QUOTE(derpymal @ Dec 10 2011, 18:15)
They don't say drain anymore, they say siphon.
QUOTE(varst @ Dec 10 2011, 18:29)
Why don't Tenb use the word 'suck'? (IMG:[
invalid]
style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
All three are wrong really, suck, siphon and drain all really mean a transfer of something from one place to another.
Create, or gives, would be more accurate, since the thing in question is created.
Question is if a real drain would make it better or worse. Worse since you might get nothing if the monster has nothing, better since it will take it away from the monster if it has some.
Meaning you could keep a monster drained to nothing, essentially working as a form of silence, since it can never get enough mana to cast a spell.
Health drain would be better, since it not only gives you health, but also then does damage to the monster, effectively giving a damage increase to the weapon.
The problem would be spirit drain against a monster that doesn't have spirit.
As well as the fact that monsters doesn't seem to have points in mana and spirit, like it does in health, but instead uses percentages.
QUOTE(jcullinane @ Dec 11 2011, 19:16)
I'd like to get the latest opinions on a few things as I make some decisions about my HV future:
Effectiveness vs. cost on a few spells:
Shadow Veil
Arcane Meditation
Heartseeker
I play melee using DW Void Rapier/Waki, using Regen II and Haste all the time, Protection once in a while, Cure II emergency, add some deprecating spells to taste. Gonna add Holy spells to my Warrior eventually but haven't really done anything with that prof yet.
Also Penny Pincher vs. Auto-cast for a good use of Hath...and if Auto-cast which spell is best for a melee player?
I appreciate any/all feedback!
MANY THX
- JC
Heartseeker is very good value for cost, it increases your damage by quite a bit (25%, dunno if that works properly, considering all the problems with percentage-based increases to damage since the big change), gives a good bonus to crit chance (10%, which probably stacks multiplicatively instead of additive, meaning a base crit chance of 30% would not become 40% but instead 37%, in worst case, it gives 10% bonus to the existing crit chance, so only 33%) and most importantly perhaps, it gives a huge hit chance bonus of 50%, which does work multiplicative meaning it halves your chances to miss (so a hit chance of 90% becomes 95%, or for a DWer, 95% becomes 97,5%.
Arcane meditation does the same thing but for magical attacks, and you can't have both running at the same time, the last one casted cancels out the other.
Heartseeker/arcane meditation is basically a must have, once you get them.
Then you have a slew of damage reducing buffs, like haste, shadow veil, protection and spirit shield, which are the main ones.
Spirit shield stands out, since it clips off high hits and is a must in fights with bosses that hits really hard or at higher difficulties, to avoid being killed in a single hit.
The others, haste, shadow veil and protection are more similar, especially the last two, and there is some discussion as to which one is best.
Shadow veil increases evasion, and probably works best with an evasion-based defense. Protection is sometimes scorned by the higher players, probably because they are mostly mages or using evasion-based gear, while protection is based on you having a high physical mitigation from your gear.
Haste is a bit difference, since it makes you faster, and by comparison makes the mobs slower, meaning they get off less hits against you between your hits, thereby decreasing damage done to you.
The bonus to haste is also that deprecative spells and weapon procs last longer (good for stun, less so for bleed).
Personally, I use haste as my "defense", and complete that with heartseeker as I am a melee most of the time. And spirit shield when going up against bosses.
As for some suggestion to your playstyle, I would suggest dropping DW and going 2-H mace. It's better in pretty much all situations except ring of blood, due to domino strikes splash damage (niten ichiryu is crippled in this, since it only does the weakest possible domino strikes, meaning it doesn't get bonuses to numbers of targets or smaller reduction of splash damage, with higher proficiency).
Mace for stun, since that is quite simply the best in most cases.
Doing holy spells, or any offensive spells, with your warrior is a bit of waste. As a melee you need mana for buffs, mages uses staffs and cloth to increase their damage from spells considerably and can regain their mana with ether theft. Or at the very least decrease the casting cost of offensive spells with the coalesced mana proc.
As for for hath perks, penny pincher isn't worth it. It costs a lot of hath and gives some very small bonuses.
To make an easy comparison, you can check the hath exchange and see that the value of hath is up to 12.5K credits. Meaning that the 100 hath that the first level of penny pincher costs, would equal 12'500'000 credits.
12,5 million credits.
Just imagine how much you'd have to gain from credit drops and bazaar sales in order to even balance it out, since it only gives 1% to credit drops and 2% to bazaar sales.
Try and figure out if you have even earned that much in total from credit drops and bazaar sales....
Auto-cast slots are nice. The first one is pretty cheap, but isn't all that fantastic really. It just means you get a spell casted on you from the very start, and you don't have to spend a turn every now and then to recast it, but the cost/turn is still the same.
And it disappears if your mana goes a bit low (10%) and then you have to wait to get your mana above 25% for it to be recasted again.
And you have no chance of getting a "Free cast" with channeling, since you don't cast it.
From level 2 and onwards however, you get a decrease to upkeep, so then it becomes a mana-saver, even if you're only using one of the slots.
Also, heartseeker can't be put on auto-cast for some reason.
You should also check into the aura perks, those gives some considerable bonuses as well, they all boost your exp and increases your stats, and the white and black aura gives a bonus to HP or MP, depending on which one you pick and rainbow aura gives a permanent bonus to your hp, mana and spirit regen. Which is quite considerable for a melee.
I'd say auto-cast slots and auras are the best investment for most people, and then crystarium for those that already have those and want to boost their incomes and organized mind for even more experience. And penny pincher and daemon duality for those that have way too much income and doesn't know what to do with it.
HV Questions Thread, For questions about how it works
Dec 8 2011, 23:52
