Loadouts (basically the story of how I spent 3-4 hrs trying to it right)

Okay, so it's maintenance time right now. I still remember the time where the player base for Neverwinter was like around 2 million or so. That was when we got another Icewind Dale mod in the form of Storm King's Thunder and Sea of Moving Ice. Then out of the sudden, this happened.

It's quite mind boggling to see a jump of 10 million plus gamers from that point of time till now. If this isn't proof of how much The Cloaked Ascendancy did right, I don't know what else is.

A/N: Is it possible that Irfan Bin Fandi Ahmad has also become a fan? I still remember Irfan the great weapon fighter 1-2 yrs ago. And I think he's still there. I mean Irfan the great weapon fighter, not Irfan the footballer.

Let's talk about the business model

Since the game first launched in 2013, Cryptic has been buggered by accusations of doing the pay-to-win model. PvP, in particular, was badly affected since it's more common to see kids with high-end gear winning the majority rather than the true blue pros doing the same thing (basically an absurd show of paradox pertaining the pay-to-win method). Thankfully, Gauntlgrym PvP was a much fairer deal than Domination.

In addition, every gamer will always try gunning for the highest rank possible when it comes to epic enchantments. Just when you thought the max rank stops at perfect, they came up with pure and transcendent. Then we have the lockbox keys where arguably majority the spending has always been focused on.

So what did the previous Mystra mod do right and what can we expect from this current Kelemvor mod?

Previously, the legendary dragon keys were worth the square root of sod all. Period. Gamers would rather spend campaign currency on the second chest keys. Period. Not so now. The current astral diamonds income system has gone from normal to abysmal, from abysmal to abnormal. The new invocation system was a good safeguard from botting. After all, Diablo 2 was done in by rampant botting all over the bnet last time round. The revamped invocation ushered a potential astral diamond rush never before seen since the insane days of planar idols and astral resonators. Ironically, it also means alts can earn more rough astral diamonds in a single full farming run (i.e. 2 dungeons, 2 skirmishes, and 2 Domination PvP matches).

At the same time, usage of legendary dragon keys also resulted in a massive deflation in the auction house market where you can easily buy an epic mount there for like only half a million with legendary mounts costing like only a few million.

I have mixed feelings about this when it comes to mounts. On one hand, you can't fault players for feeling shafted after farming so much Tarmalune trade bars. One epic mount of any type costs 2400 bars. Then the next thing you realized, that Sylvan Stag you bought for 2.4K bars will only fetch you like 300K to 500K astral diamonds on the auction house. What this means is that more autonomy is being given to the zen-astral diamonds exchange. You can't really blame the devs in this context since the currency exchange is all about the zen sellers calling the shots (Been since day 1 tbh).

On the other hand, however, you can never outrun the aggro by riding a mount on a rare mount speed. Already, galloping at 80% speed bonus would still ensure a 50-50 chance of getting aggro in Sharandar and Dread Ring (let alone Icewind Dale) in mod 6. Right now, you really have to ride at the epic mount speed of 110% speed bonus to stand a decent chance of outrunning any aggro in the River District (in particular, Gyrion's artillery units are very damn annoying due to their blue fire DoT bs). Still a 50-50, but at least it justifies the absurd deflation in the auction house economy when it comes to the epic mounts. To those who have yet to hit the River District, you've been warned in advance.

By this time, we should have realized the legendary dragon keys have become the bedrock of Cryptic's business model for Neverwinter together with the lockbox keys (and to a lesser extent now, the strongbox keys). By saving time, this new economy strategy ensured more gamers opening the second chests in any campaign raids (e.g. Throne of the Dwarven Gods, Lair of Lostmauth, Kessell's Retreat, and Demogorgon). Apart from Throne of the Dwarven Gods and Prophecy of Madness where the second chest loot has a 50-50 chance of being mediocre, the rest of second chests have a higher chance of dropping better loot. As a result, plenty of stuff in the auction house can be sold at less than 10K. Case in point: I got a green Amnian horse via the second chest, I ended up doing the horse-trading for 4K+ astral diamonds).

