Never my people and never my god (quoted by Arylos)

I recently realised something... well, funny for the lack of a better word. In this post, I should have thrown in this song below instead of the Ciri fight scene (and together with it, two vids of Geralt).

Now don't get me wrong. The only reason why I made... well, the wrong reason was that I chose to bind myself under a knight's oath like some bastard son of Gawain. So no, it got nothing to do with liberals and feminism. I have Facebook when it comes to airing the more serious stuff, but definitely not this blog. Hence, there's no need to disturb AWARE over this. In fact, I tend to judge songs based on the tune and the relevance of the lyrics to the related plot. That's all. Which is why I don't base my preference on genre and names.

At this point in time, by upping the video, it means I have officially broken my oath. Or released from it. Or whatever. Since this post about OmuRice, I might as well up this image for fun.

Note: Will we see the likes of Park "definitely a better Choi-Park than the previous Choi-Park" Shin-hye and Aragaki "#TeamGaki but not this #TeamGaki" Yui for the next campaign?

[http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Kara-Tur]

Before I start...

Since I've decided to do some writeup on whatever gameplay ideas in my head, I might as well up the image above here. This part will be really brief, though.

Rolling the D20:

In pen and paper, you live and die by the D20. Or whatever you wanna call a 20 sided die. In combat, encounter powers will be executed on a random basis per every 20 seconds with each such power having its own cooldown period. What this means is that any encounter power can be used. However, which one will be triggered depends on the rng. In other words, every encounter power is usable. Which in turn results in the power tray interface becoming redundant. When it comes to the random execution rule, standard attacks and at-will powers will not be affected (i.e. you can pull them off as many times you want without the rng and cooldown).

During combat, two dice will be in play. The first die is called the hit die. The number rolled is an indication of how much damage is dealt. If the die score is 20, then it's counted as a critical hit. A critical hit deals twice the maximum damage possible. Why I say "maximum damage possible" instead of just "maximum damage" is because of AC. Armor class is a universal right given to characters, allies and enemies. This universal right indicates damage resistance. While the most common source of armor class is the gear, other sources of AC are also available in the form of feats, powers, and consumables. However, it must also be noted that the hit die also applies to buffs and heals. In this case, only the die score counts.

For daily powers, they can only be triggered once the character's hit points drop below 50%. For every such moment in combat, a daily power will be triggered. Like encounter powers, each daily power will have its own cooldown period.

The second die in play is the save die. This indicates three types of saves: Fortitude, Will, and Reflex. Fortitude affects the duration of any debuff from physical sources while Will saves affect debuff effects from magical sources. As for Reflex saves, they affect damage taken from area attacks.

Note: I need to sit down and brainstorm the part on spell preparation and how to incorporate magic usage into the above combat system.

I might have discovered the... well, magic formula

Definitely not literally because I don't believe in magic when it comes to real life (let alone things like tarot cards and ouija boards). In fact, I won't be surprised if my gaming design ideas above will have to be shelved for a reason. I'm not going to tell you the reason, but let's just say the possibility is very real. I do have an individualistic streak (albeit a tempered one), but it doesn't mean I don't have a brain. In fact, I have to admit doing my own stuff is a better option as I can have the total say on what to add and what not to put in.

Enough about the digressing. Let's get back to the tactical formula. Ever tried pairing Aspect of the pack with Twin-Blade Storm if you're running the game as a combat stormwarden? Recently, I discovered that this may well be the best combination. More specifically my ideal combination. To make this work, however, I need to do one thing. And that to get the correct roll where the off-hand artifact weapon is concerned. As it turned out, it's Aspect of the Pack. There's no point rolling for a Twin-Blade Storm since it would create an imbalance between single-target dps and multi-target dps.

Now, all that is needed is to get the main hand pioneer weapon since I already got the off-hand one.

Which now comes to...

...the fact that pairing the off-hand pioneer with the main hand aboleth might just be the revelation of the moment for me. Originally, I assumed the damage caused by the aboleth set bonus should result in a higher overall damage. Then I decided to experiment like an Edison. Surprisingly, the damage was actually better. To test this out, I need to test-run it via a raiding instance. It cannot be too easy, though. So Master of the Hunt and Dread Legion were out of the equation. The best way to test-run this was Merchant Prince's Folly since it's the hardest non-epic raid available in-game. Suffice to say, the experiment was proven a success. For whatever reason since there's no set bonus in play.

So what might be the kingmaker factor here? Aboleth set bonus triggers a 4% damage bonus upon proc. Going by the power maths, that should be like +1600 power (i.e. 400 power=1% bonus damage). So to make sense out of the apparent anomaly, the only stats which can make difference should be power and crit. Coupled with the fact that Arylos' raiding loadout includes Skirmisher's Gambit at rank 5, it means an effective power-crit synergy numbers wise was quite likely the reason. If not, then how would such an otherwise half-baked combination rack up enough damage to overcome the so-called 1600 power bonus? Also, it must be stated that before doing the gear switch, I made sure the off-hand pioneer weapon was already upped to epic.

Imagine what may happen once I get the main hand pioneer weapon. And by that, I mean also upping it to epic.

