Hi guys and girls, here's a little help to get you settled and get the most out of you fighting.
Firstly, get a RoE. Become a supporter until the tiem changes, then try to buy one.
Secondly, keep a single minion. Train this minion as a Mage. Eithe of the three main DD spells are good, with FB or CoC being the top choices out of the three. I'll go into a little more depth about the differencies below.
Thirdly, join a clan.
Combine your New User Bonus with your RoE and hopefully some clan bonuses. This will give you un matched xp gain.
As a mage, you won't have to focus on armour at all. later on, pick up some low armour that can be worn with a RoE and that doesn't incure any magic penalties.
FB or CoC?
This is actually a play sytle decision. FB leads to a more aggressive minion, the emphasis on taking others out before they can damage you. For this, you should look at traning HP, FB and DM.
CoC leads to a more defensive approach. CoC will deal more damage during a fight than FB, if you get to round 6 or higher. You main aim is to live through ranged. CoC also gives the best damage return for xp spent in the game (bar high NW weapons..). With CoC, I would advise training mor HP than you would with a FB mage, and starting with a small AMF. Just to stop any decays cast at you.
Both tpes can train a skill (Evasion is the only Mage skill, and it's not very usefull once you acquire a pair of DBs) and an ED. I don't like to rely on ED s because of DM, and there are only two a single mage can make use of anyway. Protection or GA.
The key to this single mage is to generate and concentrate as much xp as possible.
Befoer the end of your NUB (and as long as any significant changes aren't made in any change months along the way) you will have an character of un rivaled power (unless others are following this!).
If you'ld like some more information or explainations, don't hesitate to post or drop me a CM.
But it's getting late and I feel I'm starting to ramble.
Don't worry if you've a hankering to play a Tank, save tha until your NUB runs out, and splurge all the money you've been able to save into some nice weapons and armour.
But while your NUB lasts, don't play anything but a mage!