Monthly Archives: July 2013

Heal vs Howl of Terror vs Earthquake vs Finger of Death?

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Last night the TR Train crossed into level 15 opening up three level 8 spell slots to Javabot among a few other things. The first is auto filled with that level’s summoning spell leaving me with 2 slots.

What to do?

Being Wisdom based my DCs are more then fairly solid for heroic levels and are not bad for eHs and lower epics. DC casting in eE is just not worth the investment in my mind at the moment. I think people could make a go at it, even if they are never really pleased at where things stand at any given time….

Anyway, do I take one or both of the CC spells? Howl was super good leveling up on my own.

This life I have been playing much more aggressively then I tend to do when soloing. Gathering trash until Red skulled before turning to clear and being the first guy in the room when possible. What can I say having Tobril and Tim, as my insurance policy is both help and a hindrance. They let me be a little bolder as my failure does not mean the end of the quest but then our completive nature tend to ramp things up.

So back to the question, Howl is more of a save my nuts or a “hold” spell. Earthquake has a similar function but it does some damage and can pick up latecomers to the party after the spell has been cast. But has a hell of a long casting time for a guy with out quicken…

Finger is a key removal spell, but really it has about the same functionality as Creeping Cold right now, aka kills a guy.

Heal is about the same as Regen but with a larger up front payoff.

So as of last night my prepped spells are Howl and Finger. Earthquake is too slow and Heal’s main functionality can be replaced by Scrolls (if switching forms), panacea and of course regenerate.

I am also thinking about trying to go elemental over dog in a few quests to get a better feel for that form and to build a little personal experience with some of its interactions. And that will change my layout in lots of new and to me at this time unexpected possibilities….

<3s

Royal Scimitar, Sleeper Druid Weapon?

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So I was just thinking about gear for next level and my brain stumbled into Royal Scimitar (elite).

2[w]
+5 Enhancement Bonus
Destruction
Bloodletter
Red Augment Slot aka good, d4 elemental dice or some spell power….

Glue that onto the wolf frame +5, 2[1d10] 19-20, Destruction, Bloodletter…

Right now I am using a Lit2 green steel khopesh or +5, 1.5[1d10] 19-20 Shock, Good burst, shocking blast, lighting strike.

Sure there is more damage in the Lig2 but having to deal with no prof penalty means there are lots of missed attacks. So wouldn’t that make the scimmy a little bit better?

But hey, I have a Skullsmasher (elite) maybe it will be the better weapon… But in this lower level content with the less then ideal attack bonus Destruction seems better then Intim +13.

Just food for thought…

<3s

Dhakaani Shield?

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So last night Javabot took level 11 and the normal 5 min gear up happened when I realized that I was still using the Dhakaani Shield. A simple +2 wooded shield with a blue slot (heavy fort slotted), why is there not a better shield for a druid at this level?

So I have been looking at shields today, with a few requirements to keep in mind: Heavy Fort and cool effects that will work in dog form (no metal).

So first of all, there are not a lot of named shields that are not made of metal between levels 1-15. I count six. Out of those six clearly the Carved Bone Shield is the best, +5, Neg Energy Absorption 20% and a purple slot. Not bad.

But I started thinking what if I crafted something myself with a red or a blue slot?

Tendon Slice 8% stands out assuming that it would enchant all my attacks.
With Takedown being one of my main attacks Vertigo is worth wild.
The shield might be a cool place for a sneak attack bonus or greater false life or native fort allowing that slot to handle fort if blue or a spell power if red.
Seeker 8 also is a real contender… again assuming a blue slot for fort.

What am I going to do? No idea.

Ideas?

<3s

Gurobo Farm Update 7/25/2013

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Another Aquaponic picture update.

My Dutch bucket as of yesterday. 3 stems and flowering.

Same peppers planted 1, week earlier. Also have grown a ton in the last 2 weeks. But now they are about at the same place the DB pepper was at 2 weeks ago. Single stem no flowers yet.

The flood and drain bed. Ground Cherries are doing well 1 head of lettuce is going.

On Saturday/Sunday i decided to add in some Tomato seeds just to see how they would do and 3 days later they are up. I pulled one out to move it and its root was more then an inch long. Crazy.

Over all i am so impressed with the Aquaponic system, next year it will have at least one more flood and drain bed… some how. And i am thinking a few more Dutch Buckets… I thing we might go really soil less next year depending on how the everything winters.

<3s

My Smok’n Hot Healer Idea

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Since the last post I have been mulling over different druid builds. With the TR train in full swing some nights a week, as people have time to play, my motivation to grind out gear/destiny xp for capped alts fades. And for the last few weeks I have been debating what my list of guys brings to the table.

