Finally got a bit of time...

Been quite a long time since I last updated this blog. Hope you all have fun with this year's Summer Festival event.

Note: Something went dodgy just now, accidentally uploaded an incomplete post. Apparently, there's a hacker who got personal issues with yours truly.

Not a great plan...

This year's Summer Festival is a hit and miss. Hit because of a brand new segment involving a sport inspired by the Anglo-Saxons.

Miss because of this.

I've been lucky enough to get a server timeout every 1-2 days on average, but others may not be that lucky. No thanks to the lag, misunderstandings aplenty had been wreaked so far. Imagine seeing a member gone missing. Then wondering wth. Then kicking that poor fellow out just because circumstances ended up conspiring against you. To set the record straight, there's only one Arylos. After all, he did spurn Beshaba's offer of love.

Inspired by Singaporean culture...

Not only are we local guys suckers for all the pretty SPGs, the same goes for the devs at Cryptic as well. This year's Summer Festival introduces a brand new set of couture. You have a classy bikini top (something unlike the mainstream bra version), then you got the sarong. Why the Amnians are intelligent enough to understand Singaporean culture, I do not know. I only know one thing: Kwok isn't the only local talent made famous.

Couture Culture

Due to a vast difference in the cost of individual couture set, I decided to gun for the Sunite couture. Because Cyrea is officially dressed like a Waterhavian lady, I decided that Korey should dress like Park "not the president" Shin-hye. I've done the preview for the Sunite couture. Suffice to say, I'm never a fan of every couture set. Some of them are just meh, then we have some others not worth gunning for. The Sunite couture belongs to neither. Absolute good news for all you registered members of SHyn Corp, for Sune is indeed the goddess of love and beauty. Unfortunately (for her, that is), Arylos gave her the same treatment which earned the ire of Beshaba (and no, Sune isn't gutted to the extent of Nine Hells having no fury like a goddess scorned).

So what about the SPG couture fashioned by those Amnian fashionistas? If possible at all, I'd get the full set for Cyrea. If not, then a mix of Sunite and the bikini top. Just don't ask me whether this idea is inspired by a local beauty spotted at the Sapphire Pavilion in Siloso Beach.

Note: Bhaasmond has to be content with peasant garb for now. Suits his down to earth character anyway...

Speaking of Cyrea Durothil and Bhaasmond Taran...

Let's talk a bit abt how the implemented changes have affected the way I approach my tactics so far. Firstly on Bhaasmond. In case any of you have yet to try it out, life steal is absurdly effective if your paladin decided to slot Templar's Wrath as his/her staple encounter. Per proven by yours truly, it's possible to trigger a life steal via TW. With 200% HP and a 3 hit Shielding Strike combo, it means your oathbound paladin is on his/her way to the namesake abbreviation. Namely OP. In fact, I may end up experimenting with a Protection-Justice spec in the near run. After all, my gaming brain works like how Joachim "der Löwe" Löw sees his football.

On the daily powers, I don't work well in terms of pulling off situation specific stunts. This includes Heroism and Divine Protector. The rule of thumb should be something like this: Heroism/Divine Judgement and whichever daily power that suits your play. iirc Heroism is a less risky prospect than Divine Protector as it doesn't give you a real chance of becoming a martyr minus the rez pls request. In fact, Divine Protector is better used post-nuke. In other words, better to use it after the boss pulls off a North Korea, not before.

If you think like me, then it means you're better off sustaining the fight with anything and everything at your disposal. No Divine Protector for me, Heroism has officially made way to Divine Judgement. Unless something catastrophic happens at Castle Never, I'll most likely stick with Divine Judgement and Shield of Faith (note: unless your team is doing a no-heal run, SoF should be your staple daily no matter what. If it's really a no-heal run, then better use Heroism and Divine Protector).

On the encounter side, I find it easier to adopt a three-way approach. The strength of the OP lies mostly in the same strength as the hunter ranger. However, it must also be added that the utility aspect has always been better defined for the paladin since 99% of the gameplay is truly damn straightforward. Therefore, it's actually very easy to slot 1 healing encounter, 1 buff encounter, and 1 damage encounter. If you're really into Circle of Power (like pretty much 99% of the OP gamers out there), then you only need to develop an effective button mashing game. In fact, Neverwinter has always been known for its easy as ABC/123 learning curve when it comes to execution. In fact, I realised what I've been missing out once I started messing around with Absolution. Absurdly effective in open PvE, the only question now lies in how effective it can be in team tactics compared to other encounter powers like Vow of Enmity and Binding Oath.

As for at-will powers, it's all abt my bread and butter.

Note: Above analysis is based on the Oath of Protection path, not Oath of Devotion.

Add note: Half orcs do make incredibly good OP. I may have said it before, I'll say it again. You have that run speed bonus at every fixed interval, that one is good for setting up the aggro trap. Then you have that 5% bonus in crit severity. I don't have to further elaborate on Divine Judgement at this point of time.

On Cyrea Durothil, I find the racial choice of sun elf to be underwhelmingly used and overwhelmingly good. Traditionally the best choice for a control wizard, the racial traits of Ar-tel-quessir works absurdly well for any cleric of Corellon as well. The 10% control resistance means less time being interrupted and more time to do your stuff. As for the 1% AP generation increment, it means a higher frequency of spamming daily powers. Something which Hallowed Ground is still famous for. In addition to the two racial traits, the sun elf has a choice of either +2 to Intellect and Wisdom or +2 to Intellect and Dexterity. Charisma for every devoted cleric affects recovery, Intellect basically does the same. Because you'll be rolling a higher score for any given key stat (both primary and secondary), what it means is a case of encounter powers recharging absurdly fast.

Due to the not-so-recent changes done to the virtuous clerics, Gift of Haste has been officially nerfed. However, there's a way to circumvent it. It's called Bastion of Health. Widely regarded as an overkill healing power, the massive AoE means a much higher chance of generating AP for just about every ally without relying on Hastening Light. In addition, pulling off BoH on a Divinity/Empowered basis means you can easily keep everybody alive even with a mediocre TIL during normal Demogorgon raids (Cyrea's TIL is only like 2.2K).

For team tactics, I prefer to do a normal Astral Shield (since Divinity version lasts significantly shorter with temp HP as the only positive trade-off) with Bastion of Health to build everyone's AP meter. Primary usage wise though, I stick with Forgemaster's Flame. However, I may switch to Break the Spirit for two reasons:

1. BtS is a better defensive option since I can just wait and aim (note; BtS has a crappy to nothing stacking game).

2. As BtS is a more effective option in the wait and aim dept, this also means an easier time pulling off an Empowered version worth a whopping 30% bonus in mass damage buffing.

Also against targets with control immunity, pulling off 3 shots in a row can go a long way as the damage dealt is higher than FF. On the flip side, however, BtS has a longer casting time. Which basically means a lot as any control wizard and scourge warlock can testify.

On class features, I decided to go direct with Anointed Armor and Light of Divinity. Not only does this combo boosts Cyrea's survivability, it also does the same for every team member within 50 ft as well. Also, this means I can just focus all her boons on HP and power instead of pumping for defense. Because I also opted for the Cleansing Fire feat, this strategy also allows me to focus more effort on the critical stat as well (those who know my style can attest to the fact that I'm more of a crit player than the power-arpen type).