So what can we expect from the current mod? Firstly, I don't expect the mass deflation to abate anytime soon at least. After all, Cryptic has yet to tweak the aggro when it comes to riding past them with a rare mount speed. Which is a good thing even though it means the only way for gamers to earn a profit via selling an epic mount is to buy a Turmish Lion and sell it for like 1 million (which is not surprising given the Combatant's Maneuver insignia bonus being rarely available).

Secondly, it's already very evident that Cryptic is now expanding its current business strategy to loadout slots (500 zen) and buyable inventory slots (full list here). If you want to opt for the quick fix option, you can try out the auction house for the Dragon Cult Pack since I'm expecting more gamers to raid Tiamat's temple of doom like Indiana Jones this time round. If you still don't know the relevance between inventory slots and individual gear used in the respective loadout, you're even dumber than a cleric worshipping the god of failure.

A brief note on loadouts

By default, you have two loadout slots available by the time you hit the end-game level of 70. Problem is, you'll most likely need at least 3 loadout slots. Which means you'll need to spend at least 500 zen.

The reason why being Storm King's Thunder and Sea of Moving Ice requiring everfrost resistant gear. Not so much when it comes to running the open world content, but rather the fact that raiding Fangbreaker Island and assaulting Storvald's Svardborg requires at least 28% everfrost resistance. While every character may have already gotten a default 4% everfrost resistance (at least I noticed the mathematics doesn't stack up correctly when it comes to having only 2 everfrost resistance kits worth 3% each), it means having a full set of SOMI artifact weapons would only give you a total of 6% everfrost resistance. If I'm to use Arylos as a reference, it means only 16% everfrost resistance. Of course, if Arylos chose to imbibe a greater potion of everfrost resistance (something which is perfectly in-character for a military genius since he thinks like Archer and Kiritsugu), he would have broken the so-called 28% glass ceiling by reaching 30% everfrost resistance (if I recall correctly, greater potion of everfrost resistance will give you 14% bonus in everfrost resistance). Then again, you'll most likely need to slot in one stack of such potions in your potion slots anyway.

As for whether to allocate one loadout slot for Demogorgon fights (not so much for the normal, but for the epic version), it depends. If you're comfortable with using your main, then I'd say just reserve the third slot for Fangbreaker Island and Svardborg. However, this option would require either a 3 piece Dragonflight set bonus or a 2 piece Dusk set bonus in order to maximize your chances of getting gold for epic Demogorgon (and together with that, higher chances of getting great loot in the second chest).

If you want to create a third slot for running stuff like Fangbreaker Island, Svardborg, or even any open world instance for mod 10 and 10.5, I recommend getting a 2 piece Frostborn set bonus if you have enough Tarmalune trade bars. Wanderer's Vigor helps a lot as it will reduce your dependency on everfrost resistance whenever you're running open world instances while you'll really need that 25% chance of getting an extra Ostorian relic in order to maintain your mod 10 gear. If you want to limit your loadout slots at two, however, then you must be prepared to spend considerable time farming voninblod (either by running the relevant campaign zones or purchasing 200 voninblod on a mass buy basis from the Riverfront area at the River District since the merchant there is now officially open for business).

If you're wanting play PvP, be it Domination or Gauntlgrym (since Icewind Dale is too much of a free for all to be considered strictly PvP), then it's obviously best to reserve one slot for your PvP gear. In fact, the change in challenge level is already evident in the light of the new mod. Which means PvP is most likely affected as well.

A/N: Apparently, the servers are still being knackered. Hence, the current maintenance going on right now. It's not every day that you get two shard maintenance sessions in a row.
~dated: 5/5/2017 (Singapore time zone)

2nd update: The servers are still knackered after maintenance.

