A dummy guide on how to steal the Storm King's Thunder

Originally, this post was supposed to be part of the previous one. Due to my desire to up something after a period of MIA, I decided to do the split. Next up after this post, my first impression on a newly respec'd Kariss Locras (i.e. a hellbringer temptress).

First impression so far on Mod 10

First impression as in I've yet to play much when it comes to stealing the Storm King's thunder. Let's talk abt the frames per sec issue. I'm pretty sure there are those wondering "why so lag?" for a legit reason. It's basically the same logic with running Dread Ring and Icewind Dale. Unlike the other two campaign zones, you can see it from a hundred leagues that the graphics for the Mod 10 zones is of a far better quality (and I say zones b/c I'm assuming the other two zones are the same so far). However, this also comes into the question of the lag. Somehow or another, I just felt that the increase in frames per sec actually contributed to the kind of lag capable of killing your character. Quite literally that is.

Before that I enter the details, allow Le Jeu d'Singapour just give you some advice if you've yet to run this current mod.

Forget abt the order of campaign in Sword Coast Chronicles (seriously, the order can't be trusted in the same way you cannot trust any entertainment media whenever they start screaming "OMG!!! PARK SHIN-HYE'S NEW BOYFRIEND!!!!"). You'd do well to trust my words because there are truly some of the fights outright hard. If you're a hardcore gamer, then you're most likely fine. If not, it's highly recommended that you're properly geared with tier 2.5 gear. In other words, make sure your average item level doesn't drop below 140 (albeit there's still substantial value behind a lvl 137 elven body armor so long you select the correct one. Case in point: my chosen one).

The matter of fact is that Icewind Dale is the most accurate barometer to whether you can survive Bryn Shander and beyond. Any quest involving ice trolls should be a good measure of standard on whether you can cut the mustard upon arriving at Bryn Shander. Suffice to say, the terrain is outright crazy. I've only been to Bryn Shander and Lonelywood, but I've seen (and fought) enough to understand the tricky part in taking on mobs and bosses on uneven ground.

How to fight like the Game

Firstly, some of the mobs are easier to kill while not so much for others. Upon arriving at Bryn Shander with Xuna, a shocking sight greets Arylos (then again, Korey's wächter is certified shock-proof). Bryn Shander is in shambles and someone has just unleashed the Ring of Winter in the same way Kim "김정삼?" Jong-un decided to unleash the latest model of Pyongyang's hydrogen bomb. The only catch?  The whole of 대한민국 never ended up like Bryn Shander.

The first taste of action lies in killing critters to free the stranded merchants and recovering lost supplies from the barbaric Tribe of the Bear. After which, the action will shift to the gates of Bryn Shander where repelling the enemy is the only thing to be done. Despite being a heroic encounter, Siege of Bryn Shander is easily a one man's game.

There are two main mob types, namely those on two legs and those going on fours. Dealing with the Reghedmen is no different from dealing with the standard mage and fighters mob combination. In this sense, it's just another Icewind Pass (since you don't see them in Dwarven Valley).. If you happen to fight any mob without a shaman, you can just start killing the nearest target (depending on your class, you'll need to look out for any beast handler first. Either way, both the shaman and beast handler will always stay at the back). Before starting this latest campaign, it's strongly recommended that you should first familiarise yourself with the enemies in Icewind Dale since they're practically the same thing.

The Reghed mob:

As I've said, either you'll end up fighting a mob with a shaman behind or a pure physical damage type. Sometimes, you'll end up having to fight a mob with a beast handler behind. Ask me and I'll say the so-called shaman mob has to be the hardest variation out of the possible three. This is due to her super armour buff applied on her men. Compared to a mob of Tony Starks, the ghost bear and icy minefield are nothing. This is not to say that these two means of fighting a battle are useless. Rather, the ghost bear is basically useless without the mob while the minefield is only deadly upon the super armour status being applied (read: easier to take them on). As such, you'll need to take down the female president of the mob asap before taking out the rest. However, the mob will always protect the sole lady of the party like a bunch of barbaric gentlemen. In other words, you'll have to think on your feet. The moment you're able to nail the shaman, you'll have to focus all your firepower on her. If you're unable to, please grow a brain and do crowd clearing.

