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Confused about specializationFollow

#1 Mar 01 2004 at 1:48 PM Rating: Decent
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I'm lost on this one. I'm playing a cleric who just made 12th level.

1)If you achieve 50 in a spell skill, that is your specialization?

2)Is it true that a cleric can only get up to skill 50 in other spell skills (abjuration, divination, etc)? Is this true for all casters?

3)What is this level 30 trainable thing entitled Specialization : Alteration? (et cetera) What does this do?

4)To reset specialization you must do that quest at Solusek?

5)What is the channeling skill? What does it do?

Thanks in advance :)
#2 Mar 01 2004 at 1:58 PM Rating: Decent
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136 posts
1) You will most likely master all spell skills <although this isnt guarenteed>

2) You will master one specialization, all others will not go past 50.

3) Mainly the spell skill you use the most will be your specialization...a cleric will usually (not always but usually) specialize in alteration since you spend most of your time healing.

4) There is a quest to wipe your specialization if you want to reset it: Respecialize

5) Channeling is basically your ability to continue a cast while being distracted.. i.e. mob bashes on you while you try to root it off yer toosh, the better your channeling the less likely you get interupted while being pummled.



Edited, Mon Mar 1 14:01:08 2004 by plick
#3 Mar 01 2004 at 2:22 PM Rating: Decent
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215 posts
Thanks, that helps.

But if I'm specialized at level 12 with 65 skill in Alteration..... what does that level 30 skill Specialize:Alteration do? Or can/should I pick another line to specialize in at 30? Can I pick more than one of these level 30 skills?
#4 Mar 01 2004 at 2:39 PM Rating: Decent
you are not specialized at level 12
the 65is just waht your skill level is you get that with most everything 1 hand slash i hand blunt alcohol tolerance tracking whatever


at level 30 you can specialize in a type of magic
the higher your specialization is in a category affects the spells of that category when you cast them

i just reached the 30's over last couple of days myself
but what i think happens is the higher specialty you have the less chance of fizzle you have and i am noit sure what else it helps with
#5 Mar 01 2004 at 2:46 PM Rating: Decent
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136 posts
Well, I'll give you a poor man's explanation and leave a more detailed one to someone else.

My main is a druid, she specializes in alteration...when she is MH it usually goes smoothly...she very rarely fizzles and even then its usually only on new spells, however whenever she solos, her evocation dot sux...I've mastered evocation well over and the particualr spell i use is actually quite old for me...i fizzle like no man's business on this thing...pisses me off.

Another friend of mine is also a druid, he specializes in evocation...he never has problems waisting mana on fizzled casts when roting. When he is MH tho, its not a good thing...fizzle fizzle fizzle **loading please wait**
#6 Mar 02 2004 at 1:09 AM Rating: Good
Think of it this way, Specialization is a separate skill like Channeling or Meditation.

You don't gain access to it until level 30.

At 30 you can put a training point(s) into it via one of your guild trainers.

You get a specialization skill to match each of your magic skills.

Alteration
Abjuration
Evocation
Divination
Conjuration

Once you reach 30 and begin training each of the specializations, it act like an extra skill that has a chance of of kicking in each time you cast a spell.

Alteration is the magic line that controls healing and AC and HP buff spells for a Cleric.

So if you have trained Specialize Alteration and you cast Superior Healing you get a chance for your Specialization skill to activate. The higher your skill the more chance you have of it activating.

When it does activate it reduces the amount of mana you consume for the cast and it reduces the chance of fizzling the spell.

Untill you get an advanced AA, you can only train one Specialization skill above 50. And the first one to go above 50 becomes your main Specialization and can be trained up to 200 (this is the first cap, later it can go higher). Each of the others will stay locked on 50 untill you gain the AA that lets you have multiple specializations.

So, for a Cleric for example, pretty clearly Alteration is your most used line of magic so most likely you would choose Specialize Alteration. You need to make sure that it is the first one to rise above 50. Do this by getting it well advanced in level before putting points into any of the others, then for a Cleric, in normal play you use Alt so much that it will naturally be first to pass 50.

If you get it wrong you can do the Solusek quest to set them all back to zero.

Be aware that unless you put at least one point into each of the skills none will pass 50.

Channeling is a separate magic skill. It is the skill that helps you concentrate while casting a spell. The higher your channeling skill the less likely it is that you will be interupted in the middle of casting. This is particularly important for classes that are likely to be trying to cast spells while being beat upon by mobs. Clerics and Chanters frequently rely on being able to "channel" through a cast while being hit. Bards too, not sure if Channeling helps them though.

A cleric can train each of the magic skills up to 235, Channeling has a max of 220 and Meditate 252. Once you get a Planar AA the caps can be raised to 305.
#7 Mar 02 2004 at 5:20 AM Rating: Good
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Yup. What he said. One thing though. I'm pretty sure it's abjuration that affects healing and buffs. Alteration is for dots, roots, and debuff type stuff.

And I want to reinforce one more thing, because it's something people get confused on all the time.

By "specializing" in one skill type or another, that does not mean you just train in that specialize skill. You should (and in fact must) put a training point in all 5. What we call your specialization is the one skill that exceeds 50. That could be any of the 5. How it's determined is that the first specialize skill that hits 51 becomes your specialization. The remaining 4 skills are then capped at 50.

But you still have a specialization skill for all 5, and even at 50 points it still provides a benefit. So there is no reason not to put points in all 5. In fact, if you don't have at least one point in all 5 skills, then none of them can actually hit 51 (this is a bad thing). We get posts all the time on this board about someone complaining because their specialization skill never seems to go past 50. It always turns out that they just put points in the one skill and ignored the rest.

What you want to do is this. Pick your specialization first. When you hit 30th level and have some free time, go to your class guildmaster and train one point in all 5 skills. Then find a nice quiet place and cast the cheapest spell of the type you want to have as your specialization over and over until it hits 51. At that point, you are done. Go out and adventure normally. Your various skill will increase gradually with use, but since you've already locked your specialiation, you don't have to worry about which spells you cast (don't want to accidentally hit 51 with the wrong skill first).

For wis casters, since you get specialization at level 30, you will start at a skill level of 30 when you first train it, so it shouldn't take too long to get just those 20 points.
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#8 Mar 02 2004 at 9:38 AM Rating: Decent
Healing and cures are all alteration.

The HP/AC buff series (Courage, Center, etc.), the AC series (Holy Armor, etc), and the HP series (Symbol) are abjuration.

That said, I'd still think you'd want to specialize in Alteration as a cleric.
#9 Mar 02 2004 at 11:28 AM Rating: Decent
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215 posts
OK, think I got it now, thanks for the explanation. You all are awesomely informative.

Pre-AA:
Alteration = Skill that's capped at (level+1) * 5, subject to various ceilings as well at around 200.
Same for all other magic skills.

Specialize Alteration = New skill, capped at 50 for all but the first one that gets over 50.

And amazingly, you need to pick each skill "Specialize:Divination et al" skill, before any will increase over 50. Boy that's confusing for the new player.
#10 Mar 02 2004 at 2:25 PM Rating: Decent
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115 posts
You definitely want to specialize in alteration as a cleric.

If you make a mistake and specialize something else, there is a quest you can do in the Temple of Solusek Ro that will correct the problem.
#11 Mar 04 2004 at 12:36 PM Rating: Decent
I want to thank everyone for there explanations on specialization. I had gone to various Necro web sites and none of those sites explanined it properly IMHO. I had only put 1 point into special alteration and figured I was all set. So when my special alteration stopped advancing I was all confused. Hence my visit to these boards. Now I'm well on my way, thank you all again. Be safe and good hunting.
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