Gonna try something here (not the omurice)

Before I get started, let me just say that I've started doing this post like 2-3 weeks ago with some of my Omurice views here and there. However, I decided that maybe I should have a hand in video analysis. It's not exactly a case of VAR. But still, video analysis is fun. Or at least I guess so.

Before I start, however...

I realised something... well, weird. As a monocultural nation, you don't expect Japan and/or South Korea to have anyone saying "hi" to my website. Yes, I did include the Google translate option (just don't ask me how efficient because I can't be bothered to find that out). But when it's monocultural, you can be very sure it's really monocultural.

This was last week.

This was yesterday

I don't want to speculate why (let alone whether the likes of BoA and Park "why always Park?" Shin-hye does consider themselves gamers like Jaedong).

Spoiler: Both Flash and Jaedong share the same surname as that Samsung guy. 

I still find it amusing, though. I mean, you don't expect South Koreans to speak English instead of their native Korean tongue. If you don't know what this means, go understand a wee bit of sociology.

Note: Kids, your role models shouldn't be people and things you don't know. I'm pretty sure this had spread to the correct half of the Korean Peninsula.

404 raid success not found

A couple of days ago or so, I went for another round of epic Spellplague. This time around, I failed to clear the second boss.

The people in NWO did an article on Spellplague N ages ago, so I just need to list down my observations Basically, my analysis will focus on four aspects. Namely, the mob, Kabal, the steiner, and Nostura. At the same time, please ignore whatever relevant stuff you read here.

Mob tactics in this game tend to be very one dimensional. The close combat ones would play zerg while the ranged ones would stay behind. As a result, it's very easy to deal with any given mob under the standard 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 dps standard format. However, it also means any mob can maximise the damage dealt in the shortest way possible. At the same time, taking out the artillery first isn't that easy since any epic raid instance would involve the AI having very high defensive stats (Grey Wolf Den, in particular, involves physical hard hitters with stormcallers being the most annoying artillery one can get in end-game). Which makes taking out the archers a viable aspect of the gameplay since the damage stacking would be reduced. Not to mention as well archers tend to die the fastest. In any party without a TR, taking out archers can be tricky since dealing with any mob requires the dps to be concentrated in one area. TRs tend to excel in single target damage with AoE attacks as support. As such, all you need is to throw in an AoE attack or two to soften the mob, after which you can just take a short detour to take out the archers. Two things done in a go. If we're talking about stormcallers, then Cloud of Steel plus either Smoke Bomb or Path of Blades.

In Spellplague, it's the same. However, the fight would most likely be littered with AoE minefields, no matter whose army your party gets to fight. This is a raid where you'd need two buffers and a tank to perform well. This is not to say the standard 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 dps party format won't work. Rather, the standard format would pose a challenge in staying alive due to an insanely high mob damage. In fact, any raids of the highest end would most likely require more buffers and less dps (Fangbreaker is another classic example of this end-game logic). So long you have a DO pulling off Terrifying Insight with Hallowed Ground spam, the raid would be made easier. Trust me when I say while HG is now less spammable, it remains as the most spammable move in any DC's arsenal. Ofc you can try the raid with an AC as your party cleric. AC clerics tend to have better survival game and survival is very important to any DC in the party. Anointed Armor goes well with either Anointed Action (survival and dps), Light of Divinity (mass heal), and Hastening Light (less cooldown=better party damage). Blessing of Battle is also good, but DO remains one of, if not the best, party buffer with the major drawback being DOs having a higher risk of death than the AC (unless the AC is dumb enough not to use a rank 4 Anointed Armor).

For melee dps (apart from great weapon fighters), Spellplague presents a great challenge. The presence of multiple AoE bombing means one thing: You can't just go in there, whack the opposition, and hope to survive by not getting out. Ranged dps characters won't have it hard so long the tank is good enough and their attack range is long enough, but TRs and combat HRs would end up with a massive handicap as such players would have to get out of the way more often than not. GWFs have Unstoppable, but you don't get to see an unstoppable TR or HR in the same way you don't expect Gambit, Nightcrawler, or even Deadpool for that matter to fight like Juggernaut. If you're wanting to raid Spellplague as a TR, please make sure you have either Smoke Bomb (for CC) or Path of Blades (for AoE support damage) together with Cloud of Steel. If you're a combat HR, please come up with either an effective buff-dps game or an equally effective CC-dps approach. If possible at all, try including all three. Unlike any TR, combat HRs are able to hold their own when it comes to the triple approach strategy. Go with Oak Skin as it boosts both your survival chances and that of the entire party. Even if there is an effective tank-healing in your party, there's a need to keep the healer alive so that the tank can stay alive. This is especially important given that DCs now have their defense stat nerfed (basically the same story as the TR nerf). If the DC is a DO, then that's even more important. If you're a trapper, however, go with Hawkeye in order to create an effective stance switch game (i.e. stance switch>Hawkeye>Disruptive Shot bazooka>go back to ranged mode and keep opening fire). A dps based Aspect of the Serpent build is also viable, but the fact remains that the HR does have the worst dodge game. Like ever.

I personally find Fox's Shift to be quite effective. However, CC from this move is not enough as the combat HR is still primarily a dps build. Which now comes to Seeker's Vengeance. I know a lot of gamers may say this is a useless class feature, but that's because a consistent attack-from-behind game is needed to make this class feature worth its 4 ranks. No other move can do this job nicely like Fox's Shift. This is because whenever this move hits twice on any target, one hit can easily land at the front and the other hit landing from behind. In fact, the cooldown of this move is an indication of successful proc per every X seconds where X refers to the cooldown. By itself, it's not a big deal. If you can unlock the off-hand artifact weapon power for SV, the damage over time can go a long way. Not just in any epic raid, but more importantly raids like Spellplague where only great weapon fighters are able to stand their ground and fight as the melee dps. If you're a pathfinder, set your off-hand artifact weapon power to Aspect of the Pack instead as the PF doesn't have many options in terms of damage dealing. If you're a stormwarden, then the equation should be easy: Twin-Blade Storm with your artifact weapon power set at Seeker's Vengeance.

At this point in time, let me give an advice to any TR or combat HR crazy enough to run epic Spellplague: Damage over time is your BFF here. Without an effective DoT, your dps is as good as zero due to the cluster bombing preventing you from sustaining the damage dealing. For any TR, it should be Cloud of Steel due to its accumulative damage. Also, please engage whoever is the one behind in charge of the artillery while pulling off AoE attacks on the mobs.

Against Kabal, I realised one thing: To grab the fireball and use it on him, you'll need to connect the chain to the ball. In other words, there should be two types of fireballs. The first type is used to melt the chain. The other is used to blast open Kabal's super armor. It should be easy to know which one is which. If the chain doesn't break, then it means you can use the fireball against Kabal (just make sure the fireball doesn't get you first). Otherwise, just deal with the adds after the chain breaks. Once you get how the fireball mechanic is being done, dealing with Kabal should be easy. That is provided you got a guardian fighter-healer combo (note: Knight's Valor is a must) or a tankadin (note: tankadins are good for solo tanking, so please plan accordingly since tankadins have some challenges in maintaining aggro-grab beyond using Aura of Radiance).

