[X] My Assistant

Couple of questions guys. Firstly, is it better to just burn through the arenas at normal difficulty and easily clearing everything, or should I notch up the difficulty to something like heroic and struggle with the last few arenas (not in terms of difficulty, but more so in using a lot of items and the rounds being long)? I'm just trying to get the best credit reward for my stamina, as I spend quite a lot of credits on galleries.

Secondly, would I be better off using a Shade set or Kevlar? I've been using Kevlar for nearly all of my time playing, but I have been trying to pick up the occasional Shade piece when it pops in the ingame shop. I have been using an Ethereal Mace that Nightwishman gifted to me as my main, but I am wondering if I would be better suited to go DW for clearing stuff more quickly? I don't want to play mage.

I would personally notch up the difficulty but first you should try to improve your armor. Its been repeated time and time again but there are free shops such as wolfgirls that provide pretty good armor for newbies.

Items are meant to be used. Once you level up you'll start finding more than enough pots so don't worry about using items in arenas.

I don't have any idea about the shade or kevlar set but I can send you some stuff that I'm just going to bazaar anyways.

I doubt more than 10 artifacts have dropped for me in my last 30-40 levels.
Just got one on the third arena, though.

Question: What's the best potion ratio/amount for a DW/shade user like myself. I've 10 (battle) item slots and currently have 4HP-5MP-1SP potions.
It works pretty well, but I'm curious as to the theoryverse behind any other combination, and if pure MP/SP would be better since HPs don't seem to do much.

And then there's elixirs...

For shade/dw use 10 godly manas and 3 godly spirit. Although I like to keep one e-drink in there too. I also like to keep one mana elixir and one spirit elixir instead of a godly mana and spirit, but those two are for emergency and they never really get used.

look, don't shop from the bazaar.

if an equipment is sellable people will try to sell it in the WTS section here on the forum.
you are only paying e lot of credits for equipments other players decided it was better to dump for 1/5 of the credits you have to spend to buy back.

also don't ever use shade of negation. totally worthless.

going full kevlar is fine, and since you have an ethereal weapon you can also mix with shade, but only if you are using featherweight shards on your kevlar pieces.


do your arenas at the max difficulty you can handle.
after nightmare/hell energy drinks pay for themselves so you can do all of them at great stamina.

Question: What's the best potion ratio/amount for a DW/shade user like myself. I've 10 (battle) item slots and currently have 4HP-5MP-1SP potions.
It works pretty well, but I'm curious as to the theoryverse behind any other combination, and if pure MP/SP would be better since HPs don't seem to do much.

And then there's elixirs...

1. Get all 13 slots. You will never look back.

2. Junk the HP pots from your Battle Inventory. They're only there for a quick buck from the Bazaar, users who don't know any better (and who don't have access to Regen/II), and to replenish your HP outside a battle series.

3. Like Slobber said, use a combo between Mana and Spirit pots. We can't tell you exactly in which proportion - that depends on the buffs you're running, mana consumption, number of IA slots, type of fighting style, PMI/MMI - all sorts of things. I personally run with 10MP/3SP myself.

4. Elixirs are not to be touched. At all. Until you hit Level 300, and you want to do DwD at BT/IWBTH. Then you go to town with them. Well, strictly speaking, it's not necessary to use them even then, but they're so rare, you kinda want to use them for a special occasion. Like levelling a Legendary Ethereal / Demonic / Hallowed Estoc of Slaughter, for example - that would warrant Elixir usage.

The funny thing is, I've got more mana elixirs than any other kind.

For shade/dw use 10 godly manas and 3 godly spirit. Although I like to keep one e-drink in there too. I also like to keep one mana elixir and one spirit elixir instead of a godly mana and spirit, but those two are for emergency and they never really get used.

And with that, I just realized you could put EDs in your battle inventory O:
I've now switched to 8MP/2SP. I'll try using elixirs like that once I have more than 10 of them. I certainly don't want to head into and arena and realize they haven't auto refilled on account of having run out.

Here's another question about scrolls. Is it just me or are these largely useless unless you run out of mana completely and/or want to save mana by using scrolls in the place of casting spells like protection/haste/shadow veil? The exceptions being ones like god/avatar/absorb scrolls, but even then I find using them breaks my tempo of holding down key bindings and the like.

1. Get all 13 slots. You will never look back.

2. Junk the HP pots from your Battle Inventory. They're only there for a quick buck from the Bazaar, users who don't know any better (and who don't have access to Regen/II), and to replenish your HP outside a battle series.

3. Like Slobber said, use a combo between Mana and Spirit pots. We can't tell you exactly in which proportion - that depends on the buffs you're running, mana consumption, number of IA slots, type of fighting style, PMI/MMI - all sorts of things. I personally run with 10MP/3SP myself.

4. Elixirs are not to be touched. At all. Until you hit Level 300, and you want to do DwD at BT/IWBTH. Then you go to town with them. Well, strictly speaking, it's not necessary to use them even then, but they're so rare, you kinda want to use them for a special occasion. Like levelling a Legendary Ethereal / Demonic / Hallowed Estoc of Slaughter, for example - that would warrant Elixir usage.

