Describe the RPG and grouping please?

[alizarinblaze]

Hello all, I'm from a similarly small minority who are being ushered out of Vanguard (which if you'd be curious enough to try, operates through July 31). I've sampled a lot of things, and newer titles aren't really doing it for me. Admittedly, Istaria is not an easy find from general searching, but I made it. So far I've been kicking around New Trismus and Lesser Aradoth to get the feel of a few classes and I see a pretty good chance of spending some time here.

My concern is that it looks a bit like a solo crafting game. Is that mainly what happens?

I'm quite fond of a sort of classical group that revolves around tanking and healing and where challenge remains. I don't think there are named dungeons or anything like that. If I get something up around level 30, what would you start grouping for? One person's quest at a time, or something like that? Does it become faceroll, or can you selectively find targets as hard as you want?

It also looks pretty common for people to stack multiple 100 schools on a character. Is that pretty much required to do the endgame or highest level mobs?

Thanks for any replies and maybe start seeing some of you in-game.

[Azath]

Solo classing game??
wow, never heard anyone say that before..lol...makes me wonder what kind of experience you've had so far.

No, this is a game that relies on people.
As you level through the first few schools whether ped or dragon, there's always people who understand it can be quite hard getting the right gear and we're always happy to help!
As for adventuring, it's kinda less grouped. I've noticed people seem to only clump together on group bosses unless two+ lower levels perchance find each other and help each other. Although, oddly, this is out of kindness. Some people are reluctant to group up with others because a lv100 will take all xp form any mob below lv60 for example. However, with various questlines all kinda of people are willing to help. Even low level ones on NT like the defender of NT - very tough for someone in that range to complete alone, and also the lines on the dalimond peninsula - i couldn't finish those alone depite being 30-10 levels above the quest requirements due to the amount of mobs...those kinds take a group effort.
(IMO the most fun is after you get to lv100 and are able to take on the big bosses...those are the truely group worthy things to kill...)


As a ped, multiclassing is needed. You need at least 2 schools; warrior and cleric, to be succcessful in the higher levels...Really, you're supposed to take a class, level it, take on another school that branches from the first, and level and use that one. Of course, there are many choices so i'd suggest playing around a bit with schools and seeing which ones you like.

[Aaelefein]

These are actually some hard questions to answer in brief I think - and a lot boils down to what you as the player are after.

Crafting will always be a major focus - more so if you are interested in owning a plot and building it yourself (hiring others is possible, but depending on which server you choose it can be exceedingly slow and or very expensive.) If one is interested in mostly the adventuring aspect of the game, as long as you are at least willing to acquire (whether hunting or buying) the necessary comps, I know at least on Order there are plenty of people that will gladly craft any tier armor or weapons you might need - thus freeing you from the need of crafting.

As far as adventuring - as Azath pointed out, most of the grouping comes end game where it is a necessity for bosses and many of the end-game quests. As there is no function that allows higher level players to cap their xp/lvl so they don't level out of range, it is common for many folks to solo most things thru to end, asking for help only on certain quests and or mobs. I can't say about Chaos, but it can be problematic on Order to get a group together for lower level quests/mobs - short of course of having a super-powered player tagging along soaking up all xp but that from the quest.

What kind of player to you want to be? While having warrior/cleric is a benefit, it is not necessary - people do and have leveled to 100 without both. There are also some prestige schools that require a combination of basic schools (Warrior, Mage, Cleric...think there is a couple more), usually 20/20 and then you can go into the prestige school (i.e. Paladin, Druid, Battlemage, etc.) - these too can easily be taken to 100 without necessitating the need to level warrior/cleric to 100 first.

My experience was Paladin...did just enough Warrior/Cleric to get the paladin school and then for the most part leveled it solo to 100. Back then I was a power player - not unusual to spend 12-14 hours a day playing and when I decided to finally make the push for 100 did about 75 levels in about 2 weeks.

Again though - it all depends on what you want out of the game. Hands down, there are several times more people on Chaos so the chances for groups might be better. If you want a headier (sp?) taste of RP, a slower, more friendly and possibly cheaper place to throw your tent, then try Order.

[LOVWYRM]

if everything is too confusing-
and Istaria is more difficult and demanding as it seems on first sight:
Try to start with a dragon-its still hard enough- but good to learn alot about Istaria,
and you will be more independent on lower level and faster in endgame shape, than with a biped.
Your dragon will be able to assist your biped (dual boxing) later.
Fact is- we need more bipeds- and lots of us have both.
which means optimal power and fun.

