Author Archives: samiusgurobo

Challengebot is Operational

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Yes I know I wanted to do a Green House update, but I wanted to wait for some new pictures and I forgot my phone in the house when I went out to get things rolling and when I was done I didn’t feel like going in and out again…. Lazy as hell I know.

But that gave me 10 more mins of DDo time and I used that time to finally take a look at the Bladeforged. Now thanks to Melkior I decided to set up my first Bladeforged as a 12/2/1 sorc/monk/pally. And have to say it was fun jumping to 15 even if there were some race/class/alignment restrictions.

I took my xp and ran to the market place, no sir I was not about to be drone 10392775903 for the LoB…

Leveling I just went Hps, Combat feats and spell damage boosting metas. Oh and the evoc feat for the Sorc pre line. I went fire and force, by the way. Think it will do well enough. Then I hit the gear cache… Wow there is some good stuff in there. Not anything to go crazy gagga over, but some good stuff. Good enough in my mind other then a weapon think I am good to smash challenges, maybe a fire and force sp boosting item some place… Maybe I can craft a great sword with a red slot for damage and fit in some SP???
If I could TR into or out of these guys I would swap Java to a bladeforged more often then not. They look fairly badass. And the cosmetic docents with the Shredder hand blades look amazing. I might even make another one up to play around with some as a pally/monk just to fight unharmed and have it look like I am punch/stabbing people in the face. Have to say I wasn’t excited about them but after rolling one up I totally feel like having another to fiddle with.

Okay, back to work, if I can nab a few pics and a short video at lunch I will have that garden update for you, if not maybe on Tuesday.

<3s

Xpac Purchasing Options

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So unless I am your only source of news, you know that DDo opened up sales to pre order for another expansion pack. Like Turbine is good at doing there are perks NOW when you pre order. And I am sitting here trying to work but I am mulling over my options for the pre order, hence the bonus post. I need to make up my mind as to not keep finding myself distracted.

So I know I want the collector’s edition, I think I can use the bladeforged and make a Tucaw like build for farming challenges. All the unlocks for the collector’s ed are solid. Hell for 50$ the collector ed of the xpac is a steal. Throw in the order before Aug 19th perks I need this to happen now.

The question in my mind is to get the TP bonus pack and do the legendary upgrade or just one or the other or neither.

I have to say my first gut feeling is to get them all. But looking at the cost of all three that is 150 bucks, which not a bad deal really. But we are a family of DDo players. That means at least what ever I do for myself take that times two and maybe times three. And that is a lot of cabbage…

Okay so the son/my alt account (we share) doesn’t need anything right away, so lets sit that guy on the back burner. But I still have 2 heavily played accounts to make plans for, the wife’s and mine. What one gets the other normally does too.

Thinking to the last xpac I passed on the TP bundle and I have been kicking myself almost ever since, Otto’s boxes are not cheep but for 60$ I can buy points for 2 and have left over Tps? Sounds good. But then if I do that can I really afford to get the legendary upgrade times two?

Okay so lets slow down. Is the legendary upgrade any good to me?

Gold seal Hires… Good. I don’t use them a ton; but there are times when I am alone and I am in over my head and another body wouldn’t suck. Have to assume they are different skinned Panther hire and I tend to use the panther to protect streak in some quests when solo TRing. A free gold seal 17 would be okay…

+3 Skill Tomes x2… I know I said they were not all that great or that big of a deal when talking about them earlier today stands out to me. But having a total of two +3s and a +2 is very interesting…

Tomes of learning, Do I want all my guys to have the epic tome of learning? Yes. Would I buy them all one? No.

I think I went from the xpac+Tp bundle to xpac+ legendary… It is cheaper while I might not get as much bang for my buck today it will me better in the long run.
As for the TP bundle I think in a few weeks I can do a little saving and when I pick up the xpac for the boy’s account I can nab the TP bundle and use the code on my account. Not that his account can’t use the TP also but hey if he wants more Tps he can pay for them!

❤

Posted in DDo.

Reflections: Druid/Skullsmasher, Skill Tomes and Cranes?