Against the steiner mid-boss, just stand outside the reddest circle. Once it decided to pull off a mega AoE attack, there should be either a massive red circle or one redder circle inside a bigger (not so) red circle. The former is easy to deal with. Hulk Smash, but no one will die if decent mass-protection is done. Yes, it will prone everyone within range, so get your control resist ready if possible. Either that or please have Oppressor's Reprieve ready. For the latter, just don't stand far away from the boss. If my guess is right, there should only be one redder circle. Standing just outside its edge should result in a lesser pushback compared to anywhere else beyond the circle. However, this also means only 1-2 party members can afford to position themselves this way. Let the tank have it first followed by the melee damage dealers. As for the ranged members (DCs and the rest), just dodge (or dash for that matter) towards the boss. So you don't end up standing in the wrong circle, all you need is to move forward once the law of physics gets triggered. Spellplague is definitely a raid where you can't do without a tank. In other words, the redder circle should appear closer to the boss if things go right.

Against Nostura, just a few things to note. Once the stonehenge portals open, Nostura will trigger a high damage move which is the nearest thing to an offensive Taepodong. Suffice to say, Nostura is nowhere to be seen at this stage. However, the interval nuking won't just stop at a single blast. The eyes of Sauron must be passed through asap. Tanks and great weapon fighters should just go ahead since they're pretty much the most durable members of any party. As for the rest, make sure they stay within the healer's range. If you have a combat HR using Oak Skin, it means one more member being able to split off so that passing through the eyes of Sauron can be made faster (i.e. easier). Please note that any buff done by the HR has an insane reach. So long the allies are within eyeshot, there's no such thing as reach limitation.

Once all the eyes of Sauron have been passed through, Nostura is officially fightable again. At this point in time, it's better for her to baited towards a planar tear (or whatever you wanna call that blue piece of fire on the ground). One personal observation I've made during my first Spellplague run was that any blue piece of fire has a chance of being damage-immune. On the first glance, it's a bug. A glitch like how any party can exploit against Traven Blackdagger in epic Cragmire Crypts. However, this may possibly be a tactical mechanic since the devs would review the game difficulty at certain intervals (something which was already done during mod 7). Either way, try getting Nostura near any blue piece of fire (read: the nearest one, okay?). Once your party manage to pull it off, every blue piece of fire should lose its damage immunity.

One thing of note is that if any party member fails to enter even one eye of Sauron, that fellow would be effectively locked out from Nostura's Feywild zone. However, this doesn't mean nothing should be done where that odd one out is concerned. In this case of tactical friendzone, the outsider (I'm making this sounds like a yeth hound) should target the tentacles. Being tactically friendzoned doesn't mean you can't impress the Khaleesi (or whoever is your party leader since I'm sure Emilia "404 Jon and Daario not found" Clarke won't have the time to play MMOs). Just kill the Japanese tentacles because those things won't get you. Like ever. Use the rules to your favor if you can't do anything about them. Don't laugh. I got tactically friendzoned before and that's how I proved myself to be more useful than Jorah Mormont. I'm not someone who would stand there and do nothing if nothing can be seemingly done. Unless of course there's really nothing to be done, that is.

Then you have the moment where the ritual goes haywire. The same thing applies where the blue pieces of fire are concerned (but no stonehenge portals). In this case, the party can afford to move as one in a single direction since there's no point risking death by splitting up the party (read: Nostura will just do another Taepodong albeit a faster one). If possible, the DC should pull off a Hallowed Ground. Otherwise, do an Astral Shield near the edge where the blue pieces of fire are situated. Beyond an effective mass-protection and mass-heal game, there's nothing any party can do without getting wiped. Which means the healer cannot die (read: the correct way to create a healer lies in an effective buff game rather than going for a pure heal faithful DC or a pure light Healadin). Whether Knight's Valor can negate the nuke is beyond my knowledge because I don't have a guardian fighter as my alt.

Once your party manage to navigate things this far, killing the boss should be much easier than the previous two-thirds of the fight. However, Nostura is capable of doing a Thanato gambit. Once her HP drops to the lowest point possible, she will do something like a last-ditch Taepodong. This move can easily kill just about any party member apart from the tank. The only way to prevent this from happening is to ensure Nostura dies before she sets off her bomb. This is where damage over time comes into the picture since it can stack very well with direct high-end damage.

Note: It seems that Nostura would always curse those facing her just like how her steiner eye works. This makes tank healing and protecting even more important. So long your healer stays at the side instead of the front, things should be safe. Just don't get me started on the yuan-ti. That thing is super annoying since circling around the eye won't guarantee the attack will miss. Pulling off a William Tell has never been so crazy before.

Current changes and how I may end up approaching the raid

I spent 116K+ worth of astral diamonds to rejig Arylos' feats and boons for the raiding loadout. I ended up doing 4 key changes.

1. I maxed out Battlewise (6% reduced threat).

2. I opted 1 pt for Titan's Affinity and 1 pt for Chill of Winter instead of two pts for the latter.

3. I allocated 1 pt each for Tyrant's Terror, Shamanic Grace, and Overgrown.

4. Instead of Death's Blessing, I now opted for Soul Syphon.

On the offensive slots, I decided to focus on azures and a couple of brutals instead of brutals and radiants. As for the class features, I've officially switched the artifact class feature buff to Aspect of the Pack instead of Seeker's Vengeance with Blade Storm as the second class feature.

The reason why is that I'm now going for a more crit-based build. The problem with too much power is never about being corrupted (after all, this is a fictional game, not real-life politics). Rather, the damage return for power does scale down as the power rating gets bigger. This is to ensure critical hits and armor penetration do have a major role to play instead of... well, absolute power. If your guild doesn't have barracks, it means you're better off slotting radiant in every offensive slot. Otherwise, you may need to start thinking whether 30K power or so should be the correct cap. Arylos now got like 31K power. This is taking into account the post-enchantment switch. This is a number which I felt more comfortable with. With the radiant enchantments (all on rank 9) in the defensive slots, it's a case of higher HP and lower defense. With Assassin's Covenant still a choice in my active mount insignia bonuses, what it means is that the power bonus given by AC is officially reduced. However, there's a catch in this equation: I have Oak Skin. This encounter power is a must for ever combat HR. Not only does it give a decent defensive-heal over time boost to every party member in a single area (something which only a HR can do buff-wise), it's also a life-saver. You can try running through any epic without it, but you're most likely screwed if your party decided to do a speedrun. Seriously, there was one time where no one told me the party was about to speedrun epic Grey Wolf Den. Miraculously, someone died in the process while I managed to survive. As the last man running behind, no less. It was crazy to see that despite circumstances stacked against me (note that every single critter in this raid, half or full, can deal insane damage with the half-critters having high mobility and good defense for an unarmored mob). If not for a combination of healing potion, stone of health, healing potion guild boon, and Oak Skin, I'd have died at least twice or thrice. In fact, this was the reason why I decided to do a feat- boon respec (read: Titan's Affinity).

