My guildies want me to play Wrath of the Lick King, and I'm still undecided.
I suppose, I need to research how paladin + shaman plays out.
I know I can't play just 1 account.
So how many account should I play?
What is enough to do contents late at night past midnight?
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, December 19, 2008
Just Travian
I've just been playing Travian and not much DoTa.
I still have City of Heroes on trial.
Also a little bit of Wii Brawl.
I still have City of Heroes on trial.
Also a little bit of Wii Brawl.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Dota and Travian
That's all I've been playing lately. And a little bit of Wii.
I've also gotten back into reading.
My current book list is Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy.
I finished reading Assassin's Apprentice over the Thanksgiving weekend and into last night while I was home sick Monday and Tuesday. The book was an easy read and it was a great story.
I started reading the 2nd book, Royal Assassin.
As for Travian, I started Village 14 and working towards a goal of:
10k Phalanx, 4k Druidriders, and 10k Swordsman.
And while I research Rams to level 20 and build up Village 13 & 14 to full production to feed my capital.
I've also gotten back into reading.
My current book list is Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy.
I finished reading Assassin's Apprentice over the Thanksgiving weekend and into last night while I was home sick Monday and Tuesday. The book was an easy read and it was a great story.
I started reading the 2nd book, Royal Assassin.
As for Travian, I started Village 14 and working towards a goal of:
10k Phalanx, 4k Druidriders, and 10k Swordsman.
And while I research Rams to level 20 and build up Village 13 & 14 to full production to feed my capital.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
No more MMO for me
I canceled my 2 Warhammer Online accounts a few weeks ago. So I played it for the first free 30 days plus a month subscription. I was bored levelling by the time I hit Rank 27 of 40. I did not even see Tier 4!
My 5th World of Warcraft account officially expires in 3 days since I used a 60-day pre-paid card to activate it. I only managed to get a level 60 and a level 45.
The expansion Wrath of the Lich King was released a few week ago, but I did buy it, or re-activate some of my account.
Instead, I've been playing Defender's of the Ancient (DOTA) map for Warcraft 3.
I've also been playing on travian.com server 2. I took over the Mjv account, and gave my Sanctume account in the process. I've been playing with Sunder alliance (or World's Best Bacon by Sunder) WBBS. WBB are veteran players of travian that Sunder hooked up with.
Travian is free, or can cost if you want more out of it. It is a casual game, and can also be time consuming. It is like Sim City with real time war and diplomacy.
My 5th World of Warcraft account officially expires in 3 days since I used a 60-day pre-paid card to activate it. I only managed to get a level 60 and a level 45.
The expansion Wrath of the Lich King was released a few week ago, but I did buy it, or re-activate some of my account.
Instead, I've been playing Defender's of the Ancient (DOTA) map for Warcraft 3.
I've also been playing on travian.com server 2. I took over the Mjv account, and gave my Sanctume account in the process. I've been playing with Sunder alliance (or World's Best Bacon by Sunder) WBBS. WBB are veteran players of travian that Sunder hooked up with.
Travian is free, or can cost if you want more out of it. It is a casual game, and can also be time consuming. It is like Sim City with real time war and diplomacy.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Rank 27
Yeah, I hit Rank 27 2 nights ago, and I only max my Influence for Chapter 14 last night. I also spent some time re-spec into Khaine on my Swordmaster and my current gear is not working with it because I am mostly Toughness gear.
I also tried Vaul to get Vaul's buffer, but then again, my weapon and gear is low dps to take on a tanking mastery.
So, I end up going back to Hoeth which works for what I do, mostly pulling 4+ mobs at a time using a 2-Hand great sword.
I also tried Vaul to get Vaul's buffer, but then again, my weapon and gear is low dps to take on a tanking mastery.
So, I end up going back to Hoeth which works for what I do, mostly pulling 4+ mobs at a time using a 2-Hand great sword.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Rank 26
I've been just following my list of Influence grind and managed to get to Rank 26 and currently doing Highelf Chapter 14 area. I will need to update my list soon.
I was doing Dwarf Chapter 14 killing 4 to 8 Black Orcs at a time that are Rank 28 to Rank 30.
Semihrage is Hoeth spec and uses Gusting Wind a lot.
I re-spec Nynaeave for Rune of Battle pulsing damage buff.
I was doing Dwarf Chapter 14 killing 4 to 8 Black Orcs at a time that are Rank 28 to Rank 30.
Semihrage is Hoeth spec and uses Gusting Wind a lot.
I re-spec Nynaeave for Rune of Battle pulsing damage buff.
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Swordmaster's Way
At Rank 23
Phantom's Blade (Buff)
(23) All your melee attacks a 25% chance to activate a shield that absorbs up to 210 damage over 10 seconds.
Morales:
R1 Demolishing Strike
R2 Wings of Heaven.
R3 Bladeshield.
R4 Immaculate Defense
Tactics:
Ensorcelled Agony
Rugged
Winds' Force
Vaul's Buffer
Rugged
(23) Increases Toughness by 92.
Ensorcelled Agony
(23) Ensorcelled Blow will now cause an additional 115 Spiritual damage over 5 seconds.
Winds' Force
Gusting Wind's area of effect is increased to 30 feet
Ensorcelled Blow (Hex)
(23) A quick precision slash that calls out the enchantment in your blade dealing 70 Spirit damage.
Gusting Wind (Damaging)
(23) You execute a quick spin rending the air around you and producing a magical shockwave that which deals 82 damage to all opponents within 10 feet of you.
Rotation:
Taunt
Ensorcelled Blow
Intimidating Blow (Or Eagle's Flight vs. Melee)
Dragon's Talon (or Crushing Wave when you feel it's needed).
Gusting Winds when I have a ton of melee on me.
Intimidating Blow (Hex)
(23) An overpowering strike that deals 116 damage and decreases your opponent's morale by 100.
Eagle's Flight (Buff)
(23) A guarded strike that deals 93 damage and improves your chance to parry by 25% for 5 seconds.
Dragon's Talon (Hex)
(23) You release two rending blows that deal 70 Spirit damage each, crippling your target for 4 seconds and reducing the damage they deal with every attack by 20%.
Crashing Wave (Debuff)
You launch two powerful blows dealing a total of 224 Spirit damage and knocking your opponent down for 3 seconds.
Phantom's Blade (Buff)
(23) All your melee attacks a 25% chance to activate a shield that absorbs up to 210 damage over 10 seconds.
Morales:
R1 Demolishing Strike
R2 Wings of Heaven.
R3 Bladeshield.
R4 Immaculate Defense
Tactics:
Ensorcelled Agony
Rugged
Winds' Force
Vaul's Buffer
Rugged
(23) Increases Toughness by 92.
Ensorcelled Agony
(23) Ensorcelled Blow will now cause an additional 115 Spiritual damage over 5 seconds.
Winds' Force
Gusting Wind's area of effect is increased to 30 feet
Ensorcelled Blow (Hex)
(23) A quick precision slash that calls out the enchantment in your blade dealing 70 Spirit damage.
Gusting Wind (Damaging)
(23) You execute a quick spin rending the air around you and producing a magical shockwave that which deals 82 damage to all opponents within 10 feet of you.
Rotation:
Taunt
Ensorcelled Blow
Intimidating Blow (Or Eagle's Flight vs. Melee)
Dragon's Talon (or Crushing Wave when you feel it's needed).
Gusting Winds when I have a ton of melee on me.
Intimidating Blow (Hex)
(23) An overpowering strike that deals 116 damage and decreases your opponent's morale by 100.
Eagle's Flight (Buff)
(23) A guarded strike that deals 93 damage and improves your chance to parry by 25% for 5 seconds.
Dragon's Talon (Hex)
(23) You release two rending blows that deal 70 Spirit damage each, crippling your target for 4 seconds and reducing the damage they deal with every attack by 20%.
Crashing Wave (Debuff)
You launch two powerful blows dealing a total of 224 Spirit damage and knocking your opponent down for 3 seconds.
Cycle in Leveling + Power Level Notes
Cycle in Leveling + Power Level Notes
It's a cycle in this game. It sucks, then it's fun.
Being low ranks eligible to join the current tier = food for the higher tier.
In tier 1, it was fun and fast to level. A few Nordland scenarios, and you're Rank 4, 6 and closing to 8 in one evening. It's relatively easy to get to Rank 9, 10 and 11 and enjoy the rank advantage in Tier 1 scenarios.
