Questions about mage

Pop what he's saying about PD is that even though melee has heavy standard our moves bypass it. Smash pings it but we still knock it back. Similairily can be said with WM. As a result smash mill pretty much destroys heavy standard. To be honest, the best advice in Mabi is to wait a while before making any "class" changes. (STORY TIME) I had this huge urge to go into alchemy (Spent 8m on Cressida set). Set te goal for alchemy to be at 2k. By the time I hit 1.7k, I decided it wasn't worth it and that I didn't really want to do alchemy.
@sase: I appreciate your thoughts but try to keep on the topic (PvP). Thanks!
EDIT: In regards with sase's point. That's to be expected. After all, melee is the basis of all skills regardless of what anyone says. There's a reason that melee can hybrid with any skill set. You don't really see Mage/archer hybrids (speaking strictly human wise, because they're the most "balanced"). It's natural that melee would be able to overturn almost all situations because it was built to be like that. Still that's what I'm saying about being situational.

Um, can't the same thing said w/ int magic such as ice spear and fireball? They still knocks back the enemy even w/ ping.

Anyways, I was going to go into magic, but it was way too expensive for me at that time. So yea...that's why I want to start magic now.

To get back on topic...

Personally, I don't think there should be any strict skill building in terms of developing your character. Just get what you want and things you can get. You've got an entire guild to ask for help (assuming they're on at the time).

I'd say Ice Spear is probably one of the more stronger Int magics due to it's relative low MP cost and spam-ability. Thunder is probably the weakest, and Fireball is strongest, if you're able to launch it in time. I went with Thunder anyway (first Int magic I got, meh) since I was going for a lightning-mage build.

It's really up to you what skills to get and how you want to spend your AP. But Meditation is an absolute must if you're pursuing magic. Get it to the highest rank possible, else your magic will likely be dependent on chugging down blue drinks to the point of intoxication. Potion poisoning doesn't have many benefits for magic users, unless you don't mind the negative side effects for a stronger potion boost.

Getting the skill itself won't mean much, except for satisfaction. Low ranked Int magic is about as good as having r1 of it's elemental basic bolt. I'd recommend basic bolts first, along with getting your element ranks up before you really start committing AP into Int spells or Hailstorm.

If I recall correctly (keep in mind I haven't played ever since Mabi was getting screwy with the hacking, so before the middle of January), Ice Spear doesn't freeze Mana Deflector lvl 2+, and using IS on them will cause them to aggro you within 2 seconds. I can't remember if it prevents knockback.

Fireball always knockbacks unless they have APD (or advanced heavy stander, w/e). Still, with lvl 2 MD, it'll still reduce the damage of the Fireball. Depending on the rank and whether you crit or not, it could be enough for them to survive and the enemies will practically destroy you afterwards. Mabi is absolutely terrible when it comes to dealing with multiple mobs at once, especially once you've been hit even once.

@Silent
When I make these evaluations, I'm taking into account of NOT using pets. Not everyone has a pet, and being able to use pets is a huge advantage that you can easily abuse.

As for the situational what-beats-what in the class comparison, there's only a few cases where situations like rafting or hot air ballooning would render a certain combat field completely useless. Alchemy and melee are rather pointless in rafting and hot air balloons. I should have mentioned it before, but when you're not under special circumstances like that, in almost all cases, melee > everything.

Sasegen wrote:To get back on topic...

Personally, I don't think there should be any strict skill building in terms of developing your character. Just get what you want and things you can get. You've got an entire guild to ask for help (assuming they're on at the time).

I'd say Ice Spear is probably one of the more stronger Int magics due to it's relative low MP cost and spam-ability. Thunder is probably the weakest, and Fireball is strongest, if you're able to launch it in time. I went with Thunder anyway (first Int magic I got, meh) since I was going for a lightning-mage build.