For Soul Syphon, I need to have better dps. Even though the combat HR is still counted as a dps build, it must be stated that it's still considered a mid-tier dps. Hence, buffing and CC are more important compared to the dps. Seriously, you think a thaumaturge CW, executioner TR, or even a saboteur TR would deal less damage? Soul Syphon adds some much-needed muscle. But to make that thing work, I may need more HP regeneration. This is where Shamanic Grace. With a higher HP per rank together with the fact that this is a HP regen boon, I can strike a better balance between defense and offense. Which is definitely the hardest thing to do for any combat HR unless Oak Skin is factored in (some may even say impossible at all due to poor dodge distance and high mob damage in any epic raid).

Concerning the switch in class features, it means more of a stand-and-fight approach. Something which shouldn't be problematic in any raid so long Oak Skin is active. In Spellplague Caverns, however, this may prove to be a bit dodgy. Most likely I'll favor taking on the artillery with Plant Growth triggered on the main mob when it comes to Kabal's fire and iron army. For Gyrion's blue army, the easiest ones to kill are the floating eyes. Get rid of them, then go after the teleporting mages. Apply plenty of damage over time and see those annoying trolls bleed to death. For Nostura's mother nature army, just target the dryads. They tend to stay as one behind the main mob, unlike Gyrion's case where the mages would stay behind while the floating eyes should be deployed nearer to the main mob. Unlike Kabal's fire and iron army, you can be very sure there's more than just 1-2 of them. Maybe like 3-4 of them. Simply put, it's easier to rack up the damage. No matter whether which/whose army I have to deal with, I need to ensure Soul Syphon can be proc'd. If there's any part of my plan more important than just the dps, it's this.

For Myrreas, it's pure damage over time. Smoke the main mob with Smoke Bomb and Duelist's Flurry the Nine Hells out of the artillery. Red zone? Just dodge since the TR has the longest dodge distance. Against Gyrion's blue army, this should be very easy since the Smoke Bomb can cover both the floating eyes and the main mob, after which Duelist's Flurry can just DoT the Nine Hells out of those annoying mages (seriously, their teleporting skill is the gaming equivalent of trolling). Against Kabal, it should be Smoke Bomb and Cloud of Steel with Duelist's Flurry applying the bleeding on Kabal once he drops his plot armor. Steiner mid-boss should be okay so long the tank is doing his/her job. In other words, all I need is to resist the law of physics at work once it triggers with Duelist's Flurry being spammed on that thing. Against Nostura, it's pure Duelist's Flurry and Smoke Bomb combo with Shadow Strike refreshing the stealth and Blitz acting as the secondary encounter damage source. Against the blue pieces of fire, it's Cloud of Steel so that I don't have to move around much in order to tear those blue things down.

For Cyrea, it's Astral  Shield and Divine Glow with Searing Light on standby due to encounter power cooldown. Due to her sun elf lineage and the fact that I pretty gave her every action points boon available in-game (apart from Soothing Zephyr since I've yet to use her for the River District), the AP gauge can fill up very fast. This also gives me a legit reason to slot in Tiamat's Orb of Majesty where a single roar can fix a mob in no time. Hallowed Ground spam is a must unless you don't know how to use a DC properly in any given raid. It's the same for Kabal and the steiner. Against Nostura, it's either using Break the Spirit or using the Divine Glow-Astral Shield combo. Searing Light can also be used as the secondary source of healing. Again, Hallowed Ground. Use it in Nostura's Feywild zone and when she starts screaming something about a ritual epic fail. Then use it again when her HP drops to... like, nigh tiefpunkt since you know that's the real sign of a last-ditch nuke. Given that I've got no intention to change the Prophetic Action-Terrifying Insight class features combo, that should say something.

Some more omurice and a bit of raiding

Previously, I did a post on the next mod involving snakes (no Taylor "(swiftly) gone in 60 secs again?" Swift jokes pls) and Omurice.

http://konigsmorder.blogspot.com/2018/01/dude-wheres-my-omurice.html

Now that new posts have been outed from Cryptic's closet, I'm gonna write a few things about them.

Out to supplant Myrkul/Out to usurp Kelemvor/Both

Depending on how you see this epic trial, you can either say Dendar the Night Serpent will be the biggest winner or... well, nothing will happen. I know it sounds like people predicting the world will still end in 2018 since there are still like 10 more months before 2019. Whether the world will end at 2020, however, is beyond my knowledge.

Disclaimer:
Above show of satire is NOT part of my guild. So please don't bother my guild boss Vrae over this guy.

In my previous post (URL below the omurice pic), I commented on the possibility of an epic trial coming to the upcoming mod. Before I get myself into some trouble non-existent, let me just say that:

1. I don't work for Cryptic.

2. Cryptic is not my boss.

3. I'm just making a guess or two for teh lolz.

4. I'm not the BFF of Thomas "he got a BFF in your local stronghold" Foss.

Because I find it amusing to write a strategy guide before the real fracas starts rumbling (i.e. I mean the epic trial, not this), I might as well do one for the first phase. Actually, the only reason why I'm far crazier than many others in this world lies in the terrain. I may be crazy, but I'm definitely not insane enough to try doing a post for the next two phases.

Click the link and you'll know the first phase involves an elevator going down. This is most likely going to be a repeat of the last boss fight in Tomb of the Nine Gods (the only dungeon I've yet to run). In other words, it's possible the platform will dip at intervals.

Secondly, this will most likely be a straightforward mob rush. Because you can see it's an enclosed space, what it means is that every melee party member has to be in the centre with the ranged party members (DCs included, DO or no DO) deployed to the side (i.e. nearer to the shaft wall). Since this phase is all about surviving till the timer runs out (I mean seriously, you should have figured that out already due to the fundamental laws of physics at work), please expect progressive difficulty for every few number of mob waves. At the same time, the mobs will most likely come in random types (i.e. go play the Merchant Prince's Folly if you want to know more). If you got like 1-2 DOs in your party, this shouldn't be a problem. Seriously, getting a DO in your raiding party is basically the best thing you can ever have. Cyrea Durothil is now a DO, ofc I should know.

Note: If you're a DO, please be intelligent enough to max out Terrifying Insight. You won't get to be like Melisandre, but at least the night won't be full of terrors for your party.

Fashion police

This reminds me of the most recent Golden Globes award due to Operation Take The Black. It has got nothing to do with how sexy was Emilia "404 Daario and Jon not found" Clarke, but rather this.