Then in Tier 2, it's noticeable how Rank 12s get eaten up by a Rank 20s. The rank difference is stacked to the higher players Even the xp gains in the scenario benefits the higher levels more.
The Renown weapons from R9 sucked by Rank 12 and weapon upgrade is available at Rank 14. So the next best alternative is to grind Influence some decent upgrades. The problem is, same Rank Champion/Hero packs is tough, so I end up doing 1 Chapter below, or just grind the first phase 4 or 5 times until max influence.
The fast queues in Tier 2 was a saving grace to reach Rank 21+. It was more time efficient to hang out in Marsh of Madness and complete repeatable scenario and kill enemy quests for 2900 xp.
At Rank 20 and 21, I was getting around 5%-7% xp and renown for every win--that's with the 2900 xp from the 2 repeatable scenarion/kill quests.
Being Rank 19+ was a huge advantage also due to the RR weapon and gear upgrades available.
But by then, after nearing 80+ Mourkain Temple scenarios, it too feels like a sucky grind. Sure there are 2 other Tier 2 scenarrio, but the xp gains was not as good as Mourkain, and the queue is slower.
So now that I'm Tier 3, I plan to grind a few Influence gear upgrades before I hit the scenarios around Rank 28. But damn, influence grinds are just teh suck.
Power Level Notes
I rolled a Witch Hunter.
I had my 22 Rune Priest followed, and ungrouped.
- Buy +str +weapon +initiative from Auction House
- But Talisman and +Strength potion from Auction House
- The Kill Quest works by having my WH do the killing blow. This means if the mob is dotted by my RP and it died from the dot, my WH will not get kill credit even if the WH tagged the mob. It is faster to group with the RP and kill the needed mobs.
Chapter 1 Influence Grind went fast because it was just my 2 and 1 other noob. I had to do Chapter 1 PQ twice to max influence.
Chapter 2 Influence Grind went fairly fast also even with a few noobs leeching. The Rune Priest does ok AoE. Run around dotting every Rank 4 mobs, then 2 AoEs.
Chapter 3 Influence Grind was slow, and I could not kill the Rank 7 Hero spider because it kept spawning Rank 7 spiderlings that ate thru my shield and hots that I did not have enough AP to do damage. The extra spawns too kept agroing on my lowbie WH.
The best was to deal with it was have the WH solo mobs in Phase 1 for 100 Influence each.
- Any heals done to WH does not take away from the 100 infuence.
- When grouped, influence is split 50-50, but zeri xp for the WH.
- When not grouped and RP does damage, influence is split by damage, and xp gained on the Wh who tagged the mob is less also.
- Between bubble + 2 hots, my WH can kill. The only time savingw in this method is there is no downtime for healing. The WH still have to pause to get some AP back before pulling the next spider--and moving to the next spawn location.
- Having a high level healer follow along definitely makes questing go fast.
- I found some spots where there are fast spawns that might be a good candidate for AoE; but still, the kill rate depends on the lower character being power levelled.
Being low ranks eligible to join the current tier = food for the higher tier.
In tier 1, it was fun and fast to level. A few Nordland scenarios, and you're Rank 4, 6 and closing to 8 in one evening. It's relatively easy to get to Rank 9, 10 and 11 and enjoy the rank advantage in Tier 1 scenarios.
Then in Tier 2, it's noticeable how Rank 12s get eaten up by a Rank 20s. The rank difference is stacked to the higher players Even the xp gains in the scenario benefits the higher levels more.
The Renown weapons from R9 sucked by Rank 12 and weapon upgrade is available at Rank 14. So the next best alternative is to grind Influence some decent upgrades. The problem is, same Rank Champion/Hero packs is tough, so I end up doing 1 Chapter below, or just grind the first phase 4 or 5 times until max influence.
The fast queues in Tier 2 was a saving grace to reach Rank 21+. It was more time efficient to hang out in Marsh of Madness and complete repeatable scenario and kill enemy quests for 2900 xp.
At Rank 20 and 21, I was getting around 5%-7% xp and renown for every win--that's with the 2900 xp from the 2 repeatable scenarion/kill quests.
Being Rank 19+ was a huge advantage also due to the RR weapon and gear upgrades available.
But by then, after nearing 80+ Mourkain Temple scenarios, it too feels like a sucky grind. Sure there are 2 other Tier 2 scenarrio, but the xp gains was not as good as Mourkain, and the queue is slower.
So now that I'm Tier 3, I plan to grind a few Influence gear upgrades before I hit the scenarios around Rank 28. But damn, influence grinds are just teh suck.
Power Level Notes
I rolled a Witch Hunter.
I had my 22 Rune Priest followed, and ungrouped.
- Buy +str +weapon +initiative from Auction House
- But Talisman and +Strength potion from Auction House
- The Kill Quest works by having my WH do the killing blow. This means if the mob is dotted by my RP and it died from the dot, my WH will not get kill credit even if the WH tagged the mob. It is faster to group with the RP and kill the needed mobs.
Chapter 1 Influence Grind went fast because it was just my 2 and 1 other noob. I had to do Chapter 1 PQ twice to max influence.
Chapter 2 Influence Grind went fairly fast also even with a few noobs leeching. The Rune Priest does ok AoE. Run around dotting every Rank 4 mobs, then 2 AoEs.
Chapter 3 Influence Grind was slow, and I could not kill the Rank 7 Hero spider because it kept spawning Rank 7 spiderlings that ate thru my shield and hots that I did not have enough AP to do damage. The extra spawns too kept agroing on my lowbie WH.
The best was to deal with it was have the WH solo mobs in Phase 1 for 100 Influence each.
- Any heals done to WH does not take away from the 100 infuence.
- When grouped, influence is split 50-50, but zeri xp for the WH.
- When not grouped and RP does damage, influence is split by damage, and xp gained on the Wh who tagged the mob is less also.
- Between bubble + 2 hots, my WH can kill. The only time savingw in this method is there is no downtime for healing. The WH still have to pause to get some AP back before pulling the next spider--and moving to the next spawn location.
- Having a high level healer follow along definitely makes questing go fast.
- I found some spots where there are fast spawns that might be a good candidate for AoE; but still, the kill rate depends on the lower character being power levelled.
WAR - Alternates Galore
I missed Tier 2 when my 2-box team was in the front lines taking advantage of their level at Rank 20 and 21.
But at Rank 22, now 23, my low level is mostly food for the bigger fishes in Tier 3. So, once again, leveling feels like a slow grind. I only managed to do quests in the Highelf land obtaining maximum influence in Chapter 10.
I then moved to Empire Chapter 11 in Highpass zone.
In between this grind, I managed to roll 2 Shadow Warriors to Rank 6, power levelled a Witch Hunter to Rank 7 also.
I tried 3-boxing using a friend's Rune Priest, but I got my main laptop to crash everytime in form the group. I isolated the issue with a macro where I invited over 7 names. Some of the names are other alt characters in my accounts. Either I had too many people invited in the macro, or there was an empty line after the /invites. I had to reboot the machine around 10 when I gave up the 3-box. By the time I fixed the issue, I was back 2-boxing.
The power level of the Witch Hunter with a 22 Rune Priest tagging along was kinda ok. I got Chapter 1 and 2 influence--doing AoE with the Rune Priest versus Rank 4 mobs. In Empire Chapter 3, my Rune Priest died 3x before I gave up fighting a Rank 7 hero spider. What sucked was this mob created more normal Rank 7 spiderlings that ate at my Shield + 2x Heal Over Time, while I run out of Action Points to do damage. Plus the adds agro on the Witch Hunter that I had to spend time micro-managing heals and attacks.
I actually played a bit of DotA for some needed change of pace and fun. There is a new dota map 6.55b with 2 new heroes; and bigger map tweaking.
But at Rank 22, now 23, my low level is mostly food for the bigger fishes in Tier 3. So, once again, leveling feels like a slow grind. I only managed to do quests in the Highelf land obtaining maximum influence in Chapter 10.
I then moved to Empire Chapter 11 in Highpass zone.
In between this grind, I managed to roll 2 Shadow Warriors to Rank 6, power levelled a Witch Hunter to Rank 7 also.
I tried 3-boxing using a friend's Rune Priest, but I got my main laptop to crash everytime in form the group. I isolated the issue with a macro where I invited over 7 names. Some of the names are other alt characters in my accounts. Either I had too many people invited in the macro, or there was an empty line after the /invites. I had to reboot the machine around 10 when I gave up the 3-box. By the time I fixed the issue, I was back 2-boxing.
The power level of the Witch Hunter with a 22 Rune Priest tagging along was kinda ok. I got Chapter 1 and 2 influence--doing AoE with the Rune Priest versus Rank 4 mobs. In Empire Chapter 3, my Rune Priest died 3x before I gave up fighting a Rank 7 hero spider. What sucked was this mob created more normal Rank 7 spiderlings that ate at my Shield + 2x Heal Over Time, while I run out of Action Points to do damage. Plus the adds agro on the Witch Hunter that I had to spend time micro-managing heals and attacks.
I actually played a bit of DotA for some needed change of pace and fun. There is a new dota map 6.55b with 2 new heroes; and bigger map tweaking.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
WAR - Rank 20 - 28 Plans
I hit Rank 20 on Semihrage and Nynaeave 2 nights ago. I played a few T2 Mourkain Temple last night only.
I end up installing WAR on my 3rd computer, but does not run in portrait monitor mode, so I need to adjust my desktop arrangement again.
My plan is to get to Rank 22 via Mourkain Temple grind. Then I will work on doing PvE Influence gear in the low 20s until Rank 26 or 28 before I play in the T3 scenario.
10.09.2008 Plan Rank 20 - 28
Semihrage, Swordmaster
Gear Objective: Tanking
Gear Weight: Toughness (1.2) + Wounds + Initiative (0.75) + Weapon Skill (0.25)
Nynaeave, Rune Priest
Gear Objective: PvP Healing
Gear Weight: Will Power (1.2) + Toughness (1.1) + Wound + Initiative (0.9)
Rank 20
Highelf Ch 10
NPC: Cirribhir Strongwing @ Avelorn (north center)
(1) +3 Toughness Talisman
(2) - RP Boots
(3) - RP Gloves
(2) - SM Boots
(3) - SM Gloves
Rank 21
R21/RR14 - SM Boots
Rank 22
Empire Ch 11
NPC: Grizela Hirtzel @ Highpass (center, north-east, inside tower)
(1) +3 Strength / Willpower Talisman
(2) - RP Boots
(3) - RP Body
(2) - SM Boots
(3) - SM Shoulder
Rank 24
R24/RR16 - SM 1H Sword
Empire Ch 12
NPC: Konrad Riese @ Highpass (center, south, east)
(2) - RP Shoulder
(3) - RP junk
(2) - SM Gloves
(3) - SM Shield
Dwarf Ch 12
NPC: Varmir Proudrock @ Black Fire Pass (south-east, south)
(2) - RP junk
(3) - RP Staff
(2) - Shoulder
(3) - SM 2H Sword
Rank 25
R25/RR17 - SM Body
Rank 26
R26/RR18 - SM Boots
Dwarf Ch 13
NPC: Dunhilda Grodrikson @ The Badlands (center, north)
(2) - RP Cape
(3) - RP Helm
(2) - Cape
(3) - SM Helm
Rank 27
Highelf Ch 14
NPC: Menuhil Fargaze @ Saphery (south-east, east)
(2) - RP junk
(3) - RP Body
(3) - SM Boody
Dwarf Ch 14
NPC: Athran Ironbreard @ The Badlands (center, north-east, north)
(2) - RP Boots
(3) - RP Ring
(2) - SM Helm or Shoulder
(3) - SM 2H Sword or Ring
I end up installing WAR on my 3rd computer, but does not run in portrait monitor mode, so I need to adjust my desktop arrangement again.
My plan is to get to Rank 22 via Mourkain Temple grind. Then I will work on doing PvE Influence gear in the low 20s until Rank 26 or 28 before I play in the T3 scenario.
10.09.2008 Plan Rank 20 - 28
Semihrage, Swordmaster
Gear Objective: Tanking
Gear Weight: Toughness (1.2) + Wounds + Initiative (0.75) + Weapon Skill (0.25)
Nynaeave, Rune Priest
Gear Objective: PvP Healing
Gear Weight: Will Power (1.2) + Toughness (1.1) + Wound + Initiative (0.9)
Rank 20
Highelf Ch 10
NPC: Cirribhir Strongwing @ Avelorn (north center)
(1) +3 Toughness Talisman
(2) - RP Boots
(3) - RP Gloves
(2) - SM Boots
(3) - SM Gloves
Rank 21
R21/RR14 - SM Boots
Rank 22
Empire Ch 11
NPC: Grizela Hirtzel @ Highpass (center, north-east, inside tower)
(1) +3 Strength / Willpower Talisman
(2) - RP Boots
(3) - RP Body
(2) - SM Boots
(3) - SM Shoulder
Rank 24
R24/RR16 - SM 1H Sword
Empire Ch 12
NPC: Konrad Riese @ Highpass (center, south, east)
(2) - RP Shoulder
(3) - RP junk
(2) - SM Gloves
(3) - SM Shield
Dwarf Ch 12
NPC: Varmir Proudrock @ Black Fire Pass (south-east, south)
(2) - RP junk
(3) - RP Staff
(2) - Shoulder
(3) - SM 2H Sword
Rank 25
R25/RR17 - SM Body
Rank 26
R26/RR18 - SM Boots
Dwarf Ch 13
NPC: Dunhilda Grodrikson @ The Badlands (center, north)
(2) - RP Cape
(3) - RP Helm
(2) - Cape
(3) - SM Helm
Rank 27
Highelf Ch 14
NPC: Menuhil Fargaze @ Saphery (south-east, east)
(2) - RP junk
(3) - RP Body
(3) - SM Boody
Dwarf Ch 14
NPC: Athran Ironbreard @ The Badlands (center, north-east, north)
(2) - RP Boots
(3) - RP Ring
(2) - SM Helm or Shoulder
(3) - SM 2H Sword or Ring
Monday, October 6, 2008
WAR - Vortex Server
Well, it looks like The Cabal is staying in Vortex server, Order side for good.
I was feeling burnt out playing Ironbreaker + Rune Priest from beta, to Skull Throne, to Drakwald, and Azazel. So I was slow going in Vortex.
I actually started Rosie, a female dwarf IronBreaker with Rachelray a female dwarf Rune Priest for a non-commital test run in Votex to Rank 8 and 6. But when Vortex became official, I re-rolled to proper name characters.
So I then rolled Semihrage, a female high-elf Swordmaster with Moghedein, a femail high-elf Archmage. I got both of them to Rank 6. When I was not liking the Archmage's dynamics as a healer, I re-rolled Nynaeave, another female dwarf Rune Priest.
I think last Thursday, Semihrage was Rank 10 while Nynaeave was Rank 8. I then decided to grind Chapter 5 Influences until Nynaeave got to Rank 10.
Friday night and into Saturday, I got Nyna Eave to Rank 14, and Semihrage was Rank 16. When I let my son play for a bit, I solo played Semihrage into Rank 17.
On Sunday, I decided to solo play Nynaeave from Rank 14 to 18 solely on Morkain Temple T2 scenario. I then played a few games to get both to Rank 18.
I suppose I will push for Rank 20 this week just doing Morkain Temple. I am also thinking of grinding gear upgrades from Chapter 9 and 10 before hitting Rank 21.
I was feeling burnt out playing Ironbreaker + Rune Priest from beta, to Skull Throne, to Drakwald, and Azazel. So I was slow going in Vortex.
I actually started Rosie, a female dwarf IronBreaker with Rachelray a female dwarf Rune Priest for a non-commital test run in Votex to Rank 8 and 6. But when Vortex became official, I re-rolled to proper name characters.
So I then rolled Semihrage, a female high-elf Swordmaster with Moghedein, a femail high-elf Archmage. I got both of them to Rank 6. When I was not liking the Archmage's dynamics as a healer, I re-rolled Nynaeave, another female dwarf Rune Priest.
I think last Thursday, Semihrage was Rank 10 while Nynaeave was Rank 8. I then decided to grind Chapter 5 Influences until Nynaeave got to Rank 10.
Friday night and into Saturday, I got Nyna Eave to Rank 14, and Semihrage was Rank 16. When I let my son play for a bit, I solo played Semihrage into Rank 17.
On Sunday, I decided to solo play Nynaeave from Rank 14 to 18 solely on Morkain Temple T2 scenario. I then played a few games to get both to Rank 18.
I suppose I will push for Rank 20 this week just doing Morkain Temple. I am also thinking of grinding gear upgrades from Chapter 9 and 10 before hitting Rank 21.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
WAR - Sword Master
The Cabal, my guild moved and found a new server to play in. We're in Vortex playing Order.
As we goofed around last weekend testing out different servers for scenario queue times and server wait queue times, I made a female dwarf IB named Rosie and paired it with Rachelray, another female dwarf Rune Priest. I got them to Rank 8/7 but then when the guild announced that Vortex will be our home, I just had to reroll and not keep Rosie + Rachelray.
By this time, I felt burnt out playing IB, so I rolled Sword Master and Arch Mage combo. I'm not liking the Arch Mage for healing, so after Rank 6/5, I decided to re-roll a Rune Priest with my Sword Master.
Semihrage, Sword Master, Rank 10
Nynaeave, Rune Priest, Rank 9
Anyway, I wrote up a quick class review:
Rune Priests owns in healing bar none.
Rune Priest has the best means to spike/burst heals.
A Rune Priest can spec damage but it is still gimp damage, imo.
It sucks to solo as Rune Priest, and you will always hope there's a tank around to put Guard on you.
Ironbreaker is a solid tank class that can last in battle, and is capable to dish more damage the longer he's in the fight due to the Grudge mechanic.
There is no current mirror class for the IB, so he's a unique class for the Order.
The IB has more tools to protect one other character via Oath Friend mechanic. Abilities that increases Toughness, Armor, and Strength goes a long way for squishy class such as healers/casters.
Add the standard tank Guard ability, and some cc such as Snare, Knock Down, and Knock Back, an Ironbreaker + any healer can last.
Damage wise, Grudge points builds up during the fight to deal more damage. One of the most damaging combo is stripping the target's Armor by 75%, using an ability that ignores armor, and Taunt which does 30% damage for a few seconds.
Sword Masters is another tank but I did not play this class higher in the teens. From reading the SM's abilities, the mechanic revolved around stripping Spirit Resistance and dealing Spirit damage to a lot of targets.
The fighting mechanics on the SM is chain-based abilties, meaning Hit 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd finisher.
I'm currently playing the SM now after rolling 2 IBs in the mid teens, and one up to Rank 20. I can tell that the SM does more damage from the combo "chains" abilities.
At Tier 1 levels, I can mow down a squishy faster with a SM than I could with the IB simply because the combo chain does more damage, while the IB's early ability are more buffing (+Toughness, +Strength, +Armor) and a Grudge that does some Dot.
Warrior Priest I played back in beta and it looked good on paper to be paired with an Iron Breaker. The extra buffs from the IB's Oath Friend mechanic helps the Warrior Priest stay in battle so that his Heal Over Time works.
From my little experience with WP, being able to swing in battle allows you to use your damage and healing abilities most efficiently. But without a shield, a WP cannot last long in focus fire in the front lines.
A WP uses either a 2H Hammer, or a 1H with a book. The damage and healing abilities mirror the Disciple of Khaine, but the DoK dual wields.
As we goofed around last weekend testing out different servers for scenario queue times and server wait queue times, I made a female dwarf IB named Rosie and paired it with Rachelray, another female dwarf Rune Priest. I got them to Rank 8/7 but then when the guild announced that Vortex will be our home, I just had to reroll and not keep Rosie + Rachelray.
By this time, I felt burnt out playing IB, so I rolled Sword Master and Arch Mage combo. I'm not liking the Arch Mage for healing, so after Rank 6/5, I decided to re-roll a Rune Priest with my Sword Master.
Semihrage, Sword Master, Rank 10
Nynaeave, Rune Priest, Rank 9
Anyway, I wrote up a quick class review:
Rune Priests owns in healing bar none.
Rune Priest has the best means to spike/burst heals.
A Rune Priest can spec damage but it is still gimp damage, imo.
It sucks to solo as Rune Priest, and you will always hope there's a tank around to put Guard on you.
Ironbreaker is a solid tank class that can last in battle, and is capable to dish more damage the longer he's in the fight due to the Grudge mechanic.
There is no current mirror class for the IB, so he's a unique class for the Order.
The IB has more tools to protect one other character via Oath Friend mechanic. Abilities that increases Toughness, Armor, and Strength goes a long way for squishy class such as healers/casters.
Add the standard tank Guard ability, and some cc such as Snare, Knock Down, and Knock Back, an Ironbreaker + any healer can last.
Damage wise, Grudge points builds up during the fight to deal more damage. One of the most damaging combo is stripping the target's Armor by 75%, using an ability that ignores armor, and Taunt which does 30% damage for a few seconds.
Sword Masters is another tank but I did not play this class higher in the teens. From reading the SM's abilities, the mechanic revolved around stripping Spirit Resistance and dealing Spirit damage to a lot of targets.
The fighting mechanics on the SM is chain-based abilties, meaning Hit 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd finisher.
I'm currently playing the SM now after rolling 2 IBs in the mid teens, and one up to Rank 20. I can tell that the SM does more damage from the combo "chains" abilities.
At Tier 1 levels, I can mow down a squishy faster with a SM than I could with the IB simply because the combo chain does more damage, while the IB's early ability are more buffing (+Toughness, +Strength, +Armor) and a Grudge that does some Dot.
Warrior Priest I played back in beta and it looked good on paper to be paired with an Iron Breaker. The extra buffs from the IB's Oath Friend mechanic helps the Warrior Priest stay in battle so that his Heal Over Time works.
From my little experience with WP, being able to swing in battle allows you to use your damage and healing abilities most efficiently. But without a shield, a WP cannot last long in focus fire in the front lines.
A WP uses either a 2H Hammer, or a 1H with a book. The damage and healing abilities mirror the Disciple of Khaine, but the DoK dual wields.
Monday, September 29, 2008
WAR - Ironbreaker
Drakwald scenario queues sucked ass. I made Rank 16 Ironbreaker, and 15 Rune Priest over the weekend.
I went back to Skull Throne Sunday afternoon when queue was only a little. I only played scenario T2 Mourkain Mountain from Rank 18 to 20 on the Ironbreaker only. I bought my mount rolf-copter, then logged.
The guild is checking out Vortex, I got upto Rank 7 Ironbreaker mostly from scenario T1, and was doing Dwarf Ch 1 and Ch 2 while waiting in queue. I was also checking out Alchemy.
Anyway, I decided to list Renown & Influence gear using my Tanking formula:
Source CH INF/RR Rank IB TANK
Renown 2 2 Gloves 0.50
Renown 2 2 Body 6.80
Renown 2 2 Boots 4.80
Renown 4 6 Boots 8.40
Renown 4 7 Gloves 1.00
Renown 5 8 Shield 15.60
Renown 5 8 1H Axe 3.75
Renown 5 8 2H Axe 9.60
Renown 6 9 Body 16.80
Source CH INF/RR Rank Points
Renown 7 11 Boots 15.60
Renown 8 12 Gloves 1.50
Renown 9 13 Shoulder 21.20
Renown 9 14 1H Axe 2.25
Renown 9 14 2H Axe 0.00
Renown 9 14 Shield 16.80
Renown 9 14 Body 13.20
Source CH INF/RR Rank Points
Renown 11 16 Boots 22.80
Renown 11 17 Gloves 2.00
Renown 12 18 Shoulder 18.00
Renown 13 19 1H Axe 3.00
Renown 13 19 2H Axe 0.00
Renown 13 19 Shield 20.40
Renown 13 19 Helm 8.40
Renown 14 20 Body 20.40
Rank 10
Source CH INF/RR Rank TANK
Renown 5 8 1H Axe 15.60
Renown 5 8 2H Axe 1.50
Dwarf 5 2 10 Gloves 23.70
Dwarf 5 2 10 Boots 10.20
Dwarf 5 3 10 2H Axe 27.85
Dwarf 5 3 10 Body 5.25
Empire 5 2 10 Body 21.80
Empire 5 2 10 Boots 4.25
Empire 5 3 10 2H Axe 27.60
Empire 5 3 10 Gloves 20.10
Highelf 5 2 10 Shield 9.60
Highelf 5 2 10 Boots 2.25
Highelf 5 3 10 Body 22.85
Highelf 5 3 10 Gloves 25.35
Analysis: R1 to R10
Renown 5 8 Shield
Dwarf 5 2 10 Gloves
Dwarf 5 3 10 2H Axe
Empire 5 2 10 Body
Rank 11 to 12
Source CH INF/RR Rank TANK
Renown 7 11 Boots 15.60
Renown 8 12 Gloves 1.50
Dwarf 6 2 12 Body 23.70
Dwarf 6 2 12 Gloves 10.20
Dwarf 6 3 12 Shield 27.85
Dwarf 6 3 12 1H Axe 5.25
Empire 6 2 12 Shoulder 21.80
Empire 6 2 12 Gloves 4.25
Empire 6 3 12 2H Axe 27.60
Empire 6 3 12 Boots 20.10
Highelf 6 2 12 Belt 9.60
Highelf 6 2 12 Gloves 2.25
Highelf 6 3 12 Boots 22.85
Highelf 6 3 12 Shoulder 25.35
I went back to Skull Throne Sunday afternoon when queue was only a little. I only played scenario T2 Mourkain Mountain from Rank 18 to 20 on the Ironbreaker only. I bought my mount rolf-copter, then logged.
The guild is checking out Vortex, I got upto Rank 7 Ironbreaker mostly from scenario T1, and was doing Dwarf Ch 1 and Ch 2 while waiting in queue. I was also checking out Alchemy.
Anyway, I decided to list Renown & Influence gear using my Tanking formula:
Source CH INF/RR Rank IB TANK
Renown 2 2 Gloves 0.50
Renown 2 2 Body 6.80
Renown 2 2 Boots 4.80
Renown 4 6 Boots 8.40
Renown 4 7 Gloves 1.00
Renown 5 8 Shield 15.60
Renown 5 8 1H Axe 3.75
Renown 5 8 2H Axe 9.60
Renown 6 9 Body 16.80
Source CH INF/RR Rank Points
Renown 7 11 Boots 15.60
Renown 8 12 Gloves 1.50
Renown 9 13 Shoulder 21.20
Renown 9 14 1H Axe 2.25
Renown 9 14 2H Axe 0.00
Renown 9 14 Shield 16.80
Renown 9 14 Body 13.20
Source CH INF/RR Rank Points
Renown 11 16 Boots 22.80
Renown 11 17 Gloves 2.00
Renown 12 18 Shoulder 18.00
Renown 13 19 1H Axe 3.00
Renown 13 19 2H Axe 0.00
Renown 13 19 Shield 20.40
Renown 13 19 Helm 8.40
Renown 14 20 Body 20.40
Rank 10
Source CH INF/RR Rank TANK
Renown 5 8 1H Axe 15.60
Renown 5 8 2H Axe 1.50
Dwarf 5 2 10 Gloves 23.70
Dwarf 5 2 10 Boots 10.20
Dwarf 5 3 10 2H Axe 27.85
Dwarf 5 3 10 Body 5.25
Empire 5 2 10 Body 21.80
Empire 5 2 10 Boots 4.25
Empire 5 3 10 2H Axe 27.60
Empire 5 3 10 Gloves 20.10
Highelf 5 2 10 Shield 9.60
Highelf 5 2 10 Boots 2.25
Highelf 5 3 10 Body 22.85
Highelf 5 3 10 Gloves 25.35
Analysis: R1 to R10
Renown 5 8 Shield
Dwarf 5 2 10 Gloves
Dwarf 5 3 10 2H Axe
Empire 5 2 10 Body
Rank 11 to 12
Source CH INF/RR Rank TANK
Renown 7 11 Boots 15.60
Renown 8 12 Gloves 1.50
Dwarf 6 2 12 Body 23.70
Dwarf 6 2 12 Gloves 10.20
Dwarf 6 3 12 Shield 27.85
Dwarf 6 3 12 1H Axe 5.25
Empire 6 2 12 Shoulder 21.80
Empire 6 2 12 Gloves 4.25
Empire 6 3 12 2H Axe 27.60
Empire 6 3 12 Boots 20.10
Highelf 6 2 12 Belt 9.60
Highelf 6 2 12 Gloves 2.25
Highelf 6 3 12 Boots 22.85
Highelf 6 3 12 Shoulder 25.35
Friday, September 26, 2008
WAR Plans: Rank 10 to 20
Looking at the gear upgrades for the Chosen from Rank 10 to 20 using my formula item weight for tanking, I see that I need to break down into 2 ranges, Rank 10 to 16, and Rank 16 to 20.
The formula for me is 120% Toughness, 100% Wounds, 75% Initiative (Evade), 25% Weaponskill (Parry).
This means that there are items obtained in Rank 10 that serves the tanking purpose until a replacement can be obtained at Rank 16. And there are items in Rank 16 that will serve its purpose up to Rank 20.
I have not researched items (Renown Gear and Influence Rewards) for Rank 20 and up.
Since I have a list of tanking items I want to use, this helps define my content progression path to PvE levelling. If I can get all the items from Rank 16 and 18, this will make me well geared doing Tier 2 scenario and RvR.
Rank 10
1. Greenskin Ch 5 (2) Boots is best for R10 to R12.
Optional: Greenskin Ch 5 (3) 1H Axe is optional as DPS weapon.
Skip both Chaos and Darkelf Ch 5 grind since I am almost R11 and can start working on the Ch 6 area.
Rank 12
1. Chaos Ch 6 (2) Shoulder is best for R12 to R18
2. Greenskin Ch 6 (2) Body armor is best for R12 to R14. Skip influence level (3).
3. Darkelf Ch 6 (3) Gloves is best for R12 to R16.
Optional: Chaos Ch 6 (3) Belt is only good for 12 to 14.
Rank 14
1. R14 RR9 Shield is good for R14 to R16.
Optional: Darkelf Ch 7 1H Axe is the best for R14.
Optional: Greenskin Ch 7 (3) Belt is good only got R14 to 16.
If level is still needed, working on Darkelf is a better option.
Skip Chaos Ch 7.
Rank 16
1. Chaos Ch 8 (2) Body armor is the 2nd best for R16 to 20. No early Helm until R18--it's ok.
2. Chaos Ch 8 (3) Belt will be best for R16 to R20
3. DarkelfCh 8 (3) Gloves will be best for R16 to R20
Optional. Greenskin Ch 8 (3) Shield looks like has better Tanking stats for 8 less Block of the R19 RR13 Shield.
Rank 18
1. Chaos Ch 9 (2) Boots is the best choice
2. Chaos Ch 9 (3) Helm is the best choice over the (3) 1H Axe.
3. Greenskin Ch 9 (2) Shoulder is the best, Skip (3)
Skip Darkelf Ch 9.
Rank 19
1. R19 RR13 Shield offers higher Block, but less tanking stats that R18.
The formula for me is 120% Toughness, 100% Wounds, 75% Initiative (Evade), 25% Weaponskill (Parry).
This means that there are items obtained in Rank 10 that serves the tanking purpose until a replacement can be obtained at Rank 16. And there are items in Rank 16 that will serve its purpose up to Rank 20.
I have not researched items (Renown Gear and Influence Rewards) for Rank 20 and up.
Since I have a list of tanking items I want to use, this helps define my content progression path to PvE levelling. If I can get all the items from Rank 16 and 18, this will make me well geared doing Tier 2 scenario and RvR.
Rank 10
1. Greenskin Ch 5 (2) Boots is best for R10 to R12.
Optional: Greenskin Ch 5 (3) 1H Axe is optional as DPS weapon.
Skip both Chaos and Darkelf Ch 5 grind since I am almost R11 and can start working on the Ch 6 area.
Rank 12
1. Chaos Ch 6 (2) Shoulder is best for R12 to R18
2. Greenskin Ch 6 (2) Body armor is best for R12 to R14. Skip influence level (3).
3. Darkelf Ch 6 (3) Gloves is best for R12 to R16.
Optional: Chaos Ch 6 (3) Belt is only good for 12 to 14.
Rank 14
1. R14 RR9 Shield is good for R14 to R16.
Optional: Darkelf Ch 7 1H Axe is the best for R14.
Optional: Greenskin Ch 7 (3) Belt is good only got R14 to 16.
If level is still needed, working on Darkelf is a better option.
Skip Chaos Ch 7.
Rank 16
1. Chaos Ch 8 (2) Body armor is the 2nd best for R16 to 20. No early Helm until R18--it's ok.
2. Chaos Ch 8 (3) Belt will be best for R16 to R20
3. DarkelfCh 8 (3) Gloves will be best for R16 to R20
Optional. Greenskin Ch 8 (3) Shield looks like has better Tanking stats for 8 less Block of the R19 RR13 Shield.
Rank 18
1. Chaos Ch 9 (2) Boots is the best choice
2. Chaos Ch 9 (3) Helm is the best choice over the (3) 1H Axe.
3. Greenskin Ch 9 (2) Shoulder is the best, Skip (3)
Skip Darkelf Ch 9.
