[X] My Assistant

That price was a big surprise to me. I would have expected 10m, and still would have thought it was cheap. It's a very good LARD.
Also there was a mid-range Leg Shocking Willow of Destruction in same auction. 600k. In.cre.da.ble.
Has mage become cheap? Phase prices are still high! Why are matching staves given away for free?

Marketings ♪ヽ(^^ヽ)♪ mar ＼(￣▽￣)＼ ke ／(￣▽￣)／ tings!

Everybody says w(°ｏ°)w holy and darks is expendings go elemens
but then says wew thunder and storm is also expendings and fire is for poor ppl (∩` ﾛ ´)⊃━炎炎炎炎炎 so go cool mage ₍⁽⸜⁰⁻⁰⁾₎⸜)) ⋆͛*͛ ͙͛ ⁑͛⋆͛*͛ ͙͛⋆͛*͛ ͙͛ ⁑͛⋆͛*͛ ͙͛

Now thunder becames sheep due to supply and demands and ice cube just because rare commodity that is exactly what happens


of joke, was just of random probably who now. Surprises it was expectings 10m. Mo

Ice mage confirmed rich ppl [̲̅$̲̅(̲̅ ⌒o⌒)̲̅$̲̅]

Just ask a certain guy here who recently purchased a surtr set. I invite him to check how many of those pieces were bought for a mere 50k and to point out if i'm wrong.

I noticed. Guys, Pro tip: buy at auction not at shop. Except for lv 500 gear, those are more often in level 500s shops at good prices.

More likely, buyers are becoming more and more finicky. They will continue to wait for the endgame piece and will let many good pieces floating around. Incidentally, the same pieces that you can see mass-purchased and re-sold at 4~5x their auction value. Just ask a certain guy here who recently purchased a surtr set. I invite him to check how many of those pieces were bought for a mere 50k and to point out if i'm wrong.

Maybe he just not very smarts people (＠´ー`)ﾉﾞ

Knows because am also not very smarts ppl too (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄) and buy one cloth of fire armor (actuallys full set (・_・; ) on shop

Easy caculation,monster number&EXP mod are regular in arena.
Kinda depends on your situation,you may need more turns to clear a round with more monsters but basically that's the order.

The easiest method is to use a script that prints total time and total EXP gained at the end (monsterbation already has everything build in).
Then it's easy to see the EXP/seconds and rank the arenas.

Also I see people misunderstanding the usefulness of spirit shield.
Spirit shield mainly usage is not to handle higher difficulties but to make playing high difficulties less annoying.
It's a way to prevent curing too much or getting sparked by powerful sp attacks.
For a mage is essential because it prevents a lot of curing and sparking and costs pretty much nothing.
Obviously if it's not preventing cures it's completely useless, same if you set up minSP too low and spark + SS makes you die, but that's because you are misusing the spell, not because it's bad.

The easiest method is to use a script that prints total time and total EXP gained at the end (monsterbation already has everything build in).
Then it's easy to see the EXP/seconds and rank the arenas.

Yes,that's lot easier.
But I always consider turns more accuracy than times,network condition will change over time and affect t/s,and you won't meet same monsters during arena,monster powerlevel can affect exp,count monster number multiply exp mod will shows more accuracy condition than count exp per arena.

This post has been edited by issary: Oct 29 2017, 15:02

Yes,that's lot easier.
But I always consider turns more accuracy than times,network condition will change over time and affect t/s,and you won't meet same monsters during arena,monster powerlevel can affect exp,count monster number multiply exp mod will shows more accuracy condition than count exp per arena.

Ideally you would average the results over 3-4 days to be sure they are actually correct.
It also depends, I see very little variations in results, DwD is usually between 10:25 and 10:45, TTT between 9:45 and 9:55 and so on, people with worse internet connection or lag spikes may see very different results.
Exp variation can be pretty high, but an average over a few days should be enough (monster X exp mods is more precise, but it's also a bit harder to calculate).

Turns is a good metric but even with turns there is a bit of variation based on monster distribution, luck with resist/crit or riddles.
Also t/s are dependent on arenas, in SGs is usually easier to get better t/s since you hover-attack a lot.

Also t/s are dependent on arenas, in SGs is usually easier to get better t/s since you hover-attack a lot.

