The Back of a Man (for Cyrea and Kariss)
I'm someone who always enjoys leaving the best for the last. It's a personal habit of mine. Basically, The Back of a Man still has two more parts to go. Namely, that of Cyrea and Kariss. The format of this particular series of posts goes like gameplay first, then the story. I don't plan to reverse this decision. Hence, it may take me some time to finish the final two. Even though my country as a city is synonymous with a Löwe. I think like a German Löwe. In other words, I've devised two new builds respectively for them. So much for being the most important belles femmes in the life of the Königsmörder (okay, that's technically not true. There's still a Koryoan girl named Korey. Not the living one inspired by her, but rather the deceased one inspired by a scandal).
Long time never played Dragonflight
Last night, I decided to have a go at the Dragonflight event. Basically, this is the best thing to happen when it comes to the guild alliance system. Which says a lot. While I never got the chance to hit the red and blue, I got the opportunity to have a go at the green and black.
In other words, this part is only on the green and black ones.
Let me just say that after the fight, my first impression was that the devs really upped the stakes. The AoE attack has increased in terms of spam frequency. Those who have done the Dragonflight event before would know there are two types of AoE minefields. The first is direct one-shot damage when it comes to fire and lightning (note that the red dragon's AoE fire pit also has a damage over time variation). The second type is damage over time. This is for acid and poison.
Against the green dragon, the damage over time aspect has been upped. Not in terms of the AoE attack, but rather a terrain full of gas. If this sounds like ISIS doing a Chem Ali against the Kurds, it means you've hit the mark. To survive that fight, you really need a Greater Scroll of Protection from Dragons (if you're a dps) or normal Scroll of Protection from Dragons (if you're a tank). As for the overload slots, I personally prefer Mark of the Dragon Slayer on a 2 slot basis instead of 1 Mark of the Dragon Slayer and 1 Mark of the Dragon Ward. If you're doing a hdps build, however, far better it is for you to go greater scroll and 2 dragon ward marks.
The black dragon is the hardest Dragonflight fight I've ever done. If you think the blue dragon was hard, wait till you see the ghosts coming out from the black one. Unlike the Valindra version, this ghost legion won't be contented bumming around. If you think dodging Valindra's ghost legion is tough (more notably the second wave), then you better not try doing in the black dragon. You can defy my words, but not every player can roll a successful 20 on Will save.
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| Being forced to risk an outright fatality is worse than getting killed by a random grenade, I'm pretty sure of that. |
A foolproof way to search and destroy?
Against the red and green, the onus is to get in and deal damage. In this sense, the fight won't be that time-consuming (albeit red is the easiest due to the lack of Chem Ali's genius in the terrain). However, it must also be stated that the placement of AoE minefields has changed significantly. In the past, you won't get yourself in the kind of situation where the AoE minefields are everywhere. This time round, your dps toon can't just rush headlong in hope of taking minimal damage. At most, only a great weapon fighter would have a chance of survival due to high HP and the second best AC in-game with guardian fighter and oathbound paladin sharing the top spot. While I'm still waiting to take on the red, this is definitely the case with the green. You can try taking out the empowerers whenever they spawn, that's not gonna prevent minefield being planted all over the place. In fact, there's a decent chance of the AoE circle sharing the same space with any empowerer.
A spike in difficulty level means taking out the empowerers is even more important (and to think this tactical aspect was already important enough last time round). In other words, you'll never know where/when the AoE circle will overlap with the empowerer's position. Best way to take them out with minimal risk will be to focus the artillery (quite literally) on the empowerers. Expecting a melee dps to get them first is a bit like being a woman named Tan Toh Toh. Yes, there's a 50-50 chance of that happening, but it should be down to the melee dps to engage the dragon together with the tank. The ranged dps should be serving two roles at a time. Namely, dps support against the dragon and taking down the empowerers. The empowerers will always spawn at the edge of the battlefield, hence making it easier for the ranged dps to nail them down instead of the melee dps.
However, it must also be stated that there would be moments where the empowerers are out of firing range. This is the only moment where the melee dps should chip in (most likely the great weapon fighter due to the ability to run like a black lightning bolt named Usain "the Jamaican lightning" Bolt). Unless ofc all your control wizards have the Brisk Transport feat at 5 feat points maxed (note: hugely recommended by yours truly since mobility tends to be every control wizard's BFF more oft than not, drow girl or no drow girl).
Ideally, it's better for all the ranged dps to gather within one-half of the battlefield nearer to the edge when the fight starts. This is to ensure you can attack the empowerers immediately once they spawn due to the tell-tale sign called white column.
