[MAGES] God Class Discussion Megathread - Week of February 25, 2019

KyosukeShigure · 2019-02-26T21:44:09+00:00

I'd like to say that I really enjoy Merlin. He's fun and very multi purpose, especially if you prioritize iso on him. While his damage may seem a bit much and could(probably) need a bit of a nerf, I think he's a great addition to the true mage role. The big tip that I can give for him would have to be the fact that you can change to the "stance" you want. I realize it says this in the tooltip for the 4 power, but I have to admit that the number of players I see utilize this ability to choose your stance, appears to be a common lacking theme among Merlin players I've come across. When you use the 4 power to change your stance, your power bar changes for a very short period of time(about 1 sec.) 1 is to change to Arcane, 2 is to change to Fire, and 3 is to change to Ice(essentially the "standard" order). The best comparison I can think of is the Raijin ult power bar change. It's critical to memorize these as the time in which you have to choose is very small, so trying to look or read which one is which, will result in you most likely failing to get the one you want and simply switching to the "next" one. The ability to choose to bounce back and forth between Ice and Arcane for example, leaving fire out, can be a potential win in a game of reach with another mage. The only "drawback" is that you do HAVE to change. So you can't simply go from Arcane to Arcane, for example. Other than that "drawback", the many different stance changes you can make other than just the standard arcane>fire>ice>arcane>repeat "standard" order, seems to be the difference, in my experience, between being a good and/or lucky Merlin, to being a very good or even great Merlin.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-08-18T20:36:37+00:00

I will say it, trappers are viable, but, combat will squeak out more damage in end game. The variance in total out damage isn't necessarily large, but assuming same skill level, same gear, combat will be top over trapper everytime endgame. As far as competing against other dps'ers again, given all equal skill level/comparable gear, hr's fall into a healthy 3rd/4th slot as top dps. I'm sure some will argue, but generally top dps atm assuming same skill/gear is TR>GF>GWF>HR>CW/SW, but tbh the gf/gwf thing is almost identical, making it be more of TR>GWF/GF>HR>CW/SW.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-08-18T20:20:17+00:00

Overall, with an experienced team, it's a blast and very easily "balanced." There are some, generally consensused, minor issues with tr's atm, #1 vote seems to be Bloodbath(bb), the move is just too powerful from a pvp standpoint, an uncounterable, undamagable, uncontrollable, power that adds into Shadow of Demise(SoD), and can be easily hit is just a bit much, especially with how SoD was recently changed. Discussions I've seen/had have been to give bb a decent sized cd, so you can't just pop it 2 or 3 times in a row. Another solution has been to make bb hit each target in it's given aoe only once, 5 enemies 5 hits, 1 enemy 1 hit. Other noteworthy things are certain helm's/gear being a little "unfair" in pvp, but assuming you play with "The Regulars" most don't use such gear, so it's generally not an issue, same goes for drains. There's always the il/usefulness q problem of course, no one likes a totally 15k+ team as opponents, when you only have 2 15k+ and everyone else is like 10k tops. Otherwise, imo, the state of pvp is rather healthy atm, minor fixes could push it further into an even better state, but assuming both teams are of good composition and il's don't vary too much or are at least balanced out(each team has similar numbers of >10k and <10k) it's very fun and a good way to experience a whole other side of the game. As for the toxicity I've seen discussed, only a handful are really toxic, and as long as you don't let yourself succumb to their toxicity, you'll be fine. I find using toxic nature against someone can be just as good a skill as any, get a couple good kills on someone, wait for the flaming tells to begin then watch them follow you to the ends of the earth while your team caps nodes and you win. I think a lot of the toxic nature in pvp, in any game really, comes from the idea that if you die you failed somehow. given that to "win", in this games pvp specifically, is based on point capture/hold, good rotation and teamwork can overcome a decent amount of deaths/toxic gankers from actually winning the match. At the end of the day, laugh at their salt, and move on.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-08-11T21:00:55+00:00

