Researching.

[Phillamon]

<p>Greetings,</p><p>I've just discovered 'research' (OK I know I'm a dumbo) and have started upgrading my spells and abilities. Is there any point in 'researching right from level 1 up to my present lvl24 and what is the significance of the 'time remaining' figure which run for a few hours at the lvl 1 spells to days at the top level I'm starting a the least time remaining spells but it's going to take ages to get it all done.</p><p>There's nothing about this,or a lot of other things, in my manual.</p><p>Thanks in advance.</p>

[darwich]

manual? this is rather somewhat newish.. last year it went to the spell book to research the way it is currently layed out.. at level 24 ... it does not really take that long.. you ahve hours at most for master spells once you get your previous levels of spells done... if you think that takes forever your going to lose your breakfast when you hit higher levels.. for a master spell at 80~90 it takes nearly a month..

[Illmarr]

<p>If I understand your question, no you shouldn't bother researching lower levels of spells/abilities that have already been replaced with higher level versions. That will gain you nothing at all and is unnecessary. You can just go straight to researching the version of the spell that you are currently using</p>

[Nrgy]

<p>Researching was put in place as an alternaitve to buying spell books or looting them from mobs.  To further explain them, I'll talk in terms of level cap, but it really applies up and down the level ranges.  You can begin to research spells/CA's once you reach level 20.  You can only research spells/CA's which you have in your spell book, ie spells/CA's you have available to you.  So, any spell/CA which is higher than your current level will not be avilable to research until you reach that level and attain it.</p><p>Researching can ONLY increae a spell/CA by one position at a time.  When you reach a new level your spell/CA which is new for that level is given at an Apprentaice level.  Every spell/CA has multipel upgrades which increase the spell/ca's effectiveness.  Each upgrade will make the spell heal more, do more damage or be resisted less. </p><p>Spell levels above apprentance include:</p><ol><li>Apprentance (base)</li><li>Journeyman (A1) - <ol><li>Tradeskill made - essential recipes (common mats) -- </li><li>Brokerable - usually cost a few silver</li></ol></li><li>Adept (A2) - <ol><li>mob dropped (wooden chest) - </li><li>Brokerable - usually cost a few gold</li></ol></li><li>Expert (A3) - <ol><li>Tradeskill made - advanced recipes (Rare mats)</li><li>Brokerable - usually cost a few plat depending on the rare needed ( 8plat to 15plat on average)</li></ol></li><li>Master (M1) - <ol><li>mob dropped (exquisite chest)</li><li>Brokerable - usually cost many plat (wide range in cost 15p - 200p)</li></ol></li><li>Grandmaster (M2) - <ol><li>Character advancement </li><li>Mythical weapon (ER)</li></ol></li></ol><p>At level cap researching a spell/CA from Base to A1 could take as much as 20+ days and researching the same spell/CA from A3 to M1 can take as much as 30 days.  Changing the Spell/CA which you are currently researching will give you a credit of 1/3 (33%) of your time back which you can apply to the next spell/ca you choose.</p><p>Strats:  It is best to use the available spell books to upgrade as high as possible before choosing to research to the next tier.  Use either the Adept or Expert spell books, which ever you can afford from the broker or looted from mobs, before you begin researching that spell/CA.</p><p>SC: There are now Research Reducers available via the SC marketplace, which will decrease the research time remaining by a specific amount.  Those come in 7-days (150 sc), 3-days (100 sc) and 1-day (50 sc) reduction times.  So, for a level capped player researching an A3 to M1 spell/ca they would need 4x 7day + 2x 1day = 30 days = 700 sc.  IF using the SC marketplace Station Cash reducers it is best to upgrade the spell/ca to at least an A3 levels (Rare tradeskiller made) before starting the research process.</p><p>If pure SC reducers are used on a new level cap spell/ca it would cost to go from A1 to M1 over 3,000 SC.</p>

[Katz]

<p><cite>Phillamon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Greetings,</p><p>I've just discovered 'research' (OK I know I'm a dumbo) and have started upgrading my spells and abilities. Is there any point in 'researching right from level 1 up to my present lvl24 and what is the significance of the 'time remaining' figure which run for a few hours at the lvl 1 spells to days at the top level I'm starting a the least time remaining spells but it's going to take ages to get it all done.</p><p>There's nothing about this,or a lot of other things, in my manual.</p><p>Thanks in advance.</p></blockquote><p>If you are "level locking" you might as well start at the highest level and then research your way down.  Nothing hurt by doing that.   If you are traveling through levels fast, you will probably get to the next spell level before you get the previous ones done, at least at low levels. </p><p>Edit: By the way, I've always wondered what your spells do when you mentor down.  Is there any advantage when you mentor down to having the spells at that tier maxed?  Or is it based on your max level spell level?</p>

[The_Cheeseman]

<p>From what I have seen, when mentored down, your higher-level spell will be exactly the same as the current-level spell of that tier, assuming both are the same quality. So if I have a master of Ice Comet III, and then I mentor down to level 50, my Master Ice Comet III will be exactly the same as a Master Ice Comet I. Now, if my Ice Comet III is only Expert, while my Ice Comet I is Master, the Ice Comet I would actually be a slightly better, but I generally wouldn't consider it worth my time to search through my spellbook to switch it out, since high-level gear makes you a god when mentored, anyway.</p>