Quest Battles:

Dark Mountain Troll Level 16 EXP 2000

HP 1600

STR 100 DEX 40 CON 160

Skills: Granite Club Smash 100 damage | Club Sweep 50 damage Ranged 10ft

I have 482 mana now and I don't really expect to get hit. This guy is super slow. He has a shit ton of health though. In fact I never did get hit, despite his immense health. Thank god for build synergy. This thing was 10 levels above me and I was only half way through my first powerspike.

I started with my usual activities. I cast Boost and Quicken. I went right to Pyromania after that I needed some strong mana synergy to get out enough damage before I was empty. I dropped Boost and sat out at 50ft. The troll was damn slow, moving 20ft a second. Now that my spell ranges were up I could save some mana on control spells. I cast Stagnation for 18 seconds of Slow troll. Now I had aggro and I had also burned 231 mana leaving 251 to go. Ouch.

I had 10 seconds of Pyromania and 4 rounds to cast damage spells before I had to run. Luckily Firebolt was ready for me. I considered casting Twin but it was primarily a time for mana spell and I expected to need some mana recovery anyways. This troll had no chance to touch me so time was not an issue. At best I would have Pyromancy up for a single extra Cast 1s spell. 4 Firebolts went to work. I had boost on one cast so that helped a bit. It cost me 103 mana for 578 damage after accounting for Troll and Dark taking 50% more fire damage each. Also relevant was that fire damage shut down troll regen. No bonus damage, though.

Things started to get rough at this point. I had the troll at 64% health but I was quite low on mana and Pyromania was ending soon. At least Haste and Slow had a while to go. I abused Slow by casting Worldstep for 20 mana to get at max range for Firebolt. No boost this time but another 4 Bolts launched. Another Worldstep to safety. I had dealt 472 damage at 59*4*2. With 1050/1600 gone my troll friend was down 65.625% of his health. I would need slightly more than 4 Firebolts under Pyromancy. Unfortunately it had run out.

I checked my recovery to understand the full situation. I had 64 base mana. I had a recovery of 8.5/s after account for /5 in the display. In game I had the number displayed for me but from memory I have to calculate it off Quicken, as my first mana spell. 1s of Cast time plus 12 seconds of cooldown. So I had 155 mana. Turns out that was plenty. I had 4 seconds to cast and then I had to Worldstep. Boost, Pyromancy, 2 Firebolts, Worldstep, 2 Firebolts.

I needed Boost for the full Pyromancy buff and it also gave just enough bonus to the first Firebolt to win. Just like my first volley I did 578 damage for 103 mana. I needed 73 mana for Pyromancy but I had recovery so I skated over the line on the last Firebolt.

In the end I won the battle with a single tick on Quicken and 2 ticks on Stagnation left and absolutely no mana. Damn that was close. The EXP boost was nice though. A high based value and a high level bonus. Awesome.

2000 * 2(level diff) = 4000EXP (240/6400)

EXP: (4240/6400) to Level 7

The rest of my battles couldn't really compare to that. Just imagine less EXP but they ended after the second Firebolt volley. I keep running into the same issue with Mana but I can't really do much about it till I get my second Template, which was a Legendary support template. Of course the obvious major issue I have is I'm a solo player. I have to do control, damage, and tank, and also buffing and debuffing. Ouch. Other players without special backgrounds spawned in lower level areas with other humans and partied up. Most players couldn't really keep up with the Secret Background players but they didn't get trounced by us either. Easier fights against lower level monsters meant lower base EXP and EXP split, but it did allow players to specialize and be safe which helped them keep up.

If you really think about it, I had amazing powers for party adventuring even though I specifically ignored party focused Talents. Burnisher, Sustainer, and even more obviously Coordinator were very good support Talents, even though they were all Tier 2. Even Tarnisher would have been good, especially against boss mobs. Tarnisher has some great debuff spells and while debuffing DEX or STR isn't much good for my situation in a party fight it would be huge and it combines with debuffs from Miasma.

Chronomancy and Bosonist have great buff and control spells for single targets and groups, even in Phase 1. The main reason I decided to play solo was that I spawned alone. Maybe if I had had a Summoner Talent it would have been different since I could abuse my buffs on pets. Another concern was that I might be betrayed. If it ever became obvious how strong I was there would be issues in any party. No one wants to be a minion. M60 didn't have dimmer switches on skills so you couldn't really hide your power, even if your character sheet was secret. My buffs especially would have given me away.

I think the devs made a good decision not spawning me with any good pet classes. I would have taken off fast, especially if I avoided companions. Regular pets are temporary and don't leech exp. Companions have their upsides but in my case it is better to claim all of it. I picked up an Extraordinary pet Template for my last multiclass and it was in fact amazing but the beta test ended before I could have too much fun.

