Actually, that was Hajamin. In Aetolia, as a Sentinel and not even one thought of as a competent fighter, I beat Druids in their groves at least as often as I didn't, at least in the arena (never fought one outside, I was nominally an ally). However, I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but there were only a small number of Druids in Aetolia that ever got really good at fighting, so that doesn't prove terribly much.

To me at least, a demesne does more than a druid's grove ever did, and with a lot more synergy, too. And that's not even accounting for statues, or chasm.

Well, I will repeat myself again. To find a mage that leaves their demesne to fight is rare. Infact I have only found 1 who will and that is Geb. Silvanus did in a spar. Plus that brings up the issue of "Where isn't demesned, and that is neutral areas that lead to cursing most times. I am not calling for nerfs or anything but maybe drop the max rooms or something. Village influencing is hell with constant demesnes, especially since you have to have a mage with you..unfortunetly they are not always around. I can handle fighting in Geomancer and Aqua demesnes, but druids are just pointless(I do not have hexagram or whatever to knock them out of the trees) so I am left with the option of fly, land trees, get off 2 or 3 attacks pending on if they are shielded before being tossed to the ground. Quite pointless for me to bother. I am not complaining, it is my lack of skills that limits me

I don't see why the limit is 400 rooms. All of Rockholm is 93, and Estelbar is somewhere between 70 and 80. Why do you need a demesne equal to 5 villages? One is plenty. Lower it to 100, at the most.

Even -if- the current limit is 400 rooms, you don't see any mages with 400 rooms, do you? It's there as an option. That option is hardly ever used due to how much of a pain in the ass it is to keep up a demesne that large. It's also useful in a situation where you only have ONE mage on, and 3 of your villages are being raided. Ixchilgal demesne'd Dairuchi up to angkrag, winded it through Mag and up to Acknor solely for village defense when no other mages were on because the situation called for it. What if Celest or Seren had to do the same thing? So the moral of the story: The 400 room limit is there for extreme circumstances. It'd hardly -ever- employed, so it's not really much to worry about.

If no other mages are around are around, too bad. One person shouldn't be able to defend two villages at once.

I fought in groves all the time on Achaea.

There was not a single grove user I could not tank as a level 60 dwarf.

Demesnes are far, far worse.

And there's not a single grove I CAN tank, as a level 76 Rajamalan. Damn you dwarves. A grove could passively deal enough damage to almost completely negate my sip, even with trans concoctions. *mutter*

aye groves are no where near demesnes...

you cant tank a grove as a 76 raja? erm...

Have you ever fought in an Aquamancer demesne? It is -extremely- powerful in 1on1 as well as groups by itself with no runes/motes.

Yes, and I did find it nasty to deal with, but that wasn't quite the point. I should have phrased that, "Even IF the Aquamancer demesne isn't that bad 1on1 anymore," perhaps.

EDIT: And I got my most recent experience in a Hartstone demesne today, and I just have to say "Wtf are you all complaining about?" And I'm hardly a good curer.

EDIT: Oh, it was with dreamweaving, not runes, though. Maybe that had something to do with it.

I doubt he ever has.

Bah, got ninja'd.

Raja sip at level 80 goes from 450 to 550, not something to write home about.

-writes home about puella-

Bees and thorns equals my sip, and bees hits through shield. Entangle and barrier mean I don't get a real chance to slow them down, and their added damage pushes the total easily past sip and moss together. A druid I can sometimes handle, a Sylvan once managed to take me down before I could crash back out of the grove.

Here, I tank so much better, even as an elfen mage. Though I think I'd give most/all of Stag for Puella.