[X] My Assistant

(I had the sense to record this one.) Okay, on the SECOND turn of Hell mode RE, this happened:

[pastebin.com] http://pastebin.com/kSDzLgau

Casting all defensive buffs first before Heartseeker will help defense. Even if it means using half a mana pot more on average (that is, if you get no channeling later), Haste and Protection together will be great. It's tempting to save a bit of mana if you can, but if you're having any problems at all with defense, defense comes first.

I almost can't believe I managed to win a daily Weapon Lottery... and with a single ticket too!

Of course, this, my first Peerless is a soulbound Peerless Ethereal Oak Staff of the Earth-Walker.

Should I keep it, turn it into a high grade wood, or try to petition 10B to have my prize swapped with that of the 5th place winner for the 7 chaos tokens?

Ow. No IA spark/haste/protection? May want to invest in that.

Short question first: Has there been a recent increase in the difficulty of monsters at lower levels? I'm getting much closer to dying than I remember a week ago and I've gained less than 15 levels since then so I don't think it's that.



Longer question: Do you have any recommendations on switching to higher difficulties? I can manage up to "a rolling stone" on hell, could probably do "killzone" on nightmare and I've completed "exile" on hard. REs I can do on nightmare but I've had some very close calls, so I tend to do nightmare on those as well.

I'm finding that against larger groups, I'm taking 1/2 to 3/4ths of my hp in a single round and having to counter with higher spells and cure as soon as it's off cooldown.




Playstyle

Pure mage, have been since I started so I think my proficiencies are decent at this point. I use protection and haste as my innate arcana, protection to give the wind status to make my lightning better, haste is for defense (fewer enemy attacks between turns). I usually cast regen early and maintain it throughout the rounds and will pick up spark of life on my first channeling and will keep it up as well. I start a mana draught on turn 3 and keep it going (still gain more than I use)

Offensively, I default to shockblast since it hits 5 at a time with perks and will clean up with staff hits or another element for elec resistant monsters.


Stats/details

Stat: base: effective
Str: 0: 4
Dex: 0: 4
Agi: 177: 277
End: 177: 180
Int: 211: 368
Wis: 211: 333

Equipment (mostly .82 vintage)

Mag redwood staff of Mjolnir
armor is cloth with protection or warding, half of it has frugal.

Short question first: Has there been a recent increase in the difficulty of monsters at lower levels? I'm getting much closer to dying than I remember a week ago and I've gained less than 15 levels since then so I don't think it's that.
Longer question: Do you have any recommendations on switching to higher difficulties? I can manage up to "a rolling stone" on hell, could probably do "killzone" on nightmare and I've completed "exile" on hard. REs I can do on nightmare but I've had some very close calls, so I tend to do nightmare on those as well.

Offensively, I default to shockblast since it hits 5 at a time with perks and will clean up with staff hits or another element for elec resistant monsters.
Stats/details

Mag redwood staff of Mjolnir
armor is cloth with protection or warding, half of it has frugal.

Mage is extremely difficult to play with any efficiency before level 300-something, due to a bunch of things (proficiency, funds (IW), AP, innate toughness from leveling up). In addition, mage's strength is quickly clearing lower difficulties - but to win at higher difficulties, you need a whole lot of firepower, or the monsters will hurt you too much before you kill them.

You're level 176, which is right at the point where monster PL is skyrocketing. Up until level 150 or so, you were probably only fighting monsters PL 25 - 250, but now the cap is increasing very quickly, and you'll be fighting those of PL 1000+ soon.

Mage is way too flimsy to play on any interesting difficulty for low level players. That, and mana usage is too much. (If you do decide to continue with mage, look for either Phase of one element, or proficiency cotton of that element - nothing else is worth wearing, and when you fight, only use that element, don't alternate.)

If you want to be able to play on Nintendo+, switch to melee, almost certainly 1h. See the past 5 pages or so for how to transition.

tbarim, if you are going to do 1H, DO IT RIGHT NOW. Take it from me, the higher up your level is, the harder it will be to get your 1H to 200 which gives you triple counter attacks. This is of UTMOST importance. You are going to experience lower and lower skill prof gains from here on out. You were seeing 0.05 and I think 0.08 improvements in your profs, this will go down to like 0.03 and thereabouts.

I cannot overstate the importance of switching to 1H right now at your level (176). If you plan on doing this let me know, I will get you hooked up with a nice shield that you'll seriously need, and get the ball rolling on a nice rapier for you. But you gotta switch now if you're going to do it at all.

tbarim, if you are going to do 1H, DO IT RIGHT NOW. Take it from me, the higher up your level is, the harder it will be to get your 1H to 200 which gives you triple counter attacks. This is of UTMOST importance. You are going to experience lower and lower skill prof gains from here on out. You were seeing 0.05 and I think 0.08 improvements in your profs, this will go down to like 0.03 and thereabouts.

