[X] My Assistant

i have some doubts because recent changes made useless what i know

what is the ideal equipment for mage that aims to do arenas fast and without die?

i use full elemental set, elec spells and dmg staff (pretty decent equip i can say)
should i try to mix mjolnir pieces or switch to mjolnir only if i have full set? it's really necessary to switch to mjolnir?

i often do the lower arenas with holy/soul spells using a pretty decent fox gear and a heaven sent staff (also good for forbidden)
because magic missile depends on elemental or on intelligence, how much it's affected when i switch on full holy/forbidden set or other damage type set (fenrir/heaven-sent)?

so it's better to use specific prof/dmg gear or fox can do the same damage with spells or better?

these are my sets
(holy/forbidden)
[L185] Fine Katalox Staff of the Heaven-sent
[L217] Fine Gossamer Pants of the Fox
[L220] Average Gossamer Cap of the Fox
[L266] Fine Gossamer Gloves of the Fox
[L266] Fine Gossamer Robe of the Fox
[L270] Fine Gossamer Shoes of the Fox

electric
[L215] Fine Ebony Staff of Destruction
[L176] Average Gossamer Cap of the Elementalist
[L210] Fine Gossamer Robe of the Elementalist
[L252] Superior Gossamer Pants of the Elementalist
[L282] Fine Gossamer Gloves of the Elementalist
[L291] Average Gossamer Shoes of the Elementalist

My Fox suit gives me higher Base Magic Damage, but for some reason I feel a lot weaker in it than when I'm in my Elementalist suit. It just seems that enemies I can typically one-shot always get by with a small portion of health left. So for now I'm sticking with the latter suit. I have Demon-fiend and Heimdall/Heaven-sent suits for special occasions.

Once my Elementalist proficiency hits 200, I'll start replacing some pieces with EDB phase (is this a good idea, anyone?).

This post has been edited by n125: Sep 10 2011, 03:09

A question. I noticed there was a small lock-shaped symbol to the left of every equipment on my Equipment page and the Equipment Store page. It toggles yellow when I click on it and back when I click on it again. Any idea as to what it does?

@n125 yep i'd recommend phase over gossamer once you can transition comfortably. the elementalist is a good way to start out maging though (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)

@jack when the lock is highlighted (yellow), the item won't be listed in the store. try locking an item in your bazaar page, then click its category, that item shouldn't be listed now (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

this is a good way to avoid selling your "keepers"

^ Ah, thanks for the informative answer.

so prof suit it's better that fox and damage gossamer phase it's the top
some time ago fox did the same damn

thanks guys

I'm not a mage and don't have godlike mage gear to test, but looking at the math of it, Elemental Damage Boost (ala Mjolnir) will definitely give you more damage for the element they're boosting. Elemental Proficiency boosts have to compete with your ever-rising proficiency for relevance so remain at a relatively fixed percent boost to your damage despite them scaling with level (seems like ~10% per piece), whereas EDB is an ever-increasing amount.

Mixing and matching Elemental Proficiency and EDB seems fine. It might even be the ideal scenario since more of one stat will increase the efficiency of the other, but I personally think you'll get the most damage with pure EDB gear. Until you meat someone with 75%+ resistance to the element you're using, that is.

As for Fox, it's hard to imagine 10 Inteligence doing anywhere near as much damage for you as the rest even with the increased magic accuracy and crit.

EDB Phase usually gives a bigger damage output.

At your level, a max-Prof Elementalist set can give you a ~127.3 Proficiency bonus while a max-EDB Phase set a ~94.55 EDB bonus (actually more than that, but let's ignore the bonus shenanigans introduced by the latest patch).

The damage formula should be something like this:

CODE

(something something base magic damage something something else) * (1 + prof/200) * (1 + EDB/100)

Assuming your Elemental prof is maxed (158), with an Elementalist set you would have:

CODE

(...) * (1 + (158+127)/200) * (1 + 0/100) = (...) * 2.425 (+242% damage)

and with a Phase set:

CODE

(...) * (1 + 158/200) * (1 + 95/100) = (...) * 3.490 (+349% damage)

Of course this is a limit case (it doesn't take the INT bonus into consideration, for example), but it should give you the basic idea.

With a Phase set you'll be pretty much forced to use the same set of spells, though.