In my calculatings the values of exp/minutes was not major differents between TTaTT and DwD ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿
Problems was amount of timings spent on DwD (ಠ_ಠ)
For lowlvl 1h melee is over 1,5h for DwD with t/s of 1,3-1,5 (oT-T)尸

If willings to spends the times on thats, the exp/min is best, but betters to just play non-SG because 35m day doable, 2h (×_×)⌒☆ day too muchs

Ideally you would average the results over 3-4 days to be sure they are actually correct.
It also depends, I see very little variations in results, DwD is usually between 10:25 and 10:45, TTT between 9:45 and 9:55 and so on, people with worse internet connection or lag spikes may see very different results.
Exp variation can be pretty high, but an average over a few days should be enough (monster X exp mods is more precise, but it's also a bit harder to calculate).

Turns is a good metric but even with turns there is a bit of variation based on monster distribution, luck with resist/crit or riddles.
Also t/s are dependent on arenas, in SGs is usually easier to get better t/s since you hover-attack a lot.

Actually Total Monster Count can be found on wiki https://ehwiki.org/wiki/Arena#Arena_Challenges (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
Normally I got around 0.6-2 t/s,that's a lot differences (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

Maybe he just not very smarts people (＠´ー`)ﾉﾞ

Knows because am also not very smarts ppl too (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄) and buy one cloth of fire armor (actuallys full set (・_・; ) on shop

they say knowledge comes with mistakes (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Also I see people misunderstanding the usefulness of spirit shield.
Spirit shield mainly usage is not to handle higher difficulties but to make playing high difficulties less annoying.
It's a way to prevent curing too much or getting sparked by powerful sp attacks.
For a mage is essential because it prevents a lot of curing and sparking and costs pretty much nothing.
Obviously if it's not preventing cures it's completely useless, same if you set up minSP too low and spark + SS makes you die, but that's because you are misusing the spell, not because it's bad.

It isn't so much that some of us are misunderstanding Spirit Shield nor calling it bad. Just stating that it isn't as useful or broadly applicable as the typical advice might suggest.

Innate Arcana
1st: Spark of Life
2nd: Spirit Shield
3rd: Haste/Shadow Veil/Protection
Spark of Life is less necessary when playing on low difficulty. Remember that putting SoL and SS on IA has risks since they can dissipate if you fall below 10% mana. SoL will not be recast if you are below 25% and its effect is triggered. Choice for the 3rd slot depends on your playstyle: if you play as 1H Power, you may want to assign the slot to Protection. In all the other cases, Haste or Shadow Veil.

Source

Imagine yourself as a newbie who doens't know how to play the game, is reading the advice to learn more about how to play, and sees this advice on how useful Innate Arcana is. This tells you that your first priority is to have SoL. If you only get IA1, then you'll have this and nothing else. If you buy IA2 (which, to a newbie, is pretty expensive) you should load Spirit Shield into it. Other stuff like Protection, Haste, and Shadow Veil are considered luxuries, and don't really matter so much. IA3 is significantly more expensive, so it feels to a newbie to maybe not bother. I personally still only have IA2.

The advice focuses on SoL, and cautions about the mechanics involved. So if you heed this lesson, you'll get IA1, load in SoL, and make sure to keep your mana and spirit high enough to not die. Good advice.

You will also see IA2 and SS as a more important upgrade than loading in Protection. It applies, according to this advice, to all builds, all situations, and has nothing to inform anyone of the "proper" usage that you just outlined. There are no cautions about it. To a newbie, this seems like "Well, nothing to worry about it. Just use it, it's good."

I don't recall the specific page, but I am pretty sure I recall similar advice to this being given in this Ask the Experts thread, possibly many times. "Yeah, just run Spirit Shield and Spark of Life." or something similar to that.

That is the problem. Not that Spirit Shield is useless. Just that its use seems to be fairly niche, but is advised to use as if it were good in every situation.

Some of us newbies are figuring out on our own that it can be hazardous to run it alongside SoL, we're figuring out that it does comparable things to SoL (turns your SP bar into some health basically), and so on. It may reduce the drain on MP via less Cures cast to stay alive, but it does so by shifting that drain to SP. That resource, SP, is also drained by 1H melee keeping Spirit Stance up. It isn't good to shift damage to a resource if that resource is being heavily depleted by other parts of your playstyle. It works so well for mage because they aren't typically eating that SP for their offense like 1H melee is.