Either you're able to snipe their VIP by separating the main force from the shaman or you'll have to move around in order to get a clear shot at their female president. For most of the classes, this shouldn't be a problem. For the guardian fighters and oathbound paladins, it's extremely important that you'll need to CC them before closing onto the shaman since they're not the so-called tactical D class (i.e. dodge or dash, take your pick). The moment you're able to knock/stun/daze a clear path through, aim for the president. If you're using control wizard, Imprisonment and Steal Time can be really useful. Without either two, you'll need to find another way to mass CC. Icy Terrain and Shard of Endless Avalanche come to mind. If you're using scourge warlock, just kite and do a bloody one shot fatality (a tactical alternative apart from using the death ray on the shaman is doing a one-shot nuke as a form of kiting since necrotic damage is super effective against just about any living thing. Generally speaking ofc since the Thayans are living things as well).

If you happen to fight the so-called bread and butter mob type, then you can just decimate them from the front to behind (unless you're a glass cannon build. Which means taking out the tomahawk throwers first. Easier said than done since you'll need to CC the frontline first. iirc every class do have its own CC arsenal, just that it depends on the number of options).

Against the beast handler, it can be quite easy or difficult. If you're a hdps build, it means you'll be racing against time since a call for reinforcement means you're most likely screwed. If you're either a tank or a counter-offensive dps (read: any dps build sacrificing high-end damage for defensive insurance) then you're more likely to survive in the event someone let the dogs out.

(note: beast handlers are recognisable by their dogs. In fact, they're the only dog trainers killable in-game).

The critter mob:

The remorhaz is very easy to kill. Just take out one at a time. So long you can deal damage fast enough, their breath won't burn you badly (any heroic encounters involving this critter type, however, is a different issue altogether). As for the yeti, look out for the red aura (think only the abominable yeti can do so, but I may be wrong). The other sources of WMD (i.e. the hairdryer cannon and Lamborghini charge) are basically easy to avoid/guard. The trickiest part lies in mobility as they will just start charging around like a Lamborghini driver in GTA. Chances are that you can't hit more than one at a time, so either focus on a specific target (if you're a ranged dps) or try taking down the nearest one (if you're a melee dps or tank). When it comes to bears, you'll most likely meet either a solo bear or a couple of them. There's no point burning your stamina since they're pretty hard hitters than fast hitters. Unless they're getting too close for comfort, try not to dodge/dash. Once any bear does a power-up punch (for the lack of better description), you'll most likely need to get away (unless you're very sure you won't die as a result). If you're using a ranged dps/hdps build, be on constant lookout for that bear punch. The fact that any bear mob will stick close together means you'll have a high chance of nailing a WMD on them. As for the dire polar bears, they're just normal bears high on steroids.

The winter wolves are the most problematic.ones in the critter stable. I may have said something about their knockdown and freezing breath here. In case I never mentioned it, the winter wolves are basically the most dangerous critters you'll get to fight (at least for me since I've yet to do the running man for Cold Run). The problem doesn't lie in damage as power is nothing without control (Street Fighter Zero/Alpha 2 and Rose's victory quote, anyone?). Yes, you'll lose a large part of your HP if you get gimped by even a normal bear punch, that's why we have the potion of grand healing (which makes surviving Icewind Dale far easier since iceforge.elixir has gone officially obsolete post mod 5). You'll really have to dodge out of the breathing cannon if you want to survive this fight. The reason why being that the winter wolves are masters of the surprise attack. The knockdown stun bs is something you'll find hard to avoid. The startup is minimal, which means your window for error can be quite large. The only practical way is to dodge out of the breathing cannon in order to avoid a stunlock scenario. Either you try attacking them from anywhere but the front or you'll need to hold Shift. If you're a great weapon fighter, please don't take stupid risks by pinning hope on your unstoppable status since it gives you control immunity instead of outright jailbreak. iirc the chances of AoE overlapping is very high whenever you're dealing with any mob comprising of winter wolves. Ultimately, either you'll have to aggro grab or move around constantly.