On open PvE, I'm currently experimenting with Astral Shield, Searing Light, and Divine Glow. Not only does this increase the feasibility of Cleansing Fire, Cyrea can also spam Searing Light on Divinity mode in the name of her people's god (i.e. just about everyone apart from her Arylos since we all know he actually emulates his god like a real Chosen). One fun thing I realised about spamming SL is the fact that Cyrea can afford to play a back-dodge game. In other words, dodge>fire>dodge>fire>dodge>fire>Empowered Divine Glow. If I decided to use this as Cyrea's bread and butter tactic, then I'll need to think hard on where to plant her Astral Shield.

On the at-will powers, I'm now gravitating towards Lance of Faith and Blessing of Battle. The latter has a long casting time, but it's def good enough to sustain survivability both on open PvE and team tactics. You don't have to spam it. Just pull it off every now and then because you'll have other means to keep everyone (and yourself) alive (righteous spec being the obvious exception to the rule). As for LoF, it's all abt damage. One thing every gamer needs to know is the fact that radiant damage is quite literally foolproof. No one is resistant to it. Either it's taking damage per normal or taking more damage than per normal. In fact, this is the only source of foolproof damage since resistance (i.e. specific enemy types) exists in any other form of damage. Of course, the good thing about any DC build is being spoilt for choice when it comes to at-will powers.

Note: Due to the foolproof nature of radiant damage stated, it also means that the offensive guild boon via stables is a good option for both DC and OP. Please note, however, that the DC heroic feats do have a 5 pointer in the form of Templar's Domain.

Coming up next: My take on the official changes in hunter rangers and scourge warlocks respectively. Also some of my views on the upcoming Mod 10 where we will know what happened to Wulfgar and Catti-brie so far.

P.S: No, I'm not gonna answer whether Cyrea Durothil is inspired by my dream girl. I admit Arylos is my alter-ego, best of luck in doing conspiracy theories.

Some thoughts on my Neverwinter Six [plus 1]...

Firstly and foremost, I decided that any personal creativity when it comes to the Neverwinter Six gaming concepts will be classified under The Skald and His Goddess. Perhaps I may end up doing 2 posts in one day, who knows?

In other news, I decided to spend the weekend doing my knockout round analysis for this year's Euro.*
*This statement was actually written N weeks ago. Which says a lot on my ability to procrastinate.

And in the last news, I decided to do a rewrite of A Requiem from Winter Past first. This is my own attempt to challenge myself. If things go well (or even better than expected), then I may end up scrapping my current plans in order to refocus. Yeah, I know my statement sounds like an American politician...

It's either that or I'll really jump straight into Dusk and Steel. :o Coming across a recent article on IS really gave some ideas (and it doesn't really "help" that Flayne Iceburn will most likely be [technically] orang melayu).

My response to the Protector's Jubilee

Somehow or another, it seems that the last Respen Portobello event may have created an absolute monster. The Siege of Neverwinter this time round was actually better than the previous ones, ditto for this year's Protector's Jubilee. However, my vote still goes to Respen Portobello. Granted the difficulty may have increased slightly, but the variation of the Respen Portobello dungeons is better (the only bummer lies in the Drizzt bug in Strange Things at the Burrow Dawn Inn). And that's not to mention as well a French speaking drider (note that I didn't say French drider because I'm sure there are plenty of my fellow local S'poreans who know how to speak French).

Personally, the only challenging aspect lies in protecting the foreign merchant in the stronghold map. And trust me when I say it's quite hard if you play your cards wrong. One thing I noticed is that even with T1 gear, your lvl 70 character may not be good enough to last the distance. Unless you have an effective way to do AoE offense, you better not try this solo next year lest you end up looking like Han Sulu instead of Han Solo.

Basically, nothing changed apart from how the currency is distributed (i.e. you may not even earn enough to get a Travelling Entertainer for 10 Commemorative Figurines). If you wanted to get additional Protector's Bounty, Whispering Caverns would be the way to go (i.e. the drop rate was absurdly high). However, your chances of scoring high-end loot can be quite dodgy. Not to mention as well that whatever you get is bind on pick up.

Until last night or so, I only realized that it's possible to get a coalescent ward this way (needless to say, my Feytouched enchantment is currently on greater).*

*This final statement is terribly outdated. I accidentally burned my rank 10 Brutal and greater Feytouched no thanks to my own lapse of memory. As it turned out, my overall item lvl got nerfed. Actual gameplay wise though, it doesn't affect me much since epic enchantments don't really affect the game on a major scale unless you get them beyond the perfect rank (preferably transcendent).

Celebration of Lliira

Basically, nothing has changed since the last edition. Get fireworks, plant fireworks, set off fireworks. Same old SOP, pretty much the same old reward. For those out to get a Starry Panther mount, you all may need to get Lliira's Bell first. That's the only high-end practical item available in the event. While the bell may not be really useful for tanks and healers, it's def useful for dps characters. If you can do the dailies without missing a day, then you'll def have at least enough Lliira's Favor for a bell. Currently, I'm farming the Favors for Arylos and Korey. If I can get 2 of those, most likely it will mean I'm gonna give them to Korey and Sheallyn. Tbh, the Starry Panther mount is mainly for cosmetic purposes (just like pretty much all the uncommon mounts since they can only run at 50% speed bonus like the common ones).

Correction: The damn bell costs 25 favors. Wow. Just wow.

2 x Enchantment/Runestone event

This is basically my best chance to try maxing out Arylos' Lantern of Revelation to legendary status. For the entire event, you'll most likely see him at Spinward Rise. And speaking of Spinward Rise, I'm already more than halfway done to get the Howling Weapon set. The only tricky part? Air Cult Assault may have been upped in terms of difficulty.

You see, the good thing about using a Seeker's Wand in the relevant zone lies in having a damage boost. Without the wand,  not only is it more difficult to get a mote, basically the fight will be far tougher as well. I actually tried the difference between using a wand and not using one. I ended wiping Elemental Assault with both eyes closed, I also ended up having a consistent win rate for Air Cult Assault. Not anymore now.

While I still don't have any problem in wiping Elemental Assault (albeit the AI seems harder to kill compared to before), Air Cult Assault is where you'll have a great difficulty in doing it solo. Already, the Grand Hurricane was problematic enough due to high dps and defense. In fact, this hulk can just wipe off 80% of your HP with his own Falcon Punch. iirc it's very easy for him to kill you in a one-on-one. He's no ranged fighter, but his melee reach is nothing short of crazy. The first wave has never been a problem (just like other heroic encounters with more than one wave of enemies). Once the second wave arrives, that's where you'll most likely start to sweat over your chances of surviving. If you're playing a tank, then it may not be that bad. If you're using a dps character, you better start running around in circles once the boss comes out. The tricky thing about dealing with mobs at Spinward Rise lies in their overall mobility. They can cover ground in a matter of seconds, it's virtually impossible to pull apart the mob. The reason why is that the enemies will always converge into a group. Once they do so, it's nigh impossible to pull them apart. This is true for both Elemental and Air Cult heroic encounters. However, the air zephyrs do take a lot more damage than the average air cultist under this situation. In addition, the High Skyweaver is only capable throwing bolts, knocking you back, and teleporting himself backward. Basically, it means you can easily wipe the mob even after they managed to close ranks. It also means you won't have a problem dueling the High Skyweaver (i.e. his damage game sucks). As for the Grand Hurricane, let's just say that he enjoys ganking people.

