Following on the topic below -

I kinda deleted my invoker due to not finding my black. But anyway.

So after 2 mage chars and some half-hearted exploration with my rager before those, I'm finally able to say that I am satisfied/content enough with the current a/b/s system. It could be better. Mid-30s to low 40s are still a pain to do real pk'ing against decent opponents.

But it really took having two mages running around with detect artifact for me to build up a tolerable generic a/b/s list. I still wish that those generic rods disappeared at logging off so they couldn't easily be horded by other mages. I find myself constantly checking for the repop to make sure I don't lose an aura wand/talisman, but it can get pretty competitive AND it is easy to forget about regathering it in the midst of pking, ranking, retrieving, regearing.

Life without sleeks is doable for the most part. The long timer on aura is very nice to have, though, that I always look for it. And 4 charges instead of 3 with barrier also go a long way but at least barrier is ok enough without a sleek.

Rambling point being, I hate that it takes knowledge from a previous character to really make mages viable in the middle ranks. Hate hate hate. But. Once you get there, life isn't too bad. Detect artifact really helps build out a wand list for a hero character to aid a player's next character.

I don't have a solution for that other then a few easily accessible wands that disappear at logging off that any mage can run and get out of a container. Or some type of mage guild quest that nets you an empty aura charge rod (2 charges) that you can either quest or pay some mob to 'fill up' every so often. That rod would be attuned to a specific character so it can't be looted and sac'ing it would reset the quest(s).

Last resort? Make friends with other mages and pay/beg/barter info with each other in game.