I took my Fo priest to Tristan to participate in some ceremonies that were going on. These are basically skill gain sessions. Priests gather around, every 3 hours they preach, 30 minutes between each preach, and you get a skill gain of faith depending on the number of listeners. You need 4 for a gain at all, and 6 for a prayer re-set. That means that every 3 hours you gain 5 new prayers (spaced 20 minutes apart) as well as the gain from preaching. You also gain alignment. It was very nice and I gained a lot of faith but it’s also a very boring job, hanging out on someone else’ deed and basically ignoring the screen unless it’s your turn to preach.

In the mean time people do mundane tasks like working on channeling, and casting spells on one another. It’s common to link up with other AFK priests so you can make use of their favor (basically mana) while you work on your skills. Because everyone is from different time zones there are lulls in conversation, but it’s mostly friendly chatter.

For me working on a Fo priest is quite easy. I have high alignment from planting sprouts (you also gain +4 alignment each time someone preaches). I spend time casting spells and praying, and I’m working on my meditation skill so that I can get to rank 7 and create enchanted grass (note: meditation is not related to religion in any way, it’s a regular skill that anyone can pick up). I’m still some time away from that yet you need rank 7 and 30 meditation skill. For some reason my meditation skill has refused to move the last few times I’ve attempted it.

My goal is to reach 70 faith (and hence 70 favor) so I can cast genesis. It’s a spell that removes bad traits from animals, and I’ve got a few that could use this miracle cure, as does Arkenor. We’ve been saving up some bad trait animals because they’re just too deer to give up, in the hopes that one day I’ll be able to cure them. I think I still have a month or two to go before that will become a reality.

There are days I regret being a priest. Days when my boats sink due to poor quality and I can’t improve them and have to use my alt. Days I want to bash down a wall (I have many of those days actually). I can turn off faithful and lose 0.1 faith per action which is at least an option, but it’s a harsh one. I was nearly at 60 faith when I decided 4 of my deed walls needed to be taken down RIGHT THEN. Mayors get a bonus to this type of fence removal and I am the always impatient gamer when I have an idea I want implemented. I dropped down to 54 faith, and am now slowly climbing my way back up – again. It’s worth it to me to be able to do these things, which is why a LOT of priests have a different main and keep both characters premium. Or at least have a free character around who can improve and fix things. Or live on a deed with others who can handle the upkeep. There are always options.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!