Some stuff gleaned so far...

As the post above suggests, this is... well, a miscellaneous post. Nothing outright crazy. After all, I need to take a break from making random Keeley "she's made millions by making men keel over" Hazell jokes lest my future mother-in-law plus my super mignonne legal housebreaker's BFFs decide to go after me with a carving knife. Already, my super mignonne legal housebreaker may have paid me an unknown visit this morning while I was asleep (read: I always wake up after 9 am). Like Britain's top glamour model, I'm very sure my super mignonne legal housebreaker is born in 1986.

I need more time on Arylos

So far so good, today is looking well. Firstly, my sis nuked my online gaming experience once again. Secondly, I managed to steel my resolve in disciplining myself. In the fact, the only reason why it took me way later than 7 pm to log off was the Siege of Neverwinter event. Suffice to say, I need to run 7 daily stronghold quests because I got 7 characters in the same guild. This is excluding running Bhaasmond Taran for the Maze Engine campaign (2 more days to taking on Baphomet in order to take him down). In addition, I also want the Champion's Banner for Bhaasmond and Arylos. So yeah, it's more than a bit hectic.

Do it like Archer, roll a 20 for Will save.

I'm the kind of person who doesn't give a damn once I decide to do something. Like Lestat de Lioncourt (complete with Uruguayan citizenship). As a result, I was too obsessed in spreading out my focus like someone on a Nutella-only diet.

With the coming of Storm King's Thunder (basically, that includes Sea of Moving Ice), the player is encouraged to focus only on one character with the rest being on the substitute bench. In fact, either I'm lucky enough to survive that damn Bryn Shander weekly quest with Arylos or it's true that I have the tactical (and strategic) awareness of Emiya Kiritsugu to make the cut anywhere across the globe (and that includes Middlesbrough).

This is even more so with the devs following anema's footstep. If anema will forever be remembered for making the hunter ranger class great again, then it means the devs have done something to up the overall difficulty level. This is most evident in open PvE, where running the Storm King's gauntlet has gotten harder. I've yet to test out Sea of the Moving Ice in this context, but I've seen enough in the STK zones to convince me the game has officially been upped. Which is a good thing. Any complaints of grinding is mostly down to taking on giants, dragons, and demons with both eyes closed. This time round, closing one eye (let alone both) means this:

Minus the badassery of Deadpool
(plus the question of who he prefers, Miss Hazell or Miss Park)

One thing I realized about Arylos reverting to the combat tree is this: 'Tis far better to use Negation than Soulforged. Thankfully, I already got 2 coalescent wards handy via the artifact equipment coffer. Which means all I need is to get a lesser Negation for less than half the price of a coalescent ward (via the auction house), bake a new lesser Negation (because I'm no Gilgamesh, I don't belong to the super rich 1%), then use the 2nd ward to create a normal Negation.

Gone is the ability to free respawn, now comes the ability to withstand punishment. Of course, this is not to mean Kelemvor has given up on his Chosen. Just that Arylos chose to be Archer instead of Deadpool.

Note: I sold my normal Soulforged, got a whooping 1 million astral diamonds from the AH.

Marauder versus Fox

Initially, I was won over by Fox's Shift due to its multi-hitting property coupled with a Ring of Rising Precision+4 and maxed out Battlecrazed feat. However, the problem of having to close down the opponent still remains. Granted I still have the Howling Weapon set, but when it comes to any raid instance stretching from one end to another (like Master of the Hunt, Shores of Tuern, and Valindra's Tower), being in the last man dps role didn't seem attractive to me. This is due to me choosing Aspect of the Lone Wolf and Aspect of the Pack as Arylos' class features. With Marauder's Rush, the damage will have to be compromised. As a vital trade-off, this gives Arylos an equal footing with a human great weapon fighter from Tuern named Hazell Fitzmoran  (note: I blame popular media culture for this).

After a bit of deliberation, I decided to go with Marauder's Rush in order to see how it goes. Problem with using this lies in this encounter power getting tactically locked after the first hit. What it means is this: Once you pull it off, chances are that you'll have to wait for the next wave to pull it off again, cooldown or no cooldown.

Luckily, the combat HR isn't that reliant on the final paragon feat unlike 90% of the paragon paths available. This allows you to spam Battlecrazed more than 5 times in a row, this allows you to pull off Throw Caution more effectively. Despite Throw Caution being nerfed in the sense that you'll need to hit any opponent ala melee hit cursed with a short reach, you still end up having enough to play a dps race since it's now counted as a damage increment buff as well instead of that crappy crit increment bs during mod 4.

Earlier on this evening, I tried it out. The result was better than I expected (read: I wasn't expecting much in the same way I wasn't expecting Middlesbrough to win Swansea 3-0 at home via a crap performance). With a control wizard (most likely an oppressor by my guess) blessed with a higher total item level (I think it's like 3.2K or so compared to Arylos' 3.1K), I still top the dps chart (the CW, however, did top the body count table). Not too shabby if I say so myself. That's for Throne of the Dwarven Gods. For Prophecy of Madness, my team got silver. However, Arylos got gold in both the body count and dps (this was despite having a trickster rogue with a higher total item level. Dunno if he's a scoundrel...).

So what this means is very simple: I'll most likely be honing my skill on Arylos with Marauder's Rush in mind.

At the end of the day, strategic understanding doesn't translate accurately to technical excellence on the equal scale unless you're willing to get 100% used to the character of your choice.

A/N: I realized that placing the AoE for Split the Sky between yourself and the mob instead of further up is very damn useful for a combat stormwarden. The reason why being that at least part of the mob will automatically zerg towards the nearest party member/tank. You're better off doing a Marauder's Rush immediately though if your mates have started engaging the enemy.

Add A/N: Burned 250K astral diamonds to upgrade the bling dawg to +3% combat advantage damage.