Note: Right now, my immediate aim is to up the main hand pioneer to epic with the off-hand maxed out at legendary. This is because only the off-hand weapon damage is accounted for when it comes to melee damage. Any off-hand weapon for the HR is definitely much lower than that of the main-hand. Using a combat HR is still fun, though. At least you know the importance of using buffs/debuffs/both together with the dps end. Definitely not a hdps build, but decent enough to run raids like Tomb of the Nine Gods and epic Spellplague due to more reliance on dps buffing while trying to keep everyone alive. Just use Oak Skin. No melee HR can ever survive without that.

Add note: For some funny reason, the off-hand pioneer weapon(s) resembles(?) Kanshou and Bakuya.

Correct progression?

Right now, I need to do two things: Get the full pioneer set and qualifying myself for the tier 1 Omu hunts. Initially, I was hesitant in going solo against 1-star hunts due to pragmatism. That plus the rng for the better loot isn't exactly the BFF of... well, 99% of the instance server population. Thanks to whoever at the NWO blog, I decided that it's time for me to start burning the life scrolls because I deemed them surplus anyway. At this point in time, I'm planning 4 hunting trips. One at Soshenstar (i.e. Spli-Ti) and three at Omu.

Unlike what is written on the blog, my personal preference lies in getting the pioneer set first. Afterwards, it's 1-star hunt and middle path progression. While the pioneer set is inferior to the primal weapons obtainable in Cradle of the Marshmallow Dude. When it comes to dps, I'm pretty sure pioneer set trumps the lower level sets (not sure of this if we're to compare it to the relic set due to a 10% damage jump that is equivalent to 4000 power). Either way, pioneer set should be a decent option until you get the primal version. If we're to see this from a 5 member raid, it means you're effectively given 1000 power bonus (together with 1000 increase in armor penetration, crit, and recovery). While not the most ideal for the dps (or in Grazilaxx's own words, this is sub-optimal), it should be quite okay for hybrid dps builds like any combat HR, scoundrel TR, and oppressor CW.

Unless something happens, I'll most likely be running Fane of the Night Serpent only after I obtain the gloves and body armor gear from Makos' weapon store (because that's what it exactly is). Not to mention all the boons as well.

Which boons to get?

Right now, I put 3 points into Overgrown and 1 point into Impenetrable Jungle for open world. This is to create a balance between multi-target and single target boss fights. The problem with the final Chult boons is that any dps boon is quite literally a multi-target boon. Which makes single target fights a bit tricky. Then again, duelling isn't exactly the hardest part of the game. At this point in time, I'm sticking with Aspect of the Pack and Twin-Blade Storm. Basically the same stuff as the raiding loadout. At the same time, running solo with a cat means you're effectively fighting solo instead of the standard leader/defender/striker/controller format. Since I've invested so much into getting a legendary cat, I might as well stick with that legendary critter all the way. To make Impenetrable Jungle worth the point, I opted for Aberrant Power to pull off a boon stack. By now, it should be clear for all to see that boons are never meant to operate on a standalone basis. Rather, an effective boon synergy is the difference between a shrewd player and a... well, n00b. This is also the reason why I opted for another boon stack in the form of Frozen Reflection and Fey Thistle when it comes to open world.

Unless something crops up, my plan for the Consecrated Harrier loadout (i.e. open world loadout) should be a maxed out Overgrown and a maxed out Fight Not Flight. This is to maximize the efficiency of the Impenetrable-Aberrant and Frozen-Fey synergies respectively. Wait, the whole sentence sounds weird... okay, never mind that paranoia of mine.

For Sword of Kelemvor (i.e. raiding loadout), currently it's 1 point each for Tyrant's Terror, Shamanic Grace, and Overgrown with Soul Syphon as the final boon (note: this boon should be the BFF of every mid-dps build due chances of high AoE damage dealt in any high-end raid. Lingering Curse for hdps imo). Upon doing all the Omu boons, it should look like a maxed out Tyrant's Terror, rank 1 Shamanic Grace, and rank 2 Overgrown. This is to create a balance between survival value and dps value. And trust me when I say the HR has the worst press-Shift game. Like ever. Note that Shamanic Grace does give the highest HP out of all the boons in-game, not just in Chult. Coupled with Oak Skin increasing the defense, it means a better overall defensive game. Hopefully, that is.

For the final boon point, I'm of two minds in one spot. On one hand, putting 2 points in any final boon reads like less of a common sense choice than throwing 3 points into the final Tyranny of Dragons boon of your choice. The increment number wise doesn't look good at all. Mediocre should be the correct word if you're to ask me. For Consecrated Harrier, I'd say Soul Syphon. For Sword of Kelemvor, it's a 50-50 between Death's Blessing and Lingering Curse. See what I mean when I say two minds in one spot?

The correct order of questing?

