Hey everyone,
I have seriously played around 5 years ago... this stopped, and I, briefly, returned to play here and there but it was hardly the same anymore.
Having experienced the following: Hartstone, Blacktalon, Pyromancers, Celestines, Geomancers and Nihilists I have learned a bit of what is important and what isn't important to me. I also do not have the patience(or time) to sit and play for hours(or even every day) as I used to.

I would really appreciate any suggestions bearing this in mind:

1- I would like to start fresh. Going back to a guild I have already progressed in before is a bit dull(same can be said for a city I guess). Hallifax seems like the obvious choice but I am open to suggestions...

2- Time constraints are a problem.

3- I enjoy the occasional PVP action... but would rather not be in a situation where I have to spend all of my online time defending/attacking. I also want to be reasonable... I won't be the best fighter out there, but with decent capabilities. I will also say that simpler=better for me. I really enjoyed "guardian" type fighting- tarot though were exhausting for me(sitting, drawing, recovering willpower for ages). So something simple, and not horribly underpowered

3.1 - I hope to have a fun bashing experience... without dying all the time or being on constant edge.... so simplicity, not being a glass cannon, and having a decent vs denizen bashing skill.

4- Role playing is a part of the fun for me. So... being in an environment that encourages that... or at least, doesn't completely destroy the option to roleplay, would be welcome.

I would love to hear opinions.

PS- I do not oppose to getting credits, but it'll be a gradual thing.

PS 2- how do you reckon the elite membership is for a single character player? Is it good value or am I better off buying credits/lessons from time to time.

Thank you!!! I am eager to hear your thoughts.

BTW by time constraints I mean that I won't be playing for many hours daily.

Both of the guardian guilds in the new cities are powerful PvP-wise, IIRC, and the bashing is workable for both. The mage guilds aren't too shabby either, I don't think. The only maybe-underpowered guild between the two is the Sentinels, but they aren't too shabby, Aeonics just lacks the great passives for warriors like commune auras, Lich, or Paradigmatics, without a WTF ability like Trueheal.

Hallifax RP is fun, so was Templars when I had my character there a year or so ago, with the edge slightly to Templars out of personal taste. Dunno how it is now.

Hmm... sounds reasonable.
Let's say I were to narrow it down though to Aeromancers, Illuminati or Researchers.

Gaudiguch... I wasn't too keen on the RP in the Pyromancers at least... is that different for the Illuminati?

Never tried Hallifax- which of the two is more complicated, Researchers or Aeromancers? By complicated I mean that to have decent mediocre skill I will have to spam a whole lot of commands and strategies... something which I am not that good at... my Keyboard-Fu is not that great...

I know I wrote a pile of terms... just trying to find the best place to try and fit in to. You know how it is, after so long, one blah experience will probably lead me to just quitting altogether again hehehe.

I tend to over-think allot of my decisions, granted.

The Sentinels aren't all that bad, the problem is that they don't really get anything offensive other than a 10% damage increase, which is near negligible. Hopefully that'll change soon once report 586 goes through!

From what I've experienced in Gaudiguch, in several different guilds, the atmosphere really doesn't change that much until you get into ceremonial "okay guys no more snuggling" stuff.
I'd have to say that the Aeromancers aren't as complicated, simply because they have to break, hold, and time demesnes. Researchers just kind of sit there with their gems and laugh at you.

So long as you're choosing Hallifax, I'm happy to say we don't force people to fight - though I don't want to influence your decision for personal gain. (If I did I'd make you join the Sentinels.) Hallifax is definitely not lacking in RP and if it goes stagnant, it's usually because all our regulars have moved on or are currently away. Our Culture Minister, Daraius, does an awful lot for the city - in fact, we have a festival coming up that you should look into in-game! Sitting at the Matrix can always provide a nice crowd too, even if some people seem off-putting, ninety-five percent of the time it's just an act for RP. It should be easy to see if someone is actually offended or not.

The Elite Membership is definitely worth it - IRE is now offering a special promo every month to promote the game in some way, whether it be a traditional lesson sale or an "artifact package" sale, where you get multiple artifacts at a discounted price! This month, any character created receives fifty bound credits upon registration.

P.S. Aeonics is definitely not lacking in passive abilities.

I said great passives like auras/polarity/lich

If I was making a Sentinel right now, I'd be a tracker. Hounds cool-factor > Aeon

Alright, Ilyssa that was a great reply(and thank you too, of course, Akeley).

How are Aeromancers compared to other mages?
And do Researchers require allot of preparation to be useful? (As a Nihilist I recall spending like 35 power everytime I logged on).

