[X] My Assistant

Hey folks,

Ok it's official: I think I'm an idiot when it comes to weapons and equipment.

While I've had fun picking up various equipment in auctions, and have installed some of the scripts to do comparisons of various pieces of equipment.

Check your Mooglemail, I've sent you a couple of things. Maybe it'll be useful. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

You still gain OC every time you hit (between 5 to 10 OC), you just happened gaining enough to negate the Stance cost.

ah, i see. i thought it was the crit that playing around.

Check your Mooglemail, I've sent you a couple of things. Maybe it'll be useful. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

(IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
*bows deeply* Much thanks (and karma) for you.

laters,

RRViper
(who is off to see what was sent.)

This post has been edited by RRViper: Nov 29 2012, 20:57

A DW+shade user who does arenas and IW will get better results than estoc+power user who does just the arenas.(Also, it IS a game)

Might I inquire as to why? What exactly do you mean by 'better results'? Do you mean IWing just because or IWing my gear? I mostly do arenas but I do some exquisite IW (just to see how far I can get on IWBTH). And I do have my hands in DW, although I'm more or less exclusively heavy armor right now.

I've done as much testing as I can without breaking my budget. It's a process! I should go into an IW with the shade and prof I currently have and see what happens, haha. It'll be fun. And terrible at the same time.

i'm not investing heavily on armor.

Sorry, I just assumed you did because PK said your armor was amazing for your level. I have spent around 200k on my armor, some of which is wasted minor upgrade money before I got smart T_T.

I am holding on to 7 digits to buy a good weapon. I'd more or less decided to get an ethereal estoc of slaughter so I just need to find one XD

That one rapier... man oh man.

I wear cloth armor and my evade barely reached 30% not to mention crappy PM and non-existent parry are you wearing a full fleet shade?

The shade I wear is in my signature, 3 fleet and 2 shadowdancer.

for our veteran
Legendary Ethereal Rapier of Balance
how many times you've seen that kind of holy shit?
bidding 8m with 8 days to go, can i expect it to rise to ~16m in the end?

I literally can't look at it anymore. It's pretty much a perfect balance rapier. It makes me sick that I can't even try to get it. Getting legendaries like that is just out of my financial range, I have to settle for my magnificent (which has more turns (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) , at least at my level, but that's the only stat that's better (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) ). One day one will drop for me (I hope >.<), guess it's time to start putting my noodles into one-handed weapons.

This post has been edited by T_Starrk: Nov 29 2012, 18:49

Yeah, spirit stance drains 10 OC per turn but you make some (5-10 sounds right) of it back when you attack, so the actual cost is 0-5 OC per turn if you land your attack.

Fuck I only made like 2.5 mil since I started playing, and around 1.5 mil went into equips the rest into 50 hath. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) Maybe I should start selling noodles too, getting nothing but longswords and crap; but I don't think I got even 10 fights with FSM yet... Blood tokens drop less than one per day. Credit per day is < 40k, + bazaar trash ~5k

On the bright side, got 6 artifacts today, shrined 2 for 6 hath (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I literally can't look at it anymore. It's pretty much a perfect balance rapier.

^That, except I have to settle for my 36% acc, 5% crit exquisite...

This post has been edited by fishinsea: Nov 29 2012, 18:52

How do we determine when to raise the difficulty level ? Apart from hourlies/arena which i do them in BT i cant seem to gauge the difficulty level for GF/CF. More rounds/easier difficulty or Less rounds/harder which of them would benefit more ? I am more to credit/loot gains than exp /lvling.

How do we determine when to raise the difficulty level ? Apart from hourlies/arena which i do them in BT i cant seem to gauge the difficulty level for GF/CF. More rounds/easier difficulty or Less rounds/harder which of them would benefit more ? I am more to credit/loot gains than exp /lvling.

It's absolutely subjective decision. Just play on difficulty which is comfortable for you - that's all. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Just a curious question: i remember someone here said that he did few thousand rounds of grindfest before but he couldnt do it again because of new patches. What's in the new ( current) patches that make it impossible to go for that again?

It's absolutely subjective decision. Just play on difficulty which is comfortable for you - that's all. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Now, that 'comfortable' itself is also subjective.... Heck gona go with normal then.

