so i have been giving it some more thought and perhaps the best best is to roll vampira again as the life spec dagger, but i am not sure about what to do with ratspike. my goal here is two daggers with lockpick, one that can do double duty as an archer, and one that can act as a mage. getting rat to 3school status was a big undertaking, so i am reluctant to change that. all he really needs is the 6 skill credits to train xbow. now 6 credits is a huge number of levels (like 30). perhaps i need to kill aun railrea and take that credit from him, that will knock 5 levels off the total, but it's still a lot. i don't want to dump healing or manaC, and lockpick is sort of the reason for his existence. one possible option is to unspec meleeD, but i *really* don't want to do that.
so i guess the dagger tank with Xbow is a pretty long term project.
i have tried twice with vampira, both templates were the "quad spec" toon of yore, with 100's for coord, quick, and focus, and spec'd dagger, life, meleeD, and lore. the second was also a quad, but with 75's for pretty much everything. the first iteration was a good tank but a lousy life mage, and the second just wasn't that good at anything. what i want is a more versatile version of moy, having lockpick and being a little stronger at life magic, at the expense of having dagger instead of sword, and being better defensively thanks to a higher meleeD. moy is an axer now, but that will change in two more credits when i go back to sword (which is how he started :-) )
somewhere in this mix, i want to finish kablammus as well. i want to get him the creds he needs to spec creature magic, and then get him some rending wands. once he has that, my hope is that he will be able to just blast things without vulns, and only yield stuff that resists him. i figure he will become a faster killing version of naihanchi at that point. nai seems to be on his way being a war magic version of janus. i am thinking of dumping healing on him to spec creature, at which point he will be spec'd creature, life and manaC. with a critical strike wand he would be dangerous in his own right.
i still need to finish my work with katusa before i start in on vampira. mostly it's gettng him out the newbie uniform (explorer gear) and into the low level gear (olthoi armor, unimbued simulacra gear, and some level 4 jewelry). from there he should be taking on his own persona with his gear and his armor. there's still quite a bit of work to go, but i am always eager to get started with a new project :-)
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Thursday, September 23, 2004
re-rollin
i decided that having an Xbow toon was not necessary.
i like xbow, but as the primary weapon on a toon, it seems like a waste. it's nice in a handfull of situations (like drawing a target by hitting it for 50 points of damage) but in all i would rather just have xbow as a secondary skill on a tank melee. it hits harder than bow dows, but is very slow. it burns major stamina and it sucks to watch monsters chew on you while you reload. so i rerolled wendigo. right now he's just a mule to hold stuff until i can get another project complete.
shikomi zue, the sword tank pushing XP for tinka has also gotten a bit dull. he seems like sort of a waste since i have played his template a hundred times before and i feel no real attachment to him at all. so i decided to roll a couple of projects in to one:
first, i would like to have a melee tank that can also use a crossbow. i have often looked at the soldier class, the stock template from turbine. it's basically an item only tank axer with xbow trained. plus i like the title, and it would be fitting with his true purpose, to serve and support tinka, who serves the rest of the family. so i deleted shikomi and rolled katusa (the word for soldiers in the army of south korea, tho i have no idea how to spell it correctly) loyalty isn't spec'd at start with this template, so i will have to wait until later to spec it. i am not sure what else to take with him, perhaps lockpick since he is sort of a jack of all trades, and that would essentially make him wendigo with an axe. i want to use him to gather salvage, so i took weapon tinkering with him as well. he has done well so far, i have him at 18th level now, with out powerlevelling, and he has pushed nearly 300k in xp to tinka.
i gave him the standard issue explorer gear to hit 20th in... full suit of explorer armor, explorer buckler and explorer xbow. i will probably get him a quested/crafted axe of some kind as well. the theme is still in keeping the the original pusher: hunting and leveling to pass XP to tinka, gathering salvage and doing quests for items. once4 i get him high enough to hunt in a place with cool lewt, i will consider his project to be complete.
