Total Recall

The joke must have been getting stale right now. Suffice to say, it wasn't a happy festive season for those who support Boro. Results don't look good to me, we got hit by a triple whammy. We're officially in trouble, we may end up getting relegated by end of season. To make things worse, I wasn't able to do my tactical tweeting due to getting the wrong idea on the kick-off time for our match against Leicester (apparently, I mistook 2030 hr for 2230 hr).
Thankfully, the parachute payment given this time round is quite hefty. I've read somewhere that the amount actually outstrips the prize money Chelsea won for winning the league during Mourinho's first tenure as the boss.

Which now comes that 14 million dollar question:
Assuming that I'm good enough to go anywhere as a strategist no different from the likes of Zhang Liang and Guo Jia, will I choose to play a part in my country's national football future or to be part of a relegated Middlesbrough Football Club?

Let me be this brutally frank: I will choose a second-tier Middlesbrough over my country.

I know a lot of my fellow S'poreans will judge me and call me a traitor even though I do not have any intention to swap my passport (read: Singapore doesn't allow dual citizenship fyi). However, I must also state that if my national football team wins gold for the SEA games or the AFC Suzuki Cup, I'll be glad for my nation and fellow Singaporeans. Beyond that, however, I'm already emotionally detached from local football. Unlike my national football team, however, I'm still emotionally attached to Middlesbrough Football Club. That's why if I'm really good enough, I won't stay here. I will go to Middlesbrough, top flight football or no top flight football.

In this sense, Arylos is actually my reflection. He doesn't see himself as part of the Tel-quessir despite being one of them. His patron deity is never part of the Seldarine, for his god is Kelemvor (read: he doesn't give a damn to the fact that Sehanine Moonbow also oversees death in the same way Kelemvor does). Ironically, Cyrea is exactly the direct opposite when it comes to the same sense of belonging. Thory was right after all. Opposites do attract.

Arigatou gozaimasu, Nasu-san. At least you gave me a good festive season gift. :)
I must have done something right unintentionally.

My recent Total Recalls: First impression

Basically, I'll do a general summary on all my seven characters. However, I don't see myself splitting focus anytime soon. The reason why being that Mod 10 and 10.5 are more for players specializing in one particular character in their respective roster than the all-rounder type. However, I may devote my playing to Arylos and one more character of my choice per week. As for the dungeons and skirmishes when it comes to my alts, I'll most likely be focusing on the standard dungeons and the Underdark skirmishes (albeit I won't discount running any T1 content since all my character are legit for that).

Note: Because my sis is always a bandwidth glutton due to her constant (streaming) diet of East Asian shows, I may need to do it fast. Whenever she starts watching Running Man or I am a Singer, the internet will straightaway go chaotic neutral at best, Supreme Throne mode at worst (which is most of the time).

Add note: Above part was done last night or so. Because there's no way for the Kuok family to compromise our digital convenience, I decided to start writing/blogging once my sis decides to stream her fave shows like this one below.

Vid uploaded by LeeKwangJa7012

Simril: The only event where you can get respec tokens for free

There's a very good reason why I like the Simril event. On average, I can get like 4-5 respec tokens (including the bind on pickup ones from the parcel drop). This gives me more chances to experiment with various builds of the characters I now have. Out of my seven characters, only Myrreas and Arylos will remain un-respec for now. Due to the relevance of companion active bonus, however, I'll include the two as well.

Cyrea:

Since she's gotten herself a BoP respec token, I might as well open it. The thing with saving space when it comes to respec tokens is very simple: If you get one on a BoP basis, just open it. It won't go into your shared bank anyway. As of now, I've got no intention of turning away from her righteous (paragon) path. The righteous tree is very flexible. In fact, it's the most flexible tree out of the three paragon paths. Virtuous is all abt mass defense/AP buffing while faithful is all abt mass heal (read; the devoted cleric will always be top tier in terms of AoE range. That is unless the devs decide to do some new class named primal druid or wandering bard for the next mod).

The righteous tree, however, is a different ball game. Not only is it the sole dps option (read: most likely a divine oracle unless you use Anointed Action as an anointed champion) available (read: you'll most likely need Light of Divinity, Guardian of Faith, and Divine Glow. Or something along that line), it can also be used as a buff-debuff spec (read: Hallowed Ground raid spam. Little wonder the devs nerfed it after mod 5). For Cyrea, she belongs to the latter. If I am to use her respec, most likely the focus will be more on the feats than anything else (I may set Searing Light on a rank 3 or 4 though since this move can be absurdly useful for a righteous spec due to the AoE fireworks in Divinity mode). Initially, I spent like 10 points in the Faithful tree. Turned out that it was a mistake on my part in the sense that I shouldn't have done Prestigious Exaltation. Quite likely the 10 points will go to either Have Faith and Urgent Prayers or Have Faith and Desperate Restoration. Either way, I'll need a rank 4 Astral Shield.

And one more thing: Augment companion. If you're using augment companion, it means you should only be a righteous devoted cleric since the stats can (and will) go a long way in maximizing the Avatar.

A/N to self: Arylos got himself a Sabino Destrier. Two in fact. With Sheperd's Devotion being every manner of devoted cleric's BFF, this means Cyrea is on her way to be the Neverwinter Six's equivalent of Dany mounted on a Sabino Destrier. Now if only I know which horsey to switch down. And yeah, there's also this dress as well.

Korey:

She still has one respec on standby. However, I don't see myself using it unless I want to change her to a trapper. The thing with the archery tree is that the entire planning process is very straightforward. Just dump everything into your offensive feats. Period. If you're to do that, it means you still have 10 feat points to spare. If you're to ask me, there's no point investing them somewhere else (note: the only hunter ranger paragon path which can be useful via 5-15 feat points going elsewhere is the trapper).