I ended up pushing through all my quests pretty quickly, the troll was really the star of the show. Then I headed back to town. I hit the Adventurers Guild quick since I had EXP quests and I wanted to level. Accounting for combat and quest experience I ended up here:

+7000exp (11240/6400) (4840/12800) Lvl Up!!!

You have gained 10HP, 32MP, and 2 stat points!

You have gained 2 skill points + 1 magic point!

I had to burn all my stats on MEM yet again. I had 1 left over skill slow so I needed 2 to pick up a full skill pick.

I ended up with Clingfire and Blazing Mind. Now I needed 5 points to boost Miasma to Phase 2, so I skipped on Ignite, leaving me with an open skill slot and a skill point to burn for the Phase change. My plan was to take MEM again next level and then blow the skill points on Miasma Phase 2. Then I take MEM *again*, finish Phase 2, grab 2 skills, and then for level 10 I take MEM *again* and I can grab the full 3 skills of Miasma Phase 2. I didn't *know* if it was worth taking 5 of the 7 new skills so fast but I was hoping and I got lucky. At that point I'd have 0 skill slots.

Then I would be ready to push for Metamagic Phase 2. A Tier 1 Talent costs 9 points to advance to Phase 2. Tier 4 is 3 and every Tier higher is +2 more. Hence 5 for Tier 2 of Pyromancy and Miasma. Ouch. Honestly I could hit Phase 2 of Illusion and get 4/7 spells with the points it takes to hit Phase 2 of Metamagic. I really wish I had a Tier 1 combat Talent at this point but its all buffs and control. Not even a Tier 2 damage Talent. I was pretty torn between Metamagic, Chronomancy, and Bosonist honestly. If I had it to do over I'd have gone Chronomancy. Phase 2 actually does have some damage spells and sort of weird spells that can cause damage indirectly. Quite nasty stuff.

In any case From now on I gain +14 more mana than I would otherwise per level *and* it doesn't impact my stat growth. If only I wasn't so MEM hungry I'd dump points into INT for that sweet mana. Looking back I probably would have avoided some of the more niche skills, trading slots for magic, but at the time I was in love with the possibility space and not thinking smart enough about actual execution.

I had 7 gold in the end though so I went to put that to use. I swapped out my mana amulet for one with 250 mana, 50 silver. I dumped my rings for a 100 mana ring and a 14 recovery ring. Basically keeping my recovery static and boosting my pool.

I now had 148 health and 764 mana. Not bad mana wise. So for 2 gold I really amped things up for myself spellcasting wise. I still had 5 gold to blow. I was too low level to be a master mage, even if I maybe could have qualified otherwise and boosting my staff seemed kinda useless at this point. It would never be a viable alternative to spell damage. Luckily at the master level it got some good enchantments for mana and mana recovery. Not today, though.

I headed over to the skill trainers. Before I forget, though I'll go over my use based skillups. Firebolt actually went up from my abuse of it, 2 levels.

Firebolt LVL 2-2: 40 damage | single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 1s | 40 mana

That's the previous data. the levels denote Phase, use level, training level, and skill level. So, Firebolt is up to second use level by now. I used that guy a ton. Two upgrades. Since Pyromania is a flat mana change I burn a level on mana and one on damage. I'll do the training levels at the same time for any spells with use levels.

Firebolt LVL 2-2-2-0: 50 damage | single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 1s | 35 mana

Now for the modifiers from training for money. Base 3 + 2 for the phase + 3 per level. So 3+2+6=11 Silver. Then 14 Silver, 17 Silver, and 20 Silver. Then 23 Silver. 5 levels. I did mana, mana, damage, damage. damage.

Firebolt LVL 2-2-7-0: 80 damage | single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 1s | 25 mana

You are capped at 5 levels per phase for cash training. Going above the cap adds 50 silver on top of the regular cost increases. I guess this simulates a high level of effort from the instructor or something. 85 Silver for one spell is probably enough for now. I now have 415 Silver, or ~4 Gold.

I got 2 levels of Worldstep as well. Mana costs have a floor at 25% of base cost. Which is good. There is no Warping trainer here but nothing is one training wise since I drop Worldstep to 10 mana.

Worldstep: Blink | Self | 80ft | Cast 1s | 20 mana

And after modifying?

Worldstep LVL 1-2-0-0: Blink | Self | 80ft | Cast 1s | 10 mana

Tier one magic is the hardest to raise so unfortunately no other use skillups. Quicken is moving towards 2 as is Boost and a few others getting ready to hit 1 but not yet. I can only train Pyromancy and Miasma here, not even Illusion. I've got 4 gold so I could do some stuff but its hard to say. Do I really need Fireball? Blazing Mind sadly is a perk and doesn't train. Pyromania does train, though. A good choice.