this leaves me with a free slot to roll another toon. i had this vison of two toons that i have had issues seeing to completion:
my original desire was for two dagger toons: one tank with xbow and lockpick (a super tank who is useful on quests) and a 3school life+dagger tank, able to play the mage or tank role, but also having skills to support others. so far ratspike is 75% of both goals... he is 3 schooled, so he is able to buff himself and others, and he has lockpick. rat doesn't have xbow, and is not spec'd life magic. i am not sure how to meet the two goals with only one character, at least not until like 100th level. i have tried the life dagger toon in the past, i have had two iterations named vampira hope. perhaps i can get xbow on ratspike in time, and roll vampira again. both of them will need mad levels to be template complete. perhaps i can have her be my life archer instead of shiki, and spec dagger later on, or maybe just not spec meleeD and just be spec'd life and dagger. the possibilities are endless. katusa *could* serve as my melee and xbow mix, tho so this might be a moot point.
i like xbow, but as the primary weapon on a toon, it seems like a waste. it's nice in a handfull of situations (like drawing a target by hitting it for 50 points of damage) but in all i would rather just have xbow as a secondary skill on a tank melee. it hits harder than bow dows, but is very slow. it burns major stamina and it sucks to watch monsters chew on you while you reload. so i rerolled wendigo. right now he's just a mule to hold stuff until i can get another project complete.
shikomi zue, the sword tank pushing XP for tinka has also gotten a bit dull. he seems like sort of a waste since i have played his template a hundred times before and i feel no real attachment to him at all. so i decided to roll a couple of projects in to one:
first, i would like to have a melee tank that can also use a crossbow. i have often looked at the soldier class, the stock template from turbine. it's basically an item only tank axer with xbow trained. plus i like the title, and it would be fitting with his true purpose, to serve and support tinka, who serves the rest of the family. so i deleted shikomi and rolled katusa (the word for soldiers in the army of south korea, tho i have no idea how to spell it correctly) loyalty isn't spec'd at start with this template, so i will have to wait until later to spec it. i am not sure what else to take with him, perhaps lockpick since he is sort of a jack of all trades, and that would essentially make him wendigo with an axe. i want to use him to gather salvage, so i took weapon tinkering with him as well. he has done well so far, i have him at 18th level now, with out powerlevelling, and he has pushed nearly 300k in xp to tinka.
i gave him the standard issue explorer gear to hit 20th in... full suit of explorer armor, explorer buckler and explorer xbow. i will probably get him a quested/crafted axe of some kind as well. the theme is still in keeping the the original pusher: hunting and leveling to pass XP to tinka, gathering salvage and doing quests for items. once4 i get him high enough to hunt in a place with cool lewt, i will consider his project to be complete.
this leaves me with a free slot to roll another toon. i had this vison of two toons that i have had issues seeing to completion:
my original desire was for two dagger toons: one tank with xbow and lockpick (a super tank who is useful on quests) and a 3school life+dagger tank, able to play the mage or tank role, but also having skills to support others. so far ratspike is 75% of both goals... he is 3 schooled, so he is able to buff himself and others, and he has lockpick. rat doesn't have xbow, and is not spec'd life magic. i am not sure how to meet the two goals with only one character, at least not until like 100th level. i have tried the life dagger toon in the past, i have had two iterations named vampira hope. perhaps i can get xbow on ratspike in time, and roll vampira again. both of them will need mad levels to be template complete. perhaps i can have her be my life archer instead of shiki, and spec dagger later on, or maybe just not spec meleeD and just be spec'd life and dagger. the possibilities are endless. katusa *could* serve as my melee and xbow mix, tho so this might be a moot point.