Note: Ever tried the most bs stance switch tactic as a trapper? Stance switch>Oak Skin>Master Trapper gets proc'd>shoot it like Deadpool. I'm not bs'ing you all. It's actually doable and efficient in ways more than one.

Bhaasmond:

The devs gave a free respec to all oathbound paladins created before November. Basically, it means Bhaasmond got it as well. I really need to fix his build. Big time. Which is why the free respec couldn't come at a better time. Initially, I dumped 4 points in Aura of Courage and Aura of Protection. Problem is, this combination tends to get my companion KO. Before Mod 6, your companion can get away with 90% of the circumstances even if the odds were heavily stacked against your BFF. And that includes a common rank comp. This time round (or rather the devs have alrdy done that), even a rare companion can get the KO. Unless ofc you choose to use a rare Rimefire Golem (plus pure Loyal Defender gear setup with rank 7 dark enchantment in every defensive gear slot).

So what I did in the respec process is to max out Aura of Protection and Aura of Radiance. I know not many ppl may like AoR because it tends to disrupt play via constant aggro (read: all the AoE bs will go to you 99% of the time). However, the damage given means one thing: Everyone else on your side can just open fire with impunity. The best part of the deal? You can play a pure tankadin (read: Oath of Protection under the bulwark tree) and reach around 3rd spot in any dps ranking. In fact, AoR synergizes absurdly well with Radiant Strike if you want to play a rushdown tank (read: only for pure tankadins). The justice tree may have been nerfed, but it doesn't relegate the OP to the untouchable caste).

As for changes done to Circle of Power, it's definitely good news for everybody. The stupid thing behind the previous version is you're the only one receiving the boost. Nobody else can have it. It's a dog-in-the-manger logic in a very twisted way. This time round, it gives the same bonus to every ally in the area. Coupled with the usage of any Ring of Focus (both Sudden and Rising are equally useful if I say so myself), and you'll get one hell of a beast.

A/N: I got a BoP respec on Bhaasmond, I respec'd him into a justice tankadin w/15 feat pts going into the bulwark end (read: Unflinching Resolve+Stand Fast+Sanctity). At the same time, I decided to up the dps crit as much as possible (read: Wisdom+Charisma+Weapon Mastery+Wrathful Strikes+Force of Will). Tricky part lies in aggro grab. Which is why I decided to try out Vow of Enmity to see how things will go compared to Binding Oath. Also, there's this issue of whether a low cooldown will work against me due to Purifying Fire. If this works, credit will go to some crazy speedrun OP named Mad Willy for inspiring me to justice. Otherwise, it's my fault that Titanic sank and Camelot collapsed.

Thanks to my super mignonne legal housebreaker, I got to know this clip.

Thanks to Mad Willy's Cookie Monster, I decided to gift Bhaasmond a Big Bird.

Kariss:
Used her BoP respec, have to say the result is far better than I otherwise expected. Before the respec, my choice of daily powers was Gates of Hell (for general usage) and Flames of Phlegethos (for boss fight or against any fellow resembling a big sized giant). Post-respec, it's Gates of Hell and Tyrannical Curse. On the encounter powers, I opted for Arms of Hadar (aka that bitch slap move), Wraith's Shadow (aka your BFF in the CC dept), and Pillar of Power (aka your BFF in the defensive dept). Apart from the issue of aiming (read: game lags>shit happens>because you're not using a tank), this is a very good build when it comes to mixing up the dps and CC. Suffice to say, Kariss is still having a good time bitch slapping those minions from the Abyss (read: curse them>slap them>control them>Parting Blasphemy>fireworks [nigh] irreversible). Just remember to max out Vengeful Curse with Pillar of Power and Gates of Hell on standby whenever possible.

Note: To make the CC BFF look even more badass as every warlock's BFF, Tyrannical Curse will NOT remove the curse if Wraith's Shadow is to be used as a follow-up. Which is CC galore, but a trade-off bummer for Parting Blasphemy.

Add Note: Kariss is still a mistress of temptation from the Nine Hells. Only difference lies in 5 pts going to Parting Blasphemy and 5 pts going to Critical Promise. Also, Lifedrinker is super effective due to Dark Revelry (aka buff orgy). Choosing the Temple lifesteal boon instead of the Stables defense boon doesn't really affect the efficiency, believe it or not (credit goes to Pillar of Power due to that absurdly high-end defensive ward).

Myrreas:
No intent to respec, the fact that he nvr got any BoP respec merely makes things easier. After all, I don't like seeing a daily reminder to respec in the character sheet screen unless I really want to. Still an AoE-centric scoundrel. However, I was actually deciding which encounter move to use as his bread-and-butter AoE (read: if you can't do a decent AoE game as a trickster rogue, you might as well go saboteur. Ironically, the only perma-stealth paragon tree is actually far harder to master). Smoke Bomb is nice to have, but it's mainly used as CC instead of dps. Which is not what I want since I've discovered his dps was too damn low. Then again, the scoundrel tends to be the lowest dps build available (after anema reworked the combat hunter ranger, the scoundrel is officially at the bottom of the dps pecking order). An irony, given how trickster rogues are known for being hdps. Then again, I'm pretty sure very few ppl actually choose scoundrel.

So I decided to go Path of Blades. Which is a good move to have due to the DD stack (read: Damage-Daze stack, not whatever absurd expectation of your girlfriend's cup size). If there's any bummer related to any scoundrel build, it'll be against control immune enemies.

Note: Control immunity can be misleading at times, if not most of the time. The reason being immunity to certain control effects rather than all of them).

Add Note: The in-game tooltip concerning Skullcracker seems to indicate a bug preventing the stealth meter refill to proc. Either that or more likely someone forgot to mod the coding.