Tbh the change was minor enough for me to say "okay". This is because fashion to me is only of secondary importance beyond getting the free courtesan set every Simril (for some funny reason, the devs just keep throwing at you the same thing). If there's any purpose for me using this new interface, it'd be to use the fashion wardrobe as a means to complete any specific fashion collection (i.e. Ctrl+J). So no, I'm not going to comment on how cool this new interface is because I'm not exactly the ideal boyfriend for the daily fashion girl, local Singaporean or not. Trust me when I say I treat fashion in the most Singaporean manner possible. After all, my country's government has always placed importance on pragmatism since 1965 when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was still alive.

What I'm going to talk about is the reworked companions interface. Suffice to say, I love it. It's not just a good change, but rather an awesome tweak to an otherwise cumbersome companions switching system. Right now, you need to open your inventory, click on the companions tab, then hold+drag+place. It's a waste of time if you got like 6 idle companions or more. There are those who'd like to level up their idle comps for no reason at all (i.e. crazy people like me). Therefore, this awesome rework is an awesome gift for the chaotic neutral (again, I mean crazy people like me). For those who have a tendency to switch active comps, this is even better because that's where practicality comes in. I won't say do the switch in the middle of any fight, but I'd say it's easier to customise your anti-boss strategy upon reaching the final lap. At the very least, I'm sure your teammates won't scold you over a wee bit of time wasting as a result. And that's not considering the need to tweak the move set as well.

Note to self: Maybe I'll see how nice the black ice body armour looks on Arylos. The hands and feet actually looked nice on Cyrea the last time I checked. Gear preview ain't entirely useless even for a Singaporean like me.

Running Woman, Running DO

Cyrea Durothil is fast proving to be an accidental experiment made badass. When I first started out doing a Total Recall on her, I did a paragon switch just to see how good a DO can be. The scary fact is that once she went DO, there's no going back. Not ever. If Anointed Champion is more solo-friendly, then Divine Oracle is the reason why people would want your DC on their team. Just PM something like "DO with Terrifying Insight" and chances are that you'll get an invite. While this is purely a guess, I'm actually basing this guess on factual experience caused by a trait no sane Singaporean is ever known for. Trust me when I say I'm not exactly sanest Singaporean alive right now. Can you believe my schoolmates in Gan Eng Seng used to call me siao just because they're far saner unlike yours truly who is still much less sane?

So just last night, I was running Castle Never with 4 other alliance mates. Cyrea isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the dps shed. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only way you can create a dps DC is using Anointed Champion with Anointed Action plus dps-based gear. Running Castle Never was fun in the sense that as a sun elf, Cyrea got another trick up her mailed sleeve. 2% action points increment plus Tiamat set bonus. Coupled with every action points gain boons in the game so far and she went like... 10% action points gain bonus so far? I need to check whether I did a reroll on her action points gain for the artifact off-hand weapon.

At this point, I need to mention another thing: I decided to do another Germanic experiment by buying a Ring of Hellig for Arylos. This is to justify the fact that he's going to loan Cyrea his Ring of the Hunter +3. More than Arylos, Cyrea has a need for speed. Fast enough to run as one entire team because I realised, for some funny reason, that any team I've been part of always enjoy running ahead more oft than not. And I'm not talking about normal dungeons. In the odd event where I have to make the first move, however, my team always win. Even though it's not PvP. Weird if you're to ask me.

So the sun elf girl is moving fast enough like a running woman and... well, the raid was quite straightforward. With a ring borrowed from Arylos together with a Ring of Sudden Precision +4, the crit ended up at 50-51% per interval. Since the DC is a ranged class, it means pulling off a crit game is much safer than... say, doing the same as a TR or combat HR (since no trapper HR should ever be crazy enough to play melee in any raid instance. Not even yours truly). Coupled with my choice of Terrifying Insight and Prophetic Action, it means a more than decent survival game (after all, there's a tank and his name is Sir Green. Just don't ask me whether he's the real Bruce Banner).

The effect was especially telling during the Orcus fight. Whenever that pig demon (seriously, that's how Orcus looks like to me) did a room explosion, it's a case of 404 damage not found. As a result, Terrifying Insight kept plugging away. 20% damage increment on a 120 feet radius is no joke. Coupled with the fact that Orcus in CN is now far tankier and less damaging after the devs tweaked him, taking him down ended up becoming a case of faster than expected. Quite literally since I went like "huh?" when he went down to the floor like Demogorgon and Baphomet. Just to further demonstrate how insane the raid was, there were two party members entering the rift when Orcus activated it. In other words, it's three party members versus one Orcus with two party members versus one demonic rift. In every aspect, no one had a problem.

Note: Actually, part of myself said, "enter the rift". My tactical common sense prevailed, however. It's much better to have two members splitting off than to risk a wipe just because Orcus got 4 fellows going against while I have to contend with the fact that Cyrea's dps worth is far less than her buff-debuff worth. Moral of the story? DCs are NOT supposed to enter the rift unless the party got two of them. In this case, do the same three by two.

#killallspiders

In the same day, I ran the epic version of Temple of the Spider Queen. This time, it's a running man by the name of Myrreas. This is the kind of epic raid where you can easily survive a no-heal run, but not a no-tank run. Malakut once said in the alliance chat that he finished this one without a tank or healer. Granted this was way like before the first part of Chult (if I recall it correctly). But still, to do it prior to the major tweaking was an act of insanity in terms of accomplishment and the question of "why did you ever do that in the first place". Then again, Malakut was/is crazy enough to play like control wizard tank. I'd like to include the Gandalf multiclass meme, but then I suddenly remember a knight's oath sworn.

Long story short, running a no-tank run with a TR can be very testing at times. Thankfully, the one with the highest total item level was a control wizard who was most likely an oppressor. At least I guessed so since the elf was doing max stack freeze on a consistent basis. This gave Myrreas some much needed time to pull off a Duelist's Flurry whenever this happened. However, it must be stated that there were moments where I just went crazy and DF'ed a random drow without the CW police saying freeze. On a hindsight, that's the craziest thing I might have ever done so far as a gamer. Either that or my brain was half-asleep.

No matter what, the raid was all about Myrreas going 50-50 between Duelist's Flurry and Cloud of Steel. Under normal circumstances (read: having either a tank or both a tank and healer), Myrreas would be DF'ing any random drow (or spider as well for that matter) CC or no CC. The problem was... well, you've read it: 'tis a no-tank run. Without the DC, this raid would be effectively... well, unraidable. It's really that crazy.

Apart from the occasional hiccup where Myrreas had to be rez'ed twice, the raid went surprisingly well. Surprisingly well enough given three members were at a disadvantage where total item level was concerned. The part about EToS lies in high CC and dps (Grey Wolf Den is high dps and defensive stats while Cragmire Crypt is high on mob variety). If you're a TR, good luck because the devs nerfed the defense stat. Period. In other words, any hit from a random enemy can and will kill you. Considering the fact that Myrreas was the only melee member, it means quite a bit of challenge. Okay, maybe not that bad since Cloud of Steel deals progressive damage. But still, Myrreas ended up doing a 50-50 between DF and CoS.