Thanks for the help (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)''

Just a curious question: i remember someone here said that he did few thousand rounds of grindfest before but he couldnt do it again because of new patches. What's in the new ( current) patches that make it impossible to go for that again?

Although i have just joined i think I've read somewhere its to do with regaining stamina during the battle phase which is no longer possible after the new patch. Before they can go afk and regain stamina during battles to last for 1000 rounds or more.

This post has been edited by DaReaper: Nov 29 2012, 19:40

how does a mage stay alive? when i hit round 25 and up of a grindfest i keep getting killed by high piercing damage. thats a stat that i can't mitigate with cloth because it doesnt have it.

At your level, you don't have the tricks that keep us alive. We can't mitigate shit as you've discovered, so we have other methods. Haste will do great things for you, simply being able to get off that extra T1 attack spell between T2/3 spells without retaliation and KO another 2-3 attackers is huge. Speaking of T2/3 attack spells, T2/3 attack spells to wipe the opposition without retaliation. Shadow Veil to get the evade you need to survive, and Regen (II) to heal (some of) the damage. We aren't heavy tanks, Regen II won't cover it all. Gear matters too, good Phase gives as much Evade as Shadow Veil and again greatly improves your first-cast kills. As for getting hit through evade, Spark and SS do much for that.

Mage starts coming into its own when you can reliably have Haste+SV up and are able to throw around T2 attack spells without worrying too much about your mana.

Welcome to being a glass cannon. Nothing we can do about the glass part, so may as well go for being a glass [en.wikipedia.org] Schwerer Gustav.

Just a curious question: i remember someone here said that he did few thousand rounds of grindfest before but he couldnt do it again because of new patches. What's in the new ( current) patches that make it impossible to go for that again?

You can still do that. Need to bring an ED or two to be able to clear properly on Normal Stamina (-20 per 1000 rounds) and probably be in 4everlost's Turtle armor, but you could do it.

Not sure why you would though, 2000 rounds of CF would be just as hard, eat 4x less stamina, and probably be more lucrative if you have Crystal perks.

This post has been edited by PK678353: Nov 29 2012, 19:49

Although i have just joined i think I've read somewhere its to do with regaining stamina during the battle phase which is no longer possible after the new patch. Before they can go afk and regain stamina during battles to last for 1000 rounds or more.

And that's quickly rebutted, as the stamina only regain after the battle ends, not during the battles. This happens before patches.

This post has been edited by varst: Nov 29 2012, 19:58

I need someone to enlighten me about Innate Arcana hath perk.
From wiki: Unlocks the first auto-cast slot in the HentaiVerse. This allows you to select a spell that will be cast automatically.

1. Somehow the spell cast automatically from start of turn without mana cost?
2. From the text, the spell expire when mana go bellow 10%. Is it the same for the next level of Innate Arcana? And what about that reduces total upkeep?
3. Can my supportive magic proficiency increase when I use Innate Arcana?
Thx

1. Yes, if you start a arena/IW/Random encounter etc with more than 25% of your total mana, then the spells in your autocast slots will be on you already.
You never need to spend a turn casting a spell you got in auto-cast slot (but you still can if you want, if you get channeling for example) and the cost for the spell is simply the casting cost divided by the numbers of turns it would last, when you casted it normally. Which is then applied as upkeep every turn.

2. If your mana drops below 10%, the autocasted spells disappear, and will reappear when your mana goes over 25% again. Additional levels in innate arcana gives you more slots for spells and decreases the upkeep cost for all spells that are auto-casted.
With a few costly spells in auto-cast slots it means your mana regen will actually be negative and you will lose mana each turn.
So lowered upkeep becomes very important.
And spirit stance will still work to decrease upkeep, it recalculates the cost/turn by taking in the casting cost for the spell under spirit stance.

3. Yes, you have a small chance to get supportive proficiency each turn, depending on how much your total upkeep is.



Innate arcana spells are wonderful.
Besides the huge bonus that upkeep decreases as you get extra levels of it, it also means you don't have to spend any turns on casting buffs, and no "wasted" turns by casting a 50 turn buff when there is only 20-30 turns left of an arena.
And Spark of Life is extra amazing, since normally Spark of Life would dissipate upon activation, and you would have to pay full casting cost for a spell that only lasted for a few turns efore having to be recasted.
Innate arcana gives the upkeep per turn as if it would have gone the full duration, so all you really lose is the spirit points when it activates and it gets recasted the turn after, so long as your mana is above 25%. So you are essentially immortal as long as your mana is above 25% and you have enough spirit points remaining.
No more risk of dying to a case of bad luck.

