I think mages are a little spoiled from Achaea, back there they just had to set up vibes and point da stick to kill whatever they wanted, here that doesn't work, so they panic...tho I agree supersling powercost should be reduced to 1 or 2, cause they already need tonsa power for their other skills...and why do you think you got timed illusions? You can create the same effect with them as snakes in achaea, fire illusions, then supersling, and watch the illusions hit simultaneously with the runes. You do plenty of damage, and you have plenty of others stuff to use with it if supersling gets upped a little and the bugs fixed, you just have to use your skills together, instead of just whoring one thing and hope they die, that's all I've seen a mage try on me till now, and unlike achaea, it didn't work here, you'll have to be creative for a change . And really, whining about a skillset you haven't even transed yet is kinda useless. I've seen mages beat Daevos one on one in their demesne, none of us knights can do that.

Mages have beat me one on one in their demenses? Thats news to me, who?

Geb told me he did..

It was never nerfed. It was the way it is since opening day. The AB files were merely updated to be clearer.

Resilience nor chainmail should not have any impact on that. Steam is heat damage. Resilience protects blunt, cutting, and poison.

Maybe it's just me, but if demesnes are going to be made better', i'd like to see some measure imposed to prevent mages from simply turning the entire highway/whatever plane/whichever village into their demesne, filling them with nasties from time to time, enemying a bunch of people, then walking off and watching deathsight.

Of course, that's only if they're made better

Demesne are easy to break, just need another mage. Koan made all of astral his demesne, I had half of it cleared in an hour.

Aquamancers damage is better, because of the damage type. As it's been pointed out, Geomancers do cutting/poison/blunt which is why after I learned this, I have told every Geomancer to use blast in PvP. The eq time is too long, about 6 seconds, a bonecrusher in lightning hit me twice(two rounds, so 4 hits total) in that time. We can't do afflictions + damage like a knight can either.

We can't take damage, I have everything, trans resilience, good robes, great helm and shield(plus trueshield). One astral thing is a challenge, two I will be running, 3 I'm dead(unless I have manse, god I love manse) Where as I've watched knights my level(and lower) fight 3 goats at once, without health.....

Sickening....have yet to see that do ANYTHING. Everyone I've tested it on has seen an affliction, that was gone by the time they could diag again, and did nothing. Rockslide is 150, laughable. Poison, get resilience, it will do nothing to you. Oh and if the room isn't tainted(1p and eq) we can't do anything. Stonerain is great, I love that.

Runes...well due to a damn bug that made me start mythical over, I have yet to trans it(yet I still have all the mythical skills and haven't learned anything new in it). Other then that I don't know much about it, the last rune you get should be 2p to make, not use. Supersling, again this is just from hearing about it, should be 1p to use.

Illusions, best skill set I got. Alot of fluff, but some kick ass things. Ask Celest, don't you just hate when I rock? Manse is godly for bashing, but I think I'm the only one that uses it. Alot of that skill set is about being smart, just like illusion from other worlds was only good for those that could figure out how to use it. Timed illusions are good in spirit, but 4seconds to set one, you just lost a round of combat, so if you could do it knowing a fight is coming, it's good, otherwise it sucks. Oh, and the caster sees the illusion too, that sucks.

I voted Geomancers, but Aquamancers are just as bad as us. They get better staff damage(due again to type, and nothing else) and we get chasm. Chasm is the ONLY way I have killed a non-newbie. And that requires group combat, or being really smart, with a really dumb or clueless enemy. Kind of a one time deal, once they know it, nothing you can do.

The Geomancer's best skill right now in geomancy is Burrow. Everything else will only help us if we're in a group, we just don't do enough damage with our attacks to make up for the lack of status afflictions. Runes are too unstable, (meaning they only work 1 out of 5 times) and equipping a sling means no shield, or no staff (which would be just stupid). Like Val said, most demesne stuff is pathetic. But some can be fun. I made a demesne of the highway from SW of New Celest to Stewartsville, including all of Delport and Stewartsville. Had about 20 or so Serens wandering the highway and did a geocast duststorm demesne, and geocast stonewalls demesne.

That amused me.

I have to agree with Val on everything he said. The fact geomancer's staff becomes laughable to anybody with trans resilience and armour is disheartening for combat, and demesne aren't all I was hoping them to be.

I figured Geomancers would be more about defense, maybe they were before the taint but ah well... I'll post a few ideas that I've had in my head soon.

If your high enough in runes you can attach a sling to a staff

I played Monk in Achaea and Aetolia. So I'm not spoiled from being an Achaean mage. I am as creative as I can get, and transed more then just guild(stupid bug, still hoping they fix my runes and not make me respend those credits).

As I already said, timed just isn't practical in combat. Again, chasm, it's all we have, and easier then hell to stop.


Never seen any mage beat Daevos one on one.....or anyone that wasn't another mage or novice for that matter hehe

You bastard. Much hate.

Oh, and on being spoiled? I was a thief in DR for years. Then I tried out being a serpentlord or whatever in Achaea for like a day before coming here to Lusternia.

I miss my backstab and my snipe. :/

And my *real* hiding. Not something that anyone can see with Third Eye.

I did tell Thorgal I defeated Deavos once in my demesne. I also told him that was before Deavos was prepared for what a mage could do. Once he knew what we could do, he became unkillable in a demesne. Please tell the whole story Thorgal, and not just a clip. (You also must use heard not seen. You saw nothing; you only heard from me what happened).

Oh, and I have played a mage, bard, and monk in Achaea. I was a mage before they had diamondskin and the other upgrades, when a knight with arty artifacts could kill a magi in pretty much two swings if the magi was not on the ball (stoneskin having low cutting protection). I have fought against magi in full vibes, Tuerney being the most prominent, and have defeated them more times than I have been defeated. Vibes being annoying, but they are not deadly if you know what you are doing in them. Only one vibe can really be considered somewhat deadly, and that one can be easily turned against the magi since he is hit by it himself (Retardation).

Ummm... sorry, but I've never played a Magi in Achaea. So Im not used to Magi standing in Vibes hitting you with whatnot.

What sucks is Harstone have about 10 skills in Stag. Wooo. Great.

I'd rather have 10 skills that are in some way beneficial than the over 50% of Aquamancy that's entirely useless. Not that I know if the Stag skills DO work for you...but, well, heh. I'd trade in my last 4 Aquamancy skills right now for just one new one that I'd actually consider using on anything approaching a consistent basis.

Mages in Achaea spoiled? Dude, the diamondskin upgrade was needed there. Mages were too easy to kill. But what happens? The mage suddenly has a fighting chance and people bitch about it because they want their mages as fodder. Granted, the classic mage isn't supposed to be front line in ANY fashion (they're basically back up damage. Go read your fantasy novels or play D&D), but the way IRE sets up their mages, it's kind of needed to be able to survive as if they're on the front line, especially in a one on one battle.

I've always felt that mages in IRE games should be better able to redirect damage, rather than just take it as well as a warrior. How dearly I would love:

AB AQUAMANCY STEAMSHIELD

Syntax: AQUACAST STEAMSHIELD

Surrounding your body with a thick layer of steam, you are able to partially repel any physical damage directed at you. Further, the steam will cause searing burns to cover the skin of the attacker, driving them out of close proximity.

Steamshield actually sounds like a pretty good skill. There'd need to be a Geomancer equivalent, though, and Gravelshield just doesn't sound right.

However, with all this talk about how bad demesne is, I'm curious as to the state of Nature's mages and demesnes in Hartstone. How effective is a druid's demesne?

To many heat attacks for Aquamancers in my opinion, id prefer to see ice, but thats just personal opinion.