I found it really weird, I was surprised how fast people were dying to damage when I was fighting with Mag in that recent revolt... yet in other occasions like defending Etherwilde damage-kills seem out of the question.

With increasing amounts of demigods, groups of demis can damage kill low/mid-bies with their zap (area-wide magic attack, long cooldown, stopped by shield). That can be disheartening if their coordination is good.

Can anyone explain to me how demesne's (spelling? it's the mage thing) work? I heard it's like a big grove from achaea, but then I saw a few posts on timing in them, setting up combo's or something, etc. Would anyone mind explaining how these things work, how big they get, and how effective they are? Thanks again!

It's a multi-room thingabob that a mage/druid controls and sets up passive passive effects in. Only one demesne can be in a room at a time. The effects hit all enemies/allies (depending on the specific effect) that are in the demesne. The timing is that the effects hit exactly every 10 seconds, so you want to cast them 10 seconds apart so that they hit all at once and are more effective. They default to maximum 10 rooms, but with artifacts they can get up to 30 rooms. They're very effective and group combat usually revolves around expanding your demesne and breaking the enemies. Most mage/druid guilds have ghelp scroll over it, and will be willing to demonstrate it for you if you ask.

Consider it a form of crystalisim but only in a certain amount of rooms, and each guild has different effects it's based around.

/rage