Yesterday I talked about keeping up my AC or switching back to the more normal leveling gear layout for me of Hp/amp/guards/ dr. I got some lower votes and some good feed back. So last night when I logged on I did some content in my HP/Amp/Guard gear and some in my Ac gear.

HP/Amp/Guard:
Swapping in to a con 6 ring, and a Greater False Life item netted me more then 75hp. Plus I remembered to slot a guild item with hp putting me at a hair under 500 hp. My amp is missing something as my 1 were still 1s but my 2s were 3s and my 5s were 7s so I am some place in the 150% to 199% amp range. Lowering my AC to 45.

We went out to the vale, just to net some easy to get xp while the rest of the group formed up. And I have to say it was like any other time in the vale. I got hit a lot and took lots of damage. But I was able to keep myself at more then 300 hp off nothing more then my incoming healing and light finishers. Had the bad lag that ended up killing the client while there was 4 spiders on me. But the time I had relogged in there was only one left, guards/ auto attack had killed the other 3 and I was still in the 300s.

And while this is normal for me balancing incoming healing vs incoming damage so I am not worried about doing the dance. Is it the best way?

Everyone finished eating, hang up the phone, got out of the restroom long enough for us to do Madstone.

AC:
For Madstone (elite) I went back to AC, I kept all my not Ac gear in my pack encase 64 Ac was not helpful. But I had the feeling that it would be.

I went ahead and shielded up to clear the main field. The lowest I got Hp wise, was 350 or so. I was almost always full. My incoming healing more or less the rare hits and any glancing blows I may have taken. And the one time I noticed that I was down I was able to light finisher and fill back up completely.

Crucible (elite) was the same way. Other then the swim (where I did switch to hp mode just in case) I learned a 7+32 did not evade but silver flame pots made quick work of the damage and the swims we no problem. Yes I went back for the bracers chest. No I did not get any still.

For now I am going to stay AC. I am not going to lower my dps to stay AC like I could. But as long as it is working I will keep. Right now the loss of Hp is totally countered by having an effective AC.

Something for you neigh sayers to remember, I am not talking about a 64 AC at the end game being effective. I am talking about at level elites and one level above hards while leveling back up so I can TR again. That is all.

However, I am working on an end game Ac tank so look forward to that build sometime.

❤

Right now my AC is beholder resistant 59. Add in a shield wand I can boost it a bit more. And if I wanted to use Bark skin pots I could go higher with an unlocked HoGF and a few more with some AC bracers vs my Jidz. But that is about my cap. 4 or so more points, on my own. Short of totally changing my play style (which I could do) I don’t see a way to really move my AC up any more with the gear I have.

Keeping my Ac that high is costing me some good things.

Like a lot of HP. Right now I have about 370 hp. That is with out a Con or GFL item. So I am missing out on 75 hp, just because there is not room. Wearing my Icy means I am not using my amp/amp/guard DT robe. Wearing my DT would boost my amp to 200% Making Vamp strikes that would have healed for 1 heal for 2 points, 2 in to 4 and 3 into 6 per hit. Jerky would tick for 4 and the Jungle Cloak/Ham 10 points.

Hp and incoming “trickle healing” are not the only items missing. Before taking level 16 I have been using the lvl 12 Brawling Gloves so I have been down 2 possible Strength. I am 90% sure I have a full tear 3 level 16 pair to max my strength out again but the last few levels have been harder then necessary when it comes to stats. With so many slots used for AC items I don’t have room for basic stat items in every slot making it dangerous to use silver flame pots for big healing when needed.

Let alone swaps for umd gear.

So what do you think? Back to hp, amp and guards? Or do I stick it out through elite Gh and Abbott flagging quests? Do I mix some things up and net some more AC, at the cost of some dps? Do I make another Cannith crafted trinket, this time for Superior Devotion / +4 attack bonus? Maybe take the time when the Cove returns to make a AC hat for next life?

Comments go in the comment place.

❤

Over the last few days/weeks many of the older guard of the Defense Guild as returned. Micheal, Phlor, Evan, Tim to name a few.

Well last night in a Tod, Tobril and I where making gay jokes and whatnot. Generally trying to pump up the group with a little humor. I think that a group that can relax and have a good time can/will handle almost anything and win. And humor is normally a great way to get everyone on the same page and relaxed.

Any way as Tobril and I are joking, one of the raiders says “Is that Samius?” Which I reply not at the moment. Or something like that. Tobril says ”I payed that guy five dollars to ask you that, to make you feel good about yourself.” Which I thought was funny as hell at the time.

