There are a number of different solutions to the problems you anticipate.

1) Disarm can be a problem, but you can just avoid critters who have this skill; there aren't that many of them. You can also avoid a number of annoyances by training in brawling and shield, and not using a runestaff at all, making you immune to both disarm and weaponfire, at the cost of some spell ranks or other skills. Again, there aren't many critters that use weaponfire, but those who do seem to get far better results than player character mages. It's the main cause my deaths in the Deadfall right now; I have learned (painfully) to take the mages out first.

2) Alternatively, you can pick up some CM ranks and train in disarm yourself, and perhaps even get a few ranks of cunning defense for general maneuver protection. Again, you will have to give up something else in return for this.

3) You can just stay a totally pure caster, and hope to disable your opponents before they can pull any annoying maneuver stuff on you; this is what the majority of pure casters do. Boneshatter was nerfed somewhat and some boneless creatures are immune to this, but wither will fill in as a substitute. There are both pros and cons to spell aiming and using bolt spells. Bolts can hit some high level things that have TDs to high to ward, but these are mostly invasion creatures, and again, that sort of training will diminish your warding spell CS by diverting TPs from spell ranks. You will find advocates of both paths. With using macros, going into offensive in order to cast bolts is not a problem, since your vulnerable period is a second or less ... unless of course, the game develops significant lag. Thankfully, this has been fairly rare recently.

4) You can go insane and become a warpath, and do all sorts of fun mutant stuff. This is a rather specialized training path, with a higher than average risk potential, but hey! Who's afraid of a few deaths? It's all about style, baby! It's fun to hunt in a group and watch the warriors gawk as I uncork a focused M-Strike.

Level 86 ... where to hunt ... I never liked the Rift, too much of a pain in the buttocks to navigate around. I hunted the Bowels from 83 or so on to early 90's. High risk potential, but certainly doable if you have decent tactical sense. I.E., when it starts to swarm, run like a bunny. For me, a swarm meant more than 2 of the Iloke kissers. Once you are in the mid 90's your best bet is OTF. A cakewalk compared to Nelemar or the Scatter; the War Griffins are fairly annoying, however.

Note: if you are near the landing and in Voln, there is a nice temporary hunting area called the Deadfall, conveniently located not far from town. Lots of undead, as well as some live stuff. Critters range from level 95-110, so this is not for you yet, unless you go with high level friends. I (along with 2 other capped folks) helped one of our frequent posters hunt there once, and he did OK in his low 80s. OK means he got in a few hits; but when you are overhunting like that, it doesn't take much to get a full mind.



"So, what does that green line on the graph represent?"

"Oh, that's the projection of a hypothetical offspring from a union between Sauron and Cruella de Ville; we use that as a baseline for determining character alignment."

I highly recommend Gretchen's training advice, although I disagree that wither is an awesome spell. I still don't care for it much.

As for getting disarmed, keep a spirit servant with you at all times. They will pick up a disarmed runestaff, as long as you don't move too fast or get disarmed the second you walk in on something (before they have a chance to catch up). I don't find it much of a problem. I have a quick macro to tell the spirit servant to give me my runestaff back.

Old Ta'Faendryl (West Woods and Aqueducts) are fun at that level, although you can't touch the constructs and it helps a lot to find a heavily padded aventail for the gremlocks' garrote. And honestly, at that level, The Rift is still a fun option.

~Lyradie
>With a startled yelp, a young elven child suddenly tumbles from somewhere above you, landing gracelessly in a pile of refuse!