3rd update: Connection is now horribly mutilated. I don't know whether the fault lies in a lack of foresight when my family opted for SingNet before I started my gaming life or just plainly the fact that no sane online gamer should ever choose SingNet in the first place. Then again, my entire connection now has the tendency to take a temporary trip to Kelemvor's Crystal Spire whenever my sis starts streaming her Korean (or whatever) stuff.

Any lesser human being would have screamed at her regardless of whose fault it is.
Not me though.

Tactician and Survivor: Arylos

Basically, it took me 3-4 hrs to get right the entire loadout process. At least somewhat. Firstly, I realized Heart of the Blue Dragon was worth the square root of sod all. Period. The good part in using it lies the counterattacking usage behind the triggered effect. The bad part is that this potential aspect of a melee hunter ranger gameplay is worth nothing compared to what Assassin's Covenant can give you. In other words, I'm actually better off using the four artifacts listed below (in no particular order).

Sigil of the Devoted, Sigil of the Hunter, Sigil of the Trickster, Forgehammer of Gond

The problem with Heart of the Blue Dragon is that it lacks power. Out of the 3 stats, only recovery is useful due to lower cooldown and more action points gained. Critical is a moot stat because I've got enough of it (not to mention as well that any artifact main/off hand weapon got critical and recovery as the key stats). Combat advantage would have been good if not for what I've said in the beginning of this paragraph. Period.

Ultimately, the counteroffensive shock it gives is NOT worth my time and effort beyond the need to test drive its effectiveness. Now that I've tested it long enough, I'll just use to max out my Gondhammer come the next double refinement event in late June.

1-2 hrs ago, I decided to do an Arnie on my tactician loadout.

Because there's nothing broken about survivor loadout, hence no need to fix it.

I decided to switch tactician loadout to the classic hdps hunter ranger build. Yes, you've guessed it. It's now strictly archery mode like this vid below.

Because the connection remains mutilated enough to screw up my image upload, I decided to explain every single damn thing word by word.

Firstly, let me state the irony behind the Great Korean Screwjob (or whatever). While it would have driven any gamer up the wall and beyond the parapet, the grossly mutilated connection revealed how much of a strategist I'm meant to be. In the process of doing the paragon feats, I was stuck between two options. Either I max out Bottomless Quiver or Stormcaller's Arrow. The former would have given me plenty of firepower anywhere across the DDR (read: Dept of Dps Rampage) while the latter looks like a less attractive option. Insanely enough, I actually opted for Stormcaller's Arrow.

The final outcome? I thought the Great Korean Screwjob had screwed me up badly during my last skirmish run (i.e. Master of the Hunt) before the timer reset. As it turned out, I was actually hit with a double whammy. The mutilated connection ensured I would be more than 10 steps behind the rest, the same manner of connection ensured two disconnections in a row plus that damn message in red. The irony is, Stormcaller's Arrow was the reason why Arylos managed to hit 2nd spot in the dps ranking despite the insane odds being stacked against yours (and his) truly.

As for survivor mode, I opted for defensive boons and a great deal of stamina. Hopefully, I can upload the relevant screengrabs tomorrow (that is so long my sis doesn't pull off the Great Korean Screwjob [or whatever] on me). Let's just put things this way first: I got Assassin's Covenant across both loadouts.

P.S: The final part of this post were actually done after my sis quit killing the connection. Also, the servers were also mutilated together with the connection. Asked my alliance mates after our last Dragonflight run or so, they gave me an affirmative. The problem now? My dad's junk making plenty of noise because my bedroom has become a gadget garage of sorts. He should have realized by now this son of his was born abnormal.

Add P.S: Because I'll most likely be able to restore the entire Fey set by tonight, I'll need to do some testing. Hopefully, I can up the screengrabs of my total recalled loadouts asap.

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.