Phase usually has better INT/WIS bonuses as well from my experience.

well but finding a fox, owl phase can be considered a major misfortune

it still drops in non mage suffixes? like cheetah or ox?
or tenb returned phase to magic suffiexes?

well but finding a fox, owl phase can be considered a major misfortune

it still drops in non mage suffixes? like cheetah or ox?
or tenb returned phase to magic suffiexes?

From 0.5.3 patch notes:

Cotton: Protective mage cloth; drops in variants that boost generic protection and elemental mitigation
Gossamer: Proficiency-boosting mage cloth; drops in variants that boost magic proficiencies, as well as the generic Fox/Owl type
Phase: Rare elemental-boosting mage cloth with zero burden and high evade; drops in variants that boost elemental damage, as well as the generic Fox/Owl type

This post has been edited by mkonji: Sep 10 2011, 14:53

I'm a bit confused as how monster power levels work.
I have one monster which has Power Level 150. From which to which level can people encounter it?
150 is relatively close to my level so shouldn't I be able to encounter it?

Another question regarding monster gifts: Are the gifts random? Or is the chance lower to get another item of the same kind if you already got one? I'm asking because of the way I've been getting things:
(IMG:[i51.tinypic.com] http://i51.tinypic.com/5ocy75.png)

This post has been edited by roadgray: Sep 10 2011, 15:02

I'm a bit confused as how monster power levels work.
I have one monster which has Power Level 150. From which to which level can people encounter it?
150 is relatively close to my power level so shouldn't I be able to encounter it?

At < lvl 100, you can only face monsters at or below your level (more likely to fight ones around your level).
In between 100 and 200, you can only face monsters at or below (level^1.2 - 151), which is a good deal more than your level as you level up.
At > lvl 200, there's no limit to the power level of monsters you can fight.

You seem to be far more likely to fight monsters near your max power level, but I've fought monsters as low as PL 120 in low quality item worlds and grindfests (in the same round as fighting PL 666+ monsters). I've seen my own PL 140 monster a half dozen times in the past few days.


Edit: As far as I can tell it's completely random (besides quality which depends a little on the monster's power level, but is still mostly random). I've gotten 7 items, all of them have been Leather and Metal. 6/7 Mid-Grade.

This post has been edited by mkonji: Sep 10 2011, 15:08

At < lvl 100, you can only face monsters at or below your level (more likely to fight ones around your level).
In between 100 and 200, you can only face monsters at or below (level^1.2 - 151), which is a good deal more than your level as you level up.
At > lvl 200, there's no limit to the power level of monsters you can fight.

You seem to be far more likely to fight monsters near your max power level, but I've fought monsters as low as PL 120 in low quality item worlds and grindfests (in the same round as fighting PL 666+ monsters). I've seen my own PL 140 monster a half dozen times in the past few days.
Edit: As far as I can tell it's completely random (besides quality which depends a little on the monster's power level, but is still mostly random). I've gotten 7 items, all of them have been Leather and Metal. 6/7 Mid-Grade.

Thank you.

Yay, at long last I've got a Superior Eth weapon. And guess what it is? Obviously. A shortsword. Of Focus. FML.

I wish we could define what type of lewt we want to lewt. Oh the sweet dreams...

This post has been edited by MiAla: Sep 11 2011, 02:05

I've been wondering for a while (because I'm too lazy to do the math) but is it worth it to max both Quartermaster and Archaeologist? Since I'm still not clear on how exactly drops are rolled for, I'm wondering if one drop rate affects the other.

So how do you guys raise your monsters?

Do you stack on resist crystals to boost their PL, or do you only feed relevant stat crystals so they're strong against people they fight against at their level?

perhaps if i was overflowing with crystals id only lvl the relevant stats but as it is, i just pump everything for the PL

I've been wondering for a while (because I'm too lazy to do the math) but is it worth it to max both Quartermaster and Archaeologist? Since I'm still not clear on how exactly drops are rolled for, I'm wondering if one drop rate affects the other.

Worth it? I can say, just looking at the math of training costs, it most definitely is not worth it to max them. You most likely would never recoup the costs of doing so.

I'm not really talking about the price it costs to max them, but the resulting benefits they give.

Also, I'm imagining that in a late game stage, I'm going to have nothing else to spend my credits on.

Correct me if im wrong, but i believe the game first does a roll for an item, then if item dropped it does a roll for equipment, then if that dropped it does a roll for an artifact. So that should tell you which trainings are most effective