P.S: Originally, this was meant to be a longer post with better content. Until my sis ends up nuking the internet plus the fact that it's now 1 am, that is.

Add P.S: Forgot to add that Marauder's Rush and its ranged stance BFF are extremely deadly in the right hands during any Tiamat raid. I don't profess to see any of such performances because I can pull it off myself. The former is all about reaching (any) Tiamat herself. The latter is to jailbreak from a breath attack while protecting Linu and her BFFs, after which you can just pull off a mass nuking via Split the Sky.

A dummy's guide to being the next Drizzt Do'Urden

Because I'll have the entire tomorrow for myself, I might as well stay up a wee bit later tonight. The past few days have been quite surreal. Initially, the intention was to stop playing and start writing something once my sis started to stream stuff like this one below.

However, she decided to redo her streaming vid schedule in a way that she will take a break after a while>resume her vid streaming>take a break again. As a result, I ended up gaming in an equally... well, erratic manner. If there's anything to go by, the safest way to do the high end lvl 70 content (which includes Tiamat due to how badly the lag can kill your chances of winning) will be the 5pm to 7pm range. The only problem? My alliance tends to call for edemo raids after 7. On the flip side, however, when my sis would take a break from her streaming session can be quite random at times.

Note: Whatever stuff happening due to streaming any Nathan "not some Botak Jones" Hartono vids doesn't seem to affect private queue instances. Or at least not that much. Which means the current queue system is most likely running on two types of servers. Namely, the public queue servers and private queue servers. Just don't ask why private queue servers can run more smoothly than the public one beyond the possibility of higher capacity.

Add note: Actually, it could have been worse. Like more than two bandwidth gluttons sharing the same network. If there's any internet provider which online gamers should shun, it'd be SingTel. Which happens to be my family's internet provider anyway. Which is why the blokes running MyRepublic are out to play the upstart.

Ofc this is not to say I no longer have to game like Archer. If Sakaguchi-san decides to see my Neverwinter Six ideas as something worth his time and effort, then I must give credit to my sis since she's the one pushing my buttons. Arylos is indeed Kelemvor's counter guardian.

Drop rate

Lately, I asked myself something: Does your ranking in the table affect the loot drop chance?

I'm inclined to believe this to be the case. After all, you don't expect the highest dps fellow to get a crap loot amounting to a T1 accessory. At the same time, however, queuing is also a random science. In other words, you'll never know the total item level of your other party members. In fact, I won't be surprised if 99% of my raids done actually involved 4 other members having a higher total item level. And it doesn't help that the combat hunter ranger is still considered bottom tier when it comes to party PvE (albeit the devs may have alrdy done something about the dps for renegade control wizards. It wasn't that long ago that the average skilled thaumaturge couldn't match up to the renegade when it comes to dps).

Which now comes to the relevance of your character's total item level. Does this mean it doesn't matter anymore? By my own estimation, not really. Most likely the RNG would have taken into consideration your character's role (read: where you stand in the raid ranking according to your role) together with the total gear score. In other words, most likely it works like the RNG system for gear upgrade plus a few complicated factors (read: the proportion of numbers in the raid ranking according to your total item level). Either that or the RNG is a case of collective performance rather than individual brilliance. Perhaps even both added together...

Note: The only reason why anybody would want to run a T1 raid lies in the highest end loot (e.g. Emblem of the Seldarine, Shard of Valindra's Crown, and Lostmauth's Horn of Blasting). Unfortunately, the RNG is a problem. And quite rightly so if you're to ask me.

Add note: I'm one of the many who tends to get the short end of the RNG loot drop. In other words, I'm speaking from the objective POV.

20K astral diamonds earned?

One of the most prominent(?) members of my guild alliance by the name of Malakut (more specifically known as the tankiest CW I've ever seen) actually mentioned farming 20K astral diamonds through 1 round of running CN (read: nothing to do with Jung "not to be confused with the jung jong brew" Yong-hwa or the CNBLUE, but rather it's Castle Never plus the question of "what if Vers Never was never a bastard?").

Thing with the second chest is that it now drops better loot (although the RNG can be really annoying at times by dropping only a blue gear instead of a purple). There are those who still got the short end of the stick, but there are also those who struck paydirt. Assuming you got around 7500 rough astral diamonds by completing Castle Never plus whatever invocation bonus involved, opening the second chest can easily give you a random +3/+4 ring. 1 purple ring can salvage you a base amount of 4000 rough astral diamonds. Add to that your invocation bonus and it can go as high as 6000. To round down the numbers, you're guaranteed a whopping 19K rough astral diamonds (including the max invocation bonus). And this is not to mention the occasional lvl 150 gear (read: base amount of rough astral diamonds salvaged will definitely be higher than 4000). Already I've gotten 2 purple Rings of Sudden Deflect (+3 and +4) during my last 2 CN raids. Which is not too shabby given that melee hunter ranger is considered a mid dps build.

Note: I decided to give the +3 Sudden Deflect to Arylos' Koryoan disciple whle the +4 version goes to him.

Add note: Interestingly enough, it's actually far easier to get a purple ring via a non-chest drop for Prophecy of Madness and Throne of the Dwarven Gods.

Lower total item level=still out-gimped?

There are alrdy moments where a CW of 2.8K total item level was able to out-dps me. And this is not to mention an archer HR doing the same thing with the same total item level range. What this means is very simple.

1. Combat HR has been buffed considerably. At least enough to be playable since the previous mods made this paragon tree out to be a neither-here-nor-there build (read: very little dps and a defensive game more akin to a tank despite being a dps build).

2. Any build considered as hdps has been god-modded.

When it comes to hdps, 6 builds come to mind. Namely, thaumaturge (control wizard), fury (scourge warlock), executioner and saboteur (trickster rogue), archer (hunter ranger), and destroyer (great weapon fighter). 