What do you mean it's not political? Pt Deux [The Back of a Man]

Because my brain works like Aeravor at times, I decided to have a bit of fun with my fellow Asian men. I'll be brutally frank here: I identify myself as both a conservative and pro-justice. Perhaps that's why I enjoy creating characters who don't really identify themselves with machismo instead of the protagonist of Eat, Pray, Love.

Yes, this post will be really brief. That's why I upped these vids 4 teh lolz.*
*Above portion was actually done like 1-2 days ago. Sorry.

I'm a guy and a straight guy...

But it didn't prevent me from creating 4 female characters out of the current 7 characters in my current Neverwinter roster. Due to the nature of Mod 10 (and possibly 10.5 as well), I'll need to focus more on Arylos. Not that I identify him as part of Orden Machismo anyway.

Note: The term seiyi no mikata sounds more like ally of justice instead of superhero if you're to ask me.

Add note: Incidentally, my ideal seiyuu for Arylos is none other than Suwabe "always known as Archer" Junichi.

Total Recall: First impression

It took me quite a fair bit of time thinking over how I should respec Sheallyn Melarn.  During the process of planning what to do, I was forced into a decision. Should I opt for all out offense or more than just a wee bit of defense?

The control wizard's heroic feats are mostly offensive. The reason why I say mostly instead of always lies in one nifty feat: Prestidigitation. On the first glance, it seems like an inferior option compared to Learned Spellcaster (note: apparently, the game turned a totally crap feat in the rulebook into something far more useful). After all, damage bonus based on Intellect is even better, right?

Wrong. If you're running the game as an oppressor or renegade, chances are that you don't really need Prestidigitation. The oppressor is all about keeping opponents away while the renegade tree is more about self-buffing (i.e. the source of survival gameplay). Ultimately, it's far better for you to dump all the points into Learned Spellcaster since that will maximize your dps without the worry of your wizard lasting shorter than any of Taylor "gone (swiftly) in 60 secs" Swift's relationship.

The problem with thaumaturge, however, is that no CC is involved. In other words, you have next to nothing when it comes to defensive options (five stacks of chill is always fun to proc, but only for the oppressor). Buff wise, the thaumaturge is all about increasing the dps (read: Elemental Reinforcement) compared to the renegade's buff-debuff game (read: basically the reason why any renegade spec is the VIP of the party). In other words, you have nothing to keep yourself alive (Critical Power and Reaper's Touch are especially vital on the defensive end since the key is killing stuff asap).

I realized that there are two ways to make your thaumaturge useful. Either you pull off a CC spell in spell mastery mode (best option would be Shard of Endless Avalanche since it gives the opponents plenty of pr0n[e]. I personally find stun/daze to be inferior to pr0n[e]...) or you'll most likely need to use Shield in spell mastery mode. Key thing for thaumaturge lies in surviving long enough to nuke every mob in your way (which btw also makes this the best CW tree for dueling and solo boss kill). So unlike the oppressor or renegade, your thaumaturge most likely would need a Shield somewhere. Interestingly enough, I just experimented with Sudden Storm slotted into spell mastery (read: I maxed out Chilling Control due to its effective synergy with Elemental Reinforcement). First impression doesn't look shabby at all.

Destructive Wizardry is very dodgy. Very damn dodgy like the current crisis called Nov 8th 2016. Firstly, aiming a fully charged Storm Pillar will almost get you a counter-offensive (if you've dealt with any Thayan servitor mob before, you'll know what I'm talking about). By almost, I mean the usage of Feytouched enchantment as the sole exception (nearest thing to Feytouched would be Vorpal, but I'm not exactly a fan of dps lottery in this case). You can try aiming that thing somewhere in between you and the mob, but this requires practice and timing. Up to you...

