The Life and Times of a Balance Wizard

A Time for Frogs

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by
Allerielle
, 9-22-11 at 9:09:59 AM (442 Views)
It's amazing the kind of amnesia one acquires after a year's dormancy. Esmee got the quest to do Sunken City for the Dryad spell the night before last. I popped in, expecting to storm the castle and quickly realized that a bit more preparation was in order. First, the trash mobs (with the exception of street fights and two levels of Norbert's tower) all come in 3's and have an exceptional health pool for the level one is intially given that quest.

I exited and immediately went to the bazaar to pick up a Life wand as Esmee had carried a Death wand exclusively up to then. I find it convenient on a number of levels to use a Death wand rather than a Life but as these mobs were Death I thought it would be prudent to use a Life Wand for the entirety of the instance. I also needed to work on my deck construction a bit. After doing these things I jumped back on the instance pad to go in. Another character joined me on it and to my surprise and delight, it was a Legendary Theurgist. I know I bark a lot about how Esmee can solo but just because she can solo things doesnt mean it's the best use of her time, especially when considering a place like the Sunken City. I was quite happy to have a partner and overjoyed to learn that this one had Forest Lord (an AoE).

He was there looking for a Wraith Statue off Grubb. In the way of things, Esmee had the statue drop while my Legendary friend did not. I felt bad, and didnt mention that Esmee had gotten it. The whole thing got me to thinking about how Esmee could have solo'd the instance with some efficiency. Since she was fortunate enough to get a hybrid with Dragonblade, and has already purchased Spirit Blade from Niles, I was thinking about purchasing the Amulet with Humongofrog on it. I could cast it by Round 4, even using Spirit Blade. And with any of the bosses I could drop a Feint on the boss and have them down by Round 5. I do not normally recommend casting outside of your own school for damage rather than utility but sometimes an AoE is just called for and if your school doesnt have one (which Life doesnt) one must consider all one's options.

I know I'm not inventing the wheel, here, so I would love feedback from other Life Wizards that have found themselves using this tactic. What problems did you run across? Fizzles, Pip useage, inability to buff the spell enough, better tactics, etc. I will be trying this myself, some day in the near future when I find myself with enough time.

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Comments

  1. Tylerdragoneyes's Avatar
    sry i didnt read but how do i blog
  2. msbrown's Avatar
    Soloing Sunken City is a very different experience than doing it as part of a group - especially at Levels ~ 12 to 18 which is age appropriate for that instance. (At Level 42, it should have seemed a bit easier...).

    Life, Death and Storm are pretty much condemned to taking single pot-shots, and taking the mobs down one by one. Waiting for the pips to accumulate to cast an off-school AoE gets very irritating - on the order of finger nails scratching across a blackboard - over and over and over again. Watching all those beautiful yellow pips get swallowed up by a little 4 pip spell is also painful. (Over and over and over again...)

    The one thing I can suggest (but not recommend) is purchasing a Mastery of (School) amulet. This is the one that will let you use Power Pips to cast an off-school spell. They work beautifully. And, they cost $20 each.

    A long long time ago, when I first started creating my Death wizard, I thought it would be useful to have an AoE, (And Death wizards have lots and lots of extra Training Points), so I Trained Fire to get the Meteor spell. The spell was great, but I didn't like waiting for the Pips to accumulate, or watching the Power Pips get wasted. So, I never used it after I started getting Power Pips in Marleybone.... Until, the Mastery Amulets came out...

    I tried one, and I have to admit it is NICE. I really really like - and use - that Meteor spell. But I feel guilty every time I do it. It seems like a horrible waste of money, for what is essentially a forbidden pleasure - Death wizards aren't meant to cast Meteor spells guilt-free. And, secondly, it really is an artificial perversion - it doesn't occur naturally, is against the rule of magic, and is available an only an exorbitant cost which keeps it out of the reach of most ordinary wizards. It's really not right. (But, I do it anyway. **sigh**)
  3. Allerielle's Avatar
    Well, I wasnt suggesting this for solo farming. It is more efficient at my level to cast a buffed Seraph and if everything goes smoothly most street mob fights are over by the 4th round. This is with a 61% pip chance at level 40. I dont know what her +dps is but it's still in the low end. It cant be more than 20% and is probably lower than that.

    I was just offering a hypothetical solution to the tedious Sunken City trek that must be done by any Life Wizard seeking their Dryad.
  4. msbrown's Avatar
    For one time through, just fill your pockets full of shells, and pop them off one at time, like potting squirrels or ground hogs. Start with the small ones at the rear, and work your way forward. They are all sitting there watching you, and never look behind them. They literally never realize what is hitting them.
    Updated 9-22-11 at 12:58:50 PM by msbrown
  5. PokeMan62's Avatar
    i want to know somethin. how do i change my location? or is that another thing you have to buy? also, i hope you can get the spell if you havent yet!
    Updated 9-22-11 at 6:17:37 PM by PokeMan62