No matter how you look at it, there's no way a combat HR can out-dps any of them. However, it must also be stated that any hdps build may have alrdy been god-modded. The devs god modded the destroyer prior to mod 10 while recent experiences have also implied that the thaumaturge got the same treatment as well. As for the archer... well, everyone knows what anema did in the god modding process. I've yet to take notice of the fury, but I won't be surprised if a fury of lower item level can out-dps 90% of the builds available. As for the executioner, it's basically universal knowledge since many TR users choose this path.

By my own estimation, any hdps build with a total item level of 2.8K or so should be considered a high-end damage dealer. The rule is very simple: Just go for every offensive boon available. Period. That plus the defense boon given by the guild stables. If you play it right, you don't even have to dodge 9 times out of 10 (executioner, saboteur, and destroyer are exceptions due to the difference between melee and ranged). Yet, it must also be stated that hdps builds tend to peak very late unless you're playing executioner or destroyer. This is due to a lack of close combat defense. Something which can easily hurt any such build in open PvE (this is most evident in the archer hunter ranger where maximum damage is being done as far away as possible).

For the melee HR, its defensive quality is the closest thing to a tank (albeit not by a long shot). In party raids, however, this is where the melee ranger needs to offer something which other builds cannot offer. In terms of dps, a thaumaturge or archer can easily out-dps you even with a total item level difference of 200 or so. I know what I'm talking abt b/c Arylos is running at a 3.1K total item level and he got out-dps'd by a control wizard with a total item level of around 2.8K. Not only a thaumaturge but also executioners and quite possibly saboteurs as well (there's this TR named Zanne with a 2.8K total item level score in the alliance, 'nuff said) plus archers (we have someone named Terd Ferguson in the guild, 'nuff said).

If there's anything the combat HR is good at, it'd be softening up the enemies. This is due to three feats available: Piercing Blades, Scything Blades, and Battlecrazed. How useful these feats are to any party, however, is still a matter of debate. While a combat HR goes very well with the executioner TR (read: the executioner requires an effective body count game to hit max efficiency), the same cannot be said for the rest (read: they don't use body count as a basis for hdps).

This is where the utility role comes in...

While it's very easy to classify the hunter ranger as both striker and controller, it's very hard to pinpoint the correct aspect of a hunter ranger's buffing game. It's a bit of damage buffing, a bit of defensive buffing, and a wee bit of healing (including the temporary HP buff).

If you're a combat HR, you have to choose between crowd control and buffing. If you choose stormwarden as your paragon HR class, then it's not that bad on the dps due to the simple synergy of Bladestorm and Twin-Blade Storm. If you're a pathfinder, then that's where you're screwed on the dps option.

Compared to the trapper (let alone the archer), the combat tree is all about playing it tactical. On the first glance, the feats are all dps-based. Once you realized what other dps builds can offer, that's where you'll need to think out of the box. In terms of CC, everyone will be looking to either the oppressor CW(mass mobility handicapping) trapper HR (part CC, part dps). or the scoundrel TR (basically the only build who can stunlock the living Nine Hells out of you). In terms of dps increment, people will be looking at the damnation SW (iirc thaumaturge is also counted as a dps increment build, but I'm not referring to self-buffing here). Buffing wise, it's temptation SW (albeit this path requires a high lifesteal game in order to pull off a buff orgy) and renegade CW (possibly the more frequent variation of a buff-dps). Talk about combat advantage spamming, just go saboteur TR (basically, the only TR build capable of perma-stealth after it took the devs more than 1-2 mods to nerf the problematic stealth spamming right). Ultimately, you'll need to choose between the CC-dps build or buff-dps build.

If you're out to create a CC-dps combat HR build, you need to understand one thing: There's a difference between grasping roots and slow. The weakness behind a trapper HR lies in a lack of versatility in the CC dept. In fact, the trapper is all about increasing damage via stance switch, self AP buff, and strong grasping roots complete with thorns. In terms of dps, the combat HR is much better. In terms of AP buff, the trapper is still better. However, having the Lucky Blades feat means having an easier time in gaining the AP (so long you're a power-crit or a power-deflect build). CC wise, the combat HR can easily choose from a greater variety (read: you can either go strong grasping roots, slow, or both).
Supposedly you're gunning for a CC-dps build, Crushing Roots is basically a must-have due to this being the only stunlock option available (minus ofc the Magistrate's Patience mount insignia effect and feytouched weapon enchantment). As for the other class feature slot, it should be an offensive one.

As for the buff-dps variation, you'll need Aspect of the Pack. Period. Yes, I know you'll be back to square one where your nearest BFF would still out-dps you. However, not every dps build is combat advantage focused. At the same time, you'll need to deal enough damage on a consistent basis rather than huge damage in bursts. Which means to make this build work, you'll need active companion bonuses like that of a walking brain, a talking statue, or some bling dawg previously owned by Arylos' dad (?). At the same time, key to playing a buff-dps build lies in the ability to survive. Which means you'll need to strike a balance between being daring and playing it prudent. This variation is particularly deadly if your party has a (good) renegade or oppressor CW.
Assuming you won't use Aspect of the Pack, it means you'll have to look at other buff options. Oak Skin is a good one to have as it gives both heal over time effect and increased defense to keep everybody alive. If you favor a more direct approach, Marauder's Rush can be a good option due to its ranged BFF giving you AP increase and a chance to jailbreak at the same time (note: Marauder's Escape won't give you invulnerability during the bailout animation). Hawkeye is nice to have as well since it gives only 50% effectiveness to pretty much the rest of your party. As for Plant Growth, it's basically the dps monster for every combat HR build. Even assuming you're doing it against a control immune enemy, it means you'll still be dealing near 20K worth of base damage this way.