Frozen Power Transfer is a better option especially if you have Chilling Presence as one of your class features. CC plus damage bonus is always much welcomed for any thaumaturge. As for Far Spell, don't be like me and treat it as surplus. Because it is not. Max this out because as a thaumaturge, you wouldn't want the mob closing in onto you. Alternatively, you can use Reaper's Touch since it's available at tier 1. Not personally recommended though unless you have any of the two oppressor feats listed here:
Severe Reaction; Brisk Transport; Chilling Control [only for spellstorm mage].

Either that or you'll need an effective point blank freeze since Sudden Storm does have a more narrow AoE, Chilling Control or no Chilling Control. And speaking of point blank freeze, please remember to Shield. As always quite obviously.

Another thing to note is that as a thaumaturge, you'll need to play a 3 elemental game instead of just two. Elemental Empowerment is basically the best feat any thaumaturge can get (Assailing Force can be quite dodgy depending on whether you have a single target encounter damage power slotted in). However, it's the presence of Elemental Reinforcement which would define how effective your Elemental Empowerment can get. In other words, it's all about damage stacking. Everyone knows how to do a 2 elemental game, I also know how to do that even though I'm no Korean from the south. Arcane and Ice. To quote Uncle Sim...

My apology to any Mr and Mrs Sim since I happen to know a few.
Not the least that Mr and Mrs Sim from the DDR of SGH.

I'll have to be brutally frank here. To use a thaumaturge as a master of flame is never a case of "so simple!", but rather a case of "so super simple!"

The reason why being that Smolder is never a class feature, but rather a class mechanic. Just execute Scorching Burst and watch those Thayan bastards burn.

In fact, I won't be surprised if a MoFo thaumaturge is easier to use compared to a SM (don't get the wrong idea pls) thaumaturge. Just remember to spam Magic Missile since I'm sure damage from Arcane Mastery also takes into account damage over time. Either that or you can call me a liar since I don't think like a numbers cruncher.

Note: There's a key difference between the master of flame and spellstorm mage when it comes to the thaumaturge. In solo PvE, the former has a better survival game due to a more effective AoE game. In team tactics however, it's no longer just about you. That's where the other members of your party will capitalize on the debuff aspect instead of the dps part. For spellstorm thaumaturge, it's basically less AoE and pure dps. Not so simple to use in solo PvE, but absurdly effective in team tactics.

Add note: After going through various combinations in my brain like a certain Catalan Comandant and a certain Teutonic Generalfeldmarschall, I realized how absurdly versatile the master of flame can be in terms of setup strategy.

More add note: Eye of the Storm can be both fun to use and frustrating at the same time. Will always proc every 60 secs so long you trigger it via any encounter power. Which makes Shield Pulse much more useful as a lifesaver than you otherwise think. Just remember to be an intelligent risk taker like yours truly, not some idiotic risk spammer like Heather Chua. However, I still have this nagging feeling that it makes the critical hit stat somewhat redundant...

Current build: Mistress of the Storm (Sheallyn Melarn)

Encounter:
Ray of Enfeeblement; Conduit of Ice; Shield; Sudden Storm (spell mastery)
At-will:
Magic Missile; Chilling Cloud
Class features:
Eye of the Storm; Chilling Presence
Daily:
Oppressive Force; Ice Knife

Back of a Man

Because I'm now officially taking a part-time creative writing course via Coursera, I'll need to cut down my gaming/blogging time. Hence, my blog posts will be much shorter than usual (and that includes my tactical analysis on Man City for my beloved Boro). At the same time, I see this as a good opportunity to discipline myself. After all, my beautiful legal housebreaker is waiting for her knight errant to take her off the shelf (read: still officially single, but technically taken). *shrugs*

And yeah, that part-time course is being done from the comfort of my own home. Because the course has already started (i.e. Oct 31), it means I'll be racing against time at least until the end of this week.

So to warm myself up, I present you a short draft.

Note: Title is basically taken off a particular chapter of the Rurouni Kenshin manga.

["Hey, Shea... Shea!"

