A picture speaks a thousand words, a sequence of pictures speaks more than that (but I finally gave up)

I find it very excruciating in doing screengrabs and upping them in my blog. Perhaps it's down to my tendency to switch off. Then again, I've already given up hope that I was actually born normal. With that being said, there have been rumors of a new class possibly coming out this year. Going by the way Cryptic does things atm, it seems that we will be seeing 3 mods per year instead of the customary 2 mods per year. At the same time, perhaps the devs need to freshen things up with new patron deities and playable races. Below are my preferred options.

Classes: Wild Druid, Harper Bard, Arcane Sorcerer
Races: Gold Dwarf (under the Dwarf race), Gnome (Deep Gnome and Svirfneblin), Wild Elf (under the Elf race)
Patron deities: Mystra (because she's officially back), Finder Wyvernspur (because every bard needs a god), Eilistraee (because she's also officially back)

Because I discovered I enjoy messing around with things yet to be created by others, I decided that Crazy Tenser as a label/tag will be used for my random moments of insane brilliance. Also, it's not my fault that Tenser was crazy enough to research a magic potion for Harkle Harpell.

Note: Because I enjoy the feeling of hiding an ace or two in my hand, I'll only add in the Crazy Tenser tag as a statement of intent.

Add note: I never watched the latest Terminator movie, but I'll have to admit Emilia "it makes romance absolutely IMPOSSIBRU!!!!" Clarke didn't look the part of Sarah Connor. In Game of Thrones, she looks like a monarch. Alongside the Terminator and co, she looked like a sweet girl recently graduated from Trauma Center London. At least Gal "Wonder Gal" Gadot had to serve mandatory military service in the name of defending Israel from Hamas and Hezbollah.

Yep, this face truly makes romance absolutely impossible.
Any association with House Targaryen is deeply regrettable and purely accidental.

So what am I gonna do with this post?

Basically, I'm gonna share a few things concerning my reworked characters.

Because Arylos will always be the hero of Neverwinter no matter what others say, he remains as my main character. And besides, how many hunter ranger users are actually crazy enough to use the combat tree? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one, but I'm also very damn sure that I'm one of the very few sons of a gun choosing this high-risk option.

For Myrreas, I'm currently doing the scoundrel tree for his solo PvE and executioner tree for his raiding game.

As for Cyrea Durothil, I did a Total Recall by opting for divine oracle instead of staying put as an anointed champion. It was a blast and it still is, I'll give myself that. I swear I think like a German Löwe instead of a Singaporean lion.

Arylos: Why you should be using Skirmisher's Gambit in the first place

I'll have to admit Skirmisher's Gambit is deceptively good. This is especially so if you're going stormwarden with Clear the Ground as your staple at-will. In fact, plenty of the hunter ranger encounter powers carries the burst property. Which means bonus critical chance upon execution and hit. So long your artifact weapon set bonus involves above decent damage increment, climbing the dps ladder shouldn't be a problem. I won't say Drizzt Do'Urden would be able to out-dps Wulfgar, but at least you'll see the numbers getting decently high.

Crit happens

(provided you have a vorpal)

In order to make the damage increment count, however, I'll need to get his crit as high as possible. This is where the lack of jailbreak options comes in. The final boons for the Maze Engine campaign has to be the best ones so far alongside the final boons for Dread Ring. For starters, you have Baphomet's Might which has a chance to increase your crit by 2000 upon hit. And to think the devs have to nerf it shortly after the module came out. As for the aforementioned jailbreak tactic, I chose to eschew Displace Fate in favor of Baphomet's Might.

At the same time, I ended focusing on the offensive boons. If there's any boon adding numbers to crit and crit severity, that boon would be my first choice. Problem is, recovery boons are hard to come by with only Elemental Evil and Icewind Dale offering such boons. For Elemental Evil, I ended up choosing crit (Searing Aggression) above recovery (Blazing Resilience) for obvious reasons. The same goes for the final EE boon where I opted for Gale of Retribution (chance to heal up to 2.4K hit points and gain 1000 crit when getting hit) over Wall of Wind (chance to heal up to 2.4K hit points and gain 1000 recovery). For Icewind Dale, it's Sleet Skills (+2% crit severity) over Rapid Thaw (+400 recovery). Between defense and power, I'll always opt power. Between Reliquary Keeper's Strenght and Conjurer's Gambit, however, I chose the latter (any association with Archer is purely coincidental despite Arylos being based off him).

Ultimately, vorpal is absurdly useful when used in conjunction with Skirmisher's Gambit. The crit severity will just escalate like no tomorrow. Period. Alternatively, you can opt for either holy avenger or lightning. The former provides a much needed defensive game without compromising on the choice of gear and boons. For lightning, the cooldown reduction per hit is super useful. It's not just about maximizing your chances to proc Flurry. At the same time, the hunter ranger has the fastest hitting game due to the at-will powers. Not just range, but also melee. Also, Fox's Shift is a multi-hit move combined with invincibility during the moving animation.

If you're out to use vorpal, I strongly recommend Skirmisher's Gambit. Otherwise, you'll need to consider whether a reduction of 10% crit chance in exchange for 50% increased crit severity is truly worth it.

There's only this deep you need to penetrate

(no lewd jokes allowed here, Dany or no Dany)

As for armor penetration, it's a 50-50. For Dread Ring, I needed Illusion Shimmer. More than the trickster rogue, the melee hunter ranger is more reliant on deflection. And besides, 3% armor penetration bonus amounts to only 300 in armor penetration stat (note: unlike other stats, 100 armor penetration is equivalent to 1% damage resistance ignored). This was also the reason why I opted for Draconic Armorbreaker (400 armor penetration=4% damage resistance ignored) since Arylos would always be using the defensive stables guild boon (basically the rule of thumb for 90% of dps builds with the temple lifesteal boon more for exceptional cases).