And tell began to fly. As the person begins to explain that we we in a guild together before the server merge. I let him know I have only been a member of DG. Which is not 100% true now that I think of it. I have alts in the Build Guild which I never play on…. We bounce around some more tells and he says his kid also plays and I would call him KY.

Mertan and Gor-baby!

Back when the DG first started we were a lot more open to guild invites. We weren’t worried about the Guild’s reputation then. Before guild renown, when we played with someone 2 or 3 days and we thought they were good players and they worked with the team well they were offered a guild invite.

This is how Crisis came to DG, as well as a lot of others.

Mertan, was (maybe is) a guild butterfly. Like Lessah I guess. He was part of the DG and the Halfling Commandos for sure and I think a few more. And is an alt-olic. And as his interests went from one thing to another he played his DG alts less and less. To the point where they were bank mules. At that point we had decided to do a culling. Everyone that hadn’t longed on in so many weeks got cut . Those people got a guild re-invite letter and an explanation in the mail and if they had an email on the guild web site a mailing also went out.

Mertan/Gorbadd were lost to us.

Well I guess he was just on other alts on in other guilds. It was good to run with him again. Got got up some on the families goings ons.

Now if Crisis or the Cousins log on, then it really will be a return of the dead.

❤

Why is it that the Tod Rings really don’t work for the class they are named for? Or maybe I am the only one that thinks so.

Tonight I have a Tod or two planed. At least one with Butterz and she is ringless. So is Samiusjr my 20 monk, who I would also like to ring up…. But lets talk about Butter and her rings.

There are 13 different Tod Rings. Each has a +6 modifier (str/dex/wis/int/chr) and a +1 exceptional bonus. With the exception of the wild mage ring which has an +1 exceptional bonus but to a randomly picked stat. Each ring is paired with a necklace or belt to form a set. Ideally each set has ties to a class/PRe combo. Some sets have bonuses just for wearing the set, others also require having a pre, others still have both non pre bonuses and pre bonus.

When choosing a ring or rings I look at all the different bits of having the ring and try to find one that matters so me.

Butterz is a bard, there are 3 bard rings all of them are very similar, and if every bard item didn’t come with +6 chr one of them would be very appealing. But as it is my BARD CLOAK is +6 chr +15 perform and my bard sword is +7 chr I don’t really need a +6 chr ring. They each have a component necklace to complete the set, and they are all the same. Superior Potency VI, Wizardry VI. Yep 3 different named items with the same powers. Boring.

Their set bonuses are not any better, 2 extra songs or 1 extra song and and extend spell costs 2 sp less or 1 extra song, extend spell costs 1 sp less and maximize spell cost 4 less. Oh boy. The exceptional +1s are to dex, dex or str. Well at least +1 to str can be helpful. And I guess if I wanting to use a different cloak my catch all chr item for weapon swaps one of the bard rings would be okay, but I am never going to want one of these set bonuses enough to wear one of these necklaces.

So lets jump to what I am looking for in a ring. +1 exceptional Chr. There are 5. 2 clr rings both are +6 wis and their set is for turning undead. And all of the Paladin rings also have exceptional chr and are +6 str the only set that is kinda helpful is the knight of the chalice, and that is 22 SR. I said kinda helpful.

If I look at the set bonuses for goodies, there is the
Occult Slayer: +2 Exceptional Bonus to Will saves, +2 Exceptional Bonus to Reflex saves, Spell Resistance (22)
Ravager: more damage.. but the most wanted set???
Kensai: +2 Exceptional Melee To-Hit, +3 Confirm Criticals
Shintao: +2 Exceptional Bonus to To-Hit and Damage., aka the othe most wanted ring.
Tempest and Deepwood Sniper: both have good sets but are nasty items.
Assassin: +2 to hit and +5 damage sneak attacks, I really like this one. But what am I getting over a pair of the cove gloves?
Mechanic: +2 Exceptional Bonus to all Dexterity based Skills, This is also helpful my traping skills can take any help they can get. But I am at 58ish once I make a +5-6 shroud items for skills how needed is it.

So I am going to say, What the !@#$. Guess I will look for any of the Pally rings and or the Kensai/Shintao rings. But if I get the Shintao ring I will need to wear the set most of the time or get shot from most of the player base. 🙂
❤

With the realization that the challenges are stupid amounts of xp depending on the number of stars you earn and the sudden desire to craft a flaming cloak. Cloak of Flame? What ever. When free time happens Fopo and I have been in the challenges.

Some of them we are getting down with the two of us. The kobold mining quests aren’t too bad, we might have 5 stared one of the ones in the extraplanar palace. I know we 3 and 4 stared a lot of the ones there.

