Simril is coming (because Christmas doesn't exist in Faerûn)

This year, Christmas will be remembered for all the right reasons and the wrong ones as well. On one hand, it's a season to be jolly with your other half. It doesn't matter whether it's your wife, girlfriend, or Emma "Duchess of Megawattsville" Watson. Period. It's also a season to have turkey stuffed with potatoes and whatever edible stuff allowed by your mom's creativity. It's also a season of this and the fact that 2018 will only be slightly better than 2017 (and the years prior to 2017 as well for that matter). Therefore, it's good to be cynical. Christmas comes only once a year, so let us all cherish it.

Marvel Heroes won't be coming back. Like (for)ever.

I don't have to up the link because it's indeed official. Gazillion is shutting down Marvel Heroes Omega. This is the second high profile casualty in Marvel's history. While I won't make any assumption concerning Disney, it must be said that games operate on a budget. And to have a budget, you need money. To have money, you need profit.

I recall playing Marvel Avengers Alliance (for the FB version). The first thing I noticed is that the game is fun. However, there's a wee nagging feeling that something's not right. Namely, the fact that you can farm gold free of charge. There were two ways to get gold for free. Either you level up (and even then, it seems that getting gold was more about the rng than a rigged deal) or in Gambit's own words, pick a card. Any card. In other words, players had less reason to spend.

Then there was the business model for Marvel Heroes Omega. Apparently, the game was touted to be that F2P MMO for the F2P fanbase. In other words, players had less reason to spend.

Lessons to be learnt?

Seeing the sad fate of two very well-done games inadvertently brings to mind Cryptic's business model. If the Marvel games were running on a socialist business model, then Cryptic is still running on a capitalist system. There is a reason why gamers cried foul over the pay-to-win modus operandi, it's called... well, capitalism.

The F2P gaming industry is no different from the traditional gaming industry. In fact, it has to work under the same rule dictating every industry existing in the world, be they legal or illegal. That rule is supply and demand. If there is any difference between the gaming industry and the fitness gym-studio industry, it'd be the application of this rule. For the latter example, application relies on location. Therefore, liking more than one yoga studio or fitness gym on FB is like telling the whole wide world that you have too much money and free time to burn. For the former case, it's all about creativity. Since you don't need to waste time and money on more than one place, it means you're entitled the convenience of liking more than one game on FB.

What this means is that the gaming industry can be quite cutthroat in nature. On one hand, someone being a fan of The Last Story doesn't mean that person should never be a fan of The Witcher 3. On the other hand, it also means the Polish blokes at CD Projekt RED would have to create a polished masterpiece to ensure the aforementioned fan's loyalty. On the first glance, industries promoting single-target loyalty (e.g. the fitness gym-studio industry) are more competitive. In reality, industries promoting multiple-target loyalty (e.g. the gaming industry) are the competitive ones. This is NOT to say single-target loyalty discourages competition. It's like imagining a land grab scenario. The smaller the land, the less need for expansion (this is provided we're talking about the logic of free for all market). On the other end, the larger the land, the more need for expansion.

While Cryptic has changed its business strategy since Kelemvor decided to exterminate that annoying lizard (no, I'm not referring to you, Malakut), there remains a viable business strategy. No matter how terribly crap Cryptic was in its previous dealings with the fanbase, I have to acknowledge the need for profit all in the name of budget. The two Marvel F2P games basically lost out in this area. They gave the fans what they want, but they failed to give themselves what they need. 

The golden rule of ideology is very simple: If you're a capitalist, it means you're a greedy bastard. This is most likely why my country's government got scolded left, right, and centre since 1965, Mr Lee or no Mr Lee. If you're a socialist, however, it means you're a brainless spendthrift. This is most likely why the Soviet Union lost the Cold War.

While it remains to be seen what Marvel will do in the event it's trying to start another MMO foray, the execs upstairs will need to make some hard decisions. They will have to risk pissing off the fanbase when it comes to long-term survival. Replay value can only give this much back to the studio, I'm pretty sure the people at Gazillion now understand this albeit at a painful price. Giving the fans a boring alternative to farm stuff which shouldn't be free in the first place can only earn this much for the studio. I'm pretty sure the brains behind Marvel Avengers Alliance are now wondering whether they made the wrong move. Creating a game is like building a nation, creating a viable business model is like creating a... well, tax system (yes, I know what you're gonna say. No one likes to pay taxes because it's the only absolute thing in life apart from death).

Lest we forget, it's arguably easier to survive in the fitness gym-studio industry.

Fact: Kavatos is not God

There's something buggy going on today when I resumed taking down Gyrion the Ascending Pretender. Fact is, Kavatos is not God, therefore his jumping spell is not omnipotent. I don't care whether Cryptic is predominantly #TeamJones or #TeamMoore because... well, we all know Gyrion is also not God even though he did ascend from the platform after you defeated him.

Why I'm mentioning something 100% factual is this: The jumping part has gone buggy. Yes, you read it right. The jumping part has gone buggy. More specifically the first round.

Originally, the first round consisted of only one sequence where the positioning of motes was concerned. Today, I noticed there were two variations instead of just one sequence. While it makes the Super Mario moment less boring (although it must be said that multiple invasion for any River District boss HQ means progressive difficulty), the stupid thing about the jump is the fact that one of the two variations is bugged.

Let me summarise how the two variations look like. Without the aid of diagrams and videos (because I'm either a tech idiot or a tech Amish), the first variation takes a shorter time to clear while the second version involves the motes positioned on a wider arc (i.e. the second version takes around twice as long to complete). The second variation was only added on today while the first variation was the original Sanders. The problem? Something went wrong and the original Sanders got a flu bug.

The bug went like this: Once I reached the final mote, it should be fine for me to jump and land. By right, that'd have given me a rightful shot at taking on Gyrion the Ascending Pretender on the round 2 basis. However, I couldn't jump and land. Under normal circumstances, the circle should be yellow. In this situation, the circle was white. Which means jumping is #IMPOSSIBRU no matter how I adjusted the positioning of the circle.

So what to do? No choice, let myself die.

Thankfully, the next jump post-respawn was an easier task. At least it's easy enough for me to clear it without another #RESPAWNLOL and the paranoid feeling that someone in Cryptic has a problem with me. Interestingly, the next jump actually involved the second variation.

So what it means is this: If your first attempt belongs to the original Sanders, please be mentally prepared to die at the last hurdle. In fact, you will die at the last hurdle. Bloody Nine Hells, why am I sounding like some Dumbfoundead Korean?

Of course, this also means that if your first attempt belongs to the longer route, please make sure you complete before you die. Otherwise, you may be forced to take the original Sanders' path to failure come the second try. Note that the reason why I said "may be forced" instead of "will be forced" is due to the fact that I'm not interested to be anybody's guinea pig.

Beyond the Super Mario buggy deal, I also need to advise all my fellow Neverwinners on this: When you jump, make sure there's no solid object in front of you. This is VERY important because Kavatos is not God and therefore, his jump spell is not omnipotent. The moment you get something like a bench, a bed, or candlestand in front of you, PLEASE GET YOURSELF IN FRONT OF THOSE THINGS BEFORE YOU DIE!!!!!!! If you don't do that, the jump spell won't proc, and... well, you'll die. Full stop.

And lastly (before I go on to the next part), please... seriously, PLEASE get yourself a movement buff. It can come in the form of drinks like the Lightwine or any movement food buff purchasable from the barmaid. Note that you'll have one in your guild stronghold and another one in Chult. Just don't ask me which one is more attractive because I don't want my future mom-in-law to slaughter me.

Choice of Ascendancy: Cyrea Durothil

This provided I decided to go one step further. Right now, I'm perfectly fine with her using the Chultan weapon set. While the set bonus is the worst I've ever seen, I'll have to say it makes for a good alternative to sets like Twisted and the Elemental Evil ones. For one, it takes only a decent amount of astral diamonds to bid-hijack in the auction house (i.e. buy it straight instead of bidding). Put together the pricing for the main hand and off-hand, all you need is around 40-50K. At least that's how I remember it. Secondly, the item level is higher. Put one and one together and you'll get two. Simply put, it's a better deal for alts since you won't be running them too much anyway.

Assuming I'm gonna let Cyrea choose her ideal set, it would be Fey set. This is basically the only set that is heal-friendly. Even though she's now a righteous maiden of Corellon's fury and Mystra's wrath, I still use her as a healer. It's only a question of how much healing is involved. Previously when she was a faithful spec (for one of the loadouts, that is), Lifeforged is the choice since it gave a much better survival game. If you're running righteous spec, however, Fey set is your only choice since it's the only set that gives outgoing heal bonus. In fact, it synergises very well with Light of Divinity. Once you get the Tiamat set as well, that's it. Everybody would want you in their squad. And to set the record straight, Cyrea is now currently using Light of Divinity and Tiamat set.

Choice of Ascendancy: Myrreas

Aboleth set. It's a no-brainer seriously. Yes, Mirage set may seem like a better choice. However, Myrreas is more of a stack-per-kill build (to set the record straight, I got him a Bloodlord's Visage via a Castle Never raid. At the same time, his raiding loadout is an executioner, so it makes sense to make a feast out of the stack-per-kill. Of course, this is not to say Mirage set is useless for trickster rogues. To be honest, I won't be surprised if it goes well with saboteurs, perma-stealth or no perma-stealth (read: Saboteurs are even more reliant on the asap body count, but they don't do kill-buffing since that's the executioner's territory).