Difference between two paragon classes:
For the stormwarden, it's far easier to opt for a more dps approach. This is due to two paragon class features: Bladestorm and Twin-Blade Storm. Some of the paragon class features tend to work well with another paragon class feature in the exclusive context. A good example would be Eye of the Storm and Storm Spell where the dps output can (and will) look like Freddy Krueger (not in this manner, mind you). Bladestorm and Twin-Blade Storm is basically a lesser variation so as to speak. This is due to TBS only applicable against any mob with more than two mooks. In dungeon boss fight involving only... well, the boss, it's better to replace TBS with Seeker's Vengeance. Your chance of blindsiding the boss can be quite high (read: you play the hammer while the rest play the anvil). I've lost count how many times I did that in CN.
As for the pathfinder, it's more about defensive options. Pairing Aspect of the Lone Wolf with Battlehoned is a surefire way to create the new Jason Voorhees (if you understand my statement, it means you're old enough know what is Friday the 13th). If you're going with this class features synergy, then just go all out on the damage dealing encounters. In particular, Rain of Swords would be a very good dps option due to the high damage output plus the fact that you'll have enough defensive resources to keep yourself alive if you whiff the move (something which is bound to happen). Otherwise, Seeker's Vengeance with Crushing Roots is your best bet of CC-dps. Just stunlock, run behind, and stab. Oh, and one more thing: Pathfinder's Action. With this beauty, you don't have to worry abt closing in.

On the paragon at-will and encounter powers, stormwarden has a far better dps game. This is due to Clear the Ground being a burst attack while Throw Caution basically adds a lot more muscle (this is due to anema changing it from a buff effect to a direct damage move that will proc the effect). Yes, we all know there's a drawback in TC where you'll take more damage. In this sense, TC is more suited for raids where your chances of getting punished for the wrong call will be minimized. However, it's still possible to use TC in open PvE so long you have Oak Skin to offset the disadvantage.
On the pathfinder end, Careful Attack and Bear Trap only further reinforces the reason why Seeker's Vengeance shouldn't be overlooked. When it comes to raids, trust me when I say Bear Trap can screw up the opponents like the Montreal Screwjob N years ago. Try that on the red wizards whenever raiding Valindra's Tower. I don't have to elaborate the meaning of muted fireworks. Just remember to do Ambush before pulling this off.

Someone should just add a (raging) red wizard and a (trolling) pathfinder

My approach so far:
The main problem with playing a combat HR lies in poor movement when it comes to closing in. For a GWF, dashing is a no-brainer. For a TR, it's dodge and stealth. For the HR, the shift mechanic is all about a low number of frames being done. What this means is that the HR has the lowest dodge range out of every class. Unless you're running your combat HR with a Howling Weapon set, you should either opt for Longstrider's Shot or Marauder's Rush (note: if you're using the pathfinder paragon class, it means you have four options instead of two since you'll gain access to Ambush and Pathfinder's Action).

Despite running the game so far with this very set, I'm now practicing the usage of Marauder's Rush/Escape due to me contemplating whether to get a Twisted Weapon set in the near future. At the same time, I won't put it past Cryptic giving us additional level 165 artifact weapon sets apart from the current Trailblazer set (read: they did that before for the Elemental Evil artifact weapons for mod 9).

Problem with Marauder's Rush lies in how you'd use it. More oft than not, it's used for closing in from afar. Once you're up close and personal, the only usage for it is to proc Flurry. However, the combat HR isn't really that reliant on its final paragon feat unlike most, if not the rest. The reason being that Lucky Blades will give you increased damage for your damage dealing encounter powers while Battlecrazed can be used anytime and at any situation. Alternatively, you can opt for a two-way closing in approach where you can alternate between Longstrider's Shot and Marauder's Rush (note: if you're running with a team high on dps, this can be a good option. Just remember to slot in a high damage AoE encounter power). As for Plant Growth, the damage potential is a monster. However, you can only have 3 encounter slots. Assuming you have the Warden's Courage feat, what it means is that you'll need to dodge more often unless you don't have the Serpent Weave feat on max rank (note: I personally won't recommend this option because I tried it recently. It felt like using Bang Shishigami during the first BlazBlue game).

And speaking of the Warden's Courage feat, that reminds me of the ranged BFF of Throw Caution. Namely Split the Sky. If you enjoy thinking out of the box like a tactical genius of Roman birth named Antonio "Il Bestia" Conte, StK is a nice anti-boss option. This is due to how the damage ticks on massive AoE. Which means any adds joining in the fun will get the shocker of a lifetime (and this is not to mention maintaining your own dps on a higher level). However, it must also be stated that StK should be used sparingly unless you're out to compromise your own dps needlessly. If you're running any raids with a party low on CC, StK also offers more than enough CC muscle (read: any team low on CC means that team should be high on dps). In particular, this approach is very effective against the mobs in Temple of Tiamat (i.e. they tend to spawn within a wide area) and Castle Never (i.e. the undead tend to move as a compact mob) where you're pretty given more than enough time to pull off a cluster bombing.

On the class features, I opted for Aspect of the Lone Wolf and Aspect of the Pack. Unlike 99% of my fellow Singaporeans, my favorite animal is never the lion. Rather, it's the wolf (maybe that's why I prefer the Starks of Winterfell to the Lannisters of Casterly Rock). Beyond pointless idealism, Arylos is meant to be the tactician of any team. Hence, the need to survive.

On the daily powers, it's all abt Forest Ghost and Disruptive Shot. FG is more for direct dps while DS is meant to create follow-up hits (more specifically Aimed Strike).

As for the at-will powers, I'm now sticking with Clear the Ground and Aimed Strike. No intent to switch atm.