Ideally, you should be having T2 Elemental gear instead of the normal T2 gear if you want to have a decent shot at Air Cult Assault. Period. Also, please use overload enchantments.

A few things learned so far against the Grand Hurricane

Firstly and foremost, be prepared to lose the dps fight. Unless you can effectively CC him on a consistent basis (i.e. 6 stacks of chill if you're a control wizard), there's no way you can win the dps game. While the trapper may be seen as the best CC build, it must be noted that there's only this much Crushing Roots can do. In fact, playing a trapper means your CC game is quite likely to be better within a party rather than running solo (after all, hunter rangers do have one of the best AoE game. CC duration, not so simple).

Secondly, you have the choice of taking out the mob or the skyweaver first. Because everyone will be chasing after you for the entire fight, it's far better for you to deal with whatever nearest to you. You'll need a good AoE game to deal with them. Another thing to note is the difference in terrain. This is very important because in Avia Landing, you'll have plenty of space to avoid getting ganked. In Thunderhead Reach, you'll run the risk of getting effectively screwed.

For Avia Landing ver, you'll need to do two things before engaging the fight. First is to get rid of the cultists near the entrance. Secondly, get rid of the axe beaks. The latter is definitely more important as these bloody diatrymas can destroy you in an instant if they gank you in the middle of the heroic encounter.

In Thunderhead Reach, everything will be about your gear. Due to you getting caught between a wall and a high place, you can only hope to run and snipe off the most convenient target(s) available. For me, that means spamming Forest Ghost. Alternatively (if you're using a stormwarden), you can just do a cluster CC and a Cold Steel Hurricane to end things off. Done correctly, it can incur massive casualties on those terrorists (c'mon, guys and gals. You think the Cult of the Dragon and Cult of Elemental Evil ain't terrorists? Get real). In fact, this is quite likely the most effective tactic if you're running the fight with a stormwarden trapper. I've yet to try Korey out for this fight in this particular terrain, but I suspect pulling off a Seismic Shot will help a lot.

A/N: Above tactic is effectively a case of boom or bust though. In other words, you better not whiff the attack lest you do this below minus the swag.

And speaking of respawn...

I may have made the wrong assumption about the revival effect once your Soulforged effect triggers. Originally, I assumed that there's an additional damage immunity during the 3 secs duration. This is caused by my previous fight against Baphomet where my Soulforged status actually brought me back to full health within that duration. I actually told a fellow guildie about my discovery. Only to find out later on that I've just unearthed my own Piltdown Man.

Cella, you're officially notified about my error.

So what does this mean for me apart from a blunder far greater than the Piltdown Man scandal? Basically, I discovered one thing.

Not so recently, I got myself a cat. I named it Crytt. Not because of Cryptic, but because I've seen too many (?) tasteless names inspired by the word crit. When I relegated Styvia to the bench, I was caught in a certain bind. Should I give Crytt that Ring of Loyal Commander? There's no way for me to test whether the 10% outgoing heal bonus will work on Arylos. In using an augment companion, there are two possibilities.

1. The outgoing heal bonus only works on other allies because augment companions are counted as part of your character instead of just a companion.

2. The outgoing heal bonus actually works on yourself and others since augment companions work exactly like leader companions in this context.

Scenario 2 is basically the reason why I stand up and fight again at full health against Baphomet. Those who are using Soulforged like yours truly, you're officially notified about my success.

A/N: I suddenly got a crazy idea concerning Ilyath Le'Quella. If you don't know who he is, he's basically Cyrea's ex.

Lifesteal and Bhaasmond Taran

As if the whole outgoing heal thing is not wacky enough, there's this effect of lifesteal on temp HP. I tried it before, only accidentally. It's actually possible for your character to proc lifesteal when executing attacks that will confer temp HP as well. As an oathbound paladin bulwark on an oath of protection (yes, I know this sounds cumbersome and pompous), I enjoy using Templar's Wrath. iirc it's very easy to see whether this tactic works or not. Whenever you hit with this move, you'll gain a certain amount of temp HP equivalent to 300% of the damage dealt. Mathematically, it's possible to get 200% HP in total. In reality, things don't work this way. Once you get the lifesteal guild boon, however, that's where the fun starts. In other words, it's actually possible to get a whopping 200% HP in total via a synergy of Templar's Wrath and the lifesteal boon. Utterly crazy if I say so myself. Unless it's possible for Bhaasmond to proc Soulforged beyond getting that one-shot fatality Valindra is so famous for (and I really hate her for that), I most likely won't change lifesteal boon for the defense boon.

Cyrea and her Bomb

This has got nothing to do with terrorism. After all, the Seldarine will never endorse terrorism (okay, not all since Fenmarel Mestarine and Shevarash don't believe in playing nice against Lolth). Cyrea's god is her people's god, this god goes by the name of Corellon Larethian.

Originally, her default companion is Aesir. However, the thing with leader companions is that they automatically confer combat advantage like augment companions (read: only specific leader companions have a decent to good damage game. Don't believe me, go ask Esmure). Only difference is that an augment companion counts as part of your character when it comes to getting hit.

When I first got Wylson Bomb via last year's Simril, I orginally wanted to name him Wylson Bong. The reason why being that I suddenly felt like trolling anyone going by the name of Wilson Wong even though I know I'll end up stepping on more than just one Wilson Wong's toes. However, the profanity filter actually prevented me from using the B-word (if you don't know what is a bong, you're either blissfully ignorant or you actually buat bodoh after smoking your ganja). So there you have it. Wylson Bomb instead of Wylson Bong.

I'll be trying out how this experiment goes. Due to charisma being a secondary key stat for a devoted cleric, what it means is that combat advantage actually plays a major part in Cyrea's damage game (or just about any DC).

A/N: To demonstrate the prevalence of the FCC, the game actually lists the name of this person below as a form of profanity.

Running Man=Arcane Trickster

Thanks to Sheallyn Melarn, Myrreas has at last become an arcane trickster. All in all, I like what I'm seeing so far. Sigil of the Controller is absurdly effective for a trickster rogue. The stats are top tier for just about any TR build (i.e. critical hit, power, and control resist in that order). Even more so if your choice of paragon skill tree happened to be a scoundrel. The problem with using a scoundrel lies in dazing being the only form of CC available more than half of the time. With this magical gizmo, the frozen effect adds a whole new dimension to an otherwise one pattern CC game. Against dragons, this will maximize the scoundrel's dps game. Even if you're using a saboteur or executioner, this sigil can also go a long way in the form of that much-needed jailbreak (something which every whisperknife will want desperately unless they happen to be proficient in using Vicious Pursuit. Which is one of, if not the hardest move to master).

Defensively, the scoundrel is the closest thing to a tanking rogue. As such, it's only common sense to try upping lifesteal. In this sense, the Seldarine set can work a whole lot of wonder if you happen to choose Fey Thistle as your final Sharandar boon. As a result, I don't have to dodge spam. Something which quite obviously a TR has never been famous for.

A/N: The reason why I use Running Man as the title should be self-explanatory.

Proof that I think like an Italian?

