Ok. I've tried extremely hard with this char to stay off the boards, because I think when they overlap, it makes the wonder of the game a bit less... However, Eudessa the character can't fight in RL so I'm here to stand up for her.

I'm so angry/flustered right now, I'm going to do my very best not to make this a rant, although I may not succeed...

The Current Wand System

To begin, allow me to give you a little backstory. At lvl 36 I began my wand search. It took somewhere around a week real time and somewhere around 20-30 or so hours in game. A part of me didn't really even think I would find it (even though I have a lot of locations I still probably only know anywhere from 60%-75% as a rough estimate). Then on one magical night, as I slayed yet another mythical beast in search of my elusive prize, I saw it. It was so beautiful I almost shed a tear. A sleek black rod, in all its glory. I knew then, that I would have a CHANCE TO COMPETE. Not be a super-powered beast. Not super-own the game. Just COMPETE.

As a drow necromancer, barrier is a complete NECESSITY to be able to even show your face in a raid, or against any competent enemy. All the hps in the world don't matter when you're taking 3-5 ***DEVASTATES*** to the face every round. A CONSISTANT BARRIER LOCATION was my key to be able to advance to the hero ranks and build the semi-strong character that I have today. Without it, I may as well not even tried. Not with the numbers I was facing when I made my pilgrimage to hero.

So. I had a CONSISTANT BARRIER LOCATION (Hereby referred to as CBL). It makes life as a super-hunted mage like me BEARABLE. It made spending 45mins to an hour per log in building an army ok, because I probably wouldn't lose it the second I fought someone decent, because I had CBL. It meant I could dodge and sometimes fight those 5 man maran/outlander teams, because I had CBL. It meant I could explore and fight mobs I wouldn't normally dream of fighting, because I had CBL.

Fast forward to the recent changes. Keep in mind that I'm not one of those super Leet-explore folks that knows where everything everywhere is. So now, in addition to spending 45mins to an hour per log in building an army I'm going to have to spend 3-6 hours(rough estimate of the time it will take to find difficult wands. And this is assuming I can find someone to ask about them) in game PER LOG IN to find ONE SLEEK! ONE SLEEK! Not even all three. I could spend all that time to find a Sienna for all I know. I don't even need sienna wands! I'm also going to have to do this whilst dodging 90% of the game and keep in mind I no longer have CBL to protect my frail little ass.

I have no idea how this is supposed to be helpful. I can only assume It's meant as some sort of punishment to magi. Is it because sleeks were supposedly OP? If that's the case then why have there been so many horrible magi who had full A/B/S. I can remember plenty. If A/B/S is so strong then why are most of the top PKers mostly warriors? I can tell you, as someone who has full A/B/S most of the time, I still get worked over pretty badly by plenty of people. Especially ragers.

If the change is supposed to be helpful to magi, then where exactly is the help? The only real difference is the hint system. But you are forgetting that even with these hints, you still have to both locate the one individual in the area with your wand, and also navigate a potentially super-dangerous area to get to it. Other than the hints, you are still doing a wand search, except this time its a CONSTANT WAND SEARCH. You don't get to find your wand and breathe a most beautiful sigh of relief.

I cannot express just how much this change has crippled my character. To the extent that I almost fell over laughing in complete disbelief when the first wand I discussed with my guildmaster was in an area I had never even heard of. I simply have to ask: How were you expecting the current crop of magi (That don't have a huge cabal-support system) to thrive under these conditions? How, I ask?

I offer a solution.

Listen. I don't know how things will turn out. Maybe in the future these changes will be super-great. Maybe I'll love you guys later, and curse my now-stupidity. In general, I think the IMM staff is WONDERFUL and does such a good job with this game. However, as is, this change has crippled those players that were set with their wand spots and had big big plans for their character. So how about this. Let those characters who were around before the change keep their wand locations, and from now on, if you roll a mage you deal with the changes. I remember this was how it was rangers were changed back in the day. I still was calling bears when others were using snare and such.

I just don't think it's fair for characters like mine (and I highly doubt I'm the only one) to take such a HUGE hit when there was no way to forsee such an event. If I had such clairvoyance, I would have rolled a Nexan shifter or Maran conjurer. Something that would allow me the freedom to explore these areas given from the hints.

There's my 2 cents. I'll refrain from commenting further if I can, per what I said in the first few sentences of this message, but I hope you (The Imm Staff) see this as what it is. A critique and possible solution. Not a call to arms.