| General
The Focus skill accelerates the rate at which you regain both mana and
stamina. Unlike Meditation, Focus has
no restrictions and is always active on your character no matter what you
wear or what you do. Also unlike Meditation, which gradually improves as
you put more points into it, Focus improves in multiples of 10 and 20.
Every 10 points of Focus gives you +1 stamina regen, and every 20 points
of Focus gives you +1 mana regen. If you take Focus as a skill, make sure
you take it to a multiple of 10 for stamina or 20 for mana (65 Focus is
no different than 60, 99 is the same as 90, etc.).
The prime advantage of Focus is that you can wear any armor type with
it, and for this reason Focus is sometimes thought of as "Meditation
for warriors." Focus is best used on characters that need mana, but do
not necessarily need it as quickly as a spell casting mage character would.
Also, the stamina regeneration of Focus makes it a good fit for melee characters
that depend on high stamina for weapon swing speed. Focus can also be a
good choice for a bard or tamer that needs mana, but doesn't cast so often
as to be utterly dependant on mana.
Note: Meditation and Focus are both
skills that affect the rate at which you regain mana. Meditation
is more efficient at mana regeneration than Focus, but it also has restrictions
for when it will and won't work. Focus always works for mana and also regenerates
stamina, but Focus regenerates mana slower than Meditation.
Which skill you choose, or if you want a combination of both, will depend
on your play style and the number of magical items you want to wear.
Calculating your mana regeneration
rates
Thanks to hard work and research you can use the following formula to
calculate your mana regeneration rate.
Points = 40*[INT(Focus/20)+(mana item total)]+intelligence+3*meditation
In the formula, "INT" stands for integer, not intelligence. Integer
means round the result down to the nearest whole number. Basically what
this is getting at is that for mana regen your Focus only improves in multiples
of 20: 20, 40, 60, 80, etc. A Focus of 39 is exactly the same as 20. So
the number you will end up with in the formula for Focus will be 0, 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, or 6.
For "mana item total" simply add together all the "pluses" you are wearing.
For example, if you are wearing a hat with +1 mana regeneration and sleeves
with +2 mana regeneration, your item total is 3.
If you are wearing ANY meditation blocking armor, even a single piece,
set intelligence and meditation to 0 in the formula.
Once you have solved for "points," compare your answer to one of the
following tables (depending on whether your Meditation skill is above or
below 100):
If Meditation skill is less than 100
Points Mana Rate (mana/sec)
0 0.19
40 0.29
80 0.36
120 0.44
160 0.55
200 0.67
280 0.80
360 1.00
480 1.33
720 2.00
If Meditation skill is equal to or greater than 100
Points Mana Rate (mana/sec)
0 0.19
40 0.29
80 0.36
120 0.44
160 0.55
200 0.67
280 0.80
328 1.00
448 1.33
717 2.00
Some examples:
100 med, 100 int, 0 focus, no items (assuming no med blocking armor)
40*[INT(0/20)+(0)]+100+(3*100) = 400, or 1 mana per second.
0 med, 40 int, 100 focus, no items (assuming med blocking armor)
40*[INT(100/20)+(0)]+0+(3*0)= 200, or .67 mana per second.
0 med, 80 int, 80 Focus, +4 mana regen items (assuming no med blocking
armor)
40*[INT(80/20)+(3)]+80+(3*0) = 360, or 1 mana per second.
100 meditation, 100 int, 40 Focus, no items (assuming no med blocking
armor)
40*[INT(40/20)+(0)]+100+(3*100) = 480, or 1.33 mana per second.
To achieve the maximum possible passive mana regeneration rate (2 mana
per second), you would need 120 med, 120 int, and 120 Focus. Or 120 med,
120 int, and 6 +1 mana regen items. Or 120 Focus and 6 +2 mana regen items.
For most practical character templates, 1.33 mana per second is about the
best you can hope for.
The final thing to note is that on the above charts, there is no gradual
progression. That is to say, you are either at .8 mana per second or 1.0
mana per second, but nothing in between. You can use this formula to figure
out if wearing another mana regen item, or gaining 20 points in Focus,
will really bump you into the next level or not.
Skill Training
Similar to Meditation, Focus can
gain whenever your mana or stamina is below maximum. Raise Focus by sailing
forward on a boat, casting spells to keep your mana low. You can also overburden
yourself and try to walk, which will drop your stamina. Focus gains extremely
quickly up to 80-90, and then slows down a bit. You can still expect to
grandmaster the skill in a day or two with some dedicated effort. However,
some people decide not to take Focus all the way to 100, deciding instead
to leave it at 60 or 80 points and balancing out with magic items. |