Welcome and happy gaming

[Deelighted]

Hello alizarinblaze and welcome to Istaria!

When SOE announced the VG closing, I looked around for another game like you did then I decided I would return to Istaria where I loved the crafting. Since it had been awhile since I played, I started over from scratch and I'm loving every minute of it. I must admit that I haven't done much adventuring other than taking warrior and cleric to level 10. My construction crafting schools are much much higher

You didn't mention which server that you're playing on. I'm on Chaos and I'd be willing to work on my adventuring a bit and group with you. If you are looking for some basic crafting information, I did make a few posts about crafting on the Brains and Brawn forums. Please send me a tell. I'm usually on Deelighted but my other char names are in my signature.

[alizarinblaze]

Glad to see some responses.

What I meant by "solo crafting game" is that a game is more or less difficult by how easy it is to get gear that beats the content, and if most of the grouping is for 100, then it's mostly a solo path, and it seems with way more better stuff crafted than looted. If someone wanted an easy ride, they would craft ahead of their adventuring--and that would get you through most of it, except as mentioned, the spots with swarms of mobs or really tough nameds.

I'm not much of a crafter. I've tried several toons on Chaos, highest is 22 druid so far. I'm not sure what I want to keep, or what to use as a main character, and am also waiting for a friend to come back from vacation in about a week, if I can get them playing, it will determine one of the characters that way. I mostly like tanking and healing, so I most likely will keep the druid, but from what I have seen so far, I like the spirit bolt spell a lot, so a blood mage or perhaps spirit disciple is probably going to happen.

I'm undecided about using a dragon.

So using tanking as an example--I'm guessing that's for any melee class besides monk? I didn't notice any dual wield, no fast/light melee types such as rogue, assassin, bard. You get a warrior type and start leveling it. Say you hit 30--the grouping option is more or less to find anyone around that level, and grind mostly the same things you would solo, just maybe more of them, or slightly harder ones? In other words, there is no specific "group encounter" area. And you would tank this stuff mostly just by pulling it, or do you need to compete for aggro?

Then when this tank hits 100--is it useful at all? I read somewhere that mob levels go to 160. So I'm wondering if you can do 100s, then level a complimentary class and be good for 120s, and so on. Not sure how the extra classes make a difference to tanking--after all, you've got the plate armor and maximum health already, so wouldn't it mostly increase your damage?

Regardless of class and all that, mostly what I'm looking for is challenge, for things to be difficult but possible. So I wouldn't want a 100 helping my druid, and stuff like...I was running around on a level 9...someone gave me Cloak of Thorns V. I had to knock it off. Obviously it beat the content, but it wasn't me doing it with abilities of that level, and my hope is that further down the road, Istaria can give the same challenge to a group of multi-classed 100s as it does to a 9 solo. Even if that takes a long time because it's a lot of levels and I'll probably play several characters--it's best if it does take a lot of time.

[Korchak Strongbone]

(Korchak Strongbone)
Welcome to Istaria Alizarinblaze! If you like to tank and heal, start with warrior or berserker and follow it up about 10 levels behind with cleric up to 20 then switch out the cleric with a Healer.(Healer requirement is 20 cleric to join). Finish both of these to 100. The warrior or berserker will give you good strength, and that Healer will give you nice heals not to mention a very high augmentation needed to scribe spells. I also recommend getting blacksmith to 91, blk is a great school to start off with since you gain skills in stone, metal and wood which in return will help you level 80% of the craft schools in Istaria.

Now I know what your thinking, I'm not much into crafting. Hear me out first though, once you have warrior to 100 and Blacksmith to 91 you will have 910 Armor Use and you will then be able to use level 91 cloth armor triple teched. This is going to help you no matter your direction in Istaria. Want to adventure you can level your 3rd school in 91 armor at level 1 adv since cloth is based on highest school on not highest adventure on. Just put on Blacksmith and your good to go. If you decide to craft, the 91 cloth with craft techs on it can really help boost your craft skills for excellent XP.

