Finally! Man that last level was tough. Lots of raiding, lots of grinding out a handful of quests. I will say the new lord of eyes chain was a nice change up. One or two of them was fair xp per min… Not great, but fair. Capped up on Wends and Epics on Thursday. Good times.

Last night I logged on and sent out in channel greetings. And got a “Sam, VOD?” from Oncler. If you don’t know him, I know I have used his name a few times, he can be a little rough around the edges but once you get to know him he is great. You know that little switch that keeps you from telling some one how it is? He doesn’t have one. And he has some ideas of what is good and is very vocal about those ideas. But if you put your pride aside and take what he is saying to heart then you will become a better player. Thankfully I don’t get dressed down toooo much…:)

So any way we do a Hard VoD, got passed a set of Gloves of the Glacier, that happened to come from Oncler. I can swap into them on longer boss beat downs. Just to stretch the Sp a little more. Lost the roll for Tharns Goggles again think I rolled 9 on a d100. 😦

Did a tod run. Did pick up a ninth Trophiy of War and got passed a Gilvaenor’s Ring. It will let me craft Shocking Burst or on it for a little extra dps for my next few Trs. You know Oncler hooked me up with that ring too….I hope that doesn’t mean we are going steady….

I finished off the night with a Epic Crono. Was told to go to town on the Conjoined Abishai Devastator. Everything was going fine until it went white dragon and iced the ground. Our main tank didn’t have a FoM and wasn’t able to attack for a bot. And it takes off right too me. I am trying to move and scroll myself all while sliding along.

For some reason the party seems to be moving after me. WTF. Let me turn this guy away. And I hear. “Sam just die! Before it Infernos and we wipe ”

Guess someone didn’t know who I am I get moved around and I yell stop following me. I will handle the agro until the tank can get it back. And the party does and I keep the Devastator on me, scrolling myself as the healers must be thinking if they don’t heal me I will die. I never saw them heal me during that fight anyway.

The tank regains agro as I let the dots fade. And I move out of the danger zone with no problems. Wait for the tank to call out for dots again and we complete with no deaths.

Easy as pie. Not one of the group that had run with me all night had a problem with how I handled things. A pugger did. Oh well. We won and I got passed a Shard for a Diabolist’s Robe. Rolled and lost a Time blade seal in the bank so when its shard went up I didn’t bother. Let the guy who won the seal have it.

I hope tonight to get a few more epics and a shroud in, sitting on number 7. 13 more until TR time baby!

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I have been debating the possible gear layout for Javabot as a pure 20 FvS. Most of it is fairly straight forward. Hate, DR, Amp and what not. But there is a question about Sp regen items. Mainly do I need a CordOp item if I already have a Torc?

This is not a normal question. At least not for me. It takes many tries to get a Torc from the DQ raid. And building a CordOp item is often a lot more feasible then waiting out a torc. But what if you already have a Torc?

So I look at my practical game play. Samius has both a Torc and a CordOp item. Depending on the style of play each life I have found that I may or may not need both the CordOp and Torc at the same time.

Example: Most of the monk/caster lives I didn’t use both at the same time. I might start/shrine with my CordOp on as it is a huge boost to my Sp pool. But after buffs swap it out for a Jidz. Most of those builds didn’t have mana issues with just the Torc for sp regen. But they also had fist of light to help with the incoming healing.

But now say I am going to be a lot more caster stay out of the fight I want ever hit to have a fair shot at netting me some Sp. So for Say the Sorc life I am doing both.

Now something I just now thought of is making a par of swap in boots. Say full on guards or guards+ sp that are CordOp. Places when I need to swap in special boots are normally places where I don’t need the cordOp chance for Sp. Those are normally Boss/end fights of places with crazy incoming burst damage from spells. That would let me make a “permanent” HP- GS goggle and cleans it.

Oh by the way, if you don’t do the DdoCast thing I think I recall Glin saying that Mabar is coming back and I am thinking a full on Cloak of Night might make the cloak slot….

Please debate, it is going to be a bit before I go for Java’s TR so lots of time to go over feed back.

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I just a twitter question where the answer is way over 140 char. If only I had some kind of blog???