Sheallyn:
If there's anyone who should be credited with Joe "Italian Joe+Spanish Allen=Jewish Joe Allen" Allen's success north of Wales, it is never Brendan "Brendan, wa si lin laopeh..." Rodgers. Rather, it's Mark "more than just a Maes?" Hughes. Not only does he reminds me of a player whose last name happens to be that of his nation, both of them are truly indebted to a Brit who happens to be anything but English. If the man named Allen should be the new generation of Superman minus the granny (amazingly enough, we have grannies everywhere in the UK), then Shea is the Rule 63 Allen (if there is any lady named Allen, I apologize for this unintentional offense).

Tbh, I really like the way her spellstorm mage thaumaturge is panning out. The dps was shaping up nicely in the form of Eye of the Storm and Storm Spell (read: basically the only reason why any spellstorm mage would use those two class features). However, the German bastard in me desired to tinker with her one more time (at least for now). Which now comes to the master of flame. Because I wanted to try something absolutely new, I decided to go renegade. In comparison with the lore, the renegade is quite surprisingly... well, drow in nature. We have plenty chaos being thrown about. Chaotic Regrowth (i.e. heal it like Wolverine and Deadpool), Chaotic Nexus (i.e. beat it like Sol Badguy), and Chaotic Fury (i.e. eat it like Ragna the Bloodedge). Pick your choice of chaos. Period.

The reason why the mass majority of players choose spellstorm mage is very simple. This is your classic wizard where everything is about destruction first, the rest second. If you want to play debuff first, destruction second, then you might as well play as a druid. If only the logic is that straightforward. Let me just say that the master of flame needs more love. Yet, it's also anything but the mainstream choice. It's like choosing between Taylor "gone (swiftly) in 60 secs" Swift and Loreena "Voice of the Canuckland" McKennitt. 90% of the music audience will choose to be a Swiftie (or Katy-Cat for that matter).

The survival capability boasted by the renegade (be it spellstorm mage or master of flame) should have alrdy been well documented. Key lies in Chaos Magic where you can just reverse the fight in the most epic manner possible (then again, none of us including the white people should be considered white. The black guy might be the nearest thing to the mark though...). There have been moments where the drow girl named Allen ended up getting unwanted aggro in the Sharandar campaign zone (more specifically the Realm of Malabog. No jokes based on Tagalog here pls). It's a no-brainer that whatever stuff you get to fight there have a high resistance to arcane damage. Or more specifically whatever bs any control wizard can throw at them. Imagine my surprise upon realizing that the drow girl named Allen managed to melt every mob like a furnace melting metal. It's like the lad named Allen creating havoc as a false 9. Period.

However, it's during the random dungeon/skirmish run that I realized why the master of flame is so dangerously underrated. I don't know abt the other two paragon trees, but using this MoF renegade build below is a recipe for being a MoF Xavi/Pirlo.

At-will powers: Chilling Cloud; Scorching Burst
Encounter powers: Fanning the Flame; Disintegrate; Steal Time
Spell mastery slot: Entangling Force
Daily powers: Furious Immolation; Ice Knife
Class features: Arcane Presence; Critical Conflagration

Artifact power: Chilling Cloud and Arcane Presence


This build is mainly for skirmishes, non-boss fights in dungeons, and solo running. Even without Shield, this build can keep you alive due to one-shot arcane stacking via a magically enhanced Entangling Force. Steal Time under normal usage is all about stun and slow based on the arcane stacks, so getting a maximum 5 stack game is both critical and quite easy to pull off. Because I focused the stat points on Intelligence and Charisma, what this means is that the drow girl named Allen is now high on crit (read: Intelligence affects base damage while Charisma affects base crit).

Because of the absurd versatility behind the master of flame, I have to mess around quite a bit to get my ideal combination right. Key to this is smolder bunching. Basically, this means bunching the mob together so that you can create a mass smolder effect by doing a Scorching Burst. Tricky thing behind pulling off this at-will power lies in a 50-50 chance of getting it right. Against opponents of average mobility or lower, it's very easy to a smolder bunch via holding down the mouse button. Against those of higher end mobility, this is where the problem comes. You can't hold down till the limit, you'll have to click and release. With Entangling Force in the spell mastery slot, it makes things far easier to do the smolder bunch. And that's not considering the smolder effect caused by Critical Conflagration upon crit.

Below is the boss fight variation of the Xavirlo MoF. Changes will be highlighted in bold italics.

At-will powers: Chilling Cloud; Scorching Burst
Encounter powers: Fanning the Flame; Disintegrate/Ray of Enfeeblement; Icy Terrain/Conduit of Ice
Spell mastery slot: Steal Time
Daily powers: Furious Immolation; Ice Knife
Class features: Arcane Presence; Critical Conflagration

Artifact power: Chilling Cloud and Arcane Presence


Only two things got changed. Icy Terrain is all about defense in case something happens out of nowhere. Due to the need for dps, however, I'll most likely go with Conduit of Ice. As for Steal Time in the spell mastery slot, it's like Xavirlo playing a (match winning) pass blind. Instead of inducing stun and slow, it now gives you (and your entire team) the ability to boss frag. Ultimately, the only catch lies in maximizing the arcane stacks. Which tbh is no biggie at all so long you spam Scorching Burst (plus a maxed out Arcane Burst). 3 hit Chilling Cloud>Scorching Burst>Fanning the Flame>Steal Time+Chilling Cloud combo>end it with Disintegrate. Alternatively, Ray of Enfeeblement is a good way to mess the boss up. After all, the drow girl named Allen is meant to control any fight like Xavirlo Allen.

Note: Lightning enchantment may easily be the reason why melting any mob is a possibility. Bar the transcendent version lagging the game like a Prism spam and low chance of unwanted aggro grab, it's absurdly effective to the core. Def the most underrated epic weapon enchantment ever.