Pyromania: -4%H/s 10s | +10ft range _ +10 damage _ - 10 mana _ for P spells | self | Cast 2s | 40 mana

So per the rules it costs me 5 + 8 + 11 + 14 + 17 + 20 + 23 + 26 + 29 + 32 gold for max Pyromania. 185 Silver, roughly ~2 Gold. I do mana, mana, mana, man, mana, mana, which goes to the cap. Then I add, time, time, time, time. The middle section would get +1 to each effect per level which would be nice but god imagine the math involved.

Pyromania: -4%H/s 14s | +10ft range _ +10 damage _ - 10 mana _ for P spells | self | Cast 2s | 10 mana

Right away we are down to 2 Gold. Training is expensive. I opt to lean in and boost Clingfire. I really wanna try it and I'm old enough to recognize the allusion. Turns out its creator was as nasty as her creation.

Clingfire: 45 damage + 5 DoT/5s _ -10% INT/WIS | 3 targets Mark | ranged 40ft | Cast 2s | 80 mana

The cost is the same for 10 levels of Clingfire. I burn the entire batch on the mana cost. This will be a nice way to handle small groups of enemies, especially those with magic stats.

Clingfire: 45 damage + 5 DoT/5s _ -10% INT/WIS | 3 targets Mark | ranged 40ft | Cast 2s | 30 mana

I still have some silver but not enough to train anything cool so I move on. I really need to get out of this city to somewhere with some more oomph. I also wanna get started with non-combat type stuff and pick up my second Template, although I didn't know I'd pick it up when I teleported to the Capital. Atria was part of the Kingdom of Arnor, clever name I know, and the capital city was Sarantium. This was a second tier kingdom but the capital was still a good place for someone at my level.

I popped my CHA buff with Charm and headed over to the Mages Guild. After some haggling with the leader they gave me a Master Quest and sent me on my way. Once I completed my mission *and* hit level 10 I'd be granted Master Mage status and be allowed access to the Guild teleporters provided I could afford the fee. God knows I wasn't trudging overland all the way across the country. A world of fancy magic, fancy accountremants, and a more interesting narative awaited. Also a sweet Template. As I mentioned a few chapters ago I picked up a Legendary template as my second one and it gave me a lot of exploration and social options rather than just monster slayer power.

Now I'm about a third of the way to level 8. So hitting level 10 is gonna be rough. The quest was pretty decent, though. First time I'm sent on a series of activities. There's some monster hunting but there's also some lucky NPC interaction stuff. Basically the Mages Guild had an super old member who lived in a Tower off through the woods on top of a hill. I had to investigate what happened and try and make contact and report back. Now its an old dude in a creepy tower who has been missing a while. That's right, you guessed it, vampires. Now I can't hate, M60 in some of the higher level areas actually got pretty interesting. But this is an isolated mid tier area. So vampires.

That doesn't resolve for a bit, though. First I have to get to the creepy old tower. On the way there are some minor trash mobs and such. W/e, gold, easy exp, skill training. Then we see the first sub boss I guess. Its our old friends buddy. Woohoo a Dark Mountain Troll.

Dark Mountain Troll Level 16 EXP 2000

HP 1600

STR 100 DEX 40 CON 160

Skills: Granite Club Smash 100 damage | Club Sweep 50 damage Ranged 10ft

Now my buddy here is identical to the last guy. Maybe we offed his twin brother. Woops. I've gotten pretty strong since we saw this guy. He's worth slightly less EXP now but its not a huge difference. He was worth 62.5% of my level last time and this time he's worth slightly less than a third. On the other hand, should be an easy fight for once. If nothing else Firebolt is cheap as hell now.

So we go with old faithful. Boost, Pyromania, Quicken. Boost, Twin, Stagnation. It cost 12 Firebolts last time. This time Firebolt is twice as strong and cheap as hell. Time to take a risk. Boost. Triscaster. Firebolt.

Tricaster procs on the Twinned Boosted Firebolt. We also cast a boosted Pyromania. Obviously Boost and Twin only do two spells but still. (80+19) * 2 * 2 * 2 * 1.9. Only 1504 damage. Woops. Inow need to wait out the Silence which is lol 2 seconds. No biggy. Then Worldstep right before we get hit. Luckily Super Upgraded Firebolt costs a whopping 6 mana under boosted Pyromania. 25-19=6. So with 784 mana and 6*1.85*2.5=27.75. So 28 mana. Pyromania was 10*1.85 so 19 mana. No problems here. Worldstep 10 mana. A set of 4 regular non-boosted but Pyro'd Firebolts closes it out. I'm not even gonna do a battle log. It wasn't that close. No of course against something not weak to fire there could have been an issue. Lucky me.

3800 exp means that (8640/12800) + 960 from trash mobs puts me at 9600/12800. 75% of the way. Sadly no more easy fire based kills. I trudge along to the hill and finally see the tower after a few more trash fights. Looks like I won't be leveling up before I enter the tower. This seems like a natural end so I'll pick up in a few hours.