Okay so I was asked “What is so special about the mantel? Compared to a prot cloak etc at low lvl?”

Let first look at the mantle: Mantle of the Worldshaper – Heroic Inspiration (5% bonuses xp), Regeneration(1hp/min), Scarab of Spell Absorption (5/Charges), DM’s Vision Set Bonus [ML: 5] (Quest Reward: The Abandoned Excavation)

I don’t know about you but I can’t always leave my Voice equipped while playing. I try to remember to get it on before I complete the quest. But sometimes it is just not likely. In those quests, I can normally use the mantle. I hate not getting the bonus 5% do to just not having away to get it.

Wearing the mantle is a lot like a free die hard feat. If you are going to be somewhere in the 0 to -9 range you have fair odds at getting that 1 hp to make you stable. Sometimes not. But often enough that it is worth wearing. I remember when the Trolls ring was a big deal. But you make Regeneration a 100% drop and no one wants to get it???

Also your talking about having true seeing at level 5 at your whim. If you were to go back and replay the all the CtH shows you will hear no less then 3 different episodes where Lessah goes on about true seeing via the Mantle/Vom.

But the main deal for me is the Spell Absorption. 5 rechargeable uses, even if they recharge at 1 a day. You can still swap it on off to make those charges count.

I can think of a few places I used mine just in the last week. I am riding out my last few 100k xp to cap. Meaning IQ quests, Dream Conspiracy is one of the ones I grind out. In this quest there are 2 levers that cast Mordenkainen’s Disjunction, and you can deal with all your buffs being lost and/or items being turned off. Or you can wear your mantle while you are using the lever, burn off 2 of its charges and not have an issue.

It helps making living through an inferno a little easer, in the Abbot raid. Similar use in the ToD raid, with Horoth’s banishment.

Now while leveling up there are even more uses for the mantle. If your in a hold heavy quest. Hard Pit for example. 5 charges can normally (with some understanding of the quest) get you past hold=death casters if you can’t cast FoM yourself. Or any other really bad spell …. Finger, Dominate etc…

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So I am leaning towards that pure 20 FvS for my Javabot rebuild. But today is not about the build but its gear. So lets run down my level 20 known gear.

In the hat slot I have a Renard’s Elegant Hat, I don’t have to wear it all the time. But using my hat slot for feather fall and have it look good, win win.

Neck: Torc. Move on blue bar melee type build, no brainer.

Trinket slot: Bloodstone/Litany/Head of Good Fortune/Greater Bold Trinket/ other clickly trinkets

Bracers and Gloves: Epic Claw Set

Rings: I like the Warchanter’s Band (+2 Str) +2 Chr and +3 exp Str very solid ring. Tumbleweed to-hit bonus and whatnot.. There might be another tod ring like the reaver ring that I luck sack into but for now I am thinking I might need the to-hit. Circle of Hatred.

Boots: Needs to be flexible. Tod boots, Firestorm whatnot.

Now the Cloak and Goggles slots: I saved these for last because I am thinking of finishing/scraping and making new green steel items for these slots. I would normally plan on an CordOp item some place in a caster build. But as I already have a torc and the deeper pool that is the fvs I don’t know if I need the cordop also. So I am thinking a res/hp/hp item in one slot and a res/sp/sp item in the other. I really like the idea of having an Air and an Earth item as dispelling happy mobs like to cast acid and electric spells. Using the Fvs :Energy Resistance feats for fire/cold/sonic + 30 acid/electric gives fairly solid beholder elemental resistances. But the idea of crafting up guard heavy items also have some appeal.

Weapons: Going WF opens up the Lord of Blades aka great swords. So I made a level two bta holy icy burst with the ice games going on. And I heard that Fopo might have an Atonement for trade… But as for making a green steal before TRing???? Maybe? Maybe a simple 3x positive for an catch all weapon and a Vampiric Fury Blade as an all the time sword for leveling up. I do know an unlocked Wrath of Sora Kell set will make the leveling up a lot easer.

Well if you have any suggestions for Java’s end game/leveling gear post a comment.