Rank 19
1. R19 RR13 Shield offers higher Block, but less tanking stats that R18.
WAR - Grinding Public Quests
Rahl is my Chosen, and I want him focused on tanking well by getting gear with Toughness, Wounds, Weapon Skill, Initiative and Strength.
Each of these statistics offer defense and offence, so I came up with a formula to put weight on items when comparing same level items.
From various readings, 1 Toughness is about 1.2 Wounds for defensive purpose.
From the Wiki Statistics, I will weight 1 Initiative as 25% offense and 75% defense.
While Weapon Skill is 75% defense and 25% defense.
This leaves Strength as purely offense, so I will take (Strength / 5) as straight Damage Per Second number.
To summarize Item Weight Points:
Defense = (Toughness x 1.2) + (Wounds) + (Weaponskill x 0.75) + (Initiative x 0.25)
Offense = (Strength / 5) + (Weaponskill x 0.25) + (Initiative x 0.75)
Jennsen is my Zealot and will mainly heal, but I won't spent too much time planning any focus on gearing and just take whichever same item quality reward Rahl gets.
Now on to leveling.
Afer a while of running around doing one quest to another, it got tiring because the landscape objects get my Jennsen. Some of the mobs get agro or in the way and it gets irritating how far they follow.
There's also the varying times in waiting for a scenario to pop up. When the scenario queues are less than 5 minutes, it's worth staying around the warcamp and keep doing scenarios and doing the repeatable scenario quest, and kill enemy quest.
Alternate levelling...
I decided to try out an alternative to levelling: Grinding Public Quests. Most public quests have a no time limit state one that involves killing normal mobs in the area. The 2nd state usually requires killing a few Champion NPCs. The 3rd stage is usually final that involves killing 1 Hero and a coulpe of guards.
Public Quests keeps track of everyone's contribution from damage to healing. Then there is a "roll" in the end with +number to rolls based on where you are in contribution. Some will win, some will lose.
I think the best benefit of Public Quests is I can probably grind the PQ about 4 times and be full in the Influence Points.
Each Chapter in the story line have its own Influence point bar. There are 3 levels of Influence, and each level has a reward from potion, to green item, to blue item.
So, we have 3 story lines: Greenskin, Chaos, and Darkelf for the Destruction Side. There are Chapters 1 to 5 for Rank 1 to 10.
Actually, Chapter 4 Influence item rewards are for Rank 8. Chapter 5 rewards Rank 10 items. Chapter 6 rewards Rank 12 items, and so on.
What about Renown Points?
So, grinding PQ will gain normal xp, and also Influence xp for rewards. The drawback on this is I don't gain Renown XP which can be gotten doing RvR or scenarios.
What's great about grinding PQ's is that I don't have much running out wasting time getting stuck, or traversing around an impassable mountain, or killing crap agro mobs in my way.
I can keep queueing for scenarios while working on the PQ. Eventually, I will participate in RvR objectives as well for another source of Renown xp.
Back to items
With 3 different possible story lines, which one should I do first? Or which one should skip?
I used the Search Filters from wardb.com and I managed to get a list of Vendor Renown Gear for the Rank 2 to 14 (green items). I then put in my item weight formula to determing which gear is great for tanking.
I also got a like of Influence Rewards from starting Chapter 5 for Rank 10 gear. The "elite influence (3)" rewards are all Rare (blue gear), while the level before elite (2) are green items.
Based on my quick Excel list:
1. Skip Chaos Ch 5.
2. Do Greenskin Ch 5. Keep (2) Boots, (3) Keep 1H Axe
3. Do Darkelf Ch 5. Junk (2) 1H Sword, (3) Keep Gloves
How did I conclude the above?
1. The Inflence rewards from Chaos Ch 5 are ok for tanking, but there are better obtainable items for the same level.
2. The Greenskin Ch 5. Influence level (2) Boots reward has better stats for tanking compared the the Rank 11 RR8 Renown Gear.
3. The 1H Axe from Greenskin Ch 5 (3) has better dps and tanking stats. I prefer dps stats for weapons.
4. The Darkelf Ch 5 (2) is 1H sword is junk because the R6 RR6 weapon is better. The other (2) reward (boots of body) armor isn't better than the Renown also.
5. The Darkelf Ch 5 (3) gloves shows the better tankin stats over RR Gear as well.
I assume that I can do those Chapter Influence before Rank 12, and onto Chapter 6.
Abbreviations
I think for abbreviation, I'll refer to this format:
Race + Chapter Number (Influence Level) Item.
So G5(3) Shoulder means Greenskin Ch 5 (level 3) influence, Shoulder item reward.
Each of these statistics offer defense and offence, so I came up with a formula to put weight on items when comparing same level items.
From various readings, 1 Toughness is about 1.2 Wounds for defensive purpose.
From the Wiki Statistics, I will weight 1 Initiative as 25% offense and 75% defense.
While Weapon Skill is 75% defense and 25% defense.
This leaves Strength as purely offense, so I will take (Strength / 5) as straight Damage Per Second number.
To summarize Item Weight Points:
Defense = (Toughness x 1.2) + (Wounds) + (Weaponskill x 0.75) + (Initiative x 0.25)
Offense = (Strength / 5) + (Weaponskill x 0.25) + (Initiative x 0.75)
Jennsen is my Zealot and will mainly heal, but I won't spent too much time planning any focus on gearing and just take whichever same item quality reward Rahl gets.
Now on to leveling.
Afer a while of running around doing one quest to another, it got tiring because the landscape objects get my Jennsen. Some of the mobs get agro or in the way and it gets irritating how far they follow.
There's also the varying times in waiting for a scenario to pop up. When the scenario queues are less than 5 minutes, it's worth staying around the warcamp and keep doing scenarios and doing the repeatable scenario quest, and kill enemy quest.
Alternate levelling...
I decided to try out an alternative to levelling: Grinding Public Quests. Most public quests have a no time limit state one that involves killing normal mobs in the area. The 2nd state usually requires killing a few Champion NPCs. The 3rd stage is usually final that involves killing 1 Hero and a coulpe of guards.
Public Quests keeps track of everyone's contribution from damage to healing. Then there is a "roll" in the end with +number to rolls based on where you are in contribution. Some will win, some will lose.
I think the best benefit of Public Quests is I can probably grind the PQ about 4 times and be full in the Influence Points.
Each Chapter in the story line have its own Influence point bar. There are 3 levels of Influence, and each level has a reward from potion, to green item, to blue item.
So, we have 3 story lines: Greenskin, Chaos, and Darkelf for the Destruction Side. There are Chapters 1 to 5 for Rank 1 to 10.
Actually, Chapter 4 Influence item rewards are for Rank 8. Chapter 5 rewards Rank 10 items. Chapter 6 rewards Rank 12 items, and so on.
What about Renown Points?
So, grinding PQ will gain normal xp, and also Influence xp for rewards. The drawback on this is I don't gain Renown XP which can be gotten doing RvR or scenarios.
What's great about grinding PQ's is that I don't have much running out wasting time getting stuck, or traversing around an impassable mountain, or killing crap agro mobs in my way.
I can keep queueing for scenarios while working on the PQ. Eventually, I will participate in RvR objectives as well for another source of Renown xp.
Back to items
With 3 different possible story lines, which one should I do first? Or which one should skip?
I used the Search Filters from wardb.com and I managed to get a list of Vendor Renown Gear for the Rank 2 to 14 (green items). I then put in my item weight formula to determing which gear is great for tanking.
I also got a like of Influence Rewards from starting Chapter 5 for Rank 10 gear. The "elite influence (3)" rewards are all Rare (blue gear), while the level before elite (2) are green items.
Based on my quick Excel list:
1. Skip Chaos Ch 5.
2. Do Greenskin Ch 5. Keep (2) Boots, (3) Keep 1H Axe
3. Do Darkelf Ch 5. Junk (2) 1H Sword, (3) Keep Gloves
How did I conclude the above?
1. The Inflence rewards from Chaos Ch 5 are ok for tanking, but there are better obtainable items for the same level.
2. The Greenskin Ch 5. Influence level (2) Boots reward has better stats for tanking compared the the Rank 11 RR8 Renown Gear.
3. The 1H Axe from Greenskin Ch 5 (3) has better dps and tanking stats. I prefer dps stats for weapons.
4. The Darkelf Ch 5 (2) is 1H sword is junk because the R6 RR6 weapon is better. The other (2) reward (boots of body) armor isn't better than the Renown also.
5. The Darkelf Ch 5 (3) gloves shows the better tankin stats over RR Gear as well.
I assume that I can do those Chapter Influence before Rank 12, and onto Chapter 6.
Abbreviations
I think for abbreviation, I'll refer to this format:
Race + Chapter Number (Influence Level) Item.
So G5(3) Shoulder means Greenskin Ch 5 (level 3) influence, Shoulder item reward.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
WAR - Destruction Day 2
WAR - Destruction Day 2
So yeah, I re-rolled a new pair: Rahl, a Chosen with Jennsen, a Zealot.
Rahl is a reference to House of Rahl, and Richard Rahl, Master of Dhara from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. The name Kahlan was taken, so I took Jennsen who is a half-sister to Richard and is immune to direct magic. I could not think of any good combo names, and I did not want to use Sanctume + Spiritstone combo again--maybe later on alternate characters.
I work late on Tuesdays so I did not have much time to play, but I managed to get to Rank 6 before I logged out for the night. I think my /played time was 5 hours and new to the starting area.
The Chosen plays similarly with the Ironbreaker but his damage is more Spirit Based by debuffing the enemy of magical resistance which then leaves the target vulnerable for more spell damage from the group.
The Ironbreaker can strip the target's armor so more melee damage can happen.
The Zealot plays the same as the Rune Priest.
The knowledge and experience I gained playing the Ironbreaker and Rune Priest was very useful as I am tackling the content more aggressively than just sword and board + healing style.
I use a 2H weapon when dealing with PvE content, and only switch to one-hander and Shield for tougher Champion and Hero npc.
In PvP, I use the 2H on skirmishes, and 1H+Shield when defending objective, or meeting a zerg.
My 2nd computer crashed to desktop twice last night, it seems like it crashes after 2 hours playing. There's no wait queue to enter Drakwald server. The scenario wait for Tier 1 is more than 5 minutes, but I was able to focus on grinding PvE content for influence points and experience points, so the queue times was ok.
When queue times are faster, it is better to just hang around the warcamp so that I can complete the scenario quest and kill enemy quest.
I hope to get to Rank 10 before Friday, and try to get Rank 20 before next week.
So yeah, I re-rolled a new pair: Rahl, a Chosen with Jennsen, a Zealot.
Rahl is a reference to House of Rahl, and Richard Rahl, Master of Dhara from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. The name Kahlan was taken, so I took Jennsen who is a half-sister to Richard and is immune to direct magic. I could not think of any good combo names, and I did not want to use Sanctume + Spiritstone combo again--maybe later on alternate characters.
I work late on Tuesdays so I did not have much time to play, but I managed to get to Rank 6 before I logged out for the night. I think my /played time was 5 hours and new to the starting area.
The Chosen plays similarly with the Ironbreaker but his damage is more Spirit Based by debuffing the enemy of magical resistance which then leaves the target vulnerable for more spell damage from the group.
The Ironbreaker can strip the target's armor so more melee damage can happen.
The Zealot plays the same as the Rune Priest.
The knowledge and experience I gained playing the Ironbreaker and Rune Priest was very useful as I am tackling the content more aggressively than just sword and board + healing style.
I use a 2H weapon when dealing with PvE content, and only switch to one-hander and Shield for tougher Champion and Hero npc.
In PvP, I use the 2H on skirmishes, and 1H+Shield when defending objective, or meeting a zerg.
My 2nd computer crashed to desktop twice last night, it seems like it crashes after 2 hours playing. There's no wait queue to enter Drakwald server. The scenario wait for Tier 1 is more than 5 minutes, but I was able to focus on grinding PvE content for influence points and experience points, so the queue times was ok.
When queue times are faster, it is better to just hang around the warcamp so that I can complete the scenario quest and kill enemy quest.
I hope to get to Rank 10 before Friday, and try to get Rank 20 before next week.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
WAR - Destruction Day 1
WAR - Destruction Day 1
All servers were down last night just before Pacific Standard Time prime time, and the guild decided to not put up with the server queue for Skull Throne.
So, we all re-rolled Destruction in Drakwald server, which was a Medium Order / Medium Destruction last night.
The scenario queue was a bit longer than what I was use to, about 5+ minutes. And it was 30+ minutes after prime time.
I quickly rolled a Black Orc and a Shaman up to Rank 7. But I realize I am not liking the combo chains on the Black Orc. So I will re-roll a Chosen with a Zealot tonight.
At least there will not be a server wait queue.
All servers were down last night just before Pacific Standard Time prime time, and the guild decided to not put up with the server queue for Skull Throne.
So, we all re-rolled Destruction in Drakwald server, which was a Medium Order / Medium Destruction last night.
The scenario queue was a bit longer than what I was use to, about 5+ minutes. And it was 30+ minutes after prime time.
I quickly rolled a Black Orc and a Shaman up to Rank 7. But I realize I am not liking the combo chains on the Black Orc. So I will re-roll a Chosen with a Zealot tonight.
At least there will not be a server wait queue.
Monday, September 22, 2008
WAR - Weekend 1
WAR - Weekend 1
Previously, "I ended the evening with Ironbreaker R12 RR8, and Runepriest R11 RR8."
Results
09.21.2008 Sanctume, Ironbreaker R18 RR14
09.21.2008 Spiritstone, Rune Priest R17 RR12
I have over 2 days 4 hours /played on Sanctume with definite /afks since it sucks to be in a wait queue for 5-30 minutes in Skull Throne server.
There's an Armory type page called Realm Wars, click the link above for mine.
Friday night
My immediate goal was to get to Rank 14 so that I can get a weapon upgrade for the Ironbreaker.
And also for some of the cool abilities such as Knock Down, Knock Away, and the Prayer of Mending type healing--a heal that automatically jumps to those needing it.
I queued up for Mourkain Temple (Dwarf vs Greenskin) Tier 2 Scenario while I did the quests in the Dwarf zone, Marshes of Madness. I also had to adjust a few hotkeys so that I can strafe left and right on both computers.
In the T2 scenario, the Order side wins and loses about half the time. Whoever gets the artifact first eventually wins. When a rank 20 mounts up from the start, this indicates that my wide will most likely win. I would put my Oathfriend and Guard on that player; and have the Rune Priest set his defensive target.
The server queue is so bad that I kept my toons logged in and asked my daughter to press the Space Bar once in a while--while I spent about 30 minutes cooking dinner in the kitchen.
I hit Rank 14 at the end of Friday Night.
Saturday
I have moved to Barak Var, the 2nd area of the Dwarf T2 zone. Questing and queue for scenarios.
We had people on the queue, so we did the Troll Crossing scenario. I dropped Spiritstone and let my son play his Archmage solo for a bit.
The scenario was great exp, and I also did some grinding for the "Kill NPC" who gives some flat exp for every specific mob I kill.
After the guild scenario was done, I was near Rank 15 while Spiritstone was still in Rank 14.
I had several crash to desktop on one machine but seldom both. I would play scenario on the Rune Priest while the Ironbreaker is in the server wait queue.
I think I hit Rank 16 and R15 at the end of my Saturday gamign sesison.
Sunday
The server wait queue are the same 5 to 20 minutes long. With some crash to desktop. I even crashed loading Altdorf on one machine that costed me 15 minutes. I was ran out of quest in Barak Var so I I wondered if I can do the sewers in Altdorf--NOPE, a bunch of R 14 Champions, and multi-mob pulls.
I dumped my apothecary stuff in the Bank and went back to Shadowlands -- Chapter 5/6/7 Highelf zone.
The leveling has definitely slowed. I consumed all the PvE content for Tier 2 Dwarf and I'm only Rank 16 into Tier 2--with some scenarios played.
This is becoming a slow level grind.
I've played more Phenix Gate scenarion on Sunday. It is similar to Warsong Gulch. Cap flags. First 500 point wins. Whoever has more point after 15 minutes, scenario ends.
There's a bug that the Destruction side exploit.. They cap our flag, and they can run up to their starting area. The problem here is there are Rank 50 guard that can one shot any T2 player.
There's also an area on the Order side that is not climbable by the Destruction. In this hilltop, there's a Repeater Balista that an 1 player can man constant shooting whoever gets in range in middle and part of the Order flag area. The only setback here is as I tried manning with a R16, I got lousy exp and RR because most battles happen elsewhere other than the middle.
