At least it's not a disembodied head in a ball following us around.
Beginning with The Magister's Call, players are whisked away to the Thalassian University, inside a mostly restored Magister's Terrace. There, they'll assist Magisters Rommath and Umbric with restoring the Sunstrider Omnium, in a fairly straightforward set of quests that give players a little bit insight on the history of the magisters and these two in particular. Completing the objectives awards the The Sunstrider Omnium achievement, which will then allow players to begin accumulating actual power from the restored device over a series of five weekly quests.
It may not be immediately apparent that the Omnium Folio is anchored to your minimap, not a physical object within the game world.
Seeking Weekly Knowledge
Seeking Knowledge: The Omnium Folio is the first of these quests, which requires no effort at all - simply open the Folio and select the proc-based Rune of Unleashed Fire or stacking-over-time Rune of Void-Touched Orbs. From there, each new weekly reset introduces another research assignment, unlocking more runes and further power.
As the name would imply, Seeking Knowledge Week 2 of 5: Ritualized Arcana directs players to obtain Ritualized Arcana from either the Broken Throne or Daggerspine Point Ritual Sites. Each of the six scenario objective captains and void creatures drops one, as well as the penultimate and final boss, allowing all eight to be collected in a single run of any tier Ritual Site.
In other words, it's really easy, if you want it to be; just make sure to loot everything.
Turning in the week 2 quest unlocks the next set of upgrades - choosing between the self-explanatory Rune of Self-Mending, damage-mitigating Rune of Void-Tainted Shell, or speed-enhancing Rune of Lynxlike Reflexes. Finishing all five weekly quests will award the Omnium Folio Studies achievement, as well as a pretty cool looking piece of Sunstrider Omnium Simulacrum decor.
The effects feel pretty underwhelming at the moment, and do not appear to scale with player stats or item level, though that may simply be due to not being fully implemented. Although we have not yet seen them on the PTR, each week will add another quest to unlock an additional bonus: adding periodic damage/healing, increasing a secondary stat, and enhancing their effectiveness. None of these are particularly interesting choices, though if that's the biggest complaint then we're probably doing alright.
All of these can be respecced freely at any time, so don't agonize over the decisions.
As far as borrowed power goes though, this is pretty noninvasive - fairly minor bonuses that easy to unlock and do not interfere with normal gearing.