Shaking her head gently, Lewynn shook her drow companion from her mental slumber. Something wasn't right with the Harper wizard, Robillard even went one step further by suggesting some sort of vengeance being meted out by the Spider Queen. After all, Lolth was one never to forgive, let alone forget.

"Sorr... sorry, Deudermont," sighed Sheallyn Melarn.

"The fact that you addressed me by my old man's last name proves one thing," huffed the attractive half-elf, frustration chewing on her lower lip, "You're always that happy-go-lucky one out of us three. What happened?"

"Did Robillard tell you something?" questioned Cyrea, the sun elf's eyes reflecting the setting sun.

"If he does, we'll need to sit down and talk. That is, I'm going to talk and he's going to listen," replied Lewynn, her feet placed on top of the table much to Cyrea's slight disapproval, "He's the best wizard my old man had recruited, but he can be terribly dense at times when it comes to words."

"Will he listen?" smiled a rueful Sheallyn, "Last time you did that, Cyrea had to talk some sense into him. Tymora be praised that it's a successful try."

"Only because our beautiful friend forever has a cousin named Respen Durothil," waved the captain of Sea Sprite in a dismissive manner, her features betrayed nothing but disdain, "He reminds me too much of a Harpell and I don't like those insane geniuses from Longsaddle."

"You mean Harkle Harpell?" asked Cyrea, her teasing tone invoking ire from Lewynn Hawkseal-Deudermont and a muffled laugh from Sheallyn.

"Robillard is talking nonsense in case you're wondering whether I've shared a bed with that crazy idiot of a wizard before."

"The bedding did catch fire before, missy."

Despite countless years of being a lich bound by a willing oath, Robillard's abrasive tongue has never wavered once. For a brief moment, the captain and her second-in-command locked themselves into a silent battle of glare and dare.

"I saw a man," answered Sheallyn, her blood red orbs downcast, "In my dream for the past few nights."

"Is he handsome?"

"Lewynn!" protested Cyrea, "Shea isn't joking here."

The half-elf pirate merely shrugged as Robillard remained standing, his arms folded and back leaning against the doorframe.

"He was naked waist up, a wood elf."

Lewynn gave a whistle, her interest piqued.

"Let her continue, missy," Robillard interrupted, "Keep your fantasies to yourself. We're facing dusk anyway."

Oblivious to the resultant bickering involving an undead wizard, a living half-elf, and some talk about getting a Harpell on board, Sheallyn immersed herself into that portrait of sorrow.

His rugged features as he turned around was only average by elven standards, his back disfigured by countless scars.

His right arm was severely burnt, the left holding fast a bloodied dirk.

Untold darkness emanated from a lonely soul, his orbs of amber bereft of emotions.

Standing in the middle of a graveyard, he cut an aloof figure like a wolf without a pack.

Yet, there was an unspoken beauty in him, the beautifully imperfect back of a man beneath a lone banner. She knew unto whom this banner belonged to, for she was part of the Harpers and Elminster Aumar used to be her teacher. It was the same thing she first saw in the graveyard of Neverdeath, the symbol of Kelemvor.]

After a long while...

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

Knight of Feywild and Kingslayer: Hero of Neverwinter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And speaking of Cold Run...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Demons and Koreans

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

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

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

Demons and drow

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Risk taking gone right...

Just now, I realized that the world is never fair. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's like taking a life to save another. It really sucks. The worst thing about condoning rape is not just about the victim suffering. Do you think the rapist would care if an innocent life is murdered as a result? Do you think he would care about the value of an unborn life? Making lemonade out of lemons? Don't talk as if you've been through it, that's my message to all you moral crusaders no different from a bloodthirsty Saracen.

The Japs better do humanity a favor by not filing a copyright claim to YouTube.
Also, this vid lasts nearly an hour. Period.

