[X] My Assistant

When you increase "highest clear" on any arena / RoB - including from "never" you get recovery.

Are you plate or light?

So how much are you guys getting hit?
According to the tracker I'm getting hit ~66% of the time and I didn't know if that was normal. I know my equipment isn't great (also have a 87% hit chance (that feels a bit lower)), but since you guys have already helped me on my stats I'm mildly confident in those.
This probably leads into my next question (though I know it's been asked millions of times), how are you guys lasting so long on higher difficulties? The answers I've seen suggest that abilities really help, but I can't see myself having enough MP (I'm melee so no ET) for that to be a viable solution. I mean, I'm getting to the high level 30s in Grindfest on Normal, and can't even pass the second arena challenge on IWBTH (up to the third on BT).
On the plus side, are health recoveries after arena clears back? I just got one, though maybe it's a glitch...

You should still get healed when you finish an arena/RoB for the first time on a Difficulty level.

As to the rest of it. Most high levels have all/most of the ability done. High Action speed helps

I've got an Overall chance of getting hit: 37.91% over 5073 rounds using cloth.

This post has been edited by 4EverLost: Dec 31 2011, 13:24

@ Experts

How much damage can soul burst able to do ?

and for soul burst which equipment is good fox or Demon fiend Gear ?

Depends on the target. Best gear should be katalox destruction staff + demon-fiend gossamer, but because it's prof and not EDB the damage boost isn't huge. Using Infusion of Gaia should be a straight up +25% soul damage boost though.

question: is it worth it to upgrade weapon stats? It's pretty hard to find a good weapon at my level that isn't literally cut in half in stats. Also just asking as a noob is being a mage or a melee better for ppl my level?

is it worth it to upgrade weapon stats?

Highly unlikely. Even if you have amazing gear you won't get much benefit at your level.

Also just asking as a noob is being a mage or a melee better for ppl my level?

Melee until 90-110. From there it's up to you if you wanna switch.

Q: I want to speed up loot drops from enemies since it's still hard to get decent equipment and the enemies are hitting much harder now. What do I need to get enemies to drop items more frequently?

What do I need to get enemies to drop items more frequently?

Scavenger training.
http://ehwiki.org/wiki/Training

Afaik (someone please correct me on this), your hit chance feels a bit lower because that is just your chance to hit the opponent - that value doesn't include their chance to actually evade the attack.
30 levels on normals is a bit low for your level, but that aside, when you're low level you just won't be going that far with grindfests and the likes, it's just like that.

Leveling up, you'll get more APs to put into Health/Magic Tanks (more survivability), and you'll have access to better gear; you'll also get new and more effective skills, and with proficiencies going up your buffs/debuffs duration will get better, allowing you to stay on the battlefield for more turns.

As far as very long runs go, Spirit Shield (lv. 190) should (I've yet to get it) be of great help, since even harder hits and crits which would normally 1/2 shot you, will just drain 1/4 of health and some spirit points.
It still refills your pools if it's the first time you clear the arena, or if you clear it on a difficulty settings higher than your previous clear.

That's probably what happened there...

That was kind of what I was thinking, unless it just seems like I'm not hitting anything because it's painful when I miss (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Ah, thank you for detailing the "easifying" process, the fact that my success will increase with my levels makes me feel better.

Aaaand yep, that was the first time I had beaten that arena on a higher difficulty, I guess I misunderstood the patch notes hahaha.

When you increase "highest clear" on any arena / RoB - including from "never" you get recovery.

Are you plate or light?

All light.

You should still get healed when you finish an arena/RoB for the first time on a Difficulty level.

As to the rest of it. Most high levels have all/most of the ability done. High Action speed helps

I've got an Overall chance of getting hit: 37.91% over 5073 rounds using cloth.

Wow, do you mind me asking how you guys have most of the ability tree done? The Wiki says there are 627 slots and it seems even the highest level players are in the high 300s. Obviously Training helps, but that would only account for ~400 AP. Unless you mean most/all of the AP they need, ie. elemental or dark/light spells for melee, etc.

This post has been edited by Mr. Plow: Dec 31 2011, 23:01

Artifacts can reward AP.