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Today’s blog topic/s are a suggestion from the twitterverse, because I have tomorrow Green House update on the brain and I want to take some video/pictures for that post, I needed something else to ramble on about for a bit. And asking twitter is an easy way to get reader interaction.

“Follow up to your Druid and skullsmasher. How did it work out? What do you think of Skill Tomes? :)” – Untitled of Orien

Thanks Untitled, It is not like I am trying to give up on the druid goodness or anything…. But while this is a place to wine, now is not the time. How did the Skullsmasher do? It was amazing in everyway but proficiency. Yep, druids are not proficient with light maces, which sucks! The non-proficiency penalties regardless of what it says in game is -25% to hit vs the -4 that it was/still claims in game. Loosing a quarter of your attack bonus is a big deal in today’s environment.

But lots of casters can cast Master’s Touch on you as well as you can buy scrolls in the portable hole. Thankfully the Skullsmasher is a one handed weapon.

Other then that one down side it was all upside, the damage on normal hits was stellar 3.5[d10] 17-20 X3 is real hard to beat, want to say my max Wisdom druid was still doing about 90-120 on non spell attack/non crit hits and crits were in the 300-400s. Add in that my double strike wasn’t maxed out but was still at least 20-30% or so, making chaining attacks not uncommon. Right before TRing I saw more then one 4 hit double strike chains go off.

The holy Tod ring did its job well, allowing me to slot adamantine for the complex DR issues I was having at the time.

Overall, I liked the Skullsmasher enough that when I saw the hEpic verson being given away I nabbed it up. Originally I thought I might want it for my rogue’s off hand but now I am thinking it might be better used on another character.

What do I think of Skill Tomes?

They are fine… If they can make skills more important in quests, say with some kind of skill challenge encounter (think about some of the random encounters in the kings forest or getting the collars of the slaves in FR) I think that they might be a fairly good seller. But I don’t think it will be a huge you are gimp unless you have +3 skill tomes in every skill kind of thing.

PS, there is a late entry for today’s topic to be about Cranes….. What I can I say? I am pro crane as long as they are pro me? Hell Idk, you can’t eat them or at least I don’t know if anyone that does. They take lots of marsh land (I think) and I live in Kansas other then Cheyenne Bottom which was not all that fair from where I grew up I don’t know of a natural marsh in Kansas and most of my life Cheyenne Bottom was dry…

<3s

Posted in DDo.

Needed: A Farmer for the Challenge Barter Gear

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With all my arty work and other side projects coming up the levels, I have been turning to the House C Challenge gear for simplicity of grinding to equip. Think that line made sense…. My point is the House C gear is solid and I need more of it.

As you all know I am doing this Rogue life with the wife and she is using a few House C items as she is leveling meaning that we are doing some challenges along the way vs using our 20-25s to grind out mats. I have to tell you at level it is both MUCH EASIER to do the challenges and you get a lot more mats per run. So I am thinking about making a House C Challenge runner.

That procs the question; “What does one want in a Challenge runner?”

First thought that springs to my mind is Dim Door. Fast travel is key in a lot of the challenges.

Next is max level 15… This is the butter zone for the challenges. You are at the lowest possible level for the higher runs like Time is Money and Short Cuts and at the middle or the top of all the other quests. Sure you still need an epic character for epic farming but for normal farming this is your min/max level for no penalties.

The last thing I think one needs is the ability to deal out constant damage and by that I mean there are short quests 5 mins, long quests 20min and variable mins quests not to forget to mention all the quests can be extended if you wanted/needed with help from the DDo Store. To me that means a melee for long lasting dps. But at the same time you need access to burst dps for random mini-bosses or optional fights. Big burst damage means caster…. Grumble…

Guess before I start outlining ideas for a possible build I should also bring up a now brainer self healing…

So my very first thought was a heavy melee warchanter bard; mass buffs, full UMD for things not on the list, DD, and stainable dps… But not a lot in the way of speed other then haste and DD and the dps doesn’t have a huge burst option.

Talking to Tobril he said a savant sorc of some kind? That is where I jumped to somekind of Tukaw like build. Not unlike 12/2/1 sorc/monk/fighter… Fair constant dps + good burst dps, a small speed boost + DD and haste options, enough levels in sorc for recon healing the only real weakness I see is no good way to heal kobolds but that is what a hire is for right?