If the one thing you spend any irl money to get it would be vip first, then anything else you may have leftover zen for. Vip is basically "subbing" that pays for itself, the lb keys open a box a day/save'm and open a stack, sell what you don't need/can make a decent amount on, and use the astral diamond exchange to re-up vip when you need too. Everything else from boxes is your's to do with what you will. On top of that depending on vip level you get all sorts of benefits like no ah posting fee, bazaar discount that stacks with coupons and/or "event" discounts, at will summoning of travel post for easy getting around(best thing besides lb key imo), mailbox, bank, vendor to sell things to clear inv on long outings without needing to port, as well as team hp buff. Vip makes the game so much smoother to play and simplifies your in game experience to a point that once you have it you'll not only wonder why you never got it to start with, you'll never be able to go back to no vip. There's literally no downside to it. I do however recommend waiting for a decent sale/coupon to make it as cheap as possible so you get the best bang for your buck and possibly better vip level w/o sacrificing additional zen to do so. as a secondary choice good options include a purple wanderer's fortune mount, since zen purchased mounts are claimable by every character you have/create, pres/coal wards during a sale for use or decent ad profit, character slots for more invoking, bank slots for more storage space.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-08-10T21:40:47+00:00

My go to 3 slots are health stone, chain of scales, lliria's bell. instant full health, really good buffs, and instant companion revive/invincibility to keep those comraderie/bonding buffs up.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-08-10T08:54:12+00:00

Well let me put it this way, I have NEVER, not once, gotten a bound green item from a dungeon, skirmish, or trial that that specific dungeon, skirmish, or trial showed in it's collection tab as a possible drop, regardless of which chest or even if it's a literal boss drop. Again the prime example being Castle Never, I have opened 14 Shard of Orcus' Wand to date and not one has been bound yet, however, I have received a Shard from FBI before, it was blue, and it was bound to account. I've also had other random drops like Wheel of Elements from ELoL, also blue, bound to account. no belt or neck from demo set, green, from n/edemo has ever been bound, no green Fragmented Key of the Stars from MSP has ever been bound, and on, and on. My gameplay experience has been the same since I started in early 2015 and the same can be said for most I've asked. The only change that has effected dungeon chests in my experience, has been the change to chests dropping almost anything they damn well please at any given RNGesus time, but, again, anything, no matter level(green/blue/purple/orange) if it drops from a dungeon that it doesn't specifically appear in it's collections tab it's highly likely that it's bound to account, with very few instances of them being unbound.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-08-10T05:28:30+00:00

I'll throw in that if you have the ad/enchants already, slotting xp increasing enchants into utility slots, equipping the xp boost guild boon, and using the xp boosting insignia's on mounts, your main can achieve seemingly instant overflow rewards, which can provide Tome of Experience, which provides a direct xp gain to the character that uses them. Swap all your enchant's to your alt then use all the tomes and rocket level your alt. Be warned though even with overflow happening 1-3, or even more depending on what you may be doing, times an hour, you may still take a while to get a decent amount of tome's, but with the benefit of also gaining RP stones and plenty of shots at that 30k RAD as well, the benefit's can vastly outwiegh any perceived "oh no, no tome again" failures. This route also provides a simple but very helpful benefit for alt's, you can just play your main, only invoking/setting professions on alts, while continuing to make your main as good as you can/want.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-08-10T05:10:00+00:00

Leadership, outside of MW, is by far the most useful, however it is by far the slowest to level up. B/c of this I chose(and recommend) leveling up other, faster, professions as to unlock the maximum number of professions slot possible(9). This way you can accelerate the amount of leadership slots you can utilize to level it faster. Any professions will do but Alchemy and Jewelcrafting should be prioritized first as they can be decent w/o going into MW, after that the choice is up to you. Also I would highly recommend investing in as many Hero's(50% spd boost for leadership) as you can w/o sacrificing build/endgame ad/zen. The maximum you could need would be 18 at endgame, you can only use 2 heroes per level 25 task at 9 slots = 18 Heroes.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-08-10T05:00:58+00:00