On the active companion bonuses, I go with the Intellect Devourer and Staldorf for the combat advantage bonus adding up to 4%. As for summoned companion, it's a cat (i.e. now upgraded to legendary rank). On the defensive end, I used to opt for Battlefield Medic and Neverember Guard. However, I'm now trying out Death Slaad Powerstone due to its super imba active bonus. In other words, the Battlefield Medic has to make way for a literal monster (srsly, whoever doing the Death Slaad Powerstone companion gameplay wise should never be trusted with gameplay design. And no, I'm not ashamed to do the Neverwinter version of auto-resolve).

More specifically something NOT from Total War...

Standard artifacts wise, I'm currently running with Sigil of the Hunter (for added dps), Sigil of the Trickster (for crit, deflect, and combat advantage), Lantern of Revelation (mostly for the combat advantage), and Lostmauth's Horn of Blasting (for the Lostmauth set bonus).

However, I may feed Lantern of Revelation to Sigil of the Trickster in one of the future double refinement event. This is due to combat advantage being a modifier stat (e.g. stats like critical hit, armor penetration, and deflect) instead of a core stat (e.g. stats like power and defense). Most likely it will depend on whether I'll want to get a Horn of Valhalla due to armor penetration being far more a moot stat for the combat HR. Either that or I may choose to pilfer a Sigil of the Devoted since Cyrea has alrdy raided successfully the Vault of the Nine. After all, Kelemvor isn't the kind of god known for recruiting rangers and druids.

P.S: It's actually tactically possible to make your combat HR useful without improving the closing in game. However, this requires an effective reading of the game at times where your only job is to rack up the body count instead of the damage count. Stormwardens, in particular, are very suitable for this last man dps role due to the synergy between Bladestorm and Twin-Blade Storm.

Add P.S: Another method in closing down the opponent lies in Fox's Shift. I swear you can hit any target with this move so long it's like 10-15 ft away. Still, Marauder's Rush can hit any target 80 ft away.

Total Recall

The joke must have been getting stale right now. Suffice to say, it wasn't a happy festive season for those who support Boro. Results don't look good to me, we got hit by a triple whammy. We're officially in trouble, we may end up getting relegated by end of season. To make things worse, I wasn't able to do my tactical tweeting due to getting the wrong idea on the kick-off time for our match against Leicester (apparently, I mistook 2030 hr for 2230 hr).
Thankfully, the parachute payment given this time round is quite hefty. I've read somewhere that the amount actually outstrips the prize money Chelsea won for winning the league during Mourinho's first tenure as the boss.

Which now comes that 14 million dollar question:
Assuming that I'm good enough to go anywhere as a strategist no different from the likes of Zhang Liang and Guo Jia, will I choose to play a part in my country's national football future or to be part of a relegated Middlesbrough Football Club?

Let me be this brutally frank: I will choose a second-tier Middlesbrough over my country.

I know a lot of my fellow S'poreans will judge me and call me a traitor even though I do not have any intention to swap my passport (read: Singapore doesn't allow dual citizenship fyi). However, I must also state that if my national football team wins gold for the SEA games or the AFC Suzuki Cup, I'll be glad for my nation and fellow Singaporeans. Beyond that, however, I'm already emotionally detached from local football. Unlike my national football team, however, I'm still emotionally attached to Middlesbrough Football Club. That's why if I'm really good enough, I won't stay here. I will go to Middlesbrough, top flight football or no top flight football.

In this sense, Arylos is actually my reflection. He doesn't see himself as part of the Tel-quessir despite being one of them. His patron deity is never part of the Seldarine, for his god is Kelemvor (read: he doesn't give a damn to the fact that Sehanine Moonbow also oversees death in the same way Kelemvor does). Ironically, Cyrea is exactly the direct opposite when it comes to the same sense of belonging. Thory was right after all. Opposites do attract.

Arigatou gozaimasu, Nasu-san. At least you gave me a good festive season gift. :)
I must have done something right unintentionally.

My recent Total Recalls: First impression

Basically, I'll do a general summary on all my seven characters. However, I don't see myself splitting focus anytime soon. The reason why being that Mod 10 and 10.5 are more for players specializing in one particular character in their respective roster than the all-rounder type. However, I may devote my playing to Arylos and one more character of my choice per week. As for the dungeons and skirmishes when it comes to my alts, I'll most likely be focusing on the standard dungeons and the Underdark skirmishes (albeit I won't discount running any T1 content since all my character are legit for that).

Note: Because my sis is always a bandwidth glutton due to her constant (streaming) diet of East Asian shows, I may need to do it fast. Whenever she starts watching Running Man or I am a Singer, the internet will straightaway go chaotic neutral at best, Supreme Throne mode at worst (which is most of the time).

Add note: Above part was done last night or so. Because there's no way for the Kuok family to compromise our digital convenience, I decided to start writing/blogging once my sis decides to stream her fave shows like this one below.

Vid uploaded by LeeKwangJa7012

Simril: The only event where you can get respec tokens for free

There's a very good reason why I like the Simril event. On average, I can get like 4-5 respec tokens (including the bind on pickup ones from the parcel drop). This gives me more chances to experiment with various builds of the characters I now have. Out of my seven characters, only Myrreas and Arylos will remain un-respec for now. Due to the relevance of companion active bonus, however, I'll include the two as well.

Cyrea:

Since she's gotten herself a BoP respec token, I might as well open it. The thing with saving space when it comes to respec tokens is very simple: If you get one on a BoP basis, just open it. It won't go into your shared bank anyway. As of now, I've got no intention of turning away from her righteous (paragon) path. The righteous tree is very flexible. In fact, it's the most flexible tree out of the three paragon paths. Virtuous is all abt mass defense/AP buffing while faithful is all abt mass heal (read; the devoted cleric will always be top tier in terms of AoE range. That is unless the devs decide to do some new class named primal druid or wandering bard for the next mod).