For those still with mid-tier gear (i.e. any gear with level of 440 to 460), it's advisable/compulsory to get your ideal Makos/Eku gear. My recommendation is very simple: For defensive gear, go with Eku. For dps gear, go with Makos. In particular, the gloves and body armor you get from Makos' stash do pack a punch in the dps dept, be it effect or stats. The boots are good for the stand-and-dps artillery approach. For Eku, the only gear of note would be the Boots of Drafting for the dps end. The reason why being that so long you're not the slowest person in the group, you get to run faster like a Korean running man. Compared to the boots from Makos' stash, it's definitely much more melee friendly. All the great weapon fighters and scourge warlocks would like it, I'm sure. Move faster=dash faster=dash shorter. The gloves you can buy from Eku's warehouse, however, is... well, dodgy I guess. If your tank has got nothing better than a pilgrim arms slot gear, then you can consider it. Otherwise, you have to decide whether the 200 power per ally bonus for pioneer gear is worth the decision to burn 25 Eku's favor for that thing. It does give crit, though.

When you start taking jobs from the NPCs (because that's how MMOs reflect real-life), getting the right job means approaching the right NPC. Because getting the daily lich's lore quest item is a must (unless you have no need for the Makos/Eku gear), it's advisable to take holy dwarf's offer first instead of the old catwoman beside him. Once you enter Omu, only two NPCs are available in terms of offering you a job. Namely, the holy dwarf and the old catwoman. Don't take the old catwoman's offer first because if you complete her tablet quest first, you'll have to make a longer trip to get a lich's lore from any Thayan wizard in the West Undercity map. At the same time, tablet hunting can take a long time since your job is not to retrieve tablets with ancient Hebrew text. That type of stone tablet comes only in a pair, not five in a series. Of course you can try finishing the tablet quest via getting 2-3 of those in the West Undercity zone. However, this option should be for those more familiar with the map. If you have trouble navigating the ruins of Omu in order to take down that dead Rex walking, then it means you're better off taking the easier path instead of the shorter path.

To summarize the shorter path here:

Grab the heist job from old catwoman>get some tablets in West Undercity zone>kill all Thayans>get the lich lore>get all 5 tablets>turn in 2 quests in a go.

This is the longer albeit the easier path:

Grab your extermination order from the holy order dwarf>execute the extermination order>turn in the quest>agree to Eku's proposal to woo three gods out of any nine>go to West Undercity because one of the gods is there>kill all Thayans>grab lore>finish Eku's quest>turn in 2 quests in a go.

Note: West Undercity contains a shrine with four pits at the four corners of the altar. This fight calls for fighting smart instead of trying a dodge spam. The red wizards will always pull off a fireball blast which can easily toss you off into dead man's land. Stay put and try not to move from one side to another. So long the fireblast doesn't get you, you're safe. You'll need an effective AoE offense to make it count, though.

Add note: Take out the Thayan knights on both sides of the entrance before engaging the wizards. This is to ensure you won't catch the aggro. If the Thayan knights start running down, please run away asap from the altar platform. A single shield smash can toss you off into dead man's land. Also, try fighting the Thayan knights with your back against a solid wall in order to minimize the risk of a fatal pitfall.

Gonna end this on a...

...high? Or legal high? Well, whatever. So far so good, the overall difficulty level in Omu is decently okay. When the mod first came out, the AI was surprisingly easy. Apparently, the devs had to mobilize their mod squad. Yes, you've guessed it right. The mod squad has only one job and that is to make things (i.e. life) more challenging for the gamers. The damage, I believe, has been upped. Although it's nothing more than a mere inconvenience. The defensive end of things is where the difference made its call. It's harder to kill stuff now. Which makes you wonder how difficult it will be to clear the Fane of the Night Serpent.

Which now comes to two types of critters. You got Harambe's BFFs and the occasional other Rex. On Harambe's BFF squad, they can be... well, either annoying (if you're good enough) or outright lethal (if you're not good enough). Dealing with the ape squad requires getting out of the way once you take them on. Don't ever try to nail the first hit. Because they will be the ones striking first, not you. As a matter of fact, their favorite leisure activity is jumping.

You're the red guy, the rest belong to Harambe's BFF squad.

Either shield first or dodge first. Otherwise, dash away first. The primate jump can take out like around 1/4 of your HP. And I'm not about to test and see whether it'd result in getting knocked down. Another favorite move from them is a single fist that will knock you backwards. Even with a decent to good control resist, it'd take like a few seconds for you to recover from the prone status. So once you get nailed by a monkey's fist, just try moving into the nearest open space. Engaging them in constrict space is never a preferable option. However, I actually did one crazy trick. And that is taking them on in a constricted space, after which I finished them off in a nearby open space. I won't say all the time, but at times (please note that open space in Omu tends to be available at a premium). Once you take the mob down till the very last gorilla, it should be easy. Even if you stand and get hit, so long it's not a prone hit, you can just stand, fight, and win. Just make sure you got your healing potion on standby.

As for the two living Rexes, please note that only one is the hunt mark type. And that is the blue one. The red one is a normal Rex. This is very important due to the first weekly Omu quest requiring a hunt mark kill. Otherwise, both look the same apart from the color. And both fight the same apart from... well, the color. I'm not sure if the blue one has better defensive stats, though.

It must be noted that only the Rexes and Harambe's BFF squad are the ones notably harder to kill with the newly adjusted difficulty level in place.