Why you should be power hungry

That is so long you don't commit arson like a Targaryen tyrant...

For guild boon, it's barracks. In fact, the barracks boon building has to be every guild stronghold's bread-and-butter due to power being that only stat which matters on a universal basis. Come to think of it, I won't be surprised if there are guilds having more than one barracks in order to stack the power game. Unlike Westeros, being power hungry in Faerûn isn't that harmful so long no one worships Cyric.

Also, there's a need to create at least one source of direct boon damage. In other words, Elven Ferocity and Vengeful Heat.

Note: Combat advantage boons are a must for every melee hunter ranger.

Going defensive on defense

(because you don't expect Guts to survive an actual fight with Nosferatu Zodd without defense)

On the defensive end, it's stable for the guild boon. Unlike barracks, no sane guild would build two stables. Every guild stronghold can only hold up to 4 permanent boon buildings. Wasting a plot for another stable is nothing short of stupidity because armor penetration is basically useless once the damage resistance bypass breaks the 70% mark. In fact, any decent armor penetration based dps build should just cap it at 60+% with the rest being invested on power. Even for PvP, 80% damage resistance bypass is good enough, beyond that will just be overkill.

If it's possible to choose deflection, I'll take it. Illusion Shimmer is a classic example of that. Due having the worst dodge game (beyond the fact that dodging won't break the offensive momentum), melee hunter rangers need deflection to stay alive. In fact, this was the reason why I opted for Enraged Regrowth over Shadowtouch. I was focusing so much on the offensive boons that I need to something to fall back on constantly. Coupled with Gale of Retribution, it means a stacking game is quite possible. Also, Wilds Medicine is your only best bet of surviving a fight beyond the need to use Oak Skin. In fact, chances are that you won't survive a mid-damage hit without the latter.

Beyond defense and deflection, lifesteal is also a must. This is due to Assassin's Covenant, that mount insignia bonus most useful for mid to low tier dps. Thankfully, I don't have to worry much about regeneration because incoming healing tends to be the parallel boon to any lifesteal severity option. Coupled with the fact that I dropped 2 points into Dragon's Revival and I'm pretty much safe here.

As for control resistance, this is something vital. In raid instances, you'll never know when you'll get CC'd. Getting slowed or immobilised, in particular, can be a pain in the neck. Run through epic Temple of the Spider and you'll know what I'm talking about. And no, I'm not interested in getting a drow girlfriend. I value my sanity and life very much, tyvm.

On the stamina end, I threw in 5 feat points into Swift Footwork. This is because a change in gear means choosing Demonic Swiftness (+3% action points gain) over Demonic Endurance (+10% stamina regeneration during combat). In fact, the Sword of Kelemvor loadout here is not exactly known for excessive stamina.

Because Arylos has officially restored his full relic artifact weapon set, what it means is that incoming heal has become the core of his defensive game. This is also exactly why I chose Planar Vitality as the final Cloaked Ascendancy boon for this loadout. There's no point choosing Vision of Beyond due to Skirmisher's Gambit reducing the crit chance. Not to mention as well that as a melee hunter ranger, you're supposed to be stabbing the enemy from behind whenever possible (ironically, I never put a single point into Scoundrel Training due to all 3 points going to Disciple of Dexterity). Aberrant Power and Aberrant Slaughter are out of the picture for two reasons.

1. Aberrant Power requires your character to take hits like a tank.

2. Aberrant Slaughter works like Demon Slayer. Yes, killing those mooks outright can be fun. But that's it. I'm not about play lottery on the basis of 5% success chance. Useful for hdps and tank, but that's all.

For hit points boons, it's all about Feywild Fortitude and Dragonheart. I'd take Glacial Strength for that 3.2K hit points if not for the fact you don't need to kill things personally in order to proc boons like Elvish Fury and Vengeful Heat (and yes, I got both).

Then there is Icy Wrath, which can give you up to 2000 bonus damage. Adding together Enraged Regrowth and Cold Shoulder, of course.

Healing
(because you're not the trolling incarnate known as Deadpool)

This is where Rousing Warmth comes in. The constant incoming heal proc'd by the relic set bonus means one thing. Your chances of triggering bonus damage dealt (up to 3000) is very damn high. Coupled with Wilds Medicine and you're guaranteed a Rousing Warmth more often than you'd like to think. For the melee hunter ranger, this can't be any better. Even without Oak Skin, that is. In fact, this was why the Sword of Kelemvor loadout placed heavy emphasis on incoming heal boons. This is also the main reason why Arylos' dps game has become surprisingly good. Against a hdps build, the difference is around 1 million damage dealt. It may sound like a big gap, but the gap would have been far greater if not for a Rousing Warmth constant proc. In fact, there are moments where the gap is less than a million. Try imagining this with a hdps control wizard or archer hunter ranger.

As such, there's not much need to have Oak Skin beyond this being strictly optional (unless your party doesn't have a healer). In fact, one thing I discovered about Oak Skin is that it tends to disrupt my dps momentum. As any mid-dps build user can (and will) tell you, such a scenario would mean giving the rest more dps. Which is already bad enough given the presence of any hdps character in your party. Of course, this is not to say Oak Skin is useless. If you have either the Fey set or Lifeforged set, Oak Skin can be quite useful. If you have the Aboleth or Mirage set, there's not much point using Oak Skin since these two sets are strictly dps.

Relic set not found

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Relic set is generally the best artifact weapons you can ever get. Unless you're running on an executioner trickster rogue or a healer build, relic set should be the highest end. Even if you're to compare Lifeforged with relic as a hdps great weapon fighter, the dps difference will still be there. Of course, this is not to say Lifeforged should be binned by any build beyond the tank. For hdps great weapon fighters, the 5% increase in defense can mean a great deal due to great weapon fighters being good at only one thing: Getting up close and personal. At the same time, great weapon fighters tend to be rush reliant. Which means unless you can minimize the need to run, relic set will just compromise your dps with increased movement speed and reduced incoming damage as the tradeoff. Something which Lifeforged can quite obviously override at the expense of lower defensive buff.