End Game character: everyone is different, I think Druid is a very versatile character, it has very nice heals, almost as good as a straight healer and also had great nature damage and stuns, melee damage, cloak of thorns ect...Ranger is a fun one as well if you do Ranger you have to do elemental archer to max your bow out. Shaman is a really fun class to play as well. If you run around in Eastern Deadlands with all those blight mobs, you should definalty do spiritist as that will give you blight skill for wards and defenses. At the end of the day the more 100 classes you have the stronger your character will be since many abilities under level 50 are masterable and will carry onto your other schools. They will be passive and just follow you.

Always remember, kill the highest mob you can without dieing to reap the best xp possible, it's always better to go for xp than trophies until it's just not possible anymore. Last but not least, ALWAYS REMEMBER TO JUST HAVE FUN!!! -Kor (Grand Master Crafter, Adv. Rating 210.

[Azath]

oooh i see.
as far as going solo goes - remember that we're nice people and even if you're doing questing alone, most of us light up at the idea of conversation, even when i am questing alone i've never felt alone because i've almost always had people to chat with!

as for combat, no, there is no duel wielding or bards or whatever.
the combat system is, simple yet complicated. at first glance, it's very basic, but if you want to master a class it gets really complicated to use it well for your own needs and likes.
lv160 mobs aren't relaly 160. to put it basicly: they have the health of a lv1000, and the abilites of a lv100.
they are intended for groups to fight.
also, the combat system doesn't work like "a class to beat a lv100, a second class will beat a lv120" etc. It works "if you are good at this, a class to beat all". Generally, you're going to want multiple schools that have masterable abilites that assist with your main one. Like, a beserker (ultimate biped tanking class if you use it well) is going to want monk because monk makes you able to use various abilites that help in your "main class".
to be a good tank, or a mage, or a druid..whatever school you use primarily, it's actually quite complicated to get a good build in the end that you like. A good build being one that you can kill with sufficiently and one that you like to use/can use.

disreguards all grammar rules because i'm really too lazy to press shift

[alizarinblaze]

I sort of get it, but it's kinda...hazy...

I really have no clue why anyone would put healer abilities on a tank. Those were intended as separate. If encounters are strong enough to kill a tank, you join a healer, that's the basis of grouping. Usually whenever I tank something, theoretically I stay too busy with aggro management to do any healing, so I'm relying on another person. I can see adding monk abilities for some extra damage, but why a tank should heal anyone is beyond me.

If the 160s have the same the same stats as 100s, what makes them group mobs?

Aggro in general seems weird at low levels. There is no social aggro, usually things ignore the fact you just shot the friend standing beside them. But the little Agh'kuk ogre guys will run at you from quite a distance if they turn and look, in which case his neighbor may or may not also look. Otherwise the contact aggro radius seemed rather small.

[Azath]

I sort of get it, but it's kinda...hazy...

I really have no clue why anyone would put healer abilities on a tank. Those were intended as separate. If encounters are strong enough to kill a tank, you join a healer, that's the basis of grouping. Usually whenever I tank something, theoretically I stay too busy with aggro management to do any healing, so I'm relying on another person. I can see adding monk abilities for some extra damage, but why a tank should heal anyone is beyond me.

If the 160s have the same the same stats as 100s, what makes them group mobs?

Aggro in general seems weird at low levels. There is no social aggro, usually things ignore the fact you just shot the friend standing beside them. But the little Agh'kuk ogre guys will run at you from quite a distance if they turn and look, in which case his neighbor may or may not also look. Otherwise the contact aggro radius seemed rather small.

No tank gets healer abilites, but all classes have access to two healing spells.
Encounters are strong enough to kill anything and everything if you don't play a class right.

Epics have a LOT of health, and a lot of health means they also have many times for their abilities - espcially their epic abilities - to recycle. E.g. serveral times in a fight with Shaloth, the epic which has the most health in the whole sgame, has an AoE spell which can and has wiped out most of a group with those left alive only left with a few hundred health.
It's hard to describe exaclty how epics are to fight you know, no one knows how they'll feel in an epic fight nor how epic fights really are until people actually do them.

Thats how aggro works. You're just not fighting social mobs. Not all mobs are social, mobs which are social will aggro when their freind is hit within a certain range. And yes, there are things with a social aggro, but at low levels social aggros are very hard to deal with. Nothing on NT has a social aggro.
Mobs also have different aggro ranges - i find genereally ogres/pygmies aggro at a longer range than most mobs. And your level also effects their aggro range too.

[terrox]

sorry azath but the little grass beetle by the maggots ( outside of NT ) use to have a social aggro

[hallucin8]

My concern is that it looks a bit like a solo crafting game. Is that mainly what happens?

