Sages

[Bael]

Has anyone figured out anything about sage movement yet? When a sage moves from the region, the "investigate region" doesn't seem to reveal anything about where he has gone?

Additionally, anyone know if anything has been done to rebalance the effect that the new sage system has on retaining relics?

[Charles]

I think I am just not accustomed to the new Sage system.  I spent a month wandering around Dwilight in search of a Sage and found one once, but did not have the right common items. 
With the new system, what is the best way of finding Sages?  Do I sit in one region, search for items and listen to rumours?  How far do the listening to rumours actually reach?  Just neighbouring regions? 
I lost my last item to decay, and would rather not lose this one as well.

[Ehndras]

Yeah, its a massive pain to find the Sages. I was in the region next to one, moved there and it was gone. I was unable to find further mention of the sage despite him having just left. Pissed me off to no end. :-|

[Velax]

With the new system, what is the best way of finding Sages?

Give up.

Honestly, I hate the current system. I used to find two sages a week, one at the very, very least. Now I'm lucky if I find one a month. I don't bother accepting contracts to repair items anymore because it's just not worth the hassle.

One of my nobles has had an advy trying to repair an item for him for three months with little success.

[Gustav Kuriga]

I agree, the current system makes an already almost useless Unique Items system useless.

[Charles]

I thought the new system was supposed to make it easier to find sages because now they actually had routes they took.  Can someone in the dev team comment on that?  I like the idea behind the change ( if I understood it correctly) but perhaps there needs to be more sages and shorter loops.  I can't really complain yet as I have only lost one item.

[Tom]

It is not supposed to make it easier, it is supposed to make it a game instead of a gamble.

Sages actually move around the map. The system is easy (someone please put this on the Wiki):

If you hear rumours, he WAS there. If you move somewhere and find nothing, it means that he has not been here - maybe not yet. If you want to hunt down sages, a bit of teamwork and/or communication might work.

Initially finding one by random stumbling is more difficult now. But keeping track of one and finding him again should be easier.

[Hyral]

I've heard it both ways, but do the sages actually travel in set paths, or do they travel randomly one region at a time?

This past month I've been recording where I see them (in Darka), but I've only been able to reliably relocate one out of six based on that (though some recordings are pretty scant, only including a few regions). And even that one might just be because it's a little circle up there around Mnt Sinclair and he could've gotten stuck in a loop :p

[Thunthorn]

If the one you are tracking have left it is usually a good idea to stay put where you are until you pick up rumours of where he has arrived.

I agree though that repairing high prestige items  takes so long time that your skills start to deteoriate while you're at it. I avoid fighting while on repair missions as losing some nobles beloved item due to battlewounds can be bad for an adventurers health. My adventurer on Atamare has been trying to repair one for well over  a month and only today managed to get it up to 52%. And he is carrying around 59 different kind of Common Items...

[Thunthorn]

It should be said though that the old system probably was too easy if you had decent adventuring skill. Just move to an area and wait until you had full hours and then rest one hour at a time until a sage turned up. My record was to hand back a fully repaired item within five minutes it was handed to me. The sage must have stayed at the same inn.

[Ketchum]

+1 to TS.

I used to see Sages before the new system implemented. Then it become rare occurrence, very rare. Until I figure out how to use "Listen to Rumor" function, then I try to keep track of Sages. So far with the new system, I able repair Unique Item 1 time and create 1 Unique Item. But now with my Unique Items deteriorating fast, I have a bit of problems. When I meet Sage, I need some Common Items that cannot be found easily to repair Unique Item, some Common that I do not have. I have to thrive to find balance between my desire as best Swordman to kill undead, monsters and my desire to gain Recommendation by creating, repairing Unique Items. Sometime we used to arrive at a region where the Sage has already left.

Perhaps a better solution is to have the Unique Item not to deteriorate and damage fast?

[cenrae]

I complained about the new system in the past. But after the listen to rumors was in place once I found a sage I spent over a month real time following the same sage and recording his locations. Now when ever I need a sage I simply go to the half dozen our so regions he travels in, listen for rumors to see if the safe is in an adjacent region and then follow the sage around again.

I have done this for one sage on dwlight and can find him when ever I want with in a day or two. Very handy. You simply have to put in the work taking one for a while.

[cenrae]

I have successfully tracked a safe on dwlight for over a month. The key once you find one is to stay in the same region you find him until the rumors do not say the sage passed by recently. Only then do you listen for rumors of sages. Nearly every time I listened this way I was told what region the sage went to. Only a few times did I have to listen for rumors more than one hours worth.

Now for one sage I know where he will be within say six regions and it only takes me a day or so to find him again.

[Ketchum]

I have successfully tracked a safe on dwlight for over a month. The key once you find one is to stay in the same region you find him until the rumors do not say the sage passed by recently. Only then do you listen for rumors of sages. Nearly every time I listened this way I was told what region the sage went to. Only a few times did I have to listen for rumors more than one hours worth.

Now for one sage I know where he will be within say six regions and it only takes me a day or so to find him again.

Your tip is useful, a big thank you for it. Apparently this is the only way to track the sage. Or let say, if you come back to the same region where you found the sage before

Time to put all this on Wiki

[cenrae]

Yeah you have to put in the hard work of tracking. Months later I was able to fully restore an item in less than two Weeks. I'll be sharing my findings with my guilds soon. Then perhaps the wiki.