So before I go nuts and roll up and gear a tokaw sorc that will most likely never hit 20, what do you do to farm challenge mats?

<3s

Reflections, Juggernaut

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I got to do watch the new Star Trek movie, eat really poorly for my health (but super tasty – Wendys) and gather the xp needed to hit 20 on Javabot last night. Over all it was a bang up night.

So now is as good as any time to talk about the build…. It is fine. Yep that is kinda how I feel about it at the moment, it is fine….

Not normally what I want in a build but I see why so many people are excited about playing a Jug, it is the embodiment of something I try to have in all my builds, flexibility.

That is the build in a word, flexible, and that is a great thing to have in a build in the world of min/maxing a role. But I haven’t fallen in love with it yet. But I do think it is super strong. I think had I not just tweaked my arty build to do a lot of the same things with out giving up some key things like the arty capstone and insightful damage I would be a lot more excited.

That said it is an amazing build if you think of it as a melee (like a fighter or a ranger) that can do other stuff. Maybe the next level of bard is more of where the Jug build should sit?

So lets look at things now, pre level 20. I got the xp but it was late and I didn’t want to make a mistake leveling because I was tired.

Gear is kind all over, I am using a Terror because pre epic gear it is that or the Fire Greataxe which I didn’t take the time to dig out pre stone, or the pos/pos greatsword from my FvS life. What else??? I am rocking the lvl 4 bracers of air still for the blur effect I will swap to the claw set at 20 so why bother with finding something else? Speaking of the claw set I am currently using the titan’s gloves (unlocked) for the boost to the spell casting and the regen-repair effect. What else is important???? I am using the barb tod ring set for a little more damage even though my right is slotted for holy burst for my druid life.

I find it funny/disheartening that I was so focused on gear for live as a druid that I completely gave up in staying gear neutral so build changes are not super disruptive.

So lets look real fast how I might tweak the build to have a little more Samius flare…

1, I Have decided to swap out Mithral body for Shuriken Expertise, mostly just for fun.
2, Build a kick ass Shuriken again mostly for fun. ☺

3, Get the shard for a Souleater. I don’t think I will play centered all the time but I want it as an option.

4, Find some kind of DPS two-handed weapon for long-term use. Antique one of the normal standouts. The Great Axe of the Chained Solder is a solid option also; it has a red and orange slot and could be a good/reconstruct/dps weapon with out the epic grind (think I have one even).

5, Make peace with moving on the druid, I think I can be just as happy with the Jug build as I was playing the Druid, maybe more so as the Jug as some strengths over my Druid build. But right now I have a feeling of rushing to move on and that is causing me to regret moving on even thought is was clearly the right call to knock out another life and be that much closer to completionist.

Well I am already way long and I will just keep getting interrupted if I try to keep going. Better to break things off now.

<3s

TR Weekend Report, Milking the XPs.

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Yep, we did it. We did the TR to cap thing rocking an Otto box’s leveling stone to make a huge level jump, have to tell you it was very sweet. Levels 1through 8 took about 7 hours so a little slower then I would like but there was some little sister action, you know when you have to wait for your little sister to catch up, but that was 3/4s due to someone waiting until the last min to decide what to do. But wanting to partake of the TR Train. Hey I am all for leaping with out looking as long as there is a team of people willing and able to help you as you get your footing, which we all had.

I want to say I was death free until we were doing Elite Jeets, and only then I died when the kitter dropped and I rushed in to take kiting duty while the kiter got back on her feet. I took a finger of death and my DW had just run out…. But I had placed myself in a place were I could self-res via the shrine and took one or two more deaths while buffing/helping the kiter get control back. Over all for all the crazy that was fling around at the time I think we did fairly well. Tobril’s parents were punking him right at the moment claiming that they were mins away from a surprise visit when he was happily chilling in my basement 7 hours away from his house… The wife and I were trying and failing to not bust out into laughter. His frustration at his parents joke was complete. Don’t think things would have been that bad had they not actually surprised visited him once or twice…

The chest (via Tobril) was good enough to leave me a Terror, which I had just added to the gear list I should have moved over for post stone pre epic gear.

