[X] My Assistant

Thought I had a question then realized it was stupid. But just to let everyone know how stupid, here it is.

Duration = base_duration * (1 + additional_AP / 4) * (1 + prof / 100)

Was wondering about the additional ap. Wasn't sure what was meant by it so I was going to ask if it was any unused additional ap. Then realized that the buffs or debuffs usually have room for 5 ap in them.

Not that I really needed to look all this up (my proficiencies aren't that high yet). Was just curious as to how my heavy armor was bringing down my buff duration. I figure for haste it brought it down about 5. If it was higher, I might have switched to light armor to save some mana.

Yeah, the additional AP is for spells where you can invest more than 1 AP.
Meaning you will double the duration if you spend 5 AP instead of just 1.
As for heavy armor, it gives interference.
And every point of interference above 25 gives you -0.75% of base proficiency in the magical proficiencies.
Meaning at 70 interference, your magical proficiencies gets cut down to 66% of their normal values (not counting bonuses from staffs, if you for some reason should have one equipped), which drastically impacts the duration of your buff skills.
As well as the amount healed by cure and regen, and how long regen lasts and even more how long your debuffs last (deprecating spells gets more duration from proficiency than other spells).

So the higher you get, the more impact interference will have.

Oh, I think I do have a question. (not that it matters again for me) but for the tree and the sisters, when they buff each other what are those durations?

Edit: Was looking up burden. Doing a search on the wiki yields action speed, but doesn't exactly say how burden affects action speed. Checked the external link though and it says every point above 20 brings it down by one. It does say its outdated and I'm in a battle right now but that doesn't sound right. Anyone?

Mouse-over to see the duration.
I think the buff the tree gives out that absorbs spells lasts for 15 turns or something, the buffs they when they die have a duration of 9999 turns though.

Burden affects action speed, but action speed is a bit finicky. Your actual speed is 500 minus your action speed, meaning what seems like a big increase, going from 100 action speed to 150, isn't a 50% increase of your speed, it's just an actual change from 400 to 350 in the time it takes you to make an action (a 12,5% increase in speed).
What it also means is that changes are far bigger in the higher spectrum of it.
Going from 100 to 150 isn't that big, but having 350 and going to 400, while a smaller percentage change, will mean a much bigger increase in actual speed.

That could be why some people prefer having Haste going versus Protection or Shadow Veil. They have a high enough action speed that it makes a big difference. Meanwhile those of us with low speeds don't get that much of a change.

AFAIK whats that?

And the trio and the tree, I figure I would mouse over for it but I'm no where near anywhere to play that challenge yet. Just thought I'd ask. (Basically I'm thinking maybe some one who would fight it soon would see this and be like "oh they buff each other?")

As for action speed, I wonder if its worth lowering for now and raising it when I'm at a level where it would make a difference. I'll probably leave it alone for now though. I average one level up every day I play (which unfortunately isn't every day).

I'm guessing that I got unlucky somehow too. Was averaging one artifact a week but I haven't gotten one in a while. Switched from heroic to normal on grindfest simply to have more battles and more monsters. Still nothing.

But I got to test some burden issues. Switched to light gear and haste lasts 4 turns longer. (burden went from around 90 to 40). Regen only had 2 extra turns. But on the bright side, I last a couple of rounds longer on normal without using items. I think I'll still use the heavy for heroic just to be on the safe side.

Item world is looking more and more useless to me too. It takes forever (doing it on heroic) just to level the item up by 2. And then the stats it gets are minimal if at all. And no credits either.

Edit: Decided to make 3 more monsters just so that I have more monsters bringing me more materials. They aren't too bland though. My original 2 were kill joy (zombie) and nph robot. Now I have a giant pita (for the slice of life skill), Bruce cambell, and the last is a surprise ultra boss with no defense :-P.

This post has been edited by smilejb: Dec 18 2011, 23:28

AFAIK whats that?

"As Far As I Know"

And the trio and the tree, I figure I would mouse over for it but I'm no where near anywhere to play that challenge yet. Just thought I'd ask. (Basically I'm thinking maybe some one who would fight it soon would see this and be like "oh they buff each other?")

Absorb buff doesn't last very long. Can't remember how long it lasts exactly, but Randommember's 15 turns sounds about right. Other buffs last LONG (for me they last about ~750 turns).

As for action speed, I wonder if its worth lowering for now and raising it when I'm at a level where it would make a difference. I'll probably leave it alone for now though. I average one level up every day I play (which unfortunately isn't every day).

Action speed is probably not gonna be a big priority until you're in the high 100s to 200s, when the high-level user-made monsters with tons of AGI buffs can potentially hit you twice in one turn. That being said, lowering your action speed is not something I'd recommend, since then you'd hit the "get hit twice in a row" wall even sooner, and reducing your AGI to do this is an even worse idea, since it affects Accuracy, Crit Chance, and Evade Chance.

