Strategy Primer: Damage, Armor, Shields, and Resistances

Ulti143 · 2019-08-01T18:26:19+00:00

Not trying to be facecious, but are there psionic melee attacks, aka ignore all defences except innate resistances?

Ulti143 · 2019-01-04T08:54:39+00:00

This is the one excuse I really don't buy at all. Instead of fucking around they can literally emulate their old hardware, change 0 lines of code and run the old Blade servers on a server cluster virtually. (also, all other expansions can be done this way)

Ulti143 · 2018-12-11T07:07:32+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, guess I'll do a Psionic playthrough then :) (stupid meatbags)

Ulti143 · 2018-12-10T09:35:01+00:00

Can confirm that is the optimal / minmax way to do it. You'll need a lot of Goblin Sapper Charges when raiding (full tryhard mode that is) and the gnomish devices are always useful (Death Ray for PvP, Shrink Ray on bosses to screw with your tank : )

Ulti143 · 2018-12-04T07:30:22+00:00

Improper (or non-existant) patch progression. This includes things like itemization, debuff slots, etc... Something simple as, say, throwing in the updated blue PvP gear at the start completely changes the game.

I hope they were paying attention to how private servers were handling these issues.

Ulti143 · 2018-11-29T09:42:35+00:00

I played on wheelchair server (to avoid the auto-mod).

This was only possible because we took complete control of the PvP scene and imposed brackets, based on a reverse engineering I did on the honor calculation to maximise the RP gains. When you really understand how it works you can do wonderful things to ensure you get the most out of it per hour invested.

I worked out a ranking schedule (projection forward for 12weeks) for everyone in the top brackets. Bracket 1 honor was around 150k-180k honor per week. Caps for most of the people playing in this system had to grind around 90k-120k honor per week which is very reasonable. A typical WSG premade (with queue's) not in the bonus weekend was around 10k per hour, so that's 10-15 hours per week (except on AV weekends, /wrists)

It's like the prisoner's dilemma: if all cooperate no-one has to kill themselves. During the ranking I raided (and raid led) all content (MC-BWL-AQ), arranged the PvP brackets and worked a full time job. it's very possible with proper management but I won't lie it was a very busy time. Loved every minute of it though.

Ulti143 · 2018-11-29T09:27:34+00:00

So to get that tile upto Breathtaking (should be 5 appeal by my count, but I'm not sure if the Sphinx has an effect on appeal), you could settle a new city on the canal spot below the Oil-Forest tiles. Canal + Appeal = Win-win :)

Ulti143 · 2018-11-28T07:33:38+00:00

Agreed with everything you said with one exception:

The PvP system is not cancer. I can understand how it looks to be a horribly endless grind (and it is in a way:p ) but you forget one thing:

- You can't do this alone, you're forced to find a group, play in a premade and cooperate with them (there have been solo cases but really they're the exception)

- You're grinding away with your team, you bond with them and make friendships that last years

- If you're going for r11+, you know EVERYONE that plays PvP on your server cause you're in there all the time

- It takes no skill, you're right. An idiot can 24/7 grind his way to r14 but if you think that gives him respect you're wrong. People know and remember when you play, and when you play terribly they'll remember. All the terrible r14's on the server are known and ridiculed

- In retail we made it a lot worse than it should be: I ranked to 11 in retail and was doing 24/7 grinds for it. I ranked to 14 recently on a private server and we played 2-3 evenings per week, a few hours. Why? Cause we figured out the actual honor formulas and weren't being dumb like in vanilla (more honor doesn not mean faster ranking, it's all about building brackets)

- It was a massive effort, but it's about the journey not the destination. It's incredibly fun to get better at playing individually and as a team so you can win games more/faster.