This post has been edited by Maximum_Joe: Dec 31 2011, 22:50

Given that most of the Legendaries, Gods and Trio do dark or soul damage with their Spirit Attack, is it worth investing AP into Soul & Darkness resistance abilities? That is, after maxing out HP/MP/SP/OC Tanks first (I'm fine with no EXP boosts for now). I assumed that having 20% more mitigation would prove to be significant against their Spirit Attacks and thus hopefully cut it down to the point where it won't take the max amount of SP when Spirit Shield is activated, but I figured I'd ask here for further opinions.

Artifacts can reward AP.

Did the drop rates for artifacts use to be higher? Or maybe the rate of getting AP from artifacts was.
That would require some 200 artifacts while getting AP for each one. I've never gotten AP from an artifact (only crystals and stat bonuses I believe).

Also, while I'm here, do you guys know any good ways to grind proficiencies? I've searched the forums a couple of times and not found anything. Would it just be better to do Grindfests on Easy so I can reach higher levels and thus attack/defend/heal more? On average my proficiencies are about half of my level now, though I've seen it recommended to keep them at 75%

This post has been edited by Mr. Plow: Dec 31 2011, 23:23

Wondering if its possible to ascend by tomorrow? I'm level 94 right now with about 60k more needed for a level up.

I was thinking about grindfesting it for a while because I'm loving that shatterstrike. I play on heroic and once the mobs start getting bigger, then I'm using shatter strike every other round. It usually just makes said rounds just go by so much quicker and I get 2k exp for it.

While that does seem like a lot, that means I would have to do30 plus rounds for this level and atleast 50 plus rounds for each of the remaining levels.

Oh and the first 20 rounds don't even yield that much exp. My tanks are maxed and the trainer is at 48.

So my 2 main questions are how long do you think it should take to level up this way? And If there is a faster way, what is it and how much time would it take off?

Use CrysFest, it has less stamina drain than Grindfest. You will not be getting credits but you will be able to repeat CrysFest longer for the same amount of stamina.

Also, while I'm here, do you guys know any good ways to grind proficiencies? I've searched the forums a couple of times and not found anything. Would it just be better to do Grindfests on Easy so I can reach higher levels and thus attack/defend/heal more? On average my proficiencies are about half of my level now, though I've seen it recommended to keep them at 75%

No, on easy rounds will fly by, and your stamina decreases with each. Since curative prof is always good, just get cheap crude item (I use an item that sells exactly for amount equal to its level), choose highest difficulty that lets you survive there with regen and occasional cure, then roll face. Mobs not dying too quickly means lower stamina cost per training session, and if you have to heal yourself... well lookitdat, shiny curative ups!

Inside crude item worlds mobs will hit for much less, but hp is mostly determined by lvl.

This post has been edited by Valheran: Jan 1 2012, 00:36

Given that most of the Legendaries, Gods and Trio do dark or soul damage with their Spirit Attack, is it worth investing AP into Soul & Darkness resistance abilities? That is, after maxing out HP/MP/SP/OC Tanks first (I'm fine with no EXP boosts for now).

Yep.

Did the drop rates for artifacts use to be higher?

Pretty sure no to this.

Or maybe the rate of getting AP from artifacts was.

Yes to this.

Also, while I'm here, do you guys know any good ways to grind proficiencies?

Really depends on which ones you wanna train. For supportive / deprecating just spam the cheapest thing (Spike spells and weaken/bewilder I believe) during a round, chugging potions as needed. Fleeing / dying will save on Stamina usage. For armor you're kinda screwed.

On average my proficiencies are about half of my level now, though I've seen it recommended to keep them at 75%

You don't really need to go that high at your level but if you want to you can train Assimilator. With just 3 ranks of it I've been at my Elemental cap since level 225.

Thanks, I was worrying a little about my stamina but only left crysfest out for the credits.

But ascending is better than credits right now :-D.

Wow, do you mind me asking how you guys have most of the ability tree done? The Wiki says there are 627 slots and it seems even the highest level players are in the high 300s. Obviously Training helps, but that would only account for ~400 AP. Unless you mean most/all of the AP they need, ie. elemental or dark/light spells for melee, etc.

There is a few people that actually have filled the entire ability tree, but those are usually old players, who apart from being high level also have been around for a long time and been getting a lot of artifacts.
You can also buy artifacts, just like you can buy hath. And as a long time-player and if you've been putting up good galleries and running H@H, they've earned up quite a bit of cash.

