I've been subscribed to the list in digest form so I've been pretty
much just lurking. Anyway, some of the recent comments have got me to
thinking, and I thought I'd drop a couple of comments, hopefully some
of which may prove helpful. In no particular order . . .

1) I think that discussions about new spells or spell modifications
are interesting, but they won't result in any patches in the short
term. About the only way I can see Verant changing things is if they
don't see wizards hitting the upper levels (45 - 50) at about the same
rate as the other classes, and it's probably too early now to tell if
that's the case.

2) Having said that, the discussion might be good more for the long
run. If we come up with some good, well balanced ideas. For instance
(???), wouldn't it be nice if wizards weren't just the masters of
space but of time. How about a short term (say 6 to 10 seconds) haste
spell which affected movement and casting time etc. (maybe 3x), but
with a rapid burn on fatigue or a slow effect afterwards? Allow for
that quick dash to safety, or a desperate burst of energy in a fight
gone bad?

3) It also seems to me that they've been fiddling with our spells
pretty regularly. I've never been all that impressed with shadow step
or root, but I've noticed recently that I will get several of my Roots
resisted consecutively on blues when previously I rarely had problems.
Am I imagining things here or have they changed something? With
shadow step, it has always been pretty random but it seems they've
expanded the range. Last night while playing around with it near the
gates of Qeynos, I cast it once and zoned to Qeynos hills. Not sure
if this is a good thing, and I haven't tried it in a dungeon. I just
imagine jumping out of the 'ole frying pan and landing in some place
much much hotter.

4) There has been some complaining about Eye of Zomm. It's all
valid, as far as I can tell <g>, but along with the open doors trick,
you may not know that you can also slap a gaze onto the eye to see eve
n further. One other fun thing you can do with it is to see beyond
zone borders. Not useful in a
game sense, but interesting if you want to tell how the zones are put
together. (The world is flat folks and, as near as I can tell, it
rides on the back of a grizzly bear <g>.)

5) One other thing to keep in mind about Eye of Zomm is that Verant
may later add some useful conjuration spells to the wizard class. Who
knows? However, what many higher level wizards have discovered is
that it can be a serious pain trying to get stats to increase when
they are disproportionately low--i.e. when you have neglected them for
a long time. You may want to use the Eye spell for a while each level
to keep conjuration up just in case.

6) Same thing holds true for weapon skills. If you ever end up in a
duel with another spell caster, you might find throwing especially
useful. Pick up some shirkens from a local monks guild or someplace
and practice when you are low level. Advancing later can be tough,
and you can advance this skill higher than your normal offensive
skills, I believe.

7) Recently, we've had a bit of spam. I guess that's to be expected
and endured. What I find more annoying are all of the people that
repost the spam in their replies. For those of us getting this list
in digest form, it just gives us the same wad of garbage to wade
through again and again. Please don't do that.

8) Some of you are looking for good areas to hunt. After about level
11 or so, I recommend that you spend a bit of time in N. Karanas. You
are near Paw if you need cash or a change of pace, the beetles are
excellent xp (pincers up to level 15, borers for the next couple, and
then scythes). I've been soloing there for some time. The zone
*looks* scary because of the griffs, but it keeps down the riffraff.
Plus the mobs don't spawn or enter the teleport area (4 large pillars)
unless trained, so it makes for a reasonable safe zone. Zone boundary
and guards are nearby, etc. The cash is low (unless you have a lucky
run with wisps), but with an agility of 85 or higher you can outrun
the beetles which makes them especially nice targets. No need to
Root. Shoot, run, shoot, run, shoot, close and finish. I've seen
wizards level from about 12 to 20 there, and come back later for some
of the bigger mobs.

9) If you are running and you know you are going to die, head for the
biggest mob. There is much less xp loss against mobs that are higher
level. Getting killed by a hill giant or a griffon at level 14 isn't
that big of a deal. Getting killed by something that you con green
can cost you almost a whole bubble at the same level.

Heh. More than I intended to write. I have other things to say, but
they can wait for another day. Couple of questions though.

I've purchased some netted the other day (cape, pants, shawl) and
didn't see any weight or AC advantage over cloth. Is there any
benefit to netted and, if not, what should I be buying?

Anyone on The Rathe interested in setting up a language exchange as is
going on on other servers?

My apologies for the long post. I'll try and keep my verbal vomiting
down in the future <g>

Glyphin of The Rathe
14th, no 13th, no 14th (#@#!%!$ trains) level High elf wizard