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Sure that title doesn’t that quite that same ring to it as The End is in Sight, but you know what? It is the best I got! 😛

So Friday 5:05 or so I left work. Jumped into my truck and was headed home. Pulled a little to the right and a little more then a car length behind another truck heading I have to assume for home. I see traffic is heavy right this second on Ohio. One of the busiest streets in town. So I know I am not going anywhere for a while, and get comfortable. The truck in front of me however, decides he can get out quicker if he where to use a different exit and backs up to get head that way. Once I see what he is doing I lay on the horn. But it is too late. And crash!

My truck is all torn up, and he doesn’t have a scratch. But he hit me right at the tire well with his bumper. It is not like I have metal plates and spikes protecting my truck… yet. 🙂 I do my best to keep calm, I might have been a little in shock…

Okay moving on…

Get home, I eat and log on. And I am starting to get a little pissed. But thankfully the channel guys where in a good mood and decided to help me feel better with some raids for xp. Tod (n?), Vod(E) missed the roll on a set of Tharns goggles 38 to 41 against another sorc. Good times! Abbot (E) Shroud(E) Once all that was done I can’t say I felt better about the truck. But I did rank up and that helped a lot.

Get up early check the show times for Capt. America 25 mins until the first (normally the least crowded) showing. So fly in the wife’s car with the family to see the Capt beat up Nazis. Good movie. Go see it!

Get home around 12:30. And the wife’s BFF is on her way for a visit. I pissed her off once when I was sick. And she tried to talk my wife out of marrying me up to and including on the wedding day. Lets just say, there is not a lot of love lost with her and I. But she cheers up the wife, so she is not all bad. But that means I am sitting and playing computer games alone…

But I am determined to rank up again. Let me say Sins of Attrition is a great quest. 7-8 runs in a row and I never got board.

I grind on and watch Swamp People. So very good. If you like survivor shows like Survivorman or Dual Survivor or even Man vs Wild odds are good that you will dig this show. And I love that the show always prints out subtitles. Even though all the people on the show speak English, well kinda. 🙂 watch a show or two and check it out.

So about midnight on Saturday, my wife comes down to inform me her BFF is spending the night and hanging out most of the day Sunday…. Grrr.

But more grinding Sunday, we tape a CtH. I don’t know how funny it will be but the parts that are funny are ball busting funny. I think it will be a good show.

I end the weekend just hitting the last rank before leveling. So Epics are in sight. I plan to take a little time from TRing Samius this go around. I already have a good number of a few raids. So I am going to try for some 20s. Get some epic gear ready for Java and TR him, at least until he is in his sweet spot.

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So a few days back. I was in a grouping mood and decided to check out the lfm pannel. And see a hard hound up. Now I know the the raid leader and have had an encounter with this guy in the past. But not enough to put him on my don’t group list. But enough I remember his name.

The group had 7-8 people, a good mix of melees and a fvs. The message in the lfm was casters and healers. And was open to 18-20 level guys. I applied. And hit my ship buffs. You know getting all ready.

And I sit. And sit. 5 minutes goes by and I am getting frustrated. 10 goes by and I am getting pissed. At 15 minutes I am done waiting for a decline. I ask the wife, who is ice jumping, for an invite so I don’t get added to the raid later once I am in a dungeon solo. And start a normal Prey on the Hunter. Stiner logs on and he joins me and we finish up in 15 or so minutes.

I recheck the lfm pannel a few more slots were filled, but there was still 2 or 3 slots left. Same message, same level range.

So we rerun Prey and I notice I was declined as the group became full. No big deal. We finish up, and Stiner has to get to his static group. So I re check out the lfm panel and the raid leader has a reformish lfm, so I guess I dodged a bullet. But I still hate limbo.

Really guys if you don’t want me, please use that decline button.

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A few post back I talked about the decision to swap Disintegrate for Reconstruct to help keep up a WF tank healed in a hard ToD run… Well let me tell you about last nights Elite Abbot run…

So the same guy that had me swap into Disintegrate starts that Abbot. Miss was already in along with a few other quality names. I jump into the portable hole and think how I am going to help, with no disintegrate? Answer get disintegrate. Nope still on timer. Try to swap with Dragon blood? Nope..