Trolling the goblins:

Plus the ice trolls as well. Ice trolls only know how to do one thing: mindless zerging. Basically, this means either you're a tank  or you'll be in a race to out-dps or be dps'd to death. The more dangerous variation of the standard troll zerging lies in having one or two of them stoning you from a distance. At the same time, the trolls can cover ground quite fast for the lumbering brute type. The moment you hearing the stoning sound, it means you'll need to get yourself near the stoners. The tricky part? There's not much distance separating the stoners from the bashers. In particular, fighting any troll mob with a shaman can be a real nightmare since the DoT circle can kill you quite easily unless you have an effective defensive/counteroffensive game. Unless you have a good AoE game, you'll definitely need to first take down the biggest troll in the mob (quite literally).

Note: In particular, the troll bosses in Lonelywood can be quite problematic for any ranged class build since the only safe zone lies either beyond a massive AoE or point blank melee range.

As for the goblins, they won't do a zerg. Rather, they'll just attack you from every direction possible with one tank and a few archers. For a tank, this can be very easy since all you need to do is taunt and aggro grab near the archers. If you're a dps (apart from being a GWF), it means you'll need dodge/shift behind the archers asap. The frost goblins are very damn good in escalating the dps, so you're virtually racing against time. At the same time, you'll need an effective AoE dps (unless you happen to enjoy spamming UNSTOPPABRU!!!!!!). This is a glass cannon mob, so an effective AoE CC is a must.

Note: Wolf riders can be quite problematic as you'll need to look out for the instant AoE cast. The moment you can't kill the mob fast enough, you're most likely screwed since you'll be forced to choose between a minefield and the mob dps.

Terrain:

Both Bryn Shander and Lonelywood rely on high ground. Unfortunately, it also means you're more likely to fight the enemies with your backside facing the slope. The visual obstruction is also a challenge. For Bryn Shander, it's the blizzard which serves only to exacerbate the countless frozen statues of real living things. For Lonelywood, it's a case of two different outdoor terrains (this excludes the flat terrain which includes the Sapphire Pavilion of Siloso beach minus beautiful local girls clad in their bikini).

There are two aspects of difficult terrain for both Bryn Shander and Lonelywood. Lonelywood is about greenery and tundra in one single map. The greenery half will pose forth visual obstruction sans the blizzard while the tundra half is all about slowing down your mobility despite the ground being the parallel to Pep "no, not you Pep" Guardiola.

Note: There are also patches of rocky ground where your mobility will be severely tested.

For Bryn Shander, the terrain is more problematic as it's either a case of tundra complete with the blizzard or fighting the critters within the city walls while minding Madame Tussauds' newfound creativity. The former case isn't that bad unless the game is on lag. The latter is where the problem comes. Out there in the unnatural cold, at least you'll have more than enough space to move around albeit at a slower pace. In other words, you can easily outmanoeuvre the opposition. Inside the four walls of Bryn Shander, you're able to move around in normal speed. However, the presence of multiple statues will impede you big time. Against yetis, this isn't a problem. Against winter wolves, that's where the challenge comes since these white mutts enjoy staying around the statues so that they can breathe straight into your face (reminds me of the old school Clorets advertisements when I was just a wee lad).

Daily boss kill:

In both zones (and most likely Cold Run as well), you'll have a chance of getting sidequests in exchange for volninblod. For Lonelywood, it's a case of drop rate (not unlike how you get the Hammerstone Queen sidequest in Dwarven Valley) than knowing which targets to kill. For Bryn Shander, it's either you nail the target or you don't. The boss fights can be quite challenging at first, but they're not much of a problem once you understand the art (not to mention as well the necessity) of moving around (fighting Fangstorm, in particular, relies heavily on your positioning since you'll be literally fighting among frozen people).