The first rez was warranted during the first boss fight. One single swing of the sword and Myrreas needed a rez. This is definitely the kind of fight where having a tank means having an easier life. Sadly, my team didn't have one. Twas a dumb move, I'm sure of that. And I'm referring to myself, not the rest of my party.

The second rez was... well, long overdue. Against the final boss, I was dumb enough to dodge away from Syndryth in drider mode. I still do not know why I did that apart from my brain gone half-asleep. I mean assuming the spider laser really did fly home, Myrreas would still need a rez either way. That thing is a lock-on laser beam. This is NOT to say you can't avoid it. Actually, you can. But you'll need to enter stealth mode. Once your stealth metre is gone and you get targeted, however... well, that's fatality certified and confirmed prior to the execution. Which makes Shadowy Strike so useful. Maximising stealth chances is the only way for any TR to avoid being locked on by the spider beam. I should have used Shadowy Strike more sparingly (i.e. only using it when the spider beam was readied).

Note: When we arrived at the temple gates, I ended giving a strategy which no Singaporean could ever think up of. Simply put, all four ranged members engaged Syndryth at the front while I stabbed her repeatedly from behind. Granted I was talking about drider Syndryth instead of normal Syndryth, but... well, I have to say it worked. A seemingly risky strategy actually worked. I won't be surprised if a truly sane Singaporean would otherwise go like this black dude below.

Fangbreaker Island and the return of Spellplague Caverns

And now for Arylos. I remembered running my first Fangbreaker when mod 12 first came out. A much belated first attempt, I have to say. In fact, Malakut was utterly surprised to know the truth. Either way, all I can say is that the giants were experts in damage dealing. Physically, their level was too damn high. This definitely calls for a good tank and an equally good healer. In other words, this definitely calls for intelligent gamers. The moment the aggro grab broke, your party might as well restart the whole damn thing. You'll need an effective AoE buff-debuff game to make this count. This is taking into account the fact that you definitely need a tank and healer.

The first time Arylos fought the manticore boss was a disaster. Whatever you do, run to the back of the cliff first. Otherwise, the avalanche will shoot you over the edge. Which gives your party one less member. The avalanche will be the first thing coming out in the beginning of the fight, so please take note. The only/best way to kill the first boss would be to force its behind to the cliff. Once your party can do that, the fight will be easy (or at least much easier). If the avalanche is coming again, at least run to the back of the cliff (note that I never said to the edge of the cliff in case your English is worse than mine).

The dragon turtle was the same deal as the one in Sea of Moving Ice. Erm... sorta I guess. There's this geyser thing going on and getting shot by it is no joke. It won't injure you. Rather, it will kill you. When taking on that giant ninja turtle, please look out for the red circles. Once there's one below you, please get out of it. For dps, it should be easy since dashing means getting away faster (you need to time the braking correctly, though) while dodging give a brief invincibility window post-execution. The tank will need to aggro grab and move out of the way fast enough. Which is a bit of a challenge since tanks are not exactly known for being fast enough. If your tank is a guardian fighter with Into The Fray, please make sure he/she isn't dumb enough to try pulling it off when the red circles are below him/her. The 50-50 risk is not worth it since any fight with the tank gone means restart by default. Just move away. For one, ITF won't be whiffed for sure. Secondly, make every second count. Not to mention as well ITF does have a bit of start-up lag. Then you got the horn blowing and darkness ensues. Run around in circles because geyser blasts are on the way. Interestingly, doing an oak skin means a decent chance of surviving (if you're a HR, that is). If you got decent control resist, then it's not that bad (albeit it's alrdy bad enough). Otherwise, don't get hit. If a red cricle appears while you're moving, you got two options:

1. Dodge or dash while still moving. This works 100% of the time unless you mess up the timing in the most absurd way possible. In this case, it means you're a n00b.

2. If you cannot dash or dodge, then just keep moving. If the geyser hit you, you won't die. At the same time, the geyser won't strike twice at the same spot. Erm, at least not on a successive basis anyway.

The ninja turtle fight should be a rinse and repeat combat with plenty of mass protection/heal/buff/CC needed. In fact, your party will need at least either two out of the mass AoE options listed here. Ideally a mass protection-heal or mass protection-buff with the CC coming from one of the dps dealers (i.e. the mid-dps members because hdps isn't exactly the best CC option).

Once you reach the lady boss, that's where the interesting part comes. Assign the task to break the ice to a dps member who has a certified track record of surviving in open-world. A hdps alternative is also doable, but the risk is too much if you're to ask me. I mean imagine the big boss woman chasing you around like the Big Boss Man. Your party will be screwed because you'll be screwed first. This is one of those moments where a combat HR can (and will if he/she is good enough) easily become the hero of the moment. Just make sure the Rey Mysterio of your party has an effective AoE damage arsenal. And I'm not referring to the 619.

Note: Once the tell-tale sign pops up saying "the big boss woman is gonna do her blizzard slam!", please look for the nearest ice pillar to hide. So long the pillar is the only thing between you and the sea, you won't die. Otherwise, one shot fatality. At the same time, it means you shouldn't be destroying her towers of ice unless any member of your party gets trapped.

And now on Spellplague Caverns. I remember my alliance mates saying that one is more difficult than Fangbreaker. After running it once, I was like "you serious?"

Seriously, am I the only insane fellow who thinks Spellplague Caverns is easier than Fangbreaker once you get the mechanics right? Okay, perhaps it's an exaggeration. However, it must be noted that any party with at least 2 members having Aberrant Slaughter boon can easily clean the house of unnatural horrors. To make this work, however, please make sure your tank got Aberrant Power. For Arylos, it's a combo of AS and HR sigil activated. Ouch.

My party was truly unorthodox. It's a tag-team tanking setup. In name, there's no tank. The tag team comprises of a healadin (most likely a justice spec) and a tactician guardian fighter with Knight's Valor (note: Knight's Valor is a must for every decent guardian fighter, let alone a truly good one). Two members at the centre, one DC to maintain the buff and heal support, and two dps members to round off the damage. It's unorthodoxy at its finest and guess what? It worked. It really worked. That is so long the healadin and GF tactician stick together with a DC watching their backs. I was actually expecting a tougher fight, but apart from Kabal and Nostura, it's a walk in the park. So long Knight's Valor is spammed in order to draw aggro towards the super tanky duo, everything is easy. And I use present tense because... well, it's still workable I guess.

Ultimately, Aberrant Slaughter and Aberrant Power are the two most important boons ever. Without either (let alone both), your party will most likely have a harder time. This is because aberrant mobs are experts in AoE cluster bombing. Add to the fact that warping spellplagued wizards are the most annoying thing alive so far in the game and you'll need to kill the mob asap. Like the random drow mob in EToS, aberrant mobs are high on CC and dps. Which makes for a deadly overall cluster bombing for any party. Nostura's mother (nature) army is more about troll zerging with the dryads being the only ones behind the main ranks (please note the nothic steiner, though). As for Kabal's fire iron army... well, it's pure damage with little to no CC.