If you do not have a relic set (and besides, I won't be surprised if it's now harder to farm for the reagents needed), Lifeforged should be the way to go for any melee hunter rangers. Getting 5% defense bonus is like increasing your defense by 2000. Coupled with the fact that the Fortified effect will also add in 10% of your defense to your power and your melee hunter ranger wouldn't be worried about how much damage the mob will score on you. Unless of course, you're actually too dumb not to choose the stable guild boon for defensive purposes. Combined with Brynnyr's Demise/Oak Skin/both, and you're all set to go. The melee hunter ranger is much more survival reliant due to the lowest dodge distance in-game, hence there's a need to up the defense so that the deflection can ensure a decent combat durability.

As for Aboleth and Mirage sets, I consider them as more range friendly due to their pure dps properties. Unlike other dps builds, melee hunter rangers require a delicate balance between damage and defense. You can't go too far into the dps because a low dodge distance means a lower chance to jailbreak in any case of AoE nuking or the aggro breaking free.  At the same time, you can't go too far into the defensive end because you'll definitely end up at the bottom of the dps ladder due to obvious reason. For Fey set, it's more for trappers. Even then, that'd require Oak Skin and stance switching to maximize the usage (read: an increment in damage, outgoing heal, and action point gain).

Lifeforged set bonus can ensure a proper balance being struck. In fact, this is also why some hdps great weapon fighters may prefer Lifeforged to relic. Unlike the relic set, Lifeforged will guarantee you increase in both power and defense. In fact, if we're to go by the power and damage maths, Fortified can easily give better damage than Fey-Touched so long the power increment is above 1200 (i.e. 1200 power=3% damage increment).

Originally, I planned to get Lifeforged because trying to be clever via a Fey set actually cost me that much-needed efficiency. Then I realized my relic set was already halfway through the restoration process. So might as well I don't waste the time and effort taken. Yes, it cost me quite a lot of astral diamonds (most of the reagents can now cost you anywhere from a five figure sum to six in the auction house). But hey, the dps is totally worth it. Even if I still chose Lifeforged, the dps won't be that great. Also, Rousing Warmth.

Why always Park? (aka my take on the next mod)

I find my life to be quite a Korean drama. Whenever the bandwidth gets eaten up by that bandwidth glutton known as my sis, why always me. More specifically, it's SingTel's fault for giving up the online gamer customer base to rival telcos. Why always me? I don't feel understood by human beings around me, why always me? I just can't get a chance to test my mettle despite my nation boasting itself as a meritocracy, why always me? Is it any wonder then that I refused to keel over for the Singaporean way when it comes to taste?

Above is the Singaporean taste...


Above is my taste...


Above is the Singaporean taste...


Above is my taste...

And now, back to why always Park?

2017 can be seen as the year of the Park. We have the political Park and the beautiful Park. Then we have Jurassic Park.

To be honest, I'm starting to have mixed feelings here. While on one hand, I hope mod 12 will be a success, it was a miracle Storm King's Thunder/Sea of Moving Ice didn't sink the game. While it wasn't as disastrous as Elemental Evil (i.e. the mod which still ranks as the worst one ever because the entire gear system got nuked down to ground zero), it's basically another Icewind Dale. The fights are good with the usage of terrain being more vital than 90% of the other zones. However, with good fights comes poor loot. There's not much for the players to be motivated about beyond completing the campaign. And even then, it's much more of a drag than anything else. At least Icewind Dale won't really take you that long.

Ultimately, I'm actually wondering whether the devs will do anything to alleviate the excruciating process of completing the whole damn campaign. Hopefully, the River District won't be the only place where you can purchase voninblod. Or even better, make the final boons for SKT much powerful than the rest (then again, it'd defeat the purpose of playing the campaign post-completion).

A lot will hinge on how fast you can complete the new campaign. Once you finish it, you can pretty much go back to the other end of Icewind Dale. Problem is, what should the devs do in order to make SKT more playable? For EE, at least they added in campaign boons which were quite good (apart from the final boon which is mediocre, that is).

Problem with SKT, it seems, may not be down to the duration. Rather, it is the quality of the drops. You only get 100 voninblod plus the customary XP and gold. If you can complete any of the side quests, it's 50 more voninblod per turn in. Which is stupid considering how long it takes even for hardcore grinding. Of course, this will mean that getting a map in a bottle will help a lot. After all, this should be where you get plenty of bonus voninblod. The only problem? Navigation. The Sea of Moving Ice is one large piece of ocean with large icebergs. There are only two indications that a treasure chest is nearby.

1. The presence of a flag. This indicates the specific iceberg has one or more treasure chests.

2. Skeletal remains of whoever unfortunate enough to meet Kelemvor. This is a cast-iron proof that a treasure chest is nearby.

If you want to profit from any map in a bottle, my suggestion is to memorize one location at a time. Don't try to do more than one map in a go unless your orientation skill is on the par with Sir Edmund Hillary. Thankfully, the reddit manual is still around.

Note: In case you've yet to notice, it seems that the Arc in-game browser has been taken down. You can no longer press Shift+Tab.

Add note: Storm King's Thunder isn't all doom and gloom, though. If you're playing as a melee hunter ranger, rejoice because we all know what anema did before quitting Cryptic. Doing a god-mod for archery is one thing, realizing the insane damage caused by Skirmisher's Gambit plus vorpal enchantment is really quite a discovery. As for the trapper, nothing much has changed beyond the CC duration getting buffed.

