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jaxon121
Village Dweller
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
Posts: 13
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| Raising Skills - Fastest Ways? |
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I have a few questions about raising skills that you wiz8 vets might be able to help me with:
1) Pick Locks / Traps: Can I keep clicking on the pins of a really tough lock to raise my skill? A few guides/posts I've read seem to suggest it, but I sat there for about 20 minutes clicking on the 8-pin lock under the Arnika jail with only a single point increase. Did they patch the game so that any given lock/trap can only increase your skill by a single point? Or am I not being patient/lucky enough?
2) Spells skills: a) Can I increase my Water Magic skill by casting Stamina on a character who is already at full Stamina? Or what about casting Heal Wounds on a character with full HP? In my experience, no skill increases ever result from these cases... anyone know differently? b) Do skills rise faster by casting a spell many times at a low power level, or at the highest power level possible?
3) Anyone know any good tricks for raising skills really fast? Post 'em! =D |
Mon Sep 22, 2003 11:02 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
1) You're doing it the right way. Keep in mind that you won't get the message telling you about the skill increase until you leave the lock screen. Supposedly, analyzing a trap produces skill increases faster, but that wasn't my experience.
2) You only get skill increases in spell skills when you cast a successful spell. Since your stamina and heal scenerios don't actually generate a successful spell (no result is the same as a bad casting for skill purposes), that won't get you any increases. There have been studies done (some people have too much time on their hands) on whether it's better to cast lots of low powers or a few high powers. It comes down to your patience- high powered casts are much more likely to give you a skill increase, but you can't cast them as often before you run out of spell points. If you're patient enough to rest regularly, or make use of "mana chargers" like a mana stone, go with high powered casting.
3) Boosting spell skills is generally the one that gives you the most bang for the buck. Casting knock-knock at that vault lock over and over is good for earth, mage, and alchemy skills. Casting charm at a named NPC is good for mental, psionic, and priest skills. Keeping your buff spells up and running (always cast those in the red since you can rest if it fails) will help as well. There are a couple others, but I can't remember them- I wasn't into practicing skills.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Mon Sep 22, 2003 11:56 pm |
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jaxon121
Village Dweller
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
Posts: 13
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quote:
Originally posted by dteowner
2) You only get skill increases in spell skills when you cast a successful spell. Since your stamina and heal scenerios don't actually generate a successful spell (no result is the same as a bad casting for skill purposes), that won't get you any increases.
Actually, I've gotten spell skill increases when my spell FIZZLED! Additionally, I've had my ranger's Alchemy/Earth Magic increase even when casting his Irritation spell on enemies who are IMMUNE (Savant Guard cyborgs). However, you DO seem to be right about the healing / status cure / recovery spells... no effect = no skill increase.  |
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Tue Sep 23, 2003 2:50 am |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Hmmm. 'taint supposed to work that way. Are you sure the fizzled spell was the only one you cast for the entire battle? Also, there is a "sorta-kinda-bug" where skill increases are sometimes not announced after a battle...they pop up a little later on. It's supposedly tied to containers (which makes no sense, but I'm no code monster). Is it possible that got you?
The immunity might be legit- it depends when the program checks immunity. If the determination of a successful cast is made and noted before the program checks for immunities, you'd still get your increase, even if there wasn't an effect.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Tue Sep 23, 2003 5:32 am |
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jaxon121
Village Dweller
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
Posts: 13
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Yup, absolutely sure about the fizzles. I know because I've gotten increases on single, fizzled casts of party buffs (such as Enchanted Blade and Missile Shield) while outside of combat. And it couldn't have been from a previous cast, cuz I (at only lvl 5, mind you) cast these buffs immediately after resting, at the highest power lvl possible -- which exhausts all my spell points in that magic category.
You're probably right about the immunity -- game probably checks first to see if any targets were affected, THEN checks for immunity. So then it reverses the effect, but you still get a chance for a skill increase because that first check came back positive. |
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Tue Sep 23, 2003 7:28 am |
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_gator
High Emperor
Joined: 28 May 2003
Posts: 530
Location: Kentucky |
As one that practices spell skills a lot, you will get skill increases from fizzled spells.
As to healing spells, there is a "bug" that can be used to get skill increases faster when you have an injured party member. And if you don't have an injured party member, then there are convenient ways to "injure" them....
If you want to be spoiled on this, ask again.
IRT Lock and Traps: I found it easier to search for traps to get skill increases than to click on the tumblers. I would always save the game after I got a skill increase because there is always a chance of setting the trap off when determining what the trap is. I would usually try to get that skill up to 40-50 in the monastery and then higher as needed. I usually use one of the chests at He'Li's bar.
There is a way to raise Stealth and Shield "quickly", but IMO high Stealth ruins the game as you have really high AC and enemies will run away or defend a lot because they cannot "see" you. |
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Thu Sep 25, 2003 1:24 pm |
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jaxon121
Village Dweller
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
Posts: 13
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I'm all for spoilers! I'm not a "purist" who hates to hear about cool (potentially abusive) gaming tips. But if something's a cheat or exploit, i.e. taking advantage of a bug that the designers didn't mean to be in the game... I don't do that. Still fun to hear about, though. 
For Locks and Traps, just last night I realized a foolproof method!! Till now my skill has only been about 25 or so. Playing with that stupid 8pin Arnika Jail lock only got me a couple points after an hour or more! And traps regularly sprung on me with such a low lvl.
