter class (I know everyone will have somewhat of a mixed bag of skills...but less so in these other "classes") seems totally doable...because they don't have the same drawbacks.
     
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  5. Roycestein Kaelstrom

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    Just raise all skills in all spell trees up to 60, you should be able to wreck most of level 5 skull zones. If a mob has immune to one spell tree, then use another one to kill it.
     
  6. Kara Brae

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    This is great feedback and the replies you have received so far are, in my eyes, a good indicator that there is indeed something wrong with the current implementation. A new player shouldn't have to be told "ask this guild for help" or "get a bow" or " level every single spell in every skill tree to 60".
    @Chris
     
  7. Gaelis

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    There is a Spell called banish undead in life tree, maybe have a closer look at this one :)
     
  8. Canterbury

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    You'd think that, however, even in a persistent state the game's tutorial, if you could call it that, is so lacking... is so threadbare and not very useful... I don't even have a way to adequately describe it.

    "But wait, Canterbury, they're leaving it till the systems are worked out!" people will say. I find that quite weird. They could have detailed tutes now and update the text, if necessary, in the future.

    Threads like this actually make me wonder how many people have come along... tried to get somewhere... failed dismally... and uninstalled the game, writing it off as a bad joke and never to return?

    There's only so much that can be covered by, "We're still making the game..." particularly once the game is persistent and, even more particularly, when we're talking about something as basic as tutorials!
     
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  9. majoria70

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    Welcome Benjamint. I understand you wanting to be a necromancer. Myself I have always loved class games. I loved my paladin in wow, my disciple in Vanguard Saga of heroes (RIP), and my bad ass beserker in Tera, and of course many others I have played. The necromancer in Vanguard had a special crafting table to use body parts on that made certain things. Also the necromancer had a special skill when carving up a body which gave ingredients that none of the other classes could get or would even need. Anyway just to let you know, I do hear what you say about your desire to create and play a certain type of character in this game. IMO The best you can do is create from what there is available in the skills and role play there rest, so just imo at this point. For example I tell myself that I am playing a paladin type character even though I don't have the 'holy' branch of skills available to me To do this I take up a lot of healing and I wield a 2 handed bludgeon axe since I love to wield an axe as well. I sharpen my axe to a fine sharp, thinness that cuts into the enemy deeply. So really at this point I have the bludgeons and the heals and try to be as much of a support character as I can but also someone to be reckoned with against my foes.

    IMO it is best to train your survivable skills up and turn down quite a few on the journey to do this. So using the 'k' key you can see your skills and xp amount in the lower right hand, and using the 'y' key you can drag skills into positions on your combat bar and a few on your non-combat bar. I usually lock one heal and I use a lot of 'mind wipe' found in the focus tree to change up my bar when I don't like what is dealt me or if nothing is showing up that I need for that moment in the roll of cards. So any I have a generous amount of mind wipe on many slots on my bar.

    So like today I was doing some help healing in a fight against a troll and with mind wipe I could control that a heal or useful card would pop up. It is a different system we have, but since we are in development we play with the skills we have so far and we request and request for those that we do not. If people present the devs with interesting ideas to add things and convince them then through examples and data that they do need to add or change things, many times they do make changes or additions. It has happened many times in over 3 years that I have been here and hopefully it will happen many more times.

    If I can ever assist you, please feel free to contact me in game or pm here. I am Majoria in game. You will find me as a fan girl for this game and even at this stage it does not have all I wish for it, but I will not give up trying. ;)
     
  10. Belladonna Rose

    Belladonna Rose Bug Hunter

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    Honest questions for sure. From what i am seeing at some point you will have to do some dual class stuff. What i have seen and it works good is mages using polearm skill in combat. Bashing i think is the key glyph. And not sure if it still works but the staff is good for this. Then you work on your magic as you go. Having some focus/tactics/subterfuge along with your magic works too. Check out all the skill trees and see exactly what each thing does. I am sure the polearm/bashing thing will help you greatly along with the others i mentioned. As for using life and death spells it wont hurt to throw a few more magic spells into the mix. You dont have to do all of them. Just train up the ones that are the most beneficial to you. I know some folks who only train up certain ones.....two tiers for most. They work them up to about 60 then lock them....this way they dont keep costing xp for gains. Then you have a mix of magics. Just decide which ones. It is true that some magic schools dont work on some mobs....but it kinda makes sense. Fire doesnt work on fire and such. What would be nice is if for the Undead persay....using life on them would do reverse. So casting a heal on and undead would damage it . All i know is that light and fire work great on undead. Just have to tweak and play around with them is all.....and remember you can always turn them off and untrain them if you dont feel you like using them. Experimentation is the key....and with the new changes we all are experimenting with new techniques. Have fun and good travels
     