For me, the Returned has to be hardest. This is due to the high chances of having to deal with winter wolves as collateral aggro (read: even Bryn Shander is never safe from hungry critters fighting like angry critters). Avoiding his cannon is a piece of cake, what truly makes the fight challenging lies in the chances of getting an AoE overlapping slap. I've yet to put myself into the line of multiple cannon fire, but I've been through the situation where a random wolf just gave me a knockdown stun. After which this abomination before the sight of Kelemvor just proceeded to swing his weapon freely like some fellow on a gun rampage. Taking 1-2 swings of his sword would mean the kind of one-shot fatality capable of giving Kitana that feeling below the belt. Trust me when I say Kelemvor revived Arylos via Soulforged armour.

Against the abominable yeti boss in the Bryn Shander epicentre, it's all about moving either backwards or forward. Yes, you'll be able to move sideways. But not enough to offset any terrain disadvantage. Again, winter wolves decide to say hi. And with that, the abominable yeti's identical BFF as well.

Next: My view on whether the latest gear should be worth your time and effort. That plus my overall verdict on this current mod as well.

My first person view on the combat tree

Today, my young adult fellowship will be having an interesting topic. Namely the impact of technology on the human mentality (if you don't know what it means, it means with great power comes great responsibility). I find it quite interesting that this topic will be all the more important given the impact of Pokémon GO. I'm already questioning whether it's truly fine to have a place of religious worship as a PokeStops and Gyms. Call me a prude, but I'm not amused at all by the notion of my church opening up for people playing some F2P game app created by the Japanese.

Ok, that's only technically true at best because Nintendo is a bit like Capcom. You got Capcom Japan and Capcom America. Same logic for that company which gave us multi-cultural plumbers, some King Kong spoofs, and some guy made famous by a girl.

Because I only have around half an hour to go before taking public transport, let me just give a brief analysis on the latest module and what to expect from combat hunter rangers.

Note: Above statement was actually written during Sat. I don't have to spell out which day this post is upped.

Verdict on rangers like this guy

For too long, Cryptic had shafted the combat tree. If you think archery got a harsh treatment, at least it started from mod 6. For the combat tree, it's been a downhill ride ever since Caer-Konig decided to hand the limelight back to the Cult of the Dragon. Ironically, mod 6 was the reason behind trappers being the vogue rangers post-mod 5 till mod 9.

I have to say that anemar did a really good job in balancing the hunter rangers. I won't say the combat spec will out-dps the great weapon fighters and trickster rogues, but the gap has been narrowed (if not totally closed altogether). I spent 2 respec token trying to see how the reworked melee HR would turn out. Suffice to say, we won't be seeing a trapper's monopoly this time round. [I've yet to mess around with Korey (since I've got no plans to change her archery path) or Kariss (since I've spent too much time trying to complete Icewind Dale with Myrreas so far).]

Note: Procrastination is a wonderful thing, reverse procrastination is even better. At this point of time, I alrdy respec both Korey and Kariss.

One thing I've realized is that Blade Hurricane is now far harder to proc unlike other final paragon feats. There's a logical reason behind this. Due to a massive buff to the combat feats, anemar was right to ditch the original 4 hit execution. Despite having only a 10% increment to Piercing Blades, the synergy stack with Lucky Blades, Fluid Hunter, Battlecrazed, and the Endless Assault heroic feat should be nothing to laugh about. In other words, you'll need to go straight for the jugular by executing 2 at-wills after your first encounter power. No matter how you look at it, Flurry effect got nerfed (and this is not to mention the likelihood of a 60 sec cooldown).

However, this is not to say that this change will affect your Drizzt. Because encounter powers always deal a higher damage than at-will powers, having a maxed out Endless Assault is not really a bad thing (more specifically a good thing). My recommendation is either you have at least two AoE encounter damage moves or two fast hitting at-will moves (for an effective Flurry constant proc game. And yes, you can also opt for using just a specific fast hitting at-will move as a viable alternative).