Note: Not along the edge, mind you. After all, your ranged dps BFFs still need to cover ground asap if there's a need to kill that empowerer furthest away from any of them.
Note: Not along the edge, mind you. After all, your ranged dps BFFs still need to cover ground asap if there's a need to kill that empowerer furthest away from any of them.
If we're talking about the need to move about, just look out for the red circles before deciding for yourself (Note: Dodging gives you brief invincibility post-animation, so please use it sparingly since the risk of Deus Ex Stamina is very real. Those who have played through Portobello's dungeon will know what I'm talking about).
Against the black and blue, one of the most common advice you'd hear is "no pets allowed unless it's a cat." In other words, only augment companions should stay summoned. This is to ensure your companion doesn't break the tank's aggro hold. The nature of their AoE game is done in such a way that if the tank fails, the raid also fails. The job of the tank lies preventing an AoE nuke, one way or another (hence, further cementing Knight's Valor as that must-have encounter power together with Into the Fray). Period. This is especially important against the blue dragon since one blast of lightning can pretty much kill off all your dps members. At the same time, healers are a must in any Dragonflight raid. Without one, there's no way your party can take down a green, let alone blue and black. It's still possible to take down the red without a healer though if I say so myself. After all, you don't have to worry about Chem Ali's gas.
Yet, the hardest part is never about taking down the empowerers or reducing the dragon's HP to 10% (after which 90% of the raiding group has to engage the others yet to be fought). Due to the insane nature of the AoE attack placement, navigating through the red zone will decide whether you succeed or fail. More oft than not, every red zone will cluster together. For the control wizard, this is a problem because one wrong dodge can cost you a life. This is not so bad for a scourge warlock since dashing is all about knowing where to hit the brakes instead of when. For the hunter ranger, the low dodge distance works to this class' favor since a short range dodge won't shift the player from one red zone to another. At least most of the time, that is. For a control wizard, the window of error is very big. This is due to a relatively low chance of getting yourself in between the red zones instead of getting yourself inside. It's virtually a game of chance unless you're really damn good in gauging the distance from one red zone to one safe zone. Something which I doubt even an Ivy League grad would be capable of. Which now comes to the only aspect of dodge which can jailbreak any CW from a certain death: post-dodge invulnerability.
Current move set for Korey
Above part was written far earlier...
Just that I was too shagged out to see it out until the end. After all, my sleep pattern mirrors that of a Tesla guy (just don't ask me whether it's only right for a Tesla guy to get a Tesla girl as his girlfriend).
Note: If you're a melee dps, just stick it into the beast at point blank range. Unless ofc your party tank is a moron.
Note: If you're a melee dps, just stick it into the beast at point blank range. Unless ofc your party tank is a moron.
There's Something About Demogorgon
It may sound like a parody of that movie which made Cameron "not a ditz" Diaz famous, but let me assure you that it's not. Firstly, Jim "the cable guy, but not this cable guy" Carrey may have done it first.
Secondly, I'm referring to a demon lord, not some Hollywood angel good enough to be a VS angel.
Yesterday, I did a normal Demogorgon run with Korey (complete with that Princess Leia outfit because I got nothing better to do when the last Simril event decided to give every gamer this for free). Her posture looks a bit hunched, but I'm actually quite okay with it. After all...
Enough about courtesan wear, boobs, and this. I'm going to talk about how easy normal Demogorgon has gotten.
One of the most notable stuff the devs have enhanced in the game lies in the upping the difficulty level. Depending on the total item level, this may not be noticeable in zones like Dread Ring and Sharandar. Once you enter zones like Icewind Pass, Well of Dragons, Bryn Shander, and Sea of Moving Ice, that's where the difference is more significant (apparently, this means Neverwinter is still about gear quality 90% of the time).
Originally, I only wanted Korey to slay a demon lord. Therefore, I wasn't expecting a gold score. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the raid instance resulted in a bronze score (something which is impossible 99% of the time since Demogorgon raids are known to be very straightforward if you can just open the purple portals ONLY).
As it turned out, everybody was opening the nearest portal. It was quite frustrating to see people not listening to instructions. There are times where criticism is legit. Then there are moments where people would just shift the blame to somewhere else. In normal Demogorgon, all you need to get gold is an intelligent tank. Okay, that may be an overstatement. But still, an intelligent tank will go a long way. Otherwise, there's no point having the healer as the smartest fellow in the war room.
