Making a new mage on a pvp server

_howler_ - Lost City

im new to the mage class and am Wondering if i should go light armor or pure mag? keep in mind that i dont want to have to spend alot to be good

MagicHamsta - Lost City

what ever you want build choice is like sage/demon depends on your preferences & play style and both ways work out quite nicely. Also both ways are pretty costly. either way since your going to be a lowbie wizard you will be shot down quite a bit. ^.^' but it's fun and the random pking dies off pretty quickly. d(^.-d)

(im pure but LA has better survivability and such but I steal aggro muhahahahar!)

Nakhimov - Lost City

Go LA build until 90, restat arcane then.

tyrtallow

If you have time, you can go arcane all the way. You should be spending more or less the same amount for both types in any case. Most agree Light Armor gameplay is more straightforward at lower levels (less time), but you learn to develop your character and game skills more if you start and end with arcane (depending on whether you just learn to live with it - not ignore it - or waste your time complaining).

MagicHamsta - Lost City

If you have +10 to charisma/ +10 to friendliness/ and +10 to willingness to meet new people or +2-5 friends who are near your level. (along with 1-2 friends who are high level for those pesky elite boss monsters) or know a really good faction Go arcane and squad up for pretty much every single quest you get. it's faster (bigger mana pool + more mana regen + more steady damage = faster/more mob kills). although you WILL get 1 shotted quite alot during your lower levels. (now I get 2-3 shotted muhahah! xD) d(^.-d)

tyrtallow

Now that's exaggeration. All you really need to do is to keep an eye out for monster resists/monster drops, keep your crafting up, pay attention to the market and solo as much as you can. Try taking a PvE skill build first before gradually shifting to PvP at higher levels (starting 40-50 or so). This takes time, but it works. No hellish low-mid level PvE.
Having friends helps, but not as much when you end up making enemies too. Anyway meeting other people is unavoidable since you will need help doing your unique monster quests.
EDIT
If you get 1-shot by physical damage just shrug it off and continue working on getting your skills upgraded. If you get 1-shot by magical damage, you might wanna check if you're doing something wrong.

LunaEtoile - Lost City

I'm new to posting and was wondering kinda the same thing should i go LA or arcane, a friend of mine tried the arcane one and they died constantly, if i were to pick arcane are there any "secrets" or any advice someone could give me

MagicHamsta - Lost City

LunaEtoile - Lost City wrote: »

I'm new to posting and was wondering kinda the same thing should i go LA or arcane, a friend of mine tried the arcane one and they died constantly, if i were to pick arcane are there any "secrets" or any advice someone could give me

yes.
The secret is in teh sprinkles. O.o'
lol it's simple
"Secret" 1: learn to kite. What can't hit you can't kill you. Max gush for certain. d(^.-d) and probably stone rain. and possibly pyro/Divine pyro (although both my pyro and D pyro are level 1 but thats only because i'm a bit short of coins right now. b:cry)

"Secret" 2: squad up as much as possible any class will do. Barbs = they tank for you and they will appreciate the faster mob kills they get while you get to shoot out all your strong spells from the back.
BM same as barbs (they especially appreciate it when you squad up with them against magic mobs. (^.^))
Archers/another wizard = both of you guys shoot down mobs so quickly (1-2 moves) that your quests get finished in no time and grinding goes quickly too.
Cleric = similar to archer/wizard they help you kill things typically before they get to you but with the added bonus of buffing you with mana regen and intuition b:dirty
Veno = cross between barb/bm & archer/wizard. pet tanks and veno adds damage.

actually squaded up with 3 bms a couple days back killed off 120 mobs or so in 5-15 minutes. =O (spawn rate was nice it and the spot even had a rock to sit on to meditate xD)
dam I wuv heaven's flame.

oooo as for your friend I suggest either a different build or re rolling to another class. You shouldn't be taking hits to the face as a wizard. He obviously was tanking too much. (>.<)

also good luck during 30-50 or so ish. theres alot of random pking going around during that time.
it's not too bad I got out of that level range in a matter of weeks.

Nukesrus - Harshlands

Yeah, here's the breakdown, plain and simple:

IF YOU PLAN TO PK AT ALL BEFORE 90, YOU NEED TO GO LA OR YOU'RE GOING TO JUST WANT TO QUIT.

