Newbie things

[Matthew]

I have this list of 'frustrations' my brother compiles for me when he plays, He doesnt play often so he doesnt know much about Solace but he is a veteran on Arcticmud and Achaea, he couldnt be bothered asking so i thought i would do it cause i think people value newbies opinions, i always forget his list but schelkunchik's question about Carapace reminds me so here goes.

Why is armor, protection, giant strength, and shield so hard to cast.
Why is spellturning 99% ineffective.
Why does equipment dissapear when corpses decay and why do corpses decay so fast.
Why are abjuration mages so useless and why do the help files state they get anti-magic shell and sword of damocles. He states, if he wanted to be a mage that can take forms he would have been a alter, and asks where are all the good spells.

I dunno really what hes on about cause my abjurer did not last long heh as soon as i was told no tesseract unless i joined tower or no colour spray or prism or anything like it mine got the double delete, I have some logs he kept to show me, one of a tower mage kicking his butt twice, and one of a mob kicking his butt twice. And also one he kept of his travels today of a fight with the blue witch west of Caergoth. In every one of these logs i read spellturning was either 1 completely ineffective or 2 destroyed. He thinks maybe hes doing something wrong, and if so why isnt there any help on the subject, or that it just blows which is probably the case. Anyway, as a newbie he points out that his other characters kept getting attacked, even completely out of role, his computer died and he must use mine so with not much time to play, he made an abjurer to explore and learn in peace. Anyway, i cant answer most of these questions and some of the ones i can he shakes his head in disbelief so im looking for support on those ones!

[Nierth]

As far as I love to play abjurers (I do not say I am the most experienced in them here ), I'd like to say something according to your questions..

1.What does ~hard to cast~ mean? These spells are the same like any other defensive spells of any mage.
2. Spellturning is a very effective spell. It just does not give 100% protection from spells, otherway it would be owerpower. Of course, if mob constantly casts spell upon you, the shield will break, and you'll need to recast it.

Why are abjuration mages so useless and why do the help files state they get anti-magic shell and sword of damocles. He states, if he wanted to be a mage that can take forms he would have been a alter, and asks where are all the good spells.

Useless? Yes, they are support class mostly, cause they do care about their folks with a great success. Also, they do have forms for own purposes and it is very hard to kill an abjuration mage.
Good spells: sanctuary, displacement, harden/ironskin, haste, astral, dimension door, eldrish shield, paralysis, soften and ability to cast your spell to other persons.

One man told me: classes are divided into 2 parts: those who are masters of hunting and those who are masters of running and hiding. Think about.

About help files: they are badly outdated We pray for reboot!

[Matthew]

He believes, and i think i agree, there seems to be a strangely large 'loss of concentration' with bless giant strength armor and shield, for such mundane and early obtained spells.

As i said, in his couple logs of repeated battles with a few mobs and some players Thulga would absolutely annihilate his spellturning was either completely ineffective or was destroyed by the 1st spell, in one fight he managed to kill the mob after a very long time but was blind for 7 hours after the fight and the corpse decayed lol. The more he talks about it the more i see his point. Abjurers seem to be broken, they need something. I figured them the color spray/prismatic spray type of class just as he did, perhaps they should have them.

[deda]

Still learning about abjurers but I can say that they are amongst three best tanking classes in the game... About spellturning: I have never seen it destroyed with any kind of spell, so I really have no idea what your brother's talking about. It reflects spells or helps you evade them, only 1 out of 10 is landed upon my hide... Abjurers need not offensive spells of any kind, especially not prismatic spray... The only problem is with paralysis: it's very difficult to land it on someone, mobs or players alike...

[arpade]

bsides, abjurer mages are the only class ive ever seen become completely unkillable/invincible with the proper equip. others can be strong, near invincible, but abjurers are simply undefeatable if they have cromatic, a few healing items (or fast regen) etc etc etc. i have two examples in mind, one clanned the other not. 

[Niano]

Was one a dark elf entropy member? 

[arpade]

Yep... I had a solamnic (eglamore) whom kept battling him with no slight success at all. and i wasent badly equiped! i had vengeance at one point. but he saced my items every time he killed me

[Werewolf]

Why is armor, protection, giant strength, and shield so hard to cast.
Why is spellturning 99% ineffective.
Why does equipment dissapear when corpses decay and why do corpses decay so fast.
Why are abjuration mages so useless and why do the help files state they get anti-magic shell and sword of damocles. He states, if he wanted to be a mage that can take forms he would have been a alter, and asks where are all the good spells.

Maybe you didn't know it, but the chance to lose concentration when casting a spell depends purely on percent of your knowledge of one. Any spells and empowers are the same here. Try to get them to 100% and  you will never fail to cast them.

Spellturning is neither an ultimate spell protection, nor useless. Very nice spell, but do not expect to become invincible the very minute you cast it.

About equipment.. well, why not? Such are game rules.

Abjuration mages are far from useless. They are great for exploring, and make fantastic supports. Of course, if you hoped to see huge asterixed lists of damage in combat, you will be disappointed. But it does not mean they are weak. If he wished alter especially, why didn't pick it?

[Morcul]

Abjurations are not weak classes at all, they just perhaps need a more careful plan of battle than others. And they are easy to keep alive, with little effort

[Matthew]

If he wished alter especially, why didn't pick it?

No no he didnt want alter, he'd rather his abjurer not have forms but something else instead.

Thanks anyway guys, your input has helped me convince him hes doing something wrong with his abjurer. Little brothers are so stubborn.

[schelkunchik]

Maybe you didn't know it, but the chance to lose concentration when casting a spell depends purely on percent of your knowledge of one. Any spells and empowers are the same here. Try to get them to 100% and  you will never fail to cast them.

Not sure you will never fail... you will fail with 100% too

[Rialon]

Nah, not with spellup. Actually not even with maladiction spells. They shall be cast 100% if mastered. They might fail only due to saving throws(maladiction spells i mean).