It's really up to you what skills to get and how you want to spend your AP. But Meditation is an absolute must if you're pursuing magic. Get it to the highest rank possible, else your magic will likely be dependent on chugging down blue drinks to the point of intoxication. Potion poisoning doesn't have many benefits for magic users, unless you don't mind the negative side effects for a stronger potion boost.

Getting the skill itself won't mean much, except for satisfaction. Low ranked Int magic is about as good as having r1 of it's elemental basic bolt. I'd recommend basic bolts first, along with getting your element ranks up before you really start committing AP into Int spells or Hailstorm.

If I recall correctly (keep in mind I haven't played ever since Mabi was getting screwy with the hacking, so before the middle of January), Ice Spear doesn't freeze Mana Deflector lvl 2+, and using IS on them will cause them to aggro you within 2 seconds. I can't remember if it prevents knockback.

Fireball always knockbacks unless they have APD (or advanced heavy stander, w/e). Still, with lvl 2 MD, it'll still reduce the damage of the Fireball. Depending on the rank and whether you crit or not, it could be enough for them to survive and the enemies will practically destroy you afterwards. Mabi is absolutely terrible when it comes to dealing with multiple mobs at once, especially once you've been hit even once.

@Silent
When I make these evaluations, I'm taking into account of NOT using pets. Not everyone has a pet, and being able to use pets is a huge advantage that you can easily abuse.

As for the situational what-beats-what in the class comparison, there's only a few cases where situations like rafting or hot air ballooning would render a certain combat field completely useless. Alchemy and melee are rather pointless in rafting and hot air balloons. I should have mentioned it before, but when you're not under special circumstances like that, in almost all cases, melee > everything.

Ice Spear will not freeze an ennemy with lvl 2 or higher mana reflector.
Such ennemy will simply turn light blue. The actual freezing of ice spear is not considered an attack hence ennemies will not agro if they are frozen or turn light blue. It will be only seen as an attack the moment the ice burst and inflict damage. Ice Spear cause auto-knockvback. even a lvl 3 mana reflector cannot negate the knockback of ice spear explosion.
An ennemy with lvl 2 or higher mana reflector can still be target while they are light blue, making the magic user able to cast multiple ice spears on it. Each ice spear on it will wait for it's timer before causing an explosion. It is possible to stack explosion in a way that will keep the ennemy at bait even if it tries to run at you. As long as you spam ice spear.

*getting a little off-topic myself*
Stacking on what Chiyuri said, Usually when casting ice spear, the enemy will run at you before you have time to cast int magic. As a result rendering it useless. Thunder is even worse because you have to wait till the charges finish. Fireball the enemy will get back up right away and start running at you (because that's what it does, focuses all aggro on you). Bolts are an even worse idea, as it doesn't do much at all. So you see where I'm going with this. The only reason, WM and Smash work are because they don't have long charge up times, and skills can be loaded while you're performing your action.

Steering back into the Topic, I agree with sase. Although I don't know much about magic I think I have a general idea of it. You might want to consider what Sawah did. Get Thunder first so that she can use it to the fullest (i.e. Rafting). Ultimately, think about it carefully. Don't rush into a decision. Decide a goal (i.e. When I hit xxxx ttl I will then go into magic).

Geluberserk wrote:*getting a little off-topic myself*
Stacking on what Chiyuri said, Usually when casting ice spear, the enemy will run at you before you have time to cast int magic. As a result rendering it useless. Thunder is even worse because you have to wait till the charges finish. Fireball the enemy will get back up right away and start running at you (because that's what it does, focuses all aggro on you). Bolts are an even worse idea, as it doesn't do much at all. So you see where I'm going with this. The only reason, WM and Smash work are because they don't have long charge up times, and skills can be loaded while you're performing your action.

*getting off-topic a little*
What you say is only valid for someone who isn't a trained magic user. To understand aggro, avoid aggro and even Controlling aggro as you please: That's the nature you need to use magic efficiently. If you can't do that, you'll have problem as a magic user.

bolts = best magic skills.