One thing I realized abt the control wizard is this: I can't do without Shield. One of my greatest problems lies in the AoE strategy if I choose to slot Shield into Sheallyn's spell mastery. I tried Icy Terrain, it actually works much better than I expected. It's like playing Antonio "Il Bestia" Conte's Azzurri on PS4. You have an effective defense, you also have an effective counter-measure in order to nullify the greatest weakness known to every ranged dps. All that is left will be an effective outlet of lightning damage.

A/N: Okay, that last part has been fixed due to me fixing myself earlier on.

Add A/N: Chill Strike has to be the best encounter power I've ever messed around with.

More add A/N: Assuming I will stick with the lifesteal boon Bhaasmond is so good at currently, it means I may opt for Endless Consumption as Sheallyn's final Dread Ring boon.

MOM

Not the Ministry of Manpower, but rather the Mistress of Manipulation. Not only is this the personality of Kariss Locras, it's also reflected on the Magistrate's Patience insignia bonus. You have that damn psychic damage effect getting proc upon crit (assuming that you don't end up healing any ally that is), you also have insignias of mastery aplenty. Since scourge warlocks have the highest, if not at least one of the highest base crit game, it means an absurd amount of dps potential being added on someone with an absurd dps game to start with. This can be a life-saver for many a scourge warlock since the aggro monkey aspect has yet to be removed (and given the nature of synergy here, it's actually better for the devs not to do this).

With Esmure as her Battlefield Medic, it means a much higher survival game. However, there still has to be a defensive aspect to her gameplay in case things go awry. It's called Blades of the Vanquished Army and Hand of Blight.

A/N: Like Sheallyn, Endless Consumption is a viable option. Which also means I may opt for Rampaging Madness instead. *shrugs*

Currently in progress

Korey is still a work in progress as the title suggests blatantly. Concerning this character, I'm chuffed for two reasons. The first one is that I doubt I'll be served a lawyer's writ from Drew & Napier just because S.A.L.T Entertainment has gotten extremely salty over my insane antics. In other words, she looks nothing like the "real deal." The second reason is that she (i.e. Korey, not Park "not the president" Shin-hye) made me realized I'm more of a Xavi than a Messi in terms of gaming technique. Yes, I can adapt to circumstances. Let me see the situation from afar and I can cripple the entire army for you. Well, sorta anyway.

Already Thorn Ward is looking like a match winner for her. To add in more fun, my current plan for her dps game lies in a focus on critical hit. Unlike her mentor who is more into power, this Koryoan lass is all about azure enchantments (plus a rank 7 Brutal since I need to free up some much-needed inventory space). Originally, using Marauder's Escape was fun. Choosing the pathfinder paragon route turned out to be twice the fun. While I'm still coming to grips with using Hunter's Teamwork/Careful Attack, Ambush/Bear Trap has officially scored plenty of stars for me. The offensive setup is very simple, yet so deadly. I can just fire a Constricting Arrow with a Thorn Ward thrown in immediately afterward. The damage game has just gotten more insane. Just like how my brain works. Just don't ask me whether there are people worse than me.

A/N: I nearly forgot to mention the presence of Longstrider's Shot and Cordon of Arrows. Then again, Korey is still a long way from hitting lvl 60-65.

Add A/N: Got a War Dog, gave it to Korey. 6.5% threat reduction plus a maxed out Battlewise feat, 12.5% threat reduction in total. Stillness of the Forest anyone?

More add A/N: Nearly forgot to add in the fact (?) that I managed to create Korey as an actual Koryoan. President Park should just give Greenwood Ed some kind of national commendation. After all, he may have first made Koreans somewhat famous to all the white kids for all we know.

P.S: Seems that the spelling for Koryan has changed to Koryoan. Damn the wiki.

Add P.S: The fact that I gave a War Dog to Korey should never be seen as racism.

Final P.S: Because my creativity had hit a ceiling (most likely due to fatigue), said War Dog was named Lotte. Scarily enough, that's before I caught wind of this. I know Arylos was guilty of spurning Beshaba, but Sune never staged a reprisal just because she received the same rejected status as well.

Der Königsmörder, Der Held

Just now, I read a follow-up article of a recent coroner's inquiry concerning the suicide of a secondary school student. For some reason, I felt heavy in the heart. Because I'm not interested in playing Guy Fawkes, I'm not going to up the article.

Note: Because I don't want to make you guys and gals feel like yours truly, I decided to mention the fact that I've just found out Jay "not Mr Chow" Chou had released his latest song. Just don't ask me who's my informant or even the question of her gender.

Thanks to my informant and Mr Chou, I also realized that a certain Mr Negarakuku, is not entirely about... well, Negarakuku.

Okay, enough about my pointless nonsense...

Onto my brilliant nonsense. Come 7th June, Mod 7 will experience an upgrade. Why I say that is because Guild Alliances, as a concept, is just like adding the Druid to Diablo II. Seriously, I don't expect any new in-game contents along the line of Mod 2 to Mod 9. In other words, it's quite likely that the devs will try refining the gameplay in the stronghold map. One of the greatest challenge the devs most likely have/will face is the facilitating of the individual alliances between guilds. This current mod (?) is NOT intended for the big players, but rather the small to medium guilds. Which means there's a real tendency for small guilds to join the big ones, ditto for the medium ones as well. Having the big players attracting the smaller and medium guilds doesn't make much sense to me. Yes, they will have their guild halls at level 20 by now. Yes, they will be more than happy to help you out. But that also means the guild leaders having a tougher time managing requests. Imagine more than 20 messages swamping your inbox just because you got 400+ members under you. To others, this may be okay. For me personally, I don't see the meaning behind this. Guild Alliances as a mod should encourage smaller guilds to form a coalition. Period.

At this point of time, it's impossible to gauge how many guilds are there in the game now in the same way it's impossible to gauge how many players are now playing the game. Coupled with the fact that many players prefer starting their own guilds instead of joining other guilds would only compound the problem of too many guild alliance requests swamping your game inbox. Hopefully we won't see the kind of situation where only one party does everything and the other doing nothing.

What I hope to see in Guild Alliances is this:

Requirements for joining any given guild alliance beyond just the haves and have-nots. Best way to go about doing it would be creating a limit cap on the number of guilds in any guild coalition. Makes planning so much easier.

Which now comes to the guild spotlight. This is an occasional scetion in the Neverwinter official site, so it'll be good to implement this system on a weekly basis. Maybe create a List of the Week for guilds with less than, say, 200 active characters per guild. There's no need to do any PR. Just get the names in, let other lesser guilds know that they won't be walking alone like this poor fellow below.

To Raheem "show me the real Sterling" Sterling:

If this news makes you feel better, I'm pretty sure you know Unai "I already made unagi sushi out of Liverpool" Emery has done what his nickname implied. Pretty sure Peter "the father of another Kim" Lim is now poring over the correct local history textbook.