Okay..what else??? Scrolls. I am sure the Abbot will pass most of the saves but what do I have to lose?

The group forms up and becomes a real all star group, there are just a few names missing from my ideal do anything group and of course me… Oncler takes note and cracks a joke. “If the Abbot wins this one, he should take a screen shot!”

We get assignments and go, I jump in to roids late, or I felt late. But still got a slot with roids and went to town. I think roids got beefed up some from the last time I got to do roids. Knowing goggles means you are a goggler any more… But if most roids are at that level, I can see how groups have started to fail. It is not hard, but if someone decides to “help” cover someone else’s zone they could find themselves over whelmed in their own zone with 3 or 4 rocks bearing down at once.

But we finish with no problems. And the extra roids show up. I take a stack right away, and after a few seconds no one goes for the other stack I take it too. And inform the party of how I now have infinite Sp, and I will be blasting away. But my status bar wont look like I am… And that it has nothing to do with swapping my only Abbot killing spell for Reconstruct, and that I have 4 hours left on another swap…

There was many lols in chat, as people were still getting across goggles.

The Abbot has Immunity to Cold and Electric, a ward that stops half of the disintegrates cast at him, and a Mantle of Invulnerability 4th level spells and lower…I thought Cyclonic Blast would work, but it doesn’t. I am a little confused and disappointed…. And I am left with throwing rocks, hasting the party and killing any trash that pops up…

We won, I think there was a quiver. I remember not being super impressed with the chest. But 10k xp is good enough for me, for now.

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I was enjoying the latest Kal’s Den. And Kalari went off on the poor crafting system and namely how would someone “waste” a rare raid drop on Greater Halfling Bane. Well let me put a few ideas out there. 🙂 Rawr! I am a halfling baby.

Okay, in Eberron halflings come in a few basic types urban and wild. I can’t seem to help but see a quest line where some Talenta halflings find themselves in xen’drik causing a few problems. The people of the plains are nomads after all, what is a sea in the name of halfling wonderment?

I see maybe a quest not unlike the protect the caravan quest but with halflings on dino mounts attacking. And you have to keep the caravan moving through a canon in a timely manor.

Speaking about the dino mounts real fast. I see the tech in Ddo already to make this happen. The Abishai already fly, and attack from the air. And we already have a few mounted mobs that are two staged mobs. Mob on mount, mob unmounted so a dino mount should just be a matter of skinning and programing.

A quest where you have to earn the respect of the halfling tribe by clearing out a dangerous cave or track and kill a crazy mob while embracing the methods of the tribe. I would like to see some kind of “naked” solo quest. All your gear is “hidden” and you are given a sharped stick of some sort and maybe a “medicine bag” for limited spell components, with some kinda of collectible you could gather to recharge it.

I can see a quest (or raid even) were your group is hired to retrieve an item and it happens to be an sacred item to a tribe and first you have to fight your way in to a sacred place protected by idk dinos and dire animals? Then get the item angering the local tribe and have to try to fight your way out. Only to find yourself having to deal with the uber of the halfling tribe. Once you defeat them maybe the tribes chief shaman calls upon their dino god and it appears as a dire T-rex or something calling lighting bolts from the skies and shooting fire from its anus. You know good times. 😉

I can picture named items being all bone and wood. Caveman weapons/armor/items with a magical twist. How great would it be to fight dino riders? How bad ass to summon dinos? You thought beholders and mindflayers were cool.

All I am saying is if a barbarian hoard is scary, how much scarier would those barbarians be if YOUR groin was at their punching level? And they had pet Dinos? And hate tall people.

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TV won out over Ddo last night. So I am going to take today and talk about the what is on my DVR.

Syfy has destroyed most of the the other Monday night programing with the return of Eureka and Warehouse 13. I only caught the first episode of ALPHAS so far and I have to say not horrible. But Pawn Stars and American Restoration make the cut as well.

I want to say Tuesday is USA night I am not 100% sure as I let the DVR record all of my programing and watch them normally in the morning as I am getting ready for work or over my lunch break. Saving my evenings for Ddo.

