Coupla questions Mage and Melee

[fiach]

My heal (level 118) in my opinion, is now so lousy, that so as not to have wasted the INT and WIS etc that I have aquired on my time here, I have decided to go Elemental.

I'm now level 60 in Elemental and I would like suggestions on what/where to level this skill, currently I am antagonising the Igara population

Also I would like to know what titles you get in this occupation and at what levels you attain them.

My 2 Hand Melee is currently 183, I would like to know what/where to level this skill as well please.

Thanks

[philu]

Well, assuming you're talking solo elem, then I think you already are taking on the right mobs at lvl 60. The igaras around Fourways are a good start. What kind of XP are you getting? if it's between 2 and 3K then no need to look elsewhere yet.

After that, down in the canyon near Pyr for the timaris there is a good spot.

Flaming forest is a good spot to lvl melee. The fierce and furious timaris for a start.

Obviously, the easiest way is to find a healer of similar lvl and go for bigger stuff.

What makes you say heal is lousy? I'd like to hear what lower lvl healers think, I was already a lot higher (currently 190ish) when the patch came in. I thought it would totally nerf heal but I managed to 'survive' it by reworking my stanzas and not using double spells as much.

[philu]

P.S.

Check here for the titles:

http://ballisticmystix.com/skillTree.jsp

[fiach]

What makes you say heal is lousy? I'd like to hear what lower lvl healers think, I was already a lot higher (currently 190ish) when the patch came in. I thought it would totally nerf heal but I managed to 'survive' it by reworking my stanzas and not using double spells as much.

Hi Philu thanks for that

Well, when I used to heal, I could rez someone with nearly full health, my heal was about 12-1300 IIRC, now my heal is 600+, I went ro rez someone in 4 ways and had to cast 3-4 heals to rez and restore full health.

Any advice on rejigging my stanzas would be welcom, I only use the double cast for either Heal + Sap or Heal + Stam.

Thanks again

[philu]

Yeah the reduced power of healing does make it harder to rez people.

If it's a non-combat situation then having to cast several spells (while frustrating) isn't a show stopper. However, during a fight it can be. It is harder now to get someone back on their feet.

I have a double hp heal (i.e. hp/hp) set up as well as hp/stam and hp/sap. I fire that off (several times if necessary) to get people back on their feet and up to strength in a fight.

I use range credits to reduce the hp/sap costs of my spells because I'm usually close to them when we fight. I never use time credits cos that, obviously, slows down your healing and I like to rapid fire the heals.

[dakhound]

firstly a rezzing heal should be double heal, that might help you alot

as for healing sucking, I'd say healing is probably the most essential skill you can work at your level, firstly it makes soloing your elemental to a higher level much easier due to the int increases you get secondly it will be a long time before you can use ele effectivly in a high lvl situation (thats unless you powerlevel with someone who knows their stuff). ele comes into its own after lvl 125, at which point you should easily be able to reach lvl180 inside of a week of hard grind.

another point of note is to raise your melee lvl to around 151ish to take advantage of the HP boosts etc which in turn will help you when casting some of the more expensive spells (and my god they get expensive soon enough)

for lvls 60-100 I suggest offlovaks oasis where you can work from igaras upwards to clopper (make sure you have a healer for those)
for lvls 101-125 play with the mobs either in dyron or go for plants in tryker and zorai
for lvls 125+ everyone has their opinion whats best but I guess its more plants and more timis then eventually najab,jugs and kinchers

titles are as follows
101 - destroyer
151 - archmage
201 - master of pain
250 - avatar of destruction

[philu]

My 2 Hand Melee is currently 183

another point of note is to raise your melee lvl to around 151ish to take advantage of the HP boosts etc which in turn will help you when casting some of the more expensive spells (and my god they get expensive soon enough)

Just pointing out.....

However, Jackoba's point is a very good one - having a high melee skill does help. You have more HP to take more hits, as well as for spending on spell costs.

[kgrieve]

You imply solo levelling, so plants are pretty good. For soloing you need mobs that don't do a lot of damage, move slowly or stay still. Since your melee is already pretty high you will have enough HP that you don't neccessarily need a team.

Elemental
Stingas in Dew Drops by the Karavan Teleport, then move to Fount.
Shooki in Ofvlaks Oasis North of the Waterbreakers camp above the cliffs.
Psykopla by Min-Cho South exit, a favourite spot for many people.
Cratchas near Zora or Matis
Cratchas in Void for when you get higher level.

All the plants will destroy jewels and armour so be prepared to replace.

I would be careful of Timari as they seem to have a high magic resistance.
Unless you are in a team, avoid Kipee. They move fast and their stun will cause a lot of problems.

If you want to go for creatures I would suggest you have fear enchants on your amps so you can turn them away if they get close. Clopper move slowly and are vulnerable to cold. Arma and Na-jab are good too.

In a team your options are far greater.

Melee
Since you got to melee 183, you must know by now what kind of mobs and techniques you prefer. I would just go for higher star ratings of the ones you like.

Healing
I haven't found any problems with the new healing. Now you just have to be a more careful not to let people die, not that that was ever a good idea.

My stanza bar has single heals for top-ups (sap only to cast), doubles for when the team is taking lots of damage (sap+hp to cast), individual bombs (sap+hp to cast), one HP+sap heal and a few heals that have no range (range only). I adjust the HP double heal to the tank, so I heal 3/4 of their total HP.

80 to 90% of the healing is singles and I use the doubles for 'emergencies' like dealing with ADDS.

The no-range heals are used after a spawn or when we are topping off HP and sap after a kill.

Everyone has their preferences for set-up though and that is just my own.

I hope that helps make your healing a bit more productive.

[fiach]

Thanks for all the above, it just about covers all I needed to know

I have one teensy little question and probably is a bit silly, but, I was getting traines in Pyr and there was a choice

Acid Damage 7 looked like the little green bag/droplet icon, what is the difference between that and the Upgrade "Yellow Explosion" icon?

I took the bag/droplet one to see if it improved anything, but doesnt appear to have.

Thanks all

[philu]

As I'm sure you're aware, a spell stanza is made up of options (the spell - inthis case acid 7, concentrate) and credits (sap/range/time).

The 'droplet' one is the full spell, including the default credits. If you already have the required credits, then you can just buy the upgrade (the one that looks like an explosion or star or something), which is simply the spell part of the stanza.