-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."
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