Add note: To make the deal even better, I moved her blue Rimefire Golem's Loyal Defender gear to this black ice dude. Jack "here's Johnny!" Nicholson.

Korey also got the same black ice dude, his name is Jack Nicholson.
Hope SHyn Corp don't go after me like mad Johnny since Korey is based on their Freyja.

A/N: Nearly forgot to mention that I gave Korey that free Princess Leia dress as her Simril present.

Arylos:
Finally, I've reached the end. Okay, the main reason why I nvr respec'd my main is down to plenty of stuff alrdy maxed out at rank 4. Because there's a need to up the dps value, I decided to try out Aspect of the Pack with Blade Storm as his class features. Alternatively, I can try out Blade Storm and Twin-Blade Storm. Only problem? This synergy may be the highest dps option for a combat spec, but it only works against mobs numbering more than 2. So yeah, not interested in using a class feature which can turn up as a white elephant under certain circumstances.

The main problem so far before I decided on the switch lies in Aspect of the Lone Wolf. The good thing about this class feature is that it gives much-needed survivability. The bad thing is that what I've said here is only relevant prior to anema's reworked combat tree. With the reworked Battlecrazed giving Arylos 15% deflection bonus more oft than not (read: Clear the Ground), this means there's no point in using that class feature due to the Stables defense boon being my preferred choice to the Temple lifesteal boon. Together with the Survivor's Blessing effect conferred by a Heavy Howler (plus the mount stat bonus of 2K crit), being a loner is basically out of the question.

Suffice to say, the effect was devastating. In the Baphomet weekly fight, that ManBearGoat managed to take out more HP from Arylos. However, it's only expected since...

1. The devs now have the habit of reviewing the difficulty level of any given fight across all zones, skirmishes, dungeons, and trials. This is especially evident in the end-game campaign content. Quite notably, the ante in any Maze Engine fight has been upped.

2. No more Aspect of the Lone Wolf=GAR.

And it does help that Arylos was inspired by Archer due to my sis' bandwidth gluttony forcing me to play with plenty of steel.

One key change which I may be doing lies in the party skillset. The reason why being that annoying great weapon fighter dash. No matter how hard I try (read: think/analyze), the only way for me to catch up is the speed buff given by the Howling Weapon set. If I'm to use the Twisted Weapon set, it means I'll need to close in asap without the advantage of accelerated pace. Problem with the combat tree lies in the short dodge range. What this means is this: playing the combat spec is very disadvantageous because you'll lose out to the great weapon fighters (i.e. running forward like Guts going all out to kill Griffith) and trickster rogue (i.e. long dodge range plus decent ranged dps, just do it like your fave Assassin's Creed hero). This aspect of party gameplay can be painfully evident in fights like Throne of the Dwarven Gods.

Ultimately, I decided to eschew Plant Growth for Marauder's Rush. The nice thing about the latter move lies in the surprise element. Pull it off and watch the question marks floating above them. If you can make the opponent(s) go wth, it means you'll have that brief window of advantage to exploit.

Note: 3 tanks and 2 dps (including Arylos) in Throne of the Dwarven Gods. The outcome? We could have gotten gold if not for our screw-up in the hostage rescue phase (read: silver+gold+gold=silver). Don't thank me, thank Aspect of the Pack.

Add note: Been messing around with Marauder's Rush with the undead ice fishing victim in Twilight Tor being the training dummy. Bar the sudden lag after execution, I find chaining Disruptive Shot from this move to be quite lethal due to Aimed Strike being the follow-up hit.

P.S: This year's Simril has been quite hilarious. If you think the chat zone at Protector's Enclave is pure drivel, that's because you've yet to noticed what has transpired during this year's Simril event. I'm not gonna add any caption because it's best to go natural like your natural Korean beauty.

Add P.S: Yes, I know the cropping was very screwed up. Period.

The Back of a Man (aka nothing to do with 김정삼)

In case you're wondering why you got 3 Korean words, it's because I'm feeling really naughty rather than nice atm. Recently, the southern end of the Korean Peninsula has experienced a political upheaval rivaling whatever politics going on in Pyongyang. Any speculations on whether Pyongyang will fire nukes as a form of gunfire celebration should be greeted with a "Choi! Touch wood, touch wood!" However, surely this will give the liberal/moderate left some much-needed momentum to wrest control of 청와대 from the conservative/moderate right. If you don't understand Korean fonts, it's okay. Just treat the aforementioned words as the blue version of the White House.

Playing the devil's advocate

Well, not quite literally since I'm no Keanu "associated with the devil?" Reeves. Recently, something happened. On the first glance, this looks like a big deal. Once we look further in, we realized that there will always be two types of raiders. The first are the astral diamond farmers. The new change won't affect them beyond the amount of astral diamonds gained via salvage. The second are the ones who will be at the receiving end. Namely those out to hunt their ideal gear. At this point of time, the four main slots won't be affected (i.e. head, arms, body, feet). The gear system is now standardized in this context. The actual problem lies in the artifacts, be it artifact gear or standard artifact. At the same time, it will also affect those out to hunt that elusive +5 ring of their choice.

One thing I find it annoying at times lies in a severe lag in the epic dungeon servers every now and then. Granted the situation is now far better, but any 2 x seals event will still ensure the same old thing. In addition, the Temple of Tiamat epic trial can be very frustrating because you'll be forced to play against the lag. There are two possible reasons behind this: Either it's the connection or too many people are playing in the same instance server (funnily enough, Pirate King's Retreat has been very laggy despite being a normal dungeon).

If it's the connection, then the overall gameplay should be affected, not just one aspect. If it's an epic raid issue, then it's safe to say that too many people are playing in the same instance server (in particular, Temple of Tiamat tends to drop better loot than normal and master Demogorgon).

