Sun Sep 9 11:46:01 2007

At 4 o'clock AM, Day of Freedom, 18th of the Month of Winter
on the Theran calendar Denenskel perished, never to return.

Race:	svirfnebli
Class:	invoker
Level:	44
Alignment:	Neutral
Ethos:	Neutral
Cabal:	NEXUS, Nexus, Seekers of Balance
Age:	206
Hours:	126

<465/100%hp 817/100%m 587/86%mv 17747tnl 3 AM indoor civilized none> delete
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Time to throw away 126 hours, 44 levels and 393050 experience.

Death tells you 'I AM DEATH, NOT TAXES. I TURN UP ONLY ONCE.'

==============================

Well it was a good run, and fun times. This was my first mage character, and the reason for my deletion is pretty simple -- mages (or at least invokers) don't fit my play style. The whole wands thing takes too much time for me, I like to be able to fight on a moment's notice ALL the time, not just when I have rods. Towards hero, you DEFINITELY need some wands.

My sleek black location sucked ass to get (thanks to those of you that helped me, you know what I'm talking about). There are very few other barrier sources usable ~40, most are mid to upper 40s. I really hated dodging mace and hand spec ragers until I could dig someone up to go get my black. Anyway... moving on to a character review.

Svirf voker actually isn't half bad. I was 8 earth, 8 air, 8 lightning, 8 cold, 7 water, dropping fire and ooze. In retrospect, I probably wouldn't make this path choice again, mostly because ooze is AWESOME to have despite having some tough spells to perfect in the path. Ooze is the invoker's utility path, and they NEED it.

As you can see from above, I played for 126 hours. It took maybe 100 of those to get to 40 and perfect all my lesser shields. Personally, I don't think that is unreasonable at all. In fact, I was surprised an 18 int invoker did that well that fast.

I wasn't a PK machine, largely due to the wand issue I mentioned before, and I definitely felt the lack of Ooze in the PK scene. Vuln blunt hurts like hell too. Fire, not so much. Cold can do almost anything fire can do, and can do it better in my opinion, except for immolation.

On the other hand svirf vokers get some SWEET edges. Stonekin rocks, it's a significant and noticeable boost to stoneskin damage reduction. Really helps with that blunt vuln. Earth Power rocks even more! Seriously, Earth Power makes a svirf voker totally worth playing. It makes a huge difference, the caveat being you can't fly.

I think my opinion might have changed if I had stuck this character out to improved invis and rain of stone like I originally planned, but I just got tired of playing him. After greater shields is where things REALLY got tough to perfect. I don't think vortex or ice slick EVER moved for me in the ~20 hours that I had them even with mega affinity and a silver tome.

In a nut shell: Svirf invoker is certainly powerful, and makes for a viable invoker. I think in the end a five path voker is certainly a viable option, you just have to be careful which paths you choose to drop. Don't drop ooze! I didn't consider Denenskel weak by any means, I'm just not good with invoker play style.

On to my few goodbyes:

Nexus in general: Pay attention to that note Twist sent! You guys are too soft on Balance! Whip those fools into shape Twist!

Durzan: Keep on trucking man. That's all I've got to say about that.

Flso: Thanks for the bitch rankage. You've got skills and you know your stuff.

Xilia: Thanks for the induct, although I was frustrated that it took three times talking to you between you running off and getting smeared by pincering ragers. All in all, you were very enjoyable to talk to and RP with though. Keep up the good work, you have a hard job. As a side note, I disagree with 80% of your policies on Balance. I don't think they're hard-assed enough, but it's your character and your playground as Meter.

Dermy: Thanks for the help man. I liked you and I hope you do well. Hope some of that stuff I showed you helps. Thanks for the bitch rankage and the spell practice.

Allat: I really did like you, you just always caught me at bad times I guess. Sorry if it felt like I was blowing you off all the time.

To all the Outlanders who assumed I wanted to join the refuge: FFS guys, aren't there enough of you camping out in the Tree? I never see you guys do anything, and I wouldn't play an Outlander right now even if it was the only thing that would save Thera from total annihilation.

Tribs: Get out there and do something! It seems like for all the world you guys and the Outties are sitting there on opposite sides of the fence just growling threateningly at eachother. You're all bark and no bite. Get to it!

One last side note that I think is worth mentioning. In 126 hours I don't think a single goodie said a word to Denenskel about ranking, or anything else besides saying "I don't think you should kill that!" or "Don't do that it's bad!". You wonder why all of these neutrals seem to skew evil? It's because for the most part you guys are total jackasses, and don't do ANYTHING to help them. Not... one... thing.

Peace, I'm out. See you guys in the fields.

I really hated the whole not being able to induct you quickly bit.....Believe me. You weren't the only one who felt it.
But hell, I can't just stop being Xilia to make things better for others, right?
Right?
No....I could.

Random piece of advice:

Try invoker again some time, and give PKing at lower levels more of a shot -- let's say, low 20's. You'll probably have more fun at the lower levels, and I'd guess you might develop more of a sense for when invokers at high levels can let wands slide either completely or partially. (Definitely there are fights I wouldn't get into as a hero invoker sans wands, but equally there are a lot of fights that invokers wand up for where wands are unnecessary or even detrimental. Having a feel for this cuts down on wand-gathering time immensely.)

nt

Though walking into that fight you misjudge and don't bring enough damage redux is a big ouch usually
MANGLES
MANGLES
MANGLES!