On the first glance, the two As are no big deal. However, an effective crowd clearing tactic matters. Even if it's only one-third of the equation. At the same time, aberrant mobs are, like I've said, masters of CC-dps. Which makes them the most dps'y enemies in an overall sense. Try eating damage while taking a stun-loop. I dare you.

Against Kabal, I died like a few times due to me not knowing the mechanics. However, some things would never change. Like the normal version in River District, the vault would either flood the arena at the edge or everywhere apart from the edge. Kabal will start the fight by standing in the middle. So what this means is that the magma flooding would cover the entire arena apart from the edge. Once this happens, get out of the fire asap and prepare to use the best healing potion in the game. Or at least please get a50x stack of potions of exalted healing. If possible, dash out of the fire. Otherwise, try dodging continuous in order to extend the invincibility window as long as possible.

This will be a fight where everyone must engage the aggro at the same area. Otherwise, Kabal won't come to you. And if Kabal doesn't get bombed by his own army, he's literally indestructible. Once his super armour gets blown up, just nail as much damage as possible. Giving away dps is the best way to do that since the damage tradeoff (i.e. your own dps vs the team's dps) is worth every power point. Melee damage dealers should cluster together (a mistake which I actually committed by not doing so). As for ranged damage dealers/healers, stay at a distance, but be prepared for the magma flooding. Also, this fight should be separated into two teams. One team in front, they're the melee. Another team behind, they're the ranged ones. Do NOT split the team in any other way unless you want a wipe.

Kabal will have three lives. Once he spent all three, it means he's officially expired. A tricky part of the fight lies in the chains snaring you. If you don't know how the damn system work, you're most likely damned. Even if you tried going towards the centre (because following the law of physics at work will most likely mean one-shot fatality), your role will be effectively screwed because you won't be doing anything else apart from defying the most obvious law of physics. Try pulling your chain towards the stationary ball of fire at the centre. There's way more than one of them, so you should be able to break free by touching the chain with the nearest fireball. If the tank gets caught (basically something that will be happening if he/she is doing the right thing), then just keep calm and grab aggro. So long the tank is deployed near the stationary fireball, it should be easy. And besides, the empty hole you see surrounding the anvil... yeah, that's where the fireballs will pop up.

Nothic boss was much easier after Kelly (i.e. the DC) explained the mechanics to me. The thing with the steiner boss is this: It's the same push-back thing its manticore BFF would do in Fangbreaker. However, the push-back speed is most likely way faster. Party deployment should be the same as the Kabal fight, but the ranged members must be fast enough to dodge forward to the centre. This may be quite tricky for the DC for a reason. It's either you get pushed off the edge or you eat a ground slam. With proper protection and healing, this shouldn't be a problem. However, this requires timing of execution. You can only pull off one move once the red zone comes, so try doing Astral Shield spam with an effective healing spell focused at the centre. Once the orange eye appears, just run behind asap. It will only either pull off the stoning eye or the dual AoE shock.

Once its HP nears zero, that's where the dangerous part comes. Instead of doing a dual AoE shock, it will just do a push-back. The law of physics at work will ensure you'll fly off from the face of the Earth itself. Quite literally. It's like comparing the speed of a Singaporean MRT train and a bullet train in Japan or China. It's a no-contest, so better start dodging. Not continuously lest a stamina burn renders your efforts useless, but rather doing a dodge with a few seconds interval in between.

Off to the last zone. That is, Nostura. Before we reached he, we had to deal with her mother (nature) army. For some reason, the healadin-tactician tandem was broken. One guy went too far ahead and the entire party wiped as a result. That was apart from him. I tried typing the correct strategy. And guess what? I died as a result. Thankfully, I managed to get my message across (i.e. GF and OP please stick together). The paranoid freak in me ended up suspecting that my team was trying to grief me 4 teh lolz. It's like suspecting whether BoA's newest song Nega Dola was about me. Ofc the key word here is paranoid.  However, this doesn't explain why my team decided to aggro pull mob after mob towards the final campfire where in fact this was the dumbest thing any party could ever do at this point. Seriously, I didn't know what's going on. I mean my party, not Nega Dola.

Against Nostura, I was informed of one thing: If you get cursed, please get yourself stoned. While it'd result in getting stoned, at least your curse would be removed as a result. Thic makes tanking easier. The reason why being that so long Nostura is facing the front, only those at the front will get stoned. And because of this, the ones in front have the highest chance to get cursed. So the strategy is much more straightforward than one might imagine.

Once she phases into her Neverland (i.e. the real version done by J.M Barrie, not the other real-life version), there will be portals encircled by rocks/stones. Enter the correct one and portals looking like Sauron's eye will pop up. Cover ALL the portals asap once this happens. In fact, the correct stone portal MUST be entered asap. There's some sort of bomb timer where failure to make it on time means getting bombed. Either you die in the first blast or the subsequent blast(s) will make sure of that. Once Sauron's eyes pop up, it's better for the party to split and cover. Once Nostura is engaged in her Neverland, someone needs to take care of the tentacles. If every party member has been phased into her Neverland, then it's more difficult to kill the tentacles. If any member of the party fails to enter a Sauron's eye on time, yet the party is still able to take her on, then the odd one out will be outside of the Neverland boundary. This is where the odd fellow can proceed to kill the tentacles because they don't have Nostura's planar immunity. Just make sure that odd one out isn't a tank or healer. The party will be screwed.

To finish the fight asap, the planar tears must be killed. For some reason, this part was bugged last time I ran it. There would be times where the tears wouldn't eat damage. However, there's a way to kill them. To do so, Nostura must be engaged near any of them. Once this is done, the planar tears can be destroyed. And how did I know it? By noticing Nostura fighting near a planar tear and the fact that the planar tears could be damaged thereafter.

Lastly but not the least, there's her final shot. There's no way to avoid it by my guess. Either you kill her fast enough or her last-ditch nuclear bomb will kill everyone. However, it must also be noted that those with higher defense (most notably tanks) are able to survive the attack and kill Mother Nature Nostura herself.

Note: Using Seismic Shot has never been more fun even for a combat HR. Due to consistent aggro grabbing for 90% of the raid, half of my daily powers were spent on SS. Also, the final campfire should be seen as the best spot for ranged sniping once the last mob got pulled towards the tank (i.e. away from the campfire).

Add Note: Damage over time is an effective means against Nostura even though DoT in any raid can easily result in damage giveaway. Again, the Rule of Equivalent Trade applies, Sounds familiar?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lessons to be learnt?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fact: Kavatos is not God

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Choice of Ascendancy: Cyrea Durothil

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

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

Choice of Ascendancy: Myrreas

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

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

Choice of Ascendancy: Arylos

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

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

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

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

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

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

And lastly...