And because Myrreas is the typical executioner (i.e. with kill-buff feats included), Aboleth makes perfect sense since there's a chance of proc'ing the death explosion. In fact, Aboleth set is most likely an executioner's tools of the trade (two other builds benefitting greatly from Aboleth set is the fury scourge warlock and thaumaturge control wizard due to their one-shot fireworks). Also, lifesteal. 2.5K bonus may not be that much of a big deal in raiding, but it sure is friendly in solo open world PvE (that is unless you're a temptation scourge warlock, in which this case the 2.5K lifesteal can result in a dps orgy known as Dark Revelry. I think it's now nerfed, though).

Choice of Ascendancy: Arylos

Again, it's Aboleth set. Originally, I might have stated that Lifeforged is the recommended one for combat specs. The thing is, using Lifeforged means lower dps. While this would give the combat hunter rangers better survivability (i.e. something separating the men from the boys), I find that Aboleth can do a lot more given the right moveset.

Which now comes to the need to respec. While I only need to do a feats-boons respec, 116K astral diamonds is no small sum. I still need coalescent wards and preservation wards, not to mention as well those superior marks of potency. Provided things go according to plan, what is going to happen is that either I'll use two respec tokens or one respec token and a feats-boons respec. The current loadouts are a bit messed up in terms of the TCA fina boons. I don't want to explain why because that'd take up unwanted space.

What I can say, however, is this: For solo open world PvE (i.e. I actually named it Knight of Feywild), the last boon should have been Vision of Beyond. Even though it got nerfed to 10% stamina regen (apparently, 12% stamina regen via crit hit was too much for people to handle in PvP), it should be good enough to play dodge and fight in Chult. See those cute dinos making that annoying noise? Yeah, I'm talking about those annoying Jurassic Park reptiles. Tbh, I got myself a shorter killing time with Vision of Beyond compared to Planar Vitality.

For the raiding loadout (because I don't do PvP plus the fact that actual motivation for PvP has been doused since banner artifacts apart from Champion's Banner aren't that in-demand come Mod 6 and beyond), Sword of Kelemvor involves Vision of Beyond instead of Planar Vitality. My decision to switch to Aboleth set despite having a Trailblazer set lies in the fact that not many players play Assault on Svardborg (at least not on the normal difficulty basis). While it's economically better to just unlock Storvald's damn HQ in the campaign progress window (believe it or not, I've yet to finish that bloody thing). it's less stressful for me in the long run if I just get Arylos an Aboleth set with a legendary Trailblazer set as a nice bonus instead. Also, it took me only 4 cubes of augmentation to unlock the class feature bonus every hunter ranger wants in his/her off-hand weapon. Namely, Aspect of the Pack. Combine it with Blade Storm and it makes for a better dps on a consistent basis.

Right now, I'm nearing the completion of the set. All I need is like 4-5 more Tainted Soil and enough astral diamonds to get the rest (read: Volatile Ichor and Arcane Magical Writings). In fact, the fastest way to finish your River District daily quest is ritual spamming. You'll need plenty of reclaimed magic to do that, though.

If things go according to plan, I'll have to ditch Split the Sky/Throw Caution and the Warden's Courage feat. Instead, I'll most likely be using Marauder's Rush, Oak Skin, and Plant Growth. Since I have no intention to tweak my Icewind Dale boons, what it means is that Rousing Warmth will still be an effective weapon. Coupled with Planar Vitality and the Wilds Medicine feat, it should make Arylos into a decent dps monster with decent survivability to boot. Interestingly, that'd bring Death's Blessing into the picture. Should I just ditch it or keep it? Think I should just ditch it for Lingering Curse since I'm going for Aboleth set? Arylos thinks like Frank Castle. And that includes end-game fights.

And lastly...

Which one is better for the dps? Mirage or Aboleth? Some, if not most, gamers would have gotten a decent answer to this question. If it's PvE, then go Aboleth. If you're more of a PvP or 50-50 between the two, then it should be Mirage. Let me give some factors to consider about. After all, you'll most likely need to upgrade the campaign store to rectify your mistake once you make the wrong call.

The first factor is what kind of dps monster are you. This is not a case of hdps or CC-dps. I'm referring to whether you're a hit and run type or someone who whacks the opposition without budging. Mirage is more for hit and run because the illusions can do the dirty job for you in case you're too busy trying to keep yourself out of trouble. For melee based hunter rangers, this is especially important due to hunter rangers having the lowest dodge frames in-game. If you're either a great weapon fighter (even for a sentinel tankjob), guardian fighter, or a justice oathbound paladin, then Aboleth should be your choice. In fact, Aboleth set can be absurdly effective for pure guardian fighter tanks if there's a plaguefire enchantment slotted. I'm not pulling this out of my ass. I happen to know a tank by the name of Frankenstein. He's not part of my guild, but he's part of my alliance. Trust me, his tanking is outright monstrous like Frankenstein's monster. The reason being his plaguefire enchantment. And yes, that Frankensteiner is a guardian fighter.

The second factor is whether you're a single target or AoE dps build. If you're a single target based dps, most likely it means you're a hdps. In this case, using Aboleth means you'll need to kill mobs asap because the 4% damage bonus proc won't bail you out forever. In fact, it's not even meant as a bailout option. If you want a bailout, go get Lifeforged set. However, single target dps builds tend to benefit even better from Mirage. This is due to the illusions increasing the AoE. It's simple maths. One person can only cover this much area, but 2-3 individuals can cover like... maybe twice or thrice the range? Either way, combat advantage still applies where the illusions are concerned. In duelling and maximising an otherwise limited AoE into something actually decent against any mob, Mirage is a good choice. Whether it's better... well, it depends on whether you're a furylock or executioner. Thaumaturge benefits greatly from the death explosion proc as well, but Mirage set may be a better fit due to thaumaturge builds being more of a single target dps. This is provided we're not talking about the Master of Flame paragon class. Which in this case the single target logic would be thrown out of the window. AoE dps builds tend to benefit more from Aboleth set. This is because AoE dps tends to deal less damage in exchange for better range. This is especially effective for the damage over time proc while the death explosion tends to proc more in raid instances. For the lifesteal proc, it's recommended that you get a mount that can give Assassin's Covenant since that would mean 250 increase in power.

P.S: Someone in my alliance actually asked me which set is better for dps DC. I answered Mirage set. Don't laugh. Mirage set is basically the best bet for any dps DC since lifesteal is basically useless for any DC. In fact, dps DC requires a steady stream of dps despite having one of, if not the best, AoE gameplay in Neverwinter. Basically, that makes Mirage set even better than Aboleth. Let alone Fey and Lifeforged.

Cool girl? Never see you there... (i.e. Scarlet Witch and Dragonfang)

Again, I blame the staple diet of every Asian man and woman. Okay, that's a lie. I just want to write up something for Marvel Heroes Omega once again. At the same time, I realized I should have just used one label for my Marvel Heroes Omega posts. After all, it's much easier for me to dump every single damn thing into one label unlike Neverwinter (this is due to a far lower tendency to experiment with my heroes and heroines unlike what Mr Sinister would have done).

In this post, I'll be touching on one character and Valkyrie's sword.

There's a reason why I added in Nightcrawler. Trust me.

What I'll most likely do here

It can be very tiring doing one entire write-up on a hero/heroine. In fact, I think I've busted at least 40% of my brain cells attempting it on Black Widow while 70% of my brain cells were euthanized via Kurt Wagner.

Thankfully, I've yet to give Wanda any Asgardian blessing. In this post, I'll only be touching on how I did her moveset including her traits and talents. Before I start, however, I need to say something. And that is...

For the last time, Deadpool, I'm not the type of vampire that counts!

Sounds familiar to you? I'm not referring to the monster below...

Rather, it's the vampire below...

And to think Singapore needs a black man...

I'm nearing my next 400 eternal splinters cycle so as to speak. Right now, it's like 307 or so. Given how splinters farming is more of a simple grind, I'll have no problem getting Blade eventually. The reason why is very simple: There's no point for me to use Hawkeye where the current hero synergy is concerned. After all, I realized I was much comfier in using the orthodox archer. While going melee means zero cooldown for Frost Arrow, the hit execution still felt weird to me. Which means I might as well wean all my ranged heroes/heroines off the melee. Blade's hero synergy can be seen as one-size-fits-all. This is due to health upon hit and increased attacking speed. Which in turn will benefit greatly characters like Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Invisible Woman, and Storm (Black Widow doesn't count because she's surprisingly good when it comes to balancing range and melee. Even better than Gambit due to her KGB stealth mode if I say so myself). In fact, these four are my current ranged dps in my character roster right now.

If things go smoothly, I should be able to get my Blade very soon.

Edit: I now got him.

There's something about Wanda...

Firstly, the spoiler. Magneto isn't her dad. In fact, Magneto isn't Quicksilver's dad as well. What this means is that all the while, the Brotherhood was bs'ing them. And since Magneto IS the Brotherhood, no matter how you see it, this means Magneto was also guilty of bs'ing them. We all know Max Eisenhardt is a tragic character, but did he really have to do this? Actually, you really have to feel for him. There's a reason why he's so super emo. At every turn of his life, loss awaited. There's only this much the man of magnetic steel can take before breaking down.