The righteous tree, however, is a different ball game. Not only is it the sole dps option (read: most likely a divine oracle unless you use Anointed Action as an anointed champion) available (read: you'll most likely need Light of Divinity, Guardian of Faith, and Divine Glow. Or something along that line), it can also be used as a buff-debuff spec (read: Hallowed Ground raid spam. Little wonder the devs nerfed it after mod 5). For Cyrea, she belongs to the latter. If I am to use her respec, most likely the focus will be more on the feats than anything else (I may set Searing Light on a rank 3 or 4 though since this move can be absurdly useful for a righteous spec due to the AoE fireworks in Divinity mode). Initially, I spent like 10 points in the Faithful tree. Turned out that it was a mistake on my part in the sense that I shouldn't have done Prestigious Exaltation. Quite likely the 10 points will go to either Have Faith and Urgent Prayers or Have Faith and Desperate Restoration. Either way, I'll need a rank 4 Astral Shield.

And one more thing: Augment companion. If you're using augment companion, it means you should only be a righteous devoted cleric since the stats can (and will) go a long way in maximizing the Avatar.

A/N to self: Arylos got himself a Sabino Destrier. Two in fact. With Sheperd's Devotion being every manner of devoted cleric's BFF, this means Cyrea is on her way to be the Neverwinter Six's equivalent of Dany mounted on a Sabino Destrier. Now if only I know which horsey to switch down. And yeah, there's also this dress as well.

Korey:

She still has one respec on standby. However, I don't see myself using it unless I want to change her to a trapper. The thing with the archery tree is that the entire planning process is very straightforward. Just dump everything into your offensive feats. Period. If you're to do that, it means you still have 10 feat points to spare. If you're to ask me, there's no point investing them somewhere else (note: the only hunter ranger paragon path which can be useful via 5-15 feat points going elsewhere is the trapper).

Note: Ever tried the most bs stance switch tactic as a trapper? Stance switch>Oak Skin>Master Trapper gets proc'd>shoot it like Deadpool. I'm not bs'ing you all. It's actually doable and efficient in ways more than one.

Bhaasmond:

The devs gave a free respec to all oathbound paladins created before November. Basically, it means Bhaasmond got it as well. I really need to fix his build. Big time. Which is why the free respec couldn't come at a better time. Initially, I dumped 4 points in Aura of Courage and Aura of Protection. Problem is, this combination tends to get my companion KO. Before Mod 6, your companion can get away with 90% of the circumstances even if the odds were heavily stacked against your BFF. And that includes a common rank comp. This time round (or rather the devs have alrdy done that), even a rare companion can get the KO. Unless ofc you choose to use a rare Rimefire Golem (plus pure Loyal Defender gear setup with rank 7 dark enchantment in every defensive gear slot).

So what I did in the respec process is to max out Aura of Protection and Aura of Radiance. I know not many ppl may like AoR because it tends to disrupt play via constant aggro (read: all the AoE bs will go to you 99% of the time). However, the damage given means one thing: Everyone else on your side can just open fire with impunity. The best part of the deal? You can play a pure tankadin (read: Oath of Protection under the bulwark tree) and reach around 3rd spot in any dps ranking. In fact, AoR synergizes absurdly well with Radiant Strike if you want to play a rushdown tank (read: only for pure tankadins). The justice tree may have been nerfed, but it doesn't relegate the OP to the untouchable caste).

As for changes done to Circle of Power, it's definitely good news for everybody. The stupid thing behind the previous version is you're the only one receiving the boost. Nobody else can have it. It's a dog-in-the-manger logic in a very twisted way. This time round, it gives the same bonus to every ally in the area. Coupled with the usage of any Ring of Focus (both Sudden and Rising are equally useful if I say so myself), and you'll get one hell of a beast.

A/N: I got a BoP respec on Bhaasmond, I respec'd him into a justice tankadin w/15 feat pts going into the bulwark end (read: Unflinching Resolve+Stand Fast+Sanctity). At the same time, I decided to up the dps crit as much as possible (read: Wisdom+Charisma+Weapon Mastery+Wrathful Strikes+Force of Will). Tricky part lies in aggro grab. Which is why I decided to try out Vow of Enmity to see how things will go compared to Binding Oath. Also, there's this issue of whether a low cooldown will work against me due to Purifying Fire. If this works, credit will go to some crazy speedrun OP named Mad Willy for inspiring me to justice. Otherwise, it's my fault that Titanic sank and Camelot collapsed.

Thanks to my super mignonne legal housebreaker, I got to know this clip.

Thanks to Mad Willy's Cookie Monster, I decided to gift Bhaasmond a Big Bird.

Kariss:
Used her BoP respec, have to say the result is far better than I otherwise expected. Before the respec, my choice of daily powers was Gates of Hell (for general usage) and Flames of Phlegethos (for boss fight or against any fellow resembling a big sized giant). Post-respec, it's Gates of Hell and Tyrannical Curse. On the encounter powers, I opted for Arms of Hadar (aka that bitch slap move), Wraith's Shadow (aka your BFF in the CC dept), and Pillar of Power (aka your BFF in the defensive dept). Apart from the issue of aiming (read: game lags>shit happens>because you're not using a tank), this is a very good build when it comes to mixing up the dps and CC. Suffice to say, Kariss is still having a good time bitch slapping those minions from the Abyss (read: curse them>slap them>control them>Parting Blasphemy>fireworks [nigh] irreversible). Just remember to max out Vengeful Curse with Pillar of Power and Gates of Hell on standby whenever possible.

Note: To make the CC BFF look even more badass as every warlock's BFF, Tyrannical Curse will NOT remove the curse if Wraith's Shadow is to be used as a follow-up. Which is CC galore, but a trade-off bummer for Parting Blasphemy.