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

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

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

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

Why always Park? (aka the future of a system plus some unrelated stuff)

So we're left with 13 more days before (Jurassic) Park says hi. Basically, this post will entail my view on the future gear system plus some random experiments done so far.

How to make Neverwinter great again (okay, that's actually a lie)

Out of the three campaign bosses, Kabal remains as that one fellow I've yet to fight mano a mano. For Nostura, I've done that a long time ago (only to realize much later than I should have gotten Lifeforged set instead of the Fey set). As for Gyrion, I just did so like a couple of weeks ago. His challenger? My trickster rogue alt known as Myrreas.

Overall wise, the fight wasn't that hard. The difficult part lies in the Super Mario jumping game. Unlike Kabal's version, Gyrion's version involved floating platforms and a vanishing act. In Kabal's case, chances are that you can take your own sweet time to jump. Not so for Gyrion's version. You only have a few moments to know where to jump.

Like Nostura's Daytona Fey Castle, using Q is very important (more specifically, you will need the Q to finish the final lap of the race with minimal risk). At the beginning, I wasn't that comfortable because I was too used to Kabal's version. Once I get the hang of it, I actually realized fighting Gyrion to the bitter end wasn't that hard.

The main problem actually lies in the 2nd Super Mario phase. To navigate this safely, you'll need to jump down once you reached a particular floating platform resembling a ruined gate. If you think it's possible to jump from there to safety, it means respawn. There's actually a platform below that one I'm talking about. In fact, it took a YouTube video to inform yours truly that there wasn't a glitch in the process. Funnily enough, the previous group run actually involved a bug triggered somehow and somewhere. That's why I jumped the gun and sent a bug report where in fact there's nothing wrong.

I'm pretty sure there is more than just one vid demonstrating how to complete the boss fight. The reason why I chose this vid was that Myrreas is a TR as well. At the same time, I'm pretty sure the protagonist here was an executioner since I saw the words Shadow of Demise.

When we talk about scoundrel, chances are that very few TR players will choose that tree. In terms of damage, the scoundrel will lose to the saboteur due to combat advantage caused by stealth (note: apparently, the saboteur is your only ticket to perma-stealth dps). When it comes to maintaining the highest amount of dps possible, the executioner is way ahead (which is also the reason why executioner TR builds tend to be considered hdps more than the other two paragon trees). If there's any encounter power which should be considered staple for any scoundrel build, it'd be Deft Strike.

Now let me just say something bad about this move. The moment you pull it off, you'll land a short distance from the target. Because the TR melee attacking reach is quite abysmal, it means the opponent can easily turn around to face you. I've tried that before. Trust me when I say Deft Strike can't put a question mark hanging above the opponent like Marauder's Rush.

However, the dynamics can change drastically with a single feat. Namely, Low Blows. Due to a combination of Skullcracker and slow effect, it means you'll be having an easier time exploiting your low blows. Just nick it, take a step forward (because the TR's melee reach sucks), and lay down the smackdown.

The most challenging aspect of lies in knowing when to stealth. For some funny reason, Skullcracker doesn't stealth refill like what the in-game tooltip says. Rather, the feats table tooltip is more accurate by omitting the stealth refill part. Basically, I opted for Improved Cunning Sneak. The reason why is due to the stealth mechanics greatly nerfed. Yes, stealth meter regen has been upped, but stealth duration has been greatly nerfed. Considering the fact that getting attacked will deplete/slow the stealth meter, this means a great deal for scoundrels. I don't like doing Twilight Adept (imo, TA is more for saboteur perma-B2 builds). Being a scoundrel merely means less reliance on stealth mode, NOT zero reliance. It's like comparing 50% to 0%, that's how I'd do the scoundrel maths.

Impossible to Catch is a must for me. This is due to the power increment proc done by Press the Advantage. 10% bonus is a great deal for TRs since you'll need to kill stuff asap (not just trash mobs, mind you). Once you use ItC outside stealth, it gives you control immunity. Basically, it means you can do all sorts of bs with impunity without the fear of getting caught with your pants down (at least for the duration period, that is). Personally, I enjoy a safety first approach despite my growing confidence of going yolo. What this means is that I actually prefer doing ItC outside stealth instead of as a stealth effect. Ofc, exceptions do occur, most notably when you're dealing with Baphomet (apparently, you should be expecting a much more painful blow after that animal decides to poke you with his weapon). And in case you're still in the dark over what ItC does as a stealth effect, it's duration based auto-dodge.

Back to Gyrion. The only thing problematic with him lies in a high one-shot damage. On a 10K+ total item level, he still can wipe like 60-70% of Myrreas' HP bar. Fortunately, the Drowned set is every melee dps class' lifeguard. Even more so in this scenario. I don't have to pop a potion (funnily enough, his choice of final Icewind Dale boon is Shared Survival since the final IWD boons are crap in general anyway). Back to Deft Strike here. I don't have to worry about Gyrion's traps. This pretender (not that Neverember isn't one anyway) has two ways to deal damage. You have the multiple red circles littered all over the place, then he's got that Far Realm cannon that works like a dragon's breathing cannon (or even Morlanth for that matter). I tend to use Deft Strike to blindside him, nothing more and nothing less (read:  I always save it for moments like the red minefield and magic cannon). Because Gyrion will never set any trap behind him, Deft Strike is a sure strike. Ditto when he's launching that Far Realm nuke cannon of his.

Fighting Gyrion can either be a challenge or a walk in the park. It depends on whether you can attack him from behind while preventing a counteroffensive as a result. Again, Deft Strike.

Selling Amnian jadeite

Recently, something weird happened in the middle of this current Summer Festival event. For the first week or so, tickets were dropping per normal. Once that particular period has passed, that's where the tickets drop rate got... well, nerfed. So what is the rationale behind this seeming anomaly?

The answer may be easier than we'd otherwise think. Namely, the Amnian jadeite. As everyone may have noticed by now, the auction house is still experiencing a mass deflation with the only notable exceptions being legendary mounts and any weapon/armor enchantments beyond the lesser rank. In fact, it's now possible to get a Turmish lion mount for less than 400K (which is a bloody good steal, please grab one while it lasts).

By nerfing the drop rate for copper tickets, this also means the same for both the silver and mithral ones. For mithral tickets, you'd most likely have a better chance of getting a date with Park "why always Park?" Shin-hye or Emilia "it makes romance absolutely IMPOSSIBRU!" Clarke instead.

