...be forewarned. These are the words of a newbie(or newb, or n00b, or whichever variation best suits you). I haven't had any level 50s, nor even any level 10s. I haven't pwnt anybody, I haven't turned water to wine, I haven't split the seas, I haven't caused locusts to fall upon Galadon(yet).

With that said, this could very well be dismissed as being newb complaints, bait for pages upon pages of flame. Hey, whatever--to each their own. Still, I feel the need (read: Frustration) to ask this.

In looking at most of the other classes, they are designed in such a way as to give you an appropriate impression of the class within the first 10 levels. I'm not talking about endgame tactics, or even midgame tactics, or kewl spells, or anything like that. I'm talking about the 'feel' of a character, the feel of a class.

By level 10, a new person playing an Antipaladin -feels- like the kind of guy who would flip off a box of kittens and lay waste to towns.

By level 10, a new person playing an Invoker -feels- like he's got at least a rudimentary control over the forces of the elements, and can look forward to exploring his progression into power.

By level 10, a new person playing a Thief -feels- like the pickpocket he is, ready to begin his career in earnest, swear allegiance to a guild and start his ascension towards Kingpin status.

By level 10, a new person playing a Shapeshifter or a Transmuter has access to some metamorphic abilities, and while they are barely into anything resembling their true power, they have tools that they can work with, tools which allow him to -feel- like a neonate taking those first few steps onto the path of the Shapeshifter, or perhaps casting eyes upon his neighbor with a curious glare.

The same could be said of any of the other classes, really. For the sake of brevity, I won't go through -each and every one-...save one important example, the one that I hope will make my point.


By level 10, a Conjurer does not feel like a conjurer in the least. By level 10, he's got...Magic Missile.

Magic. Freaking. Missile.

Yay.

Where are the spells meant to make a newbie Conjurer -feel- like a Conjurer? Only halfway to that point myself, I look at the spell progression and wonder what, precisely, am I supposed to -do- before I even get my familiar?

I don't feel like a conjurer. I feel like a one-note wonder, minus the 'wonder' part. When spamming magic missile isn't possible/prudent, I have...my whip. The last couple of levels were made quick and efficient by storming the upper level of the newbie dungeons, over and over again...but that's little more than an exercise in human botting.

The next five levels hold little interest for me, and the trek to my first /real/ Conjurer spell promises to be an exercise in tedium. Looking at the progression, it appears that the best way to do this is to leech xp from friendly groups...though I imagine there aren't many sympathetic ears to the plight in that range. Hell, I know I wouldn't stand for having a groupmember who basically stood there, sponging.

So, now that I've said that, my questions.

1. For experienced Conjurers, what did you do/how did you make it past the early levels without gouging your eyes out? How did you make yourself survivable against pre-level 17 PK attempts, overleveled equipment aside?

2. Is it at all possible for the Conjurer class to receive a lookover, perhaps receive some low level spells that -feel- like the name of the class? Even if it were something as lowly as 'Conjure Goblin'/'Bind Goblin' or even 'Conjure Rottweiler', it would go miles towards making the class feel like it's doing what it's supposed to do.


Thanks for listening to me rant, and I hope to receive some positive feedback/criticism.

-Coney Island

Yeah, I will agree with you on the fact that conjurers are a bit vanilla before getting to familiar/elemental/so on and so forth, but you need to realize this. At 35+ its hard to bring to the table what a conjurer can. Having played quite a few different classes, I will go on a limb here and say that played right they are ALMOST unbeatable/unkillable.

So the question is...how do you get through the mind numbing boringness that are the levels pre 17. Well I will tell you what I do, but before I do I want to suggest something to you:

If you haven't made it past level 10 yet, conjurers may not be the best place to start. They require a bit of finesse and patience with finding mana sweet spots for conjuring, dealing with sometimes hostile mobs, etc. I was very intimidated of the class before I rolled my first, and this was after three years of playing. I had heard the good, the bad and the ugly on things and was really worried I might not do to well. Well, lo and behold I did well and come to find out conjurers turned out to be one of my more favorite classes to play. Well let me rephrase that....Goodie Conjurers. Evil conjurers are a whole other ballgame and something that still intimidates me and is something I am working on.

Now. Would I have done as well with conjurers if I was fresh out of the gates on CF? Probably not. Thats not to say you couldn't be successful, but having never died to a bad conjuration/psychic vampire/lost soul, etc. Well, that was three years of game knowledge working in my favor. I guess to sum it up, conjies have a higher than normal learning curve. Alright, now to answer your question on how I do this.

First, I make sure and rank to around level 5 within the Academy. THATS SO BORING! Yeah, well...its some of the fastest and easiest leveling you'll ever do, so just consider it as time served. Plus with the recent changes, its a good way to rack up close to 3000 copper!

