Alright, first of all:
Absu rd (level: 20)
Your levels: Ma: 20 Dr: 13 Cl: 7 Mo: 3
You have 206(206) hit, 228(246) mana and 162(163) movement points.
Your armor class is -1.7.
Str: 14 / 0, Int: 18, Wis: 18, Dex: 18, Con: 11
(nat: Str: 14 / 0, Int: 18, Wis: 17, Dex: 15, Con: 11)
You are affected by the following spells:
Stone Skin
I am looking for some areas that I might be able to solo well for good exp. So far I’ve been able to kill some of the Star Lords in Star City, but it pretty much takes all of my mana to kill one of them for only about 60-80k exp. I’ve gotten pretty bored of Blaster’s Temple. Seems like melee’ers have a way easier time getting constant exp rather than blasting the hell out of something and then sleeping for 5 minutes.
Also, should I keep those stats, or aim for higher?
Melee types have quite the advantage at lower levels, to be sure. However, once you start picking up your higher level blasting spells, get some +spelldam equipment and get attuned to channeling, you’ll be running circles around the same melee types at high levels.
Your classo is pretty good I think, some might argue that your natural dex is a bit low, but considering mirrors will help you more than AC will, I think you’ll be fine. Some of the pro mages might have better advice in that area for you.
What you have to remember is that you’re not after melee type mobs like the ones in star city or blaster’s temple. You’re built for quick damage against thin mobs that hit kinda hard. I think the shadow playground was made for newbie mages, but the time I spent there was disappointing.
First thing you’ll want to do, if you haven’t already, is get some ioun stones. ‘help ioun’ should give you some hints as to how to use them. It will let you cast spells like ice ray that cost you 50 mana in battle without breaking the mana bank. Next, learn spell economy. Remember that your highest level blasting spell isn’t always the best one to use. Fireball is going to be your bread and butter until you leave Valk. Next, look for mobs that are built for players like you. These include the shadows that are north and south of Newbatia. They’re ether… the only thing that can hurt them is spell damage.
After you break your teeth in on those, you can work on the gargoyles in star city. These are HUGE ether mobs that will probably take all your mana and mems to drag down.
Next, remember that it’s almost always a horrible plan to solo. The way the xp calculations are on Sloth, running 2man will get you almost the same xp (if not more) as solo. It’s also safer, allows you to take down bigger mobs, and run faster. Teaming up with a melee type will allow you to take down some very large mobs that neither could take down by themselves. I frequently team up with a mage type to kill mobs in the 2 mil range at Valk levels. Also, Ersa, in the carnival is a great mob if you can learn how to run group-style (tank/healo/debuffs/etc). She’s worth about 4 mil xp these days.
Other places that come to mind are the starlings in Sakura at higher levels. The Xanth ghosts and Mansion of the mourned will be regular hangouts for you after you get frostbolt I think. Teaming up with a thief types opens up areas like Infirmary, Demon web and such.
Just to add to what 12345 said… There are no good mage solo areas on valk. Almost everything on VK is chop style. Your stats are pretty good,
so just finish whatever quests you want to finish on VK and level out.
I would recommend that you do the innkeeper quest and the constable quest for sure as the payout is good. The rest aren’t necessarily worth
waiting to level for imho. There’s plenty of drachma outside vk and then theres the occasional scatter or quest.
Too many newbs think that its somehow in their advantage to get double, triple, or even quad twenty before getting level 21. It’s really quite pointless and counterproductive.
You’ll like your char a lot more when you get mirror image and minimum mana frostbolt. It really doesn’t take long at all to get to level 40 prime. Look at the who list and you will see how few chars are between level 20 prime and 40 prime.
Cheers,
Rub
Absu melee on valk important but not crusual, possible good exping with mage, need -7.-8ac and kill at half blasting style.
12345 will try argue with you about those shadows and gargoyles
thay low on exp and need put a lot effort to exp on them. For each gargoyle need 5-6 fireballs (90 mana) its 2-4 mobs per run for valker(if not mistaken thay 30-45k exp for first run), more easy get holy sword and run autumnal , more exp, less time for regens
Anyway noncaster prime differ than caster prime on valk only trough hp regens. (no mirrors, so no much difference what to kill ethereal or not ethereal by mage prime or anyother, not talking about 4xnoncasters and variable criples)
Dont like your dex
Aleksey knows more about mages than I, yes :)
I was trying to avoid giving advice that basically said ‘play like a melee’. Mages are a powerful class, but they have fairly unique areas that they run, and most are best run with power blasting. I’m not sure if there’s any that are decent for mid-range blasters.
I’ve kinda given up on soloing for now anway. I joined one of those big exp groups off VK and in 2 hours I had about 3x the experience I got from soloing the entire week alone. :P
BTW what should I aim for in stats then? I’ll assume that I shouldn’t bother worrying about Str and Con?
So should I go for 18/18 int/wis? And what, like 16-17 dex?
don’t be a fan of those exp groups, they give you easy levels, but don’t teach you almost anything when you are a true newbie… you have to solo some and lead (at least vk) to learn the mud, imho.
Yeah, I agree. But I think grouping in small groups lets you learn the MUD as well.
Anyway, I’m currently rolling for stats. Considering my classo, I was going for at least:
Str: xx Int: 18, Wis: 17, Dex: 16, Con: x
Since str/con are my last 2 stats, I guess I can’t really count on them being very high. So is 18/17/16 ok or should I am for something higher (18/18/17?)
2x18 is about 75 rolls on avg (from y mortal experiences), and 18 in both int and wis makes for a nice caster to play. It removes a lot of headaches later when it comes to having to pass up a helluva mana/regen item for +1 int or +1 wis item. Dex is a solo factor mostly for ac, but the mobs you’ll be cycling later when you get 2x40+ , ac wont matter much anyway, they usually hit all the time regardless. So something like 18i/18w/15+d would satisfy me in that position.
Alright… yeah… I’ll keep gunning for 18/18 then.
I’ve had a lot of 18/17 and 17/18 rolls. Hopefully I can get a decent roll soon so I can finish up these VK quests and finally leave level 20. :lol: