Note: Something went dodgy just now, accidentally uploaded an incomplete post. Apparently, there's a hacker who got personal issues with yours truly.
Not a great plan...
This year's Summer Festival is a hit and miss. Hit because of a brand new segment involving a sport inspired by the Anglo-Saxons.
Miss because of this.
I've been lucky enough to get a server timeout every 1-2 days on average, but others may not be that lucky. No thanks to the lag, misunderstandings aplenty had been wreaked so far. Imagine seeing a member gone missing. Then wondering wth. Then kicking that poor fellow out just because circumstances ended up conspiring against you. To set the record straight, there's only one Arylos. After all, he did spurn Beshaba's offer of love.
Inspired by Singaporean culture...
Not only are we local guys suckers for all the pretty SPGs, the same goes for the devs at Cryptic as well. This year's Summer Festival introduces a brand new set of couture. You have a classy bikini top (something unlike the mainstream bra version), then you got the sarong. Why the Amnians are intelligent enough to understand Singaporean culture, I do not know. I only know one thing: Kwok isn't the only local talent made famous.
Couture Culture
Due to a vast difference in the cost of individual couture set, I decided to gun for the Sunite couture. Because Cyrea is officially dressed like a Waterhavian lady, I decided that Korey should dress like Park "not the president" Shin-hye. I've done the preview for the Sunite couture. Suffice to say, I'm never a fan of every couture set. Some of them are just meh, then we have some others not worth gunning for. The Sunite couture belongs to neither. Absolute good news for all you registered members of SHyn Corp, for Sune is indeed the goddess of love and beauty. Unfortunately (for her, that is), Arylos gave her the same treatment which earned the ire of Beshaba (and no, Sune isn't gutted to the extent of Nine Hells having no fury like a goddess scorned).
So what about the SPG couture fashioned by those Amnian fashionistas? If possible at all, I'd get the full set for Cyrea. If not, then a mix of Sunite and the bikini top. Just don't ask me whether this idea is inspired by a local beauty spotted at the Sapphire Pavilion in Siloso Beach.
Note: Bhaasmond has to be content with peasant garb for now. Suits his down to earth character anyway...
Speaking of Cyrea Durothil and Bhaasmond Taran...
Let's talk a bit abt how the implemented changes have affected the way I approach my tactics so far. Firstly on Bhaasmond. In case any of you have yet to try it out, life steal is absurdly effective if your paladin decided to slot Templar's Wrath as his/her staple encounter. Per proven by yours truly, it's possible to trigger a life steal via TW. With 200% HP and a 3 hit Shielding Strike combo, it means your oathbound paladin is on his/her way to the namesake abbreviation. Namely OP. In fact, I may end up experimenting with a Protection-Justice spec in the near run. After all, my gaming brain works like how Joachim "der Löwe" Löw sees his football.
On the daily powers, I don't work well in terms of pulling off situation specific stunts. This includes Heroism and Divine Protector. The rule of thumb should be something like this: Heroism/Divine Judgement and whichever daily power that suits your play. iirc Heroism is a less risky prospect than Divine Protector as it doesn't give you a real chance of becoming a martyr minus the rez pls request. In fact, Divine Protector is better used post-nuke. In other words, better to use it after the boss pulls off a North Korea, not before.
If you think like me, then it means you're better off sustaining the fight with anything and everything at your disposal. No Divine Protector for me, Heroism has officially made way to Divine Judgement. Unless something catastrophic happens at Castle Never, I'll most likely stick with Divine Judgement and Shield of Faith (note: unless your team is doing a no-heal run, SoF should be your staple daily no matter what. If it's really a no-heal run, then better use Heroism and Divine Protector).
On the encounter side, I find it easier to adopt a three-way approach. The strength of the OP lies mostly in the same strength as the hunter ranger. However, it must also be added that the utility aspect has always been better defined for the paladin since 99% of the gameplay is truly damn straightforward. Therefore, it's actually very easy to slot 1 healing encounter, 1 buff encounter, and 1 damage encounter. If you're really into Circle of Power (like pretty much 99% of the OP gamers out there), then you only need to develop an effective button mashing game. In fact, Neverwinter has always been known for its easy as ABC/123 learning curve when it comes to execution. In fact, I realised what I've been missing out once I started messing around with Absolution. Absurdly effective in open PvE, the only question now lies in how effective it can be in team tactics compared to other encounter powers like Vow of Enmity and Binding Oath.
Note: Above analysis is based on the Oath of Protection path, not Oath of Devotion.
