Surviving as a Caster
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You can do one or more of the following:
#1: Get your own personal bitch (who is also a tank)
#2: Be a cleric (no more explanation needed, clerics are casters too)
#3.1: Take Heavy armour proficiency, put on a Full plate (this requires a bit of strength, or an Ankheg/lightweight plate)
#3.2: Do interesting/awesome/horrible things and get Auto Still Spell/reduced spellfail items to go with that plate.
#4: Be a pansy, take a bard level and use medium armour without spellfail.
#5: Take Improved Expertise
#6: Take Combat Casting, high Con and Concentration (Never take an AOO again)
#7: Get Spring Attack (at lv 9) and be the (in)famous rushing mage.
#8: Be a gnome illusioinist (this one should be self-explanatory) -
#9 test your builds on an arena server and find out if they work yourself
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Zool hit it on the nail. Whether you have 17 or 22 int at lvl 9, isnt as important as how much you roleplay. Epic lvl scrolls and powerful loot tends to find those who do awesome by roleplay.
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Take Qu'Larq: The guy was rarely above lv 7, and died so much he fleeted between 4-6 most of the time. Yet he had a staff with On Hit: Combust, among other things. Applications for mad things/subraces often help more than the most insane powerbuild. But other than that, look at B-Rock's vids and start playing some LoL. That is how to play a mage.
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Wizard Fact:
Level 1 - 6 : People bring you on quests for your RP.
Level 7+ : People bring you on quests to buff everyone.
Let's be honest here. As soon as a wizard hits level 7, it's all about the stoneskin and haste.
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Lv 1-6: be awesome at RP.
Lv 7+: Take NO buffing spells, but people still take you due to your reputation. -
This is like saying that the key to playing a successful warrior is use only ranged.
A good mix will get you your fair share of luvin ;)
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Why this thread up here.., honestly if your bitching about this stuff, go play offline, play with caution and you can survive as a 6 con elf if you know what your doing.
Hell Verks Last MG character was a Transmutation wizard he self buffed himself and charged in with a greatsword. He worked great.
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The thread was not intended to turn into a whiny "Mages are only buffbots" thread.
It was to give considerate and helpful advise to players not as savvy in the realm of mechanics.
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It much more fun seeing characters out of the box, it makes things more…fresh and sorta makes a characters stand out more then the run of the mill.
Hi I'm a wizard i max my int first then my con, and i cast buffs and hide in a corner.
my personal take on it.
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The thread is good. It just gets derailed.
Arabel has always been pretty challenging for me gameplay-wise (very intense adventuring, very tough encounters) and with the latest AI upgrade my "out-of-the-box builds" just don't work any more. Even when you run with a very good group, if your build is weak and your skills are lacking, you are going to die much more often than you could (happens to me regularly right now) and be also much less relevant for the party. So a bit of advice from build optmizers and tactical players is always very welcome. -
i am not a good caster player, but the way i see it is that everyone should be carrying consumables and making sure they use them.
as a mage you can select all the spells you like, so long as you have your mage armour, shield, prot evil and blur quickslotted for easy consumption when things go sour, not to mention the all important invis.
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The thread is good. It just gets derailed.
Arabel has always been pretty challenging for me gameplay-wise (very intense adventuring, very tough encounters) and with the latest AI upgrade my "out-of-the-box builds" just don't work any more. Even when you run with a very good group, if your build is weak and your skills are lacking, you are going to die much more often than you could (happens to me regularly right now) and be also much less relevant for the party. So a bit of advice from build optmizers and tactical players is always very welcome.This post is dead on. It also makes me sad.
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The most viable caster is the one that is entertaining and fun for both the player and the other players in your party. If you are fun to be with, others are more likely to help you out and keep you alive!
I've played the fireballing madman, the counter-speller, the summoner. I've not tried the frontliner, but will do, one of these days. I have seen some very good and effective frontlining mages. Glork being one of them. I avoid the buf-bot mostly.
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I can't speak to the way the new AI works but these're the things I've done that worked well:
Kathrine Stoneriver - Wizard/Cleric
Gear Profile: High
Spell Profile: High (Full book, less conjuration spells)
Combat Stats: Low str, high dex, high int, low-moderate con.
Domains: Plant and RenewalTactics:
Front lining: Buff up AC to its absolute max. Whether by grabbing spells from the mage's guild (these last a long time and are relatively in expensive) And grab a casting of endure elements.
In front lining, her entire purpose is to make up for a lacking front line. Whether it be a missing fighter or something else, Kat is there to take the heat off the remaining front liners. So we're talking Shield, Shadow Conjuration: Mage Armor (Focused evoker means no conj spells), Dex buff, Barkskin and a stoneskin if practical just incase a hit does land. We're also talking Bull's strength to put a dent in that terrible AB (seriously, even at her current level, it's +2 unbuffed) but that Bulls will be given to a real fighter if one is present. her sole purpose is to draw ire and not get smooshed.
