After a long while...

I'm back. Well, not really since I've been quite active online for other reasons, not the least playing Neverwinter and trying to out-gambit Eddie "The Once and Future Knight" Howe last Saturday. This will be a miscellaneous post since it's really a wee bit of a few things.

Knight of Feywild and Kingslayer: Hero of Neverwinter

I'm back to my first love again. You see, the thing with respec'ing a character is that you're not dealing with a relationship. If I do the same thing with my relationship management, I swear my future mother-in-law and all my future girlfriend's BFFs will murder me a carving knife in each person's hand.

Enough on my own half-baked gallows humour, let's get back on topic. All in all, I find that Displace Fate is really like Triple H. In other words, it's that damned good. Let me be frank, this is a very damned good lifesaver. On the first glance, the risk of making Soulforged enchantment redundant is very real. However, it must be said that Soulforged is best triggered in a one-shot fatality situation where the likes of Shang Tsung would go like "I thought I finished him/her already?" while wondering at the same time whether Kelemvor owed Raiden a debt. Adding 60% damage resistance for a few seconds may sound pointless, but we must also understand that damage resistance is capped at 80%. This is especially evident when it comes to slapping Tiamat. Got slapped by her breathing cannon? No worries, Kelemvor will deliver you from death (albeit with a cooldown period). Against circumstances amounting to getting jumped by any mob in Bryn Shander/Lonelywood/Cold Run, this can give you at least some decent breathing space (especially so if you got a Negation enchantment). All in all, the trade-off is worth it. After all, I chose Baphomet's Might prior to my total recall.

On Augmented Thayan Bastion, this is also another nice boon due to added defensive muscle. The problem with this one, however, lies in random proc. There would always be moments where Arylos got himself injured (not as in the injury penalty bs) and lo and behold! Augmented Thayan Bastion proc! Considering the cooldown period for any given boon proc, it's not cool. Of course, I could have retained Rampaging Madness as an alternative. The only problem? ATB has a more stable proc game.

Defensive boons form the backbone of Arylos' dps game this time round. The problem with the combat hunter ranger lies in having the shortest dodge frames. In other words, point blank jailbreaking is never an option. Even if we're talking about wrongfooting the opponent, the trickster rogue still does it better. At the same time, I tried to add deflection boons whenever possible. Which comes to...

Critical boons. More oft than not, you're forced to choose between critical boon and deflection boon. Because I need to up the dps (since you'll get to choose between defense boon and power boon on any given tier), one can say critical boons is a must.

On the guild boons, I initially chose the stable defense boon. This is due to me being pragmatic due to Arylos' gear being very dps oriented (read: choice of artifact gear and standard artifacts). Yet, I'll admit that my personal preference is the temple lifesteal boon. After all, his god is Kelemvor and Mystra's ex is never his people's god. Then I decided to do the unthinkable. Like Joachim "der Löwe" Löw, I decided to do a major tinkering. Surprise to myself! Kelemvor really watches over his Chosen. The reason why is very simple. I tend to spam Clear the Ground. Apart from Rapid Strike, this is the fastest at-will a hunter ranger can ever get (that is provided you go stormwarden like Arylos). Because lifesteal proc upon damage instead of upon hit, it means damage over time counts. Which now comes to...

Damage over time (duh!). My second at-will is Aimed Strike. In other words, we're talking about 1-2 stacks of bleeding damage (over time). At the same time, there's Plant Growth. Then we have Magistrate's Patience. Imagine the insane possibility of perma-stealth. Not even the late Eddie Guerrero would have seen this coming.

Initially, I planned to play safe with the new guild boon testing. In other words, I stuck with Oak Skin. However, I decided to change things a bit during my last Tiamat slapping earlier on. Works just as well if you're to ask me. However, open PvE tends to test the gamer more than any epic dungeons/trials (unless you're dealing with frost giants great and not-so-great). So yeah, I'll need to test this out on Bryn Shander/Lonelywood/Cold Run.

Note: I'm now attempting a so-called perma-dodge build where Steel Breeze becomes my third encounter power of choice at the expense of Oak Skin. You can't blame me for thinking like Pep or Löw.

Add note: I still play a wee bit like a trapper. However, I tend to adopt a ranged>melee approach on a one direction basis. And it's this > direction.

And speaking of Cold Run...

I'll have to say it's easier than Lonelywood and whatever fight you'd otherwise get inside Bryn Shander. The reason why being the terrain. Lonelywood is mostly trees and high ground. In other words, there's only little maneuvering space for the gamer. Same goes for the so-called urban terrain called Bryn Shander (note that Bryn Shander stage is separated into two terrains: the city itself and outside the city). The key in surviving (and ultimately winning) lies in an effective flanking game. If you can't flank the mob or attack them from the rear, you don't need to play Neverwinter anymore. Period. This is especially evident when it comes to dealing with giants where there's so many charging bs, stun bs, stoning bs, runes bs... basically, we classify them under AoE bs.