Lastly, I just need to say something about the House of Buaya. When I say buaya, I don't mean the ones ogling at bikini-clad girls in Siloso Beach (if I've accidentally offended any girl working in SGH, be she an ex-employee or current employee, I apologize). More specifically, the living buaya in that temple is actually an ular (i.e. the most annoying creature known as a yuan-ti). Seriously, this ular is challenging in the sense that a solo fight would always result in a prolonged duel in an enclosed arena. It's like fighting a hulking gladiator with lions and bear released as his allies on a fixed interval. Effectively a case of virtual reality in the Colosseum. High defensive stats with an annoying preference to do an AoE attack like once every half a bloody minute. This is a fight that will guarantee a stamina burn every now and then. Make sure you have a card in hand in case you get yourself into a potentially sticky situation. At the same time, please be prepared for the occasional purple skull halo above your head. For me, it's always an Oak Skin. Press Shift and move fast. There's this one attack where the ular will teleport to the middle of the arena. This is to prepare a nuke spanning half the arena. For dashers, it should be easy in terms of covering the ground to the other side. Otherwise, please run to the other side while dodging forward at intervals. I don't want to find out what happens if the nuke got released. For some funny reason, I always end up on the correct side instead of the other side whenever the ular teleported. In other words, the ular never nuked me even once. Won't be surprised if the mod squad will rectify this after I up this post.

P.S: The (verbal) usage of legal high was inspired by the Japanese even though I'm pretty sure Abenomics will never tolerate the presence of cannabis in the same way Imam Zul is anti-ganja.

More omurice coming your way (minus images of Aragaki "not part of Gaki no Tsukai" Yui)

More specifically, this may well be the last of my Omurice series of posts.

http://konigsmorder.blogspot.com/2018/01/dude-wheres-my-omurice.html
http://konigsmorder.blogspot.com/2018/02/some-more-omurice-and-bit-of-raiding.html

Getting the new artifact gear

From the look of it, the new artifact gear may well be every build's choice. The increase in outgoing dps can go as high as 10%, the same goes for the outgoing healing. The former is good for tanks and dps, the latter is good for healers. As a combat HR player, I find the new set to be very attractive because I'm one to mix dps with Oak Skin. In fact, it should be a no-brainer that combat HRs should be going for either buff-dps or CC-dps. Ofc you can opt for pure dps, but you'll definitely lose out.

One thing I'm interested to know is how to purchase the new set after 3 am SG timezone. There are two possibilities if you're to ask me. The first is copying the Underdark format where you fight through the latest epic trial to get the currency needed. Another possibility would be using the new Omurice currency obtainable via the quest together with the existent totems and/or riches. Ask me and I'm gonna hope for the latter.

One thing I realised about the professional crafted Chultan gear currently is this: There is indeed a market for such gear. The reason why being that getting a level 460 gear requires quite a bit of grinding. A recipe costs 2400 riches. If you wanna gear your alts, this should be a good investment stopping short of using trade bars to get the pilgrim gear. However, this means you'll most likely need to have a gondhammer since 4 epic professional assets added together would only give you 60% success rate (that is if you want to have a lvl 430 gear instead of a lvl 420 version).

Why I'm stating this is very simple. I won't be surprised if purchasing the new artifact gear requires a combination of old and new Chultan currencies. Maybe even the professional materials as well if there's anything to go by via Mod 10.5 and 11 (read: gear restoration).

RIP Lightning Bolt?

I assume transcendent lightning is officially nerfed if my interpretation of this post is correct. Let me copy and paste the vital statement if you're too lazy to read through the whole thing (because it's really that long).

[Classes and Balance

Weapon Enchantments and Multi-Proccing

Various powers, across many classes, have been adjusted to trigger one weapon enchantment proc per target, per activation.  (Example: A single activation against 5 enemies can proc up to 5 times.)

Various powers that previously did not proc weapon enchantments at all have been updated to properly proc them.]

I assume that if we're talking about transcendent lightning enchantment, it means a single activation against 5 enemies can chain up to 3 times for 5 times. Going by this example, it means the number of times you can trigger shock chaining should be 5. This would have effectively nerfed lightning very badly when it comes to any rank below transcendent. For transcendent and unparalleled ranks, this becomes a matter of whether you're an AoE dps build or a single target dps build. Traditionally, the latter case deals better dps. In other words, the control wizard thaumaturge is effectively screwed here unless we're talking about a class features synergy of Evocation and Eye of the Storm (for Spellstorm Mage). For Master of Flame, the dps should be much better because the MoF is your standard AoE Harry Potter blowing up Molotov cocktails right into Professor Snape's face. The problem is, MoF isn't exactly the most dps'y CW available in-game. Slotting in the lightning means better dps, but it will most likely still lose out to a Spellstorm dps build with a vorpal (don't get me started on Eye of the Storm when it comes to vorpal of any rank).

The great weapon fighter is most likely effectively shafted here. This class isn't exactly known for an effective AoE game, so the nerf to shock chaining means a nerf to damage. And any great weapon fighter should know what damage does for this class. The damage return doesn't look like a buff, no matter how I see it.

