As a response to the many questions I have been getting
about the different subguilds, I decided to writea tutorial. I hope you will find it easier to use than the somewhat confusing information in the circletfiles.

Question: "Is any one of the subguilds considerably stronger than the others, as power is all I                    want?"

Answer:   NO. In my opinion , they all raise at the same speed. However, there is a difference
                    in styles of play.

Question:  "So what is this difference in style?"

Answer:   Both Archmages and Swordmages are subguilds that do a lot of damage in a very                   short amount of time, and then they need to heal for a while. Sorcerers however,                   spread damage out  more evenly over time and are still fighting when the other 2                   need to heal mental/physical.

Question:  "Do you have any recommendation as to what subguild I should join?"

Answer:   I recommend that newbies stick with sorcerers and do not join swordmages at lvl 5.                    Instead, wait till lvl 11, you'll get haste and be much more effective. I don't                    recommend people  to join archmages until at least lvl 15. Archmage spells are                   highly level dependent (for a good reason), and before lvl 15, you'll be weaker than                   the other subguilds.  Also. wonder to yourself in what way you want to play.
                  Do you like doing a lot of damage and don't mind having to sit  and heal, then join                   archmages or swordmages. Archmages do damage with spells only and do not get                   haste, they can also not use any weapon other than a couple of staves. Swordmages                   do damage exclusively with weapons..they have the prescience spell, which makes                   them hit pretty darn  hard with weapons. However, they get NO attackspells after
                  fireball and also do not have displace. Both swordmages and archmages require                   some skill in MS to play. You need to be able to find equipment and  staff material                   respectively. If you don't like gearing up, I advise you stick with sorcerers..you'll                   need a sword basically, and that is it.

Question:  What is this "interference" that I keep seeing?

Answer:  Each subguild will experience interference as they equip. Archmages feel it the                   most, followed by sorcerers, and then swordmages. Interference is the effect that                   your equipment has on your personal magic field, the more interference, the less                   powerful your spells will be.  There is a buffer zone for each of the subguilds, in                   which your spells will work just fine, so you are allowed some equipment. It is your                   preference as to what you wish to wear or wield. Small things such as badges and                   amulets do not give much interference, while stuff like plates and 2-handed swords                   will interfere greatly with your magic.

Question:  "I joined Archmages, but I really don't understand much of what I am supposed to                      do and how this staff works."

Answer:   The Archmage staff is really not that difficult to fill once  you know what and how                    much you can put in it. You need to find items that have magical essence, which                    means, they have a special ability. Either items that heal mental, or physical, or                    that hit extremely hard, or things that glow in the dark are but an example. This                    means most uniques, but it's not limited to that. The different types of essence are:                    power to strike, power to blast, power to heal you mentally, power to heal you                    physically,power to glow, power to be weightless, power to defend, power to resist.
                   Use "sense staff" to see how much essence you have in your staff.  The goal is to get                    an excellent focus. You cannot just keep adding the same type of essence over and                    over. For example, a flaming glaive gives power to blast. You cannot just kill out
                   shadowland and chuck 10 glaives into your staff. There is a limit to the amount of                    each type of essence you can put in there. So, in order to get an excellent focus, you                    need to add and fill 4 different types of essence at least. To give another example:
                   fully charged powers to blast, strike, heal physical and resist can give you an                    excellent focus. You'll notice when a type of essence is full, because when you try                    to add it, the staff will let you know.
 Check elsewhere on my site for a list of items you can put in                                          your staff.

Question: "Do I have to solve a quest to join swordmages or archmages, and what if I decide I                      want to leave after a while?"

Answer:   You don't need to solve anything. If you are a sorcerer and have reached the necessary level for a subguild, level 10 sor archmage and level 5 for swordmage, go to the inner halls in our guild and type join archmages or join swordmages. If after a time, you decide you want to leave one of the subguilds, you have two alternatives. You can buy a potion of alternate past at Ackzaps the sage, or you can leave the guild and rejoin. The cost of the potion depends on the experience you have and the downside of leaving the guild is that you lose half a stat.