[X] My Assistant

With folks being so helpful, I want to bestow some positive Karma, but I'm not sure what the customary method/amount is. What should I do?

There isn't really a certain amount, it's more a judgment call than anything else. People with plenty of karma have been known to give out thousands for the smallest things you do, depending on their mood. So give as much or as little as you want, because every bit helps.

Just keep in mind: you give green/positive karma to people who help, and red/negative to people who, um... hurt more than they help, I guess. Which isn't to say that everyone with red karma is like that, but with so many people that frequent this forum, it's easy to have a difference of opinion. Just don't let that scare you away.

Oh, you can also do some Training to beef up your karma skills, but that could probably wait until you've found a steady way to make yourself some credits.

This post has been edited by dap00: Nov 7 2009, 17:32

Well, seing karma does pretty much nothing useful in HV, you might as well forget about that training entirely.

edit

Is there a particular proficiencies to level ratio that one should aim for?

Montage-CAPPED (more than three quarters of your level).
Fully capped (equals your level) if you can do it.

Also, you might want to Montage your non-main proficiencies for easier transition to other styles should you fill this way in the future.

This post has been edited by hen_Z: Nov 7 2009, 17:54

Montage-CAPPED (more than three quarters of your level).
Fully capped (equals your level) if you can do it.

Also, you might want to Montage your non-main proficiencies for easier transition to other styles should you fill this way in the future.

Does montaging more than one prof at a time slow down the speed with which that prof levels up? I've done 2 montages so far, and while I got .46 2H prof from one montage (heavy armor was already capped when I started), I only got ~.22 1H prof while I was training up 1H, Light Armor, and Shield at the same time (light got ~.48 and shield got ~.41).

On a totally different note, is there any way to reset your aura choices? I unlocked 2 magic-based auras while I was messing around with the game the first few weeks, before learning about Equipment (lol!). Now that I've decided to go with melee instead, I was hoping I could redistribute my Aura options like I can with Abilities.

Also, I'm wondering what the "Auto" feature for battle inventory items does. Presumably it'll automatically use one of my potions/draughts when I "need" it, but when does it determine "need"?

This post has been edited by coredumperror: Nov 9 2009, 04:17

Once you've chosen your auras there's no going back. Some other things you might want to know:

1. You get a maximum of three aura slots from your abilities. If you want to have more auras active you have to train Refined Aura. Which is expensive.

2. At level 60 you get the Focused Aura I ability, which allows you to upgrade auras to Rank II (and there's another upgrade somewhere farther up the tree). If you can't afford to train more aura slots you might want to save up your aura points so you can upgrade the ones you actually use, rather than wasting them on auras that are never going to be active.


"Auto" refills the item slot after the battle, if you used that item.


Not really sure about Montage. Most of my profs are capped now, but ISTR you get less if you train more than one thing.

Well crud... I guess wasting 2 aura slots on Indigo and Violet is going to be a pretty costly mistake. Which auras would you guys suggest that I invest in as a melee user? The melee-oriented aura that I do have unlocked is Orange, and I have 2 auras active: Orange and Violet (since V gives 1 STR).

At least Red, Orange, and Green. Yellow is good for evade and AGI if you're not a Tank. I have my fourth slot filled with Blue for the extra WIS and magic defense.

red and orange are the best melee auras, given enough time, and credits you'll probably have all the auras anyway. So its not that big a deal...

Does montaging more than one prof at a time slow down the speed with which that prof levels up?

Yes. Even if another prof shows as CAPPED.
So, undress and leave only the equip corresponding to your desired prof if you want maximal gain.
Sadly, magic montage ALWAYS montages all profs you have unlocked... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/anime_cry.gif)
Also, there is no way to montage Shield only. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/anime_cry.gif) Always goes with 1h.

Ok, so I'm realizing that going with all plate is really screwing with my speed. Monsters are getting double attacks more often than not, so playing on Normal+ means I'm getting whaled on really badly. What should I do?

I wish I could get the Ctrl-C feature to work so I could link my gear to you guys for inspection, but nothing I've tried has helped. I use Firefox with AdBlock Plus, but I have all of e-hentai on the Adblock whitelist, so it won't block anything. I also tried in IE, with the popup blocker disabled, and Ctrl-C still did nothing.

Ok, so I'm realizing that going with all plate is really screwing with my speed. Monsters are getting double attacks more often than not, so playing on Normal+ means I'm getting whaled on really badly. What should I do?

Play on Cake, obviously!

And switch the hell out somemost of that plate. If you really bent on wearing all heavy, well, too bad for your speed. Try chain?