Unfortunately you can't put heartseeker and arcane focus in auto-cast slots, only Spark of Life, Haste, Protection, Shadow veil and Spirit Shield.
5 possible spells and 5 possible slots.....

how does a mage stay alive? when i hit round 25 and up of a grindfest i keep getting killed by high piercing damage. thats a stat that i can't mitigate with cloth because it doesnt have it.

Mages stay alive by being higher level where they got better gear and spells.
Stuff like haste, shadow veil, spark of life and spirit shield will make a huge difference for your life expectancy.

This post has been edited by Randommember: Nov 29 2012, 21:43

Main Hand: Superior Ethereal Club of Balance
Offhand: Superior Ethereal Rapier of Balance

Backup Main Hand: Exquisite Ethereal Axe of Slaughter

I am going to use them for the End of Days in Hard (higher up would be tedious), and I plan to IW them.
Which is worth to IW first?

Currently WTS is overpriced, so I cant find replacement anytime soon.


Another question, which is faster to clear the End of Days? Spirit Stance all the way or Spirit Stance + DW skills? I will leave this question to those who completed the 220

Alright, trying to determine whether the rewards of going Holy/Dark are worth the opportunity costs for me right now. Also trying to figure whether my ability to clear rounds is actually below par for (good) Holy/Dark mages at my level, or just because I keep comparing myself to optimized DW/Shade and 2H/Heavy builds that have 100 levels on me, which is a problem with hanging out in this thread too much. Current plan is to spend the time until 190 maxing my tanks so I can immediately throw down 5 points on SS and give OHKO skills the middle finger (but sadly, doesn't help vs 5 monsters each hitting for 25%, which is what usually kills me now).

Tactics are to start by putting up Haste (on IA), SV, Spark and AF, then Regen II after a few rounds (fishing for channeling for AF/Regen II). Open with Fimbulvetr (everything single taps), followup with Cyclone (only the fastest monsters can hit back at this point). Usually, everything's dead now. If there are stragglers and I know/suspect they're Mechs or have the Wind proc, throw a Thunderstorm, otherwise Flare/Meteor a solo known/suspected Undead or just restart with Fimbulvetr/Blizzard. Unfortunately, monsters change rapidly at this level, so learning their types has proven hopeless. Imperil is only used on IWBTH, if at all (where everything seems to be a Mech/Undead and real Mech/Undead take 10% per Fimbulvetr. . .).

My problem at this point is mainly the huge variance between rounds inherent in a Cold/Wind setup. Most rounds at BT, on the first Fimbulvetr half the mobs die with all but 1-2 severely weakened after the followup Cyclone if they're not all dead. Most things will die to the Cyclone if Freezing Limbs procs. Then there's the rounds where after that start I'm staring down 5 Undead/Mech/Elemental monsters with significant spare health if Freezing Limbs didn't proc and praying my 50% evade covers me while I kill them. All 3 of those types have different, mutually exclusive weak points (Holy/Fire for Undead, Elec for Mech, MM for Elemental, and 50% resist to everyone else's weak points) My understanding is that with nothing resistant to both Holy and Dark except heavily leveled Elementals, that scenario won't happen nearly as often with a Pestilence -> Purge opening.

I can usually clear BT easily enough (Spark FTW, 2-3 spells to clear an average round). IWBTH again usually works (I've reached round 51 in an IWBTH Average IW), but even a single Undead/Mech/Elemental heavy round usuallymeans Sparking again at that level, and once it gets past about 5 monsters per round the resource cost of continuing is prohibitive (5-6 spells to clear the full round, plus a likely Spark)

Now would seem be the time to switch if I'm going to, since it gives me 30 levels to get Divine/Forbidden to workable levels in Crude IWs before 200. Immediate Holy/Dark equipment would be decidedly not horrible but not great either, budgeting about a million for a full Katalox of Destruction/Fenrir set (still less than I've sunk into my Niflheim).