Having a choice to accept the loot is good, but this may easily lead to an overload of the specific instance servers. If you don't like the loot, try again. Even for an hourly epic trial, it merely means people are tempted to try more than once per day.

Ultimately, I'll be happy if this can resolve the instance server lag when it comes to end-game content. However, the devs have to do something to address a legit concern. Namely, the drop rate of better loot. At this point of time, only Fangbreaker Island will guarantee you at least a +4 epic ring. Drop rate for any +4 or +5 rings is very abysmal beyond Fangbreaker Island. In the past, you can easily get a +4 ring of any type in epic Demogorgon. However, the devs nerfed the whole damn thing. Case in point: Getting gold for epic Demogorgon will still likely fetch you a +2 ring more oft than not.
And this is not including the drop rate for stuff like Shard of Valindra's Crown, Emblem of the Seldarine, and Lostmauth's Horn of Blasting.

Another thing of note lies in the amount of rough astral diamonds salvaged from the gear. Either Cryptic should do more 2 x astral diamonds events or they might as well increase the amount of salvaged rough astral diamonds (most notably for T1 raids). The reworked invocation system may fetch more rough astral diamonds via content, but it's still a touch and go for your main character of choice. If there's anything to go by, Storm King's Thunder and Sea of Moving Ice are more for veteran gamers who know 100% what they're doing (read: not every gamer has a TIL of 2.8-3.5K). In the meantime, we might as well save the faerzress for that 4K rough astral diamonds option.

Sea of Moving Ice (first impression)

Going by my father's more oft than not griping over rising utility costs, it seems that I really need to have a girlfriend who is rich, beautiful, and intelligent. Jokes made at the expense of my beautiful legal housebreaker aside, the Sea of Moving Ice is both a surreal ride and a frustrating grind.

Let's get the fomorian president out of the office first. I really hate it that the fishing aspect is so terribly done. So terribly done, it's even worse than a half-baked dish of German baked fish. This was due to me pressing the keys rather than holding them down. Let me offer a surefire way to make the fish work for you instead of the other way round. See the arrow lighting up? Don't just press the key. Hold it down until it hit cooldown. In this way, you won't have to watch the paint dry. Period. How did I get the trick, it's all written in your quest journal.

Another area of contention lies in the DualShock effect. Those who have played games on PS2 and beyond will know what is DualShock. It's not funny to see that damn DualShock effect halfway in the zone. Which will definitely happen once you stay too long stranded on a khyek. I don't know about you, but it happened to me. Whether it's really a case of Cryptic testing my patience on a deliberate basis remains to be verified. Thanks to my insane level of single-focus, I managed to pull through without any signs of nausea (read: I initially didn't know how to make the fish work for me). I know this statement sounds like me describing myself as Elminster Aumar, but trust me when I say it's not funny. Let alone the normal gamer cursed with a lesser extent of focus and calm. Perhaps it's true that while I don't have Lancer's technique, I do have Archer's steel.

Another thing before I continue. Server non-response will screw your fishing trip ten times worse than it already is. Period. And it's still there. At least for me before I stumbled upon the magic formula.

And now for the surreal. I really like the khyek once it starts moving. A bit like driving your Tesla car on autopilot mode minus the risk of fatal accident. You don't need to be a Tesla girl or a Tesla guy to get into the groove of things. The terrain is mainly sea with floating pieces of ice peppered here and there (albeit sporadically). It's weirdly therapeutic for freaks like me, a bit like admiring the scenery of Mount Fuji while in a coach. The feeling was especially nice once I've had enough of watching the paint dry while holding a fishing rod. Yes, I know this sounds absolutely van Gogh. Trust me when I say I know a wee bit about how he felt when he's still alive. I've been through it from Henderson Primary School to Gan Eng Seng School and all the way till ITE Dover and 32 SIB. Even though it may be just 10% of the real deal.

Onto the combat. Let me say that I really love it. Unlike the 5 Icewind Dale battle zones, fighting the enemy is like seeing Liverpool FC having a go at Man City and vice versa. You're fighting in open space, there's little to no cover. What this means is very simple: It's basically every melee fighter's Warrior's Rest. For ranged characters (including ofc any manner of devoted cleric), it requires a higher level of technique because you won't get much of a chance to let loose from whatever high ground available (read: little to none). Which really says something.
As a result, the enemy is tougher. Most notable is the increase in overall defense. Even the squishiest ice hunter must take considerable damage to make him drop. The only thing tougher than an ice hunter mob is two abominable yetis or a few giants (yet to try my hand against the physically enhanced ice trolls*, but I won't be surprised if they're actually tougher than any ice hunter mob, bear or no bear).

*Correction here. I find those evolved blue critters to be easier to deal with compared to those ice hunters bereft of sense. However, Neverwinter is also all about what manner of character build you have.

Another thing worthy of note is this: Do NOT engage the giants unless you're very damned sure the aggro won't go after you like a pack of rapists. I tried testing this out via Arylos (no gay jokes here, tyvm). It didn't go well since it took a Soulforged effect to prevent a repeat of Deadpool.

If you must take down one or a few, you must start from any nearby mob. Giants and yetis are the hardest critters to take down in this current mod (i.e. including Storm King's Thunder as well). If you want to start from the biggest kahunas, it's your funeral.

And now onto Korey

When we talk about Koreans, one thing comes to mind: plastic surgery. Historically, however, Koreans are known for their history of getting invaded. During the Three Kingdoms era (i.e. Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla), China was a threat. Years later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided to emulate the Tang dynasty. Another thing Koreans are well known for is a culture of shooting. This has got nothing to do with what Koreans do daily with their internet, let alone the worst aspect of (local) misogyny. It's all about artillery quite literally. While I'm very sure Koryo as part of Kara-tur was inspired by the actual Koreans, I can't really answer you whether they're really that damn good in terms of archery. That question should go to Ed "not a Miliband" Greenwood.