Monday, September 13, 2004
elysa's disfavor
i am in the process of mving the majority of my crew to 50th level. the free levels given out by turbine are a big help.
part of the move is shoring up the weaknesses some of my characters have with their templates. one handy way to add a little power to someone who is lacking in some aspect, is to use an item with a minor on it. majors and minors stack with buffs, so even 3 schoolers can feel the love.
hwa is lacking in strength, and so i want to give him the elysa's favor that janus has, with a minor strength buff. janus uses it only partially for the strength buff, her interest is the lifegiver buff. she is a martyr mage, so her attack spells (drains and lifebolts) are powered by health. it would be nice to replace the item with an endurance buff.
when i rolled hwa, he couldn't afford to be that extreme, so i favored coordination and self since he was going to need mana, weapon skill and meleeD above all else. now that he is older, and fleshed out a little more, i am going to favor strength and focus a bit more and possibly dump quickness and MeleeD all together.
the elysa's favor quest is pretty easy, a tank in his 30's should be able solo it with level 7 buffs, and a level 40+ should be able to complete it solo with his or her own buffs. the quest is full of hollows, so i wouldn't bother with a toon that isn't spec'd meleeD. life protects and banes are worthless against hollows, so fighting them is a challenge regardelss of your level. the final dungeon is a madhouse for spawning, so if you are going solo, bring *tons* of stamina potions.
i did the quest twice this weekend, once with leslea hope, my grief sword tank and once with ratspike, my 3school dagger tank, and was rewarded with focus and armor versions, but not the endurance version i was seeking. leslea ran out of potions and died in the final dungeon, while ratspike was able to recall out to relative safety when his potion suplly ran out. i had pyung on deck to complete it as well, but i decided to try trading for the endurance version instead since i could conceivably be doing this quest for the rest of my life. i will trade the armor version and give ratspike the focus version as he would benefit most by it.
UPDATE: someone in my clan was able to provide an endurance version for me and i will equip janus with it shortly. i may need to cheat some with hwa to get his favor equipped since he doesn't have lore trained.
part of the move is shoring up the weaknesses some of my characters have with their templates. one handy way to add a little power to someone who is lacking in some aspect, is to use an item with a minor on it. majors and minors stack with buffs, so even 3 schoolers can feel the love.
hwa is lacking in strength, and so i want to give him the elysa's favor that janus has, with a minor strength buff. janus uses it only partially for the strength buff, her interest is the lifegiver buff. she is a martyr mage, so her attack spells (drains and lifebolts) are powered by health. it would be nice to replace the item with an endurance buff.
when i rolled hwa, he couldn't afford to be that extreme, so i favored coordination and self since he was going to need mana, weapon skill and meleeD above all else. now that he is older, and fleshed out a little more, i am going to favor strength and focus a bit more and possibly dump quickness and MeleeD all together.
the elysa's favor quest is pretty easy, a tank in his 30's should be able solo it with level 7 buffs, and a level 40+ should be able to complete it solo with his or her own buffs. the quest is full of hollows, so i wouldn't bother with a toon that isn't spec'd meleeD. life protects and banes are worthless against hollows, so fighting them is a challenge regardelss of your level. the final dungeon is a madhouse for spawning, so if you are going solo, bring *tons* of stamina potions.
i did the quest twice this weekend, once with leslea hope, my grief sword tank and once with ratspike, my 3school dagger tank, and was rewarded with focus and armor versions, but not the endurance version i was seeking. leslea ran out of potions and died in the final dungeon, while ratspike was able to recall out to relative safety when his potion suplly ran out. i had pyung on deck to complete it as well, but i decided to try trading for the endurance version instead since i could conceivably be doing this quest for the rest of my life. i will trade the armor version and give ratspike the focus version as he would benefit most by it.
UPDATE: someone in my clan was able to provide an endurance version for me and i will equip janus with it shortly. i may need to cheat some with hwa to get his favor equipped since he doesn't have lore trained.
