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im speaking more in terms of mana potions and wand repairs. true homesteads have lowererd costs for mana potions, but not every newbie is gonna rank herbalism/potion making right off the bat, nor will they have the appropriate funds to continuously purchase mana potions from other players at the start. the bolded is a moot point, if someone has enchants and you dont, they are going to outdamage you regardless of specialization.
Magic is mid-game to end-game skillset, not really efficient in early game level.
If a "newbie" wanna be a mage, he/she better get off his/her butt and rank herbalism/potion making.
On monday, you can still get 99% success rate with rank F potion making with a decent party.
Last I checked there wasn't a huge amount of int or magic boosting enchants though.
Truedat.
I'm just saying INT is important, not something a mage would just shrug off.