I have:
Samius as my do everything guy.
McPlunderer as my Dps/removal guy.
Darth Samius a pure dps build.
Samyus my tank that hasn’t done anything after doing all the FR quests on EE other then Web which he has done 0 times.
And Java who is returning to the dog form as a tool box dps/healer guy.

Meaning that my bard gets very little play my “healers” get no play and I have at least 2 guys that have used a true heart just waiting for a build to TR into.

So why is that rambling important?

1, I am board now when not working the TR train. Right now levels are close I don’t want to be the one that makes everyone else have to play catch up. But I am in a place where I want the good vibes from the low level Skinner box pushes.

2, Lately there has been a point/place where something was made harder/didn’t happen because our core group was short a healer. I am thinking when we throw up a raid mostly. But there are lots of times I would like to give Tobril and Rachel the option to not have to heal but can’t because my healers are un such disrepair.

Okay so idea in a nutshell, 17/2/1 druid/ranger/x. X could be anything allowing for pairing with druid’s alignment issues. I am leaning fighter or wiz for the feat but an argument could be made for arty or rouge for skills/namely UMD. The core idea is a two weapon fighter using mostly the flameblade spells (as needed) in either Fire ele form or Ice form that also has manyshot/bow str as another dps option. With a quick human build going ranger, ranger druid until I wanted gtwf (bab) where I took fighter then returned to druid I was able to fit in all the feats for TWF tree/Manyshot tree and had room for toughness, power attack and 1 meta before epic levels. If I could loose a feat I could go Helf and take Arcane Archer I think anyway…

I need more time with the planer, but as I was fiddling I got a txt from Tobril that read “xp?” and I spent the rest of the night xping.

As always, thoughts?

<3s

Lets Call Today Friday

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So first of al; Sorry for not getting a post out on Friday, work was really nuts and by the time I got home I was wiped and just wanted to go play Magic. Btw drafted a sick blue/black deck loaded with counters removal and other control. Rocked Agro decks but had issues with live gain as my men were kinda slow and small….

Second of all I still love Reaving Roar!

While this stance is active, killing an enemy grants you a 6% competence bonus to threat generation for 10 seconds, and creates a burst of sonic damage that damages all nearby enemies for 13d6 sonic damage. Killing an enemy your own level or higher has a 100% chance of activating this ability. For every level below you, the chances are reduced by 20%. A monster two levels lower then you only has a 60% chance of creating this effect. This stance dispels Fatal Harrier, but stacks with all other stances.

That means the current TR train has been moving at a solid pace I know I took level 9 and then spent 30 mins looking for gear that should have been easy to find (BtA +6 stat gear) but I ended up just crafting them again in poopy BtC throwaway blanks. But that is fine what else am I doing with my crafting levels? Nothing and from what I have heard Lam doesn’t have any new Cannith Recipes anyway so I got the feeling it will just be another uncompleted system like every other new system from Turbine.

Dreaming is easy and fun, DOING IS HARD…. – any dev @ Turbine Ever!

So I just want to do a quick layout for any other people looking at doing a dog melee/caster hybrid. I am still using my shocking burst/icy burst/of pure good Scimmy paired with a +2 wooded shield with a blue slot (heavy fort) I also have a weapon set with the Sun flask/shield and the dagger from Threnial (cold 54 in the red slot and I haven’t slotted the orange yet.) My main spells are the melee attack spells Ice storm and Cold Breath. Cold Breath is a monster, as it has like a 4 sec cool down and with Maximize turned on it does like a 150-200 easy. Not bad for lvl 9.

Not bad at all.

Guess I need to wrap this up real fast, I got Netbeans actually working again so time to recreate the hours of step up I did this morning right before it crashed and died and maybe get some momentum going again.

Guess I have this on the brain, my wife is playing a FvS stick build (not sure what the class split is) but I can see some kind of not animal form druid dual wielding the flame blades with a big Wis for DPS for my epic healer. I expect Healzyounot to have a make over in the coming weeks.

<3s

Form of a Dog!

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Yep the other day I TRed Java back into a druid and I am already really glad I did. There is something just pure fun about this animal form melee/caster mashup. All the cool melee attack spells at your disposal and lets not to leave out Blood Moon enchantment line (kill a guy move/attack faster harder). So much fun.

So Monday I took a few hours and cleared the TR bank. Making trips to the barkeep on the boat to sell things that somehow were “special” when really they were trash. Then after the char creation process I started digging through the new TR bank and there are loads of junk items that didn’t need to saved.