In the very next quest I just plain messed up and didn’t have quicken set up for all my repair spells and failed an important concentration check and fail to -1. Thought I would recover but the melee mob that I had been fighting ran off when I went down and then turned and finished me off…. Grumble. Followed not long after with death by slipping onto spikes to rescue a party member. I apologized to everyone and promised to stop being a fuck up while I rebuffed. Thankfully we had a few deaths in that quest and I was not the only one that needed to rebuff.

The rest of the afternoon went very smooth, including the back end of IQ and elite Kobold and Monastery. Then I needed to try and be a good friend and called it a weekend. Tobril had a 7 hour drive after all and it was already around 3:30 my time or 9:30 for the brits. Looking at twitter the brits kept going and hit 20+ last night. The wife is also at 20 on her fighter, so looks like tobril and I will need to rock a few things on Wednesday to put us all ready for epics this weekend.

Will save how I feel about the Jug build for later in the week. But I do have a lot of mindless Challenge grinding to do in the next few weeks I want to make a Master Artifice Ring and maybe a few of the Elemental weapons…

Also I will be swapping a feat or two and maybe working in the two weapon chain and or the Shuriken Expertise just to see if I can get the Stance/s proc % rate per min equal to or grater than my Evoc Archmage Wiz….

Well

My Prep List, May 17, 2013

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Everyone once and I while I get on my soapbox and talk about my prepping, what I am doing and or why you might want to do some prepping. And it is that time again. Below is some of my to-do list and the why should be fairly easy to see right now take a look at the BS that is going on in the world today.

Things I need to do.

Put a few plans to keep the green house cool in the summer heat in place. Even with the cross breeze and the box fan we are having 95+ afternoons already in the green house.

Get the Aquaponics in and running. Right now I am hopping for rain so I can use rainwater to fill the fish tank. I have plumbed the rain catch to the fish tank via a garden hose that I can add or remove in just a few mins. So water changes wont be an issue in the future. But that means I need some water first…

Adjust the shelves in the Shelfreliance, turns out that I use a lot of canned meat like chicken and crabmeat. Right now the crab is in the Shelfreliance but the chicken is just sitting on top. Need to get them in the rotation. We also have gotten a lot of crap out of the family diet and those canned goods can go to make room for better-canned goods or things we can ourselves. See next item.

Learn to can myself AND get some canning supplies. If we stay on track in the garden (and I am hopeful) the wife and I will have our best year ever. Meaning we will have a ton of left overs to store for the year, ergo canning, freezing or dehydration time. Honestly if I am going to use frozen veggies I might as just stock up on cleaned chopped flash frozen veggies from the store. But if I can make my own pickles from my Orca or keep things in a mini root cellar then I am winning.

Start planning on the cold weather crops and how to keep them growing all winter long.

Well that seems like a fine list for today. I will end with some photos taken during my lunch break watering the garden.

<3s

Trays 1-4 and Qywnn

The Backside of the tomato plants.

Salad waiting on the left and look at my watermelon go! (right)

One of the Strawberries baskets.

Front side of the tomatoes.

Pumpkin…

One of now 6 Grape Plants. Count down until wine making classes?

Change in Plans, Time to Make some NEW Decisions….

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Due to a schedule conflict and a number of people sending in messages saying (xp weekend should be this week) plans are shifted to TR Train this weekend, aka no time for double TR Doctor Jones!

*While Writing Update*
DDO Bonus Days brings you +15% Heroic and Epic XP, now through Wednesday, May 22nd! #DDO #TonsofXP

Glad we (you and I) talked a few things out with my double TR plan and thanks to everyone that sent in your XP weekend guess is off.

So today I am trying to decide on a few things, like what build do I want to land on and how can I turn salvage the TR train if I am wrong now and right before and the bonus xp weekend is in fact in the following weekend… (Which we now know the 17th starts the xp weekend)

So Tonight I will TR/ first level gear up Java and gear layout for levels 2-6, there is not a lot of gear changes between 6 and 8. More or less prep the weapon upgrades and basic gear swaps like level 5 gear and low level trap stuffs.

