considering trying a (mostly) pure mage

[iwojimmy]

Magic is traditionally difficult for beginners, people who just bash things get it nice and easy to start with.. these generally reverse at high levels.

If you want to concentrate on magic, you will probably need to mainly pick on herbivores, as the carnivores tend to do more damage and your armour just sucks herbis are usually social (will defend each other if they see someone attacking one of their herd) so you need to attack isolated members, or pull them out of the herd without arousing the entire group. herbivores also drop mats which are in high demand (never enough teeth )
A combinaton I have found useful at low levels, is Fear and whichever damage spell Im using. the Fear spell keeps the critter away, giving you time to nuke it. Different creatures are susceptible to different types of damage - Kipees are immune to acid, but vulnerable to cold ?, most plants are vulnerable to Rot damage.. you need to have a varied arsenal..

The ability to heal is one of the most useful, even for fighters who may have to resurrect the rest of the party if things go wrong. a low level healer can also tag along with a high level group and get some benefit, where a similar level nuker or melee would be unable to hit the opponent. it may be easiest to level healing with a group to get stat upgrades, which then make your offensive magic easier to progress with.

if you make it to level 100 (101 ? ), then it all gets much easier

[wismie]

The problem with offensive magic in general is that it is much easier to level in a group or a duo.

Soloing as a mage is feasible, but quite difficult as you have to find a mob that is not too powerful (first, you don't want to die, but you also don't want to wait two minutes before you can start again - which might be the time required to get your stats up again), and those mobs usually don't give you a lot of points.

So you end up finding the right compromise - a mob that doesn't give you max points, but doesn't inflict you max damages either. That makes the progression slow if you're alone, which is usually the case when you start.

In a team, the offensive mage almost always hits the mob, even if there is a big level difference between you and the other team members. I remember being in a 150+ team level against Vispa (high level mob), whereas I was only a 80 something mage... and I did it the mob (not all the time, though), even if I did not inflict much damage...

Healing is also important, and needed, if only to rez your teammates in a difficult situation... I would say that's the easiest magic branch to level, but being too high a healer leads to the opposite situation - difficulty to find a team, because you're juste "eating" other's experience (= points).

Good luck in embracing the mage profession.

[myseren]

if you are wanting to lvl both off and defensive magic, it might be helpful to go down the healing route first. I got roped into healing early on, and got up to a fairly decent heal lvl while my offensive magic was non existant. When i got round to lvling elemental, my hp, sap, dodge and magic resist were boosted so i found it quite easy to solo my elemental till around lvl 125 with few problems and little downtime. I also found it a lot easier to find a team as a healer as healers are always useful, and you always get xp for the kills.

[jcatlin]

Thanks for all the input everyone! I'm loving the open, friendly community around here

Here's the "my life as a newbie mage" update:
Last night was a very interesting session. I started at lvl 1 in magic since I'd never used it before. It was slow going at first and then I teamed up with someone and it got a little better, but was still slow and dangerous. What made the session interesting is that after a couple of initial magic levels things became much easier. Once I had heal other, acid 2 and later some intelligence and wisdom upgrades I was flying along just fine. Got up to about 14 in magic and then my hunting partner had to leave so I went solo and found that as long as I picked the right mobs and kept a close eye on any aggro in the area I could solo just fine. Didn't take long to hit the lvl 20 cap for magic. I will lvl melee up to 20 as well before leaving the island, but since I'm already at 11 or so it won't take long for that.

edit: thought I would mention my newfound hatred of dogs thanks to all the death-from-behind attacks of Ragus beasties

I really witnessed first hand what a difference having magic and melee skills makes. The guy I was duoing with was a 3 pack mage - all offense. He was much more fragile than I, but that did let me play healer which was good practice I pointed out to him the benefits of having at least some melee for the HP & regen bonuses.