What this means is that anything unbound that is purchasable via the tickets will most likely see a rise in the auction house pricing. If I can sell a southern bikini set for like 600K or so (basically a loose estimation since it's been quite some time), imagine how much 20+ stacks of Amnian jadeites can fetch. So it's not all that bad unless the devs are out to screw the gamers by dropping prices all over the place. Which isn't that likely if you're to ask me. Last time I checked the calender, the next double refinement event starts at 31st Sept (this year, not the next). So yep, the Amnian jaedite will be going quite high. 50K rp per pop can be a great deal for both artifact gear and standard artifacts. Not to mention as well that you can easily max out any artifact (both standard and the gear) by feeding a legendary one to either an epic (for gear) or another legendary (for standard artifacts, applicable only for double rp events). And that is not to mention saving your astral diamonds if you wanna stock up on preservation wards.

And now onto Jurassic Park itself...

Or rather, Chultan Park. I'll be touching on two aspects. Namely, the gear and dinosaurs.

Gear: What to expect

One of the most pressing questions will surely be this: What about the previous ones? Currently, having a two-piece dusk set is a viable option for better gamers like this one below.

The reason why is that the current maximum gear level ceiling is capped at 480. However, it's far more realistic for us to do the capping at 450. There are two reasons for that.

1. Only masterwork tier 3 gear has level 480.

2. Not every gamer enjoys donning frostborn/relic gear despite the promise of much higher gear level via the vivified version.

If we're to compare a two-set dusk bonus with two level 450 equipment, there's nothing much separating the two. The reason why being that a two-piece dusk bonus will give you two bonuses instead of... well, just two. You have constant HP regeneration if you have one dusk gear, but the two-piece wear is what seals the deal for the more technical/tactical gamers. Whenever you're in a party, you gain 1000 power, 1000 defense, and 5000 HP. It's somewhat like seeing your dream girl wearing a two-piece at the Siloso Beach, only much more practical (I mean the dusk set, not your dream girl's bikini).

But therein lies the problem with mod 12. Will the dusk set become redundant in a new gear system boasting a max gear level cap of 500? It's absolutely absurd to imagine having a two-piece dusk wear only to realise there's plenty of options with the tag "level 430 and above". This depends on how you'll want to reconfigure your gear in the event Cryptic decides not to risk breaking the game by upping the dusk gear level to like... maybe, 420?

Apparently, mod 12 will be moving further away from the idiot-proof "gear score above the rest" approach. Let me just say that while the whole total item level rule is generally idiot-proof, what separates a good gamer from a mediocre one lies in the choice of gear. I won't be surprised if this is what Cryptic has intended all the while for mod 12. You want to go for the highest level gear, no problem. You want to play it smart instead of doing it easy, you'll be duly rewarded. Be prepared for what I call the gear turnover trend. Know which of your current gear to keep first. Then decide which of the new gear you want to get. It is now more about your build than your total item level score. Period. That's why you saw me upping that Korean Flash meme above.

Then we come to masterwork gear. Will there be a change in the tier 1 masterwork gear level? Assuming the answer is yes, it means there won't be any changes to the difficulty level when it comes to getting stuff like every manner of aberrant leather, vellum, and Calishite saddle. Pricing wise, we won't be seeing any changes in the relevant masterwork resources (note: any change to tier 1 masterwork gear level will most likely be capped above 460).

Assuming the answer is no, it means (hopefully) that tier 1 masterwork resources will come cheaper. This will be even more so if they're also needed for the tier 1 and 2 non-masterwork crafting recipes. Either way, epic profession assets will be coming more expensive than ever. Quite likely around the five figure sum. The worst case scenario? No difference between crafting level 25 gear during mod 6 and doing the same for mod 12. Which, if you're to ask me, would be a terribly dumb move. Ultimately, the question on everybody's lips is this: Will there be a tier 3 masterwork gear since the end game seals gear is capped at level 500?

There's something about the seals (and current dungeons)

Double seals event is now here for a reason. To let every gamer have a decent chance of hitting the maximum cap of 1200 seals of the elements. Since only seals of the protector (together with seals of the brave) will be available come Tuesday, what it means is that every existing epic dungeons will drop seals of the protector. No questions asked. It'd be interesting to see how the seals will drop by then. There are basically two scenarios here.

1. Every single damn raid instance will be streamlined. In other words, there's no difference between Malabog's Castle and epic Temple of the Spider, no difference between Temple of Tiamat and epic Demogorgon. The problem, however, is this: How are you going to streamline every single damn thing given non-epic raids like Prophecy of Madness and Illusionist's Gambit? And let's not get started on the fact that both Demogorgon and Svardborg have both standard and master versions.

2. This will be the likeliest scenario. Namely, the number of seals dropped will depend on which tier the specific raid instance belongs to. Heroic encounters will yield the least number of seals followed by Throne of the Dwarven Gods, Prophecy of Madness, and Illusionist's Gambit. Afterwards, we have tier 1 raid instances like Valindra's Tower and Kessell's Retreat. Then we have tier 2 raid instances like epic Gray Wolf Den and the equally epic Cragmire Crypts (where Traven Blackdagger can just one shot you with his molotov cocktail special). Finally, we have Fangbreaker Island (also known as FBI in chat, not to be confused with the Feds). Same rule goes for epic trials like slapping Tiamat, banishing Demogorgon, and saving the whole of Icewind Dale (plus the Sword Coast and Koreans).

One interesting question will be this: Will the A*star targets yield such seals as well? Or perhaps even better, seals of the brave?

Keep calm, spam shift and counter

Above title may be either an understatement or overstatement. Chances are that I'm over-simplifying things. At the very least, however, I hope I've given you all an inkling of an idea on what to do. As for what not to do... this, I will leave it for Kelemvor to explain.

Last words from a master tactician (?!?)

Given Cryptic's post mod 5 approach of streamlining everything under the gaze of Amaunator, I'm going to have some fun analyzing the hunter's food chain. From my personal experience of taking on the undead, the first third of the pyramid's bottom is most likely enemies high on CC and buffs (who can forget Nostura's alluring gaze and that bone golem's curb stomp spam?). The second one is quite likely the tanky mobs (as part of the dwarven race, it's only natural for wild dwarves to be tanky as well). As for the third one, dps (If you can't formulate the conclusion based on fighting spider mobs and a giant scorpion or two, I facepalm you).

As for the middle belt, refer to where the arrows are going and do your own 2+2.

Lastly, but definitely quite the opposite of the least, we have the Electrosaurus Rex. Refer to the last picture, then try asking yourself when was the last time your entire party fought a blue dragon high on voltage, current, and its own damn Ohm's Law.

Potentially the best mod yet?

I'll say yes. But that's provided glitches won't spoil the game. The contents being touted are nothing less than high-end stuff. The bait hunting promises a lot with gamers more than motivated to do lfg requests in zone chat. The combat system also promises much when it comes to movement and knowing what to do in the event of getting zerged. The gear system seems to have plenty of promise in terms of mix and match rather than just throwing in the highest possible level gear (although this may easily work for the average gamer, just that it pays more to be intelligent). As for the seals, I doubt it's gonna screw anything here.

The only problem? Expectation itself is like taking a risk. The lower it is, the less damage dealt. The higher it is, the greater damage possibly dealt.