Myrreas' arc:
Gods Bless the Crown
[Basically all the quests involving the fake Crown of Neverwinter including Blacklake]

A Land of Daggers
Blackdagger Ruins (excluding the Cragmire Barrow)

Never a Dead Man
Neverdeath Graveyard

Diplomacy and Knavery
Pirates' Skyhold

Best Friend Forever?
The Chasm (starting from the human racial quests)

A Truth Baptized in Fire
Mount Hotenow

A Guide to the Underdark
Whispering Caverns

A Final Favor Perhaps?
[basically preventing the assassination of Dagult Neverember]

Running the Vault
Vault of the Nine

Calling of Ancestry
Sharandar

A Tower Cloaked in Shadows

Dread Ring

Black Blessing
Icewind Dale

Tyranny of Tiamat

Tyranny of Dragons and Rise of Tiamat

Elements of Good and Evil

Elemental Evil

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Arylos' arc:

Faraway Plea

Tower District (only the elf racial quest)

Doomguides and a Scout

Neverdeath Graveyard (only the quests involving the missing Doomguides)

Gates of Destiny: Duty

Helm's Hold (only the elf racial quest)

Never My God, Never My Lover

Vellosk

No Honor in War

The Chasm

Lesser Darkness, Greater Evil

Rothé Valley

End of Darkness, A Glimmer of Light

Whispering Caverns

Calling of Ancestry
Sharandar

A Tower Cloaked in Shadows

Dread Ring

Black Blessing
Icewind Dale

Tyranny of Tiamat

Tyranny of Dragons and Rise of Tiamat

Elements of Good and Evil

Elemental Evil

Frigid Brutality, Burning Cruelty, An Endless Maze
The Maze Engine

Next up: My alter-ego, guess who lol.

Lyrics

Siege, tanking, and that magic wand

Think I need to get my sleeping pattern back into order now. At the same time, I think I may have gotten too ahead of myself in terms of my recent post. The last thing I ever need is to hit my very own crash and die instead of a mere crash and burn. Thankfully, I am not rich enough to own a Porsche. Can you imagine Jeremy "a new direction?" Clarkson seeing this? He'd have questioned whether our local Fujiwara should have owned a Maserati made in Mexico instead. Can the government hire this guy to be Amos "still certified infamous" Yee's deadliest rival? Ah well, at least Bukit Timah won't be used as a cheap substitute for Mount Akina anytime soon.

Note: Apologies to those living in the Bukit Timah area, both the married and unmarried. After all, my cousins are also living there.

Add note: Jokes made at the expense of the rich and reckless aside, we should just let the traffic cops do their job. They're paid to do something right in the same way we're taught to do something right. Hopefully, the SPF can wring a statement from the driver, damning or otherwise. No "you know who I am" jokes, please. I'm not interested in the next Enemy of the State ever since Wolverine cut Will "the Man in Black" Smith and Gene "don't have hacker's genes" Hackman down to size.

Siege

Don't you love the Siege of Neverwinter? After such a long time (albeit compared to the Respen event, it's not so long), we're now treated with a fortnight's worth of siege warfare and whatever siege mentality propaganda propagated by the Lord Pretender himself.

My first impression is that it pales in comparison to the recent Respen event. The loot drop has gotten better (conversely, it also means your chances of getting a Battle Medic has been nerfed due to the Stronghold daily quests that will give you 5 defense supplies per go). However, the same can also be said for the Respen event. In addition, there's nothing new about this current edition. Perhaps there are one or two new heroic encounters, but that's it. The most challenging one is still the dragon advisors (i.e. nerfed version of Tiamat's draconic heralds. After all, she's the boss of the cult, not the other way round).

We have too many gamers entering the fun. So much so that every heroic encounter becomes nothing more than a mere formality. General Sabine may talk like Hillary "I will never kill my Bill" Clinton (and trust me when I say General Sabine's full name may verily be Hillary Sabine Clinton), but she actually exaggerated the danger in the same way Donald "yes, I know Jews are (technically) Asians just like the Chinese and Japanese" Trump employs hyperbole tactics at every turn. Try doing a draconic adviser heroic encounter where you have no less than 7 players with a median item level of 2.5K to even 3K. Gone in 60 secs, you don't even need to worry about the breathing cannon.

On the Stronghold daily quest, there's a bug. A tell-tale sign of quest impossibru lies in whether you'll see a yellow square diamond above the guard nearest to the Master of the Coin. If the answer is yes, congrats. It means you can do the quest. If not, then congrats as well. It means you'll need to abort and restart the quest. It can quite tedious at times since you may need more than 1-2 restart, but I guess we have to wait until the next patch this Thursday (Singapore timezone).

Hopefully not like this...

Barring the bug, I really like the daily Siege quest in the Stronghold. After all, you can get 5 defense supplies per day for every character. For all its failings past and present (not to mention in the future as well), Cryptic has done well in learning from its mistakes incurred during Mod 6 and 7. Mod 8 was a great blast of Russian vodka while Mod 9 is aging nicely like a bottle of vintage Bordeaux wine. And it really helps that the devs may have reviewed the difficulty level every now and then (if so, then they should have done that since Mod 4 lol).

And yes, There's those Stronghold vouchers in blue as well. Little wonder why so many players are into the current siege.

Note: Due to high availability for defense supplies, it also means getting a Battle Medic is now harder. Bummer that you can't get an epic Medium Black Horse now.

Add note: Unless you have zen to burn, it's recommended that you try buying the Battlefield Scavenger's Pack. This is to ensure you can get at least both the Neverwinter Guard Archer and enough Writ of Commendation to buy a Neverwinter Champion's Charger. Or at least the latter since this is your best shot at getting a blue mount without burning your ardent coins (alternatively, you can pray to Sune for another Summer Festival event this year). Quartermaster's Enchantment at rank 7 may present an unwanted monster in the near run though.

Tanking

There are two ways to do tanking. Either as a tennis player or a MMO player. My personal experience in playing the tanks has been nothing less than a fun ride. While I'll only go further in terms of details in a future post, let me just say that playing the tank means having a headstart in doing epic dungeons via matchmaking. In every epic dungeons, the matchmaking system will ensure 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 dps. In any case, the dps is only seen as vital support. Something to make the tactics click, but not an individual to make the party click. An effective dps game will ensure a more efficient victory, but an efficient tanking strategy will ensure survival (in other words, the tank is the bedrock of every victory). As a dps, Arylos will always run the risk of getting a bunch of misfits. The same goes for Myrreas as well. Sheallyn and Kariss are a pair of no-brainers. As for Cyrea, it really depends on the tank. See where this is going for Bhaasmond?

That magic wand

I really like the *insert your fave element* Seeker's Wand. Out of the four Elemental Evil zones, Spinward Rise remains as that most difficult place for mote farming. Apart from the two Assault heroic encounters present in any given subzone, the rest are unplayable without a good party. Mistral Point, in particular, is really hard. 15+ participants recommended sounds like a mere understatement at times. Thieving Birds have that damn unkillable bird tank as the boss. Cloudkill is all about giants stoning you and you getting stoned by frequent lightning bursts. As for Eyes of Limbo, it's actually solo'able. Just that it's not so solo friendly compared to Air Cult Assault and Elemental Assault.

Enough on the griping. Let me just say that the Air Dowsing buff is NOT just about getting motes on a 100% success rate per completion. It actually makes your life easier by having an easier time completing the heroic encounters. It may be just me, but Air Dowsing buff actually gives the user bonus in movement. With one charge alone, I've already farmed 5 motes. Which means a single wand can fetch me 20 motes at this rate. Otherwise, I'd struggle to finish 5 Assault heroic encounters in such a short space of time. Hopefully, all I need is 2 more wands. Not a problem for me since I've got no immediate use for my 160 Tarmalune trade bars left rusting in the bank.

P.S: Seeker's Wands, in general, may have gotten a nerf in the auction house price. 20K for Air Seeker's Wand atm where the cost would have gone as high as 40K to even 60K a few months ago. Seems that the in-game economy has gotten another overhaul for the better this time round. Positive signs on that via the zen-astral diamonds exchange rate. More favorable to both parties instead of just either one.