I'm quite fond of a sort of classical group that revolves around tanking and healing and where challenge remains. I don't think there are named dungeons or anything like that. If I get something up around level 30, what would you start grouping for? One person's quest at a time, or something like that? Does it become faceroll, or can you selectively find targets as hard as you want?

It also looks pretty common for people to stack multiple 100 schools on a character. Is that pretty much required to do the endgame or highest level mobs?

Thanks for any replies and maybe start seeing some of you in-game.

I'll try not to repeat too much of what has been said, although I very likely will

As for the crafting side of things, yes it is typically solo. There's very little group crafting, but if you're in a guild some of those crafting fanatics may help you out in the early stages by fill silos from which you can then process and get lots of experience fast.

If you simply don't want to craft, you can generally buy whatever you want from other players, so it isn't paramount. It's a little annoying in the lower levels because you'll probably need to have things crafted often as you level up, but it's not always possible to find someone to drop what they are doing and make it for you then and there.

As for the adventure side of things, people will often group up to help with quests, but as for normal day-to-day leveling it can be tricky to find someone who is at a similar adventure rating to yourself. You can also jump into any of the chat channels and ask if anyone is interested in helping, but not everyone joins the channels.

As for group structures, yes it can revolve around tanking and supporting roles, but that's hardly a solid rule. If you're in a group leveling up, it's usually better to fight higher level mobs rather than fighting many lower level ones, but you also have to take into account how social the mobs are. Having some idea of the mobs typically behaviour will help a lot with your tactics. Also knowing their general spawn area and respawn speed will help a lot! You can then sit outside the spawn area and pull somewhere safe (if somewhere safe exists), or if you're feeling adventurous, the group could sit in the middle of the spawn and just keep killing furiously.

Multi-classing is very common. While it's not required to participate in high level hunts, it allows you to have a lot of flexibility. If you wanted to play the tank role, then obviously being a warrior-type school is going to help, mainly with wearing heavy armor and taking the punishment, but also dealing damage to maintain the agro. But if you had high levels of cleric/healer, then you can also help by healing yourself when required (not to mention buffs). If you want to be the healer/support role, then obviously cleric/healer is going to give you the best healing, but you may also want schools which gives nature and spirit as you can then use nature Aoe and stunning spells, and spiritist has arguable the best repeater bolt and Aoe health-stealing spells.

Not sure if any of that helps... but I just hope you have fun

[alizarinblaze]

Ok, tanks can't really heal. My impression of the multi classing thing is you can bring in some of the 1-50 abilities that are masterable, and if so, why should those classes go to 100? Skill points?

By epic I guess that means 160. I'm used to tanking things with millions of health that do all sorts of mean and horrible things, so I'm glad that part is here. Especially if main class roles remain fairly distinct.

[hallucin8]

Ah yes, there's some differences between Mastering abilities, and spells. So Warriors CAN, if they have the life skill, still use the Revitalize line of heals, these are spells. You may have noticed that ALL schools can use the Gift and Raise line of buff spells, as well as the Revitalize heals and all the Bolt (repeater) spells. Of course the only thing stopping you would be the level requirement and skill requirement. But if you had both of those, then you can just as easily cast bolt spells, use heals and buff yourself and others while still being a Warrior.

As for mastering abilities, you 'master' it, as in you can use it in other schools, when that school is twice the level you received it. So you could only use lvl 50 mastered abilities from a school if it were lvl 100. As you point out, yes taking it to lvl 100 means you have all those skills very high. In a few cases, taking a school to 100 will also boost some of your stats. E.g. Mage at lvl 100 will give you a lot of Power, meaning all your damage spells will hurt more. Monk (and Weaver) will boost your Dex, Berserker (and Fitter) may boost your Strength (and Berserker will give you a lot of 2 hand slash).

Pretty much any mob rated 140+ would be considered Epic, and yes they can have lots of health, anywhere from a few hundred thousand to almost a million. They all pack a heck of a punch too. A group's failure can sometimes be attributed to not having enough healers/support roles and sometimes it can be easier to go with a smaller group if you only have one healer. There are also plenty of T5 (lvl100) and T6 (lvl120) named mobs that would cause you immense grief if you ran into them unprepared.