By the time we finished phase 1, the verdict read GOLD. It was at this point of time that I decided to mess about. The thing with getting that goristro to ram the golden hole is this: Your ranged dps members have to line up around any of the correct holes instead of the wrong hole (read: ramming into a black hole means the goristro will regain HP instead of losing HP). As it turned out, I was guilty of taking potshot after potshot from the blue zone right in front of the lair entrance. It's not something done via a conscious decision. It was just me horsing around minus the Gangnam Style.
Hey, guess what? We hit gold once more despite that bs excuse of a cow hitting the correct hole no more than twice or thrice.
Ultimately, we got gold as well in phase 3. Which means we got gold without playing like a bunch of Koreans.
Skill set used (plus gear)
Firstly and foremost, I gave Korey a Ring of Brutality +3 and a Ring of Fortress +3. The reason why being that I need some kind of insurance, hence the latter choice. The trickiest part in creating a hdps build is never about the offensive. The dps part should be very straightforward. Either you opt for a crit based build or a build based on armor penetration. The difficult part lies in the defensive. Without a good defense/AC, deflection is useless (even for a trickster rogue where deflect severity goes as high as 75%, you'll still need a good defense to make that 75% count). Too much focus on the defense, however, and your dps will be compromised.
While I can't say Korey is a hdps build atm (something which every archery spec should strive for fyi), the need for hdps is still there. In other words, gear and standard artifacts used is of utmost importance. Firstly, I decided to do away with her Greater Cloak of the Seldarine. Yes, the AC bonus is nice. But it's not gonna do much since we're not talking abt melee builds like the destroyer great weapon fighter or executioner trickster rogue. And even if we're talking about melee dps, it's far better to use an offensive neck slot item instead of something which gives you AC (incredibly enough, Myrreas is using a Seldarine set instead of something offensive. This was despite me respec'ing him into an executioner. I'll try to explain this further somewhere down the road).
Secondly, I decided to do away with her Ring of Sieging +4 and Ring of Sudden Deflect +4. Instead, I opted for the current brutality-fortress combination. It worked surprisingly well so far with an Amulet of Valindra's Favor and Greater Twined Rope of Dexterity. The former gives Korey some much-needed recovery while the latter serves to play up the crit dps plus armor penetration (not to mention as well that Amulet of Valindra's Favor also gives crit). One of the challenges being faced when I decided to give Korey a total recall (no 3-boob jokes here please) was the armor penetration. The reason why anema god-modded the archery tree was down to not enough dps to go around. Without a good dps, your archer is as good as nothing. This time round, the crit aspect has been buffed. Big time. However, nothing much was done about power and armor penetration unless we're talking about feat proc'ing (Unflinching Aim is an exception, hence it being possibly the most imba feat available in the archery tree).
Note: In case you're wondering why Ring of Fortress, that's because no archer HR worth his/her salt would ever move constantly in any given raid instance.
Note: In case you're wondering why Ring of Fortress, that's because no archer HR worth his/her salt would ever move constantly in any given raid instance.
In PvP and open PvE, your archer will have to dodge spam due to a low dodge distance (more specifically the lowest dodge distance). This is why Swift Footwork and Ghostwalker should be every archer's defensive bread and butter. During party instances, however, dodging would take a back seat. This includes fighting Demogorgon.
Because the whole stand-and-shoot aspect is so important during any party instance (minus PvP ofc), positioning becomes the crucial key. In fact, playing the hunter ranger means you'll have to be smarter than the rest so as to speak. It doesn't matter which paragon tree you choose. Either you'll live or die by tactical awareness or you'll succeed or fail by tactical awareness. Even for the combat tree or a melee based trapper, you can't escape from this (read: moves like Marauder's Rush and Pathfinder's Action should only be used to decide which enemy to target first).
Ambush tactics
This is where Ambush comes in. I don't know how many gamers choose the pathfinder HR, but Ambush is definitely an absurdly good move to have if you're going archery tree. So long the enemy doesn't close in, you're safe. What it means is that you can spam Ambush with impunity so long your tank is doing a proper job (something which requires the brain more than technique). Coupled with every offensive feat offered by the archery tree, you can just spam Aimed Shot to your heart's content. Planning an archery HR build is always straightforward. Pump all your points into the dps feats (apart from Stormcaller's Arrow/Quarry depending on your move set) and you're ready to go. And this is not to mention you'll most likely still have 5-10 feat points as surplus (assuming that you have also maxed out Keen Eye and Ghostwalker).
And yeah, please don't forget Stillness of the Forest. The synergy between this feat and Ambush is absurdly effective. Any at-will attack made via Ambush is counted as encounter power damage. This is because Ambush counts as both a damage dealer and damage modifier. Which means you can proc Predator this way.