With that high AC (Kat can max out just under 40 if I'm lucky), Kat can also hit spells into the opposing force and the AoO's aren't a problem. This also means she's close at hand with a healing wand or something else.
Support (Combat):
Preparations of crowd control spells. Cloud of Bewilderment, Gust of Wind, Darkness, Slow, Fireball/Scintillating Sphere, Color Spray and the like.
Stoneskin for Front Liners and as many of the aforementioned spells as possible.This configuration requires a lot of self discipline. You need to learn how to place spells effectively so you don't cook your allies or get them stuck in a cloud of derp gas. Only practice and patience will make this effective but the results are often absolutely spectacular.
Support (Passive Combat):
Dispels in addition to above mentioned spells. Useful for counterspelling those pesky mages/clerics and their wide AOE spells yet still gives you plenty of options for retaliatory strikes.
Lina Colt - Cleric
Gear Profile: Low
Spell Profile: High (Priest)
Combat Stats: Low str, moderate dex, moderate wisdom, low con
Domains: Plant and ProtectionLina's only real function in combat is to keep people alive. She doesn't use a weapon and she frequently hovers a couple pounds under her max load. She's also a hardcore character and has never died. So. . . This is what I've learned:
Lina is often stocked to the gills on healing wands. These are the primary method of healing people in combat, the spells she carries are reserved for protection rather than dishing out damage. Being a follower of Eldath and the Red Knight, she focuses heavily on tactical layouts on the field, minimizing their casualties and generally keeping people healthy. There's a heavy focus on abjurations such as Magic Vestment (extended), Extended Glyph of Warding for covering flanks, basic buffs and typically barkskin.
Dispels are her secondary mainstay. She'll prepare Protection from Evil across all her level 1 slots to avoid using a Circle of Protection because of the utility. Seriously, dispelling or counterspelling is worth its weight in gold. Learn how to stop damage from occurring and you save money in healing. :P
Also, knowing -when- to buff, dispel or counterspell is absolutely vital and something that can only be learned first hand as you get comfortable with your character and your abilities.
Now, the second thing I have to offer is GET GOOD AT READING SITUATIONS. Spatial awareness saves lives.
Thirdly, counter to Abby's advice, don't rely on people to pull -your- bacon out of the pan when it's getting too hot. If they do, that's great but don't rely on it. People tend to get tunnel vision in a combat situation, that's just a fact. You are ultimately responsible for your own survival, no one else. >.>
Dunno if this is of any help, but it's just what I've learned.
Above all, practice in a non combat situation. Get some people together and have tactical duels or something. Sure it might be 'boring' but you could easily turn it into a game. I always wanted to have a Red Knight CTF match but I never got up the motivation to follow through. You -can- practice tactics off the real field and should do so whenever you can.
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@The:
The most viable caster is the one that is entertaining and fun for both the player and the other players in your party. If you are fun to be with, others are more likely to help you out and keep you alive!
I've played the fireballing madman, the counter-speller, the summoner. I've not tried the frontliner, but will do, one of these days. I have seen some very good and effective frontlining mages. Glork being one of them. I avoid the buf-bot mostly.
I think you need to actually try a quest train as a mage one of these days with the new AI. Do some of the 4-8 quests with moderate gear, and don't spend 90% of it invisible. I think within an hour you will see why people are having so much trouble these days. Its one thing to say "try different strategies" and "think more" when you aren't getting killed in less then a round on a daily basis, another thing entirely when its you that is getting so frustrated that you are loosing your desire to play an otherwise amazing character. Trust me, you will find that the invisble buf-bot you avoided as a player with the old AI is the only way to not die over and over these days if your hps are in one shot crit kill range.
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Above post is not quite true
Keep out of the Line of Sight, run in with a healing wand, run out. Invest in tumble. All these strategies work gloriously if you play it smart and wise.
–---Yes, I did EDIT this post.
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I'm not sure about words of wisdom from a dude who while being an amazing rper is slowly alienating himself from the rest of the community with forum posts that do nothing but enflame. Simmer down, guy.
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Re: Surviving as a Caster
take fighter levels and wear full plate or at least some sort of heavy armor
have allot of buff gear.[well this is what I have done.]
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I've encountered plenty of IC and ooc exchanges on how usefull a character will be before they are ever considered for a quest. Character build is more important now on coa than it has ever been.
Then there is pvp… Coa is slanted towards the clever number crunchers here.Game mechanics aside though... I've been out for a few weeks doing some real life adventuring. Why are so many of the posts I've read in this thread so pissy sounding? All the one-upmanship and clever snide comments are making me reconsider my triumphant return.
Play nice damn it.