So for build this life, could say “F it” and do another druid life, but we talked though all that and I think I will stick to the plan of trying the Juggernaut build for a while.

Which means I need to pick a version of the build I think I will like the most, the Pally splash or the Ranger splash.

Pally = Higher saves with less work
Ranger = More burst dps and sprint boost…. Sprint boost….

Okay that was not that hard. Sprint Boost…. Sorry I’m back. Lets copy the planed build and get a forum link if you haven’t seen it already.

Juggernaut Ranger
Level 20 Lawful Neutral Warforged Male
(2 Monk \ 2 Ranger \ 16 Artificer)

Strength 16 25
Dexterity 15 20
Constitution 17 23
Intelligence 13 18
Wisdom 11 16
Charisma 6 10

Level 1 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Point Blank Shot

Level 2 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Power Attack
Level 3 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Cleave
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Toughness

Level 4 (Artificer)

Level 5 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Great Cleave

Level 7 (Artificer)
Level 8 (Artificer)
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Quicken Spell
Level 9 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Manyshot
Level 10 (Artificer)
Level 11 (Artificer)
Level 12 (Artificer)
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons (Or Bludgeoning)
Level 13 (Artificer)
Level 14 (Artificer)
Level 15 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Mithral Body
Level 16 (Artificer)
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Precise Shot
Level 17 (Artificer)
Level 18 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Precision
Level 19 (Artificer)
Level 20 (Artificer)
Feat: (Artificer Bonus) Improved Precise Shot

Thinking about what gear Java already has and I think I will lean more towards the un-centered style but I will need to look at what Bow/XBows at his disposable because I don’t think he has any…

Well think that’s a plan, unless I decide when TRing tonight to do druid at the last sec… Could happen.

<3s

Time to Man Up and Make the Call

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All of you know I have been caption wibbly wobbly on this TR proposal that Tobril and I are going to go for to do a double TR in a weekend. To work the True Heart of Wood timer and fit in the playtime in our schedule this means we have to TR tonight! But I don’t have a plan……

But Tobril is on board and has a rough plan so I need to shit or get off the pot real fast and being that I put the idea in his head I feel responsible and need to make this happen.

So lets make a plan, starting with goals and wants.

I want to do this on Javabot. He is working his way to completionist and I want him to make it as long as I am enjoying his builds on the way. Him making completionist is not like Samius getting it. It is a good long term goal not something that I want to get to as soon as I can stand it. That said I really like him as a druid, right now.

Since this first live is mostly skipping the live I should get something out of the way that I don’t enjoy playing like barb or sorc… And I do like the Druid and I wonder if I can make 9/10 levels of druid work like I could make 9 levels of monk work, aka carry the build. Which I think it will.

So lets just put this bonus life in the nasty life pile but make a quick list of the classes I don’t enjoy playing and plan to do one of them.

Now the question is do I go back to druid or do I pick another class? I am not ready to move away from the druid life and I think that is my holdup but right now it seems like a waist not to go for the Arty (Jug) live before the Devs do something to kill the build. Doing an arty life also gives me a lot of bank for the buck on future TR lives with the UMD bonus….

Lets say I stick to this plan of ending up as a Jug, if I don’t like it guess I can TR again and solo back to Druid easy enough. I mostly soloed it to 20 the first go around after all. So what life would be the best bang for the buck on the Jug? My personal don’t enjoy list is Sorc, barb, ranger and to a lesser extent bard. Of that list I think the Jug build would get more bang from the +2 damage from ranged. I could/would have very similar burst ranged DPS as my pure 20 has, slightly better even, between Endless and Manyshot I might never swap to melee. Okay I would but come on…

So that is the plan I guess. 10/10 Druid/Ranger for this junk life and one of the 2 main Jug builds next life.

Guess it is a plan if I chicken out and go back to Druid right away the extra resists will be some help even if the ranged damage is mostly wasted.

If I am not thinking of something please let me know.

<3s

PS, Anyone that is offended by the title… Man up. J Aka know that I ❤ you and I only mostly a sexist pig.