So far so good, I didn't do much to tweak her gameplay. The best thing about choosing the archery tree isn't just about the hdps dept (fyi, archer hunter rangers are officially imba tier. Still can't totally believe Korey can out-dps a dps teammate of a higher item level). It's also about the ease of planning. Just dump all your paragon feat points into all the damage based feats. Trust me when I say there's more than enough feat points to go around.

The only major tweaks done lie in my choice of second daily power and class feature. Because I've got no intention to compromise the dps, Aspect of the Pack remains as her staple class feature. Initially, I chose Aspect of the Falcon due to the dps front. Because I think like a Catalan Pep and that German Löw, I decided to experiment with other variations. Turned out that Pathfinder's Action is quite a neat alternative if you're worried about the defensive end. For starters, Ghostwalker compliments Aspect of the Falcon very well due to that 25% stamina regeneration. If you choose Hasty Retreat, however, that's where things would go wrong. Hasty Retreat is all about putting a distance between yourself and the enemy (read: it's a better jailbreak option compared to Ghostwalker). Ultimately, Ghostwalker can only do this much/little if your mobility isn't good enough (something which the hdps archery build would most likely face). Pathfinder's Action basically maximizes the usage of Hasty Retreat since this is not an aggro-break feat. Done in an offensive way, your archer would be running circles around the mob. Not only would this combination benefit the tank, it also minimizes the chances of getting aggro (read: not every aggro operates under rank and file. The mind flayers and Thayan servitors, in particular, can be quite problematic). If it's a combination of this and Aspect of the Falcon, it will increase your ranged dps game. If it's a combination of this and Aspect of the Pack, it means upping the dps no matter how you look at it (note: Aspect of the Pack also confers a random ally combat advantage. Which means this combination is more of a high end dps support approach during any party raid).

As for the choice of second daily power, I changed my pick to Slasher's Mark. Initially, I wanted to make Korey look cool. Then I realized it's pointless to do that so long she has Aspect of the Falcon slotted in. So I decided to experiment a bit by slotting in Pathfinder's Action in place of Aspect of the Falcon. The rest, as people enjopy saying, is history (read: Disruptive Shot for 25% of your AP=FC Barcelona or Die Nationalelf, take your pick).

A/N: They say a dog is the BFF of every man/woman. Apart from Lotte, we now have Freud.

The Back of a Man

Before I start, let me just say that I won't be writing anything online for the time being. The chaotic aftermath of this year's US presidential election means one thing:

I cannot claim to have empathy when it comes to the voters' sentiments. That would make me a liar. However, I do have the freedom to choose whether to help out in whatever way I can. The cue for me to start saying something lies in what Hillary Clinton will say in the days to come. I want her to address the crowd, I want her to tell them straight in the face that they're doing nothing to further their own cause (read: I need to ask where has the love gone since vitriol is no different from hate). If there's any Forgotten Realms character I'd use to describe the average Joe and everyday Jane in America, that'd be Artemis Entreri.

If you can't read the words, it's okay.

[The girl without her name looked on with a mixture of fear and awe. Fear because she'd rather die than to return. Returning to slavery and returning to those horrid men taking pleasure in breaking her resolve. In Thay, power was everything. To the Thayans, domination would always demand more than one means to achieve the ultimate end. Screams of agony haunted her at every step, every breath she drew invoked terrifying images of reality. Naked women were dragged from the slavers' tents only to be violated again, even girls at her age were not spared.

Then there was the feeling of awe. She remembered with chaotic emotions something being told to her, some kind of story perhaps by someone she regarded as an older sister.

"Whenever the princess is in trouble, her prince will arrive to save her. Even if a prince is not around, a knight will take his place."

There stood her princely knight, his shadow looming larger than his frame. His ears were long and pointed, his sharp features fiercely proud and hauntingly rugged. He betrayed nary an emotion, yet the tranquil fury in his amber eyes was unmistakeable.

Three servitors were slain, their mindless wrath no match for Arylos' tactical wit. The Or-tel-quessir marked his territory with understanding, the Thayans stepped into his subtle trap. Outfought as a result of being outmaneuvered, only the Red Wizard was left standing. Quaking with anger and not fear, he nevertheless held his ground as his wood elven adversary stalked towards him.

The fury was gone, yet that look of steel remained undiminished. The transition was anything but natural, it was as if her savior was touched by a god. Then it happened abruptly, the wizard teleporting out of sight. Before she knew it, her captor wrapped his fingers around her throat.

"Save her if you can," mocked the Thayan with a raspy voice, his mocking tone betraying an ignorance towards who he's dealing with.

"Go ahead then."

Arylos' callous reply was followed by a dagger tossed to the ground, its tip embedded near the Red Wizard's feet.

"Do you trust me to give you a painless death, little girl?"

She couldn't understand a word of what he said, for no one taught her Elvish. The only language she knew was Koryo, her blood was that of a Koryoan.

A bluish flash then flared its radiance from the soil, from the very ground where the dagger had previously been. Blind and disoriented, the little girl nevertheless kicked free from her monstrous cell. Reacting like a beast with its pride wounded, the Red Wizard cast a fireball with nary a heed. He cared not who would die, let alone himself.

The ball of flames hurtled towards the girl, her knees scrapped from a fall. Arylos grabbed her by the collar, the strength of his arm flinging her aside. With a deft flick of his hand, a dagger pulsating with arcane power collided against that ball of flaming death. An explosion erupted, the extent of its force mitigated due to Arylos' disruptive missile.

The Red Wizard regained his bearings first, but it was Arylos who retrieved his calm and composure. His strategic gambit put paid to, where the arrow would go is only secondary. This was a plan of dual disruption, the arrow lodged in between his quarry's legs.