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| Ambush; Aimed Shot; full AP; Ambush; kill a cow with Seismic Shot... Wait... why am I sounding so British? |
At-will:
Rapid Shot, Aimed Shot
Encounter:
Cordon of Arrows, Thorn Ward, Constricting Arrow (for solo PvE)/Ambush (for party instances and Maze Engine boss fights like that damn balor).
Daily:
Disruptive Shot, Seismic Shot
Class features:
Aspect of the Falcon, Aspect of the Lone Wolf
A few things of note here.
Firstly, there's actually a way for you to execute Aimed Shot flawlessly (in open PvE) without the need of a defender comp or moves like Forest Ghost and Ambush. Because Disruptive Shot only costs you 25% action points, it can easily be used as a primary daily power. The start up animation may be a bit long, but not long enough to screw up any fight. What this means is that against any target in general, you can just daze the enemy in order to pull off Aimed Shot afterward. Don't laugh. I've tried it before and I can guarantee you that this simple 2 hit combo really works. It's down to how fast you can click the mouse button.
Secondly, Aspect of the Lone Wolf is pretty much a 50-50. This is because for any ranged hdps build, it's better to opt for the defense guild boon. This is extremely important in circumstances where mass nuking is 100% possible (most notably Castle Never). For any hdps build (not just the archer HR), damage taken has to be kept at the minimum in order to deal damage at the maximum.
If your defensive guild boon comes from the stables, an effective way to offset a lack of lifesteal will be all the lifesteal boons available elsewhere (plus dark enchantments at least on rank 7). Dragon's Greed, Primordial Regenesis, and Evoker's Thirst will give you 1% lifesteal chance each. Which means 3% lifesteal chance. Coupled with a rank 1 Dragon's Thirst alone and you'll get 6% lifesteal chance. Because the archer HR's crit level is too damn high, it's possible to use 4 major lifesteal reinforcement kits on your gear. Which adds up to 7.5% lifesteal chance. Assuming you opt for Dragon's Fury as one of your Tyranny of Dragons boons, it should mean either 2 points for Fury or 2 points for Thirst. For the lifesteal stat to work properly for any dps build, there has to be a minimal mark of 7% by my estimation (unless you're a renegade control wizard). Also, lifesteal can be a life saver in the event where you got hit by an AoE nuke (the ninja turtle boss in Fangbreaker doesn't count because the damage of its nukes is too damn high).
Currently, the problem I'm facing for Korey lies the final Dread Ring boon. Should I go pure hdps by choosing Rampaging Madness or should I opt for better survival chances via Endless Consumption?
Note: Because Thorn Ward deals periodic damage now instead of damage resistance debuff, pulling off this move means having a far better chance of proc'ing lifesteal since your archer HR will be dealing direct damage as well. Let's say Korey's lifesteal chance is only 6%. By executing Thorn Ward, the lifesteal chance is effectively doubled for the duration of the ward effect.
Add note: Jack Nicholson is indeed a Johnny Delzoun instead of some Johnny 외국인 like this one below.
Currently, the problem I'm facing for Korey lies the final Dread Ring boon. Should I go pure hdps by choosing Rampaging Madness or should I opt for better survival chances via Endless Consumption?
Note: Because Thorn Ward deals periodic damage now instead of damage resistance debuff, pulling off this move means having a far better chance of proc'ing lifesteal since your archer HR will be dealing direct damage as well. Let's say Korey's lifesteal chance is only 6%. By executing Thorn Ward, the lifesteal chance is effectively doubled for the duration of the ward effect.
Add note: Jack Nicholson is indeed a Johnny Delzoun instead of some Johnny 외국인 like this one below.
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| I blame Gianna for this fried chicken meme above... |
Worst pre-maintenance lag ever?
I could have completed Sheallyn Melarn's Dread Ring campaign before the 6 hr maintenance. Sadly, the customary pre-maintenance lag was terribly bad. Not only did it cause two demonic heroic encounter failures, I was forced to respawn against the Knight Commander boss in the Dread Spire lair. If you still don't know by now, please be noted that running Neverwinter with a laggy connection (Korean shows or no Korean shows) can cause outright fatality for any dps build. Even if you have Archer's mind of steel and Emiya Kiritsugu's tactical genius, there's still a 50-50 chance of respawning like another tactical genius named Deadpool.