Ultimately, it means 4 things:

1. Vision was never his son-in-law.

2. Any romance between Kurt and Wanda wouldn't result in moral complications in the name of ideology. It's factual that Magneto believes in acceptance minus the tolerance, unlike Charles Xavier who believed in both (note the past tense because Cyclops offed him after Wanda's No More magic words).

3. If the romance really gets the go-ahead, it means we'll most likely see more of Azazel. After all, he will want to know his future daughter-in-law better (whether Wanda will see him as dad-in-law is quite another question altogether).

4. Ofc it won't prevent a catfight from happening between her and Rogue. Seriously, I pity Kurt if/once that happens. Imagine what will happen if my girlfriend and sis get into a catfight.

Secondly, it took me quite a while in using her correctly. Her range dps is good. Very good, in fact. The problem lies in unreliability. The damage can easily fluctuate like crazy. One moment, you can nuke any mob straightaway. Come the next mob, damage dealt may drop drastically even though you're using the same move. Overall wise, however, she's still a certified range dps goddess.

Thirdly, it seems that hitting Chaos mode would up her defense. What this means is that for a character worth only 200 splinters, Wanda is surprisingly efficient. You'd think she plays more like Hawkeye in the sense that it's run and gun. In reality, she can be absurdly effective when it comes to stand and fire (incidentally, Cable is another character able to do a stand and fire game). It's either that or I think it's the Chthon relic I slotted for her. Nah, doubt so. That'd make mental damage terribly broken like how Wanda can break the fabric of reality.

Let's be frank here. Wanda is no cool girl. She's emotional and temperamental, outright psychotic at times even. In terms of raw power, she's definitely somewhere up there. The only reason why she's not in the Alpha/Omega level bracket would be her inability to control the power of Chaos (the last part is something I come up with, so don't quote Mr (Stan) Lee on this one). To reflect this fact, the damage can easily swing from one to a gazillion in one moment, the other direction the next moment. Seriously, she's really that powerful. Even Deadpool doesn't dare to rile her.

Deadpool: More like the Scarlet Biii...... Eh heh heh heh... never see you there.

Compare this to what he said to Juggernaut.

Deadpool: You know for someone who is unstoppable, you do get stopped a lot. Seriously.

The two trees

I'm still going with the two trees. And when I say two trees, I'm not referring to Loreena "doubt we'll see her in Singapore" McKennitt.

Two trees refer to the fact that every character will start off with two loadouts (in Neverwinter speak, not mine). After some time in using the one loadout rule, I decide to(re) adopt the two trees approach. And ofc that includes fair Wanda.

Left click: Hex Bolt

Right click: Chaos Shift

A; Chaos Rift

S: Chaos Warp

D: Reality Implosion

F: Hex Sphere

G: Unmake Reality

H: Flourish paint (Cap America)

U: No More... *insert the movie you hate most*

Talents: Reality Shred, Chaos Ascendant, Command Chaos, Chaos Mastery, Chaos Magic: Ruinous Flux

Above tree is for solo running. Therefore, I always place survivability as my number one priority. My staple one-two would always revolve around the RI>HS combo. Chaos Rift is there for two purposes: direct kill if possible, damage over time as dps support otherwise. I'm still trying to master the art of systematic execution (not just only Wanda and this game, but also other characters and Neverwinter as well). The reason why being that my brain is wired incorrectly compared to my fellow S'poreans/human beings. Their brains are wired in the image of order, mine is wired in the image of chaos. Okay, I admit that's a self-imposed hyperbole, but you all get the drift.

The whole build is all about systematic execution. It's not exactly Pep "not a Clotet" Guardiola's Catalan stuff, but it's surely Joachim "Der Löwe" Löw's German stuff. A few things on my choice of talents here.

1. Chaos Ascendant was that moment where things clicked into gear for my magic Wanda. Before that, I was still messing around with the build like a Catalan Pep. Once I reached the second row, the defensive woes vanished. They were, in Wanda's own words, No More.

2. Chaos Mastery may seem like a hare-brained idea. In fact, I won't blame you for associating it with Quicksilver's foolhardiness. The reason why I chose this over Reality Breach is very simple. I'm more of a crit-brutal gamer when it comes to the dps. And besides, Wanda is a living cannon in red. In fact, she's the only nuke on my current character roster (yes, you're reading it right. I say "nuke", not "nude", so all you sick bastards better not twist my words).

3. I need some insurance. It's like any team under the stewardship of J-Mou, not just Man Utd. That's why I need Ruinous Flux. That plus what I've said on Wanda's defensive once her Chaos mode kicks in.

Left click: Hex Bolt
Right click: Chaos Rift

A; Chaos Rift

S: Chaos Warp

D: Reality Implosion

F: Ravenous Binding
G: Unmake Reality

H: Flourish paint (Cap America)

U: No More... *insert the movie you hate most*

Talents: Further the Chaos, Chaos Ascendant, Positive Outcome, Reality Breach, Chaos Magic: Withering Agony

Above is my raiding tree. By that, I'm actually including Manhattan, Industry City, and Hightown. This build is more of a support-dps approach rather than the direct offense-defense solo approach. In terms of moveset, there's not much change. ChaosWarp with Chaos Ascendant is still there. However, the AoE dps has changed due to two factors.

1. I need more AoE dps. The first tree isn't good enought to fulfill this role.

2. Raiding and the like always entails a massive need for mob clearing. Wanda is an effective nuke, but her AoE game is average.

As a result, I chose to Further the Chaos. Yes, the auto-kill bonus for Reality Shred is good. However, it's not going to do a thing against bosses. For the so-called patrol zones, the bosses will always spawn.... well, like a boss. For the actual raids, dps is a greater must. The 3% Chaotic Hex chance may not seem like a great deal (or even a good deal to some/most). But because it's easier for me to CC and nuke (mostly due to the fact you'll never walk alone and not just in the Merseyside), Ravenous Binding became my choice. At the same time, Positive Outcome can up the overall efficiency of Ravenous Binding. So it's def a case of things falling into place instead of falling apart. Reality Breach and Withering Agony are the ones that matter the most in dps. Increase in UR damage for the former, chance to proc damage over time for the latter. WA is especially important as it ensures I won't have to worry too much about the AoE. It's never about increasing the AoE aspect, but rather relying less on it via a higher dps game.

Need to end this one...

The reason why is very simple. I still need to write up my pre-match analysis between my beloved Boro and Leeds. In short, I'm going against time. Because I'm no Quicksilver, I'll have to end this post. So yeah. No Dragonfang, no Nightcrawler, and no true blue German. However, I'll try to do a post for that one. At the same time, I also need to write up Kurt's two trees since I've alrdy done so for Wanda. That plus why Dr Strange and Nightcrawler should be called #TeamaArcana despite the dynamic duo costing me only 600 eternal splinters in total.

So to end this post, I decide to make fun of DC. Well, sorta...

P.S: Yes, I know what I've done here. I've traumatized countless people of my gender via Gal "the gal of Israel" Gadot's beautiful butt and Ryan "5-time Academy Award viewer" Reynold's sorry ass at the same time instead of showing only Wonder Woman' wonderful derrière. Unfortunately, I'm not going to apologize (to my fellow male species) for any case of severe head trauma. But I can give you this as compensation.

A good man with a good heart, yet it's hard for a good man to be king.
Maybe that's why Odin Borson is now such a jerk.
Also, is that Shuri I see talking to T'Challa?

Should have done this earlier...

Edit: Realized I did a stupid typo. It shouldn't be nordic, but nothic. Any accidental act of stoking racial hatred is deeply regrettable.
-9/11/2017

Yes, I should have done this earlier. Now before I continue, let me first make an apology.

Yes, you heard it right. An apology.

Not on anyone's behalf, but rather to the grieving folks of Sutherland Springs, Texas. Just recently, I did something absolutely rash. Although it was never my intention to add anything to their grief, I might have accidentally done so here. I know some stuff I've written in the post would come across as insensitive. Unlike what Paris Jackson had claimed to pull off, my stuff was indeed insensitive.

Okay, let's continue...

I don't know whether I've said this before, but it seems that there would always be a certified view coming from U.K and Portugal. Why I said certified is very simple: Because it was reflected in the audience stats. It felt weird. And it still feels weird. I don't want to speculate what's going on, but I do have a decent understanding of how probability works in this kind of situation (i.e. the relationship between consistency and time period). To be honest, I won't be surprised if it's the same British and the same Portuguese. If truly so, I don't want to speculate who. It's already insane enough to know there's always this one view coming from a Chrome browser operating on the Linux OS apart from the aforementioned two. It's too dangerous on a mental scale. No, I'm not joking here. Seriously.

Basically, I should have done this way earlier. Not what I've said above on the hits, but rather my first impression on Swords of Chult. But before that...

There's something about Arylos and Cyrea

No, I'm not referring to any CP based on the characters I'm now playing. Rather, I discovered some interesting things so far.

For Cyrea, I never realized that it's possible for a loadout to jam itself. What I mean is this: Every character has at least two loadouts, but Cyrea is currently stuck at Favored of Corellon (loadout).

Which means the other loadout (Legacy of Mystra) was effectively blocked, that attempting a switch would result in an error that reads like 404 Loadout Not Found. Okay, that's a hyperbole. It's just that any loadout switch would result in failure. I've submitted a customer request to Cryptic, but I doubt the fix won't come soon. The reason why being that I'm not the only one playing this game. By my own estimation, the player base must have reached more than a couple of million. Maybe even 4-5 million, who knows? In fact, I have every reason to suspect my fellow Singaporeans were already starting to play Neverwinter years ago. When you see a halfling trickster rogue named Heng Heng with the user handle @sengkong, you know that fellow is either a Singaporean or Malaysian Chinese.