Any way to make the other end of Icewind Dale more replay-friendly?

Actually, the answer is yes. Putting the relic armor set into the wondrous bazaar, however, isn't the way. If there's anything to go by, it will only make the excruciating process of grinding into an excruciating form of necessity.

Firstly, it'll be nice to have rewards like a Mark of Power/Stability/Union per standard quest completion. For optional quests like aiding Kelemvor (e.g. quests like killing the Returned and releasing the Ghost of Bryn Shander from her misery), killing giants (basically doable in Bryn Shander, Lonelywood, and Cold Run) or critter population control (mostly in Lonelywood because Drizzt isn't around to help his girlfriend), why not provide a chance to get loot like Superior Mark of Power/Stability/Union?

As for Sea of Moving Ice, why not do the same for the optional quest with the reward being (rare) marks used for the relic weapons specific ones? At the same time, completing standard quests will provide you with a chest where you'll get an aquamarine and a gigantic enchantment plus a chance of getting a random rare relic weapon mark. Because I'm in the mood for schadenfreude, why not trigger the gigantic enchantment drop via the relevant campaign progress? Say for example you completed the campaign quest that will give you a rank 4 gigantic enchantment (i.e. doing it 3 times), completing any standard quest in Sea of Moving Ice will yield a chest containing 1 gigantic enchantment of that rank. Once you managed to aid the Elk Tribe barbarians 3 times out of 3 tries, the chest will drop two rank 4 gigantic enchantments and a rank 5 gigantic enchantment.

For the rewards given this way, the loot should be either bind on equip or bind to account. Apart from the relic weapon marks since that will give the auction house economy more options. Not to mention more profitable as well so as to speak. As for the greater and superior marks for relic weapons, I won't mind them being bind to account in this context.

Rewards for Fangbreaker Island, both versions of Svardborg, and epic Spellplague Caverns

I won't go that far as to suggest heightening the chances of a legendary ring drop. At the same time, I also feel that the dungeons are quite okay the way they are now. The main problem here lies in the standard open world PvE. Period. If nothing is being done apart from moving the relic gear to the wondrous bazaar, I truly doubt there will be much reason for gamers to complete Storm King's Thunder campaign beyond the need to complete every single damn campaign in the game. Which is terribly dumb, if you're to ask me.

Which now comes to the Kavatos weekly quest where you're required to finish epic Demogorgon, Fangbreaker Island, epic Svardborg, and epic Spellplague Caverns. Yes, the blood ruby is nice to have. 50K refinement points per pop. But why not adding a chest where you can choose between a few options below?

1. One twisted ichor with a chance of getting two instead.

2. One uncommon relic weapons refinement item with a chance of getting a blue one instead.

3. Two hundred abandoned treasures with a chance of getting a blue companion (i.e. lava galeb duhr, yeth hound, and blue fire eye).

Note: Above rewards should be bind to account in order to prevent a total crash in the auction house economy.

Gear system breaking the glass ceiling?

Apparently, level 500 gear will be available for Jurassic Park. While there's plenty of information yet to be outed, I won't be surprised if said gear will be either bind on equip or bind to account. The presence of a new set of level 420 gear may mean a few things.

1. Armor which can be purchased with guild marks may still be there. This is due to the likelihood that earning 6K+ guild marks may still be easier than earning astral diamonds. Apart from the shards, you can also earn extra guild marks via donating Sharandar and Dread Ring campaign currency since these two are the easiest campaigns to complete.

2. It's possible that the new level 420 gear set will confer set bonus since there's no point for the devs to create a white elephant.

3. The new gear set is very likely to be classified under the standard assault, raid, restoration, and ward categories.

4. The set bonus may vary according to the relevant category.

5. Hopefully, this also means the elemental drowcraft gear will be upgraded to around level 430. Actually, the article above may have hinted at this.

6. Will dragonflight and lionsmane gear be upgraded to a higher level? If elemental drowcraft gear can be upped to level 430, then it would only make sense that the dragonflight and lionsmane gear are upped accordingly.

7. Hopefully, there's an option to upgrade drowcraft rings via a maxed out black ice forge. No point making Icewind Dale 100% redundant.

As for the new epic seal system, this may easily mean the only gear which can be purchased will be the relic armor set together with the reagents needed (including lanolin hopefully).

For the non-masterwork gear amounting to level 420 and 430 (apart from the possibility of level 430 drowcraft gear), it means the gear craftable this way will most likely focus on power-recovery or critical-armor penetration. This is due to the current masterwork gear being focused on either power-critical or power-armor penetration. Therefore, it'd be terribly stupid for the devs to mess this up via a watered down "masterwork" gear system. Interestingly enough, the pricing for epic profession persons has hit a decent spike in the auction house. If you want to play safe, I suggest you start getting the epic profession tools asap before the next mod. I'll explain this much later on. Just be patient.

Total Recall on masterwork gear?

Which now comes to the current masterwork gear. Because more and more people will be doing the new dungeon as time goes by, it'd be utterly unthinkable that masterwork gear will be stuck at the current level 435 and 480. Already, tier 1 masterwork gear will most likely be made redundant due to the availability of level 480 gear obtainable in-game. Therefore, I won't be surprised if a tier 1 masterwork equipment will be fixed at around level 500 with tier 2 masterwork quite likely to break that mark (possibly around level 520 by my guess). It's either that or crafting tier 1 masterwork gear should be much easier (which also means they will come much cheaper in the auction house).