But I got to test some burden issues. Switched to light gear and haste lasts 4 turns longer. (burden went from around 90 to 40). Regen only had 2 extra turns. But on the bright side, I last a couple of rounds longer on normal without using items. I think I'll still use the heavy for heroic just to be on the safe side.

Decrease of spell duration is based on high interference, not high burden. The difference in spell durations will only really be noticeable later on. If you had an interference where your magic proficiencies go down by 20%, losing 20% of 200 proficiency is will obviously have a greater effect on spell duration than losing 20% of 90 proficiency.

Item world is looking more and more useless to me too. It takes forever (doing it on heroic) just to level the item up by 2. And then the stats it gets are minimal if at all. And no credits either.

Unless you have a piece of equipment that's really worth leveling up, it really isn't worth it. And based on most people's luck (or lack thereof), you probably don't have such a piece.

This post has been edited by HaliZorat: Dec 18 2011, 23:40

Actually I wonder if switching to a mage at my point would be a wise idea, DPS- and farm-wise. Right now I am capable of clearing any non-legendary arena on IWBTH with ease but it takes hell of a time.

That's just it, since you are able to do that with melee you don't "need" to switch or change anything. But if you want to mage you can without changing much. You wont be as strong as a pure mage but you will be able to clear more rounds faster. If you can do both I think is best.

Absorb buff doesn't last very long. Can't remember how long it lasts exactly, but Randommember's 15 turns sounds about right. Other buffs last LONG (for me they last about ~750 turns).

http://ehwiki.org/wiki/Enemy_Procs

The absorb is up as long as Yggdrasil lives, that 15 turn duration is merely when it lapses momentarily.

That's just it, since you are able to do that with melee you don't "need" to switch or change anything. But if you want to mage you can without changing much. You wont be as strong as a pure mage but you will be able to clear more rounds faster. If you can do both I think is best.

I just want to know if I will be able to clear rounds faster than I do right now and still be able to survive Nintendo+ difficulty. Last time I tried Holy-spec'd mage I was not impressed at all. Mana burns out very fast (approx. five times faster than melee) while damage is nowhere near something remarkable (except of undead enemies who definitely received a lot of punching).

AFAIK whats that?

And the trio and the tree, I figure I would mouse over for it but I'm no where near anywhere to play that challenge yet. Just thought I'd ask. (Basically I'm thinking maybe some one who would fight it soon would see this and be like "oh they buff each other?")

As for the trio and the tree, the thing to keep in mind is that the tree, Yggdrasil, keeps a buff on the other three that absorbs damage spells (but not debuffs), making it very hard to kill them with spells. There is no such barrier on the tree itself though.
The tree also periodically casts heals, which heals the other three (and possibly the tree as well, haven't really checked), which means you have to either cast silence on the tree or focus on killing it first (silence doesn't prevent the spell absorb buffs from being renewed).

As for action speed, I wonder if its worth lowering for now and raising it when I'm at a level where it would make a difference. I'll probably leave it alone for now though. I average one level up every day I play (which unfortunately isn't every day).

I'm guessing that I got unlucky somehow too. Was averaging one artifact a week but I haven't gotten one in a while. Switched from heroic to normal on grindfest simply to have more battles and more monsters. Still nothing.

Action speed is agility, and there isn't that much point in having a stat drag after, since the costs for each point isn't linear, you're not gonna get 2 points of endurance for 2 points of agility, unless they are at the same value.
It isn't that critical, so you can let it be a few points lower than the your more important stats, but don't neglect it completely, the increasing costs for each levels means it's "cheap", even if it comes secondary, or even tertiary.

But I got to test some burden issues. Switched to light gear and haste lasts 4 turns longer. (burden went from around 90 to 40). Regen only had 2 extra turns. But on the bright side, I last a couple of rounds longer on normal without using items. I think I'll still use the heavy for heroic just to be on the safe side.

Interference is what counts for magic, burden is for action speed.
And interference becomes more important, and more expensive for your mana, the higher your proficiency is.
So you can't go by your level, but you have to go by your supportive magic proficiency (for buffs).

As a simple comparison, using my level 1 innate arcana.
Having no interference makes haste cost 1,18 mp/round and protection 1,3 mp/round.
Switching to my LA set and mace, I got 46,2 interference, which causes my supportive proficiency to go down from 212,78 to 179,0.
Which means cost for haste is 1,33 mp/round and protection is 1,46 mp/round.
About a 12% increase in costs. Something which is quite noticeable.

And that's for 46,2 interference.
Heavy armor skill decreases burden by 1 point for every 10 points in the skill. But interference has no such bonus.

Item world is looking more and more useless to me too. It takes forever (doing it on heroic) just to level the item up by 2. And then the stats it gets are minimal if at all. And no credits either.