I do know that USA the cable channel for me has always been used to tape mini House or L&O: SVU marathons in the middle of the week. But they have started making some really good shows. It all started last summer with Covert Affairs. Amazing. Suits, amazing. Necessary Roughness also you guessed it amazing.

I am sure there are other shows as well but I am having a brain fart. I do want to talk about Netflix also however. Even as pissed off I am at them for the from out of the blue price hike. I do still ❤ them. And I think that is why they will get a way with that 60% price jump. They are just great. That said I will be moving to streaming only and hitting the red box when I need a movie that I can’t stream. I am also looking at Walmart’s movie streaming service VUDU. I like the idea of it any way, I haven’t gotten into any details.

Any way on Netflix, we should have all the Startrek tv shows. I know we have to of my favorites Enterprise and Voyager. I am moving through Voyager right now. I can watch any time now that I can stream to my phone. So I can turn in early cuddle with the puppy and enjoy a show as I begin to drift off. I could have done the same thing years ago I guess if I put a tv in the bedroom, but I didn’t. There are a few older cartoons also on netflix. Including the painful to watch 90s Iron man and the more painful but childhood favorite The Mysterious Cities of Gold.

Add in Capt America and Cowboys and Aliens and it is shaping up to be quite the fight for my entertainment dollars.

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Even with the new puppies I was able to get a few hours of game time in and was able to get enough xp you take level 19. Finally! This Sorc life is dragging. The wife was able to tag along and cap 2 alts I think. So much xp after the 3rd TR… I want to share a story or two with you all about a ToD and a shroud.

Let start with the Tod. I worked really hard to be Tod flagged by level 18 even though that meant soloing a flagging quest or two. And making doing so most of my night in some cases. So lets just say I have been keeping my eyes open for that 25k a run raid… So a few of the times I have seen a Tod form, I have elected to remove myself from the running with out trying to join. Seems like I always catch the group looking for an experienced kiter or waiting for the last slot as the only caster roll. I don’t want to be that guy. It is not that I can’t handle my roles/jobs. But I have like 3 spells that are in the buff category. ResE, jump and Haste. And I don’t bother with extend any longer… And like I said I was TRing while most people were learning the raid, so now it feels actually getting to kite “requires” already have done it. But I will make a buddy lead some time and I will have a go making sure a back up is ready…

I jump in a hard ToD, lead by a guy I know and get along with well enough. A little talky but anyone that talks enough so I can’t watch Netflix while playing I would put in that pile. And I am asked to switch into reconstruct. Sure, I don’t need chain lighting wait no that is my bread and butter. Circle of Death? Nope that is so a must… All that is left is Disintegrate, but sure that can go… Are you sure scrolls alone can’t handle it? No. Okay I will switch.

Parts one and two are fairly smooth. I hold back damage in part one until told to go for it the the boss ports on top of me right away, get a few lucky crits for 3k bolts and a few dots running and all hate all the time.. So I get to move to the melee’s area so to keep the boss from hunting me down. Good times.

Skip to part 3. We are beating down Horoth and Sully drops. I follow the Wf tank over and spell scroll spell spell scroll. Even at top speed I am not keeping up with his damage. I call out for help as he is just taking a beating. And after a bit he gets stabilized.

But then the Horoth tank drops, think there was something about a stun. . Fopo becomes the tank but it was called out to late and he drops. We play whos the tank for a minute. But we get that under control, but by then the orthons are starting to build up. Thankfully Onecler was there to yell at every one and control got reestablished. And we won. But the chests had little worthy loot. It was some peoples 20/40s and they got their +4 tomes so good on them.

Real fast I had a normal shroud fail, mostly do to a lack of clear leadership. I think once someone else took clear leadership we could have salvaged it. But you know how people can get locked into their own ideals… So once I was the last man alive and found the groups will was gone I bugged out. Jumped into another run and completed with no problems. Pt 4 was a close one rounder, I think the dps of the other group was better. But if you can’t beat part 2??? I also think the healers where new and a kinda new and they didn’t quiet heal like people expect to heal and wasn’t told how to handle things right.

I really don’t have a closing thought,
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