Seemingly dumb gear

Currently, I've gotten Brynnyr's Demise, Bloodlord's Visage, and Psion's Shroud. And that is not considering Morlanth's Shroud. On the first glance, some, if not, most of the current level 450 gear looks useless. However, this seemingly half-assed gear system is catered to specific builds more than anything else. Even something seemingly useless like Psion's Shroud, Deepknight Brigandine, and Morlanth's Shroud does have its purpose. Psion's Shroud is quite useful for temptation scourge warlocks with the damnation tree also profiting from it (that is, so long you max out Mocking Spirit and Spiritfire for open PvE and Warding Spirits plus Wrathful Souls for raiding). Deepknight Brigandine is more for healadins, dps guardian fighters, and sentinel great weapon fighters. As for Morlanth's Shroud, it's useful for any great weapon fighter (in particular instigators due to a buff-dps hybrid play). Survivor's Wraps can be absurdly useful for healers and great weapon fighters due to their high-end survival gameplay. Cambist's Gauntlets can deal absurdly high damage upon proc while that head gear you can loot from Malabog's Castle (forgot its name) can proc like crazy if you're playing a guardian fighter utilizing Knight's Valor (read: every tanking guardian fighter's BFF with no exception).

So what this means is very simple: I don't see the current level 450 gear phasing out anytime soon.

Note: The current level 450 gear you can purchase from the stronghold mysterious vendor will most likely be your best bet in upping your character's efficiency in preparation for Chult. If there's anything to go by via what the devs have teased, the dinosaurs will be more dangerous than the frost giants.

Economy

I'm pretty sure the economy in the auction house may be moving out of its mass deflation status. More specifically moving out on a partial basis. Because of the new non-masterwork gear crafting recipe available for the next mod, I'm foreseeing a price jump in terms of epic profession tools/assets/both. While epic profession persons won't matter much (unless you're out to unlock all 9 profession slots), the same cannot be said about the tools. It'll most likely be another case of crafting a level 135 personalized adamant ring of piercing so as to speak. The only way to get the desired outcome is to slot in epic profession tools (legendary or mythic in one of the slots if you happen to have the gondhammer like yours truly).

As for the rest, I doubt there will be much change in the auction house economy. In fact, the reason why there's a mass deflation for pretty much 70% of the things on sale lies in the availability of epic to legendary loot whenever you finished running an epic instance with your 4 other BFFs. Yes, the rng can be really annoying at times. Or rather, most of the time. But imagine getting a legendary Celeste complete with her cleavage. Don't laugh, someone in my alliance really got that lucky a few weeks ago or so. Quite obviously, chances of getting such loot on a bind to account basis are quite high with the unbound ones capable of fetching a handsome sum in the auction house. So far, the only unbound loot I got so far was a green phoera. That was like donkey weeks ago.

As a result of the new loot drop changes, the auction house economy hit a massive deflation. While stuff like preservation wards and coalescent wards remain slightly changed, the rest have hit a pricing nosedive. For starters, getting a green companion would have cost you like a few hundred thousand astral diamonds. Now, you can just get one for around 1000 ad or even less than that. Epic mounts used to cost a mother of all bombs with legendary mounts costing an atomic bomb. Now, you can easily grab one for around 500K while a legendary mount would go like 1-2 million by my own estimation (note: epic mounts used to cost that much before Cryptic decided to go socialist mode on the auction house).

My advice to you is very simple: Either get an epic mount via the zen store (read: any mount you buy from the zen store can be obtained automatically for every character in your current roster) or get one from the auction house. There's no way you can travel through River District so as to speak with a mount speed of 80%, let alone 50%. Which means trying to do so in Chult will guarantee an auto takedown by the aggro. No refund, only respawn.

Note: The zen-astral diamonds exchange seems to stay the same atm. A no-brainer since this aspect of the game is all about the zen users calling the shots (read: it's still going like 496-500 astral diamonds per zen). In other words, there are people who pay real money for the zen just to rig the market. And I don't see that changing unless Cryptic decide to bring back the planar idol. Which is not gonna happen by my own guess.

A Garden of Swords

Well, I'm having mixed feelings here. On one hand, I'm under no illusions that my Neverwinter Six will most likely be consigned to a mere work of fandom. On the other hand, I felt motivated to do some Total Recall.

Plot twist: The President of the United State of California decided to exercise the right of political autonomy. 😷

The reason being Tyranny of Dragons throwing a curve ball from the touchline. As what Keira "the English Jeanne d'Arc" Knightley have famously implied, just bend it like Beckham. Or kick it like Cantona for that matter.

Yep, it's an ancient Chinese art martial alright. Hopefully, my entire family will know I have a French temper.

For now, I'll need to strike a balance between those Wizards from the Coast and Sakaguchi Hironobu in the event Le IMPOSSIBRU! really happen.

A/N: I'm not going to hide it. My original plan is to kill off Korey during the events surrounding Rise of Tiamat (definitely not the one inspired by a real-life tragedy, but rather that other Korean girl. I blame my sis for the fact that she [seeminegly] refused to try knowing the real me). Rejoice, all you salty Koreans. Don't thank Kuok Ming Hui for his merciful hand or Kuok Ming Si for her constant support for Running Man at the expense of her bro's online convenience. Thank those Wizards from the Coast. For now, I decided to up this image below 4 teh lolz.

Disclaimer: Above image is not the result of fanboy voyeurism as we know it. Rather, it's schadenfreude.

)0(

He witnessed Arylos’ ceaseless pursuit of Nostura from the Spellplague Caverns to the Feywild, a corrupted prey taunting the hunter. Ever since his untimely death at the hands of the daemonfey, Ilyath Le’Quella has been keeping an eye over his beloved Cyrea. For who could easily let go of a love unfulfilled? From Cormanthor to Neverwinter, his heart yearned for the day of reunion. Yet, this would also mean her death.

Then came a rival he could never surpass. The wood elf was a scoundrel, someone created for war and conflict. His strength was never in the feat of arms, but the shrewdness of a gifted tactician. His god was never their god, his people never their people. Therefore, how could such a knave be good enough for a lady from House Durothil?