For the combat HR, this is where the best part comes. For pathfinders, you can forget about using it. Pathfinders are not exactly the sharpest nukers. But stormwardens are. In fact, stormwardens have one of, if not the best AoE dps game. Like ever. You have Twin-Blade Storm doing a constant dps proc. If you prefer an all-rounder approach at the expense of crowd clearing dps, you can opt for Blade-Storm and Aspect of the Pack. The damage will still be more than decent. Just that the latter class feature would result in dps giveaway (something which works very well in any party raiding, so it's actually your call). I have no intent to switch down Clear the Ground, so what this means is that the changes to transcendent lightning won't affect Arylos. In fact, the non-proc version should result in a better dps game overall wise. This is not to mention the presence of Skirmisher's Gambit (read: constant dps versus crit hit proc where lightning versus vorpal is concerned).

Ultimately, the major catch lies in Blade Hurricane no longer spammable under this circumstances. Because the shock-chaining got nerfed, it also means the encounter power cooldown got nerfed as well. So yeah, better stock up on the rank 9 silver enchantments in case you wanna do a trial and error. On the flip side, however, it means I can up the AoE damage for Clear the Ground this way. Because weapon enchants tend to proc upon encounter power usage, it remains to be seen whether transcendent lightning is really that useless.

Note: Transcendent Lightning may still favor single target dps builds who are less reliant on encounter power procs. In other words, archery HR.

Add note: Justice oathbound paladins may also benefit in terms of the dps. But that's provided we're talking about a maxed out Purifying Fire feat.

Class (re)balance: What this means for you

It's official. Perma stealth TR is officially dead. At least that how I see it. The saboteur dps has always been about going stealth modal. A non-perma stealth saboteur can still deal good damage. Just that not as much as a perma stealth build because the TR dps tends to be maxed during stealth mode.

[Shadowborn: This feat has been changed to the following effect: Whenever you enter stealth, your next encounter or daily power deals an additional 5/10/15/20/25% damage as physical damage.]

If above statement isn't an obituary written for perma-stealth TRs, then Kelemvor would like to be your friend. No matter how I see it, saboteurs are officially nerfed. Note that this is taking into consideration the fact that the stealth meter now refills at a slower speed unless you decide to do a Lurker's Assault.

[Tenacious Concealment: This power now grants 20% Stealth Loss reduction and 5% Stealth Regeneration at each rank.

Tenacious Concealment: This power no longer grants Stealth Regeneration while taking damage.]

^ Further bad news for TRs. ^

[Smoke Bomb now deals an extra tick of damage.  Damage for each tick has been reduced to compensate for the extra tick.]

^ Quite likely Smoke Bomb will be nerfed overall wise ^

So what this means is very simple: Chances are that the TR is now in a stage of transition. Stealth mode is still a vital part of the dps. But it seems that TRs are now less dependent on stealth dps. Which makes this class easier to use, but harder to master.

For the DC changes, they don't affect Cyrea. The reason why being that they're either bug fixes or acts of rebalancing where anointed champions are concerned. If you're running the DO, you're not gonna be affected. At least not that much. Also, Hallowed Ground is officially nerfed. From 40% damage buff to 35% damage buff. Apparently, there are plenty of DC players learning (?) from yours truly by using the typical sun elf Chosen of Corellon.

As for scourge warlocks, this has to be the greatest buff job I've ever seen. Not since what anema did to the HR have the relevant players ever display this face below.

Trust me, SW got buffed. Big time. However, it seems that most of the buffs are focused on the temptation tree and hellbringer. Below are the more notable ones. In my opinion, that is.

[Aura of Despair: Now also causes enemies to take 5% increased damage.

Darkness: Now causes enemies to take 10% increased damage from you.

Soul Bonding: Allies now deal 20% increased damage to targets affected by your Warlock's Curse.

Soul Bonding: Now passively grants 10% Life Steal Chance.

Soul Bonding: Now causes Warlock's Bargain to heal nearby allies for the full amount.]

This is for temptation.

[Pillar of Power can now critically strike.

Pillar of Power: This now grants 75% of its normal buff value to allies who stand in it.]

This for hellbringer.

I can foresee more hellbringer templocks in the future.

Stacked? Dream on!

This has got nothing to do with Playboy and the Sun's Page 3 girls. I'm referring to same effects stacking during any given raid. Previously, you can run two DCs and stack 2 Weapons of Light effect. The same goes for any feats related to the relevant righteous feats. In other words, too much righteousness can break the game. In fact, there were moments where I wondered whether stacking 2 Weapons of Light would break the game.

It's not just the righteousness of the DC though. Even the underhanded TRs were guilty of the same thing.

[Shadow of Demise: This effect now only takes into account the damage dealt by the Trickster Rogue who applied it, even when several are applied at once.]

Which is a good thing. I mean the change above. Can you imagine using Shadow Strike to stealth refresh? Power rating bonus of 100% plus armor penetration bonus of 25% upon stealth mode. Let that sink into your head (minus the dying part ofc).

However, it seems that the stacking ban only applies to the offensive end. As for the identical defensive buff stacking (i.e. two virtuous DCs instead of one), it seems that only the assault firearms got banned (read: nothing is said on the identical defensive buff stacking).

