Since the heat damage is from superheated boiling water, which is a nontraditional use of water magic, this would actually be possible for Pyromancers; have them suck the heat out of a target's body to fuel their personal flames, thus causing cold damage.

Then again, one of the MUDs I've played for years has a chill spell under fire elementalism (using pretty much the same logic), so maybe I'm used to it.

Yeah I got that...its called an O..P..I..N..I..O..N

Hey...no need to be sarcastic to Dumihru, Tommyroo. The way you phrased it, it sounded like a perfectly reasonable question, not an opinion, so there's no harm in her telling you.

Rockslide does 150 damage, to someone with no armour......nope your ok, we suck.

Considering even with my defences up, any magically based attack does me between 1.2k (for low intelligence races) up to about 1.6k (for the absoloute highest), yeah sure, people can kill a Knight with pure damage, if they're a Tae'dae knight : \\

Consequently I seriously can't believe anyone voted for Nihilists, Celestines or Moondancers...guardian archetypes are good news. I also agree with the general sentiment that Mages/Druids are the worst off, though they're not rubbish.

Stop comparing Mages to Druids, there is really no comparison between them as far as fighting ability goes

Bump, because mages still suck and it's getting boring sitting around with Transcendent skills and feeling worthless in combat. That and I'd love to hear if anyone has any good suggestions for making elemental demesnes better.

Get rid of them?

Actually no, I think the idea for them was good... but yeah... the idea never really went anywhere...

Problem is, it is just to narrow for an entire skill... I mean its hard to think of abilities that don't involve other elements, hence why I think Geomancers are so bad off...

And with Aquamancers, I think they gave up, (The ability to freeze is normally given to Air, water in the forzen state is controled by water... but air gets it there, and fire gets water to steam...)

I honestly think we should get away from the 'element' ideas behind mages and look at it from a different angle. Crystlism is by far the best, and as far as I know, most unique mage skill I have seen... maybe something along that line of using 'natural' vibrations to create effects, with maybe a elementlism taking the place of runes as a catch all skill to round out the mage?

I can't wait to see the changes that are being made for the mage archetype. They seem to be taking their time to get it all right the first time. I expect the changes to be extremely well thought out and bring the mage archetype in line with the other archetypes.

I think someone said that turtles have a special attack that does 900 damage to them. So I went and tested, these are the results. For time reference, I'm twirling my staff, which is around 5 seconds of balance and have noted where the turtle's special attacks are.

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2542h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9530en, 16059w e-

Special> There's a blur of motion from the snap of a golden dragon turtle's sinuous
neck, and you find a chunk of flesh has been suddenly torn from your body by
powerful teeth.
2313h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9530en, 16060w e-

You bleed 12 health.
2301h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9530en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2301h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9530en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9480en, 16048w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9500en, 16054w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9450en, 16054w e-

Special> There's a blur of motion from the snap of a golden dragon turtle's sinuous
neck, and you find a chunk of flesh has been suddenly torn from your body by
powerful teeth.
2230h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9460en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2230h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9460en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9410en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2558h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9420en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9370en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9380en, 16060w ex-


You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9330en, 16060w e-

Special> There's a blur of motion from the snap of a golden dragon turtle's sinuous
neck, and you find a chunk of flesh has been suddenly torn from your body by
powerful teeth.
2261h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9340en, 16060w e-


You bleed 4 health.
2257h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9340en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2257h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9350en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9300en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9310en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9260en, 16060w e-

With a golden dragon turtle's head retracted into her shell, she surges forward
and crashes violently into you.
2231h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9270en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2231h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9270en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9220en, 16060w e-

You bleed 5 health.
2558h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9220en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2558h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9220en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9170en, 16060w e-

With a golden dragon turtle's head retracted into her shell, she surges forward
and crashes violently into you.
2308h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9190en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2308h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9190en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9140en, 16060w e-

You bleed 14 health.
2549h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9150en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2549h, 4058m, 3535e, 10p, 9150en, 16048w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9100en, 16048w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9110en, 16054w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9060en, 16054w e-

