As a newbie W8 player, I've restarted the game several times, experimenting each time with different party member type configurations. As I've got a bit better with combat, I've found that I haven't needed to rest the party as much as before. In doing so, I think I've noticed that monsters are spawning in to fight me less than before. Is this correct? Along with resting less, I've also switched off Search, as I now rely solely on a ranger to do this more quietly. Nevertheless, the monster spawning rate does seem to be noticeably less than in previous plays when I used to rest much more.

Would a better strategy be to use up potions and healing spells to fix HPs, rather than to rest? Resting seems to be the most obvious solution to fix low HPs, but if it comes at a price whereby I have to fight off more monsters, then healing potions and spells would then seem to be the better option. Thanks a lot for any comments.

Resting does cause time to pass, which in turn causes more monsters to spawn. This can be a pain when you are trying to explore, but can be good if you want to get into more battles for XP and skill practice.

Resting for 24 hours will cause NPC shopkeepers to restock with new inventory, so sometimes you might want to rest for that purpose.

So, if you don't want to fight more monsters, use healing spells/potions (and don't forget Magic Nectar (which you will find yourself having too many of) and Mana Stones for restoring SPs). If you do want to fight more monsters, or if you want merchants to stock new inventory, then by all means rest.

Great! Thanks. BTW, I read somewhere that ninja throwing weapons are a bit thin on the ground in W8. I've just found a trader / shopkeeper (Burz), and I don't think I noticed anything like shurikens or throwing darts in its inventory. Do other shopkeepers in the game sell these types of weapons, and if so, can I use that 24 hour resting strategy to top up my reserves of them? Thanks for all of your help btw.

in the case of search, its a bad idea to rest with it because monsters will get the drop on you if you have search active... note that the spell effect 'light' does affect both search and monsters detecting you but it does not increase the chance that they get the drop.

shops restock their ammo as noted but that can also make it hard to buy other items because only so any things will show up on the list... you can purchase a lot of ammo to make that sword you want reappear in the list again | ninja is a special case but there is a shop that sells every thing you need to stop others giggling at your poor attire

Thanks a lot for your help too! You've just jogged my memory about one of my earlier attempts at playing the game. This time around, I have not cast the light spell, whereas in initial plays I did. I wondered about whether this would increase monster spawning. Also, can I switch it off? I couldn't see a way of doing that, as I wondered if it was attracking additional monster spawns.

If I use a ranger, but don't use a light spell and also don't use the general Search option, will the ranger be able to successfully search for anything/everything hidden in the immediate vacinity? (Would his/her scouting skill have to be higher, if a light spell was not being used?)

search and light have no effect on monster spawing but resting with light may make a mob find you whereas they would have pasted you by without the light... no you cann't turn it off but you can cast it at a lower level so that it doesn't stay around as long... there is also a spell that helps you hide and another that stops any mobs from getting the drop on you if they do attack and another spell that adds a scouting bonus without the ill affects.

yes your ranger needs better scouting skill if not putting light up... a ranger should spot most items in the starting area but there are very nice items later in the game that make scouting worth the effort

The Light spell lasts 24 h, no matter at what PL you cast it.

Save, cast Light at PL 1 and save again when it goes off to check the ingame time of that 2nd save,
now reload 1st save and check the same with PL 7 Light


Light does not affect peception range of monsters.

Save at decent distance to some high lvl monsters(they have higher perception ranges) which stay where they are,
e.g. 3 cliff sprites + oak guardian in front of the life temple at AP.
Make sure chameleon spell isnt active as it will spoil the test.

Now check whether max PL light spell affects the distance from when they start to move at you,
and at what distance combat triggers automatically.


I never checked Light inffluence on search distance, but i would not be surprised if its also zero.

This is assuming that you do not have Power Cast. With Power Cast, the duration will increase by an amount dependent on your Power Cast skill (but not the PL of Light).

Yes, sometimes Power Cast doesn't work the same way as an increase in power level.

Thanks dtgreene for pointing that out!

Imagine the testers confusion if the PL 1 light spell triggers a powercast skill increase that results in +1h
while the PL 7 does not.

yes I'm mixied light with the other one , detect-S... I'm starting another run this week to test a monk build so I'll try your light test when I get to the tree house

Just wanted to note that if you need to sleep out in the open, you can sometimes do alright by sleeping in out of the way places. Put yourself in a corner, or spot that doesn't have too many view angles to it. Then if you do get jumped, at least you're in a corner where you can't get surrounded. You're more likely to get enough healing in despite being in a hostile environment.