Add Note: Kariss is still a mistress of temptation from the Nine Hells. Only difference lies in 5 pts going to Parting Blasphemy and 5 pts going to Critical Promise. Also, Lifedrinker is super effective due to Dark Revelry (aka buff orgy). Choosing the Temple lifesteal boon instead of the Stables defense boon doesn't really affect the efficiency, believe it or not (credit goes to Pillar of Power due to that absurdly high-end defensive ward).

Myrreas:
No intent to respec, the fact that he nvr got any BoP respec merely makes things easier. After all, I don't like seeing a daily reminder to respec in the character sheet screen unless I really want to. Still an AoE-centric scoundrel. However, I was actually deciding which encounter move to use as his bread-and-butter AoE (read: if you can't do a decent AoE game as a trickster rogue, you might as well go saboteur. Ironically, the only perma-stealth paragon tree is actually far harder to master). Smoke Bomb is nice to have, but it's mainly used as CC instead of dps. Which is not what I want since I've discovered his dps was too damn low. Then again, the scoundrel tends to be the lowest dps build available (after anema reworked the combat hunter ranger, the scoundrel is officially at the bottom of the dps pecking order). An irony, given how trickster rogues are known for being hdps. Then again, I'm pretty sure very few ppl actually choose scoundrel.

So I decided to go Path of Blades. Which is a good move to have due to the DD stack (read: Damage-Daze stack, not whatever absurd expectation of your girlfriend's cup size). If there's any bummer related to any scoundrel build, it'll be against control immune enemies.

Note: Control immunity can be misleading at times, if not most of the time. The reason being immunity to certain control effects rather than all of them).

Add Note: The in-game tooltip concerning Skullcracker seems to indicate a bug preventing the stealth meter refill to proc. Either that or more likely someone forgot to mod the coding.

Sheallyn:
If there's anyone who should be credited with Joe "Italian Joe+Spanish Allen=Jewish Joe Allen" Allen's success north of Wales, it is never Brendan "Brendan, wa si lin laopeh..." Rodgers. Rather, it's Mark "more than just a Maes?" Hughes. Not only does he reminds me of a player whose last name happens to be that of his nation, both of them are truly indebted to a Brit who happens to be anything but English. If the man named Allen should be the new generation of Superman minus the granny (amazingly enough, we have grannies everywhere in the UK), then Shea is the Rule 63 Allen (if there is any lady named Allen, I apologize for this unintentional offense).

Tbh, I really like the way her spellstorm mage thaumaturge is panning out. The dps was shaping up nicely in the form of Eye of the Storm and Storm Spell (read: basically the only reason why any spellstorm mage would use those two class features). However, the German bastard in me desired to tinker with her one more time (at least for now). Which now comes to the master of flame. Because I wanted to try something absolutely new, I decided to go renegade. In comparison with the lore, the renegade is quite surprisingly... well, drow in nature. We have plenty chaos being thrown about. Chaotic Regrowth (i.e. heal it like Wolverine and Deadpool), Chaotic Nexus (i.e. beat it like Sol Badguy), and Chaotic Fury (i.e. eat it like Ragna the Bloodedge). Pick your choice of chaos. Period.

The reason why the mass majority of players choose spellstorm mage is very simple. This is your classic wizard where everything is about destruction first, the rest second. If you want to play debuff first, destruction second, then you might as well play as a druid. If only the logic is that straightforward. Let me just say that the master of flame needs more love. Yet, it's also anything but the mainstream choice. It's like choosing between Taylor "gone (swiftly) in 60 secs" Swift and Loreena "Voice of the Canuckland" McKennitt. 90% of the music audience will choose to be a Swiftie (or Katy-Cat for that matter).

The survival capability boasted by the renegade (be it spellstorm mage or master of flame) should have alrdy been well documented. Key lies in Chaos Magic where you can just reverse the fight in the most epic manner possible (then again, none of us including the white people should be considered white. The black guy might be the nearest thing to the mark though...). There have been moments where the drow girl named Allen ended up getting unwanted aggro in the Sharandar campaign zone (more specifically the Realm of Malabog. No jokes based on Tagalog here pls). It's a no-brainer that whatever stuff you get to fight there have a high resistance to arcane damage. Or more specifically whatever bs any control wizard can throw at them. Imagine my surprise upon realizing that the drow girl named Allen managed to melt every mob like a furnace melting metal. It's like the lad named Allen creating havoc as a false 9. Period.

However, it's during the random dungeon/skirmish run that I realized why the master of flame is so dangerously underrated. I don't know abt the other two paragon trees, but using this MoF renegade build below is a recipe for being a MoF Xavi/Pirlo.

At-will powers: Chilling Cloud; Scorching Burst
Encounter powers: Fanning the Flame; Disintegrate; Steal Time
Spell mastery slot: Entangling Force
Daily powers: Furious Immolation; Ice Knife
Class features: Arcane Presence; Critical Conflagration

Artifact power: Chilling Cloud and Arcane Presence


This build is mainly for skirmishes, non-boss fights in dungeons, and solo running. Even without Shield, this build can keep you alive due to one-shot arcane stacking via a magically enhanced Entangling Force. Steal Time under normal usage is all about stun and slow based on the arcane stacks, so getting a maximum 5 stack game is both critical and quite easy to pull off. Because I focused the stat points on Intelligence and Charisma, what this means is that the drow girl named Allen is now high on crit (read: Intelligence affects base damage while Charisma affects base crit).