I went LA from the start, as it wasn't all that much slower than arcane to me; for added speed go arcane until around 30-40 and then start statting to LA. Once you hit that magic number, follow the suggested build until 90. This keeps you semi-useful in pvp/TW until you hit 90, at which point most people say to restat to pure when your robes give enough Pdef to cover the previous deficit.


If you don't plan to PK at all, just suck it up when you get RPK'd and roll arcane straigh through. If that's the case though, you may as well just stay on a PvE server.

Mycerinus - Harshlands

Cholla - Harshlands wrote: »

Another alternative might involve getting decent arcane gear.

plastic armor >>>paper armor b:laugh

Nukesrus - Harshlands

Cholla - Harshlands wrote: »

Another alternative might involve getting decent arcane gear.

If by decent you mean refined with plenty of garnet shards, go for it. You CAN do it, but given the lower price of LA, why would you?

Nukesrus - Harshlands

I guess you feel like if someone higher level than you attacks you, you're going to die anyway so you stick to at least maxing Mdef?

I was in a BH59 run today where I had to tank Drake because while I had 500 less Mdef than the arcane mage in the party, I had almost 500 more HP. I feel like LA is good simply because it offers good all-around def, and good HP bonuses. I DO wear arcane bracers that I found on AH, though. 3 immac shards, +3, + vit and HP bonuses for 200k? Yes, please.

In regards to the higher levels ganking you, I do have some good news for LA wizzehs. I was grinding Mythical Wolfkin Oracles with my roommate yesterday, when some 7x BM came by and ganked him with his calamities. Extreme poison + SS = Tick, and then Sutra to death. He never got close to me. I killed him again after that, at which point he called in backup. Backup was a level 85-ish BM using a Frost Weapon. I freaked out when he showed up and forgot how to fight(I'm an idiot, I know.) And sutra'd right off the bat, which ticked his charm by the third hit. (Stone rain, pyro, gush) He caught me but failed at stunlocking, so I could shrink away, but it didn't matter. His friend killed mine, and then zerk critted me to death.

I realized two things though. 1: LA damage isn't bad at all and the survivability is good. 2: If I had ticked his charm and THEN sutra'd, I might've killed him.


BONUS REALIZATION: Frostcovered weapons aren't that awesome. Of course, that's probably not the real case. Most likely, it was just a couple of fail BM's who levelled on oracles and thought they were pro. Still, I got some valuable insight into my class.

FINAL POINT: Self-buffed only, I hit hard enough to **** BMs of my level, and enough to kill level 85 BMs with some strategy. The same level 85 BMs only hit me for around 600 damage, up to around 1k with drake bash. I only have 2300 HP. My charm ticked a lot, but if you can go without being stunned, you don't have much to worry about. LA wizards are definitely a force to be reckoned with. And while I still (tentatively) restat at 90 depending on my gear, I firmly believe that LA is the way to go until then if you want to actually do something besides grind.

Ursa - Dreamweaver

Nukesrus - Harshlands wrote: »

FINAL POINT: Self-buffed only, I hit hard enough to **** BMs of my level, and enough to kill level 85 BMs with some strategy. The same level 85 BMs only hit me for around 600 damage, up to around 1k with drake bash. I only have 2300 HP. My charm ticked a lot, but if you can go without being stunned, you don't have much to worry about. LA wizards are definitely a force to be reckoned with. And while I still (tentatively) restat at 90 depending on my gear, I firmly believe that LA is the way to go until then if you want to actually do something besides grind.

well, for now u are ok as LA and u "feel good".
U can kill some stupid BM with Cala axes. Proves nothing. I can do the same thing, a cleric can do the same thing, archer can too.
I've been talking a lot with high lvl wizards lately. And after 90 u basically have to be full int ( or some +vit for a while if refines are not good at beginning) to take down anything. Crits on LA are nice, but are rare and u will kill mostly when u crit. But every decently build cleric that knows how to sleep/debuff you will have you're **** hadded to you. You won't stand much chance against a wizz that will undine/posion/elem you. If he crits you're bye bye even without debuffs. Yes, you're going to hold your ground against archers, but it's quite known that archers in the 90s are starting to sting less and less on wizards. Barbs will 1 shot u anyway with a zerk Arma and BMs at 90+ should not have big issues with LA wizards unless they are really really unlucky ( means you crit when their charm is in cooldown). So you end up being better than ...? oh wait, got to the end of the list.
I'm not a PvP junkie, but I've been in at least 1 TW/week since March when Dreamweaver started and I also get in DT every time I can. And believe me, hitting about 200-500/hit more in PvP as a robe makes the whole difference in the world. Wiz is not a damage tank, is a DD. Learn how to DD without the need of D-tank. It's not easy, but once you do you will see the true power of a wizard.

