So I played a mage in each of the other IRE MUDs and they're all essentially identical. I heard mage combat here was much more dynamic and much less reliant on a passive offense. I see there are two mage classes - Geomancers and Aquamancers, I wonder if I can spark a discussion on the combat-related differences between the two classes.

Also I'm curious as to what race might be best for a mage, I see that merians and viscanti get something special for becoming mages, but the mugwump's 3xeq speed seems very powerful, as do the lucidian's resistances.

Not being a Mage, I can only offer one thing-- Merian, the poster-child race of New Celest, is one of the worst spec races around according to those who have tried it since the racial rebalancing that was done a while ago. That being said, they would LOVE to have more Merians. If you are willing to sacrifice a bit of the "optimum" fighter to have better RP, go for it! I encourage and approve of it.

Equilibrium/balance bonuses have been downgraded a bit. It's still nice but doesn't make up for the frailties that come with the race. Or so I've been told.

Not, not, not a "bit of the optimum" Everiine, shame on you. It results in near-instant death when you go up against elemental damage and you are always the first target.

I'd say mages here are hobbled by their skillsets which are limited to passive offenses. You do get one active and one semi-active skillset for attacking as a mage, but most people can deal with those fairly easily if the passives aren't present and you don't cheat by debate-killing.

Remember Desi, Everiine is a Trill Knight Bookbinder.

"A little off optimal" by his relative measure should be taken as "horribly and needlessly debilitating" by most other measures!

Soo...the combat relate differences between aquamancy and geomancy are?

Assuming that they haven't changed a ton in my absence (I've been gone for awhile)...

- Aquamancy tends to focus more around restorative and healing properties, while Geomancy has a bit more damage and affliction potential. Don't take that the wrong way and think that geomancy is more useful for PVP (I'd actually say the other way around), but they are a bit different. They have several similar skills with slight variations which make them different enough to be interesting.

- Both sides share Illusions with a spec in Phantasms. There are slight RP differences between Geomancer phantasms and Aquamancer phantasms, but functionally they are exactly the same.

Both have the same options for tertiary skills. Mages do have a bit more variation even within the same guild, though - it is not like other games where all members of a guild have the same 3 skills. You can choose between Runes, Dreamweaving, or Psionics. If you choose Psionics, you can choose to specialize in Telekinesis or Telepathy.

Which tertiary you choose will affect your combat style quite a bit, too. I'd recommend looking them over at the scryingpool (scryingpool.wikispaces.com).

The one with the timed instakill and 1400 demesne passive damage is more offensive. The other one is good at separating groups who forget protection scroll.

Guess that pretty well sums it up.

Which one's which?

Geomancer's are the mages with the timed insta-kill (Chasm) and the 1400 passive damage (the knockdown thing and rockslide, I believe.)

1400 is from a really buffed Geomancer..like Ceren.

1400 damage is a huge overstatement. Rockslide is where the damage comes from, and to get damage that huge you need the target to be prone and have demigod int and blessings and artifacts.

Normally, it's like 700 passive, I think?

Still. Choose what you prefer the RP of and you're likely to have a better time with it.

Nope! Ceren's was actually 1800. 1400 was from Esano.

Also remember mage damage scales to max HP pool, if you are a tiny 3-4k guy, it's never going to do more than 1k.

Against a warrior? Something seems wonky. Rockslide is blunt/cutting, and mine didn't break 1k with war+18 int against Thoros and other warriors.

Feel free to ask the other Knights, it still hit me for 1700 when I was a human mage with 7000 hp, I imagine when I had 10k it should have hit me for 2200+ but the cutting/blunt protection saved that.

Also, generic cutting/blunt dmp is higher in splendors with a shield than fullplate since the nerf.

Interesting. Something is off, somewhere.

I tested on Thoros numerous times and it did nothing near 1700 or 2200. I believe the average was 700ish.

Maybe the 1800 damage is stacked with another effect, maybe tremors/sickening if it was together

Was he a Viscanti at the time?

Ceren probably has a higher int than you as well as likely a good number of %-based damage buffs. Also, are you sure Thoros was prone before rockslide hit?