Ignoring the howling and awkward nature of his aim, Arylos strode forth with a curved blade drawn. He has nothing against the nation of Thay, it should be business as usual. His task was to defend this little piece of land, such obligation towards the Eldreth Veluuthra required neither debt nor a creditor. Yet, there was a grim satisfaction churning inside him. Damning images of the past assailed him, a mind of steel nevertheless prevented his hand from wavering.

"Kelemvor sends his regards."

Those were the words which damned merely two, if not three of Korey's rapists to death. Arylos wasn't a fool, he knew justice was always beyond his reach. But if he could seek even a tiny shred of justice, that'd be enough. Any other lives perished as a result never gnawed at his conscience, for they're merely collateral losses incurred. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Kelemvor grants you mercy and death."

Nary an emotion was detected as Arylos touched the Thayan's chin with the flat of his blade. Then with a casual flick, the quarry has his throat cut. Leaving behind a dead prey and living proof of an accidental heroic act, the ranger never cared whether he's a hero. Because he was never one to start with.

As for the Koryoan girl, she beheld the back of a man as her vision cleared.

It was a portrait filling her with sadness, yet it gave her a semblance of comfort.

Something told her that this was a wounded man walking, a living dead still standing.

It was both a beautiful sight and a heartbreaking image, the measure of reality at its harshest.]

After a long while...

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

Knight of Feywild and Kingslayer: Hero of Neverwinter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And speaking of Cold Run...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Demons and Koreans

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

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

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

Demons and drow

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

45 mins to go...

...before Cryptic's maintenance live feed on Twitch. Figured that I might as well spend my 45 mins in a... well, constructive manner. Hopefully.

Firstly and foremost, let me say a big thank you to anemar. To those who think he/she is my friend, you're wrong. If he/she is my friend, I'd have told you his/her gender. Rather, anemar was one of the developers at Cryptic who recently left in search of greener pastures. I firmly believe anemar will be fondly missed by the community. After all, anemar did do a bang up job so far in communicating with the fanbase and fixing whatever needing a fix. As a result, we got a general gameplay patch list the size of Russia (for the woefully uninformed including my fellow S'poreans as well, Russia is actually the largest country in the world).

Good news(?) for all the aggro monkeys...

I really like what I'm seeing in the patch. This time round, Kariss Locras will have a decent defensive game (in other words, the post-Mod 5 tweaks were no different from the annual Halloween party in Sentosa when it comes to solo PvE). There are some radical changes here, a couple of which will contribute greatly to the fury spec. Out of the 3 paragon skill trees, only seduction offers a decent defensive game (read: good enough to survive the first couple of mob onslaught). Once the patch hit home, I may end up doing a free respec so that Kariss will become a seductive hellbringer (read: I still got problems trying to reconcile her character with her choice of a fury spec).

From whatever little info I've gleaned so far, it seems that the scourge warlock may have been buffed in a less-than-typical manner. The versatility is def there. Ironically, it's not so much of the Dept of Dps Radiation (something and the only thing this aggro monkey class is known for). Rather, the availability of defensive options is the key. The versatility lies in the strategy rather than tactics (i.e. strategy is all about planning the situation, tactics are all about playing with the situation). The presence of defensive upgrading lies mainly in the reworked Infernal Spheres and Blades of the Vanquished Army where the former confers damage resistance while the latter gives you a whopping total of 25% deflection chance. Ask for my opinion, however, and I'll say no to BotVA unless your warlock has a good defensive game boons-wise (read: deflection is a modifier stat instead of a core stat). Infernal Spheres, however, is different ball game. It's basically a game of this. Ultimately, the only way to make either/both means work lies in Warding Curse. This class feature is the most direct way to prevent your warlock from dying instead of having enemies dying. In other words, it's all abt defensive synergy rather than just a one-shot fix.

Interestingly, the warlock gamers seemed to have a different opinion. Quite the opposite tbh. They said the class got nerfed. If so, then it's most likely down to the reworking of Tyrannical Curse. Either that or I'm not seeing enough information here. Ofc there's this question of curse expend instead of curse synergy. If it's true that 90% of the original curse expend has been replaced with curse synergy by time you guys (and gals) see this post, then surely it's a massive nerf on the one-shot dps. If there's any trade-off as a result, it will be a sustainable dps game instead of one-shot nuking. Which would go a long way in explaining why the warlocks believe that the aggro monkeys are currently devolving instead of evolving. So much for evolution and Darwinism. *shrugs*

Kariss Locras' (ideal) theme

Blame the Koreans?

It may have become semi-official now. The hunter ranger class has gotten an upgrade. A massive upgrade no less. In fact, I'm pretty sure detractors (i.e. those who have been whining abt great weapon fighters and guardian fighters) will start crying foul due to what they'll eventually see (read: the Korean logic). As a hunter ranger from Mod 4 unto now, does Arylos give a two hoots' damn about this or that? The answer is an obvious no. After all, the concept of conflict between outcome and process do have its legit moments.

With that being said, the new changes are anything but a form of persona non grata. In Prince Andy's own words, awesome. I don't know whether my future girlfriend does have a habit of using this word, but awesome is basically what I'd use to describe the changes. There's virtually zero nerfing to be seen here. Only a reworked system where we may easily end up seeing great weapon fighters like this one below.

Not to mention combat hunter rangers as well for reasons quite the opposite...

One of the greatest reasons (if not the greatest) why hunter rangers were so used to griping like a bunch of Singaporeans is due to a legit concern of every other class out-dps'ing them left, right, and centre. If even a guardian fighter can out-dps your hdps archer, it means serious business afoot. And trust me when I say it's true that guardian fighters do have a decent probability of doing just that (hilariously enough, even a devoted cleric can out-dps Kariss despite her being a fur(r)y spec. >.<).

