<< You can't compare a real life serious situation with a virtual game >>


>>Sure you can, I just did it. Took very little effort to do so.<<


Mabey if you stepped away from your computer you would know that is not true.


>>I remember those days, too difficult for many to play a mage, let alone just learn the spells. Once split pea came along I remember a plus to trading a mage accoutn was if it came with a split pea file. Then Arcane Knowledge came out, and combat macros, mages were easy "to play" after that.<<


You seriouly think a mage was hard to play? Gawd no wonder you say crap like you did above.


>>Once split pea came along I remember a plus to trading a mage accoutn was if it came with a split pea file<<


IF you knew anything all you had to enter was your zone name to figure out your taper combo. No way you could log in without knowing so.


All it comes down to is people are soiled and lazy now.^ I mean jesus someone said this game was hard to play. LOL

 

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kinslayer: did you play a mage in opening retail?


your comments lead me to believe no... considering anyone who actually played a mage in opening retail knew how difficult it was to first FIND spels, and secondly to use them effectively in combat situations.


it WAS hard playing a mage. it's not so hard anymore, but that is due to all the add-ons and other things.

<< Mabey if you stepped away from your computer you would know that is not true.>>


The majority of my time is spent away from the computer, thank you very little.


<< You seriouly think a mage was hard to play? Gawd no wonder you say crap like you did above. >>


Compared to playing a melee or an archer, yes a mage was more difficult. Just for starters, for a non-magic attack you could hit auto-attack and just watch for when you needed to heal or re-gain stamina. For a mage you had to start your attack each time and not only watch health and stamina, but also mana. Then add in having to learn the spells through research, etc. Not to mention keeping track of your buffs that all tended to expire at different times due to the spell economy ( I used an egg timer to help track time left), fewer spell bars back then, etc.


<< IF you knew anything all you had to enter was your zone name to figure out your taper combo.>>


With Arcane Knowledge yes, but Split Pea was out long before Arcane Knowledge and it just helped with figuring out your taper rotations. Learn spells, plug in the tapers you need for those spells, and it would help you in learning other spells. So instead of having to try 144 taper combinations you might only need to try 20.


<< I mean jesus someone said this game was hard to play. LOL >>


The game was more difficult at one time, but with knowledge gained and changes to the game things are easier now.

 

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Can Lifetank be used to set up as a buff bot?


Seighin

 

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No buffbot in Lifetank.. that and tinking is the only thing it doean't have that eltank does.


Just takes getting used to the diffrent setup then they basicly run the same.

 

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1. 2 - 3 years ago, Lifetank/El Tank were not as prevalent as they are now. Majority of people actually PLAYED ac

2. Months after TOD came out, Decal was not even working. Per your argument, AC should be dead now.

3. Anyone who says mage is hard to play better be in Special classes, or have physical issues with their fingers. Mage is the easiest to play in AC with or withour Decal lol. Hell if you want hard, try having to switch to wand then to bow as a Battle Archer for every 3 - 5 mob groups for hours on end... and that's when Battle Archers were just Bow/Life spec'd, not the triple/quad specs you have now. Yes you only need to click on melees, but gawd, without anyone Imp'ing for you, you're swinging your ass off for minutes at a time per (Xpworthy) mobs. I remember hunting solo (middle of the night usually) in Citade, and I can go pee right after I start on a Lugian, and expect it to be still alive when I come back... OMG I just realized... I WAS UCMING!


Mage are only hard to play at low levels... but not really ugh I remember being a wall kisser in luggie tower in Qala, or the Walls in Dires (thru drunk madman) draining and harming mobs to death, and buffing with lvl 3s My later mages played in Grendaline Consulate throwing lvl 1 war spells like there's no tomorrow... and only half of them landing


And yes, I had to learn spells the hardway too. Hell, didn't have much of a choice my patron was only lvl 24


Edit: Ok that was totally off topic, but I just found some of the responces here just plain silly

 

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wand/bow switching was easy. That only required a single keypress, then you could press 1 more key to auto-attack and go watch TV or whatever (in the past). That was no big deal.


In opening Retail (Nov 1999) playing a mage was one of the most difficult classes to play. Archers and Melee's had their auto-attacks, and it only mattered watchign your health and knowing when to run.


Mages took a LOT more concentration and dedication. They were difficult to get spells for, difficult to know how to use the spells, and which spells to use... know which to buff and when to buff... as Maddy said, being a mage was very difficult as opposed to a melee or archer class. I'm not talking about the 3 schoolers that have been playing since around 2001 or so... that was "recent" compared to the old school "mages" which were pretty pure mage.


Back in opening Retail (Nov 1999), the only magic most melee/archer classes had was Item. Some occasionally had Life, but no one besides mages really had Creature and especially not War.