Which now comes to what manner of offensive buffing can be used as substitutes. For starters, renegade CWs would be more in demand. Then you have Hawkeye, the best offensive buff any HR can give you. Aspect of the Pack is decent, but it's not exactly the best dps giveaway welfare in-game (but it does give plenty of muscle to any hdps teammate within range, though) As for Dark Revelry, I guess the current change is only there to slightly offset whatever inconvenience caused by the "chance to proc upon lifesteal" proc. Doesn't mean it has stopped being the dps orgy feat every templock would like to have, though.

Misc changes

[Campaign tasks to create keys now award a key instantly, then go on cooldown.

Cloaked Ascendancy: The "Secure the District" and "Resist the Rituals" tasks no longer consume all of the player's excess currency.

Genie's Gifts can now purchase currencies for the Maze Engine and Storm King's Thunder.]

The first part is a much-welcomed change. Who'd be so masochistic to enjoy waiting for 10-12 hrs just to get a key? The second part is even more welcomed. Currency burn in the TCA campaign has to be one of the most annoying things you get in the game. As for the third part, I can only hope Genie's Gifts can purchase voninblod. Seriously, that thing is the reason why Storm King's Thunder has to be the worst grind in the game. Like ever. And don't get me started on the poor reward system ala the next Icewind Dale.

At the same time, loadouts now apply to mounts and active companions as well. It's about time. Now I can afford to use Ferocity in open PvE and Ruthless Efficiency for raiding where Arylos is concerned. Or whatever.

[Hunt trophies and lures have been adjusted in the following ways:

These items are no longer unique, as such more than one can be held in your inventory at a time.

These items may no longer be mailed.

Please note:

Hunt trophies and lures do not stack, as such in order to hold on to two of the same lure, you must have two free inventory spaces.]

In Port Nyanzaru, you can be guaranteed people in the trade channel would always offer like 1 greater mark of potency for any tier 1 or 2 hunt trophies with the tier 3 ones going for 1 superior mark of potency each iirc. If you still don't know what this means, it means more GMOPs and SMOPs offers in the trade channel. At least that's how I see it.

[New Masterwork Profession Recipes

Additional quests and recipes have been added for Masterwork Professions!  Grab some new Explorer's Charts and pick up a quest from your Stronghold, which will give you access to Volumes IV and V of your recipe books.]

I don't like the sound of this. Not after those twenty pieces of hard aberrant leather.

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.

Why the latest Simril is the best one (that plus having too much respec tokens)

To be honest, I should have done this post like... maybe a week ago? This year's Simril would be remembered for the right reason (although the customary summer-winter lag had to be the worst I've ever endured so far). At the same time, I actually heard from an alliance mate that Thomas "you can actually get his BFF every Simril" Foss only stepped into the Neverwinter dev team after mod 6. Apparently, that guy/thing/whatever you get to see in your guild stronghold was deemed good enough to fix the insane mess otherwise known as mod 6. Seriously, Elemental Evil has to be the worst mod I've ever played. Not even Storm King's Thunder and Sea of Moving Ice came close.

Simril feedback

The latest edition of the Simril event might have given the next Summer Festival event something to think about. Then again, chances are that we may end up doing the same ol' ball kicking, farming tickets for that less than 1% chance of getting a legendary mount, and too many flower petals to be spent. The thing with the most recent Simril event was that it has to be the most fruitful one I've ever had. However, let me first get the negative out from the closet.

Firstly, the lag was quite an epic deal. And this is considering the fact Simril and Summer Festival are the two likeliest suspects. If the devs had never done the new queuing system, chances are that any double seals event would still be equally bad. If even the fishing contest can hit a major lag at least 5 out of 10 times, you know the server is being pushed towards its limit.

Secondly, the loot drop rng has been nerfed. I was lucky enough to get an unbounded Gondhammer, but that doesn't deny the fact that unbounded loot now has a lower tendency to drop especially the epic ones. Incidentally, bounded drops did have a higher probability of dropping. Even if it may only be a case of slightly higher chances.

And now comes to the best part. Namely, why this year's Simril is actuallu a better deal than the previous ones. There's only one reason, but that reason is good enough to override the flaws stated above. The event is basically another double refinement points event. In fact, it's even better than double refinement points event. Assuming you're doing a gifting party involving five members with ten gifts each, the lumens dropped can easily result in any epic artifact gear reaching legendary. In fact, this was how I managed to max out Arylos' Aboleth set. If there's anything the gamers would like to have, it'd be having enough refinement points. And trust me when I say the next Simril will be the same story all over again. That is provided the devs stick with their guns concerning the new refinement system. Come to think of it, how many of us were actually quite pessimistic to say the least when the new refinement system was being mooted? For me, I was actually in 50-50 land.

A/N: Ironically, it's very likely that the best part of the deal was the reason behind the negative aspects listed here. With all the lumens and refinement points dropping from the sky, the devs had to make sure it won't result in the worst server overload in Neverwinter's history.

New year=new class?