Edit: Decided to make 3 more monsters just so that I have more monsters bringing me more materials. They aren't too bland though. My original 2 were kill joy (zombie) and nph robot. Now I have a giant pita (for the slice of life skill), Bruce cambell, and the last is a surprise ultra boss with no defense :-P.

Item world might be better at higher levels, when good stuff has been accumulated and you can't really expect to find something to better to replace it with very easily.
But until then, it's better to play arenas for the credits and then look on the WTS-forum.

This post has been edited by Randommember: Dec 19 2011, 13:09

Tomorrow I will lvlup to 50, so question in advance about Ring of Blood: is Manbearpig is the same as in grindfest? Is it possible for mage to defeat it right at this level?

Tomorrow I will lvlup to 50, so question in advance about Ring of Blood: is Manbearpig is the same as in grindfest? Is it possible for mage to defeat it right at this level?

yes it's same (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

use Infusion of Flames will be fast to defeat it

be careful with monster skills and sp attack

better cast posion + weaken on it

if feel dangerous must be use a Scroll of Life to save yourself from deadly sp attack (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Is there actually any situation where you'd want to use Defend or Focus? Because they seem extremely useless.

Might as well replace them with Flee and Scan so you wouldn't have to go to Skills section to use them every time.

One thing to keep in mind though, is *when* in grindfest did you meet him? If I remember right, monsters are weaker in the early rounds

http://ehwiki.org/wiki/Grindfest

e: yes defend/focus seem pretty useless. I do use defend when I'm charging up mana as a mage via ET though

This post has been edited by dcherry: Dec 19 2011, 21:51

Another quick tip to everyone.
I had no idea about this, but the hath perk Crystarium, actually increases the amount of crystals you get everywhere. Including the shrine.
(IMG:[i.lulzimg.com] http://i.lulzimg.com/d19b8e7fc1.gif)

I had no idea about this, but the hath perk Crystarium, actually increases the amount of crystals you get everywhere. Including the shrine.

Old news, long noted in the wiki.

Here's a nooby question. What does weapon proficiency do? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Here's a nooby question. What does weapon proficiency do? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

http://ehwiki.org/wiki/proficiency#Weapons

Is there actually any situation where you'd want to use Defend or Focus? Because they seem extremely useless.

As mentioned above I use defend when using Ether Theft. No point in killing the affected monster until after ET wears off. The lessened damage along with regen usually means I don't have to heal myself with that mana I just got.

And Focus helps when you need that spell to land. I mainly use it to make certain Silence works on the FSM, since the fight lasts so long I'll be casting it multiple times. I'd rather not hit a bad streak and get clobbered by it's spirit attack before I manage to get Silence to stick.

Yes they're situational, but they do have their uses.

As mentioned above I use defend when using Ether Theft. No point in killing the affected monster until after ET wears off. The lessened damage along with regen usually means I don't have to heal myself with that mana I just got.

And Focus helps when you need that spell to land. I mainly use it to make certain Silence works on the FSM, since the fight lasts so long I'll be casting it multiple times. I'd rather not hit a bad streak and get clobbered by it's spirit attack before I manage to get Silence to stick.

Yes they're situational, but they do have their uses.

Then the reason I feel that they're useless is because I'm not a mage. I guess that makes sense

for a melee defend is probably useless... focus might serve you better since your spell accuracy is much lower than a mage's

Tomorrow I will lvlup to 50, so question in advance about Ring of Blood: is Manbearpig is the same as in grindfest? Is it possible for mage to defeat it right at this level?

Pretty much, just that in grindfest mobs only does 50% damage in the first round (and then 1% more for every round), so it depends on how far into the grindfest you were when you met MBP.

Overall, the early bosses are easy, the only problem is their special attacks, which can mean a one-hit knockout, so unless you have something to stop that (like silence, spirit shield, spark of life or scrolls), expect the occasional disappointment where you've been beating him easy and never taken any real damage in return and have plenty of mana, and suddenly you just die.

So unless you need the money desperately, I'd suggest holding off on doing ring of blood until you hit lvl 100 and get spark of life. That way you won't risk losing any blood tokens unnecessarily.
And you want those tokens, even if it seems like you are building up a small storage of them now, you basically only wanna do the bosses and legendaries once, for the first clear cash bonus, and then use blood tokens to grind FSM for his trophy, since that has the highest value of all the trophies.
And then you'll be spending 3 blood tokens a day, and you'll use up your supply very quickly.

for a melee defend is probably useless... focus might serve you better since your spell accuracy is much lower than a mage's

Defend lasts two rounds, so you get one round "free" of bonus defense.
The only time I could imagine where it would be good is for a 1-H heavy shield armor melee fighter, that gets most of his damage from bleeds and counters. Then you could do a defend every other action for added protection to tank those hits that go through your block.

With slow action speed from all that burden, you won't be acting very quickly anyways, and you can get more attacks from counters (up to three per turn) than from normal attacks.