MagicHamsta - Lost City

we has power?? b:surprised
shh Ursa thats our little secret (>.<) b:quietb:avoid

also yar me personally never saw the point of going LA other then I guess rebirths and even then it's iffy since you could just do some small refines and shards to make up for it. everything dies before they reach you and you have tanks in the cases where they don't die before they reach you. o.o'

Mayhaps later I might fight some insane world boss like Swordtamer or something with his crazy screen wide AOE and then might wish for more def or something....but then again lol ya right~ by then my level will be high enough and my arcane gear would be more then adequately sharded and refined. b:victory

tyrtallow

I really wouldn't advise joining squads at low levels. You'll need every zen, drop and spirit point. All that lost zen/sp will come to haunt you at mid levels. (Then again if you're confident in "squad-ing" your way to high level, go ahead)

Whether you plan to PvP or PvE at low levels doesn't matter, what matters is you stick to a PvE build. You can brag about about a fully upgraded Stone Barrier at mid levels all you want, a fully upgraded Glacial Embrace would've made your life easier (good for you if you have both).

Cholla's right, the pdef problem slowly starts to go away as you level along which is why your main concern should be making your character PvE-fit.

Of course, you can ignore most of this if you intend to use the cash shop a lot/have a friend to help you grind.

MagicHamsta - Lost City

tyrtallow wrote: »

I really wouldn't advise joining squads at low levels. You'll need every zen, drop and spirit point. All that lost zen/sp will come to haunt you at mid levels. (Then again if you're confident in "squad-ing" your way to high level, go ahead)

Of course, you can ignore most of this if you intend to use the cash shop a lot/have a friend to help you grind.

err that is completely contradictory and is thou possibly on some type of illegal substance?
Working together with others to kill things is called joining a squad...
Also yes it actually works better to squad up at low levels preferably with a mid level person as most of the exp during the low levels come from quests not the actual mobs you kill.
-.-'
tyrtallow the goal is to level as fast as you can which in turn leads to more income and strength and fun... not go around killing low level computer controlled monsters as long as you can... thats worse then rpk.

by zen I assume you mean coin.
You gain more coins, exp, spirit points. As well as more drops/less drops depending if your the higher level one of the squad.
A squad of 2 is waaay better then going alone. Although 3 is spreading the exp too thin so only go more then 2 if your doing a quest as you guys will kill much faster then you could alone.

and yes you can squad up with random people in PvP servers. It's pretty easy and there are plenty of friendly people willing to squad up.

tyrtallow

err that is completely contradictory and is thou possibly on some type of illegal substance?
Working together with others to kill things is called joining a squad...
Also yes it actually works better to squad up at low levels preferably with a mid level person as most of the exp during the low levels come from quests not the actual mobs you kill.

XP, yes. Spirit/coin, no.

-.-'
tyrtallow the goal is to level as fast as you can which in turn leads to more income and strength and fun... not go around killing low level computer controlled monsters as long as you can... thats worse then rpk.

Whoever said you needed to go around killing them as long as you can? Leveling fast is indeed the goal, there just comes a point when rushing things becomes counter-productive.
Investing a *bit* more time on lower levels will help make your life easier later on.

by zen I assume you mean coin.
You gain more coins, exp, spirit points. As well as more drops/less drops depending if your the higher level one of the squad.

But since you'll be partying with other people in your level range that xp/spirit/coin will be split among members.

A squad of 2 is waaay better then going alone. Although 3 is spreading the exp too thin so only go more then 2 if your doing a quest as you guys will kill much faster then you could alone.