Your more than welcome to never take a single level in any support/healing schools if all you ever want to do is tank. But you're going to realise quite quickly that having buffs and heals makes your life a whole lot easier. Grouping up with a support/healer will of course fill in those disadvantages, but you won't always have that choice. Even if you were to just group up with a bow or magic classed person, if neither of you can heal or buff each other, it could get interesting

At some point in time, you may wish to try a prestige school e.g. Guardian or Paladin, and they can use every Nature, Spirit and Blight spell, IF you have the skill requirement. Part of the role as tank is of course to hold the agro, but if your team members are actually doing more damage, then the mobs will head straight towards them. But, if you could use AOE spells (like some of the Spirit and Nature spells), then you could ensure you hold the agro. Similar comparisons can be made for the Mage/Warrior prestige schools, as they could make use of the powerful mage AOE bomb spells.

Just some more ramblings and background info for you to digest

Happy huntings, see you in Istaria

[Ming]

I played Vanguard for six months, but I've played Istaria since Beta. There was more grouping in Vanguard, but the progress I made was still a lot slower and I found most quests impossible solo. There are quests in Istaria where you can solo and some where you need help. The players in Istaria are really really helpful. Unlike Vanguard, you won't feel punished when you're crafting (failing recipes), and you won't have to spend so much time looking for resources. And if you die, you won't lose XP. I really hate games that punish me for dying because I do a lot of dying. Istaria does not have the gorgeous graphics of Vanguard, and that's the only thing I miss about Vanguard.

[Aaelefein]

Alizarinblaze -

Reading your various posts, I think I see the problem, at least in your regards to 'Tanks' being "Tanks" and not "Healers". Istaria does NOT follow traditional D&D / RPG roles or rules. If you want to be 'Pure' tank - then do NOT take a healer class with your Warrior or Bezerker - that simple - BUT - it will make things more difficult later on.

When you cross train into other schools, think of them more as augmentations to the main class you want to play as. A Warrior with Cleric can heal, but he will never heal as well as a true Healer or even as good as a Cleric, Druid, or Paladin. What it does do it give him options. In a crucial battle, your ability to cast a resurrection or healing spell could mean the difference between surviving or a complete wipe.

I Also concur with the other person who said to take at least one craft school to 91 - because that too gives you many options, especially when you want to start taking on other schools to augment your primary. Switching from Mithril Plate to bronze or flax cloth makes a huge difference when your rating means you have to fight mobs in the 20-30 (or higher range) to even earn xp. Switch to that new school with a level 91+ craft school as an augmenter and now you're in triple teched padded ironsilk armor.

Very good 'Augmenter' schools (in my opinion) are: Cleric/Healer (For Healing/Augmentation skills) - Spiritist (for Spirit Bolt and Blight Protection) - Monk (Evasion, Cleanse) - and perhaps Mage for the weapon buffs and elemental wards/resists

[alizarinblaze]

I'd say it's still a tank if you're doing a few situational heals--and so even if you took Cleric to 100, you wouldn't have the beefed up skill or the gear and couldn't use most of the higher abilities while switched on warrior mode, and you're not there to focus on healing the encounter. There's games where no one's a tank, everyone's a dps; as long as someone's focused on holding the mob's attention, that's a tank, you could be in cloth armor with stupidly high evasion for all that matters.

I do a lot of dying too, post-20 the game looks a little different with the penalty and the need for more gear. Not saying I refuse to craft, just doing it behind the curve, and probably always will be buying stuff.

With dps ripping aggro from tanks, we used to say...you pulled it, you own it, and it was really more of their job to keep under the tank's threat. It's pretty much a given that the tank is pushing out as much damage and hate as possible, they can't do anything differently.

I like the Prestige schools and the two toons I'm pretty sure I'll keep are a Druid and Reaver. On the Reaver, I took mage to 18--wasn't necessary, but I wanted to see how painful it is (and it is kinda painful to solo a mage). The low-level snare spell is nearly useless. But at 18, mage gets Multi-cast--so this would be usable at 36 in other schools?

It looks like a lot of "relative" power levels, like those extra eight levels in mage were eight levels of non-tanky skill points, and because of factors like this, saying something like level 50 warrior is not very precise--that character's health, skills, and gear could be all over the place. So I'm guessing at level 50 you would go and find what's hard for you, instead of at 50 you should be doing x.