With a golden dragon turtle's head retracted into her shell, she surges forward
and crashes violently into you.
2299h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9070en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2299h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9070en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9020en, 16060w e-

You bleed 14 health.
2549h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9020en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2549h, 4058m, 3535e, 10p, 9040en, 16054w ex-

Twirl Staff

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8990en, 16054w e-


Special> There's a blur of motion from the snap of a golden dragon turtle's sinuous
neck, and you find a chunk of flesh has been suddenly torn from your body by
powerful teeth.
2269h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9000en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2269h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 9000en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8950en, 16060w e-

You bleed 4 health.
2559h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8950en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2559h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8950en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8900en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8910en, 16060w ex-

You twirl your staff above you and sparkling water rains upon you, envigorating
you in mind, body and soul.
2563h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8860en, 16060w e-

Special> There's a blur of motion from the snap of a golden dragon turtle's sinuous
neck, and you find a chunk of flesh has been suddenly torn from your body by
powerful teeth.
2353h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8860en, 16060w e-

You bleed 11 health.
2342h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8860en, 16060w e-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
2342h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8870en, 16060w ex-

You order a golden dragon turtle to assume a passive stance.
With seeming reluctance, a golden dragon turtle obeys your command.
2342h, 4118m, 3535e, 10p, 8870en, 16060w ex-

If you guys can't tell, the damage on the turtle was around 200 to 350 damage, even with the special attacks. Also, my tutrle was attacking at a rate of one attack every 7 to 8 seconds. Really heavy damage there.

Actually, they have a steam cone attack as well, which DOES 900 damage. It just occurs so rarely that relying on the turtle in combat isn't a very good thing...

Don't hold your breath waiting for the turtle to use its special move, because you will die of asphyxiation first.

its like the starsuckers in the elemental plane of water, they have a small chance to use their special attack

Hmm... so now our demesnes last longer and the skils work faster. Faster and longer sucking. Huzzah~

Be happy with what you get

Hmm, I just finished testing healspring and jellies in my demesne, there is virtually no speed difference, all the effects seem to still work between every 9 to 10 seconds. I'm transcendent Aquamancy and expert Planar and the demesne effects do not seem any faster at all. At best I would say the effects are 1 second faster. Could anyone verify or disprove this? The increased durations of the effects do work, but I don't think they are any faster.

casting time is faster and the spells last longer... not the effects happen faster...

At least now we can prove that 100x0 still does, indeed equal 0... (please excuse the sarcasm... but length of demense skills was never in question, it was effectivness...)

According to the announce post. The effects should be faster.

Announce post 133-

-Demesne effects will be faster now. Also, the formula for how long the demesne
effects hang around was changed.-

You got to be kidding me! I really hope this is not the best they could think up. Heck, many of the suggestions sent up were far better at balancing the archetype than what was given so far.

Also, Shiro what is your stake in acting as the community relations representative for Lusternia? You seem to feel the need to answer questions or comments that really should be addressed by the developers.


** Edit: I have done tests and have noticed no speed increase on the pulse cycles of my demesne abilities. I also noticed that since I am trans Planar and Aquamancy, the duration on my demesne abilities have remained the same.

I don't know much at all about formulas and specific percentages for what Resilience and Magic do to reduce damage, but rather than things degenerating into how they were with Achaea where certain resistance skills were introduced, then damage on the whole was screwed around rather than the resistance skills being tinkered with, I think things could be improved by introducing a couple of skills/artifacts that negate resistances.

Not negate them entirely, because people would be pissed at spending 600 credits to trans Resilience and Magic only to have it do nothing against some people, but perhaps a certain skill could 'empower' a staff, for a few power, to make the next two or three staffpoints simply dodge resistances. It woudln't work all the time, and it'd cost enough power not to be used too often... Give it a cool name like 'Sublimate' or something - how some liquids turn directly from ice to gas - and for Geomancers call it 'Virulence'.

If you ignore the fact that I basically designed the abilities to fit around those two (cool) names... they're fun