The funny thing is, I've got more mana elixirs than any other kind.

1. After I buy a certain item I'm grinding credits for. All training is on hold until I get it (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

2. I already junked all but the godly ones, but I'm up to a thousand so I suppose I'll sell them off until I have about 200-300 just for healing outside of battle, like you said.

3. Noted duly. I tried to give a bit of insight into my style but I guess the inventory would change based on each user's play style. I feel 8MP/2SP out of 10slots is ideal based on my SP consumption.

4. Didn't realize these were so rare. I'll treasure the 10HP/10MP/5SP ones I have.

This post has been edited by cfg123: Apr 19 2013, 10:33

Thanks for all the tips guys, really appreciate how patient you all are.

can i reforge a level 0 equipment with some potency exp in order to take it back to zero without using any amnesia shard?

up (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And with that, I just realized you could put EDs in your battle inventory O:

Well, yes, you could. I think it's generally to extend your GF by an extra 400 rounds on Great Stamina. If you were clearing Arenas, it's easy enough to figure out when you were gonna run dry and trigger an ED outside of battle.

Here's another question about scrolls. Is it just me or are these largely useless unless you run out of mana completely and/or want to save mana by using scrolls in the place of casting spells like protection/haste/shadow veil? The exceptions being ones like god/avatar/absorb scrolls, but even then I find using them breaks my tempo of holding down key bindings and the like.

Heavens, no, they're incredibly useful. You don't want to run totally out of mana before using them - they're useless then.
1. Scroll effects are far more potent than the equivalent spell effect. Haste is an extra 25% more speed, Shadow Veil is an extra 10% Evade, Protection is an extra 25% damage mitigation. What that means is that you will kill monsters faster than they can hit you, they hit you far fewer times due to the additional Evade, and the times they do hit you, they do less damage - damage that Regen/II can easily deal with.

2. Effects are tick-based, so even if you only use Haste scrolls, that means your mana consumption for buffs is reduced by that 25% (well, some complicated formula but you get the drift). If you used all the scrolls, you get the stronger effects for longer and save on mana.

3. Mana which you can then use on Regen/II and Cure the few times you need it.

4. Didn't realize these were so rare. I'll treasure the 10HP/10MP/5SP ones I have.

They're not Magnificent/Legendary equip-class rare, not as such.

From my own experience, though, maybe around the same rarity as artifacts or thereabouts? It's not precisely the same, of course, but something like that.

2. Junk the HP pots from your Battle Inventory. They're only there for a quick buck from the Bazaar, users who don't know any better (and who don't have access to Regen/II), and to replenish your HP outside a battle series.

Small correction: While with melee that holds true mage can use HP pots as opposed to casting several cures - I can do hell arenas by just that and sparking instead of curing. Saves ton of time.

Small correction: While with melee that holds true mage can use HP pots as opposed to casting several cures - I can do hell arenas by just that and sparking instead of curing. Saves ton of time.

I bow to your superior expertise in this area. Although seeing as they only last 50 turns, Regen II might be a better investment of resources? At a high enough proficiency, I mean.

Or did you mean on top of Regen II? Yeah, I can see how that might work. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Have to try it one of these days maybe.

edit: And why "In Memory Of Agility?" You know something we don't? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

This post has been edited by xmagus: Apr 19 2013, 11:13

I was using the HP pots on top of Regen II despite being melee. It seemed to work decently.
Also, just switched from cure to cure II. Seems a little MP intensive, but with the added MP pots and timing it feels like I have to cast it a lot less.

edit: just caught that "In Memory of Agility" too :S

This post has been edited by cfg123: Apr 19 2013, 11:16

xmagus: make of it what you will - albeit I miscalculated, the mob will have maxed END soon though(and already has as high as possible main anti-melee stats+affection). I know some mages even use health elixirs mid-depth in gf. But yeah, of course on top of regen 2.

This post has been edited by Lement: Apr 19 2013, 11:27

Is this worth anything?
If I read the wiki right it's got just about max accuracy/conversation/critical for an exq redwood staff. Or is that not uncommon? (I'm no mage)

This post has been edited by cfg123: Apr 19 2013, 11:49

Is this worth anything?
If I read the wiki right it's got just about max accuracy/conversation/critical for an exq redwood staff. Or is that not uncommon? (I'm no mage)

Exquisite redwood is worth shit. Doesn't matter how good the rolls are, they are just too common. Maybe perfect rolled edb suffix with the matching prefix, otherwise only bother with magnificent and legendary redwoods.

I was going add if redwood was the prefix that wasn't worth anything. Holy Katalox is the one everyone drools over, right?

I guess it's up to my luck and off to the forge.