Was Cryptic trolling us with a cryptic tweet last time round? The folks in Neverwinter: Unblogged actually tossed up an interesting article here. Given that the community manager has yet to make some noise (last time I checked, it's Julia “nitocris83 did a crisis” Fredrickson), I'm pretty sure this was Cryptic trolling via Twitter. Something like this below, perhaps?

Apparently, however, GRRM did join the internet.

While it'd be good to see a new class, one of the greatest challenge in creating one lies in the gameplay balance. I don't know about the hunter ranger because I only started playing from mod 4, but scourge warlocks and oathbound paladins were known to be somewhat broken when they first came out. This is even more apparent for oathbound paladins where too many players were guilty of lagging the game via the infamous prism effect (something which would quite likely earn a riot act in any Tiamat raid). In fact, this is most likely the reason why the devs have yet to release a new class. Simply put, they don't want to waste too many resources trying to fix another oathbound paladin. Seriously, 35% jump in power upon triggering Divine Call? And to think people used to say hadouken and shoryuken are the cheapest moves one can ever afford.

So should we expect a new class coming anytime soon? The risk behind such a move lies in the possibility of a short-lived gimmick instead of something more sustainable in the longer run. Yes, using a wandering bard or a primal druid can be fun when it comes to messing around with the mechanics. The problem is, what can a new class afford in any five member raid? If it's heal-buff, you already got devoted clerics and temptation scourge warlocks. If it's a triple deal known as dps-buff-CC, you already got renegade control wizards and (quite possibly) combat hunter rangers. Pure dps? Well, we got plenty of them ranging from great weapon fighters to trickster rogues. The greatest challenge behind creating a new class is never about the mechanics. It is about ensuring the class being relevant on every level.

At the end of the day, I doubt a new class will be coming anytime soon. New race? Possible. New class? Not so possible. Unless the devs decide to do a 5 member raid format for normal dungeons with 7-15 members involved in any epic raids (apart from raiding that motherdragon temple due to 25 members involved instead of 25 members divided by 5).

But what if there's really a way?

The only way to make sense out of a potential new class would be playing around with the fundamentals. In any MMO (and RPGs as well for that matter, JRPG or no JRPG), the list of fundamental mechanics should look like this below:

Tanking

(Not as in what Johanna "the Duchess of Johannasburg" Konta will never do. At least I hope not)

Dps

(something like what you always do in your fave FPS)

Buffing

(Because everyone needs protein in addition to the carbo, no offence intended to PETA)

CC

(Hitting below the belt)

Healing

(Preventing people from dying)

AoE

(It's not about how far your ICBM can go, but rather the reach of impact)

Minions

(Cute yellow critters which I'd give to my future girlfriend... erm, I don't mean the babies)

Quite contrary to the somewhat popular misperception, being a specialist doesn't mean you're better than a generalist. Ranking ladders can be very misleading as in they do not give an accurate gauge on how good (or crappy for that matter) you are. In fact, I find the Stronghold events to be the most accurate barometer when it comes to character efficiency. While I've never taken part in Stronghold siege events (this was mainly due to personal experiences with people preventing me from enjoying PvP), the Marauders and Dragonflight events use only one ranking ladder. This ladder format does NOT judge the player on any given aspect. Rather, this ladder format judges the players on overall efficiency.

For example, the fact that you got the highest dps count doesn't mean a dime to the system. If the generalist is better than you, it means you can see easily from the table that you're not the better player.

Ofc this is not to say specialists don't have a place in any party. You still need such members in your party (most notably the tanks and dps). Rather, I'm just saying that generalists do have their advantage when it comes to vital support (albeit that depends on how good the build is).

To justify the existence of a new class means trying to play around with the seven fundamentals of MMO (I don't know if I've left any out, but you get the drift). Thankfully, not a lot of builds actually deal with more than two aspects. In fact, I think the most any generalist build can afford to do is three roles out of any of the mentioned seven.

Let's say for example the wandering bard needs to be relevant instead of redundant. Because Prince Andy likes bards, it means Prince Andy wants his bard to be dps based. Like a TR. Giving the WB the TR main-hand weapon with a lyre as off-hand implement should be a good start. In fact, the only other difference in the TR gear and WB gear should be giving the bard a cap instead of a mask (after all, not everybody can be Danilo Thann). The fundamentals should revolve around heal and dps with the CC and buffing being more prominent at higher levels.

Class mechanic? Bardsong. Auto-refill outside combat, but unable to refill during combat. The gauge should deplete much slower than, for example, a great weapon fighter's #UNSTOPPABRU!!!! or the TR stealth. Bardsong confers heal over time to allies within 15 feet radius.

As for paragon classes, it should be Voice of Thunder (direct damage and heal; triggering Bardsong results in party damage buff within 15 radius range) and Summer Rhymer (buff and heal; triggering Bardsong increases amount of HP healed from all sources including Bardsong).

Then you have the fact that WB should never be another TR. Three paragon trees available. One for CC-defensive buffing (Cunning), one for heal-offensive buffing (Exhort), the last one for dps-AoE heal (Valor). 

