According to Alan Charity:

> Yes a +10 INT staff is fine but its 10/100 so unless I get an enchanter to
> cast haste on me its not much use in combat. I currently have a Writhing
> Staff and would only use a Tarton Staff if I needed the extra Mana.

At the levels you should have the Tarton Wheel Staff, you should rarely,
if ever, go in melee. And if you do, that's because you have two or three
tanks bashing a creature into pulp, and the damage from any staff a caster
wield will be negligible.

Treat the staff as a kind of book of silver runes. It's in your main hand,
but does not serve as a combat.

> Also the groups I've been in lately in Cazic and Mistmoore do not require
> that I expend large amounts of mana. Most groups consisted of a Cleric,
> Enchanter, Shaman and 2 tanks. Also most if not all of my spells were
> resisted by the Red MOBs they were pulling. I spend most of my time casting
> some low damage spells that don't get resisted, try to get a root to hold
> and take a few whacks with my staff.

Then you are not employed efficiently. That's bad. I understand the lure of
pulling red mobs for quick burst of experience, but I still think that a
steady stream of blues/light yellows can bring in as much experience as the
single red, followed by a longer pause, and is a lot safer.

When you join people pulling reds, be sure you are at the top of the
experience range. But, if they are willing to have you along for the ride...
why not :)

> The Enchanter we had in our group saved the lives of the party more times
> than I can remember. We'd pull too many or get sideswiped by a train and

Never underestimate an enchanter. I've been grouping with an enchanter
that routinely "play with the food" (as he says), and the enchanter makes or
break the group. One group I've seen has a shaman, druid and enchanter (plus
me as wizard). No tank. Why use tanks, where you root all mobs on the spot,
then play the DOT/DD song before they can break it.

Yes, we're not hunting deep reds. But the short duration of a root doesn't
matter then.

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Vincent ARCHER -=-=- Herve Schauer Consultants -=-=- archer@...
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