  11. Vidgrip

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    In a game with archetypical classes, you can generally count on those classes being viable because the game is balanced to make them so. It's a very doable task when you only have eight or ten classes to balance. In a skills-based game, without classes, there are many more combinations. Balancing every combo may not be possible, despite the best efforts of the devs. There will always be some combinations which are not as viable. Benjamint seems to have found one. He has a very good point about undead being everywhere, while mobs resistant to other magics are not. More mob variety would go a long way to improving the situation (and improving the game generally).

    As others have suggested, Ben, branching into other schools will largely solve your problem. You can still be a "necromancer" who uses a sword or magic from multiple schools.
     
  12. majoria70

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    Also in this game you have to grab a little from many trees to get your resistances and some powerful buffs. It is a very interesting thing and very different from most games. In that way the no skill caps pays off. ;)
     
  13. Wintermute of CoF

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    I'm going to go against the flow of the replies you've received so far. You don't have to be a hybrid player, but don't expect to be able to play solo and defeat all types of enemy if you're not. Group up with players who have complementary skills, join a guild with some like-minded people.
     
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  14. Dirk Hammerstrike

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    This exactly. So when facing the undead, the necromancy skills are now useless. Kind of makes sense in a way... and yes this means you'll need to branch out to tackle the various types of mobs.

    Steep learning curves I'm afraid. And (at least at this stage of development) often changing.
     
  15. Vallo Frostbane

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    Mage is currently in a dilemma. In the very lategame mages will not be able to dmg each other, because they will all have every school levelled. So you sooner or later will have to pick up a weapon. I hope the resistance system gets an overhaul soon, as this system kinda mages magery "a must have levelled", but in the end its useless. Just from my PVP perspective.
     
  16. Fungus

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    From one death mage to another:

    I have to concur being specifically a death mage is pretty rough especially with the amount of skelly npc's to kill and this come from someone like yourself who wanted to major in death tree at expense of most other stuff (currently 121 attunement & 902 in death tree). The use of earth skills such as obsidian arrow will help you a lot but regretably yes you've got to diversify some now in to other tree types too. Many folks who I've adventured with know how I've scorned the life tree in the past and I honestly try not to use this tree too much however you will need a deck that's not death centric for those encounters with said skellys.

    Your best bet though is to just dabble and see what works for you build wise using a separate deck and raising skills from other tree's but I'd suggest only to lvl 40 initially as this takes very little from your exp pool. I've steadfastly refused to equip anything bar a wand in my hands and will resist the temptation throughout R36 as game is balanced out as these are wasted points IMHO. I would however suggest grabbing a shield and building innate skills up down shield tree as well as going all the way down your focus tree especially getting fizzle and interrupt skills to 40 ASAP too.

    It's a hard road being true to one line but stick with it if that was your intention, I knew every Ankh's position and made constant visits until I reach adventure level 43 and became 'viable' with my preferred build type. You want to maximize your gold potential by using non reg spells as much as possible and get that focus pool up ahead of health by death touching mobs constantly, it's your life saviour even when in the higher levels. Also keep grabbing the resources and I mean all of them as you can use these to barter and exchange with other players as you progress and need equipment upgrades. Complete the quests around Soltown and grab that much needed xp and cash, it will help you early on even sacrificing death tree skills to help you accomplish things like killing the zombies then turn off unwanted skills opposed to maintain for those you wish to keep as your exp will replenish those automatically as you die (and die a lot you will)

    I'm on most evenings (European based) and throughout the weekends so happy to assist with questions / hints & tips or even group up in areas you hunt in to help increase your skill attainment with few death skills I've GM'd just add Fungus as a friend in game.
     
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