[X] My Assistant

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?

They should have more than that.

This is tangentially related to HV (hath), but if you sign up for H@H, do you have to leave it running 24/7, or can you just run it whenever you like, for as long as you like?

This is tangentially related to HV (hath), but if you sign up for H@H, do you have to leave it running 24/7, or can you just run it whenever you like, for as long as you like?

As much as you want, longer is better though.

This is tangentially related to HV (hath), but if you sign up for H@H, do you have to leave it running 24/7, or can you just run it whenever you like, for as long as you like?

You gain hath based on how long it runs and the speed it runs at.
So if you only got it on 8 hours a day, you'd get a third as much as if you were running it 24/7.

Everything helps, so even if you don't get much speed and don't have it on a lot, you still get a little.
And it also earns GP, which can be traded in for credits.

As much as you want, longer is better though.

You gain hath based on how long it runs and the speed it runs at.
So if you only got it on 8 hours a day, you'd get a third as much as if you were running it 24/7.

Everything helps, so even if you don't get much speed and don't have it on a lot, you still get a little.
And it also earns GP, which can be traded in for credits.

Ah thanks. Among other reasons, I don't leave my computers on all the time so I'd only be able to run it for a limited number of hours each session. Getting a good speed shouldn't be an issue though. I'll have to seriously consider H@H since getting Hath is pretty difficult these days and it feels like I'm falling behind on Hath Perks.

This post has been edited by n125: Jan 1 2012, 04:42

What is a good way to proc ET? I get CM often enough but what happens is that I get hit with heavy damage when I bludgeon the guy two/three times before the proc changes. Any way to improve this?

What is a good way to proc ET? I get CM often enough but what happens is that I get hit with heavy damage when I bludgeon the guy two/three times before the proc changes. Any way to improve this?

Improve your melee accuracy. Also, what staff are you using?

How is the amount of mana drained from an ET calculated? I tried to mage FSM for the first time, grabbing ET any time I could, but the mana returned was not living up to my expectations of draining a legendary.

fine ebony staff of elem

Ah thanks. Among other reasons, I don't leave my computers on all the time so I'd only be able to run it for a limited number of hours each session. Getting a good speed shouldn't be an issue though. I'll have to seriously consider H@H since getting Hath is pretty difficult these days and it feels like I'm falling behind on Hath Perks.

Adapt-a-Server $10 a slot for 30 days (cant do it right now unless you have amex) but when normal donations are working its a good way to get hath. You get 3 hath/some GP each day per slot, 90 hath for the month for only $10 isn't that bad. Stars would give you some at a higher cost, but over time you'll get more.

What is a good way to proc ET? I get CM often enough but what happens is that I get hit with heavy damage when I bludgeon the guy two/three times before the proc changes. Any way to improve this?

Try using a 40%-50% 3t ET staff or a high % 3t

How is the amount of mana drained from an ET calculated? I tried to mage FSM for the first time, grabbing ET any time I could, but the mana returned was not living up to my expectations of draining a legendary.

If you want to get your mana back the fastest, when you have ET don't cast a spell that costs more mana then you get from ET. Cast MM or hit them with your staff or refill your overcharge. I think I get 45-55 mana from the schoolgirls with I ET

Just killed FSM-IWBTH got 53 mana a turn.

This post has been edited by 4EverLost: Jan 1 2012, 07:59