There is a cut-off after all, after lvl 250 you don't get any more ability tiers.


But for us mortals, there is no real need to fill out the entire ability tree. If you are a melee, you don't really need the offensive spells, and if you are a mage, you don't really need the OC tanks.
OC tanks are 180 AP to fill out, all offensive spells 108 AP and another 90 AP for the resistances.

Given that most of the Legendaries, Gods and Trio do dark or soul damage with their Spirit Attack, is it worth investing AP into Soul & Darkness resistance abilities? That is, after maxing out HP/MP/SP/OC Tanks first (I'm fine with no EXP boosts for now). I assumed that having 20% more mitigation would prove to be significant against their Spirit Attacks and thus hopefully cut it down to the point where it won't take the max amount of SP when Spirit Shield is activated, but I figured I'd ask here for further opinions.

You don't get 20% mitigation, it doesn't stack like that.
10% +10% gives you 19% mitigation, and the more mitigation you have from different sources, the less you get.
Every little bit helps of course, and if you have the AP for it then you should use it.
But XP tanks does a lot, which helps with quicker leveling, which means more AP to use. Snowball effect.

But you are indeed right that increasing the specific mitigations does help. For example, when fighting FSM it's a good move to bring a set of armor with "of the spirit-ward" suffix (dark mitigation).

Did the drop rates for artifacts use to be higher? Or maybe the rate of getting AP from artifacts was.
That would require some 200 artifacts while getting AP for each one. I've never gotten AP from an artifact (only crystals and stat bonuses I believe).

Also, while I'm here, do you guys know any good ways to grind proficiencies? I've searched the forums a couple of times and not found anything. Would it just be better to do Grindfests on Easy so I can reach higher levels and thus attack/defend/heal more? On average my proficiencies are about half of my level now, though I've seen it recommended to keep them at 75%

Crystals are a fairly new thing, so before them, artifacts of course had higher chances to give the other rewards.
And since there is a max on how many bonus stat points you can get from artifacts, after that peaks out you'll also get more of the other rewards.

Artifacts can give AP, bonus stat points, hath, crystals or energy drink.
I seem to be getting lots of energy drinks (replenishes 20 stamina).

As for grinding proficiencies, it depends on what type of proficiency you wanna grind.
Weapon proficiencies are given when you attack with that weapon, or with magic missile for staff.
Armor proficiencies are given when you are attacked.
Spell proficiencies are given when you use spells of that type.

So for weapons and armor, hit things and get hit, simple as that, crysfest on easy is pretty good, crysfest costs less stamina and on both crysfest and grindfest monsters only do 50% damage on the first round, then the damage increases with 1% per round (meaning per new round of monsters, not per turn), and they quickly grow in numbers so after a few rounds you'll start maxing out with 9 monsters per round, meaning lots of incoming hits, but they don't do all that much damage.

For spells, find the cheapest spells of the proficiency you want and then spam it.
Cure for curative, weaken for deprecating, elemental spikes for supportive etc.

Training assimilator increases the chance of gaining proficiency.
Also, proficiencies will catch up to you. As you get higher, it requires more to get to the next level, meaning you have more time to earn proficiency before you hit the next level.

You don't get 20% mitigation, it doesn't stack like that.
10% +10% gives you 19% mitigation, and the more mitigation you have from different sources, the less you get.
Every little bit helps of course, and if you have the AP for it then you should use it.
But XP tanks does a lot, which helps with quicker leveling, which means more AP to use. Snowball effect.

But you are indeed right that increasing the specific mitigations does help. For example, when fighting FSM it's a good move to bring a set of armor with "of the spirit-ward" suffix (dark mitigation).

Well, I know about the mitigation suffixes. That's kinda obvious. But I wanted to know if it was worth investing AP into them at all, since I thought maybe the before and after damage wouldn't have a significant difference.

I'm patient when it comes to leveling up. Though I may reset my abilities and invest in EXP if only to get to 250 faster for the final tier of abilities and reset again afterward. Who knows.

Also: "Each 1% of Resistance increases the player's mitigation against spells of that element by 1%. These resistances are before any effects of equipment." Doesn't this mean the resistance from abilities and auras act as the base upon which others are added on, so 20% is 20%? Don't know how things are added multiplicatively.

Should average plate gauntlets have this much PA?