Same thing seems true for mobs, in some cases a higher level one is easier than a lower one that cast bleed or something. I haven't seen anything real powerful, but around Lesser Aradoth, that level 14 Commander Vekh can still rip up a level 20 character--it would need a tank & healer duo. Are just nameds like this, or are there some trash mobs that are like suddenly...way more powerful than others of their level?

[Azath]

I do a lot of dying too, post-20 the game looks a little different with the penalty and the need for more gear. Not saying I refuse to craft, just doing it behind the curve, and probably always will be buying stuff.

It looks like a lot of "relative" power levels, like those extra eight levels in mage were eight levels of non-tanky skill points, and because of factors like this, saying something like level 50 warrior is not very precise--that character's health, skills, and gear could be all over the place. So I'm guessing at level 50 you would go and find what's hard for you, instead of at 50 you should be doing x.

Same thing seems true for mobs, in some cases a higher level one is easier than a lower one that cast bleed or something. I haven't seen anything real powerful, but around Lesser Aradoth, that level 14 Commander Vekh can still rip up a level 20 character--it would need a tank & healer duo. Are just nameds like this, or are there some trash mobs that are like suddenly...way more powerful than others of their level?

Yep the named ones are - most of the time (if they're needed for quests - like most of aegis bosses like vekh are) - pretty tough, and take multiple people/or way out-leveling to combat. Not all of them though; mostly it's just ones you need for quests.

And i see you've also noticed the need for gear. Yep, leveling the first school you /will/ need to ask for gear, don't be afraid or whatever to do so. Most of us understand that everyone needs gear first time - even someone who keeps their craft relative to their adventure will still need to buy gear (due to cirlce of pain with hunting forms and needing gear to do it, see: any player) - and with understanding of that, most people will at one time or another be happy to craft it for you, be it for a price.
Although at rating x, you should be fighting a mob of level x, it can be hard due to the above factor. And of course, skill assignment/training points too. Finding a build that works and you can use is probably the most important factor for biped combat.

[alizarinblaze]

I'm glad there is a need for gear, whether you make it on your own, get someone to do it, or however you obtain it, that's much better than handing it to you in a neverending stream for almost no effort. And if I do get stuck and someone cobbles something together for me, payment for services is completely fine.

Interestingly enough, I just discovered a concealed area that seems to cover the spectrum. I never discover anything, and while I can't really say it's secret, it's certainly concealed. First wave of mobs was trivial, then there are more groups basically about the same level but, noticeably more health and damage on them, and finally something that didn't really have a name but was obviously twice as powerful as anything else. I was able to loot formulae, socketing gems, and magic items. The weapons I found were no longer any good for my level, so, in this example, what's soloable at 19 for useless items would probably be really fun to duo at 15 and maybe actually get useful stuff. I guess that's what I mean by "feeling your way through"; it would be nice if there was a big golden sign that said "Duo at 15 here", but, taking that to be non-existent, as long as there are similar places spread across the leveling path, it should have its moments. Of course, if they're concealed, I'll probably not find another one, but I was pleasantly surprised both to watch my health bar dropping to zero, and then later finding things like Bronze Chest Scale in my bag.

To me, that makes grouping valid at low levels, it's better than just "kill stuff for xp" or just doing one person's quest. And since the loot is of such a wide variety, it's not close to a handout at all, I bet it would take three hours to find a single item I would use.

While doing this, I'm noticing that the damage from Engulf is decreasing, while Spirit Bolt seems to keep increasing even though I'm leveling warrior--is there a basic difference between abilities you'll probably throw away and those which remain useful?

[alizarinblaze]

Well, just coming in as an experimental new player, I can say this. As a balancing point, going on a first school 21-22 to the Skulk hunting is well designed...you have a fairly full set of abilities, face a death penalty that's not a joke, and going after these funny little purple guys...they don't hit hard but it's a spear so they hit a lot. Not being stuffed to the brim with BiS gear or anything like that, it's pretty competitive, you can do it, but it might roll the other way. If Istaria pretty much holds that edge for another eighty levels, it should be a nicely solid game.

About the multi-classing, it looks to me that unlike most games where you're throttled by endurance and energy pools or points systems, here you're only limited by the cooldown timers, therefor what you can do, ultimately depends on the number of abilities available. You're only working against the clock instead of a resource that lets you cast twenty spells before you need regen.

The way I'm thinking of raising characters is to advance their main class a few levels and then catch up a secondary class from not too far behind. Is that a good way to do it?