Belles femmes et Les Gardiens Quatre

Firstly, please don't take the above title as legal French. The only reason why I did this is because I suspect my future girlfriend may have already been 100% proficient in French. In other news, I decided to put all my Neverwinter Six stories here. The reason being that gameplay alone will make this blog quite understrength in terms of content.

On an unrelated note, my brain was actually playing games with me during work today. More specifically my muse decided to flirt with her master once again. Perhaps I'll really return to my darker roots, only that I need to play around with the language and portrayal. Either way, I'm not interested in doing a likeable protagonist if my plan goes through. Imagine Amos "currently certified infamous" Yee combined with the White Wolf. Below is my ideal OP if my future work becomes an anime.

Ofc that has to wait. For now...

Cyrea Durothil's arc:
To Save The Crown
[Basically all the quests involving the fake Crown of Neverwinter excluding Blacklake]

Holy Image
Tower District (only the quest involving Dyrl Godsword)

Gates of Destiny: Love
Helm's Hold

Dancing With The Wolves
Vellosk

My Pirate Friend
Pirates' Skyhold

Noble Alliance
Icespire Peak

Unholy Truth
[The quest to flush out Dyrl Godsword]

A War of Magic
The Chasm

Beckoning of Ancestry
Whispering Caverns (only the elf racial quest)

Calling of Ancestry
Sharandar

A Tower Cloaked in Shadows

Dread Ring

Tyranny of Tiamat

Tyranny of Dragons and Rise of Tiamat

Elements of Good and Evil

Elemental Evil

The Dwarven King
Underdark questline done by R.A "not R21" Salvatore

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Kariss Locras' arc:
Unfriendly Competition
[Basically all the Scourge Warlock quests]

Crossing Over
Blacklake District (only the tiefling racial quest)

Infernal Affairs
Helm's Hold

Brief Visit
The Chasm (only the tiefling racial quest)

A Fiery Ask
Mount Hotenow (includes the conclusion of the tiefling questline)

Calling of Ancestry
Sharandar

A Tower Cloaked in Shadows

Dread Ring

Black Blessing
Icewind Dale

Tyranny of Tiamat

Tyranny of Dragons and Rise of Tiamat

Elements of Good and Evil

Elemental Evil

The Dwarven King
Underdark questline done by R.A "not R21" Salvatore


On the Guardians Four

In case you're all wondering, no they ain't my original characters. Rather, the copyright should go to whoever are the ones at Cryptic creating them. In Neverwinter, you'll get four NPCs who have a major hand on the events in-game. Namely Sergeant Knox, Celeste, Xuna, and Makos.

Disclaimer: Below portion is a case of how I envisioned their personality. Any recognition from Cryptic and/or Greenwood Ed is a bonus.

Sergeant Knox:

A no-nonsense fighting man who has sworn a lifetime of allegiance towards Dagult Neverember. While the reason remains unknown, it is whispered among the Sons of Alagondar that their leader Arlon Bladeshaper has nothing but respect for him. A rare feat, if not an exception given the animosity between the rebels and the Lord Protector. Despite his rank, it seems that Dagult Neverember trusted him a lot. In fact, Knox is tasked with overseeing the local security in Neverwinter with the Protector's Enclave being the centre of command. His most notable trait is strong sense of pragmatism born from his younger years as a sellsword. Leader of the Four.

Celeste:

A female cleric of Selûne, she is the idealistic member of the Four. Ever reluctant to employ tactics more commonly known to sellswords and knaves, every death incurred by conflict is an invisible wound bleeding inside her. Also the voice of reason whenever Xuna and Makos decide to have a go at each other. Together with Knox, they are tasked with safekeeping the real Crown of Neverwinter. Via the occasional conversation with Knox concerning the true heir to the royal Alagondar bloodline, it's possible that both of them already knew who the real heir is. And he's not the Lord Protector himself. Lucas Shaneway III of the Lords' Alliance is known to have a crush on her despite her aversion towards male strangers.

Xuna:

The impulsive one of the Four. Ever ready to leap into action, she nearly got herself killed by Valindra Shadowmantle during a frontal assault staged by the Cult of the Dragon against Neverwinter. Never one to mince her words, Makos' wit has flustered her more often than not. Known to flirt around at times, it's rumored that she has already captured many a young nobleman's heart. Renaer Neverember is said to be one of them.

Makos:

Jester of the Four, the tiefling warlock is known by friends and strangers alike as someone born with a dark sense of humor. Ever one to make fun of others, Makos would never fail to agitate Xuna whenever in the mood. A talented spellcaster by his own right, Makos is kmown for his ability to fuse arcane energy into his warlock spells. Incidentally, he seems to know Kariss quite well as he always called her "sister" despite having no family relationship with her. Kariss, on the other hand, acknowledged Makos' constant show of goodwill.

Next up: Final two of the Six.

Problem, new story?

Been thinking over how I may end up doing somewhat of an overhaul of the Neverwinter Six plot. After all, I doubt I'll do a necromancy on A Ranger's Tale/Requiem of Winter Past. If you think the dark end of my mentality is officially dead, please think again.

In other news, I may end up meeting a certain somebody at the Starbucks in SGH. Why I say "may" instead of "will" is this:
1. I've learnt not to expect anything from tomorrow.
2. I've learnt the importance behind tomorrow.

Of course, it won't deny my rights to live out what I enjoy doing. However, I've never said the world is fair.

New blog?

If I decide to write up the Neverwinter Six saga, perhaps I'll really do a new blog for that. However, I realized that doing separate blogs means having lesser content per blog. On the other hand, I'd hate to mash things up in terms of the individual content. So yeah, quite likely I'll really do that.

Before I start this brief (?) post...

Let me apologize to anyone out to listen to the "Fizz" track from Guilty Gear Xrd via YouTube. Not only was I responsible for handing Normandy over to my beloved Boro, at the same time Ishiwatari "akujin" Daisuke decided that my act of promoting video gaming rock music is basically a legal form of piracy which should be made illegal. Sounds long winded? You should have seen Angry Joe's super angry rant against Capcom over the Street Fighter V fiasco. At this point of time, I'm no longer surprised at how insanely protective the Japanese are when it comes to individual intellectual property (case in point: they actually did some kind of anti-burning technology for their music album CDs. Suffice to say, said technology is officially extinct. And yes, my Hamasaki Ayumi and Utada Hikaru CDs are two of those).

Also, it has come to my attention that Seth "not the younger brother of Cain and Abel" Rogen may have trolled my nation again. Or more specifically, S.M Ong decided to troll every politically correct S'porean. Let me just say that believing this guy is like me saying Robert "never go full retard, you just went full retard" has never gotten himself into trouble. Which is a myth anyway. Period.

Either that or you all might as well say my future girlfriend will be Belinda "tak benci" Bencic.

C'mon, you people. You really think this is true? Believing me is like believing Superbad to be a serious movie!

Now back to my alter ego...

Tbh, I can only spare this much time because it's nearing 2 am and I still got work tomorrow. Why alter ego, let me explain later (in a future part). For now, let me explain how I'm gonna do a total recall.