For Arylos, it seems that the devs have taken notice of what I've created. While I don't know what prompted the change, I have to inform every combat hunter ranger that what I've done in the post is no longer a viable option. And rightfully so. Can you imagine the combat hunter ranger ended up being so terribly broken, it can out-dps even a great weapon fighter? We all know it's not normal. In fact, it's not even natural. So what are the changes being made to the hunter ranger, you might ask.

Two things. Namely, the base critical chances and base damage resistance ignored. It's understandable given that Longshot confers piercing damage upon crit (something which can be easily done via Stillness of the Forest aka the most imba dps raiding feat). Add in Predator and you can mow down just about anything like Linn Kurosawa mowing down mobs of Aliens with the aid of Predator 1 and Predator 2. As for the combat tree, Piercing Blade gives you a consistent dps diet of piercing damage.

On the crit hit end, the crit chance has been nerfed like... maybe 5% to 10%? Either way, that has effectively nerfed Skirmisher's Gambit unless your offensive enchantment slots are focused on azure with either savage or brutal as support. If you want to go radiant or just about any power based combination, forget about Skirmisher's Gambit. It will just hamstring your dps. And that is not considering Lucky Blades being a key source of dps, be it in solo play, raiding, or PvP.

As a combat hunter ranger, I have to admit that's quite a shafting. As a gamer, however, I recognize Cryptic's need to do that. If a combat hunter ranger can easily out-dps a fellow mid-tier dps despite a difference of 1K total item level, you know something broke somewhere.

As a result, I was forced to make some adjustments. Firstly, Split the Sky is too good to pass up. The dps maths is just way too good despite the damage being dealt periodically since duration plays a massive part. At the same time, I need to eschew Hawkeye due to the need to up the dps on a direct basis since massive critical damage is no longer an option. This ultimately resulted in me doing a feat-boon respec where five points into Skirmisher's Gambit became five points into Warden's Courage (the synergy between Throw Caution and activation of Gondhammer is really that damn good even without this feat).

Initially, I opted for Marauder's Rush since direct dps seems to be the best way out for every melee build. However, that is assuming you don't have either a Thorn Ward or Split the Sky. If you have either, then Marauder's Rush becomes more of an option rather than a must. The key thing is dealing consistent damage, one way or another. Therefore, dumping 5 points into Fleet Stance makes sense if you're out to throw a nature's bomb. 10% movement speed buff means a lot. Even more so if you have a Ring of the Hunter plus Gladiator's Guile insignia bonus.

Since things have turned out this way for yours truly, it means I was able to plan an alternative approach. I always enjoy playing it safe, that's where Oak Skin comes into the picture. I still remember playing Castle Never during the previous mod. It's not cool to have a glabrezu doing a 100% HP damage via a single punch. And that's considering the fight being outside the castle. In this respect, Oak Skin gives me some much-needed survivability. It's quite surprising to know how much an encounter power could easily change the game. In fact, the need to pop a healing potion has been effectively minimized (although the Merchant Prince's Folly skirmish has to be the most tricky skirmish I've ever done, even more so than Throne of the Dwarven Gods skirmish when Underdark first came out).

So for now, my encounter powers list reads like Plant Growth, Oak Skin, Throw Caution.

On the class features, I'm now messing around with Blade Storm and Seeker's Vengeance. So far so good, it's working out decently. The mob dps is definitely affected since I decided to abandon Twin-Blade Storm, but it gives me a more evenly rounded approach (read: Blade Storm+Twin Blade Storm are mostly used for anti-mob warfare while Blade Storm+Seeker's Vengeance is more of a 50-50 between mob kill and solo boss kill). In fact, this combo works absurdly well if you have 2 points or 3 in Scoundrel Training. That is so long you don't use Seeker's Vengeance as your off-hand artifact weapon property. The damage over time can be quite neat, but it would definitely hamper your dps since your momentum would be like non-existent (unless you use Fox's Shift on a constant basis).

Mod 12.5: First impression

If there's anything to go by here, we may be looking at a different business model from Cryptic. Like Shroud of Souls, new content is quite limited this time around. For the previous mod, the devs only add a new repeatable quest (and that is considering the drop rate for Morlanth's castle/tower key being a 50-50). For Swords of Chult, it's only one new skirmish and nothing new for the campaign.

In the past, Cryptic wasn't exactly known for quality control. This was why teething problems were a constant fixture. This time around, it seems that Cryptic is eschewing quantity for the sake of quality. Which is not a bad thing. In fact, it may well work out fine. Ever since the release of Stronghold, the devs were starting to do a difficulty level review every now and then where the epic raids were concerned. With less work needed for new content (and that's not considering the challenges in fixing problems in any new campaign zone), the devs can focus more on tweaking the raiding aspect so that no one would be terribly bored of running the same thing like a hamster turning its wheel.

For the new dungeon changes, that's the best part of the deal. Not that the rest sucks, but I particularly like what they did with the random raiding. No matter the total item level or the character level, you're guaranteed at least around 8K rough astral diamonds via a normal dungeon run. Which means upping the average casual gamer's astral diamond count has never been easier. Add to the fact that you can earn Seals of the Protector via normal dungeons and you can see where this is going. While salvaging the ruined gear is nothing short of being dumb, salvaging the rings means your average astral diamond income can easily hit near 300K per month. And that's not taking into account random skirmishes (min total item level 10K) and equally random epic raids (min total item level 11K or so). Ultimately, you won't be forced to grind. Or at least it won't be that bad compared to the previous mods. You have more options in terms of going where to play, this is where the replay value kicks in. Too bored of one campaign zone? Well, there are more than just a few alternatives available (note that at the end of the day, the F2P industry is still geared towards the casual gamers, pay to win or no pay to win). Also, it makes contributing to your guild stronghold much easier. By doing the random skirmish quest given by the Cleric, you can be assured of 10 dungeoneer's shards per day.

The tricky part actually comes in the form of wards. Right now, a stack of 99 preservation wards can cost you over 600K while a coalescent ward shouldn't be that far behind. Which means upgrading enchantments is now costlier (and that is not to mention greater and superior marks of potency hitting a price spike).

Refinement wise, the new system is surprisingly better than the old one. Unlike the previous mods, the current refinement system is all about accumulation. At the same time, there are only this much you can use when it comes to the refinement stone type. If you don't have Leadership profession maxed out, my advice is to do it asap. The current system is only rewarding if your Leadership profession hit like at least level 21.

On the enhancement, the average efficiency has been upped. It can easily translate to having either an alternate weapon enhancement or armour enhancement. The drawback, however, is this: You'll need to get the enhancement to transcendent level in order to get the better version. For users of enhancements like lightning, negation, and soulforged, it means more grinding than the rest since the pricing for refinement items is rising like the current American stock market.

At the same time, the increase in parameters does not just affect the enhancements. The enchantments and runestones are also affected.

Notes:

1. If the tooltip is spot on, it means you can no longer slot 3 bonding runestones since only one bonding effect can be activated at a time.

2. Apparently, legendary dragon keys have become the staple source of profit rather than the lockbox keys last time around. Which is a good move from Cryptic since banking on the lottery is never the best way to earn money.

3. The new random queue system also means you'll have less need for two loadouts when it comes to raiding. After all, normal raids and epic raids would require two different loadouts more oft than not.

Dummy guide to the Merchant Prince's Folly

Let me be this clear: This skirmish is never about how good your gear is. Yes, there's this minimum requirement amounting to 10K total item level. However, having a good gear means nothing if you don't know how the mechanics work. In fact, chances are that you'll get only bronze. Or worse still, having the party to abandon instance. Even if your party members know what to do, chances are that you can only get silver. It's that challenging.

For the first phase, it's very easy. You're dealing with enemies of a lower level. In fact, they're even of a lower level than whatever mob you get to fight in Master of the Hunt and Dread Legion skirmishes. Taking out the mob is never a problem. All you need is two members holding the mob at bay via parking themselves at the gate. As for the other three, it's a case of two members fixing the rack and one member running about banging on the doors.

The second phase is the hardest part. Even harder than the third phase (to be honest, the final phase can be very easy even with the T-Rex walking around). The reason why being that this would be where the meter can drop really fast. More oft than not, the second phase plays a decisive role on whether your party can get a gold score.

There are three areas which must be barricaded. However, there are actually four locations available. Simply put, spreading out between 3-4 areas is never an option. Preferably, the first barricade must be in place before the party members get started on the other two. This is to ensure no member will grab the aggro needlessly. Once the first barricade is done, the party can spread out between the remaining two. On the mob spawn, they would always enter through whichever area not yet barricaded. In phase 2, the mob is truly the stuff of a 10K run. Yet, it must be noted that the mob will only rush from any one point that is not barricaded. No more, but also no less. This is where aggro baiting comes in. The problem is, you don't expect the tank to do that 10 out of 10 times. The mob will just zerg towards the nearest party member. Once the zerg fest starts, it's advisable for the tank to move towards the centre. So long the aggro can be held at one point, no one will die. However, this approach will only work under one condition: No other party member must be in front of the tank. Otherwise, the party will have to risk one member needlessly. And that is a big deal since this skirmish is all about beating the clock.