Cold Run, on the other hand, works like the tundra terrain outside Bryn Shander. Actually, it's the same type of terrain. You're effective fighting on level ground. However, it also means you'll most likely need to get an epic mount in order to minimize the risk of an aggro chase. The mob placement is such that I can't help but see things this way (fyi, I already got myself an account wide Heavy Howler. +2000 crit ftw apart from Shea. More on that later).

As Arylos, I really have a merry time doing a hit and run like how Bournemouth plays its soccer/football under the watchful gaze of Howe. Period. And it really helps to have the Fox as an excuse for stance dance (i.e. not this kind of fox, but this type of fox).

It really feels ironic that the final stage of Storm King's Thunder may easily be the easiest out of the three. Period.

Note: Lonelywood remains as the most difficult stage due to the varying nature of terrain due forests and mountains. The crab sidequest is easy to obtain though, so go for it. You'll need as much voninblod x50 as possible.

Add note: The in-game graphics of Cold Run has to be the best job done so far. Not that the rest are crappy, but the nature of the screen just blew me away. In particular, placement of the scouts is very realistic compared to the 50-50 call in the Well of Dragons. Seriously, is the Zhentarim not paid enough to do a decent job? Or perhaps Ewan Roald's IQ is actually on the par with Arylos and Lucas Shaneway III.

Demons and Koreans

Let's just face it. Only a moron will say Koryo isn't based on Korea in the same way only an idiot will insist Kara-tur isn't based on East Asia. Earlier on, I took Korey out for a little run in Gauntlgrym (i.e. the frist Maze Engine quest). At level 68, I felt fairly confident of a decent run. Problem is, the run was a quite challenging. If you think it's not so easy for a girl to headbutt a guy into the water, it means getting Korey through the Gauntlgrym gauntlet is a tough ask. Part of the reason lies in me dumping 5 points into Hasty Escape without learning how to use it. Very fast, Korey ran out of stamina and she was nearly destroyed by the demons spawning out from the portals. I think she saw white like 2-3 times. Which is not funny at all since we're talking about less than 20% HP remaining. To make things worse, Drizzt was put out of action during the chaotic free-for-all (I think Bruenor kept fighting though). How in the Nine Hells she's able to pull through without a respawn, I don't really know. Then again, maybe it has something to do with Victim's Preservation (a really damned useful insignia bonus power if your character is lower on defense and deflect. Just make sure you use Radiant enchantments on the defensive gear slots).

Note: Possibly another key factor behind Korey surviving the demonic onslaught lies in me being forced to learn how to use Hasty Escape properly. Korey doesn't have Ghostwalker Stance.

Add note: Think Thorn Ward isn't really that useful in solo PvE. Think I may need to replace it with Constricting Arrow. Amazingly enough, her BFF Lotte survived that free-for-all.

Demons and drow

Because the education system during my time forced me to become a failure-immune S.O.B like Jon Snow, I decided to test out Sheallyn on the same Gauntlgrym gauntlet. Originally, I figured she'll have an easier time. After all, she's geared in a four piece drow armor set. Previously, one of guildies Cella mentioned that the archery tree for hunter ranger is now imba tier. While I never doubted his words (yes, he's a guy), I actually got the clearest view on why he's not lying to me. It is ridiculous, let me tell you. Korey actually had an easier time dps'ing the demons during that final free-for-all. Even with Shield slotted into her spell mastery tab, it was still a tougher fight. Shea's total item level was like slightly over 2000, Korey's total item level was definitely lower that 2000.

So what/where exactly went wrong? The thing with using the thaumaturgy tree is that it's the most defensively frail path for the control wizard. The oppressor can afford to keep the enemy at bay via CC while the renegade route can just pull off a buff or two. For the thaumaturgy tree, it doesn't have the oppressor's keep-away game or the renegade's survival game. In this sense, it's very similar to the fury tree of the scourge warlock class.

While I favor a fast hitting game, I realized that Shea wasn't firing her machine gun fast enough (no Austin Powers jokes please. It's not as if we're talking about Goldmember). Magic Missile is basically the fastest at-will power in the game (even faster than Rapid Shot/Strike). To make things difficult for myself, I messed up terribly by choosing Shard of the Endless Avalanche as one of her 3 encounter powers. That move is very hard to land in the middle of combat, but I was left with no choice because I messed up mightily by spending the power points wrongly (which means I'll need a respec to set things right). At the same time, I kept dodging to jailbreak. Wise move? Nah, it's a retarded move. One lesson I've learnt about using the control wizard is this: Do not try to dodge in close quarters.

Rather, the control wizard has to maneuver around while nailing as many hits as possible. Whatever you do, don't force yourself into a corner unless you're prepared to teleport in order to throw the opponents off-guard. I'll need some practice via the Dwarven King questline until the respec comes.

Note: It's really a miracle that Shea didn't need a respawn to set things right.

Add note: Something's not right somewhere once I think about it. Why is it that the aggro kept coming in the wrong direction despite a rank 2-3 Battlewise feat?

P.S: Getting late now. Need sleep. Got work tomorrow.