How does that happen? EVERY DAMN TIME! I dumped Repair pots and some easy to farm BtC items and some how a +1 flaming shield of mod fort like level 15 made it?

I just don’t understand…..

I will try to talk more in depth about the leveling process on this life and how the build is forming. Maybe I will even do a little “how to” write up at the end, IDK….

But that does bring me to another topic I need to talk just a little bit about, Writing schedule.

For a long time I was every work day quick blog post man, mainly due to hiving been stuck on a soul crushing project that I needed to take 15 mins to think about anything else everyday or I would go insane. And while that project is still on my to do list it is not the main focus for my day everyday all the time.

And that is amazing. But that also means finding that 15 mins is starting to become a challenge. So I am going to change to a Wednesday and Friday update for sure and then try to do smaller updates from home on Samius’ time. And those I can’t promise because would you rather play DDo or write about ddo? Yeah me to.

Well see you for sure on Friday.

<3s

Pepper: Aquaponic Vs Soil

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So today i just want to show you two pictures from the same kind of pepper plant planted about a week apart. Other then that week of time the only difference is the first is in my Dutch bucket (part of my aquaponic system and the other/s are planted in a bed.

Dutch Bucket Aquaponic Pepper

Peppers is the beds.

I realize the soil plants are harder to make out growth but that is kinda my point, they are smaller and not as far along then this one aquaponic pepper ever though i planted the peppers in the bed about a week before i started the Dutch Bucket.

Gear and Other Kicks in the Nuts

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So I have been rocking the gear plan for my rogue build McPlunderer and last night I sat down and made a BIG push.

Now equipped:

eE Black Dragon Helm (dex 8, death block and something slotted)
Int 8 goggles.
Exceptional Fort of Protection 6 necklace (Not sure what other then EE J Collar to put here)
T3 Eye Glass (PRR slotted)
Black armor (epic is a comm away thanks to a eN FoT)
eE Mantel of the Dragonfriend (Fort and exceptional int+1)
eN Girdle of Giants’ Brawn, Yeah a eH brings a green slot which would be cool but the eN was handy. (Wisdom 7 and exceptional Strength +1)
eH Bracers of Twisting Shade (NO swap Skills, some seeker, Resist +7)
A cannith crafted Con6/GFL with a slot (Insightful Con 2 slotted)
eN Ring of Shadows (+20 HP)
eE Backstabber’s (fear immunity)
Cannith Boots of Propulsion

Main weapons are the Epic Mighnight and the Agony. Would like to go Balizard and eMidnight. Balizard brings some goodies that are more then just weapon procs. And who is 50% ranged DPS that doesn’t want a Pinion but the eE Tortured Livewood Bow is not that far behind (not that I have one of them handy though)

The right eH or eE Intricate Field Optics could make some swaps happen but really are not supper important. And getting a 3rd comm would let me make that black armor and give me a place to slot the 35 hp and go to a Con 8 ring (with a slot ???? for Insightful Con 2)

And a GS hp pair of boots could/would be made if I had a shard of power. ☺

Also for those that missed my angry tweet last night, pulled a Napkin on McPlunderer (after I made all the other gear fit) when I really need one on Samius.

Look for a rant on not having an option for moving raid loot soon.

Now Back to work for meetings!
❤

Ps if you have feed back use the comments or send me a mail.

The Return of Fin Fang Foom!

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After a few weeks of fiddling with the Juggernaut I am just not as pleased with how Javabot is playing. Just so happens Tobril is having the same issues…. Could that have anything thing to do with the DG play style? I think probably.

So last night Tobril asks me if I have a plan to TR Java and how close I was too ready to go under. I knew it was coming as he spent a few points/weeks converting his arty icon into a ranger icon for the past live feat. So I have been mulling it over and have been talking it out some. Namely that I was still hating on the Jugg because I was not done playing with the druid frame. So I am thinking about either just returning to pure 20 druid OR doing a 9/9/2 druid/monk/fighter build and try to really go nuts with double striking touch of deaths…

Doing a pure druid life would be just for me and how I feel like i am leaving druid uncompleted. Going 9/9/2 would be to knock out another class life with trying to push the double strike dps to its max. Which after a quick twitter asked and answered shields seem to uncenter druids in form, aka I lose a lot of the big perks of the wolf form.

Wonder how a glueing rogue or fighter or bard even would work?

My gut tonight as i finish this says, just go pure and rock all the druid love out of the system. If that stays true come a few days and a few levels lvl 10 will be druid and Fin Fang Foom will be back in force!

<3s