ok all... i am stuck and unhappy. i cant seem to settle on my party composition... since Wiz8 doesn't let you start at level 1 when you ascend roles (correct, yes?) should I just go ahead and pick the roles for my party members that i actually want to use, and forget about ascension, or should this be played through like the original Wiz series titles, i am unsure... also, can any break down a few good sample parties for me? i just cant decide, and want to savor my first run through Wiz8, so want to choose carefully... any pointers appreciated, thx!~

All I can tell you is what I've got:

A Fighter that I may ascend to either Lord or Samurai eventually,
A Valkyrie who's going to stay put as is
A Ranger who's probably going to go to Ninja eventually
A Bard who I will probably make a Gadgeteer after I get Music up enough
A Priest that I will probably make a Bishop after he learns as many Priest spells as possible
and a Mage that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her, but I'll just let things happen as they will. ;)

In the meantime, I'm just having fun with the party. I'm not out to make uber-characters just yet...who knows, though? Something tells me that there will be ample opportunity in this game to get level 40+ characters. ;)

Cheers,

i guess what i don't understand is why i wouldn't just start the characters in the final role... why start as fighter and then ascend to lord or samurai when i could start in that role? or priest to bishop, etc... i guess this is where i am not seeing the benefit, especially if i won't drop back to level 1 when i ascend, won't levelling slow to a crawl at that point? any party advice or lists would be greatly appreciated, thanks again all, hope all are enjoying Wiz8!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by daiSho:
i guess what i don't understand is why i wouldn't just start the characters in the final role... why start as fighter and then ascend to lord or samurai when i could start in that role? or priest to bishop, etc... i guess this is where i am not seeing the benefit, especially if i won't drop back to level 1 when i ascend, won't levelling slow to a crawl at that point? any party advice or lists would be greatly appreciated, thanks again all, hope all are enjoying Wiz8!<hr></blockquote>

There is no "final role". All roles were designed to be equally balanced. Fighters have the greatest attack and defense ratings, and grow mega powerful as they go up in level, for example. It's not like Wizards & Warriors, where you lose out if you stay as one of the four beginning roles.

This is from the official FAQ at the Wizardry 8 site:

We've improved the classes in many other ways. For instance:

Each class has a special primary skill, a skill they're better at than any other class could ever be.
Each class has one or more unique special abilities.
Thieves are now called Rogues, and are better at combat than ever.
Fighters are now truly a force in combat. None of the hybrid classes can match them for raw combat prowess.
We're adding more unique class-specific magic items.
Experience point tables have been rebalanced to better reflect the relative strengths of the classes.
Class-changing has been tweaked for better play balance.
Added a point spending system that allows you to tailor your character with far more precision than the old dice rolling system

Basically, when a class maxes out on its most important skill (its primary attribute), your character gains an elite skill. So a fighter, when maxed out on Combat, will receive "Power Strike", a way of inflicting quadruple damage on a single blow. There are elite skills for all the classes. You just have to balance and research them.

That's why I'm saying I'm just starting out slow, and then building from there.

Cheers,

ah, i see! so sticking w/ the basic/lower classes when starting will allow you to 'max-out' a specific skill, and then you will know it is time to ascend to a new role? i think that was one of my big problems in wizards & warriors, i started out w/ the basic roles, and always wondered when i should start my ascension's... what level would be a good point to ascend to a different role then? thx so much for your insight, i want to get my first party off properly!

Another point to consider is that you keep certain skills even tho you may change classes. For example, a bard that has a high music skill and then changes to a samuri can still play instruments even tho a samuri could not normally play. He cannot improve his or her music skill any more, but would play at the last level attained. I can see this being a good thing for bards and gadgeteers where you would like their skills, but do not want to keep them as a final character.

Knarfling

Consider also the difference in exp. needed to reach a new level. Starting as a Rogue for example, you will shoot up a few levels very fast, where as had you started as a ninja, that 5000 exp would only get you to level 3.
So, you can rocket up to level 5 or 6, max out lock picking, then switch to Ninja when the exp gaps start to become significant..

Not that I should really talk, I started out all my guys in elite roles, except for the spell casters.