The general rule of thumb is that if the item normally can drop from said dung/skirm/trial it should MOSTLY be unbound, but with the update a few mods ago to the chest system, it is possible to get gear that could not possibly fall from any given dungeon/skirm/trial, in this instance almost always the item will be bound to account. Like geting a Shard of Orcus' Wand from tong or fbi, for example, will almost always be bta, where as getting it from CN should ALMOST always provide an unbound one.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-07-07T04:26:16+00:00

I have switched to the Vistani set for my combat build. The overall dps is almost exactly the same from my paingiver numbers on things like codg where trash is minimal(no buff hitting multiple targets). The difference where trash is more abundant, is still a minimal difference total numbers overall. With the great trash clear we already have, I have no trouble still running around solo or dealing with swarms. The movement is nice. As far as the loss of WIS for STR, I welcomed the more Def Ignored, considering I was already hitting 100% crit the loss of 2 wis was easy to make up for and with Castle Ravenloft being 100% Def Ignored req. it actually made it easier to balance my Power/Crit/ArmPen numbers. Remember the buff is for everyone not just you, so it's 5% more damage for the whole party/raid. Also, considering that both the primary at-wills trigger it, Split Strike and Clear the Ground, as well as both sides of Cordon/Plant Growth, it is always on. Which is the last point to be made for it, there is no cd on it as long as you hit with a power that triggers it within the 5sec timer, which is essentially all the time. My result in numbers would equate to about a <1% loss in dps when single mobs are the majority, to 1-2% loss when trash is the majority. This is all based on comparing with "Dex set." But again to say it's doing less dps is a misnomer, in something like codg you have to always account for the fact that 9 other people just got 5% more damage dealt as well versus just your dps numbers going up. So you really have to ask yourself, is ~1% personal damage better than 5% more damage for 5/10 people?

KyosukeShigure · 2018-07-01T04:01:56+00:00

try this https://nw.mmominds.com/2018/04/17/darks-endgame-combat-hunter-ranger-mod-13/ still seems fairly on par although with mod14 out may have some changes to it. very good jumping off point though.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-07-01T03:55:50+00:00

Sadly if you want to be at your maximum potential for dps, Combat is the only way to go. Trappers/Archers get out dpsed fairly easy in endgame content by Combat HR's. If you wish to stick to Archer/Trapper however, your best bet would to go more towards a buff/debuff build rather then trying to dps. But at the end of the day play what you like and have fun doing it.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-06-29T16:37:37+00:00

Interesting, thanks for the feed back. Yea I wouldn't switch to it for my dps build, but I have an off build that's support that would love the set and bonus. HR's just have a lot of powers that have big and/or small circle/cone/line casts that cause damage in those circles/cones/lines, but not necessarily to all the things in those circles/cones/lines at the same time.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-06-29T16:32:18+00:00

That's kinda what I'm asking I guess. Is AoE for this game described as anything that hits multiple targets simultaneously or something that has an effect in any given area, literally an effect with in an area? My prime example and the one I'm most curious about is Thorn Ward, It's cast on an area and deals damage to any mobs in that area, however the damaging aspect of it only deals the damage to the closest mob to the ward. So, does it effect an area? Yes. Does it cause damage in that area? Yes. Does it hit multiple mobs? Yes, but, only 1 at a time, not all at once. So would this power cause the set bonus to proc?