From Neverwinter to New Sharandar, from Icewind Dale all the way to the Sea of Moving Ice. Time and again, Arylos defied the odds. He defied the odds to survive, he defied the odds to win the hand of Ilyath’s lady fair. Part of the moon elf desired an untimely end for a rival unexpected, yet a greater part of him wondered how far this interloper could go. He was hailed as the Hero of Neverwinter through the proclamation of Dagult Neverember, his tactical brilliance in repelling the dragons’ attacks on Neverwinter forever immortalized. The Iliyanbruen fey, those who were in truth moon elves like him, recognized his heroics against Malabog, that self-proclaimed king of the Fomorians and dark fey alike. They named him the Kingslayer, they would surely remember him as the heir apparent to the once great Celadaine. The renowned Drizzt Do’Urden, a hero whom Ilyath viewed with respect and envy, saw him as an equal despite their conflicting ideologies. How then could the Teu-tel-quessir not feel inferior to this Or-tel-quessir less qualified?

When Sehanine Moonbow revived Ilyath from the grave, she told him a witness was needed. A witness who could be trusted to recount the story of a mistake which should have never existed in the first place. And Arylos… this Arylos was that mistake.

)0(

“I can’t believe it,” laughing in a resigned manner, Yasilder Le’Quella could only accept her best friend’s decision, “What makes him so attractive? Even more attractive than my deceased brother?”

“I find it quite unbelievable as well,” Cyrea replied as she took a sip from a glass of fine elven wine, her eyes of sunset red never straying from an unconscious Arylos.

“Quite? Only quite?”

With a sigh, Yasilder took a brief glimpse. Not at the one defying everything her elven pride believed in, but her young son poring over a book. She couldn’t bear to look at the wood elf beyond a few moments, for his life was nothing short of a mockery directed towards the Tel-quessir. Never his people and never his god, such was a defiance snarled forth from a wolf fierce and proud. At the same time, there was something in him which reminds her of a name synonymous with trouble and infamy.

Elaith Craulnober.

“At least Nym isn’t here,” muttered Yasilder as the image of Nymmestra teasing Cyrea over her choice of love goaded her to no end.

)0(

“You have lived this long as a sword. Aren’t you tired at all?”

Before an annoyed Mychelle, Arylos only directed his amber eyes towards her newfound toy. Namely, a moon elf by the name of Ilyath Le’Quella. Cyrea had already told the Kelemvorite ranger of her past, the self-introduction of someone better than him unable to throw the wood elf off his guard. As for Mychelle, the peevish aranea could only fume in silence. Nothing has changed where she herself was concerned. A petite frame with a pale complexion, a look no different from a young human girl of fifteen. Her long curly hair was let down, her ruby red lips painting a seductive portrait.

As for the object of her affection, he has changed. When they first met, it was under Lurue’s orders to protect a young wood elven child of thirteen. In a moment of mischief, Mychelle assumed the guise of a little girl around his age. This was the very same look she was wearing now, for every aranea was born with a unique humanoid form. Years could only do this much before eternal youth. Yet, the very same years have warped an innocent boy who didn’t know how to deal with girls of his age. He never became a monster, but perhaps something else far worse off. Namely, living as a sword belonging to Kelemvor. Who was to blame for this living tragedy? Should it be a harsh hand dealt by fate itself? Or that Koryoan girl whose suicide had forced upon him a mind of steel shortly before Wheloon was sealed off from civilization? Either way, it wasn't Arylos' fault. This much, Mychelle understood.

“Tell me why you brought me here,” questioned Arylos, the tone of an interrogator rising Ilyath’s ire.

“Not physically.”

If Ilyath thought his reply could provoke a reaction out of his rival, he was sorely wrong as Arylos merely stayed his tongue.

“Not saying anything else?”

“If you want victory, then you have it. Either you tell me the truth or I will just go back to where I belong.”

Despite Arylos’ emotionless visage, Ilyath couldn’t help but perceive this statement as both a challenge and daring taunt. The two locked stares against each other. Then in a silent show of reprisal, Arylos got up and walk away. Ilyath contemplated bluffing him but soon abandoned the idea. Unlike himself, the Or-tel-quessir was a schemer no stranger to ploys and stratagem. No matter how hard a warrior tried, he could never win a war like a strategist. There would always be those who perished at the frontline in the name of valor. Then there were a chosen few who survived and conquered in the name of strategy and tactics.

In other words, there was no point saying to the interloper that without directions given, no one could leave the Feywild. Unlike Ilyath himself, Arylos was born with the power of Feywild coursing in his blood. If not for Kelemvor's interference via a longsword given by some doomguide named Orran, it's highly doubtful anyone could rein in Arylos. Or anything for that matter.

)0(

“Time really flies like Illaine’s arrow, huh?”

Before a jesting Lucas Shaneway and his flirting glance, Illaine merely answered with a silent stare. Shrugging like an unrepentant boy caught for bedding a girl, the prodigal son of House Shaneway took a hearty swig from his tankard of ale.

“Lucas, just grow up. Please.”

If Rhaegos thought his words could rein in that philandering genius from the Lords’ Alliance, he was soon proven wrong as Lucas gave a wolf whistle towards that serving girl known as Calestyn. Without a warning, Illaine drew her bow and aimed an arrow at his head. Silence prevailed as only a chortle was heard from Rhaegos, the irony not lost to the dragonborn who once commanded a coalition army against Aerisi Kalinoth and her Cult of Howling Hatred years ago.

“Be careful there, Lucas Shaneway the Third,” cooed Jen Cheldarstorn, the attractive redhead patting him on the head much to his annoyance, “That’s the illegitimate daughter of Lord Protector Dagult Neverember himself.”

“That’s a cumbersome way to address a person of authority, I have to say,” snorted Rhaegos in good humor as the barmaid of Moonstone Mask chuckled at the sight of Lucas preening his spiked auburn hair.