Researchers have gems that they spin around their head, around ten I think, that they usually put up for PvP, there's only three or four for PvE I think. They still have the defences from Cosmic, Aeonics, and they're Tertiary. Illuminati and Researchers aren't as power-heavy as the other two Guardian guilds, they still use a fair amount during fights but draw from a different resource-pool for most of their deffing up. Illuminati harvest "flesh" from the Fleshpots and Researchers harvest Harmonic Gems from bigger Harmonic Gems.

Edit: Aeromancers are one of the two stronger Mage guilds, the other being the Geomancers.

Oh drats, now you got me kind of excited on both options.
Well, any more explanations on both would be wonderful, but I don't demand anything... you've been very helpful already. Thank you! Really

Actually, most people in the guild will just buy the charged gems straight from the guild shop, no harvesting to worry about.

While deffing up as a researcher can take some time, it's not at all power intensive. The defensive charged gems are pretty nice for bashing (mmm, passive shielding). And once you get to crystalweapon you have a choice of three different damage types for your bashing attack.

Personally I think Researcher is less complicated than Aeromancer by virtue of not being demesne based. Then again my main involvement in PvP is on the raid defense side of things, where what to do as a Researcher is pretty obvious. (maybe it is for the aeromancers too. I just... demesne stuff makes me go bwah)

Rp side of things, Hallifax has some fun elitist science/art roleplay. Things at the matrix are sometimes quiet, but you shouldn't feel intimidated to start up some discussion. Things that have been published/plays are good conversation starters I've found.

Being that I feel I need to throw my two cents in.



Geomancers are probably the strongest due to the poison damage, and combined with TK as a tertiary is really good. Aeromancers are definitely the next best, then Aquamancers (?) and then Pyromancers. Though with the burn damage and the general weaknesses to fire that races have, Pyromancers could be considered above Aeromancers. TK is good for squishier races, I'm personally TP as an aslaran Aquamancer. Any mage guild can be good if you learn the strategies and figure out with tertiary works best.



Illuminati and Pyromancer RP is different. I loved having an Illuminati character. It was honestly a lot of fun.

I would say that Researchers and Aeromancers are about equal. Researchers have the passive stuff you can set, though Aeromancers can be just as easy once you set up some aliases. For my TP stuff, I have about 6 aliases that are easy for me to remember, plus demesne effects. (though typically I don't fight inside my own meld, so Researchers might be easier).

Which of the two, you reckon, would fit what I am looking for more?
Which would require more skill to actually land a kill? which causes a "busier" screen when fighting?

I managed decently well as a Druid... but admittedly, I found it hard to integrate the Geo demesne+ tertiary skill properly... I was kind of at a loss... I guess I get overwhelmed easily by text(which is funny since I am a former combat soldier and probably have more hands on experience than most hehehehe)

Tbh, go Researcher, passive aeon, balestone. Win. (-bitter-)

hehehehehehe.
I am sure that they will be nerfed if it's -that- easy... but if it's a bit more passive and less tricky to work with(usually less tricky also means it's easier to evade and has limited potential) than it's a deal better for me.

I was always kind of "blocked" the moment it got to programming and really fast paced text.

Don't listen to these people, we suck, because no one knows what they're doing, and we haven't had a decent envoy or champion since February. If you're a TK, you can fight without a meld no problem, otherwise, you will be relegated to a support role, where you'll only be using a few abilities. Don't let the demesne business scare you off, it's totally up to you whether you use them or not. If you don't want to bother with demesnes, pick psionics as your tertiary.

That's only at present. I'm (slowly) working to fix that.

Coding's just a matter of practice + trial and error. To get used to the absurdly high scroll speed of text in combat, you'll usually want to #echo important details and fight a hell of a lot in the arena to acclimatize yourself. It's no good freezing up in the middle of an actual fight.


Aeromancer skills are solid, we just don't have any standout combatants to showcase it atm. TK is better for bashing/utility, TP is better for combat - particularly for an Aeromancer, considering how well the mental affs synergize with the demesne. While the best mage combatants (Geb, Forren, Ceren) got used to fighting outside of demesne, your garden variety mage isn't going to be doing that, since it requires quite a bit of investment in skills and damage boosting artis to get right.

You don't really need to read everything during combat, good highlights/echos really help.

Fighting inside a demesne is still going to require a lot of skill investment... not sure how much compared to researcher or sentinel, but to hold a demesne against other magi you're going to need realitycheck and chop on top of tritrans guild skills, and all those other things like combat, discipline, etc are going to help. I guess any combat oriented player is going to need to invest more than a noncom, though.

Are TK and TP geared specifically toward certain guilds? I went TK because I was told it would be more effective for combat, but if that's the case I'm wondering if I should switch. Reading the skills, I kind of have the impression either one would be okay if you know what you're doing.

Psionics in general is pretty bananas, so you're going to be fine with either.

The reason why people prefer TK is that in addition to having great bashing utility with stupid forcefield, there is no way to stay in the room against a TK user indefinitely. TP is just suggested for aeros given the meld.