And yet by soloing you get to keep all that xp/coin/spirit, and the drops too. And if you had just spent a *bit* more time in lower levels to improve your crafting and save on spirit/coin you would have a richer (keep all DQ's), better equipped (gear, mdef/pdef charms, hp/mana pills) and more powerful character (all your important skills upgraded, enough SP left for PvE skills like Quaff, Dew, and Embrace). By the time you reach 35+ when a lot of wizards start complaining that their life is hell you'll be shrugging your shoulders and thinking "I'm not too good in PvP, but so far PvE is not so bad".
This is based on experience.
The "delay" barely amounts to anything in the long run.

and yes you can squad up with random people in PvP servers. It's pretty easy and there are plenty of friendly people willing to squad up.

I discourage the joining of squads, but I never said there was anything wrong with wanting to enjoy the game with friendly people.

tyrtallow

True, the kills-per-hour improvement can help offset this if you land in a good squad. On top of that I think using XP scrolls and server +XP mods also help in improving gains when in a squad. But for quest-specific squads (like killing exactly 20 monsters) you'll lose spirit since you'll be stopping at some point.

Btw, I forgot to mention the important fact that ties my explanations together. The spirit you gain changes very little as you fight more powerful monsters at low-mid character levels. So although a lvl 35 monster may be a lot tougher than say a lvl 29 monster, the spirit granted per kill is not much different. Meanwhile, skills are starting to cost more. This makes the extra spirit you gained at low levels (for just a few more extra hours) worthwhile. At 40 or so you can start taking it easy since your core skills should almost all be maxed out. (except the barriers perhaps) This will be in contrast to an extremely squad-happy wizard (note the use of the word "extremely") who will probably have trouble trying to max anything else besides Gush.

Of course, delaying too much is counter-productive as well, unless you somehow discover a low-level monster that lets you farm 300k an hour.

MagicHamsta - Lost City

*Warning The following post contains Hamster Rage* b:angry

wut the heck? Do you even play as a wizard? if so I'm sure you must be like level 25 or some other low level....
I hope your on the Lost City server so that I can smack you up the head with a giant rock from the sky....

tyrtallow wrote: »

Btw, I forgot to mention the important fact that ties my explanations together. The spirit you gain changes very little as you fight more powerful monsters at low-mid character levels. So although a lvl 35 monster may be a lot tougher than say a lvl 29 monster, the spirit granted per kill is not much different. Meanwhile, skills are starting to cost more. This makes the extra spirit you gained at low levels (for just a few more extra hours) worthwhile. At 40 or so you can start taking it easy since your core skills should almost all be maxed out. (except the barriers perhaps) This will be in contrast to an extremely squad-happy wizard (note the use of the word "extremely") who will probably have trouble trying to max anything else besides Gush.

um your also realize that grinding as a wizard pre 40 is kind of ****? especially if your only reason is to get your spells.
And Since we have daily quests which effectively takes out the need to grind. (where were you during the last 8 patch updates?)
Quests = enough to reach 30
Crazy stone + quest = more then enough to reach level 40
At level 40, Crazy stone + Bounty hunter + quests + only a slight grind at 49 (when your quests run out) = Level 50
Level 50 + you get a bunch of quests again and even now at level 62 I still have more quests then I can finish.
Yes I haven't maxed out my core spells guess why. I have plenty of spirit but no money. (Also don't use this as an excuse for grinding as higher level mobs drops way more coins then lower mobs 30s mob drops 50? level 60 mobs drop 200-500 each)
I will take care of the money problem once I start running rebirths. Actually have you even heard of zhenning or rebirth?
apparently not...
Zhen requires you to be in the 60's while rebirth requires at least 40. In both you kill tons of mobs MUCH MUCH quickly then if you were going alone. Now what I don't understand is why in the world would you want to even stay in the level 40's maxing out skills which are not really essential (As long as the mobs die then your doing it right)

That zhen/rebirth alone is reason enough to **** the spirit and go straight for leveling.

(-.-)' Seriously your arguments of staying a lowbie are stupid and illogical.
In a nutshell all you want is ooooooo a different way of killing a mob at lower levels when I can do the same thing with even more damage at higher levels.

tyrtallow wrote: »

True, the kills-per-hour improvement can help offset this if you land in a good squad. On top of that I think using XP scrolls and server +XP mods also help in improving gains when in a squad. But for quest-specific squads (like killing exactly 20 monsters) you'll lose spirit since you'll be stopping at some point.