If there's no tank in your party, then it's best for the members to cluster together at one spot. Unless you're really tactically smart, chances are that you won't survive a phase 2 gank as a dps (great weapon fighters and dps paladins are exceptions for obvious reasons). If your party don't have a tank, at least make sure there's a controller somewhere. It's either you aggro grab or you slow them. No other way out. Even with a healer using Hallowed Ground, it's still a 50-50 unless your party got members suitable for either role or both. In fact, having a tank and controller means having the second-best chance to get gold (the best chance falls onto any party with a tank, healer, and controller). If you end up getting neither of the three, however, all I can say is good luck. Completion is still possible, just that chances of getting bronze is very high.

Once you get past phase two, everything else would be a slugfest between your party and the mob. There's a reason why you get to see a T-Rex walking about like a boss. Without that massive boss of a reptilian critter, finishing the final lap would be easy. Far too easy, in fact. To ensure the engineer makes it to the other side, the party must NOT grab the T-Rex by its aggro on a preemptive basis unless the party knows where the engineer is heading (basically, there are only two possible destinations). Just take down the mob while keeping a close eye on the T-Rex. Chances are, the T-Rex would be grabbed by its aggro. Once the worst happens (and trust me, it will happen more often than not), the T-Rex must be pulled away. This is a job for the tank. In the event where there's no tank, then let the great weapon fighter take it. If neither is in the party, then 3-4 dps members to bait it. Afterwards, hope for the best (because casualties are bound to happen in this skirmish, no matter how good your party may be). Once the engineer reaches his end, get 3 members near him, preferably 4 if possible (if there's no tank, then no choice but all 5). This is the second easiest part (the easiest being phase 1). Unless someone messes up big time, there's no reason why any member would be taken down in the process. Also, please mind the Rex at the same time. The moment it joins the fun like a boss, your party is screwed. Or at least your party will risk getting a bronze instead of the more common silver score.

Different enemies, same goal

The mob is what I'll call the rng system. There are three enemy types I've faced so far. Namely, the batiri, undead, and yuan-ti. I've got no problem with the batiri and undead. For the former, the annoying part comes in the form of zerg dps and dino rush. Things which any party with a decent tank/healer can deal with. As for the latter, the bone golem is most likely the only problematic one with an interrupting hit once every few seconds. Same thing for the party as well.

The yuan-ti has to be the most annoying result. It's like rolling a D20 only to get the score of 1. Okay, it may not be that bad, but the yuan-ti are masters of nuking. Out of all the mobs in Chult, the yuan-ti remains as the most dangerous due to a constant barrage of area attacks. Because the skirmish is conducted in urban terrain, what it means is that mobility would always be a dodgy 50-50 at best. The only decent semblance of open ground lies in phase 2. In fact, the yuan-ti actually have the funny ability to aim blind. What this means is very simple: Assuming you can dodge out of the red zone, it doesn't mean you won't get hit. It's really that insane. In fact, this is already happening in the Chult open world map. Try getting behind the yuan-ti in order to escape the big orange eye. Unlike the nothic steiners you get to fight in River District, there's a chance of you getting charmed like a cobra even if the eye is not facing you. As for any kind of area explosion, the same logic applies. You can dodge out of the way, but it doesn't mean a thing once you get sucked in. And it happens before way more than once.

And lastly, a note on the T-Rex in open world Chult

It's now very easy to grab the T-Rex by its aggro when it comes to open world. Initially, the T-Rex wouldn't give a flying damn even if you're to ride past it. This time around, doing the same thing would make you earn aggro like a boss. In fact, the aggro would be grabbed more oft than not should you appear within its line of sight. It's really that crazy, trust me. I had to respawn like once or twice because of this "accident."

A tale of two characters Pt II (from two games no less)

I blame a certain online op-ed website named after every Asian's carbo staple food, namely the RICE Media. At the same time, I also blame a fellow Asian (?) who happened to go by the name of Mayim Bialik. Because of the two of you, I decided to join the "fun" by writing my very own op-ed on the #MeToo hashtag. And when I say "fun", be very sure any sexual atrocity is anything but "fun". Unless you happen to be a bloody mangkuk enjoying grabbing a woman's mangkuk. In this case, you deserve 20 years in jail (minus any charge for contempt of court) after shouting "OH MAK KAU!!!!" in front of the judge and/or jury. It won't matter how attractively dressed your victim is or even whether she's a Malay (hence, the O.M.K). My response to you by then? #NotMyProblem

Note: Yes, I know Ken "#NotMyProblem" Jeong is Korean instead of Chinese. It's like confusing Aragaki "not to be confused with another type of gaki" Yui for Park "why always Park?"Shin-hye.

Add Note: Of course, I won't do my op-ed here. This blog is for gaming, not for roasting any showbiz culture.

404 girlfriend Not Found

After a long time in hiatus where doing my Neverwinter analysis is concerned, it's good to be back. Hopefully, the signori and signoras from 404 Italian Not Found are still around. For the sake of the Italians and Romans, not mine (after all, Kuok Minghui is Asian just like any Jeong, Aragaki, and Park).

The name of the game is 404, the label is 404 Trapper Not Found instead of 404 girlfriends not found. Before I start, let me introduce the one guy who started the GAR. Or more specifically, the word GAR since Guts was the one creating the GAR concept before the G-word was coined.

The Korean law

For quite some time, I noticed something. Whenever the clock strikes beyond 12, the connection would die. Or at least reduced to a catatonic state. I don't know why, but I recently uncovered something interesting due to my inner (Singaporean) cat. Paranoid or not, my life is no stranger to absurdities. From getting punched in the stomach for no apparent cause during my Gan Eng Seng years to unwarranted betrayal during my ITE years, if I can't find the reason why, it means I have the right to call it an absurdity. It could have been worse, though. After all, the willingness to forgive doesn't always translate to the ability to forget. If there's any absurdity yet to happen, it'd be Ms Park (not the one subjected to verbal torture) stating her admiration for me. Now that'd be the greatest absurdity (not to mention as well scores of salty Koreans running after me in the name of taekwondo justice).

A/N: Practically speaking (right now), Neverwinter was lagging really bad last night. I swear my last Prophecy of Madness run was a case of my tactical awareness carrying the entire party. -.-'

A tale of two characters: Archer and Arylos

Both names start off with the same two alphabets. One is certified GAR, (hopefully) the other is also GAR. One is a faker, the other belongs to a class that pretends to be a swordsman (or so the stereotypical ranger would like you to believe in). One has the mind of steel, the other... well, he's supposed to be fashioned after Archer's resolve of steel ever since my sis inspired me to up my (online) tactical awareness via bandwidth gluttony. And ofc it doesn't help that Arylos' looks were based off that of Archer. Role wise, they're either the weapons expert or the brains of RWS Samhain. Most likely both if you're to ask me, though.

Lastly, both are cynical. While I'm not at their level, the cold hard truth about myself is that I still do identify myself with them via a watered down version. That's why I don't trust people unless they can prove it on merit. I won't show it blatantly, but being silent doesn't mean my past was as happy as yours. Then again, I'm willing to trust people either in the name of necessity, face value, or both. Just don't expect me to... well, expect the best out of others. In fact, I can't even do that to myself. 

完全リコール~無償

Yes, I know this sounds like some J-drama starring Aragaki "not to be confused with another type of gaki" Yui. However, the reason why I put up this header has got nothing to do with (the correct) Aragaki-san being the other Kanzaki Nao alongside whoever is to be the other Akiyama Shinichi in a Liar Game spoof. Rather, I actually discovered I got 1 respec token opened up for Arylos. It's either that or Cryptic decided to give me one free of charge.

Either way, I ended up doing a respec. Because one token only works for one loadout, I made a daring decision to use that "free" token instead of opening another one (to set the record straight, I still have two tokens from last year's Simril). The reason why is very simple. I decided to play around with the other loadout by using it for open world PvE without the need to respec. Give me a choice and I rather not spend 116K astral diamonds per loadout.

It's actually very easy due to my ideal headgear officially purchased. The unchanged loadout involved a focus on offensive boons. This loadout was originally for raiding, but I realised I can use to do open world due to the 2K defense it gives whenever not in a party. In other words, I could use that loadout to kill reptiles, goblins, Thayans, etc. That is so long it's not a T-Rex (not to be confused with the Secretary of State also known as Rex.T).

Ultimately, all I need is a 完全リコール on the moveset. Below is the list of the unchanged loadout.
[Note: For the sake of lessening my workload, I decided to be lazy by listing only the melee version of the relevant powers]

Mounts and Insignias

Insignias used: Dominance, Courage, and Refuge

Current update: Uncommon regal insignia of dominance has been replaced by rare regal insignia of dominance.