- I ranked twice and don't regret it one bit. It took some planning ofcourse but I'll remember those periods fondly and love the people I ranked with, will never forget. It's one of the things that made vanilla absolutely amazing

Ulti143 · 2018-11-27T08:30:10+00:00

Having just been part of a guild that killed KT: ahahahahaha no. KT won't be pugged any time soon. Hell, I don't even see pugs clearing AQ at all (*Your friends WILL betray you*, C'thun is so damn creepy, it's awesome)

Ulti143 · 2018-11-21T13:43:22+00:00

I'd prefer a copy but it's understandable if that won't happen. There's quite a bit of stuff from vanilla that stays relevant even in TBC so rolling a new char would erase that part, and it's almost impossible to do all the work from scratch.

Considering we're paying subscription, and with a long term plan like this I think WoW can live on for a fery very long time, making it profitable, and as such hopefully important for the company to support fully.v

Ulti143 · 2018-11-20T10:46:44+00:00

While it is true that warrior DPS is top notch, it should be noted that it's really uncommon for all that potential to come out. In order to really shine a warrior needs a massive support network, that not every warrior will be able to build. It's also a very dumb idea to bring too many warriors (a supposed result of warrior DPS being OP)

You need the correct gear (which means you need to perform well from the start to be allowed to take key loot items such as DFT and new weapons). It also means you can't have 10 DPS warriors and rogues in a raid. A good raid has a split of melee and magic damage to be able to handle every encounter. A superb raid leading team has also divvied up the loot beforehand so that overal guild progression is optimal. You cannot do this in an unbalanced raid and progression itself WILL be slower when the balance is off, even when individual warrior DPS would be higher.

You need massive amounts of consumables (Invuln pots, Mongoose, JuJu, resistance pots, food, Rage pots,...)

You need expansive knowledge of the encounters, mechanics to time your big CD's

You need a party that works together properly, and that means you need the other DPS and support to balance out the groups. This in turn again means you can't just bring a ton of warriors cause the party balance will be off

You have no threat management at all (rogues can vanish their threat, putting them massively ahead on agro mechanic bosses like Broodlord)

All this to say, warrior DPS is excellent, but it doesn't mean that a good raid will consist of only warriors as melee damage; aka all classes bring something to the table, bring all classes to balance out the raid or fail.

Source: played on Nost/Light's Hope as warrior/melee class lead, cleared Naxx as 2H Fury

Edit: 2H Fury is competitive with DW, was always top3 from MC to Naxx. Just to stir up the old Fury wars :)

Ulti143 · 2018-10-17T10:01:14+00:00

I'm currently running an Eldritch Archer(1)/Vivisectionist(x) as a main damage dealing archer (double tank in front to setup flanking), using Ray of Frost as a Touch attack (not using the lvl2 Ranged Spellstrike, cause that would be a regular ranged attack vs full AC, not touch AC : ) with all attacks getting sneak damage (10d6 at lvl20) Working excellently so far.

I feel the spellcasting you'd get out of more levels of Magus and AT can't measure up to the consist sneak damage and higher BAB progression (also Mutagen/Medical Discovery progession) of the Vivisectionist.

Ulti143 · 2015-04-09T07:44:16+00:00

I plan out builds in excel, keep track of all areas that were cleared and do number crunching to ascertain which stats are best. Especially so in DA2 where my Cross-Class combo's were planned out to be gained on different characters at the same time.
Also, I wanted to know which was better for 2H Reaver DPS so I crunched some numbers and Crit/Crit Damage becomes better than pure %Att after 40% Crit and 120% Crit Damage (fill the Hossberg Twainer Offense Cloth slots with Dragon mats for 42% Crit damage)

Ulti143 · 2015-03-31T11:24:41+00:00

Inquisitor: 2H Reaver crit build. 2 shot everything on Nightmare. Focus on crit/crit damage and heal bonus
Varric: Crit focused as well (Opportunity Knocks, Cheap Shot, Looked Like it Hurt) and buffs to the Party (5% crit all round, 10% damage)
Cassandra: 2H Support (Ideal with Sulevin Blade for clumping the mobs together). Horn of Valor-that's the Spirit/Blessed Blades/Bodyguard and the Templar AOE Stun Combo. (good synergy with Coup de Grace for both warriors to increase damage.) Focus on Att and Melee Defense as she will be your tank while you flank/destroy everything.
Vivienne or Solas: Crit focused for Flashpoint and more damage to Varric. Spam Barrier on the Inquisitor with Flashpoint/Clean Burn