At this point of time, there's still no predictability in Arylos' rediscovered paragon tree. Right now, I'm messing around with a few combinations. Plant Growth is officially my staple encounter with Oak Skin being that effective means of living out a certain iconic song. Tricky part lies in the one in between the two keys. Right now, I'm messing around with a double restraining order with Hindering Strike as my chosen one. However, I find that Gushing Wound has been massively upgraded (3K+ to 4K+ in damage plus mass hemorrhage). At the same time, Fox's Shift also offers a potentially better return when it comes to the DDR (read: not Dept of Diagnostic Radiology, but rather Dept of Dps Rampage) due to Blade Storm being my selected artifact class feature (quite literally a multi-hitting move plus an excuse to do that occasional stance jump). Tbh, Hindering Strike is good in a sense that it offers much needed defensive security (note: CC is your BFF apart from whoever the person doing a Neoprint with you while in secondary school. Don't believe me, try asking Genj. I mean the CC, not the Neoprint). Ofc Fox's Shift is a more effective means of balancing dps and CC, but I need to mess around a bit with this combination to see whether I'm comfy with it. Like Joachim "Der Löwe" Löw, I don't stick with a fixed formula for success. Like the Teutonic Löwe, I prefer a fast hitting game.

Then again, RoboK(l)op(p) is also another German who thinks like a Teutonic cavalry commander...
Just don't ask me whether Hamburg will have someone like those two...

Another issue I realized is that Sigil of the Hunter isn't that useful anymore. In order to pull it off, you'll need an effective line of sight and precise manual aiming. This can be very troublesome if the game is lagging.

(Either because your sis is running something like this or something's srsly wrong with the frames per sec. Or maybe even something innocuous like your dad using the vacuum cleaner and that the resultant sound vibration ended up disrupting the wifi signal. Might as well I start trying to find out whether Joseph "not a Stalin" Schooling is truly an angmoh like Stalin. *shrugs*)

Hence, I decided to switch my active artifact to Lantern of Revelation. Believe it or not, the effect is far better on the first impression basis. This is due to foes affected by the burn taking 16% more damage on mystic status for like 6 secs (note: just upgraded this beautiful beast to legendary status, no intention whatsoever to promote Emma "Duchess of Megawatts" Watson's latest[?] Disney flick). I'll be experimenting more on this come Arylos' next Bryn Shander run. And speaking of running the roost in Bryn Shander...*

*I may have settled down on a fixed moveset. For now, at least.

There's a change in plan...

Originally, I decided to use 1 character per day with Arylos taking up my weekend. However, things didn;t work out that well because I suspect myself to be a case of OCDP. At the same time, I tend to lose myself once getting 100% focused. It's a bit like battling alcoholism, but not really that bad. I've survived more than 14 days' worth of no computer (that includes mobile devices as well) and I've got no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. Therefore I decided to do a six quest management. In other words, I'll try to use only 2 characters in a day. Because Arylos is my main, therefore the community will see him regularly. As for the alternate characters, I'll only choose one to play per week. For Arylos, it's most likely 6 quests at most. For that other alt, it's most likely half that number (i.e. most likely 3). Hopefully I can discipline myself before my future girlfriend does that for me. *shrugs*

Final verdict

The combat tree is now officially buffed. Blade Hurricane got nerfed, but it's because the rest of the feats have been upgraded quite significantly. I won't say the combat tree can out-dps the likes of GWF and TR, but the consistent dps game has been properly addressed (something which the combat tree has always been abt, be it in the right or wrong way).

Which means the role of the combat HR in any given party is to maintain the dps momentum (unless ofc you choose to eschew Scything Blade. Which is a dumb idea if you're to ask me). Last time round, the damage dept wasn't good enough to perform such a role. This was mainly due to poor melee at-will damage (which resulted in the synergy between Piercing Blades and Scything Blade average at best) and a less than average critical dps (no crit stat feats available plus the aforementioned synergy problem). At the same time, there's more focus on the defensive aspect last time round (i.e. mostly based on deflection and lifesteal). As for the dodge distance, the combat HR wouldn't be able to jailbreak like a TR upon getting ganked by any mob while the deflection stat was always beneath that of the TR (read: TR is the only class with a 75% deflection severity together with the highest base deflection). Which is why more focus was done on the defensive end last time round.