Sword of Kelemvor

(I'm not joking here even though I'm being pompous)

Stronghold boons: Power (Barracks), Defense (Stables), XP (Barracks)

Sharandar boons: Dark Fey Hunter, Fey Precision, Elven Haste, Elven Ferocity, Elvish Fury

Dread Ring boons: Conjurer's Gambit, Evoker's Thirst, Illusion Shimmer, Enraged Regrowth, Rampaging Madness

Icewind Dale boons: Encroaching Tactics, Appreciation of Warmth, Sleet Skills, Cold Shoulder, Rousing Warmth

Tyranny of Dragons boons: Dragonheart, Dragon's Gaze, Draconic Armorbreaker, Dragon's Revival (rank 2), Dragon's Fury (rank 1)
Elemental Evil: Wave of Force, Earth's Renewal, Searing Aggression, Gale of Retribution
Underdark: Primordial Might, Primordial Focus, Drow Ambush Tactics, Dwarven Footing, Abyssal Strikes
Maze Engine boons: Abyssal Regeneration, Demonic Influence, Demonic Swiftness, Baphomet's Might
PvP: Legion's Valor (basically useless bar running into PvP zone in preparation for any demonic heroic encounter in Icewind Dale)
Storm King's Thunder: Frosty Demeanor, Survival Instincts, Icy Wrath, Vengeful Heat, Chill of Winter (rank 1)
The Cloaked Ascendancy: Aura of Hope (hopefully, this means feedback effect via the cat), Fey Briars, Fiery Frenzy, Planar Vitality
Jungles of Chult: Overgrown (rank 2)

Moveset:
At-will powers: Clear the Ground (main hand artifact weapon power), Aimed Strike
Encounter powers: Plant Growth, Fox's Shift, Rain of Swords
Daily powers: Forest Ghost, Disruptive Shot
Class features: Blade Storm (off hand artifact weapon power), Twin-Blade Storm

How the whole thing works:
It's actually very straightforward. This is a direct case of CC-dps. At the same time, this build is also about using combat advantage to up the dps. The weakness for this build lies in the what-if where I'm dealing with control immune enemies. Thankfully, such enemies are considered the minority. In fact, I doubt they'd appear equally frequent as the control immune ones in Marvel Heroes (not that you'd see such mooks appearing that often in the latter case anyway).

The rule of thumb for deflection should read like "always easier to pull off in open world than raids." This is also why I choose Wilds Medicine as one of my paragon feats. On control resist, this may look dodgy at first. But trust me, you'll need it in Chult. Once you enter Jurrasic Park, it won't be some beautiful Korean Park ambushing you.

Seriously, if you think you'll be getting jumped in the best way ever, you're a moron deserving a roundhouse at the cranium. If you're actually focusing on the Korean bosom, you deserve roundhouse at the cranium plus a stomp. Vegetable or kimchi, choose your preferred brain death.

Getting jumped on is painful, but having protection makes the fight less painful. In particular, the allosaurus is annoying as the Nine Hells even though you're dealing with it mano-a-mano. As for the T-Rex, all I can say is that you're definitely not dealing with Rex.T. That one is a human being, not a Godzilla (to be more accurate, Godzilla in the Chultan context refers to the King of Spines due to its atomic breath).

Rain of Swords is all about damage. Just get close, do your Unlimited Blade Works, and wait for them to die from unlimited blade haemorrhage. While this is half a longshot against bosses, I won't be surprised if this is useful against that damn allosaurus. The only problem? Reptiles are known for having high mobility, hence a 50-50 call in nailing one on them. Note, however, that Clear the Ground deals more damage when you're closer to the enemies. The reason why I say enemies instead of enemy is very simple. The AoE is certified imba, the damage is even more so when you use Lightning enchant.

On the daily powers, Forest Ghost is used 70-80% of the time while Disruptive Shot is reserved for the occasional quickling on a double high (i.e. that one Batiri sikeena riding on a dinosaur).

Defensive wise, it's a combo of Josan, Negation, and whatever deflect proc heal triggered. Because deflection game is now easier and much more practical for the combat spec (at least you don't have to be a lone wolf to make the meds count), it means Blade Storm and Twin-Blade Storm as the two no-brainers. Then there's the accumulative power bonus via the Bazubands. Factor in Rousing Warmth and you got yourself one hell of a counter-offensive force de la nature. Also, that is not taking into account the cooldown reduction per hit via Lightning enchant and the relevance it has on the Lucky Blades and Blade Hurricane feats.

Knight of Feywild

Stronghold boons: Power (Barracks), Defense (Stables), Healing Potion (Wizard's Workshop)

Sharandar boons: Dark Fey Warder, Fey Precision, Feywild Fortitude, Elven Ferocity, Elvish Fury

Dread Ring boons: Conjurer's Gambit, Evoker's Thirst, Forbidden Piercing, Enraged Regrowth, Rampaging Madness

Icewind Dale boons: Encroaching Tactics, Appreciation of Warmth, Sleet Skills, Cool Resolve, Rousing Warmth

Tyranny of Dragons boons: Dragonheart, Dragon's Gaze, Draconic Armorbreaker, Dragon's Thirst (rank 1), Dragon's Revival (rank 1), Dragon's Fury (rank 1)
Elemental Evil: Unassailable Tide, Earth's Renewal, Searing Aggression, Gale of Retribution
Underdark: Primordial Vitality, Primordial Focus, Drow Ambush Tactics, Dwarven Footing, Demon Slayer
Maze Engine boons: Abyssal Regeneration, Demonic Influence, Demonic Endurance, Baphomet's Might
PvP: Supply Line (basically useless bar running into PvP zone in preparation for any demonic heroic encounter in Icewind Dale. If you don't see the pattern here, I got nothing to say about your intellect. Or rather the lack thereof)
Storm King's Thunder: Frosty Demeanor, Survival Instincts, Icy Wrath, Vengeful Heat, Chill of Winter (rank 1)
The Cloaked Ascendancy: Aura of Despair, Fey Briars, Fiery Frenzy, Vision of Beyond
Jungles of Chult: Tyrant's Terror (rank 2)

Moveset:
At-will powers: Clear the Ground (main hand artifact weapon power), Aimed Strike
Encounter powers: Plant Growth, Hawkeye, Throw Caution
Daily powers: Forest Ghost, Seismic Shot
Class features: Blade Storm (off hand artifact weapon power), Twin-Blade Storm

How the whole thing works:
I know what you're thinking here. The moveset looks anything but normal. It's an absurd piece of experiment doomed to failure, something that reads like "Germany drafted too many midfielders for Brazil 2014." The best part of the deal? The seemingly absurd turned out to be the reason why Joachim "Der Löwe" Löw won Le Saint Graal de Jules Rimet (not to mention putting a holy total of seven goals past Brazil). While I won't compare myself to this Teutonian genius, I still consider myself as the tactician guy like him. Hey, guess what? My seemingly absurd actually works like Löw's seemingly absurd.

To make this work, however, I need to give myself a decent semblance of insurance due to the absence of Oak Skin. Two things come to mind. The first would be the boons. I went full defense apart from Draconic Armorbreaker. The second would be slotting the Gondhammer. I can't stress enough how bloody useful this thing is. If Thor can summon mass dps with Mjolnir, then Loki would want to swindle a hammer from Gond himself. Like Loki, Arylos is no bruiser. Like Loki, Arylos is a schemer. And schemers are far likelier to die. That is until you realize they can operate behind your back in ways more than just a few.

At the same time, there's a need for speed. This is why I got lucky earlier last night. After some time spent outside Chult, Arylos nailed a Ring of the Hunter +3. What this means is more speed. This build can never have too much speed. Which is why I opted for a Ring of Hunter +2 instead of a Ring of Brutality +4. It's definitely not about the item level. There's definitely a risk of a tradeoff since I'll be risking a drop in dps. 4000 power per 30 secs or so is no laughing matter. However, it must be stated that the combat (hunter) ranger relies on close combat. Which means the feats are all about maxing out this aspect of the gameplay via Battle Crazed and Scything Blades. Too slow into the fray and you'll lose out. While half of myself wanted to try out two epic rings instead of just one, I'm practical enough to understand "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." If I want to fix it, there's a risk of breaking it.

You might want to ask this then: What about all the great weapon fighters and other dps builds with higher total item level? You're gonna be shocked at this, but I'm not lying when I say Arylos can out-dps great weapon fighters of a lower total item level and dps clerics of a higher total item level. The rule of thumb in doing a dps-race with a great weapon fighter is this: The son of Beornegar will always win the dps-race against that son of Zaknafein Do'Urden despite having a total item level around 1000 points lower. I've been in the kind of situation where Arylos out-dps'd a great weapon fighter of a lower total item level (i.e. around the 1K range). I've been in the kind of situation where Arylos out-dps'd a dps cleric of higher total item level and even a great weapon fighter of 13K total item level (Arylos' case was basically 12K nearing 13K). And the last case was an alliance dungeon run. There's this instance where Arylos joined the fight late, that was against Lostmauth. Starting from the second last boss (more accurately, it's "second last bosses") to Lostmauth. The damage count shot from zero to six million plus.

Sadly, I got straitjacketed in the process of allocating the heroic feat points. Hence, I couldn't max out Scoundrel Training. It's either 1 point into Predatory Action, Battlewise, Agile Combatant, or Lucky Skirmisher. Predatory Action got my nod of approval. After all, every bit of damage counts for the combat ranger. More specifically a case of even more so. Lucky Skirmisher was never a lucky bet in terms of raiding. In fact, deflect for combat rangers is dodgy at best, outright useless at worst. I just don't like it. Might as well invest in damage dealing. For Battlewise, there's no point in me doing a point. It's either maxed out or nothing. Agile Combatant seems like the best choice, but why would I need that if I'm no trapper? It's not as if I'm a stance-switch Master Trapper using Oak Skin+Deft Strike+Disruptive Shot. I'm sure not every woman is a fan of Kamasutra and the similar stuff, S'porean, foreign talent, or even SPG.