In the event where your connection is screwed (Korean shows or no Korean shows), your best bet in jailbreaking lies in at-will power spam. Therefore, it's highly recommended that you bind a fast hitting AoE at-will to your left mouse click (Chilling Cloud is an exception to this rule because the chill stacking and AoE third hit makes it an effective counter guardian against lag. Not that Archer was successful against Dark Sakura and her BFF Servants, though).
On the demonic HE, do not try doing Demonic Closure if your game is lagging. Chances are, the balor will just rip apart the poor Harper wizard(s). I'm not joking. I've been through more than one Demonic Closure failure due to this. As for Demonic Slaughter, lag isn't an issue so long you have enough BFFs to deal the dps. As for Demonic Overload, I think tonight was the first time failure should be attributed to lag. Period. Which is why this has to be the worst pre-maintenance lag ever.
Note: Because Cryptic decided to give me a consolation prize, Shea's second try yielded her a Greater Mark of Power. If you've played the DR lairs long enough, you'll know Greater Mark of Power actually has a lower drop rate than Greater Mark of Union. Greater Mark of Stability is still the hardest to drop, though.
Wow, I've written this much?
The reason why is very simple. This post is a compilation of all that I've written while under screen saver mode. Because my sleeping habit is similar to that of a Telsa guy named Nikola, my mental focus is hitting a roller coaster atm. However, I feel there's a need to address this.
So what exactly went wrong in the land of dragons, emperors, and socialist capitalism? Let me just say, firstly and foremost, that it's very likely China doesn't enjoy the kind of player stability otherwise seen in the international and Russian servers. We're talking about the server launching N ages after the beta launch in 2013. Yes, the gameplay system is top notch. However, it must be stated that the term "global market" can be very misleading at times. Let me highlight a couple of examples.
What we're seeing here is a conflict between an international audience and the local audience. Operation Rainfall is a case of people assuming the worst while the former case is all about the worst being real. When it comes to this type of divide, there will always be factors specific to the situation. Say for example A Requiem From Winter Past by yours truly becomes a global phenomenon. From the New York Times Best Sellers list to being a Hugo Awards nominee. Does that mean ARFWP will be equally popular with my fellow Singaporeans? As a Singaporean myself, I'm under no illusion that the local audience prefers rooting for characters who are anything but morally flawed. Perhaps that's why unlike the haters of Julie "the girl with the dragon tattoo" Tan's character, I actually like... well, Julie's character (you don't expect yours truly to say "I like Julie."). In other words, I won't be surprised if the popularity of ARFWP will be inferior to works like Ah Boys to Men and Money Not Enough. It's not about quality. It's about the audience. [note: If you think Dong Zihuai is evil, you ain't seen nothing yet. Aeravor as the protagonist is a killer, whoremonger, and sociopathic bastard rolled into one.]
If you're feeling confused after reading all this, don't worry. Let me summarize it for you: It's a divide between the international audience and the PRC market (have to use PRC because my passport belongs to Singapore).
So no, the game is not going to crash. Neverwinter will still be ongoing until Luskan manages to annex it.
A few thoughts on The Cloaked Ascendancy
Firstly and foremost, I don't understand the relationship between the Far Realm and the Spellplague. Yes, the latter ended up opening portals for the former. To associate both together, however, is like Ed "not Woodward" Greenwood saying the Weave and Far Realm are linked. So how did the Order of the Many-Starred Cloak end up so far away in the cosmology? If I can answer this question, it means I'll most likely move to the U.S in a matter of weeks, if not months at most.
One challenge Cryptic will be facing is creating new aspects of the gameplay. The problem with the gear system is that it has hit a bottleneck. With stuff like vivified relic gear and masterwork gear, it means the devs can never do another mod 6. Unlike the gear system before Elemental Evil was released, the current gear system is more deeply tied to the various campaigns. More specifically the Underdark and Storm King's Thunder gear (note: The black ice gear is effectively redundant since Icewind Dale is now for players with higher level gear).
It will be interesting to see if the devs will up the character level cap or improve the overflow XP reward. As for the gear, it's far better for them to expand the vivify aspect rather than adding new stuff. After all, there's no point in making the Underdark and Storm King's Thunder gear obsolete (not to mention destroying the masterwork market since they're still going at 1-2 million in the AH).
P.S: Won't be surprised if you can purchase the things needed for artifact weapons restoration via voninblod. At least that will make a campaign exclusive currency more useful.
Add P.S: If there's anything to go by from the increase in difficulty level, it may possibly point to a future direction. In fact, difficulty level review has already been there since mod 7. Just that the devs upped their game further in mod 10.5.
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