Friday, September 10, 2004
to Dee or not to Dee
so i am grappling with the decisions i have made for hwa rang.
i know his starting stats are straight gimpin, and i am trying to fix that, but i am not sure what to do about his choice of melee weapon. he was just trained UA, and with is low strength, he was not much of a force to be reckoned with in the damage department. that is fine, since he uses imperils, vulns and debuffs to knock things don to his level and increase his damage.
while his magic skills are coming along nicely, he is still lacking in the damage department. my first step was to dump the XP he had in UA and train spear. that, backed with tossing a few points into strength, should improve his damage a bit. i have hunted him a bit and he is now able to hit for double damage without an imperil, and for 50 points a shot after a full set of debuffs.
this is good, but not great. i need to either specialize a weapon so that he can land more hits, or take a weapon that will let him oneshot creatures. this is why i have been contemplating just dumping meleeD all together, and pulling the points out of quickness to add to strength. with the extra skill credits he could spec a weapon like mace or axe to do the most damage. he can land drains on lots of things now, so he should be able to live without meleeD. i may have to bump his endurnace and stamina a bit to compensate for hitting at full power.
i would like to do axe instead of mace. axes are generall lighter than maces, and therefore use less stamina. hwa is lacking a bit in the strength department, even once but that would leave me with three axers (moy, kats, and now hwa). this is compounded by the fact that moy and hwa are pretty similar templatewise. i will fix that by taking sword on moy. he started as a sword back in the day, and around 60th he will have it again.
i know his starting stats are straight gimpin, and i am trying to fix that, but i am not sure what to do about his choice of melee weapon. he was just trained UA, and with is low strength, he was not much of a force to be reckoned with in the damage department. that is fine, since he uses imperils, vulns and debuffs to knock things don to his level and increase his damage.
while his magic skills are coming along nicely, he is still lacking in the damage department. my first step was to dump the XP he had in UA and train spear. that, backed with tossing a few points into strength, should improve his damage a bit. i have hunted him a bit and he is now able to hit for double damage without an imperil, and for 50 points a shot after a full set of debuffs.
this is good, but not great. i need to either specialize a weapon so that he can land more hits, or take a weapon that will let him oneshot creatures. this is why i have been contemplating just dumping meleeD all together, and pulling the points out of quickness to add to strength. with the extra skill credits he could spec a weapon like mace or axe to do the most damage. he can land drains on lots of things now, so he should be able to live without meleeD. i may have to bump his endurnace and stamina a bit to compensate for hitting at full power.
i would like to do axe instead of mace. axes are generall lighter than maces, and therefore use less stamina. hwa is lacking a bit in the strength department, even once but that would leave me with three axers (moy, kats, and now hwa). this is compounded by the fact that moy and hwa are pretty similar templatewise. i will fix that by taking sword on moy. he started as a sword back in the day, and around 60th he will have it again.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
pandemonium on the plateau
so i finally got a chance to hook up with nom and opti in game, for the first time in like a month.
we were milling around, i didn't want to drag everyone on a quest that i should be doing, solo and opti decided we should do raeta's necklace. had one that pandy gave me when i first started, and i gave it to a guy who had issues with healing. this was going to be easy, except that the tumerok dude had moved to a new location. that meant wandering around until we finally broke down and checked maggies to do the stupid quest. once we found him it was smooth sailing. we were at least 50 levels higher than all of the mosters in the dungeon, and we had a level 126 mage, so we were proabably pretty safe there.
then we had the brilliant idea to do the refulgent bracelet quest, only with two twists:
1) i would lead the quest
2) i would not have any preparation, not even knowing the name of the quest
so we set off for the plateau with crimson hellkite in tow, a level 100+. this puts us at 1 level 51, one level 56, one level 100+ and opti who is like level 140. we need to find the cultist shrine to begin the quest. this proved to be a challenge in itself since i can never find any sort of random spawn EVER.
so after wandering around for an hour the four of decide to split into two teams, one 50somethign matched with one 100something. this is cool, and rath and i continue our search. as we are racing about, more and more critters becgin chasing us and the lag is building up. soon i make a wrong turn and rath and i are separated. the entire plateau is chasing me now, including swarm nobles and other nasties. i get to a cliff of somce kind and i jump. since i survived, i figured i hadn't jumped off the plateau. as soon as i get free, ki and opti say they have found the shrine.