So now you're level five and ready to magic missile the world to death! Erm, no wait. Actually at this point I start doing quests. You would not believe the amount of low level quests that are out there for you to do! Don't know any you say? Well ask around, look around in the areas listed in Help Newbie3...at this time in my CF career, my little notepad now holds 17 quests I can do JUST as a newbie! And I am willing to bet I haven't even come close to finding them all. So I do these quests and get the exp/gold/gear from them. Now I find myself usually pretty close to being level 12. So what do I do? Well I go over to the guildmaster and discuss with him. At this point I'm usually about three hours into the char and have done enough walking around, questing, etc to get a good 1500-2200 additional in exploration exp, observation exp, and commerce exp. Now I'm almost level 13.

At this point, yeah I have to try and find a group and getting from 13 to 22 can be a bit tedious, but having walked around quite a bit doing my quests, I am pretty good about getting around. So I make the point to approach others about getting together. I lead them about, if they make mention about not having good gear, well, get them gear! Or go with them while they get it and take notes or do whatever it takes to learn.

Anyhow, at this point you might be saying I can't do all of that right now. Well here's my point. At one point I couldn't either. But by asking around, taking a few notes here and there, or just following around other people while they do the more medial tasks, etc. You can find the game knowledge you need to get where you want.

Alright, well this post has gotten a bit more long winded than I wanted, but my advice is this: Be a sponge right now. Absorb what you can from others and never be afraid to ask questions. It may seem like an eternity getting to where you want to, but before long you'll be in the position to where you can answer someone's questions.

Having made hero with my first char here, and it was a conjurer. I can only say, try and find groups, ppl will have you because you gain there exp as well.

on the pk note, RUN!

Might not be that fun, but shure helps when your new to the game, I never stay and fight, unless it was I that atacked.


And last, Conjurers are grate for exploring, with an archon and an elementar you can beat up most mobs by your self.

1.Ranking:

You can start by solo-ranking in academy cavern to level 5. After that, do Simon's quest. After that, start asking for group. Your task in the group will be mainly keeping watch and and concealing group with invis when they rest. Don't be the slow, half absent guy who gets on everyones nerves, since it's in your good interests to gain ranks faster too. If the tank is a fellow who can solo-rank at those levels, he'll might as well take two magi along to rank with him. However, he doesn't necessarily bother to ask people to rank with him. Have a warrior drag you up the low ranks that way.


PK part:
In pre-15 levels, most warriors don't have detect invis. Rager applicants will never have it(unless they are svirfneblin or assassins), and those will always try to kill you on sight. So, invis will help you to avoid PK in some extent. Teleporting can help too, but it gets you lost easily if you don't know areas. Mainly it's just rank fast past the difficult and boring ranks.

It can also get you killed if you get unlucky. Always be careful when you teleport into a place you do not know. If you are goodie like most conjurers are(or even neutral), ask Acolyte or Maran heroes to help you in the dangerous situation.

On familiar:
If you have a quiet moment at level 17, learn to use your familiar and do some exploring with it. If your familiar is something that can fly, such as owl or faerie dragon, explore the skies of Thera with it. Basically, if you use numpad to move, it is generally a good idea to set the alternative numpad(control+numpad key, works at least in MUSHclient) to move as your familiar.Example: numpad 4 inputs command 'west', ctrl+numpad 4 inputs command 'familiar west' etc. Anyway, if the familiar can take items(owl(one of the goodie familiars) for example can hold one item in its inventory), send your familiar to explore and get you some nice gear(I used my owl to get me a set of snow worm gear, since there were some lying around in the lair) while you yourself sit in the relative safety of guild. As a mob, your familiar won't get attacked by aggro mobs, which makes moving around as it handy.

Conjurers learn axe. They usually do more damage/hit more often than whips. You should experiment with using one.

Magic missile is, actually, a great below-hero spell. Really. It doesn't cost too much mana, and does damage. Once you get shield block you could gather together (if you knew how, or if you made an in-character friend who could help you) a set of gear that gives lots of extra hp, and rather successfully pk people just by having an axe, a shield, lots of hp, and magic missile. So... learn where good eq is!

1. Having a good amount of hp, utilizing the 'teleport' spell, and having at least one "word of recall' potion/scroll will help you to run away and not die to all those lowbie orcs and warriors. Nowadays, exploring all the areas mentioned in the newbie helpfile (newbie3, I believe) will give you lots of things to kill, you'll find quests to complete, and with a little solo levelling, or if you put together/find a group, you'll be level 15 decently quickly. The key thing is to get a group if you want to rank quickly. You're not 'sponging' if you're helping the group by being one of three people (need three to get good xp), and if you're doing SOMETHING, like making sure to spam 'where' looking for enemies.

2. Conjies recently got 'warp dimension'. Which seems pretty darned conjierrific. Sure, it'd be nice to have a fun, lower level 'conjure monster' spell to give you a few crappy pets to help you out, but magic missile, an axe, and a group will help you get to familiars and elementals quicker than you might think.