I cannot overstate the importance of switching to 1H right now at your level (176). If you plan on doing this let me know, I will get you hooked up with a nice shield that you'll seriously need, and get the ball rolling on a nice rapier for you. But you gotta switch now if you're going to do it at all.

Proficiency gain boost is nullified at 250 according to wiki and yeah, read the advice they gave me, I'm pretty much your case word for word.

It's never really too late to change. I maged from ~ level 1 - 315, then played 1H for a while.

All styles are playable (at some permutation of difficulty and attention span); some are just harder than others.

It's also very very easy to gain weapon/armor proficiencies, compared to everything else. Worst case, start a Crude IW on IWBTH, equip stuff with terrible offensive stats, and spellspam for an hour or two while watching anime in another window. Your proficiency will catch up to your level very quickly with no effort, even if the player is past level 250.

It's also very very easy to gain weapon/armor proficiencies, compared to everything else. Worst case, start a Crude IW on IWBTH, equip stuff with terrible offensive stats, and spellspam for an hour or two while watching anime in another window. Your proficiency will catch up to your level very quickly with no effort, even if the player is past level 250.

Out of curiosity, why IWBTH crude IW and not IWBTH gf?

I think it's because in crude IW you face mobs with reduced difficulty and rounds.

Quick question, is Ethereal a good stat for all weapons or just melee? Not really seeing the point of a void strike on staff when you're generally not spamming normal attack on mage.

I think it's because in crude IW you face mobs with reduced difficulty and rounds.

Quick question, is Ethereal a good stat for all weapons or just melee? Not really seeing the point of a void strike on staff when you're generally not spamming normal attack on mage.

IMO

it's only good for melee weapons - Void Strike on staff is better achieved through Hollowforged via LVL10 upgrades, if at all. (Though LVL10 upgrades on a staff should be done for some other things NOT Hollowforged)

This post has been edited by jacquelope: Sep 2 2015, 07:06

Out of curiosity, why IWBTH crude IW and not IWBTH gf?

Crude item world = monsters don't hit hard, so you don't worry about dying
at IWBTH, so they have lots of HP and don't die so quickly, so you can prolong the fight for more proficiency.

Not sure about the why-not-IWBTH-GF bit. Is it because they start out with too few monsters, so you waste more stamina?

Quick question, is Ethereal a good stat for all weapons or just melee? Not really seeing the point of a void strike on staff when you're generally not spamming normal attack on mage.

Right. In fact, Ethereal is the most undesired prefix for a staff*, and many mages only item-world their staves up to potency 9. The last potency level on my staff came about when I was forging it.

* well, it's worse than a matching prefix-suffix, but better than a mismatched prefix-suffix.

This post has been edited by mozilla browser: Sep 2 2015, 07:30

Geez, why can't the experts agree? It's both! So in the case of

+Physical Damage 2 / 3 / 4

- use the 1H fighting style
- invest ability points in the 1H Damage ability
- slot the 1H Damage ability
- the level of the 1H damage ability determines the value 2, 3 or 4
- this value is scaled to your effective 1H proficiency
- the scaled value contributes to your physical attack damage

this thread is stickied. When? How?

Right. In fact, Ethereal is the most undesired prefix for a staff*, and many mages only item-world their staves up to potency 9. The last potency level on my staff came about when I was forging it.

* well, it's worse than a matching prefix-suffix, but better than a mismatched prefix-suffix.

Most mages only go to level 9 because eventually there will be a different level 10 feature for staffs/staves. Being at level 10 has the advantage of faster proficiency for staff though.

this thread is stickied. When? How?

I think it was stickied ages ago then became unstickied. Some random board function like a time limit on sticked topics.

this thread is stickied. When? How?

better this way, i guess

Not sure about the why-not-IWBTH-GF bit. Is it because they start out with too few monsters, so you waste more stamina?

I think the monster distribution is the same (??), but the difference is that in low PXP IW, the monsters hit much, much more softly than in GF. I don't think many of those asking here would be able to mindlessly go through even the first rounds of IWBTH GF.

better this way, i guess

It's one of the most useful threads in existence. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Edit:
So if I have an item that is Level 290 and my Level is 234 will the number of soul shards I need equal 106?
(290-234=56, 56*2=112, 50+112%=50*2.12=106 by my math)

This post has been edited by jacquelope: Sep 2 2015, 09:01

It's one of the most useful threads in existence. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Edit:
So if I have an item that is Level 290 and my Level is 234 will the number of soul shards I need equal 106?
(290-234=56, 56*2=112, 50+112%=50*2.12=106 by my math)

Most definitely.

And yes that's right.

This post has been edited by Crush85: Sep 2 2015, 10:05