So how in the Nine Hells does this absurdity work? Or even make sense in the first place? Remember the two videos of Archer versus Lancer? The first video portrayed Archer as a faker in a practical sense, a bowman pretending to be a swordsman. The second video mentioned something like "eyes of a hawk." The secret to making an idea seemingly insane into something truly insane is the synergy between Hawkeye and Split the Sky. The rule of thumb is to fire a storm cloud into the sky. Then stance-switch>Hawkeye>have it your way. Coupled with Lightning cooldown reduction and Serpent Weave as vital support, all I need is enough stamina to burn without risking a... well, stamina burn. I got a maxed out Swift Footwork, Demonic Endurance, and Vision of Beyond. With Baphomet's Might to up the crit, there's plenty for Arylos to go about doing what he does best. Namely, being an epically trained scoundrel blessed with a cool resolve.

A scoundrel+heroic spirit=that most epic heroic feat ever.

A tale of two characters Pt I (from two games no less)

Firstly, it is with a heavy heart that I announced my retirement from Tera Online. Don't get me wrong, it's a good game. However, I realised I'm never a normal person when it comes to time management. Which means right now, I can only afford to play two games. Namely, Neverwinter and Marvel Heroes Omega. I know, I know. The two guilds which invited me despite the obvious.

To the guilds Nagas With Attitude and North Korea Best Korea, I really thank you guys (and girls) for noticing me for some funny reason. Even if it is only for the sake of growing your guild, I still appreciate your good gesture. To Nagas With Attitude, may you get more guildies so that you can be a great guild. To North Korea Best Korea, I know you guys enjoy joking and Deadpool from your guild name. I don't know what to say, so I might as well give you something visual in return.

Yes, she's Korean. Just that she's not from North Korea Best Korea.

Puny god(s)?

Finally, I have calmed down unlike a genius called Bruce Banner. Well, hopefully at least. The Harvey Weinstein grabstein has really brought out the worst in people so far. From uncovered scandals to whether we should be intelligent enough to ask why first, one can only be forgiven for either being too optimistic or outright naive (note: This is not a jab towards those suffering, wounded, and grieving, but rather to the lords and ladies living in their castles). As for having a sex offenders list, it doesn't seem to do anything for law and order (plus justice) bar the square root of sod all.

While I don't belong to the optimistic type, I'm afraid I might have fallen into the self-righteous type. Or maybe it's just that I was too zealous to be a 正義の味方. After all, look where being an ally of justice has gotten a boy/man.

Note: Interestingly enough, Mayim Bialik's Big Explosion made me do a Google search for teh lolz. Guess what I discovered?

IMDb ranking:

1. Big Bang Theory (8.3/10)

2. Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (8.1/10)

3. Deadpool (8/10)

Popular ranking:

1. Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (95% approval rate)

2. Deadpool (92% approval rate)

3. Big Bang Theory (91% approval rate)

Conclusion: Perhaps it's not that bad after all, that not everyone is incapable of understanding the contradiction of humanity. The Man of Steel was right. Mayhap proper balance can be restored after all.

New tags (and it has got nothing to do with #grabstein or #prayforsomalia)

Because I won't be gaming beyond Neverwinter and Marvel Heroes Omega, I might as well start a new label or few. However, I won't be taking down the so-called dead labels. Maybe I'm too lazy to do that, who knows? This post will be the first of many. Or few depending on my time management.

A tale of two characters: Emiya Shirou and Kurt Wagner

I'm pretty sure it's now official. Hopefully, that is. The Marvel Shirou is my main. Simply put, I ended up preferring Nightcrawler to the rest. While I'm perfectly capable of adapting my style to other characters ranging from Black Panther (dps-summon build with S.H.I.E.L.D Agent team-up) to Gambit (melee-range hybrid with Magik team-up), my vote still goes to Kurt Wagner (melee dps with Dr Strange team-up).

Why I likened Nightcrawler to the idealistic Emiya is very simple. Both of them are not dumb, yet they are idealistic. Like how Shirou's ideal is borrowed from Emiya Kiritsugu post-Fuyuki fire, Nightcrawler is now the default heir to Charles Xavier's dream post-Phoenix Five. Perhaps that's why I identify myself with Kurt and Shirou. Despite a brutal reality defined by the fickle nature of humanity, there's still a large part of myself wanting to do good at the risk of self-injury. In this sense, the three of us are allies of justice.

For quite some time after I've resumed playing the game which got me into MMO gaming, I opted for a two-build approach. After all, the second power build is given free of charge. If I don't use, no one will use for me. Then it will be wasted, right? Then I realized the folly of the Singaporean mindset. Why so kiasu if you can be more efficient by focusing on just one build? It's not as if I play PvP (note: The reason why I don't PvP is due to my negative experiences with people not so dissimilar to Kurt's past). Below is my power list, choice of gear, and whatever whatnots.

Left click: Swashbuckler Slash

Right click: Bamf!

A: Bamf Bomb

S; Righteous Frenzy

D: X-Slash

F; Run Through

G; Brimstone Blitz

H: Scarlet Witch flourish paint

U: Rain of Bamf! (current rank: 11)

Talents: Surprise Attack, Ausweichen, Infernal Brimstone, Obscuring Brimstone, Carried Momentum

Artifacts: Spider-Clone Serum, Cosmically Enhanced Targeting System, Kirigi's Tetsubishi, Mayhem Demonblood (physical damage)
Blessings: Hela, Volstagg, Hogun, Fandral

Medallion: Grim Reaper (lvl 63 cosmic)

Uru-forged item: Uru-forged War Plate
Runeword: Allfather's Fury

Relic: Lemuria

Legendary BiS: Gungnir (lvl 80)

Slot 1-5: Excalibur's Saber, The White Cloak of Paradise, Black Gloves of the Priesthood, Fairy Tale Swashbuckler's Boots, Great White Shark
Runes: Alternate Reality Runes for all five slots (+60 damage for slot 1 and 5, +200 defense for slot 2-4)

Ring: Bloodstone Demonband (melee, +1 Fighting, brutal strike, brutal damage)

Catalyst: A.RM.O.R version Speed Genetic Mutation (+3 Speed; dodge bonus as crafted affix)

Insignia: Insignia of Piotr Rasputin (lvl 66 cosmic; defense and anti-boss damage)

Pet: Mr Hammond's Cat (damage reduction from ranged attacks, spirit regain when hitting with basic power, physical damage bonus, bonus base defense and base damage when getting hit, +3 Fighting)

Infinity system: Soul, Time, Reality

Hero synergy: Black Panther, Black Widow, Cable, Daredevil, Deadpool, Gambit, Hawkeye, Invisible Woman, Nightcrawler, Storm

How he fights

To put it in the simplest way, my Nightcrawler is all about constant aggression with a big hitting move as the starter.  In this case, it's Bamf Bomb plus stealth. Right now, I'm more used to using Bamf Bomb as the lone starter. However, that's because I'm too used to doing it more than anything else. To maximize the Bamf Bomb impact, it's recommended to throw in a Righteous Frenzy first (assuming this is also about its BFF called Infernal Brimstone). And ofc it doesn't help that I'm not under any pressure to make things easier for myself (read: I'm still running the terminals at either normal or heroic difficulty).

On the flip side, however, pulling off a Bamf Bomb first means I'm always/almost guaranteed to strike faster for the second hit due to this move's fast recovery. This is where my Infernal Righteous Frenzy comes into the picture. On normal to heroic mode, this is doable. On cosmic difficulty... well, I'm sure that's another story.

On the gear, Nightcrawler can do incredible things like the incredible Nightcrawler he truly is. But that's provided he got every unique gear that is... well, unique to him. I tried out the Red Muramasa Blade on him. Suffice to say, I didn't like how you need a probability less than 10% to make things count. Unlike the (S'porean) Toto Tan, I don't throw the dice on the lottery. It's not that I'm too honest for that, just that I'm too pragmatic for this kind of thing. Coupled with the fact that plenty of Nightcrawler's defensive game revolves around bamfing here and there, there's even less of a decent reason for me to say Red Muramasa Blade can be his slot 1 BiS. More likely a slot 1 BS, which is quite a massive shame. My plan for Les Scélérats actually involved Nightcrawler and the only thing which can take Wolverine down (basically a statement in Logan's own words).

It's not just the Red Muramasa Blade. Unlike most (if not other) heroes, Kurt's bamfing can only be truly effective with the relevant gear. So far so good, I've yet to see any universal unique slot 1-5 which can be a decent alternative to what is exclusive to the fuzzy blue elf. So if you're one who enjoys doing a mix-and-match like a Korean, Nightcrawler's not the one for you (I still do think he's the one for Wanda ever since they brought in Nocturne while ending the Vision deal). And yes, it can be very frustrating since the drop rate for hero-specific unique gear is significantly lower than that of universal unique gear (and I'm still waiting for that Storm achievement in getting all her unique stuff). However, using Excalibur as your legendary BiS may present the possibility to circumvent the gear restriction (note that I only say "may" and not "definitely" for a good reason).

On the choice of relic, Lemuria is surprisingly useful. Initially used because I've yet to discover (Relic of) Subterranea, The heal-on-hit property provides a decent cushion. I won't compare it with Subterranea since defense always/mostly counts more than heal-on-hit for scrapper heroes. In fact, the only reason for me not to go Subterranea was Gambit. I had to make a decision due to Gambit's mediocre defensive game (which is why using a melee focused Cajun would most likely involve some major risk-taking unless you can dump 150 infinity points into defense increment under the Space gem category). It's not that hard. Interestingly enough, it seems that Lemurians are more Asian in the same way Atlanteans are more... well, white. I suddenly feel like uploading a few pics. I blame the Lemurians for that.