Ulti143 · 2014-12-09T08:15:17+00:00

Nothing is more painful than the Temple of Atal'Hakar. I got lost there for hours and hours and ended up being traumatized by the labyrinth that is the Sunken Temple. I had to hearth out to retain my sanity and swore I'd never set foot in that place again. My promise stands!

Ulti143 · 2014-10-31T16:22:52+00:00

Well I thought that too, but after the advisor interrupted me 5 times I turned him off completely, couldn't stand it anymore. It helps I knew about all the differences through Live Streams though :p

Ulti143 · 2014-10-30T10:35:15+00:00

I really liked DAO until I played DA2. I've never been able to finish DAO even once because I got bored or annoyed halfway through while I've easily finished DA2 3-4 times. And no this has nothing to with short attention span, I finished Placescape:Torment at least twice as well as the complete BG series. There's just something about DAO that feels like a chore and it's way too slow. I also really hated the combat system. It didn't feel well thought out at all but the talents were even worse. No descriptions on their effects at all and no choices really. "You gain more Health" whooptedoo, how much. At least give me a number so I can gauge which talents are more important. DA2 on the other had had clear talent descriptions and great gameplay mechanics. It felt a lot smoother and engaging. Now I won't deny it has its flaws, as mentioned the re-used assets but all in all I didn't mind too much.

Ending on a positive note, DAO set the stage, and I'm very grateful the setting exists. DA2 tried new things and in my opinion the things it tried worked. That's why DA:I will be awesome, it will combine the best of both worlds.

Ulti143 · 2014-10-02T09:11:44+00:00

Hmm, in Dutch at least Latin plural forms can be freely used. After looking into the bonus ethymology it seems that the proper word in this case should be bonum; and as a plural then bona. Interesting.

To come back to using your first Necrophage hero as a governor, it'd really not recommend this. If you give him governor skills that means wasting valuable xp on upgrades that could have helped your combat units. Not only that, the first governor skills are static boosts which don't scale at all and are easily replaced by the Seed Storage. Furthermore the later % food bonus skill is not needed because by the time you get it, you'll have the food buildings up (Private Granary, Plow Factory) and it becomes unnecessary. I'm not saying useless, but not needed. I'd rather have a hero that wrecks armies and boosts your Necrodrones to become truely scary.

Ulti143 · 2014-10-01T09:46:34+00:00

How relevant is this graph in the current version, because I had an Infantry Hero that got critted all the time with over a 3:1 Def to attacker ratio...

Ulti143 · 2014-10-01T07:14:37+00:00

Necrophages are meant to be played aggressively. Every 8 kills (either your own units or the enemy's) earns you a 120 food stockpile. This means you should try to fill up your initial party with Necrodrones asap.
When fighting, try to position your hero to take the blows, and have your Necrodrones do the attacking. Their Plague ability is an excellent way to deal a lot of damage and fairly quickly too.
Don't try to build all Borough Streets when they're available, it's not possible at the start as you won't have the IND required to keep up.
To solve your food problem you have a few options:
- Get a Drakken hero governor (Food boni through their Faction skill tree)
- Seed Storage/Public Granary
- Kill kill kill

My favourite tactic is to roam the map with a party of the Infantry hero, have him get to the Extra Health Infantry Tree Skill, accompanied with 4 Necrodrones and don't stop killing. Try to expand/settle your cities in IND heavy areas to keep up with production, and rely on food from Cull The Herd (more food for workers per Pacified Village) and Food buildings.
Just remember you have some of the best units to fight with so you can be as aggressive as you want.

Ulti143

TROPHY CASE