Risk taking gone right...

Just now, I realized that the world is never fair. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's like taking a life to save another. It really sucks. The worst thing about condoning rape is not just about the victim suffering. Do you think the rapist would care if an innocent life is murdered as a result? Do you think he would care about the value of an unborn life? Making lemonade out of lemons? Don't talk as if you've been through it, that's my message to all you moral crusaders no different from a bloodthirsty Saracen.

The Japs better do humanity a favor by not filing a copyright claim to YouTube.
Also, this vid lasts nearly an hour. Period.

Okay, rant over

Recently, I decided to play around with the moveset where Sheallyn Melarn is concerned. Initially, I opted for Shield based strategy (read: spell mastery). The good thing is that she'd most likely survive 9 tries out of 10. The downside is not enough dps to go around. The control wizard is basically all abt control and destroy. More specifically the thaumaturgy spec (oppressor spec is all abt CC while renegade is basically a dps-buff tree. Which sorta explains why it's so easy for a renegade to out-dps a thaum spec).

While I have no issues with surviving, getting pecked down in the damage/body count ranking kept taunting me like how Cyric would have tried goading Kelemvor over his previous failure. Ultimately, I was like "screw it, let's try a Jeff Hardy". One thing worthy of note is that I decided having an uncommon Rimefire Golem companion isn't good enough. For 20K+ astral diamonds, I bought a rare Rimefire Golem. Considering the crappy level 30 ability (lifesteal? You're kidding me, bro!), 20K+ seemed reasonable to me. After all, Iceflame only has one job. And that is tanking without a tennis racquet.

Suffice to say, the gamble seemed to have paid off. Currently, this is what Sheallyn's moveset looks like:

Encounter powers: Chill Strike [spell mastery], Sudden Storm, Icy Terrain (switching to Conduit of Ice in party instances), Shard of the Endless Avalanche.

At-will: Magic Missile, Storm Pillar

Daily: Maelstrom of Chaos (subject to possible changes due to Oppressive Force being too damn good), Ice Dagger.

Class features: Eye of the Storm, Chilling Presence

Credit goes to my guild leader Vrae for telling me to go for CP. While Storm Spell can deal extensive damage upon proc, it's only a case of 30% chance per critical hit (which is most likely why SS and EotS are certified BFFs). CP deals damage on a more consistent basis unlike SS where it's more of a probability game. Of course this is not to say EotS and CP goes well together like a pair of BFFs by default. You'll need to have an effective ice damage game (something which the CW has in plenty) and an effective alternative (i.e. fire, lightning, and arcane). The latter factor is particularly important for thaum spec. Which is what Sheallyn truly is.

While there's nothing wrong in slotting Shield in either a normal or spell mastery encounter slot, such a choice can be seen as detrimental to the thaumaturgy players. Because CW doesn't have an effective AoE game, you'll have to hold the mob into a cluster before letting fly (as always, the devoted cleric has the best AoE game followed by the hunter ranger). If you're using oppressor then Shield may be useful due to lower dps and better CC. If you're going renegade, then most likely you'll really need that due to Reaper's Touch being your staple dps.

Thaumaturgy relies a lot on actual attacks to make the dps count. In other words, it's the stereotypical wizard (possibly Elminster Aumar and Gromph Baenre as famous examples). It's not a CC tree because there's basically nothing for you to choose from. In terms of dps, it works differently from the renegade tree (more of a dps leader build).

With a blue Iceflame lumbering about (together with 3 *insert gear here* of the Loyal Defender), there's not much for Sheallyn to worry about. Even with a leader companion, it's not a thaum spec's role to play out a prolonged fight. Period.

Note: Lightning enchantment can be absurdly effective due to the chaining effect. Just make sure you get it at greater rank at least.

Add note: Maelstrom of Chaos has been quite a controversial daily power, it seems. Some think it's nothing next to crap, others find it decent. Then there are those who believed this to be a very underappreciated move. Long cast time, but you get control immunity and take less damage as the SOP. Despite having one of, if not the longest casting time in-game, MoC is absurdly effective as a jailbreak tactic. The hard part lies in aiming. Which actually says a lot on why plenty (?) of people call this a crap move. That plus a small AoE compared to other AoE daily powers. If you want to use it, please use it as a jailbreak tactic up close and personal. There's no way you can aim it at the enemy furthest away from you if the rest of the mob decide to close in.

P.S: Getting very late right now. More specifically 2 am now. Will be going onto Arylos and Cyrea next. That plus I now know how to fix that damn non-server lag bs.