Hey guys, I just got back today after a 5 year break and i seem to have forgotten a lot about the game and i'm still reading about all the new stuff. Figured it'd be best to ask a few questions here before i decide what spells to pick and what i should be doing.

First, spells and magic feats:

I have 53 spell slots and focus mostly on hunting and combat

Life Magic: 571 08% clear Attunement: 572 00% clear
Arcana: 497 97% clear Targeted Magic: 478 34% clear
Augmentation: 513 97% clear Debilitation: 456 86% clear
Utility: 428 31% clear Warding: 399 76% clear

Looking at the spell list on elanthipedia i noticed we have 4 TM spells. EC's skill ranges from 0 to 500. DEVI from 0 to 600. CAC from 80 to 800 and Stampede from 0 to 400.
Is this correct? Does Stampede really teach less than the others? Is there an advantage to it?

So far i'm leaning to the following spell and magic feat choice:

Compost (0 slots). Utility
Branch Break (2 slots). Battle. Debilitation
Eagle's Cry (1 slot) . Target
Carrion Call (1 slot) . Target
Devitalize (1 slot) . Target
Curse of the Wilds (3 slots). Battle. Debilitation
Harawep's Bonds (4 slots). Debilitation
Swarm (4 slots). Battle. Debilitation
See The Wind (1 slot) . Augmentation
Instinct (2 slots). Augmentation
Wolf Scent (2 slots). Augmentation
Wisdom of the Pack (2 slots). Augmentation
Athleticism (1 slot) . Augmentation
Essence of Yew (1 slot) . Warding
Earth Meld (2 slots). Augmentation
Blend (1 slot) . Utility
Skein of Shadows (2 slots). Augmentation. Utility
Memory of Nature (1 slot) . Utility
Hands of Lirisa (2 slots). Augmentation
Senses of the Tiger (2 slots). Augmentation
Cheetah Swiftness (2 slots). Augmentation. Utility
Claws of the Cougar (2 slots). Augmentation
Bear Strength (2 slots). Augmentation. Warding

Legerdemain
Basic Preparation Recognition
Advanced Spell Knowledge
Faster Targeting
Faster Battle Preparations
Targeted Mastery
Deep Attunement
Efficient Harnessing

This would leave me with 4 free spell slots. Am i missing any important spells for hunting or training? Can i have 2 cyclic spells active at once? If not, should i drop Bear Strength?


Where to hunt:

Shield Usage: 649 40% clear
Light Armor: 628 76% clear
Defending: 652 92% clear
Parry Ability: 641 68% clear
Evasion: 656 44% clear
Stealth: 758 07% clear
Tactics: 439 41% clear
Weapons are in the 400-410 range. Both melee and ranged weapons. They're lagging behind because i used to train all weapons just for TDPs.

I will probably go play with some easy creatures for a bit just to get back into things but, in the meantime, i'd really appreciate if you could suggest some hunting grounds where i could train at level. I used to hunt young gryphons and warklins. Are they still at the same level as before?

One more question for now, about EXP BONUS. How did you guys go about using your exp bonus after the skill conversion?

Your Armor pool could fill 33 empty skills to 200 ranks and one empty skill to 186 ranks.
Your Weapon pool could fill 20 empty skills to 200 ranks and one empty skill to 105 ranks.
Your Magic pool could fill 10 empty skills to 200 ranks and one empty skill to 166 ranks.
Your Survival pool could fill 51 empty skills to 200 ranks and one empty skill to 128 ranks.
Your Lore pool could fill 1 empty skill to 200 ranks and one empty skill to 111 ranks

Is it wise to try to focus on more important skills while the bonus is active? Or it really doesnt matter?

Thanks a lot for reading and for the help!

When 3.0 came out a lot of creatures became a little bit tougher, so the gryphons you used to hunt might be a bit tougher now.
Like you said, I'd try some easier things that you know you can handle, then move a step down from where you were and see how you handle things.. then move from there if needed.


For the bonus pools, I just left mine on with the exception of the Lore pool. I wanted to focus it on a couple crafting skills so I turned it on when I had those skills on my mind and very few other lore skills, then turned it off when I trained other things. I'm not real sure it was worth the hassle of doing that now.

So yeah, the only reason I would turn them on and off is if you wanted the bonus to go toward one or a few skills.
Some people saved theirs. I can't think of any reason to, unless people didn't know what to do with them so they waited to see how things worked out.
I know I really missed the bonus pools for a while. They make a huge difference. Sometimes I wished you could toggle it to 50% instead of just on or off so when they are gone it isn't as drastic of a change. You can definitely tell the difference in learning speed, so for a while I wondered if I was ever going to gain a rank again. It wasn't all that bad, probably more my imagination making a big deal about it being gone than anything. Time passed and I grew accustomed to the pace I was learning.