Unlike the great weapon fighter, you can't choose to be a tank. And this is not to mention that the GWF has a better dps sustaining game (which is why the destroyer spec is so imba). Unlike the trickster rogue, your CC potential is nowhere near a scoundrel's level (read: stunlock unless you use Crushing Roots. Even then, CR is more of a trapper/archery thing). And this is not to mention that dexterity is the TR's primary stat, in which it affects critical chance (which is why the executioner spec is still so scary since it plays damage stacking).

Unlike the control wizard and scourge warlock, your damage game is 99%, if not 100% physical (read: it's a no brainer that physical damage is basically a Jack of all trades, the master of none.when compared to non-physical damage). Radiant damage (for devoted clerics and oathbound paladins), in particular, is most likely foolproof.

When it comes to dps, the archery tree is the only HR paragon path that is strictly hdps (and it still is). However, it can't keep up with a CW thaumaturge or SW fury spec (thaum spec is all abt consistent dps increment while the fury tree is more towards a one-shot game). So where does this leave the combat HR?

The relevance between the melee HR and sustaining the party's dps game lies in the AoE game. The HR does have the 2nd best AoE reach after the DC. This is the one area any GWF will lose out. Last time round, the dps didn't do justice to this understated strength of the HR. However, the archery tree is considered more of a single target hdps unlike the combat tree and trapper HR. In other words, the combat HR is all abt playing dps support more than anything else (unless your team got a tank, but no other melee dps). I won't say the combat tree would outstrip a destroyer GWF or an executioner TR in the damage dept, but most likely this paragon tree is now able to match the other paragon paths when it comes to melee damage. All in all, I'm liking what I'm seeing (and playing) now. This time round, using a melee HR is nothing like what I've done prior to switching Arylos to a trapper spec.

So yeah, I doubt I'll do an Arnie unless the devs decide to do it first.

45 mins to go...

...before Cryptic's maintenance live feed on Twitch. Figured that I might as well spend my 45 mins in a... well, constructive manner. Hopefully.

Firstly and foremost, let me say a big thank you to anemar. To those who think he/she is my friend, you're wrong. If he/she is my friend, I'd have told you his/her gender. Rather, anemar was one of the developers at Cryptic who recently left in search of greener pastures. I firmly believe anemar will be fondly missed by the community. After all, anemar did do a bang up job so far in communicating with the fanbase and fixing whatever needing a fix. As a result, we got a general gameplay patch list the size of Russia (for the woefully uninformed including my fellow S'poreans as well, Russia is actually the largest country in the world).

Good news(?) for all the aggro monkeys...

I really like what I'm seeing in the patch. This time round, Kariss Locras will have a decent defensive game (in other words, the post-Mod 5 tweaks were no different from the annual Halloween party in Sentosa when it comes to solo PvE). There are some radical changes here, a couple of which will contribute greatly to the fury spec. Out of the 3 paragon skill trees, only seduction offers a decent defensive game (read: good enough to survive the first couple of mob onslaught). Once the patch hit home, I may end up doing a free respec so that Kariss will become a seductive hellbringer (read: I still got problems trying to reconcile her character with her choice of a fury spec).

From whatever little info I've gleaned so far, it seems that the scourge warlock may have been buffed in a less-than-typical manner. The versatility is def there. Ironically, it's not so much of the Dept of Dps Radiation (something and the only thing this aggro monkey class is known for). Rather, the availability of defensive options is the key. The versatility lies in the strategy rather than tactics (i.e. strategy is all about planning the situation, tactics are all about playing with the situation). The presence of defensive upgrading lies mainly in the reworked Infernal Spheres and Blades of the Vanquished Army where the former confers damage resistance while the latter gives you a whopping total of 25% deflection chance. Ask for my opinion, however, and I'll say no to BotVA unless your warlock has a good defensive game boons-wise (read: deflection is a modifier stat instead of a core stat). Infernal Spheres, however, is different ball game. It's basically a game of this. Ultimately, the only way to make either/both means work lies in Warding Curse. This class feature is the most direct way to prevent your warlock from dying instead of having enemies dying. In other words, it's all abt defensive synergy rather than just a one-shot fix.