all i need to do is find a way round the mountains that i jumped off of and rejoin the group. after like 30 minutes of trying to find a way back up i figure that i had in fact jumped off the plateau and lived to tell the tale. now the big buffs that opti put on me are gone, and i have to recall to the lifestone and make the run to the plateau drop from rithwic.
to save time, since the whole group has been waiting for a half hour on me, i decide to just run to the coords for the shrine unbuffed. this isn't as crazy as it sounds since he has a set of 350 al bug armor and i wasn't planning on standing still. i came running for the group and right into a pack of eviscerators. with 4 of them on my my last use of me healing kit went and i ate it less than a click from the shrine.
so opti meets me at the platue drop and buffs me, i grab my bod and head for the shrine and we are inside within minutes, no thanks to me.
then we run around for hours trying to figure out the doors and crap. we finally just give up and log out right there, vowing to continue the next night.
the next night is even worse punishment. we can't find a missing phase of the lever hell, and ki and i both die at least once apiece. for some stupid reason i kept going... it was utterly miserable.
so cool as it is to "lead" (i wouldn't call it leading so much as being the final word on where the scrambling should be done) i think i would rahter just support a well run, and thruoughly prepared quest. and i won't be doing any quests i can't solo for some time.
we were milling around, i didn't want to drag everyone on a quest that i should be doing, solo and opti decided we should do raeta's necklace. had one that pandy gave me when i first started, and i gave it to a guy who had issues with healing. this was going to be easy, except that the tumerok dude had moved to a new location. that meant wandering around until we finally broke down and checked maggies to do the stupid quest. once we found him it was smooth sailing. we were at least 50 levels higher than all of the mosters in the dungeon, and we had a level 126 mage, so we were proabably pretty safe there.
then we had the brilliant idea to do the refulgent bracelet quest, only with two twists:
1) i would lead the quest
2) i would not have any preparation, not even knowing the name of the quest
so we set off for the plateau with crimson hellkite in tow, a level 100+. this puts us at 1 level 51, one level 56, one level 100+ and opti who is like level 140. we need to find the cultist shrine to begin the quest. this proved to be a challenge in itself since i can never find any sort of random spawn EVER.
so after wandering around for an hour the four of decide to split into two teams, one 50somethign matched with one 100something. this is cool, and rath and i continue our search. as we are racing about, more and more critters becgin chasing us and the lag is building up. soon i make a wrong turn and rath and i are separated. the entire plateau is chasing me now, including swarm nobles and other nasties. i get to a cliff of somce kind and i jump. since i survived, i figured i hadn't jumped off the plateau. as soon as i get free, ki and opti say they have found the shrine.
all i need to do is find a way round the mountains that i jumped off of and rejoin the group. after like 30 minutes of trying to find a way back up i figure that i had in fact jumped off the plateau and lived to tell the tale. now the big buffs that opti put on me are gone, and i have to recall to the lifestone and make the run to the plateau drop from rithwic.
to save time, since the whole group has been waiting for a half hour on me, i decide to just run to the coords for the shrine unbuffed. this isn't as crazy as it sounds since he has a set of 350 al bug armor and i wasn't planning on standing still. i came running for the group and right into a pack of eviscerators. with 4 of them on my my last use of me healing kit went and i ate it less than a click from the shrine.
so opti meets me at the platue drop and buffs me, i grab my bod and head for the shrine and we are inside within minutes, no thanks to me.
then we run around for hours trying to figure out the doors and crap. we finally just give up and log out right there, vowing to continue the next night.
the next night is even worse punishment. we can't find a missing phase of the lever hell, and ki and i both die at least once apiece. for some stupid reason i kept going... it was utterly miserable.
so cool as it is to "lead" (i wouldn't call it leading so much as being the final word on where the scrambling should be done) i think i would rahter just support a well run, and thruoughly prepared quest. and i won't be doing any quests i can't solo for some time.
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