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Voting closed: January 14, 2012, 06:17:21 pm

[Seriyu]

I'm not sure if it works with the beginner ice wand (it probably will) but you need to get it upgraded. I'm not sure who offers chain casting upgrades, but they do make you spend more mana, and might increase repair cost, but as a mage you're going to be spending a lot of money maintaining your wands anyway, so it's best to get into it early. (Yet another reason to learn some basic melee tactics, no need in wasting wand durability on chumps) The wiki should say who offers what upgrades on the specific wand pages.

[SirAaronIII]

Just finished upgrading my fire wand the other day, so I feel qualified to talk about this.

I think all people who sell and repair wands can upgrade them. So..

Spoiler: i think most of these people sell heal for 9.8k? everyone should have heal at least rank F (click to show/hide)

- Lassar, Tir Chonaill school (cheapest repairs, but near Ferghus-level competence)
- Stewart, Dunbarton Magic School/Library (not actually a school, don't try learning from him, also second highest repair rates IIRC)
- Berched, way out northwest of Tailteann near the Stonehenge (best odds of repairing, also teaches Blaze if Combat and Magic Mastery are both rank C or higher, Blaze looks really cool)
- that girl in the Tara Magic Shop who I have personally never been to before
- Heulfryn in Qilla Base Camp

There may be others, but this is already a lot of options. Upgrades always cost the same no matter who you get them from, so it doesn't matter who you go to as long as you have the proficiency.  The upgrade path I took with my wand was 4 level 4 Mana Reductions and 1 Chaincasting +4. This is very nifty, but has the unfortunate penalties of no more fusion bolts with it and +10% mana usage on ALL MAGICS. (e: would have been +30% mana use without the other upgrades, chaincasting really is mana heavy) Be careful what you use it with or you'll end up like me: always begging people to make me potions.

Spoiler: other thoughts and notes (click to show/hide)

- Only regular (Fire, Ice, Lightning) wands can get chaincasting. Phoenix Fire, Crown Ice, and Crystal Lightning instead have cast time and mana use reduction upgrades, I think. Maybe also damage?
- Your wallet will hurt from all the repairs and upgrades and stuff. The way of the druid is the way of poverty. This may be why Tarlach and Mores don't carry food.
- On an ice wand, you probably won't need the full 5 charges ALL THE TIME. You should probably invest in a smaller amount, like +2. Lightning Bolt isn't even worth chaincasting in the first place so save your lightning wands for actual Thunder.
- ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOUR WAND IS BLESSED BEFORE REPAIRING IT!!!! You really don't want to have to buy a new one if your good one breaks. This is especially important if you're trying to save money by repairing at Lassar, because she sucks at the whole repairing thing.
- Maybe one day we can be like Mores and chaincast everything.... naaaaah
- Meditation exists. It's quite useful, but it makes your wands break faster.

[Skyrunner]

Actually, pure warriors (with only combat skills) are both possible and effective. Combat skillsare the most Boring but Practical skills in Mabinogi. Pure mage/archer is a bit hard to do, and pure bard is madness >.> If you have Ice Spear pure mage is just a matter of getting enough potions for you ravenous mana use.

[Aklyon]

Warrior, Ranged, Bard, then?

[Seriyu]

Iunno, I'd say warrior is probably the most exciting one, it'svery complex, and has the highest chance of just messing things up in record time, but if you attack the wrong thing at the wrong time with the wrong skill you'll get knocked out. Mages and Rangers offer more room for reaction time, and are safer, but tend to be a bit less complex, and easier to grasp.

I can't speak for bard.

[Skyrunner]

By 'boring', I mean they're mostly mundane and  not flashy xD

Archers tend to walk the line between Diffuiult but Passable and Difficult but Awesome. Crash Shot would raise the awesome factor, but is expensive. Human archers w/o Crash Shot or Revolver are pretty much sorta weak, while elf rangers with max Magnum and Ranged are powerhouses of speed running easy dungeons. When all monsters drop in one blow, the elf ranger can just plow through a dungeon at a speed unmatched except for by Ice Spear mages.

[Aklyon]

Isn't it technically in two hits for elven archers?

[Skyrunner]

Yup, that's what I was counting as 'one blow'. Isuppose 'one attack' would be more correct.
With enough criticals, elf rangers are pretty quick at clearing weaker dungeons. They also fail miserably at the 500+ high protection/defense shadow missions until they get their equipment to max out crit.

[Girlinhat]

Also worth noting - chaincasting on your wand doesn't let you use intermediate magic.  If your fire wand has chaincasting, you cannot cast fireball.  On the other hand, the other set of wands, like the phoenix wand, give different buffs for intermediate magic, like shorter casting time but less damage, or greater damage and greater MP drain.  I think.  It may be a different set of numbers, but it basically gives you a series of trade-offs that can really change your magic.

Oh, and apparently if you're using mana crystalization to turn intermediate magic into alchemy crystals, the wand matters.  If your wand gives lower damage, then the resulting crystal will be lower damage as well.  Because of this, it's generally best to use as high a damage on wand as possible, or a staff if you can manage it, and rely on potions, Enduring Melody, or transformation to deal with MP.

I don't have the pet, but I'd be curious to see if the Thunder Dapple could be used to form your own magic crystals

NINJA: Archers don't suffer that much, especially under the new combat system.  Being able to spam magnum means getting massively higher damage potential, and it means wasting less arrows and durability.  There's a reason that elves get quivers of 500, and it's because those dual-shots and quicker cooldown will drain through arrows very fast.  Being able to use single-shot magnum means fewer arrows shot, and makes it more viable to use hand made arrows.

[majikero]

I actually started as a pure mage. It got boring really fast so I added swords to mix it up a bit. It's also expensive to maintain a pure mage lifestyle.

[SirAaronIII]

So.... does Atrata's music remind anyone else of the West Coast (which is inexplicably in the east) theme music from DFO?

Wait, only a couple people have played DFO and also read this thread.

[Skyrunner]

It seems that Atrata's song has the opposite notes to West Coast: if Atrata is low-high-low-high, West Coast is high-low-high-low.

Here's Atrata's song, here's West Coast.

[Aklyon]

I played DFO (and Vindictus, which makes the 'This is not a properly supported blahdeblah video card blahdeblah get a better one dotdotdot do you want to continue?' box that comes up for mabi rather derp) before reading this thread, and it certainly does remind me of that. West Coast is where the mage trainer is.

[Lordinquisitor]

Picked up the weaving skill. Boy, grindy. I hope it`s worthwile, though. Currently gathering cobwebs and turning them into fine thread.

Rebirthed into a merchant and so it`s easier and i get some XP. Will keep those AP until i rebirth again and then i will spend them on improving my most vital skills. For my next rebirth i will either choose a warrior or ranger- Not sure whether my bard will also be supposed to fight on the frontlines or from the back. Archery might be more viable, it would give me some long range power and comboes neatly with my songs, i think, since for them i should be out of harms way in any case. But i already wasted some skill points on counterattack, dischcord and other melee skills and so i wonder whether this would be viable.

[Aklyon]

You can reset everything to F for free if you're still under total level 100.