Okay, rant over

Recently, I decided to play around with the moveset where Sheallyn Melarn is concerned. Initially, I opted for Shield based strategy (read: spell mastery). The good thing is that she'd most likely survive 9 tries out of 10. The downside is not enough dps to go around. The control wizard is basically all abt control and destroy. More specifically the thaumaturgy spec (oppressor spec is all abt CC while renegade is basically a dps-buff tree. Which sorta explains why it's so easy for a renegade to out-dps a thaum spec).

While I have no issues with surviving, getting pecked down in the damage/body count ranking kept taunting me like how Cyric would have tried goading Kelemvor over his previous failure. Ultimately, I was like "screw it, let's try a Jeff Hardy". One thing worthy of note is that I decided having an uncommon Rimefire Golem companion isn't good enough. For 20K+ astral diamonds, I bought a rare Rimefire Golem. Considering the crappy level 30 ability (lifesteal? You're kidding me, bro!), 20K+ seemed reasonable to me. After all, Iceflame only has one job. And that is tanking without a tennis racquet.

Suffice to say, the gamble seemed to have paid off. Currently, this is what Sheallyn's moveset looks like:

Encounter powers: Chill Strike [spell mastery], Sudden Storm, Icy Terrain (switching to Conduit of Ice in party instances), Shard of the Endless Avalanche.

At-will: Magic Missile, Storm Pillar

Daily: Maelstrom of Chaos (subject to possible changes due to Oppressive Force being too damn good), Ice Dagger.

Class features: Eye of the Storm, Chilling Presence

Credit goes to my guild leader Vrae for telling me to go for CP. While Storm Spell can deal extensive damage upon proc, it's only a case of 30% chance per critical hit (which is most likely why SS and EotS are certified BFFs). CP deals damage on a more consistent basis unlike SS where it's more of a probability game. Of course this is not to say EotS and CP goes well together like a pair of BFFs by default. You'll need to have an effective ice damage game (something which the CW has in plenty) and an effective alternative (i.e. fire, lightning, and arcane). The latter factor is particularly important for thaum spec. Which is what Sheallyn truly is.

While there's nothing wrong in slotting Shield in either a normal or spell mastery encounter slot, such a choice can be seen as detrimental to the thaumaturgy players. Because CW doesn't have an effective AoE game, you'll have to hold the mob into a cluster before letting fly (as always, the devoted cleric has the best AoE game followed by the hunter ranger). If you're using oppressor then Shield may be useful due to lower dps and better CC. If you're going renegade, then most likely you'll really need that due to Reaper's Touch being your staple dps.

Thaumaturgy relies a lot on actual attacks to make the dps count. In other words, it's the stereotypical wizard (possibly Elminster Aumar and Gromph Baenre as famous examples). It's not a CC tree because there's basically nothing for you to choose from. In terms of dps, it works differently from the renegade tree (more of a dps leader build).

With a blue Iceflame lumbering about (together with 3 *insert gear here* of the Loyal Defender), there's not much for Sheallyn to worry about. Even with a leader companion, it's not a thaum spec's role to play out a prolonged fight. Period.

Note: Lightning enchantment can be absurdly effective due to the chaining effect. Just make sure you get it at greater rank at least.

Add note: Maelstrom of Chaos has been quite a controversial daily power, it seems. Some think it's nothing next to crap, others find it decent. Then there are those who believed this to be a very underappreciated move. Long cast time, but you get control immunity and take less damage as the SOP. Despite having one of, if not the longest casting time in-game, MoC is absurdly effective as a jailbreak tactic. The hard part lies in aiming. Which actually says a lot on why plenty (?) of people call this a crap move. That plus a small AoE compared to other AoE daily powers. If you want to use it, please use it as a jailbreak tactic up close and personal. There's no way you can aim it at the enemy furthest away from you if the rest of the mob decide to close in.

P.S: Getting very late right now. More specifically 2 am now. Will be going onto Arylos and Cyrea next. That plus I now know how to fix that damn non-server lag bs.