Ofc I could have made a switch in terms of my choice of main (in fact, I'm far more of a trickster rogue than a hunter ranger, gameplay style wise). Fortunately (albeit belatedly as well), I chose to emulate a true blue talent (disclaimer: there is nothing of note when it comes to whether there's a relationship of inspiration between the real Suárez and the real Arylos).

The changes in the archery tree lie in the feats more than anything else. Granted certain moves got tweaked (Aspect of the Falcon, in particular, will surely make Korey into the Jeanne d'Arc of all things artillery), but the gamechanger stops at the feats rather than the encounter powers. A lot will be said on whether Aimed Shot has officially become the new face of drastic evolution as a form of gaming science, but the feats will remain as the mainstay of the archery tree.

A bit on the Aimed Shot here. I'll have to admit that plenty of archers will want to use this. However, the tricky part lies in having only two at-will slots. For the stormwardens, it's easily a no-brainer as all they need to do is slotting an Aimed Shot plus a quick-firing at-will. It's only when you're a pathfinder where things will get interesting. The oft understated strength of the HR lies in a fast at-will offensive game. Which is why having two slow firing at-wills would have defeated the purpose of playing one. It's either Aimed Shot or Hunter's Teamwork, I can assure you of that. Do not underestimate the impact behind such a dilemma. As I've said, the main player in the improved archer HR lies in the feats. In other words, it's up to the gamer to decide whether the Quarry feat is still worth the 5 pts (read: feats synergy has always been the mainstay behind every build). And this is not to mention the potential dps catastrophe caused by a Quarry+Hunter's Teamwork+Carefule Attack+same target. It's doable, trust me. I'm the one creating Korey as both a playable character and part of the Neverwinter Six saga for crying out loud!

Which now comes to the trapper. Basically, not much has been changed. The only notable change lies in the cooldown aspect where Swiftness of the Fox and Forestbond is concerned. More specifically the buggy multi-cooldown effect (which wasn't intended in the first place, I'm sure of that). As for the multi-proc of Biting Snares, I'm pretty sure it means sustaining the effect via rapid stance switch (read: using two grasping roots attacks in one go). In other words, there's nothing much being fixed for the trapper apart from buggy issues in every sense of the word.

Combat spec is where the greatest changes may be seen. During Mod 4, my combat Arylos wasn't doing anything of note. This is mostly due to the HR being underpowered since the end of Mod 3 (not to mention trickster rogues and control wizards being hideously broken unless you happen to be someone using either class). In Mod 6, the new feats only served to further shaft this paragon tree which made the likes of Aragorn and Drizzt Do'Urden so famously badass. Definitely not awesome, man.

The greatest complaint I've seen in the official forums lies the lack of muscle for the at-wills. If the archery tree was underpowered mostly due to a broken feat system (since the at-will damage is quite decent albeit Aimed Shot was unplayable in a negative sense), then the combat tree has suffered from a chronic case of at-will anaemia. While nothing has changed for Careful Attack (that one doesn't need to be fixed anyway), the combo damage for Rapid Strike (and Rapid Shot for that matter as well) has been upped. The biggest change, however, lies in Clear the Ground. The base damage got upped, overall combo damage also got upped. Given the 3rd hit is a so-called "double burst" attack (read: CtG is considered a burst attack), it merely further upped the overall damage to an epic level (hopefully, that is) once you hit home the crit.

Lucky Blades now confer bonus damage for encounter powers upon proc (which is a killer given the synergy with the Endless Assault heroic feat). Battlecrazed now gives you bonus damage on top of bonus deflection. Scything Blade now gives you a base 5% damage increment apart from the original per-every-enemy modifier. Due to potential repercussions resulting from such a deadly dps combination, it's only a no brainer that Piercing Blades got a minimal boost (from 40% to 50% piercing damage). In fact, this was also the reason why the original plan to create a 4 hit Blade Hurricane sequence was scrapped.

All in all, a dps monster in the making. Which now comes to the main drawback. Under the previous system, it's possible to utilize a decent lifesteal game even if you don't have a decent base lifesteal stat. This is due to a combination of Bloodletting (+5% base lifesteal chance on max level) and Battlecrazed (+15% lifesteal chance in total on max level). That gives you a whopping 20% lifesteal chance. Plus Wilds Medicine in the fray and the survival aspect is plain crazy. This time round, no such luxury. Battlecrazed now confers bonus in damage and deflection per hit, not lifesteal. In short, you won't have the best of both worlds in the same way you can never date two beautiful radiographers instead of just one. I'm perfectly fine with it though. I mean the gameplay, not the beautiful radiographers.

As for Blade Hurricane, it got buffed. Due to too much badassery in other aspects, however, the 2 secs rule may not work that well in the event where you're out to pull off an Aimed Strike. Still better than last time round, but the total number of hits doable will be severely limited. By my own estimation, you can only pull off 2 at-wills under this kind of situation compared to any other at-will powers combination (where you may have a decent chance of pulling off 6 attacks instead of just 4). On the flip side though, you can now proc BH via just about any melee encounter power. Which means non-damage melee buffs like Oak Skin are now officially legit.

Korey's (ideal) theme

Conclusion

Due to negative feedback from the warlocks, I may need some time to decide whether Kariss' eventual gameplay will suit my style (read: I'm more of a Mourinho than Pep even though I do enjoy tinkering like Joachim "Der Löwe" Löw). As for Korey, no point for me to do wholesale changes since it's my intention to make her as the Jeanne d'Arc of all things artillery. For Arylos, however, I'm now verily tempted to use a free respec. After all, melee was my first love when I first started out in this game. Does that make him any less of an Edward of Woodstock? Well, once a Black Prince, forever the Black Prince.

Arylos' (ideal) theme

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.