“When will Myrreas be back?”

Calestyn’s question threw the trio off-guard, not even Jen with her tongue of golden wit could gather a proper reply. If the willowy brunette knew the truth, surely she would be crushed by grief. For all his warped sense of humor, the ex-Harper was nevertheless an enjoyable company in times of tavern banter and brawls. Windle was tasked with the mission to keep an eye on that rascal, yet word has returned from her that Myrreas was lost for good, the information confirmed by Bradda from the Sage’s Shop. Always one to play the daring hero, he always jested that the best way for him to die is to do so while trying to save the world. Therefore, how could they tell her the truth? That he acted truly to his words by taking out that living construct named Kabal in the middle of the Spellplague Caverns?

Then a gnawing question came back out of nowhere, a specter haunting them unto no end.

Why did every survivor from the Order of the Many-Starred Cloak insist the Spellplague only took place sixty years ago where in fact it was never the case?

)0(

Ilyath only knew too well what kind of mistake Arylos was. To resurrect a dead person was ever a possibility, but to do so the same for a stillborn child was another challenge altogether. No one has ever attempted such a feat, yet such was a mother’s love for her child. Celadaine was forced into madness and betrayal because he chose love above duty despite a façade of steel. Lysindea, in reply, sacrificed her life for their unborn child in the name of a future. A future called redemption for the fallen, a future for someone who should have been dead. As a result, two children were conceived. Karien was destined for a good life despite her mother legitimately wedded to the Moonless Knight himself. After all, she was of House Le’Quella like Ilyath himself.

As for her brother conceived from another womb, he was doomed to live like a father both would never get to know. With no memories of his mother, Arylos pitted himself against his father. Despised by his sister and wrongfully deprived of a family, it was of utmost irony that the Or-tel-quessir would be the closest thing to that shadow looming over those left behind.

Ilyath knew such a tale has existed before, however. There were times where Sehanine told him snippets of a person’s life. The life of a man who was tamed by Mystra when both were still mortals. Yearning to be somebody, yet that dream was brutally ripped away from his grasp. At last becoming a god, yet the price exacted was too heavy a burden. From Kelemvor Lyonsbane to Kelemvor the god of death, it seemed not even the gods themselves were able to tempt fate according to their whims and desires. Perhaps not even Ao the Overgod himself as well.

They were too alike, both the god and his Chosen. They were like a reflection unto each other, Kelemvor and Arylos. Perhaps this would be the last time he saw the back of a man defined by an eternal trial of steel and fire. Ilyath Le’Quella could never hope to understand Arylos, yet who else was able to apart from Cyrea?

An image then flashed before him, the poet in him suddenly rousing itself from slumber. It was an image of a garden. Not a garden of flowers, grass, and trees. But rather a garden of swords.

)0(

Actually, I finished this piece last night or so. However, I needed to make sure proof-reading is a must. Hence, this short story only upped now. Interestingly, the Princes of the Apocalypse adventure module took place around 1491 DR while Rage of the Demons took place around 1485 DR to 1487 DR. This was despite Elemental Evil being released earlier than Underdark where the Neverwinter game was concerned. In other words, the events in Elemental Evil as the gamers knew it actually took place before 1491 DR. Basically, this may have muddied the waters concerning the timeline for Storm King's Thunder. Was it taken place before, around, or after 1491 DR? What then about The Cloaked Ascendancy and Shroud of Souls storyline?

Instead of seeing them as problematic questions, I prefer trying to make perfect sense out of the seemingly convoluted. That is until divine interference decides to strike again in the near future by my guess.

Okay, I'll need to sleep soon. I won't be around in my cozy little cove called Singapore for the next few days. Once I make my imminent (?) return this Saturday, I'll need to start doing some serious stuff for my beloved Boro. Namely, what should Garry "the Welsh Monk" Monk and his backroom clergy do in order to make my beloved Boro great again. Much to the dismay of entities like Leeds, Sunderland, Alan "Captain Geordie" Shearer, and Joey "why always Barton?" Barton, of course.

Okay, here are a few songs chosen at random by this Singaporean connoisseur.

If you see the dead YouTube man, be sure it's a bluff. The last time I checked, that is.

Yes, I know focusing on the dark side of reality isn't exactly the Asian thing to do as what Park "why always Park?" Shin-hye had implied last time round. Then again, Miura "he's gonna send the fans into berserk mode very soon again" Kentaro is also an Asian like Shin-hye, yours truly, and pretty much one-third of the world population. Not to mention both the right and wrong Emiya below, of course.

A picture speaks a thousand words, a sequence of pictures speaks more than that (hopefully)

I can still recall a certain blog via FB years ago (apparently, it's either been taken down or set to private). Because I don't want to get into trouble with a bunch of people in the near run, I decided not to name that blog. However, I can give you a hint: The color represented by Archer and Rin below.

A/N: Apart from Archer and Rin, we have another character associated with the color red.

Note to self: The world is a dangerous place to live in where your words can be twisted into a lie. Thanks to Nasu Kinoko and Urobuchi Gen for that most therapeutic video below.

Basically, this post will focus on Arylos (aka the Archer and Kiritsugu of the Six). Just a brief note here: I've finally restored the full Fey set. What this means is that I'll most likely take a hiatus from using him and turn my focus to my other toons after I complete the TCA campaign with him. For now, I'll need to finish the Elemental Evil arc for Sheallyn and Korey while Myrreas is now in the process of getting the Aboleth set. As for Cyrea, I'll most likely have her running Kabal's trial after I restored Myrreas' Aboleth weapons. What this means is that running Bryn Shander, Lonelywood, Cold Run, and Sea of the Moving Ice will have to wait. Thankfully, double refinement will be up during the first week of this year's Summer Festival event where I can just easily upgrade Arylos' Gondhammer to mythic in a single swoop. From that point onwards, splitting my focus will most likely be easier.