The typical newbie thinking (if they're reasonably smart) is "the pro players use Spirit Shield to do stuff that is hard for them. I am a newbie, so this stuff that is hard for me will be easier if I use Spirit Shield too." And it doesn't quite work out that way, because you need a big difference between base and total SP for Spirit Shield to be effective, not just ability points dumped into it. It also requires you have and be willing to expend more Spirit Potions/Draughts.

By the way, did you know that elemental mage will outperform that LDWSD? Only after you become very high level with full forge there is a slight benefit of Dark. But I think you overestimate the Dark Side a bit.

I am under impression that only Dark and Holy can play without imperil. That's 3 less button smashed (few seconds hold if you to hover) per round.

Yes the core problem is about misadvertising Spirit Shield.

I still prefer Haste and Shadow Veil with 1H myself, and Spirit Shield is the last resort. It might be a while before I shift to the high level 1H style.

I would rather cast Haste or Shadow Veil which makes me much stronger and much more survivable, with some small drawback of losing 0% to 10% in real world clear time (so what, I've got 0.7 turns/second anyway) than Spirit Shield which makes me a tiny bit stronger and survivable, and wastes 4x more draughts (hard to quantify, depends on many things).

And if you don't have enough SP Tank/Pots or Spirit Shield ability upgrades, Spirit Shield may not be useful (details are complex).

Thank you. One more thing: right now I'm doing 1H/Light. Is there any benefit to making a new persona and changing either one of those things right now, or should I just stick with my rapier/force shield combo?

i think you are wasting the perma-stance chance by rising evade in 1H style.

i think you are wasting the perma-stance chance by rising evade in 1H style.

i think too.

Not sure if those were in response to Himmelreich, but I'll comment anyway.

I still manage to keep permanent spirit stance with both haste and shadow veil as long as there are enough enemies. If there aren't enough enemies, can always choose not to use them, but I typically still do. It doesn't wear off fast enough to be annoying, except on SG arenas, but most people wear out against SG anyway.

What's really annoying right now is my DW play, because at my higher level and under equipped state, I found the best way to compensate is to activate spirit stance just before doing frenzied blows, and deactivate it afterward. So I activate and deactivate once per round.

Putting Cryosite's talk about SS in this way, I just am starting to actually (＃￣□￣)o━∈・・━━━━☆ maging in arenas now
I will trigger SoL often o(>_<)o
By now in the time I spends into using Imperil then T3 then T2 means I will take the beating and will need to cure basically once per battle at least, some of these times I end up sparking ~(˘▽˘)~ slice of life
Right now the majority mana waste isn't imperil, is actually the SoL (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄) and getting spirt at zero at this point was killing me more than the monsters

SS will become useful someday? Yes, but maybes when higher HP, higher mitigations, higher evades, spells actually damaging them, etc, not nows
where SoL is my best friend ｡*:☆(・ω・人・ω・)｡:゜☆｡ that I need to call upon often

What's really annoying right now is my DW play, because at my higher level and under equipped state, I found the best way to compensate is to activate spirit stance just before doing frenzied blows, and deactivate it afterward. So I activate and deactivate once per round.

This is what I do on DW
1H same things. Deactivated on almost ending round on the previous round where I will orbital friendship nuke right from start


Questionings σ(￣、￣〃) if I lend or sell my ponies apart from becoming a pariah will I lose OFC too?

This post has been edited by reality_marble: Oct 29 2017, 23:15

if I lend or sell my ponies apart from becoming a pariah will I lose OFC too?

yep.

Thx
makes sense since no friends (°(°ω(°ω°(☆ω☆)°ω°)ω°)°) no orbital FRIENSHIP cannon

This is what I do on DW

This is the only way when it comes to dual wielding (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

Putting Cryosite's talk about SS in this way, I just am starting to actually (＃￣□￣)o━∈・・━━━━☆ maging in arenas now
I will trigger SoL often o(>_<)o
By now in the time I spends into using Imperil then T3 then T2 means I will take the beating and will need to cure basically once per battle at least, some of these times I end up sparking ~(˘▽˘)~ slice of life
Right now the majority mana waste isn't imperil, is actually the SoL (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄) and getting spirt at zero at this point was killing me more than the monsters

That's pretty normal, in PFFest you may even need to cure during the imperil phase.
The art of staying alive while maging is all about two things:
1) Trying to cure as little as possible since they are all turn wasted (here Spirit Shield helps a lot)
2) Keeping spirit high enough to be able to succesfully trigger SoL (if you end up dead often your min SP value is too low)