We've become jaded to how easy it is now, but back when AC opened, it was a lot more difficult. And it's not exactly nice to say that people who had difficulties should be in "Special" classes, or have a physical disability. If you didn't have issues, then either you didn't play a pure mage, or you are extra talented, because those mages back then were difficult.. especially solo.

"We've become jaded to how easy it is now, but back when AC opened, it was a lot more difficult. And it's not exactly nice to say that people who had difficulties should be in "Special" classes, or have a physical disability. If you didn't have issues, then either you didn't play a pure mage, or you are extra talented, because those mages back then were difficult.. especially solo.

"


Sorry to disappoint, but somewher in my other post, I meant to say I started playing about Dec 1999 about a month after retail. So unless Turbine changed everything in 1 month... Admittedly took me forever to have any basis of comparison lol, but trust me, mages were easy. Yes, on a one on one fight, it can be dicy sometimes, but over all... You remember when you attack a grievver for 1 point of damage? Or a V Exec for ZERO damage? That's assuming you're a melee of course. And wtf is a pure mage? Did you add that in to make a specific case? Im talking about mage in general, thank you very much. Now if your specific mage was tough, o well. but don't go from general mage to a "pure mage" what ever that is. And no, I'm not trying to call out to my "extra talents". And I stand by what I said. Of the three main classes, mage was easiest. Melee and Archers can be easier at beginning (this is still true today), but we're not really talking about the road to level 15 so you can enter the Citadel are we?

 

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Umm.. there were no Grievvers or V Execs for a few years after AC launched.


I'm still wondering if we were playing the same game.. because unless you played REALLY easy placed, or power-leveled your way through everything, playing a mage "normally" was difficult. If it wasn't hard for you, then as I said above, congratulations, you must be special.


what I meant by a "pure mage" was a war/life/creature/item mage.. starting with war, then possibly either creature or life, and finally item (or item before life/creature). Depends on the playstyle. A LOT of people back then were "wall-huggers" which I don't consider true mages since they kinda "cheated" their way through levels. a War mage is more what I'm talking about. Usually it was War with Life for the first while, and then either creature or item after depending on personal choice.


Either way, all that's happening now is an argument over who can play what type of character better and is purely a matter of opinion which is highly subjective. In my experiences (and many other peoples' archers and melees are by far the easiest classes to play purely for their auto-fire ability. They take really no brains to play. you attack somethign until either it or you dies. If you get close to death you either heal, potion, or run. Not much thought about it, and not much difficulty. With mages, you had to manage stamina, health, mana, and buffs all while attempting to debuff and shoot a target. Back then, the buff timers and ALL spells were based off the "spell economy" which sucked and made some spells expire 5-10 minutes before other spells of the same level. Of course.. this was also when the highest level spells only lasted abotu 15-20 minutes (also depending on spell economy).


Makes me seriously question if you really played a mage, or played something "like" a mage. If you didn't have to worry about mana, or buffs, or battling creatures, then I'm not sure if you were a mage.. and you were more likely another wall-hugger... out of danger, and really no need to worry about anything.

For me, playing a mage is more difficult then playing a melee.


And here is why (IMNSHO)-I started out with a dagger char, then swtiched to Xbow at lvl 95, 3 school, speced Xbow, melee D. This guy is now lvl 228 and go just about anywhere and not be touched. Took him into the EO last week, could have gone in there naked, was hardly hit, even when I was playing with the Rippers. I would target (backspace key), hit the delete key to trigger it, and then sit back and watch until the target was dead (3-4 shots), then moved onto the next target. Very easy, took minial effort on my fingers.


I have a lvl 158 Ua guy. I love playing a Ua char. I take him out to Viss, and depending on what I am fighting, I only have to weps buffed, lightning and slash. Same thing with my Xbow, target, hit the delete key and sit back until target is dead. I usually have to drink a stam potion or 2, but thats about it. Some heals every now and then.


My lvl 174 mage. He lives on Caul. My other chars can go to Caul, but the Mage does the best there. I can make about 20 million/hr out there solo. No, it's not the best XP, but I still like it. Anyways, I am digressing. When I target a critter in Caul, I am using either my CS Slash or CS Cold wand. I have to either cold or slash vuln, and 50% of the time, I have to do a Fultility on them. To repeat the spell I just cast, I hit my "end" key (probaby standard setup, not sure). In between spells, I am looking at my mana, stam AND Health. This guy has just about zero melee D, thus he rarely, if EVER, avoids any hits. He is taking melee damage, and in case he does not resist ALL of the war spells the Biakas and Hellions throw at him, add that damage in too. Plus I am refilling my stam and mana tanks as well. My fingers are flying over the keys, and I have become pretty adept at playing this guy. But, I can say, it is a LOT more difficult playing a mage vs a melee char.


Oh, I have ACM'ed before using Tank while out in Caul. I end up taking over because for some reason, I can't train Tank to have my char run when 2 or more Biakas approach


DtB

 

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