Version 1.1 / updated on 2001DE23
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In this scroll I will try to talk about the mechanics of sharing. I have had many conversations with my fellow exiles on the topic, and I have come to realize that the effects of sharing on mystics is not particularly well understood by the general public. In fact, to my surprise I have found that many exiles are not clear about the effects of sharing on healers, which is a phenomenon that is far better documented than the effects on mystics.
The effect of sharing for mystics is as profound as it is for healers, and therefore this is a subject that matters to me a great deal. My abilities as a mystic in combat and exploration are directly linked to your sharing actions, and I hope that by explaining this phenomenon to the public, I and my fellow mystics will be better able to serve our clan and the exile population at large.
First a totally personal view on the three professions and the mechanics of how each gains experience. Of the three professions, fighters acquire experience the fastest of all. This is because of two things: creatures they defeat in combat and slaughter levels. Defeating creatures is not the only way to gain experience, but certainly the quickest way and the most straightforward. Fighters are best at defeating creatures hence they gain experience faster. This I have experienced personnally when I helped a new exile at a time I was already an aprentice and she is now about 100 ranks ahead of me. I don't resent it, I chose my profession and I like it, I am just stating facts as I know them. A second aspect is slaughter level. Of all three professions fighters slaughter the slowest of all (then comes healers and finally mystics are the fastest in slaughtering things). On the other hand fighters don't have as many shares usually than the other professions. They have shares when bricking and on some other occasions (as when organising newby hunts) mostly (of course some have more than that fo a number of reasons). Another thing that gives experience is exploration or heroic rescues, etc. These are accessible to fighters since they are required for those raids/rescues/hunt. And of course fighters have the 'challenges' to get exp also. I heard it was almost a rank worth of exp but could not confirm that.
Next let's discuss healers. Very rapidly a healer slaughters everything that he/she can hit, which means that experience from defeating creatures becomes rapidly non-existant. So the primary source of experience for healers is through shares. Healers also get from time to time some experience from healing. They have mostly the same access to exploration exp, but not much from the challenges (although on this I speculate, anyone?). Healers depend on shares for the major part of their experience.
And finally, mystics: The main difference between mystics and healers in terms of slaughter level is that, while healers slaughter everything that they can hit, mystics slaughter things that they still cannot reliably hit (and that can kill them easily). For instance I get killed by large vermine on a regular basis and I started slaughtering them. So experience from defeating creatures is rare. Mystic rely mostly on shares to get their exp. They have less access to exploration and heroic rescue exp generally because they have less access to these and the idea of doing the challenges is actually laughable (except for the rat challenge). Mystic do not get exp from using their abilities (as healers do from time to time).
So that is a background on where each profession gains experience. There are also two additional and very important considerations about sharing.
One: Healers lose spirit/health much faster if a non-healer patient does not share them. When the patient shares them they lose spirit/health but at a much lower rate. When a healer heals another healer, they automatically benefit from the slower spirit/health loss even if they are not sharing one another.
Two: Mystic have all/most of their skills affected by the number of shares they receive. For example, that means that when I boost while 3 people are sharing me I will get a particular level of effect, and 3 minutes later if I do the same boost while I have 10 shares the effect of the boost is going to be increased. The effect of sharing on boost performance makes a lot of difference for an apprentice mystic, a little less for a JM and even less for a FM. I will also say that for some skills, the amount of time you've been sharing with the mystic has an impact as well. So aside from experience, shares have a real and important impact on a mystic.
So now a couple of observations. I often have discussions with healers that feel that their share is not worth anything. I also get that from fighters if you can beleive that :) I hope what I explained here removes any doubts about that being true . When a healer shares with a mystic, the mystic's skills are improved.
There is considerable risk involved in not sharing healers in a dangerous situation. This is a real issue and one that must be taken into account by exiles. I am part of a couple of groups that often go to dangerous places and the need to keep healers on their feet is very clear and not sharing the one healing you makes him/her lose their health faster and they could fall. So everyone must share the healer that is actually healing them. Also, in a critical situation you don't want to have to juggle shares to accomodate the one healer that comes to backpack you while you face a creature.
Different groups have ways of addressing this issue. In one of my groups we have discussed this actually and came to a compromise that is quite effective (although obviously not the only possible solution). I will present it below as an example of how it is possible to take into account all the many facets of the sharing mechanics by a large group of exiles:
I hope that this information is useful and I will try to expend this scroll to include a variety of situations and circumstances that may affect this. As always I am happy to discuss this subject with anyone.
Drablak.