Plot sequence

The plot will be based on the actual Neverwinter game itself. The challenge lies in how am I gonna allocate different in-game quests to the respective characters. Quests in brackets are basically those in Protector's Enclave. Note that whatever you see is tentative in nature (that is unless Greenwood Ed deems me good enough to be a foreign talent).

Bhaasmond Taran's arc:

Arrival of a Hero

Prologue (the part where Wilfred got himself killed)

Blood Against Blood

Tower District

Proof of Honor

Blacklake District

Aegis

Blackdagger Ruins (excluding Cragmire Barrow)

Tower of Strength

[Preventing another Spellplague from befalling Neverwinter]

For the Fury of Torm

Neverdeath Graveyard

Fury Revisited

Ebon Downs

Both Foe and Ally

The Chasm

Raging Lineage, Loyal Fury

[Saving Neverwinter from Gruumsh's apocalypse]

A Tower Cloaked in Shadows

Dread Ring

Tyranny of Tiamat

Tyranny of Dragons and Rise of Tiamat

Elements of Good and Evil

Elemental Evil

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Sheallyn Melarn's arc:

Arcane Bondage

[Preventing another Spellplague from befalling Neverwinter]

Minor Mission

Blackdagger Ruins (only the Cragmire Barrow quest)

An Old Friend and Her Friends

Pirates' Skyhold

Interlude

Tower District (only for the Control Wizard quest)

From Interlude to Something Else

The Chasm

Delving of the Unknown

[Raiding somebody's lab]

Drow Nature

Rothé Valley

Back to Home

Whispering Caverns

Promise and Resolution

Vault of the Nine

A Tower Cloaked in Shadows

Dread Ring

Black Blessing

Icewind Dale

Tyranny of Tiamat

Tyranny of Dragons and Rise of Tiamat

Elements of Good and Evil

Elemental Evil

Next up: Cyrea Durothil and Kariss Locras.

p.S: Yes, I know. New label.

Mountain Dew, insignias, and Park Shin-hye (plus labels)

This weekend, I'll have enough time (hopefully) to finish Cyrea's outstanding quests. Namely, whatever that's left in Mt Hotenow and Whispering Caverns. Before that, I hope to get the 3rd Tyranny of Dragons boon for Kariss (i.e. Draconic Armorbreaker). After that, I'll either be trying to get the 1st Dread Ring boon (most likely Conjurer's Gambit) or finishing the Drowned Shore quests (3 more sequences before her first Elemental Evil boon).

A/N: In other unrelated news, I need to do and finish my pre-match analysis so that my beloved Boro can get promoted in the same way my daring prediction actually came true.

Mountain Dew of Lathander anyone?

At the same time, I actually forgot to mention the fact (?) that Lathander's Dew is basically... well, Mountain Dew. I never realized it until the recent Portobello and Respen campaign outed the various colors. I don't know if Mountain Dew got red and white variations, but I know blue is an option. And yes, I know Mountain Dew has more than 1 color (note to every little boy and girl: soft drinks can cause obesity, too much sugar is bad for you).

A/N: Proper amount of sugar can make you hyper. In other words, increment of action points=sugar rush.

Insignias anyone?

After a few weeks of toying around with insignias, I decided to come up with a (not so) magic formula in the allocation of your insignia slots.

Firstly and foremost, insignias of Gond are a ripoff. Personally, I have no need for them. Unless you want to add plenty of recovery, hit points, and power to all your characters, I strongly discourage any gamer to try getting a bundle of that stuff. Ofc if you have too many astral diamonds to burn, then be my guest.

Firstly, you have to get the Winter Wolf mount. Universal slots are a bonus to any gamer because it gives you plenty of options. Unless ofc if you want to get an epic mount with a universal slot (to my best of knowledge, rare mounts and below don't have that kind of slot. Some of the uncommon mounts are an exception tho). That plus you can get two mounts for free this way since you'll get a quest involving some kind of negotiation with the Shaundakul Stables.

Secondly, what truly counts is the individual insignia bonuses available. Personally, I feel that Magistrate's Patience has to be the best you can ever get on a 2 slot basis.  As for 3 slot basis, it should be Gladiator's Guile (esp for dps and tank builds).

Thirdly, it won't be surprising for gamers to say "hey, let's try to get all the insignias of *insert your needed type here* asap!" My suggestion is a big fat NO. Unless you want to farm for insignias in-game (which is really hard since insignias are all about diff variations and combinations) or via Sword Coast Adventures, I strongly discourage this stupid practice.

So what do you suggest, genius?

It's actually quite straightforward when you thnk about it. The shape will give a you a decent idea on what to expect. Here's a list of the shape-type combinations I've seen so far.

Regal:

Courage; Evasion; Refuge; Prosperity

Colors available: Blue; Gold

Crescent:

Courage; Evasion; Prosperity; Skill; Vigor; Leeching

Colors available: Blue; Gold; Red; Purple

Enlightened:

Courage; Evasion; Prosperity; Mastery; Vigor

Colors available: Blue; Gold; Green; Purple

Illuminated:

Mastery; Aggression

Colors available: Green; Red

Barbed:

Dominance; Aggression; Skill

Colors available: Green; Red

There's a reason why I included the colors available. It is to make your life easier in terms of doing your ideal insignia combination. The blue ones are defensive insignias while the red ones are offensive insignias. The green ones give offensive support. The purple ones are all about self-sustaining while the gold ones are... well, miscellaneous I guess (albeit Refuge insignias are quite obviously defensive in nature).

This should make your life easier when it comes to playing around with the slots. Say for example you prefer defense more than anything else. This means you should focus the blue ones on Courage.

If you prefer consistent damage dealing, then maybe you'll like to go Aggression for the red ones. If you're more of a crit player, then Skill.

As for the green ones, it depends on whether you're more of a combat advantage build or CC build. This is where Dominance and Mastery come into the picture.

Purple ones wise, it's quite straightforward. Life steal can be a real life saver, but Vigor insignias tend to drop quite easily (needless to say, Leeching insignias are very damn hard to get. I've yet to seen mine).

As for the gold ones, decide for yourself whether you prefer defensive synergy or just more XP, gold, and glory (not to mention HP as well). If it's the lesser, then Prosperity. If it's the former, then Refuge.

A/N: Just a few notes here.

1. Some of the insignia types have a lower drop rate while some others have a higher drop rate in-game. Crescent and Regal insignias tend to have the highest drop rate with Enlightened insignias having the 2nd highest drop rate. Barbed insignias tend to have a lower drop rate. So far, it seems that Illuminated insignias have the lowest drop rates so far.

2. Drop rate is also relevant to the insignia type on top of the shape. Leeching is most likely the rarest with Dominance being second. Skill (and most likely Refuge as well) is also harder to get while Courage and Prosperity are the most common types available. Vigor, Evasion, and Mastery should be somewhere between the common and rare spectrum.

3. Early on, you'll be forced to make do since insignia drops are quite random. Use whatever is available to you, but make sure you make the relevant changes once the correct type comes along.

4. Insignias gained via the Maze Engine campaign are not BoE (i.e. bind on equip), but rather BoA (i.e. bind to account, not this manner). Insignias gained via the auction house or Sword Coast Adventures are not bind to anybody. Basically, this tip should make your life easier.

5. I know what you're gonna say, Tan Siewjing of 32 SIB. I still remember your BoA jokes at my expense. And to think such manner of memory span is only exclusive to problematic geniuses like Fa Zheng.