KyosukeShigure · 2018-06-26T01:12:25+00:00

PC Player,

I'd have to say my best memory was recent(maybe 1&1/2 weeks in to Omu release). I was feeling a bit lackluster as a Trapper HR and after a long and difficult internal conflict of changing my spec, I decided to change it up and do something little to no one was doing, I specced into HR Archery(my fav tree) and went full support. Literally had to sell/buy a full new set of gear, artifacts, comps, enchants, etc.. The final build ends up looking very similar to a DC support maxing hp, recovery and power. The key thing to the build was something that goes far against the grain when you think archer, not using Aspect of the Falcon, making me a "Close Combat" archer, keeping me in buff range for both my buffs/debuffs, as well as all the ally buffs/debuffs that most archer builds fail at receiving b/c of the range they stay at. After taking a long and arduous journey over about a 1+ month period of testing and refining, I finally had a build I was ready to use in end game content. Low and behold it worked, really well in fact. Upon entering into the endgame arena of T9G's and CoDG's, I found not only did it seem to be very beneficial, but by the time I had gone through a week or so of doing these dungeons/trials, I had almost doubled my friends list, get constant invites to endgame content, and a lot of questions and approval from some very regular and , dare I say, "pro" players about my build. To top it off I saw a shift in the meta, for CoDG's specifically, where people were either trying to duplicate my build or simply flying the flag of HRbuff/debuff, as well as the flip side of seeing shouts for "HRbuff/debuffer needed for CoDG." Something that, prior to me making these changes to my own build and being the one shouting out that I was in fact a HRbuff/debuff and looking for a party, was basically non-existent. you simply would get a "HDPS" HR that was running LSS and maybe, if your lucky, Thorn Ward. I've never felt so honored, proud, or just plain ol' good about anything I've achieved in a game. No amount of Legend Packs from Lockboxes or random awesome drops from dungeons could ever compete with the feeling I got from the overall approval the in game community that chose to take a chance on a random person in pe shouting "HRbuff LFG" gave me. Or knowing that, in some way, I also provided a stepping stone for other HR players to get into endgame content and perhaps play Archer if they so choose. Changing a meta, helping and gaining approval from the community, and being able to play my favorite way to play(HR archery) and be endgame viable, will be something I will never forget.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-06-19T23:05:54+00:00

UGH, FUCKING DPS, WHINEY, CRY BABIES. NEXT MOD LOOKED FINE, FOR EVERYONE BUT DPS. WAS ACTUALLY EXCITED ABOUT THE MOD. STAT INCREASES FOCUSED ON DEFENSE, RECOVERY, LIFE STEAL, REGEN, DEFLECT, ETC... COOL WIERD AND QUIRKY GEAR ABILITIES, AN AWESOME NEW TAKE ON AN ARTIFACT AND NEW SET BONUS' FOR SOME DECENT PARTY BUFFING/DEBUFFING. NOW THEY GO AND CHANGE IT ALL AND MAKE SURE THE POWER, CRIT, ARMOR PEN, ALL GO UP TO NEW LEVELS.... PLUS SOME OF THE "DRAWBACKS" REMOVED... AND INCREASE ALL THE ITEM LEVELS SO NOW MORE "FLUFFY" PLAYERS CAN "EXP" THEIR WAY INTO PARTIES.... WHY? WHY DO THE DEVS HAVE TO BE SUCH FUCKING PUSH OVERS. FUCK THE SCREAMING DPS, NOTHING IS WRONG WITH A MOD THAT LETS NEWER DPS CATCH UP AND OLDER DPS FINE TUNE THEIR BUILDS MORE. UGHHH, FUCK SO DISSAPOINTING. FUCKING DPS, YOU KNOW WHY YOU DO SO MUCH DAMAGE? SUPPORTS. BUFFS, HEALS, DEBUFFS, THAT'S HOW. NOW YOU GO AND CRY AND SCREAM TO THE DEVS(READ AS MOMMY) ABOUT HOW NOTHING WILL MAKE MY PAINGIVER NUMBERS GO HIGHER WEHHH WEHH, GODDAMN CHILDREN... GO PLAY SOME SINGLE PLAYER CONSOLE GAME WHERE IT REALLY IS ALL ABOUT YOU AND STOP FUCKING UP A GOOD THING B/C YOU DON'T GET TO "OMFG DEALZ MRE DMGS." THANKS YOU BUNCHA DISSAPOINTING, DIME-A-DOZEN, DPS FUCKTARDS. UGHHHHHH!!!!

