I propose we get a small group of moon mages together to try our hand at crafting an Astral Guide.

I think we would need to set aside 3-5 hours (which I know is brutal for most folks), but as I understand it, you can only make one crystal mind per real life hour.
The way I see the gathering unfolding:
- Gather in the Crossing MM Guild (there’s free liquor there)
- Review the steps for crafting the guide
- Craft our first mind – Align it with Grahzir and touch it to Rolagi
- Craft our cradles
- Craft our second mind – Align it with Grahzir
- Use the Ways to travel to another shard (perhaps Aesry or Taisgath)
- Align our second mind with the destination shard
- Craft a third for speed, force or sanity and set it aside
Of course, the Guide wouldn’t be ready for another 22 days (because the Gods like screwing with us), but there may be some value (if only entertainment value) in doing this in company.

At the very least we’d probably manage a good TM class :-)
Any thoughts? Takers?

Each person would need:
- To have passed the enchanting quest
- To have passed the Ways Quest
- To have knowledge of Rolagi and the other destination shard (my personal preference is Aesry, but I’m flexible)
- Sigils representing Katamba, Yavash, Xibar, Shrew, Unicorn, Durgaulda and Scales
- An unenchanted Beacon Shard (or two)
- At least one of the activating

While I'm always for getting a group together to do something, I'm curious why you think this activity REQUIRES a group?

You're basically saying "I want to start an enchanting project, and listen to a TM class at the same time."

Is the purpose of this educational?

The fact is that although there are people with sufficient skill, very few actually attmept to make these. That may be because the task is so complex that the process looks like a long, boring walk uphill. A group dynamic may 1) blunt the tediousness of the enterprise, 2) provide reinforcement for those who struggle at one step or another, and most important 3) give cause to actually try the enchantment in the first place.

People rarely make them, it seems, because there isn't a very stable market to sell them in, it takes 22 days from the time you start, has a high risk of failure (if you wait 23d instead), and the enchantment makes something that most of us can do already.

The only reason to do this as a group is to churn out more crystal minds in the same time period. That doesn't really expedite the process of making the enchantment at all, but at the very least, it gets a bunch of people to together talking about enchanting.

As I know Armifer has pointed out before, people make the Guide enchanting process far harder than it needs to be by obsessing over trying to use minds perfectly in the sweet spot when there is really very little need to.

-Raesh

"Ever notice that B.A.'s flavor text swells in direct proportion to how much one of our characters is getting screwed?" - Brian Van Hoose

>>There is something wrong with a magical item creation system that requires me to use a real life calendar to make an item.
I totally disagree with you on this. In Gemstone, for example, high end enchanting required an enormous amount of time and effort. I think it was a couple of weeks to charge the mana pools so you could enchant an item. I have no idea if that's still in effect, but still.


Also, keep in mind, the enchantment itself only takes 2-3m per mind with a 1hr downtime between minds, and maybe two minutes for the Cradle. You're really only talking about an enchantment, one of our higher end ones at that, that takes about half an hour of actual enchanting. If anything, I'd like to see more enchantments that require multiple components, and maybe even multiple people, to finish.

That was close to a haiku.

The outcome I think is pretty substantial, and worth it in my opinion. I dunno if the complication investment : value output line out, but at the very least it's an interesting enchantment with a very potent product.

Personally, I would eliminate or severely reduce the timer on making additional guides. The biggest downside to me isn't the 20ish days waiting for minds to mature, but the 30 day timer between making additional guides. 30 days? THAT is ridiculous. If every Moon Mage was constantly making them, then every character in the realms would still probably be forced to bid for available guides. My Moonie uses the ways probably 3-5 times a day.