We all know how the sleeks system works and what it’s perceived ups and downs are. Great.

I know of at least one quest in-game that provides one of the damage reduction spells. I do something and in return I get a spell cast on me for a period of time. It’s pretty obvious that quest wasn’t designed to be be a reliable source of damage reduction, and is pretty difficult (by design, I’m sure) to take advantage of when a raid hits or something like that.

Moving on. To the Imms: What about making more quests like this? Maybe have a NPC in the HTOS that takes a magical item in return for a zap or a damage reduction spell, the level, duration, and amount of which being correlated to the item, sort of like despoil. Factor in the Veil too, perhaps. Perhaps add a cool-down timer as well, so it can’t be used immediately after the actual damage reduction spell falls.

This would allow people who haven’t found their sleek locations, or who have but aren’t able to kill the mobs, or whatever, the ability to prep up for a big battle, a raid, or a challenging NPC fight. It would be difficult to use as a crutch, but would still allow people to play without the feeling that their hero mage is a total waste. Power gamers would of course claim it isn’t enough to be competitive, but like Zulg has said, they want it all, all of the time, which isn’t what this solution addresses.

I don’t see this having a seriously negative impact on game balance, and with the right restrictions and trade-offs, it would let people who aren’t in-the-know or who do not frequently play mages still go up against tough foes before they find their sleeks. It would also help a lot in cases where one does know their wands but is just a little shy of being able to acquire them alone given their forms, etc.

I'm not opposed to seeing a few more quests like this, but it's not something I'm super fired up to work on, either.

n/t