Depending on your proficiency, burden, and AGI, you will see those double hits. Try posting screencaps of your character page and the equipment page so we can make a more personalized set of suggestions for you. But to start, if you don't want to get whaled on in Normal+, switch in some mail, but leave your body plate since that's where you get the most out of your armor so you can still get the benefit of raising your Heavy prof. Or, y'know, not play on Normal+ until your character can handle it.

OK, I finally got the dang Ctrl-C feature to work (I'd totally forgotten that Firefox has it's own popup blocking system which I had to disable). Is there an easier way to get the URL for my equipment popups than by right-clicking and choosing "Page Info"? I can't get the Address bar to appear in the popups.

Here's my gear:

Fair sapphire plate cuirass - I'm not currently wearing this because it's too heavy
[hv.e-hentai.org] http://hv.e-hentai.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=828dc9dbc5


Fine titanium axe
[hv.e-hentai.org] http://hv.e-hentai.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=96f45e0391

Average emerald buckler of warding
[hv.e-hentai.org] http://hv.e-hentai.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=e6d79c15da

Crude bronze plate helmet of protection
[hv.e-hentai.org] http://hv.e-hentai.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=4342f170ba

Average diamond-adorned leather breastplate of protection
[hv.e-hentai.org] http://hv.e-hentai.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=9f14c0ab09

Fair mithril chainmail mitons of dampening
[hv.e-hentai.org] http://hv.e-hentai.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=532baa55fb

Fair diamond plate greaves of protection
[hv.e-hentai.org] http://hv.e-hentai.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=665bbfd412

Average steel chainmail boots of dampening
[hv.e-hentai.org] http://hv.e-hentai.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=d73042b291

Here's my 2H that I use for fast grinding:
Average steel longsword
[hv.e-hentai.org] http://hv.e-hentai.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=595b12564a


Stats page screenshot:
[img40.imageshack.us] http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/3740/hent...haracterpag.png

Abilities page screenshot:
[img4.imageshack.us] http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1042/abilitiespage.png


I have the Orange and Violet Auras active, and the Indigo aura unlocked but inactive.

I have 5 ranks of Adept Learner, 1 rank of Scavenger, and 3 ranks of Ability Boost.

With this setup, I can usually get to about Round 30 in NormalFest by spending 3 or 4 greater mana draughts. I can also fairly handily complete every arena I have access to, on Normal, and I've completed the first 5 on Hard. A few levels ago, I completed a 99-level Item world (my 1H axe) on Cake, but my item didn't level up (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sad.gif).

Post a screencap of the Statistics bar on the Equipment page, as well. That way, we can see how everything adds up on your character (the links show us how the equipment would scale to us, not you).

If you're going to keep at 1HS as your "main" combat type, you should try to get a shield with about 20% Block. Your best bet for getting good block and defense without too much burden is with a Kite. The "of the Barrier" enchant provides a boost to the Block bonus. Check the WTS forum for good deals, I"m sure somebody's got a decent shield that you can get for way cheaper than from out the Shop.

You need to trade your Crude (in particular) and Fair equipment up to at least Average, though Fine would be preferred. Better quality equipment not only have better stats in general, but have less Burden and Interference.

You should wear whichever Body piece gives you the most benefits and try to make up for the Burden elsewhere. That piece generally gives the bulk of defensive and stat bonuses.

Axes have massive damage bonuses but lousy accuracy. If you're missing more often, that means more turns that the mobs can get hits on you. I believe the general usage for axes is in DW configurations where the Axe goes in your mainhand for the damage while your offhand has accuracy and/or parry bonuses to make up for it. So look at how much damage you're dealing compared to how much damage you're taking because of missed attacks and decide if you need to change weapons.

Put your next few ability points into HP Tank before finishing off SP-OC. You're not going to get very far without HP.

Consider unlocking Poison or Weaken at some point so you can raise your Deprecating proficiency -- it'll be crucial if you ever want to fight Bosses in the Arena. Its not an easy proficiency to raise and playing catch-up is hell. Penetrated Armor + Poison is also a favorite tactic to use against Bosses. For now (this is a long-term strategy), you can use Montage to get it up a little since you've already got some points on it, but it'll only work so well for so long.

Here's my statistics panes
[img301.imageshack.us] http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/7959/statisticsg.png

The reason I ended up specing completely out of offensive magic was because I'd fail every single spell I cast, due to Interference. Reducing that by getting better gear will let me get back to boosting that prof, I guess.

I'll go check out the trading forums once my second donation goes through and I get a big chunk of credits to work with. I'm totally broke atm because I lost my last 600 creds to a bad luck crit by a Cannuck in Arena 6. Damn thing was at 20 HP when he crit me for 80 while I was at 76, right after taking a mana draught!

