ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

So i am having huge trouble with a few things, firstly it seems to me the cursed are either completely under powered or im doing something wrong, i unlocked cursed and tried playing them, they die in like 2 hits on EASY, why? also the archmage class also seems to be broken, in the starting dungeon there are no walls, so every monster on the map just heads straight toward me and with both ranged and melee attacks i die, why does it have to be that hard?

On top of that i cant choose the option for unlimited lives, i have to spend money for that? the hell.. i suppose you need a way to get donations but couldnt it be a class and not a difficulty?

i cant seem to get past lvl 15, soon as i do the game kills me, i dont even die to an enemy, i was going through the golem graveyard on my lvl 15 summoner, and out of no where i was instantly killed, i respawned, took a step back and instantly died again, what the hell?

On top of that my game keeps freezing and crashing randomly for no apperent reason, and i cant find any new classes or races, iv done all the starting missions, done alot of the lvl 7-15 dungeons, but still i cant find anything before i die, and i keep reading things saying derth gives you 2 skill points and stuff? how, i dont get any free skill points in derth? and what about these other free skill points i keep reading about?

I need help

And on top of that, the archmage quest final boss is broken, if im in his sigh he instantly does 100 damage to me which kills me, hes broken. Makes me want to quit, sigh.

Spacial Disturbance does 76 damage? what the hell is that? he didnt even use anything he just did damage instantly for NO REASON, what the - is this?

The archmage start quest is optional. If it is too hard, select a race with a different starting quest, or decline the quest. It's not really that bad if you don't do the quest.

You have to use phase door to move around.

The trick to surviving is dodging all projectiles since they move very slowly. It's challenging, but not impossible to never get hit during that whole quest!

With archmages, focus on shielding runes for defense and invest in the aegis tree. For stat points, put points in magic until it won't let you anymore (there's a cap for each character level) and the rest split evenly between constitution and willpower.

I figured out how to beat the worms and the elementals it was the final boss giving me the trouble, i finally beat it when i spawned next to it, hit it twice, healed and shielded, then hit it 2 more times, lived with 20hp.

Now im just trying to not die, i hate getting far and dying forever.

Do you know all the tier one (starter) dungeons?

There are 3 sets of 2 "starter dungeons" that are available to all races and classes.

Doing all those before moving on the the Old Forest, Maze, etc. gives you a good amount of gear and levels.

Not sure if it still works like this, but I tend to wait until I'm ~level 15 until I go to any shops. I think they should give you slightly better gear if you wait instead of shopping at level 1. This is especially important for runes and infusions.

Also for archmages, 5 points in phase door and 1 point in teleport will really help you out in "oh crap!" moments.

I'd also avoid adventurer parties if possible. If you do get ambushed, immediately use the rod of recall. If there's no enemies in sight, try resting. Sometimes you can escape without fighting anyone.

HamTheBacon wrote:So i am having huge trouble with a few things, firstly it seems to me the cursed are either completely under powered or im doing something wrong, i unlocked cursed and tried playing them, they die in like 2 hits on EASY, why? also the archmage class also seems to be broken, in the starting dungeon there are no walls, so every monster on the map just heads straight toward me and with both ranged and melee attacks i die, why does it have to be that hard?

It's a tricky dungeon, but it's quite doable. Just keep an eye on those incoming projectiles. Remember that you can dodge the void blasts simply by taking one step backwards; the blast will stop when it reaches the tile you were standing on when it was fired.

Also, don't forget that lightning can hit multiple enemies. It can go through enemies to hit targets on the other side. That can be helpful in making the most of each turn. Finally, don't forget to level up your offensive power. I like to focus on the Magic stat and dump a few points into Flame.

On top of that i cant choose the option for unlimited lives, i have to spend money for that? the hell.. i suppose you need a way to get donations but couldnt it be a class and not a difficulty?

The unlimited lives option is not the way the game was meant to be played. Besides, it doesn't really add anything; you can get the exact same effect by turning on cheat mode. Making a donor-specific class would be pretty annoying, since that's actually a substantial amount of content.

[spoiler]i cant seem to get past lvl 15, soon as i do the game kills me, i dont even die to an enemy, i was going through the golem graveyard on my lvl 15 summoner, and out of no where i was instantly killed, i respawned, took a step back and instantly died again, what the hell?

On top of that my game keeps freezing and crashing randomly for no apperent reason,[/spoiler]

You should report those things in the bugs forum. The game is still in beta, after all.

i keep reading things saying derth gives you 2 skill points and stuff? how, i dont get any free skill points in derth? and what about these other free skill points i keep reading about?