Interestingly, the warlock gamers seemed to have a different opinion. Quite the opposite tbh. They said the class got nerfed. If so, then it's most likely down to the reworking of Tyrannical Curse. Either that or I'm not seeing enough information here. Ofc there's this question of curse expend instead of curse synergy. If it's true that 90% of the original curse expend has been replaced with curse synergy by time you guys (and gals) see this post, then surely it's a massive nerf on the one-shot dps. If there's any trade-off as a result, it will be a sustainable dps game instead of one-shot nuking. Which would go a long way in explaining why the warlocks believe that the aggro monkeys are currently devolving instead of evolving. So much for evolution and Darwinism. *shrugs*

Kariss Locras' (ideal) theme

Blame the Koreans?

It may have become semi-official now. The hunter ranger class has gotten an upgrade. A massive upgrade no less. In fact, I'm pretty sure detractors (i.e. those who have been whining abt great weapon fighters and guardian fighters) will start crying foul due to what they'll eventually see (read: the Korean logic). As a hunter ranger from Mod 4 unto now, does Arylos give a two hoots' damn about this or that? The answer is an obvious no. After all, the concept of conflict between outcome and process do have its legit moments.

With that being said, the new changes are anything but a form of persona non grata. In Prince Andy's own words, awesome. I don't know whether my future girlfriend does have a habit of using this word, but awesome is basically what I'd use to describe the changes. There's virtually zero nerfing to be seen here. Only a reworked system where we may easily end up seeing great weapon fighters like this one below.

Not to mention combat hunter rangers as well for reasons quite the opposite...

One of the greatest reasons (if not the greatest) why hunter rangers were so used to griping like a bunch of Singaporeans is due to a legit concern of every other class out-dps'ing them left, right, and centre. If even a guardian fighter can out-dps your hdps archer, it means serious business afoot. And trust me when I say it's true that guardian fighters do have a decent probability of doing just that (hilariously enough, even a devoted cleric can out-dps Kariss despite her being a fur(r)y spec. >.<).

Ofc I could have made a switch in terms of my choice of main (in fact, I'm far more of a trickster rogue than a hunter ranger, gameplay style wise). Fortunately (albeit belatedly as well), I chose to emulate a true blue talent (disclaimer: there is nothing of note when it comes to whether there's a relationship of inspiration between the real Suárez and the real Arylos).

The changes in the archery tree lie in the feats more than anything else. Granted certain moves got tweaked (Aspect of the Falcon, in particular, will surely make Korey into the Jeanne d'Arc of all things artillery), but the gamechanger stops at the feats rather than the encounter powers. A lot will be said on whether Aimed Shot has officially become the new face of drastic evolution as a form of gaming science, but the feats will remain as the mainstay of the archery tree.

A bit on the Aimed Shot here. I'll have to admit that plenty of archers will want to use this. However, the tricky part lies in having only two at-will slots. For the stormwardens, it's easily a no-brainer as all they need to do is slotting an Aimed Shot plus a quick-firing at-will. It's only when you're a pathfinder where things will get interesting. The oft understated strength of the HR lies in a fast at-will offensive game. Which is why having two slow firing at-wills would have defeated the purpose of playing one. It's either Aimed Shot or Hunter's Teamwork, I can assure you of that. Do not underestimate the impact behind such a dilemma. As I've said, the main player in the improved archer HR lies in the feats. In other words, it's up to the gamer to decide whether the Quarry feat is still worth the 5 pts (read: feats synergy has always been the mainstay behind every build). And this is not to mention the potential dps catastrophe caused by a Quarry+Hunter's Teamwork+Carefule Attack+same target. It's doable, trust me. I'm the one creating Korey as both a playable character and part of the Neverwinter Six saga for crying out loud!