As for block chance on my shield... should it be 20% for my current level (the one in parenthesis), or 20% max?

So since you're suggesting I move away from axes, which type of 1H weapon is best? What kinds of stats/procs should I be looking for in a weapon? Should I even be sticking with 1H+Shield right now?

Okay, yeah, 100 Interference is gonna put the kibosh on any hostile spells working. As you get better gear, raise your equip proficiencies, and put points into INT/WIS, your Interference will go down to more manageable levels, but you'll still need to use Focus when you really need that debuff to go.

The 20% should be anywhere. Its really better to get equipment over your level so it gets stronger as you do, and you have to spend less upgrading your gear every few levels. If its a very high level piece, it should have over 20% max, but equipment closer to your level should be closer to 20% after scaling. It also doesn't have to be at or over 20 if its closer to your level.

Most people use Shortsword or Rapiers for 1HS and either is really fine. But if you are going to use a Rapier, you need to find one with a good proc. Try to get at least 2 turn duration and over 15% proc chance. Rapiers tend to have lower damage than shortswords, so its essential to get a good proc on it so you can take advantage of the massive damage you can inflict when Penetrated Armor sticks. Piercing damage is also good because a lot of things tend to be weaker against it. Shortswords are good because Bleed damage is always consistent. It'll do the same amount of damage against a normal mob as it will a Boss, even if your normal hits don't do jack shit to the Boss. So try to get a high damage, and either long duration or high chance. The more time you've got that Bleed on (either because it lasts a long time or it happens often), the better. Rapiers tend to have better Accuracy and Parry than Shortswords, but the latter tends to have better damage and provides STR or END bonuses (rapiers tend to have DEX/AGI), which are essential to a Heavy melee type. At some point, particularly once you can start taking on the Ring of Blood, it'll be a good idea to have one of both to switch in as the situation requires.

If you can get a good shield, 1HS will be stronger at lower levels. There's a debate right now whether 1HS or DW is stronger at higher levels (thread's over in the HV Discussion forum), but it really comes down to play style and equipment. If you can get a good DW pair, you can kill things pretty quick, but you'll need to mix some light or cloth gear in until you're high enough in level for your proficiencies to take a big chunk of your Burden off and you can unlock X-Attack from the Ability tree so you can DW heavy. But you'll be more susceptible to magic attacks unless you wear armor with Resist (only on newer light and I think cloth armor) to make up for the loss of Block (Absorb, Silence, and Bewilder aren't reliable and efficient enough to cover for it if you've got a good Block shield). If Tenboro decides to tweak Shield proficiency's effect up, that may change. If he decides to give crit bonus to OverStrikes, the 1H fighting style proc, that may change.

Thanks for this thread, learned a lot from it.

Ill be giving karma to those who posted, and grinding credits to get some good rapiers... 1h+shield seems impressively effective for my style of grindfest, but soooo boring compared to 2h.

You might try Dual Wielding, if you want a less-boring style. It's like 1h+shield in that you can't hit more than one monster at a time, but since you have a chance to hit with both weapons you can often remove huge chunks of HP from a monster. I personally find that equally exciting compared to Domino Strikes hitting multiple monsters at once, since I occasionally one-shot a monster from 100% HP.

It's also a lot faster grinding than 1h+shield because all your attacks benefit from both weapons' attack stats. Be sure to put a weapon with decent parry into your offhand, though, since you get a 50% bonus to the parry from your offhand.

Thanks for the advice, I was indeed bored with 1h+shield, but then i found Rapiers and that is enough fun to keep me going.

Started as DW actually, then switched to 2h and only changed to 1h+shield to prevent the instapwn critfest of the arena mobs as much as i can.

well thos are some good ideas thanks (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Hello in here,

I'm also a noob in HV, but by reading a lot of topics in the forum, i'm beginning to know how the game works.

I'm currently 1H+S, after some time DW, and can go to the round 60+ in cakefest using lower mana potion. It's been already said, but 1H+S seems to be the way to go for beginners. The moment i switched to some heavy gear with a lot of physical absorption (not mitigation), i could sustain a lot more rounds without losing that much damage output thanks to the recent counter attack change.

What i find to be the best way to gain fast exp, is to chain item worlds (up to 10 a day, which is the limit) in normal mode, using an high level item. It doesn't matter if you can finish it or not, it gives a very huge amount of exp in a short time, just by spamming the keypad numbers and the "cure" skill (using chrome, which is a lot faster to load pages than firefox).

I'm wearing 3 pieces of heavy armor, 1 piece of cloth, and 1 piece of leather for proficiencies purpose.

What i don't know is if it's best to focus on gaining xp for now, and if it is, when to stop, because i'm being rapped on normal arena 8+.