I'm still very clueless about much of SoR, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it - due in no small part to the help of people here on the forums

[glipe]

Thanks for all the input everyone! I'm loving the open, friendly community around here

Here's the "my life as a newbie mage" update:
Last night was a very interesting session. I started at lvl 1 in magic since I'd never used it before. It was slow going at first and then I teamed up with someone and it got a little better, but was still slow and dangerous. What made the session interesting is that after a couple of initial magic levels things became much easier. Once I had heal other, acid 2 and later some intelligence and wisdom upgrades I was flying along just fine. Got up to about 14 in magic and then my hunting partner had to leave so I went solo and found that as long as I picked the right mobs and kept a close eye on any aggro in the area I could solo just fine. Didn't take long to hit the lvl 20 cap for magic. I will lvl melee up to 20 as well before leaving the island, but since I'm already at 11 or so it won't take long for that.

edit: thought I would mention my newfound hatred of dogs thanks to all the death-from-behind attacks of Ragus beasties

I really witnessed first hand what a difference having magic and melee skills makes. The guy I was duoing with was a 3 pack mage - all offense. He was much more fragile than I, but that did let me play healer which was good practice I pointed out to him the benefits of having at least some melee for the HP & regen bonuses.

I'm still very clueless about much of SoR, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it - due in no small part to the help of people here on the forums

Glad to hear you're enjoying yourself. Hi and welcome. I just thought I'd ask about the level 20 cap you mentioned. You can go up to whatever level you like on the starter islands! There is no upper limit other than the game limit itself (250!) it just gets quite tough to gain decent experience after a while because the mobs on the island are too small.

Sounds like you are doing really well. Everyone has problems with the doggies, especially young Matis. But fear not, many homins take to culling them after they have felt the claws tear into the one too many times.

[jcatlin]

Glad to hear you're enjoying yourself. Hi and welcome. I just thought I'd ask about the level 20 cap you mentioned. You can go up to whatever level you like on the starter islands! There is no upper limit other than the game limit itself (250!) it just gets quite tough to gain decent experience after a while because the mobs on the island are too small.

Hmm, well I'm sure I'm just confused again hehe. I show 20/20 on Magic. Do I now need to specialize in a subtree? Not sure if I'm using the right terminology, but hopefully I'm making sense LOL I really just need to find someone or some group to take me on as a pupil/apprentice!

Sounds like you are doing really well. Everyone has problems with the doggies, especially young Matis. But fear not, many homins take to culling them after they have felt the claws tear into the one too many times.

I feel like I'm doing ok and while that may or may not be true, it's really only my perception that counts in the end, right? As for those doggies... flea infested, disease carrying, no good demon hounds! BAH! er... I mean uhm, yeah they are annoying

[sehracii]

Hmm, well I'm sure I'm just confused again hehe. I show 20/20 on Magic. Do I now need to specialize in a subtree?

The 20/20 just means the tree splits. When you hit 21 the magic tree will automatically become Offensive Magic and Defensive Magic. From that point on magic xp will go to one or the other, depending on what you did in fight (or both if you use both types)

You can scout out all the branches of the tree here:
http://www.ballisticmystix.com/skillTree.jsp

LOL I really just need to find someone or some group to take me on as a pupil/apprentice!

Indeed it sounds like you're doing fine. On the mainland there are tons of players who be willing to help you out with any questions, and more than a few guilds looking to recruit you Take your time selecting one though.

[jcatlin]

The 20/20 just means the tree splits. When you hit 21 the magic tree will automatically become Offensive Magic and Defensive Magic. From that point on magic xp will go to one or the other, depending on what you did in fight (or both if you use both types)

Ok that makes sense. I guess it also means gone are the days of rapid advancement across the board I can't just heal my way to offensive might, so to speak hehe.

You can scout out all the branches of the tree here:
http://www.ballisticmystix.com/skillTree.jsp

I'm coming to realize that site has all sorts of useful info and fun tools like the "dressing room".

[sehracii]

Ok that makes sense. I guess it also means gone are the days of rapid advancement across the board I can't just heal my way to offensive might, so to speak hehe.

Hehe, nope. There are inter-tree bonuses though, like earning HP from leveling fight and having a dodge ability based on your highest combat level.
And really, all the tree branches are one of the things that make the game so fun! You can have a lvl 250 elemental magic, lvl 200 heal, lvl 150 2H slashing melee, lvl 100 defensive affliction, lvl 50 1H melee, and lvl 2o ranged fight, among other skills, all at the same time. Then go ahead and hunt in any difficulty region you want with other players of any experience level!

I'm coming to realize that site has all sorts of useful info and fun tools like the "dressing room".

They're awesome aren't they? I've logged too much time in the dressing room myself