In the northwestern corner of the town, there's an NPC called "shady cornac man." Talk to him before you reach level 10 (I recommend waiting until you're at least level 7).

HamTheBacon wrote:And on top of that, the archmage quest final boss is broken, if im in his sigh he instantly does 100 damage to me which kills me, hes broken. Makes me want to quit, sigh.

Spacial Disturbance does 76 damage? what the hell is that? he didnt even use anything he just did damage instantly for NO REASON, what the - is this?

That would be Manathrust. Lots of enemy mages use it, and there aren't many ways to counter it short of having enough HP to take it. If you're playing a shalore, you can pop your shielding rune once you see the boss. Other races can use their regeneration infusion to heal the damage.

Beating the Spacial Disturbance is mostly a matter of coming into the fight prepared. I advise clearing the first two floors of the expanse for the exp. Also, make sure you're healthy enough that the Manathrust won't one-shot you. If you're already in bad shape, Phase Door away.

Could you post your character dumps? It's easier to give advice if we have builds to critique.

Yes, the Archmage starting dungeon is tricky but doable. I've had one archmage erased there but got three others through with no problem. You'll need to be wary of the yellow-y bolts the Losgoroths (if I recall correctly) shoot at you. Side-step those but focus your own attacks (flame and lightning but lightning is better when shot at more than one target) on the Void Worms who will be quite the nuisance if they get close enough to hit you.

But it seems you've already got past it. You need to be very careful because, as a beginning archmage, you're very much a glass cannon: you can deal a lot of damage but can't take a lot in return. Be careful and avoid getting too close to your foes and zap them before they get too close to you.

Invest in flame, it's a very useful skill as it does a lot of damage when it hits, it sets your target ablaze for more damage over a longer period of time and at a proper level (skill level 5, but 4/5 invested is enough too) it'll count as a beam so you can hit a whole bunch of enemies in a row for maximum hilarity.

Also very useful is displacement shield as you can use that to off-set your fragility by transfering damage to your enemy of choice. It's hilarious and very welcome.

Also, if you hate the starting area for archmages (and hate skipping a dungeon like I do) you can always start a yeek, dwarf, or undead archmage and do those starting dungeons instead. A skeleton archmage can be pretty good in the long run. You'll have to be carefule with a yeek archmage -- those firespitters, electric eels and underwater spellcastersare deadly for a yeek with low hp -- but if you are, it's a pretty easy way to play your way out of the yeek starting zone, what with the effectiveness of your own ranged attacks.

You can simply refuse to go there too, but it's good to do so, it'll teach you to avoid damage

Mewtarthio wrote: In the northwestern corner of the town, there's an NPC called "shady cornac man." Talk to him before you reach level 10 (I recommend waiting until you're at least level 7).

It's the northeast corner, just north of the building in that corner. He has a popup dialog that says "Hey you. Come here." I usually do his thing as soon as I've beaten my first boss, which puts me at level 5.

Some of the wiki pages are out of date, but some are still mostly relevant. In particular, I'd suggest reading http://te4.org/wiki/zones (mostly complete). Some of the class pages are a bit old; e.g. http://te4.org/wiki/classes-archmage looks like it's from beta 13. They may still be helpful, though!

greycat wrote:

Mewtarthio wrote: In the northwestern corner of the town, there's an NPC called "shady cornac man." Talk to him before you reach level 10 (I recommend waiting until you're at least level 7).

It's the northeast corner, just north of the building in that corner. He has a popup dialog that says "Hey you. Come here." I usually do his thing as soon as I've beaten my first boss, which puts me at level 5.

Some of the wiki pages are out of date, but some are still mostly relevant. In particular, I'd suggest reading http://te4.org/wiki/zones (mostly complete). Some of the class pages are a bit old; e.g. http://te4.org/wiki/classes-archmage looks like it's from beta 13. They may still be helpful, though!

Oddly, on occasion, I've had him ignore me, no pop-up dialogue. He still does his thing, he just doesn't announce himself. I used to think it happened because I was undead, but I've since seen it in other races/classes as well.

Hi Ham, unlock's don't work on easy mode .. and if your game hangs, switch to running it in windowed mode / maximized. this will let you get at save/exit by X'ing it closed.

Some unlocks don't work on easier. Most do. It's only the ones tied to achievements that don't function in easier.