Next Goal
Elyrion is the next zone for Chapter 8/9/10 I think. I hope to hit Rank 20 after finishing Elyrion. If not, then I will just grind scenarios and kill quests.
Buy a mount (mini-copter) at Rank 20 for 15 gold. I think I have 22 gold on the Ironbreaker, and 17 gold on the Rune Priest.
Previously, "I ended the evening with Ironbreaker R12 RR8, and Runepriest R11 RR8."
Results
09.21.2008 Sanctume, Ironbreaker R18 RR14
09.21.2008 Spiritstone, Rune Priest R17 RR12
I have over 2 days 4 hours /played on Sanctume with definite /afks since it sucks to be in a wait queue for 5-30 minutes in Skull Throne server.
There's an Armory type page called Realm Wars, click the link above for mine.
Friday night
My immediate goal was to get to Rank 14 so that I can get a weapon upgrade for the Ironbreaker.
And also for some of the cool abilities such as Knock Down, Knock Away, and the Prayer of Mending type healing--a heal that automatically jumps to those needing it.
I queued up for Mourkain Temple (Dwarf vs Greenskin) Tier 2 Scenario while I did the quests in the Dwarf zone, Marshes of Madness. I also had to adjust a few hotkeys so that I can strafe left and right on both computers.
In the T2 scenario, the Order side wins and loses about half the time. Whoever gets the artifact first eventually wins. When a rank 20 mounts up from the start, this indicates that my wide will most likely win. I would put my Oathfriend and Guard on that player; and have the Rune Priest set his defensive target.
The server queue is so bad that I kept my toons logged in and asked my daughter to press the Space Bar once in a while--while I spent about 30 minutes cooking dinner in the kitchen.
I hit Rank 14 at the end of Friday Night.
Saturday
I have moved to Barak Var, the 2nd area of the Dwarf T2 zone. Questing and queue for scenarios.
We had people on the queue, so we did the Troll Crossing scenario. I dropped Spiritstone and let my son play his Archmage solo for a bit.
The scenario was great exp, and I also did some grinding for the "Kill NPC" who gives some flat exp for every specific mob I kill.
After the guild scenario was done, I was near Rank 15 while Spiritstone was still in Rank 14.
I had several crash to desktop on one machine but seldom both. I would play scenario on the Rune Priest while the Ironbreaker is in the server wait queue.
I think I hit Rank 16 and R15 at the end of my Saturday gamign sesison.
Sunday
The server wait queue are the same 5 to 20 minutes long. With some crash to desktop. I even crashed loading Altdorf on one machine that costed me 15 minutes. I was ran out of quest in Barak Var so I I wondered if I can do the sewers in Altdorf--NOPE, a bunch of R 14 Champions, and multi-mob pulls.
I dumped my apothecary stuff in the Bank and went back to Shadowlands -- Chapter 5/6/7 Highelf zone.
The leveling has definitely slowed. I consumed all the PvE content for Tier 2 Dwarf and I'm only Rank 16 into Tier 2--with some scenarios played.
This is becoming a slow level grind.
I've played more Phenix Gate scenarion on Sunday. It is similar to Warsong Gulch. Cap flags. First 500 point wins. Whoever has more point after 15 minutes, scenario ends.
There's a bug that the Destruction side exploit.. They cap our flag, and they can run up to their starting area. The problem here is there are Rank 50 guard that can one shot any T2 player.
There's also an area on the Order side that is not climbable by the Destruction. In this hilltop, there's a Repeater Balista that an 1 player can man constant shooting whoever gets in range in middle and part of the Order flag area. The only setback here is as I tried manning with a R16, I got lousy exp and RR because most battles happen elsewhere other than the middle.
Next Goal
Elyrion is the next zone for Chapter 8/9/10 I think. I hope to hit Rank 20 after finishing Elyrion. If not, then I will just grind scenarios and kill quests.
Buy a mount (mini-copter) at Rank 20 for 15 gold. I think I have 22 gold on the Ironbreaker, and 17 gold on the Rune Priest.
Friday, September 19, 2008
WAR - Day 1
The Skull Throne server has its usual wait queue to enter around 20 minutes during prime time.
My Rune Priest crashed to desktop and so I played my Ironbreaker while the RP was in queue. When my Ironbreaker crashed to desktop (WAR.exe error), I queued and took a break.
I ended the evening with Ironbreaker R12 RR8, and Runepriest R11 RR8.
I was doing quests in Chapter 5 and 6 and I have a few completed quest that I can turn in, but I am not sure which town/area to go and turn them in. I hate the running between towns without Flight Path.
Instead, I just keep doing Tier 2 scenarios and repeat that with the kill 25 enemy quests. The scenario goes fast within 2 minutes that I don't have time to get to the other quest before I am queued in.
PvP in Tier 2 - Dwarf vs Greenskin Scenario
I see a lot of Witch Elves stealth and attack the back ranks of healer and caster.
Since I was low level 11, I moved front and back with the IB without staying too long. I build enough Grudge to snare and knockdown targets that one of the higher level tanks focuses on. My IB switched Oathfriend and Guard often.
When the RP is under attack, I reset Oathbound and Guard, and the Rune Priest can stay up even when there's 2 higher level enemies (level 15/16s Black Orcs/Chosen) on the RP.
The RP has the non-interrupt bubble and the big heal and a decent Hot. With Taunt + Detaunt, and my IB's shield knock downs, I buy enough time for the allies to kill that targets.
I also observe that a lot of cross healing happening when there's a tank that tries to slow down the enemies in the back ranks.
The /assist key throws me off still because it does not work switching to that player that needs healing. I needed to add an /aid hotkey so RP can have a target to heal other than the IB.
What's the next goal?
I can't wait to get Rank 14. I think there are blue gear from the keeps that would be decent upgrades.
Then from Rank 15 to 20, I plan to grind PQ for gold to buy mounts at Rank 20.
Rank 14 will also have some decent ability combo for the IB and RP:
Ironbreaker "Away With Ye" is a 30 grudge knock back. I've seen this used effectively when knocking enemy front line tanks into my team, putting distance from the enemy's healers, and into my teams focus fire.
The Rune Priest "Rune of Serenity" is a heal that jumps to the next ally. This is similar to WOW's Prayer of Mending. It's a fire and forget heal.
My Rune Priest crashed to desktop and so I played my Ironbreaker while the RP was in queue. When my Ironbreaker crashed to desktop (WAR.exe error), I queued and took a break.
I ended the evening with Ironbreaker R12 RR8, and Runepriest R11 RR8.
I was doing quests in Chapter 5 and 6 and I have a few completed quest that I can turn in, but I am not sure which town/area to go and turn them in. I hate the running between towns without Flight Path.
Instead, I just keep doing Tier 2 scenarios and repeat that with the kill 25 enemy quests. The scenario goes fast within 2 minutes that I don't have time to get to the other quest before I am queued in.
PvP in Tier 2 - Dwarf vs Greenskin Scenario
I see a lot of Witch Elves stealth and attack the back ranks of healer and caster.
Since I was low level 11, I moved front and back with the IB without staying too long. I build enough Grudge to snare and knockdown targets that one of the higher level tanks focuses on. My IB switched Oathfriend and Guard often.
When the RP is under attack, I reset Oathbound and Guard, and the Rune Priest can stay up even when there's 2 higher level enemies (level 15/16s Black Orcs/Chosen) on the RP.
The RP has the non-interrupt bubble and the big heal and a decent Hot. With Taunt + Detaunt, and my IB's shield knock downs, I buy enough time for the allies to kill that targets.
I also observe that a lot of cross healing happening when there's a tank that tries to slow down the enemies in the back ranks.
The /assist key throws me off still because it does not work switching to that player that needs healing. I needed to add an /aid hotkey so RP can have a target to heal other than the IB.
What's the next goal?
I can't wait to get Rank 14. I think there are blue gear from the keeps that would be decent upgrades.
Then from Rank 15 to 20, I plan to grind PQ for gold to buy mounts at Rank 20.
Rank 14 will also have some decent ability combo for the IB and RP:
Ironbreaker "Away With Ye" is a 30 grudge knock back. I've seen this used effectively when knocking enemy front line tanks into my team, putting distance from the enemy's healers, and into my teams focus fire.
The Rune Priest "Rune of Serenity" is a heal that jumps to the next ally. This is similar to WOW's Prayer of Mending. It's a fire and forget heal.
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