Park Shin-hye (plus why I'm out to troll)

It can be quite frustrating at times, but thankfully not most of the time. Must be the sedative nature of my medication together with Nightcrawler's personality  (not this guy, but this guy. Now if only we can have another X-Men Origins movie much better than Wolverine...). However, it doesn't really prevent me from having the kind of trolling humor Deadpool is (in)famous for.

Simply put, Neverwinter always lags whenever my sis switched on both her tablet and smartphone. The bandwidth would go "bamf!" like Kurt Wagner teleporting from one end of the world to another. It may sound funny to you, but that's because your own sis most likely would have said something like "yeah, I understand why you're so frustrated." As a result, my only solace lies in trolling Kuok Mingsi.

My sis enjoys streaming Running Man on stream, that's actually the main source my Fox's Shift lagging like the Matrix movie. Whenever she did that while using her smartphone, the lag would be much worse. Which is why I always have to check up on her whenever that damned Fox's Shift animation hit a start-move-stop-move-finish sequence.

Mingsi, please don't look down on your bro if you're reading this now. Every problem has a silver lining. The same goes for yours truly also. You see, the moment Neverwinter starts lagging on my sis' account, that's where my tactical awareness hit a certain high. One thing I'm proud to say about myself is the innate ability to survive and triumph over every manner of laggy rubberbanding 99% of the time.

Imagine the game lagging. Then imagine yourself knowing what to do instinctively. There's only this much those cultist mooks can do to you because you understand the terrain and use it to your favor.

The closest thing to my personal feat of perception would be this.

iirc this problem actually gave me a certain inspiration. Remember the first Korey? She's inspired by the Jang Ja-yeon scandal which got me hot under the collar (read: I'd sanction the deployment of an assassination squad if my surname is Kim). That's actually years ago, but the indignation back then was quite unforgettable. Mainly due to me wondering whether justice is real or not. As it turned out, Arylos' cynical mentality was actually inspired by a flawed character quite close to my heart all the while. As for the second Korey... well, you get the drift. Believe it or not, Koreans exist in Faerûn. Just that they most likely don't know Kelemvor (interestingly enough, I may change Korey's god from Fenmarel Mestarine to Silvanus since the latter is more human-friendly *shrugs*)

Quite a few things bubbling in my head for sure, at least a wee bit related to the 2nd Korey's personality. Then we have what Arylos is possibly capable of as well. Like my gaming pedigree, Arylos do boast of a nigh 100% record in surviving against the odds. Well, I'm pretty sure those Red Wizards from Thay know a thing or two about slowing down and freezing anyway...

And lastly labels

Every blog should have its own set of labels. Including mine. As you can see by now, there two alrdy. Crazy Tenser is all abt crazy and random talk. Mortified Mordenkainen is all abt general gameplay (plus whatever criticism I have).

Then we have some more below...

Big Deal Bigby

Basically, this label will cover my personal take on the individual modules. Most likely pre-release since it's only human nature to speculate. Like for example who will be the kings of Europe and Madrid this season. Or even perhaps whether I'll get a girlfriend who is rich, beautiful, and intelligent (Tan Siewjing, please don't give me whatever jokes related to Korean girls invented by your brain, tyvm).

404 Trapper Not Found

This is dedicated to my personal tips on playing the trapper right. As the record stands, the trapper is arguably the only playable build when it comes to the Hunter Ranger (combat spec is still hideously unplayable while archers got their Hasty Escape brutally nerfed). At the same time, it's really a literal 404 Trapper Not Found logic when it comes to the actual rulebook. Which is a shame because the trapper spec is the closest thing to a real ranger. No offense intended to fans of Aragorn and Drizzt Do'Urden. And no, Legolas is only an archer, not a ranger.

Not to be confused with:

404 Italians Not Found. Neverwinter does have some quirky guild names, most notably Win or Lose We Booze. 404 Italians Not Found is another case of quirkiness hitting the highest level. Apparently, the members are Italians in the same manner the members of Les Napos are French. No 404 Girlfriend Not Found jokes here, please. I'd hate to be traumatized.

Dept of Devoted Resuscitation

My personal tips on playing the Devoted Cleric right. As it turned out, Cyrea Durothil is currently still an AP build. In other words, I don't have to use my free respec on her.

Not to be confused with:

Dept of Diagnostic Radiology. In other words, diff DDR=diff meaning. The last thing I ever want is to be hunted down by a bunch of radiographers like how Colossus was hell bent on hunting down Deadpool. Just don't ask me about whether we'll see a X-Force movie or the possibility of Cable reversing whatever damage wrought by Apocalypse.

O$P$

Firstly, let me clarify that no paladin would ever be a loan shark runner. That'd make them anti-lawful. Which means they'll be considered fallen just like how the devil is considered an angel fallen into the fiery depths of hell. Secondly, no sane loan shark would pass up the chance to hire a half-orc runner. As it turned out, I did a retcon on Bhaasmond Taran racially wise. I actually blame the insane amount of le zen for the dragonborn race.

With that being said, I actually find Nadia Rahmat beautiful even though she's Malay. *shrugs*

Not to be confused with:

Half-orc loan sharks who worshiped Gruumsh instead of just money. With that being said though, when will Moradin get rid of them all? I mean the Gruumsh worshiping scum, not the loan sharks. Seeing them getting hacked by the Delzoun would be quite a sight though. I mean the loan sharks, not the Gruumsh worshiping scum.

Incredibly enough, half-orcs actually make quite good a paladin due to their racial traits involving running and killing. Torm must be very pleased right now.

Running Man

Tips on how I play my Trickster Rogue. Namely Myrreas the scoundrel (spec). However, I may need to do as little as possible on him for now. The reason being that I want to do an Arcane Trickster build. Which means Control Wizard completing Vault of the Nine. Master Infiltrator by trade, troll by nature. And no, I'm not refering to myself.

Not to be confused with:

The source of my gaming frustration. I'd like to say some more, but I'd hate to be the enemy of one entire fanclub.

Aggro Monkey

Otherwise known as the Scourge Warlock. Basically, I have a hard time learning the ropes on Kariss. No thanks to the high tendency of attracting aggro like a beautiful lady attracting glances. And no, I'm not the one who coined this term. Credit goes to Sir Loin because that fellow was already playing this class before I did. Oh, and one more thing. Aggro Monkey in this context refers to the Soulbinder fury spec.

Not to be confused with:

That infamous monkey photo threatening to exacerbate whatever "political" problems plaguing my nation recently. And when I say monkey photo, I really mean it.

2+2=5=lawyer's letter from Drew & Napier.

So please don't make life difficult for me. I'm only a poor S'porean living true to my passion.

French toast banned

Final one on the list (at least for now). This is for Sheallyn Melarn. Originally a Trickster Rogue on the Whisperknife route, I decided otherwise. She's still a drow, but now she became a Control Wizard. Which makes perfect sense in terms of Myrreas being an Arcane Trickster. *shrugs*

Not to be confused with:

Any French speaking drider. Even though the label was inspired by Danielle.

Also not to be confused with something which you can eat.

Also not to be confused with the School of French Toast where the teachers there teach you how to speak French. For a fee ofc. And no, this statement ain't talking me talking nonsense. Don't believe me, go Google.

And before I go sleep, here's what Kalafina should be singing in the future