Also, I truly doubt Cryptic will give us any new artifact weapons set unless they're out to make the SOMI set redundant. Which is not gonna happen unless the devs decide to remove the entire Storm King's Thunder arc altogether. Just don't ask me what they're gonna do with the gear system with T2 masterwork gear now outed.

Note: Interestingly enough, the mass deflation in the auction house economy may have a role to play in Cryptic's decision to throw in the T2 masterwork gear.

Mounts and Companions

Let's talk about companions first. Due to a few auction house transactions involving a normal Soulforged and normal Holy Avenger (not to mention using a few coalescent wards via invocation coffers), I managed to streamline the epic enchantments used in the form of Negation and Vorpal.

As a result, I was able to upgrade the cat to legendary while the blink dog got upped to epic. As you can see, I've got three companions with combat advantage based active bonuses (5% combat advantage bonus from the blink dog and 2% combat advantage bonus each from Staldorf and intellect devourer). Because I managed to get the death slaad as well during the free reclaim period, it means I've got no problem with the dps when it comes to companion active bonuses. For now, I'm content with this active companions roster (mainly due to a lack of astral diamonds to make any further upgrading count).

On the mount insignia bonuses, I opted for Gladiator's Guile (mainly for movement speed increase), Magistrate's Restraint, Survivor's Blessing, Assassin's Covenant, and Berserker's Rage.

Assassin's Covenant=/=Assassin's Creed

The AC insignia bonus is nice to have, I'll have to admit. However, AC tends to work better with any mid to low dps build (read: any dps build involving CC and buffing). The reason why being that any hdps build tends to be defined via the gear. Boons can only give you this much, even the guild ones.

Ofc this is not to say every hdps build applies to this logic. Great weapon fighter destroyers can benefit from AC due to their decently high armor. Ditto for executioner trickster rogues due to high deflection (in fact, TRs have the highest base deflection out of the rest due to Dexterity and Charisma).

Note: If you want to do an Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, please know that the only way for AC to be maximized is the choice of gear.

Arylos: Le Survivant

["What makes you think Kelemvor knows you better than us?"

Before Volahk's question, Arylos turned his back. It took a few acolytes to restrain the leader of the doomguides stationed in Neverdeath while Vesper Soulhearth stayed his silence.

"Tell him, Arylos. Tell Volahk what you know," said Orran, the second in command standing between his irate friend and the impudent ranger. When Jergal's avatar had announced the unthinkable, not even Vesper could believe it. Here was a ranger, neither a cleric nor paladin. Here was a wood elf, one who would have worshipped the Seldarine had fate dealt a different hand. As it turned out, Kelemvor declared Arylos as a Chosen of his.

"Try being a deviant like me then, old man," replied Arylos, his tone betraying neither arrogance nor joy, "Try surviving the hell known as Wheloon. If you can get out alive after a week, maybe I'll tell you."]

My apologies for the asymmetrical alignment. It's a no-brainer that I'm a tech idiot. Anyway, above images are a show of how I did the gear and moveset. To maximize the usage of Berserker's Rage, I chose Forest Ghost and Disruptive Shot. Class features wise, I opted for Aspect of the Lone Wolf and Seeker's Vengeance (the latter being the off-hand artifact weapon power). Clear the Ground and Split Strike were the at-will powers with Fox's Shift, Plant Growth, and Hawkeye completing the setup. I'll explain this further later on.

Above images are the movesets after I restored the full Fey set (also, please don't mind the cat. Crytt happens to be Arylos' critter). The first image was the prototype version with the only changes being Plant Growth replaced by Hindering Strike and Disruptive Shot replaced by Seismic Shot. Also, I have to replace Split Strike with Aimed Strike due to the main hand artifact weapon power (for now, I'm not interested in spending astral diamonds for the cubes of augmentation).

Then I realized one thing. Not the 6% outgoing heal bonus proc'ed by Fey-Touched, but Rousing Warmth being my choice of final Icewind Dale feat. 

As a melee HR, I'll need to focus on the defensive end for the heroic feats. At the same time, Swift Footwork is a must as using a melee HR without a hefty load stamina means a swift burnout after a brief workout. As for Predatory Action, there's no point for that since Le Survivant mode is for solo/open world PvE. Endless Assault stacks extremely well with Lucky Blades plus the action points gain is a very good bonus to have (plus Berserker's Rage). Overall dps wise, Disciple of Dexterity is a must. Max it out, no matter which HR build you do. Coupled with Fluid Hunter, Piercing Blade, Battle Crazed, and Scything Blades, the dps increment can be a monster to behold (and that's not taking into account Assassin's Covenant).

As for the boons, I opted for a stamina-defensive based setup with critical severity being the only notable exception (due to Vorpal). And that's not to mention Assassin's Cree... erm, I mean Covenant. Rampaging Madness and Elvish Fury are there to add some much needed muscle together with Elven Ferocity. Enraged Regrowth (by right, at least) should proc AC since it will automatically grant 4000 defense post-heal. Abyssal Strikes is good for doing added damage in any demonic heroic encounters/quests, but perhaps I should have chosen Demon Slayer instead...

Displace Fate is that last line of defense, the jailbreak mechanism. Rousing Warmth is a no brainer due to a combination of Survivor's Blessing and Oak Skin.

Ultimately, open world PvE is all about surviving rather than going yolo. Yes, you'll need to have a decent dps game. But top priority still goes to surviving. Hence, Le Survivant.

Up next: It's obvious that this post is taking up too much space for my personal comfort. Next up, the remaining boons and Le Tacticien.

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

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

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

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

Let's talk about the business model

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A brief note on loadouts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tactician and Survivor: Arylos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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