Anyway, current build:






Gear:
Legendary Shocking Ebony Staff of Niflheim
Exquisite Phase Cap of Niflheim
Magnificent Phase Robe of Niflheim
Exquisite Phase Gloves of Niflheim
Exquisite Phase Pants of Niflheim
Exquisite Phase Shoes of Niflheim


Arena clears are at IWBTH through Growing Storm, BT to Endgame and rest on Heroic (past Endgame could probably clear higher, I've been abusing the heal on clear as much as possible though to chain higher level clears).

What do you think, drop Nif and go Fenrir (ugh, Fine 2 PAB shit at 100k, just because it has Sup Max-1 EDB?) or just charge ahead and let 146% bonus damage do it's work?

Stick to Nilf. The bonus is more than enough to bypass resistance and take down dragons and what not.
Fenrir gear is hard to come by, but stockpile on them so that you don't splurge a crapload on them.

Which resistence is worth to put an ability point in?

Just a curious question: i remember someone here said that he did few thousand rounds of grindfest before but he couldnt do it again because of new patches. What's in the new ( current) patches that make it impossible to go for that again?

There are a lot of people that can still do 1000s of rounds per run as a mage or melee on normal or hard. A mage just need to be able to cast high damage spells at a very low cost (lots and lots of upgrades). Melee just needs a strong weapon, a way to take the damage once deep into a run & regen more mana a turn then is used.

If monsters did evade/parry and all that there should be a few mages that can get close to my +12,000 round Hard grindfest run. The problem is if you can't one shot everything any monsters normal attack can do +50k damage, so every time a monsters is left after the first attack spark is going to go off.

At your level, you don't have the tricks that keep us alive. We can't mitigate shit as you've discovered, so we have other methods. Haste will do great things for you, simply being able to get off that extra T1 attack spell between T2/3 spells without retaliation and KO another 2-3 attackers is huge. Speaking of T2/3 attack spells, T2/3 attack spells to wipe the opposition without retaliation. Shadow Veil to get the evade you need to survive, and Regen (II) to heal (some of) the damage. We aren't heavy tanks, Regen II won't cover it all. Gear matters too, good Phase gives as much Evade as Shadow Veil and again greatly improves your first-cast kills. As for getting hit through evade, Spark and SS do much for that.

Mage starts coming into its own when you can reliably have Haste+SV up and are able to throw around T2 attack spells without worrying too much about your mana.

Welcome to being a glass cannon. Nothing we can do about the glass part, so may as well go for being a glass [en.wikipedia.org] Schwerer Gustav.
You can still do that. Need to bring an ED or two to be able to clear properly on Normal Stamina (-20 per 1000 rounds) and probably be in 4everlost's Turtle armor, but you could do it.

Not sure why you would though, 2000 rounds of CF would be just as hard, eat 4x less stamina, and probably be more lucrative if you have Crystal perks.

4 PA Plate/Protection or really good shield armor would also work. But there is also a big difference in upgraded and IW gear vs stuff that isn't.

There are a lot of people that can still do 1000s of rounds per run as a mage or melee on normal or hard. A mage just need to be able to cast high damage spells at a very low cost (lots and lots of upgrades). Melee just needs a strong weapon, a way to take the damage once deep into a run & regen more mana a turn then is used.

If monsters did evade/parry and all that there should be a few mages that can get close to my +12,000 round Hard grindfest run. The problem is if you can't one shot everything any monsters normal attack can do +50k damage, so every time a monsters is left after the first attack spark is going to go off.
4 PA Plate/Protection or really good shield armor would also work. But there is also a big difference in upgraded and IW gear vs stuff that isn't.

Still new but from your statement, your saying that its only possible to do it as a two hander with high p.mit or a mage with high mana conserv and both with a beastly weapon than pretty much one shot everything. Doesnt that make sense to say its pretty much only possible for very very high level and with high end gears/upgraded equips and furthermore does that mean one hand/dual wield has pretty much less chance / not viable when reaching high lvl and less likely for light armor build to do it? One small question, what benefits is there when you reach that 12k rounds? do drops appear more? ( didnt see anything in wiki that involves increased drop rate for further rounds reached ) or is it just to test how far can your gears reach?

Getting close to 500 hath, and I've got most of the good perks like all the auras etc.

So my choices really are Crystarium II or wait for 1000 hath and go for either IA5 or the new Tokenizer.



Any opinions on which of these is actually the best?

I don't really need the extra slot in IA5 but it will be for the decrease in upkeep (upkeep costs will be decreased by 25% getting that extra IA lvl).