Because of the absurd versatility behind the master of flame, I have to mess around quite a bit to get my ideal combination right. Key to this is smolder bunching. Basically, this means bunching the mob together so that you can create a mass smolder effect by doing a Scorching Burst. Tricky thing behind pulling off this at-will power lies in a 50-50 chance of getting it right. Against opponents of average mobility or lower, it's very easy to a smolder bunch via holding down the mouse button. Against those of higher end mobility, this is where the problem comes. You can't hold down till the limit, you'll have to click and release. With Entangling Force in the spell mastery slot, it makes things far easier to do the smolder bunch. And that's not considering the smolder effect caused by Critical Conflagration upon crit.

Below is the boss fight variation of the Xavirlo MoF. Changes will be highlighted in bold italics.

At-will powers: Chilling Cloud; Scorching Burst
Encounter powers: Fanning the Flame; Disintegrate/Ray of Enfeeblement; Icy Terrain/Conduit of Ice
Spell mastery slot: Steal Time
Daily powers: Furious Immolation; Ice Knife
Class features: Arcane Presence; Critical Conflagration

Artifact power: Chilling Cloud and Arcane Presence


Only two things got changed. Icy Terrain is all about defense in case something happens out of nowhere. Due to the need for dps, however, I'll most likely go with Conduit of Ice. As for Steal Time in the spell mastery slot, it's like Xavirlo playing a (match winning) pass blind. Instead of inducing stun and slow, it now gives you (and your entire team) the ability to boss frag. Ultimately, the only catch lies in maximizing the arcane stacks. Which tbh is no biggie at all so long you spam Scorching Burst (plus a maxed out Arcane Burst). 3 hit Chilling Cloud>Scorching Burst>Fanning the Flame>Steal Time+Chilling Cloud combo>end it with Disintegrate. Alternatively, Ray of Enfeeblement is a good way to mess the boss up. After all, the drow girl named Allen is meant to control any fight like Xavirlo Allen.

Note: Lightning enchantment may easily be the reason why melting any mob is a possibility. Bar the transcendent version lagging the game like a Prism spam and low chance of unwanted aggro grab, it's absurdly effective to the core. Def the most underrated epic weapon enchantment ever.

Add note: To make the deal even better, I moved her blue Rimefire Golem's Loyal Defender gear to this black ice dude. Jack "here's Johnny!" Nicholson.

Korey also got the same black ice dude, his name is Jack Nicholson.
Hope SHyn Corp don't go after me like mad Johnny since Korey is based on their Freyja.

A/N: Nearly forgot to mention that I gave Korey that free Princess Leia dress as her Simril present.

Arylos:
Finally, I've reached the end. Okay, the main reason why I nvr respec'd my main is down to plenty of stuff alrdy maxed out at rank 4. Because there's a need to up the dps value, I decided to try out Aspect of the Pack with Blade Storm as his class features. Alternatively, I can try out Blade Storm and Twin-Blade Storm. Only problem? This synergy may be the highest dps option for a combat spec, but it only works against mobs numbering more than 2. So yeah, not interested in using a class feature which can turn up as a white elephant under certain circumstances.

The main problem so far before I decided on the switch lies in Aspect of the Lone Wolf. The good thing about this class feature is that it gives much-needed survivability. The bad thing is that what I've said here is only relevant prior to anema's reworked combat tree. With the reworked Battlecrazed giving Arylos 15% deflection bonus more oft than not (read: Clear the Ground), this means there's no point in using that class feature due to the Stables defense boon being my preferred choice to the Temple lifesteal boon. Together with the Survivor's Blessing effect conferred by a Heavy Howler (plus the mount stat bonus of 2K crit), being a loner is basically out of the question.

Suffice to say, the effect was devastating. In the Baphomet weekly fight, that ManBearGoat managed to take out more HP from Arylos. However, it's only expected since...

1. The devs now have the habit of reviewing the difficulty level of any given fight across all zones, skirmishes, dungeons, and trials. This is especially evident in the end-game campaign content. Quite notably, the ante in any Maze Engine fight has been upped.

2. No more Aspect of the Lone Wolf=GAR.

And it does help that Arylos was inspired by Archer due to my sis' bandwidth gluttony forcing me to play with plenty of steel.

One key change which I may be doing lies in the party skillset. The reason why being that annoying great weapon fighter dash. No matter how hard I try (read: think/analyze), the only way for me to catch up is the speed buff given by the Howling Weapon set. If I'm to use the Twisted Weapon set, it means I'll need to close in asap without the advantage of accelerated pace. Problem with the combat tree lies in the short dodge range. What this means is this: playing the combat spec is very disadvantageous because you'll lose out to the great weapon fighters (i.e. running forward like Guts going all out to kill Griffith) and trickster rogue (i.e. long dodge range plus decent ranged dps, just do it like your fave Assassin's Creed hero). This aspect of party gameplay can be painfully evident in fights like Throne of the Dwarven Gods.

Ultimately, I decided to eschew Plant Growth for Marauder's Rush. The nice thing about the latter move lies in the surprise element. Pull it off and watch the question marks floating above them. If you can make the opponent(s) go wth, it means you'll have that brief window of advantage to exploit.

Note: 3 tanks and 2 dps (including Arylos) in Throne of the Dwarven Gods. The outcome? We could have gotten gold if not for our screw-up in the hostage rescue phase (read: silver+gold+gold=silver). Don't thank me, thank Aspect of the Pack.

Add note: Been messing around with Marauder's Rush with the undead ice fishing victim in Twilight Tor being the training dummy. Bar the sudden lag after execution, I find chaining Disruptive Shot from this move to be quite lethal due to Aimed Strike being the follow-up hit.

P.S: This year's Simril has been quite hilarious. If you think the chat zone at Protector's Enclave is pure drivel, that's because you've yet to noticed what has transpired during this year's Simril event. I'm not gonna add any caption because it's best to go natural like your natural Korean beauty.

Add P.S: Yes, I know the cropping was very screwed up. Period.