Then take another example in the form of a primal druid. Arguably the chosen one via democracy and popular votes, the primal druid should be given the hunter ranger's gear format with the weapons being that of the oathbound paladin format. The dps should work more like the OP rather than the HR style. Proficient in self-healing and self-defensive buffs, the PD is one that deals elemental damage from point A to point Z, hence making this a certified nuker. As a nuker, however, the PD should be no match for fury scourge warlocks and thaumaturge control wizards. The fundamentals should revolve around magic damage and all sorts of self-defensive arts.

The class mechanic should work like guardian fighters in terms of variation. Also known as Wildshaping, the PD can transform into either one of the three animal forms: Bear, Wolf, and Panther. When in wild shape form, the PD cannot use any of his/her at-will, encounter, and daily powers. However, class features still can be used. Any artifact weapon bonus affecting at-will powers instead increases damage dealt while in wild shape form.

In bear form (left click for attack; right click to increase damage dealt for 5 seconds), the PD takes less damage and deals more damage. In wolf form (left click for attack; right click to increase critical hit chance for 10 seconds), the PD has a higher attacking speed, critical hit chance, and deflection chance. In panther form (left click for attack; right click to execute a pounce attack that will knock down upon hit), the PD has the same combat properties as the wolf.

As for paragon classes, the choice should read like Guardian of the Living Gate (buff spec) and Keeper of the Hidden Flame (dps spec).

As for the paragon trees, they should read like Summon-buffing (Tamer), Melee-Wildshape (Rage), and CC-heal (Guardian).

Last part: Respec token spam

Hopefully, I can end this one soon. My dad is now switching on his fave streaming programme. He's definitely smart enough to use a tablet PC, but I'm not sure whether he's smart enough to know his own son's problem.

Now the most recent Simril has given me a licence to experiment in the same way the code 007 gave James Bond a licence to kill. By the time the event was over, I was left with... like maybe 4-5 respec tokens for Arylos. The reason why being that most of the respec tokens dropped were bind on pick up. As a result, I experimented with a pathfinder build. Just a few notes here.

1. Pathfinders are good for trappers and archers. Surprisingly good. All I need to say this was imagining how a pathfinder would play under either paragon tree. So yeah, I never used pathfinder on archery and trapper.

2. However, pathfinders do have a fast attacking game (apart from Ambush and Bear Trap). The single target firing rate is top notch since Hunter's Teamwork and Careful Attack are meant as CC-dps support. In other words, just spam Rapid Shot. You can easily empty your magazine in a matter of seconds and I mean it in a good way.

3. To use pathfinders properly, try to unlock Aspect of the Pack where your off-hand artifact weapon is concerned. The dumb thing about this paragon class is a lack of damage when it comes to the class features. The not-so-dumb thing would be having an easier time planning the dps aspect of your class features. I'm not kidding here. How difficult do you think it would be if you're a pathfinder archer? I just need to chuck in Aspect of the Pack and Aspect of the Falcon. Problem solved. Just make sure you got Stillness of the Forest feat at max rank.

4. Using a pathfinder means you'll need to focus more on the offensive where the gear is concerned. This is the direct opposite when it comes to using a stormwarden. Also, this part is referring to those crazy enough to choose the combat tree. Incidentally, I happened to be crazy enough to do just that.

5. You see that Pathfinder's Action tooltip? Yeah, just use it if you don't want to waste one encounter power slot on Marauder's Rush. Do take note, however, that this approach works better only if you have two direct damage encounters with low cooldown plus Plant Growth. Anything apart from that and... well, you get where this is going.

6. Despite messing around with this experimental build, Arylos actually got into the top 5 of every Marauders event. That's really guano loco if you're to ask me considering there were surely other alliance mates having a better AoE and dps game.

7. After some time in deliberation, I decided to switch back to the original Sanders. It's not that I hate using pathfinders. Geared and used properly, this paragon class can pack a real punch despite having only defensive or utility paragon class features. The catch with the whole deal lies in the need to unlearn every single thing I've learnt so far as a stormwarden HR. And that's NOT what I'm out to do as a gamer.

Closing note: Back to Zero

Yep, it's back to zero. Well, sorta. I just want to close this post with a reminder on how awesome Skirmisher's Gambit can be. If you're a stormwarden combat spec, you better get this feat maxed out. Dumbing down the critical chance may look... well, dumb. However, the fact that Clear the Ground is a burst attack means the crit chance penalty getting some semblance of mitigation. Assuming you're using CtG as your default at-will plus having a crit chance of 45% or so, SG can fetch you a handsome sum of damage. Quite contrary to whatever intuitive opinions from the gamers, vorpal isn't the only bet in exploiting a maxed out SG. With a 45% crit chance (or somewhere around that), lightning can be a very good option as well. The cooldown reduction is always a must for any combat HR due to the Blade Hurricane feat. Once you upgraded the lightning enchantment to pure, a 100% chance to chain proc thrice means a higher frequency to proc flurry. Coupled with CtG and setting this at-will as your off-hand artifact weapon power choice, you can be assured the fireworks involved may well be more spectacular than Guy Fawkes blowing up the whole of Westminster.

Note: Guy Fawkes blowing up the whole of Westminster should be seen as #fakenews fyi. Seriously, the Gunpowder Plot was actually declared an epic fail.

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.