Is this worth anything?
If I read the wiki right it's got just about max accuracy/conversation/critical for an exq redwood staff. Or is that not uncommon? (I'm no mage)

From what I can tell, Staffs have so many rolls in so many critical areas that unless you have a perfect Legendary X Katalox Staff of Y (where X is Holy/Dark>Elemental and Y is the same>Destruction), or Legendary Hallowed Oak Staff of Heimdall, where MDB/EDB/INT/WIS/ET proc chance/duration are all maxxed out, you might as well bazaar it.

But those Legendaries? Those Legendaries fetch millions. MILLIONS!

Or, just go with what T_Starrk said. Much shorter and to the point (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Is this worth anything?
If I read the wiki right it's got just about max accuracy/conversation/critical for an exq redwood staff. Or is that not uncommon? (I'm no mage)

Uncommon? Yes. Valuable? No. If you don't have one with better MC lying around, keep it to grind Deprecating with Weaken spam. Other than that, hope for HG Wood. Unprefixed Exq Redwood is universally junk, there's a steady stream of them coming from Noodles trying for a Oak/Willow/Kata that doesn't suck.

From what I can tell, Staffs have so many rolls in so many critical areas that unless you have a perfect Legendary X Katalox Staff of Y (where X is Holy/Dark>Elemental and Y is the same>Destruction), or Legendary Hallowed Oak Staff of Heimdall, where MDB/EDB/INT/WIS/ET proc chance/duration are all maxxed out, you might as well bazaar it.

But those Legendaries? Those Legendaries fetch millions. MILLIONS!

Or, just go with what T_Starrk said. Much shorter and to the point (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Kind of funny how many rolls can just screw over a stick. Between ET %, ET Time, MDB, EDB, Prof, INT and WIS a Staff has as many rolls that need to not suck as an Ethereal Estoc has rolls total.

This post has been edited by PK678353: Apr 19 2013, 12:08

I was going add if redwood was the prefix that wasn't worth anything. Holy Katalox is the one everyone drools over, right?

I guess it's up to my luck and off to the forge.

Yeah, it's salvage material, hopefully you'll get a high-grade. Hallowed/Demonic Katalox is the high-end of staves. A Legendary Demonic Katalox of Destruction would probably fetch the most because of HTTP, lol (you would be crazy to sell such an awesome staff though, imo). In general any kind of elemental staff is just not gonna fetch katalox prices. It used to be a prefixed Legendary Ebony of Destruction could fetch millions but I'm not sure what the deal is with redwoods. I just know until they do something about redwood's mdb that most of the premier elemental mages seem to be hanging onto their ebony staves, lol. Mag+ Hallowed Oak of Heimdall is also worth something with good rolls. Also it seems as if Willow's MDB has been buffed so a good Demonic Willow of Destruction might be worth something these days. I'm not sure how elemental mages feel about Oak and Willow though...

Alright. I think I've managed to soak that all in. Thank you three. I'm going to go the forge route since I'll never bother to grind the depreciating prof (I find myself barely using any depreciating spells). Here I gooo

Edit: Salvaged Mid-Grade Wood
About as much as the bazaar would have given. Albeit without the potential HG wood.

Yeah, it's salvage material, hopefully you'll get a high-grade. Hallowed/Demonic Katalox is the high-end of staves. A Legendary Demonic Katalox of Destruction would probably fetch the most because of HTTP, lol (you would be crazy to sell such an awesome staff though, imo). In general any kind of elemental staff is just not gonna fetch katalox prices. It used to be a prefixed Legendary Ebony of Destruction could fetch millions but I'm not sure what the deal is with redwoods. I just know until they do something about redwood's mdb that most of the premier elemental mages seem to be hanging onto their ebony staves, lol. Mag+ Hallowed Oak of Heimdall is also worth something with good rolls. Also it seems as if Willow's MDB has been buffed so a good Demonic Willow of Destruction might be worth something these days. I'm not sure how elemental mages feel about Oak and Willow though...

Alrighty then.
With my luck a katalox like that will drop when patches have made them worthless, or at least equal to the value of other staffs.
To summarize, though it would seem Katalox >> Oak = Willow >>>> Shit >>>> Redwood. With the prefixes to idolize being hallowed/demonic. I don't even want to get into the rolls of staffs ... :| Like it has been pointed out, they have a ridiculous amount of variables.

This post has been edited by cfg123: Apr 19 2013, 12:15

Exquisite redwood is worth shit. Doesn't matter how good the rolls are, they are just too common. Maybe perfect rolled edb suffix with the matching prefix, otherwise only bother with magnificent and legendary redwoods.

Good, time to take down the Redowood forest (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Does that apply to Willow too?

Small correction: While with melee that holds true mage can use HP pots as opposed to casting several cures - I can do hell arenas by just that and sparking instead of curing. Saves ton of time.

Does the bolded part refer to having maxed (or very high) proficiencies by playing more mage?

Also, not sure I get it: doesn't a mana elixir give you much more total health because you can cast Regen 2 a gazillion times?

Or is the stacked regen from health elixir necessary to survive after a huge amount of rounds?