Help on moving forward!

Sheverad

Hi! I've decided I wanna switch to the Alchemy class for better RP opportunities and coolness. But I kind of like to min-max otherwise I seem to lose interest after some time, so the problem is that I would like to make good use of my reincarnation and trait reset - I can work with the RP for each class. My focus will be on bashing definitely, and I would also like to do as much combat as possible on the side. 

A quick look at the abilities of alchemist show extra crit chance, health sip etc., so it seems to go very well with human. But horkval could also offer better resists and they would stack nicely with the robes for some tankiness. And btw, int or con spec best? (maybe depending on race - con grook/int human-hork?). Also, I've read that I need quick-witted for bashing but nimble for combat - so is not having nimble that much of a penalty in PvP? Will I lose a lot of 1v1 matches or be less useful in possible party combat like that? I don't want to rule combat out even if I intend to focus on bashing primarily (wish it were like sylvan/magi that use quick-witted anyway).  

From artifacts, I guess SoA, Diadem, Collar are essential, and pendant/bracelet/belt/ring would be nice for later on, right? If anyone can give me some directions so I don't make any mistakes I'll regret later on I will appreciate it a lot! If not, I'll go stubborn as a mule and stick with whatever I pick.  

Sena

Horkval won't be any tankier than any other race (with the same con), because horkval resistances are about the same as ringmail. Human isn't especially good either, the sip bonus is pretty negligible and the critical bonus is small (useful, but not as useful as another stat point).

Dwarf would be the best defensive race (higher con and some resistances), grook would be best offensive choice (higher int). If you don't want one of those two, horkval will still allow you to reach 16 con (but only 11 int) if you want full con-spec, or tsol'aa will allow 16 int (but only 11 con) for full int-spec. If you don't want the full 16 (if you'd prefer more balanced stats), human/atavian/xoran will also be just as good as horkval/tsol'aa (of those 5, I'd go with atavian for the flight, unless you plan on getting a ring of flying, then I'd go with human).

Any mix of int and con will work fine. For bashing, it's just a matter of whether you'd prefer to kill things more quickly (16 int is about 23% higher damage than 12 int) or stay alive more easily (which can be used either for safer bashing, or for moving to stronger areas earlier). For combat, con is more useful. Personally, I'd recommend balancing them (14/14, or at least 15/13 or 13/15).

If you want to do both combat and bashing, I'd take nimble. Not having quick-witted while bashing just means you'll be a bit slower, it won't be fundamentally different. Not having nimble while fighting could potentially be the difference between winning and losing, and it will generally make things more difficult.

Diadem and collar will primarily be useful for bashing, not so much for combat (diadem will still be helpful, but there are a lot of better choices). If you want to focus on artefacts that would be useful for both bashing and combat, I'd say SoA, then sip ring, bracelet, and belt.

Sheverad

Well, with diadem and quickwitted you get like 25% faster attacks, so in 12 sec you need to do 3 casts normally, now you do 4 (+33% damage). Add to that a ~23% more dmg that's like one more attack every 4 attacks (+30something% damage), so compared to nimble, con-specced race a quick-witted (diadem not needed for pvp), int-specced race deals ~60+something% more dmg every 12 seconds. And you get to sacrifice PvP for it...  

Meh, I'll think about it a bot more. Just a final question I forgot earlier. How does city anchor factor into everything really? And how does that work exactly?

Sena

Anchors have no effect. Touching the city anchor was originally required before you could learn your skills, but that's been removed, so now it's just for RP, it doesn't actually do anything (unless there were further unannounced changes).

Sheverad

I asked this because I was reading the wiki and stumbled upon this: Astronomy The power of the cosmos is yours. Known: No (1035 lessons required) Syntax: ASTRONOMY FOCUS <celestial body> ASTRONOMY EMPOWER <target|ME> ASTRONOMY STATUS Works on/against: Adventurers Details: Each city maintains, within an astronomical laboratory, an orrery specifically designed to resonate with the alchemical energies and the celestial bodies which share this affinity. It is possible to focus this orrery upon one of these celestial bodies, and once three alchemists from your city have done so, you may empower any non-forestal citizen with its power. This focus will be reset every Sarapin, when Ethian's Crossing disrupts the energies across Sapience. The focusing must be done from the appropriate laboratory, and the empowering may be done from anywhere. The celestial bodies, the energy with which they resonate, and their empowered effects are: The sun - Gold - Increased health regeneration. The moon - Silver - Increased mana regeneration. The Nebula Coronae (nebula) - Copper - Increased endurance and willpower regeneration. Ethian - Tin - Increased damage versus denizens.

Sena

Astronomy doesn't have anything to do with the anchors. The metal associated with each celestial body is just flavour text, basically.

Sheverad

Oh, OK, I mixed up Anchor and Orrery!  

Still, does that bonus actually work and cities use them, or is it like the House Icons that seem to be nowhere (any Houses still have them)?  

Sena

Every city has an orrery, and uses it. As for how quickly they tend to get it focused after the new year, I'm not sure. Ashtan and Hashan seem to be pretty good about it at least (usually within a few hours). I'm also not sure what tuning each city tends to use (Ashtan is almost always Sun).