DX dang and using exp scrolls at low levels is just plain stupid. It's not worth to amount of exp you get since you get less exp per mob killed and you kill slower then at higher levels.

tyrtallow

I'm beginning to lose my patience with you.

um your also realize that grinding as a wizard pre 40 is kind of ****? especially if your only reason is to get your spells.

Is something wrong with your ability to analyze simple information? "Grinding" is a term we could possible define as the killing monsters solely for the purpose of getting xp/sp/drops.
Now, my suggestion involved "soloing". I didn't say anything about killing monsters repeatedly for the sheer joy of it. What I said was solo as much as you can.
I really hope you can learn distinguish between the two, now.

(where were you during the last 8 patch updates?)

Several months before that? Somewhere out there... discovering for the first time that to become "Aware of Discord" you had to actually kill yourself.

Yes I haven't maxed out my core spells guess why. I have plenty of spirit but no money. (Also don't use this as an excuse for grinding as higher level mobs drops way more coins then lower mobs 30s mob drops 50? level 60 mobs drop 200-500 each)

IMO, Soft Fur (early DQ) sells for about 1k+ at NPCs. I think you start getting those as early as level 10+.
Apparently, though, you didn't know that.

I will take care of the money problem once I start running rebirths. Actually have you even heard of zhenning or rebirth?

You are contradicting yourself. You've implied that you think the hardest part of playing a wizard are the low-mid levels, and yet you are encouraging people to actually go through half of hell just to reach "zhenning point".

What I'm suggesting for people to merely take the logical approach - prepare themselves for those hellish levels, then going for "zhenning point".

Zhen requires you to be in the 60's while rebirth requires at least 40. In both you kill tons of mobs MUCH MUCH quickly then if you were going alone. Now what I don't understand is why in the world would you want to even stay in the level 40's maxing out skills which are not really essential (As long as the mobs die then your doing it right)

Who said anything about staying at 40? What my post meant was that at 40 you can start to take it easy because you've prepared yourself for the hard part.

FYI, as long as you're well equipped and keep your skills upgraded Lvl 1-60 for a wizard is not that bad. You see, the advantages for investing some time at lower levels adds up.
It's like this: better skills/equip->better char->easier leveling.
Meanwhile,
rushed skills/rushed equip->rushed char->harder leveling.
See, it's logic. And how much time do you actually lose for constantly soloing? About half a week or so. In return, your main skills should all or almost all be up-to-date by level 40... plus you get to earn some much needed coin. If you think that's a small accomplishment compared to getting to Lvl 40 and having only 1 skill up-to-date out (which you apparently do), then we have nothing more to argue about.

(-.-)' Seriously your arguments of staying a lowbie are stupid and illogical.
In a nutshell all you want is ooooooo a different way of killing a mob at lower levels when I can do the same thing with even more damage at higher levels.

Seriously? Personally, I'm getting just the slightest suspicion I'm arguing with a child.

DX dang and using exp scrolls at low levels is just plain stupid. It's not worth to amount of exp you get since you get less exp per mob killed and you kill slower then at higher levels.

Says you. If I had the money for it I'd definitely do it. Or I would just buy myself a phoenix or two and play veno instead, but a lot of people are already doing that.

Damaged - Lost City

Someone just got sat

MagicHamsta - Lost City

lol silly tyrtallow...
I suppose it's simply the sheer amount of experience I have in playing mmorpg games which probably explains my "intuitive" although rather obvious knowledge that higher levles = better rewards such as items, exp, spirit, and coins.

Now there is nothing wrong with my ability to analyze information. My argument is that griding at low levels is stupid since "killing monsters solely for the purpose of getting exp/sp/drops." Is not worth it as quests give more then enough exp to level you up/give spirit. As well as the fact that there really isn't any good drops at low levels.
Now if you haven't noticed yet I am level 63 (in a little over 2 months) and yes I also sell DQ mats to fund my wizard.
It's not really that hard to reach my level.
So whats this "hell" you speak of?
It's most likely only bad for you since you try to go it alone. b:chuckle
As proof of my way working better then your way. My level as well as the easy I've had to reach my current level.
Go find a decent faction or something.