Because my Nightcrawler is more of teleportation build (i.e. Ausweichen and Carried Momentum), the intuitive approach should be to use his training sticks instead of his sword. But because using the sword makes him look cooler (in my mind), I opted for Excalibur's Saber. What this means is that I'll need to create a balance between Kurt the shinobi and Kurt the pirat (no, it's not a typo. You are really seeing the German word for pirate). To be honest, it's not that hard thanks to a combination of Run Through and his Surprise Attack. That combination basically solved half of my challenge like how using Thomas "Der Ninja" Müller actually solved half of Joachim "Der Löwe" Löw's challenge during World Cup 2014. There's no point for me to do Reflexive Parry because I don't do a triple flourish. I'll have to say, though, that with correct planning, a pure sword build can wreck diabolical damage on the opponent, be it boss, non-boss, or your BFF playing against you in PvP. I've never tried that, but the numbers actually indicated the potential. Shadowmeld gives you better insurance, but I've gone beyond the safety-first approach which defined my gaming style for so long. Only Ausweichen is left. And given my instinctive tendency to right click spam (something which I'm starting to learn not to via using Gambit, Cable, and Hawkeye), that's the only choice that matters.

For Infernal Brimstone, the vulnerability debuff and additional damage are too good for me to pass up. I don't do triple flourish (or even double flourish for that matter), so Element of Surprise is pointless for me. Even more so for Crimson Sabres since that one is for sword build.

The fourth row is where the tricky part comes since unlike the rest of my characters (apart from Black Panther), Nightcrawler has a higher tendency to do his signature move. Tireless Teleporter is an effective bailout (that is unless your invulnerability hit the expiry date and Juggernaut happened to run you down). Everywhere at Once enables you to use Brimstone Blitz as much as possible (an effective, if not the most effective synergy with Ausweichen). Then there is Obscuring Brimstone. That became my choice for three reasons.

1. I use Surprise Attack
2. I use Run Through
3. I can still create an effective synergy with Ausweichen via right click, just that the damage potential from this talent alone would be lower. Or perhaps even much lower, who knows?

Carried Momentum is a no-brainer at this point of time. I'm more of a multi-porter, so Crescendo of Steel and Sabre Blitz don't cut the German mustard for me.

A bit of additional info on Kurt's sword. Firstly, I'm more of a stats guy when it comes to the damage dealing. This is also why I prefer a stat based BiS setup for slot 1-5. Unless left without an alternative, I always make sure the vital stats are increased as much as possible (no, I don't mean the three sizes of a woman when I said vital stats). At the same time, the sword only works if your Nightcrawler relies on fast hitting slashes since you'll need to proc the defensive debuff on the enemy as much as possible. Which is why X-Slash is more of an offensive staple for me while Swashbuckling Slash is there to replenish spirit in case the blue gauge is nearing zero. At the same time, Excalibur's Saber can give Nightcrawler a better defensive game via the bamf, so this is definitely whatever tradeoff is something I can live with.

On the runes, there's a reason why you should be farming the A.R.M.O.R drives whenever possible. The alternate reality rune is definitely a better alternative (pardon the pun) to the standard rune enchantments. Ofc this isn't a hard and fast rule. There are certain rune enchantments giving you the kind of stat buff which alternate reality runes cannot give you. Most notably dodge (Serpent rune) and critical hit (Tyr). This is also why the rune drop rng for either a Tyr or Jörmungandr (i.e. Serpent) is very low albeit these two are not the only runes with a very low drop rate. Case in point: I got myself a Jörmungandr recently, but I can't remember when was the last time I got one despite having a photographic memory. I'm still trying to see what I can use for that snake glyph, though. It's too rare a drop, I don't want to waste it just like that.

As for the Bloodstone Demonband, I really got lucky since the stats generated for that thing can be as random as Trump's temperament. The stats rolled were too good to pass up. And they're still too good to be replaced.

Incidentally, my Nightcrawler has a higher Speed than Fighting (although both have broken the 30 ceiling mark). Which is quite funny since it's only natural for gamers to focus more on Fighting (read: that one gives you critical hit multiplier). I don't really mind that. In fact, having a higher Speed than Fighting actually suits Nightcrawler's style (apparently, the official stats grid from Marvel revealed a higher Speed rating as well). Speed gives you damage reduction against area attacks. Because I tend to bamf here, there, and sometimes everywhere, the only way for this aspect of Speed to work is when the game is lagging and I happened to be somewhere in the middle of an AoE attack zone (that is so long it's not Juggernaut himself). Either that or the bamf stacks reaches zero first (something which doesn't happen much due to 150 points spent on the Time gem). The other aspect of Speed lies in dodge multiplier. That's where the fun part comes. Ausweichen gives you 2% dodge chance increase (not to be confused with dodge chance multiplier) per proc. Coupled with the 2% base damage increase as well and I don't have to worry too much about whether I should stand and fight or keep running around. At the same time, Ausweichen can give a maximum of 20% increase for dodge and damage (2% x 10 stacks). Not that I'd need that much, but at least a few stacks help.

On the brutal hit and damage end, that's the reason why I use one Blessing of Hela and one Blessing of Hogun. In fact, this was the chief reason why I chose the Grim Reaper cosmic medallion. For the sake of having a better defense without spending on the Space gem, I opted for Volstagg and Fandral. In fact, I was purposely doing the so-called sidekick theme for my choice of blessings (after all, Kurt will always be the second fiddle to Logan even though Wolverine is now in either heaven or hell). Apart from Hela, the rest are part of the Warriors Three. Or rather, the whole of Warriors Three.

As for my choices in artifacts, Spider-Clone Serum is effectively anti-boss. Basically, anything anti-boss will synergize nicely with Allfather's Fury (which is my choice of runeword enchantment for an otherwise defensive Uru-forged War plate). As for Cosmically Enhanced Targeting System, I don't have to tell you what that thing does for Nightcrawler beyond an effective synergy with the Excalibur's Saber debuff. Kirigi's Tetsubishi suits my Nightcrawler's moveset since 90% of the dps is effectively area based. As for Mayhem Demonblood, it's a good thing Nightcrawler is a physical dps instead of someone like Cable where melee counts for nothing in terms of physical damage. And let's not forget the +2 Speed and +2 Fighting proc.

For the insignia, the Siberian strongman is a no-brainer. Even though he was more of a pointless comic relief CGI in the Deadpool movie, there's no doubting the Siberian strongman being a loyal stalwart to the X cause. This is the easiest insignia to use for melee dps, you're always guaranteed an increase in defense and melee damage upon hit. Also, please don't underestimate the difference of 3 levels for the cosmic catalyst (and most likely the cosmic medallion as well). It means a lot especially if you're to run just about anything cosmic level.

On the Infinity gems, Soul and Time are a pair of no-brainers. One deals with Fighting, the other deals with Speed. I just dumped 150 into the stats increment for each gem tree. It's really that simple. Having the Relic of Lemuria means I don't have to worry about putting points into the health-on-hit for the Soul gem. In fact, an effective bamfing game means you only need to dump the points into that one area that matters most. Namely, Fighting. For the Time gem, There's no point wasting the points (again, pardon the pun) on anything beyond increasing Speed. It's actually the same logic with the Soul gem tree. Reality is my third choice for practical purposes. On one hand, I need to add more muscle to Brimstone Blitz and Rain of Bamf! due to any boss fight and crowd clearing involving mini-bosses. On the other hand, having a single digit for Energy means freeing up more infinity points.

On the hero synergy, I know my choices may raise a few eyebrows. To set the record straight, I now have 11 heroes on my roster. The only one missing in the hero synergy list is Psylocke. I know it looks more pragmatic to use her hero synergy rather than choosing Gambit. Firstly, her hero synergy deals with physical damage and mental damage. On the first glance, that makes her a more practical choice. However, I need Gambit to alleviate the spirit usage since I'm always using X-Slash a lot. For Invisible Woman, the +2% deflect multiplier can be quite handy since every bit of defensive work counts (that is so long the dps doesn't get compromised). If I am to choose Psylocke, it means either I have to take down Gambit or Invisible Woman. The good thing about Invisible Woman lies in the 2% energy damage increase. On the first glance, it is useless. In reality, opting for energy damage in the Reality gem tree means having an easier time allocating the infinity points. I don't have to worry how many points I have to dump for the mental damage in the Soul gem tree. It's actually that simple. That plus machinery is vulnerable to energy damage.

Lastly, let me touch on the Gungnir BiS. I tend to favor a crit build and it's not just Nightcrawler and Marvel Heroes Omega. Long story short, Gungnir gives me what I want for Nightcrawler's dps game. Having a critical hit chance of 40+% means I'm guaranteed a brutal strike every now and then. And that's not taking into account the Odinrage status at rank 5.

P.S: A good alternative for crit builds is Savage Axe of Ares. The raw damage is somewhere up there, but you won't crit it as much as you'd like to. This one is for Nightcrawlers with a lower crit hit affix and a higher damage affix while Gungnir is quite the other way round. Just don't ask me which one is better. I deal with circumstances, not numbers.