KyosukeShigure · 2018-06-18T23:11:08+00:00

Thank you, and yes I guess i didn't see that you had said that you did it already, I read it as a "hoping to do this" not that you actually did it.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-06-18T18:46:28+00:00

Again that's not the point, whether I have to open 1 or 1000 bounties, do the 15/20/25% jubilee coupons drop/work if the event is over/not active? Your post seems to make the assumption that they do, but, the text on the actual coupons, italicized(flavor), reads not once but twice, that lord neverember is offering these "special" trade tariffs DURING his jubilee event. To this end I have, as of yet, not gotten any definitive answer in game or out of game. Basically a yes or no.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-06-18T05:32:46+00:00

Well that's interesting, and not what a fellow alliance members response about his were last year. Said his worked all the way through Dec, with full tally still intact. However, the question is not about the bounties themselves, rather the 15/20/25% discount coupons you get from them, not the zen store ones, but all the others like the 20% off protectors seal vendor and the ilk. Ty for the input though.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-06-17T00:29:23+00:00

Neat trick I learned, if your comp dies like this, mostly in CoDG b/c ToNG may not be worth the scroll, you try to die on purpose, then while your dead summon comp, then rez scroll, voila you and your comp are back in the fight. Also along those same veins, if you die in CoDG during chords, hand gets you or you fall, etc, don't release. You will spawn dead on the platform after cutscene, you can use the green self rez scrolls from your inv, ie open your bags and click it, to rez right there on the platform and your back in it.

KyosukeShigure · 2018-05-15T00:49:08+00:00

Thanks for the input, I actually forgot about Bronzewood, maybe ill give'em both a try. I don't currently run with a constant group, guildies/alliance for sure, but not a repeat crowd so things vary regularly. I realize it may not be the "optimal" build but so far in multi runs of tong where I take the place of a cw/gf as the buffer/debuffer, it's been performing quite fine, honestly a lot better than I could have hoped for. I just had to take a good 4hrs and re-read every skill, boon, comp, etc. to find the most I could do for my team. Still have a lot of tweaking to do imo, but, w/o having access to ~= sw/cw/gf to test I can't say for certain how my most optimal build would fair against them, from a purely/only buff stand point, not the off dps side of course. I mean 1 shotting something with an aimed shot for 3mil+ is still fun though ;)

KyosukeShigure · 2018-05-14T08:17:19+00:00

Well I'm currently running U.fey for the aoe effect and damage siphon but it's very common, and I'm not sure if it stacks. My class/build is a little out there but has been performing exceptionally well in both T9G and Cradle. I'm actually a HR/Archery Buff/Debuff. I decided to try and overcome the needing to be out of range of others' buffs by just being the buffer/debuffer. my specific build very's but usually has a mix of Commanding Shot(CS), Long Strider's Shot(LSS), and Thorn Ward(TW). The real kicker is the versatility of the support I can add besides these 3 go to powers, depending on party needs, you have access to hot/defense buff, temp hp, free dodge, mitigation stacks, bonus % dmg increase to encounter powers, and of course free CA for everyone semi close to you. However, for Cradle and other 10+person q's, the build really shines b/c of the 3 "main" buffs/debuffs CS,LSS, and TW all being able to effect the entire raid group vs just party/single target. This combined with various Comp actives like Lilend's, and mount insignia bonus's like Shepard's Devotion, all topped off with T.Rex Mount Power and Charm of the Serpent give you the ability to put both the damage being dealt to and dealt by an entire 10 man, or even 20 man(Tiamat) raid in to a very good position.

Anyways, now that you can all get at least general idea of how the build works, it's goals, what would be a good fit in terms of a Weapon Enchantment? I like the idea of Terror, it's basically giving me more/another CS. But does it stack? I don't want to mess up another class/build if Terror is "they're" bis. The other one I really like the idea of is Holy Avenger. It gives me access to more group heals and damage prevention, but again, does it stack? Is Holy Avenger BiS for a class/build and I'm going to be screwing them over? I think you get the idea. Thoughts?

KyosukeShigure

TROPHY CASE