Add note: Half orcs do make incredibly good OP. I may have said it before, I'll say it again. You have that run speed bonus at every fixed interval, that one is good for setting up the aggro trap. Then you have that 5% bonus in crit severity. I don't have to further elaborate on Divine Judgement at this point of time.
On Cyrea Durothil, I find the racial choice of sun elf to be underwhelmingly used and overwhelmingly good. Traditionally the best choice for a control wizard, the racial traits of Ar-tel-quessir works absurdly well for any cleric of Corellon as well. The 10% control resistance means less time being interrupted and more time to do your stuff. As for the 1% AP generation increment, it means a higher frequency of spamming daily powers. Something which Hallowed Ground is still famous for. In addition to the two racial traits, the sun elf has a choice of either +2 to Intellect and Wisdom or +2 to Intellect and Dexterity. Charisma for every devoted cleric affects recovery, Intellect basically does the same. Because you'll be rolling a higher score for any given key stat (both primary and secondary), what it means is a case of encounter powers recharging absurdly fast.
Due to the not-so-recent changes done to the virtuous clerics, Gift of Haste has been officially nerfed. However, there's a way to circumvent it. It's called Bastion of Health. Widely regarded as an overkill healing power, the massive AoE means a much higher chance of generating AP for just about every ally without relying on Hastening Light. In addition, pulling off BoH on a Divinity/Empowered basis means you can easily keep everybody alive even with a mediocre TIL during normal Demogorgon raids (Cyrea's TIL is only like 2.2K).
For team tactics, I prefer to do a normal Astral Shield (since Divinity version lasts significantly shorter with temp HP as the only positive trade-off) with Bastion of Health to build everyone's AP meter. Primary usage wise though, I stick with Forgemaster's Flame. However, I may switch to Break the Spirit for two reasons:
1. BtS is a better defensive option since I can just wait and aim (note; BtS has a crappy to nothing stacking game).
2. As BtS is a more effective option in the wait and aim dept, this also means an easier time pulling off an Empowered version worth a whopping 30% bonus in mass damage buffing.
Also against targets with control immunity, pulling off 3 shots in a row can go a long way as the damage dealt is higher than FF. On the flip side, however, BtS has a longer casting time. Which basically means a lot as any control wizard and scourge warlock can testify.
On class features, I decided to go direct with Anointed Armor and Light of Divinity. Not only does this combo boosts Cyrea's survivability, it also does the same for every team member within 50 ft as well. Also, this means I can just focus all her boons on HP and power instead of pumping for defense. Because I also opted for the Cleansing Fire feat, this strategy also allows me to focus more effort on the critical stat as well (those who know my style can attest to the fact that I'm more of a crit player than the power-arpen type).
On open PvE, I'm currently experimenting with Astral Shield, Searing Light, and Divine Glow. Not only does this increase the feasibility of Cleansing Fire, Cyrea can also spam Searing Light on Divinity mode in the name of her people's god (i.e. just about everyone apart from her Arylos since we all know he actually emulates his god like a real Chosen). One fun thing I realised about spamming SL is the fact that Cyrea can afford to play a back-dodge game. In other words, dodge>fire>dodge>fire>dodge>fire>Empowered Divine Glow. If I decided to use this as Cyrea's bread and butter tactic, then I'll need to think hard on where to plant her Astral Shield.
On the at-will powers, I'm now gravitating towards Lance of Faith and Blessing of Battle. The latter has a long casting time, but it's def good enough to sustain survivability both on open PvE and team tactics. You don't have to spam it. Just pull it off every now and then because you'll have other means to keep everyone (and yourself) alive (righteous spec being the obvious exception to the rule). As for LoF, it's all abt damage. One thing every gamer needs to know is the fact that radiant damage is quite literally foolproof. No one is resistant to it. Either it's taking damage per normal or taking more damage than per normal. In fact, this is the only source of foolproof damage since resistance (i.e. specific enemy types) exists in any other form of damage. Of course, the good thing about any DC build is being spoilt for choice when it comes to at-will powers.
Note: Due to the foolproof nature of radiant damage stated, it also means that the offensive guild boon via stables is a good option for both DC and OP. Please note, however, that the DC heroic feats do have a 5 pointer in the form of Templar's Domain.
Coming up next: My take on the official changes in hunter rangers and scourge warlocks respectively. Also some of my views on the upcoming Mod 10 where we will know what happened to Wulfgar and Catti-brie so far.
P.S: No, I'm not gonna answer whether Cyrea Durothil is inspired by my dream girl. I admit Arylos is my alter-ego, best of luck in doing conspiracy theories.
No comments:
Post a Comment