Which now comes to the trapper. Basically, not much has been changed. The only notable change lies in the cooldown aspect where Swiftness of the Fox and Forestbond is concerned. More specifically the buggy multi-cooldown effect (which wasn't intended in the first place, I'm sure of that). As for the multi-proc of Biting Snares, I'm pretty sure it means sustaining the effect via rapid stance switch (read: using two grasping roots attacks in one go). In other words, there's nothing much being fixed for the trapper apart from buggy issues in every sense of the word.

Combat spec is where the greatest changes may be seen. During Mod 4, my combat Arylos wasn't doing anything of note. This is mostly due to the HR being underpowered since the end of Mod 3 (not to mention trickster rogues and control wizards being hideously broken unless you happen to be someone using either class). In Mod 6, the new feats only served to further shaft this paragon tree which made the likes of Aragorn and Drizzt Do'Urden so famously badass. Definitely not awesome, man.

The greatest complaint I've seen in the official forums lies the lack of muscle for the at-wills. If the archery tree was underpowered mostly due to a broken feat system (since the at-will damage is quite decent albeit Aimed Shot was unplayable in a negative sense), then the combat tree has suffered from a chronic case of at-will anaemia. While nothing has changed for Careful Attack (that one doesn't need to be fixed anyway), the combo damage for Rapid Strike (and Rapid Shot for that matter as well) has been upped. The biggest change, however, lies in Clear the Ground. The base damage got upped, overall combo damage also got upped. Given the 3rd hit is a so-called "double burst" attack (read: CtG is considered a burst attack), it merely further upped the overall damage to an epic level (hopefully, that is) once you hit home the crit.

Lucky Blades now confer bonus damage for encounter powers upon proc (which is a killer given the synergy with the Endless Assault heroic feat). Battlecrazed now gives you bonus damage on top of bonus deflection. Scything Blade now gives you a base 5% damage increment apart from the original per-every-enemy modifier. Due to potential repercussions resulting from such a deadly dps combination, it's only a no brainer that Piercing Blades got a minimal boost (from 40% to 50% piercing damage). In fact, this was also the reason why the original plan to create a 4 hit Blade Hurricane sequence was scrapped.

All in all, a dps monster in the making. Which now comes to the main drawback. Under the previous system, it's possible to utilize a decent lifesteal game even if you don't have a decent base lifesteal stat. This is due to a combination of Bloodletting (+5% base lifesteal chance on max level) and Battlecrazed (+15% lifesteal chance in total on max level). That gives you a whopping 20% lifesteal chance. Plus Wilds Medicine in the fray and the survival aspect is plain crazy. This time round, no such luxury. Battlecrazed now confers bonus in damage and deflection per hit, not lifesteal. In short, you won't have the best of both worlds in the same way you can never date two beautiful radiographers instead of just one. I'm perfectly fine with it though. I mean the gameplay, not the beautiful radiographers.

As for Blade Hurricane, it got buffed. Due to too much badassery in other aspects, however, the 2 secs rule may not work that well in the event where you're out to pull off an Aimed Strike. Still better than last time round, but the total number of hits doable will be severely limited. By my own estimation, you can only pull off 2 at-wills under this kind of situation compared to any other at-will powers combination (where you may have a decent chance of pulling off 6 attacks instead of just 4). On the flip side though, you can now proc BH via just about any melee encounter power. Which means non-damage melee buffs like Oak Skin are now officially legit.

Korey's (ideal) theme

Conclusion

Due to negative feedback from the warlocks, I may need some time to decide whether Kariss' eventual gameplay will suit my style (read: I'm more of a Mourinho than Pep even though I do enjoy tinkering like Joachim "Der Löwe" Löw). As for Korey, no point for me to do wholesale changes since it's my intention to make her as the Jeanne d'Arc of all things artillery. For Arylos, however, I'm now verily tempted to use a free respec. After all, melee was my first love when I first started out in this game. Does that make him any less of an Edward of Woodstock? Well, once a Black Prince, forever the Black Prince.

Arylos' (ideal) theme