So this is what I did: I had my Priest cast Divine Traps on the chest. Then when my Bard goes to work on it, she's +42%! That pushed her to around 70, and at that point the simple, early-game traps almost NEVER spring. So I click merrily away while perusing the latest issue of Stuff magazine. Using this method, I've already increased her skill almost 40%, and counting! Even when her Divine Trap-enhanced rating is over 100%, she still gains skill points as normal. (Game probably just checks with her base skill rating when determining possibility of increase.)
One weird thing, though: I just bought a Shield with +10% to Locks and Traps (this was before I figured out how to rape chests). But that 10% wasn't showing up in my Bard's stats! I also have another +10% L&T item equipped, which DOES work... do such things not stack with each other?? If not... minor gripe for Sirtech!!! |
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Thu Sep 25, 2003 11:44 pm |
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_gator
High Emperor
Joined: 28 May 2003
Posts: 530
Location: Kentucky |
Spoiler
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If you have an injured character, you can cast Heal Wounds at power level 1 on the character. But before the spell resolves (in other words the character is healed), press Shift-M repeatly to recast the spell. Do this until you run out of spell points. I've gotten up to 4 points in the Divine realm and 2 points in the spellbook (usually Alchemy when I am training Bishops). I use the fire at the crash site in Arnika to injure my characters.
That is a good idea for raising Locks & Traps. I will use that next time.
The Thieves Buckler gives +10 to Locks & Traps and can be equipped by a Bard. What is the other item that gives you an increase to Locks & Traps? |
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Fri Sep 26, 2003 12:40 pm |
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jaxon121
Village Dweller
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
Posts: 13
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Sweeeet! I'll definitely try that... I wouldnt really consider that an exploit, since it's the same thing as camping / standing in fire / casting / repeat, only much faster.
What about the Stealth and Shield methods you mentioned?? |
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Sat Sep 27, 2003 3:49 pm |
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jaxon121
Village Dweller
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
Posts: 13
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Oh yeah... I almost forgot. The item I have isn't +10% to Locks and Traps, its +10 *speed*.... but for some reason, none of the bonuses from the buckler will apply to my char. They don't show up in her stats, and don't show up in the list of mods she gets from equipped items. WTF??? Are there unlisted level requirements on certain items or something? |
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Sat Sep 27, 2003 3:52 pm |
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_gator
High Emperor
Joined: 28 May 2003
Posts: 530
Location: Kentucky |
This is from a post I did a while back (not on this board):
"This is the best way I have found to train stealth. Limit your characters
to level 3 in the monastery, but have enough experience to go to level 5.
Before you get to the Seeker room in the Upper Monastery (the one between the Phoonzang statue and where you meet Althesidas (sp?)), class change all characters that do not have stealth to Rogues. Enter the Seeker room and kill off all but three of the Seekers. Then move as far as you can from the Seekers (less chance to hit you, but still raises stealth skill), and put everyone on defend and put the battle in continuous mode. Make sure you have plenty of heal potions. For about an hour realtime, monitor the characters to make sure their hit points do not drop too low (I check on their progress about every 5 minutes are first, 10 minutes later), heal them when necessary. After that hour their stealth will be enough to avoid most attacks from the Seekers now. Then let it run overnight. In the morning the battle should have through gone through at least 4K+ rounds and all characters stealth should be 95+ (I always keep the battle going until everyone hits 100). You can also equip everyone with shields and raise that skill at the same time to 80-90+. After you are satisfied with their stealth level, finish off the Seekers and class change back to their original professions. If I remember correctly, everyone will now have AC of at least 11 even with crappy armor."
There are no requirements for the buckler in regards to your Bard. So the skills screen does not show the additional skill for Locks & Traps, i.e. 15 without the shield equipped and 25 with it equipped? If it does not, you got me stumped. |
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Mon Sep 29, 2003 12:58 pm |
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misplacedag
Village Dweller
Joined: 29 Sep 2003
Posts: 15
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| Re: Raising Skills - Fastest Ways? |
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After reading this and several other boards, I decided to restart and use the Monistary as a training facility since Wz8 doesn't provide that capability.
My goal was to use a less-cheesy way to raise stealth rather than the ones I had seen posted. Therefore, I decided to start everyone as either a Ninja or Rogue until their stealth was built up to 100 and then class change them into their final profession when promoting to level 2. For my Bishop I went Nin(1) to Rou(2) to Bis(3). From the start game menu, I created 3 fighters and 3 ninjas. Then as soon as I got to the crash site, I took the fighters equipment, fired the fighters and created my 3 Rogues. I did this because the fighters start with a shield and the Rou's don't. My starting formation for every battle is 2 left, 2 center and 2 right.
Starting every battle, I have every-one defending and go into continuous mode. As soon as someone drops below 10 HP, I go back to turn based and move that character to the back. Return to continuous and repeat until 3 are in the back. Let the front row get hit a couple of more times then go back to turn based mode to fight and wipe out the emeny. As soon as I've found some ranged equipment, I'll let the back row start training with it. At first, you are having to move people to the back row after 20 to 30 seconds. Later on, when fights can go 200 plus rounds, you still can't afford to walk away for more than 2 to 3 minutes or one or more characters will get killed. You are also subject to frequent attacks when trying to rest and regain stats, so I consider it military training prior to sending the troops off to war.
Thus I used the Monistary to train several skills: stealth to 100 for all 6 characters. Shield varied from 82 to 97 for the 4 who could use it. Individual weapon skills (both short and ranged) as well as close and ranged combat skills also developed quite nicely. I don't have the exact figures available right now. |
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Mon Sep 29, 2003 3:21 pm |
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