But we are having issues in Kobold Island. We got 3 stars it and still only got 5 sticks or whatever that challenge gives. Not really sure what to do about it other then get the TR Train all together and run it. I don’t need tons, just 400 for now.

But I want to say the xp is great. Think we did one that took 10 mins and got 12k. I know there was another one we ran that was longer but was still about 1k a min xp wise.

Taking a look at the different turn ins. There is a ton of good items. The belt is a no brainier. The Cloak I talk about yesterday. Ring of the Stalker, and Bracers of Wind both have a place and the Mournlode weapons make some great undead killers. But mainly if you look into the turn ins. 300 of the “epic” bits turn in for and epic token. I think a good group could make 300 or more “epic” bits a run on some of them.

Epic Tuesday went fairly well even though we started later then normal. We did Wda what is becoming our warm up epic. 37 mins. Not bad time. If I can get into some Lobs and make Butterz an +10 stunning shield and make her a epic Spare hand her stunning DC will matter, at least on casters and what not. And getting our Assassin’s DC a bit higher wouldn’t hurt either.

Our normal fast DQ turned up a Green blade but took about 20 mins all together.

Popping over to Esnitch for the shot at an Axe seal got us a Utility Vest seal which went to the rouge. But the Epary crashers after that got me a much needed seal for a upcoming Shimmering Pendant. Just need a scroll now I think.

Alrighty, back to work.
❤

I am the De facto“leader” of the my TR Train. As I my have said before there are 3 core people, Myself, Torance and Fopo. We have others join for a life or a long weekend, Tobril does this often when he feels like knocking out a TR. It allows people to wax and wain as they feel like it. As long as they can finish what they start.

Also we have picked up 2 or 3 others this life. Phlor and Evan are playing again, as well as Stiner has moved his original ddo alt to Sarlona and hopes to cap him out. But he is currently 7 levels behind us. We might catch him on the relap.

So the xp train is full steam ahead or is it? Some of our group would rather watch TV some nights and don’t long on at all. Cou-torrance-gh cough! Others each have their own little weekly scheduled nights off. Fopo bowls on Wednesdays or Thursdays depending on what league is running. Phlor has an agreement with his GF/finance/wife ( that is how he types it) to really play a few nights a week. I know he hasn’t gotten married, but his balls are in a vice as bad as any married man. 🙂 Thankfully he still manages to play some on his nights off.

Mainly I want to keep people on the same quest chain. When we move to Orchard quests and the hunt to fill people’s frames. I don’t want to have to repeat any more then we have to; filling 5-6 frames will be more then a few repeats. So no need to do so because someone missed an important night.

Right now I am working out a weekly plan to allow for people to get some raids/epics in. Think most of you know about Epic Tuesday. I have talked about it enough on other posts that it might be ingrained.

But I am using Monday as a free for all. Last night I did some raids with Oncler and others, good times. And then the TR group formed up and we xped some. Which was also good times. I logged waiting for a ToD to fill, just needed one more healer. After 40 mins, I was done waiting.

We covered Epic Tuesdays.

XP Wednesdays, at least until Fopo’s bowling night switches back to summer league.

Thursday another free night, but I think Tobril and I have Raids planed. Tods maybe a titan/shrouds or Evon6. Also TV night with the wife. So I have to split the night somehow.

Friday more XP, with the weekend falling to free time/xp hunt depending on people logged on.

That doesn’t sound like a slow down to a lot of you, I know. But most of those free nights normally only have a few hours of play time. During the summer when new “shows” aren’t on I get to play a little longer due to not having TV time.

❤

Happy Monday peeps. As what is becoming quickly a simi tradition here I am going to talk about gearing up Samius at level 14.

Over the weekend the TR train picked up some more people and lost a little momentum. Think I will talk about the momentum loss on tomorrow’s post. But we still had level 14 on Sunday afternoon. And I logged for the night with 15 banked. But I think I am a little ahead of everyone.

So I am fine tuning my gear setup for the bowonk shell as I level up.

By the way I ended up taking fighter levels when it was time to level. I still haven’t decided what this life is going to count for fighter or ranger I still have some wiggle room. I miss the bad touch a lot, but I am getting feed back from some of the group members that my dps is good with out it. So going taking a few fighter level is not the end all, if I decided to go ranger and not fighter. I love having room for quick draw, however, and I might need to try harder to fit it in more often.

So gear, I have my 3 green steel hp items. Hat (Min2), Goggles (Nx3) they are also a swap spot for a Airx2 that are not quite what I want and I will fix them once we can deconstruct them, and boots (waterx3). Remember I spread out my hp items to make swapping any given item less painful. Like if I need to swap to the Royal Guard Mask in a bug out about to die situation I have less of a chance to kill myself with a sudden loss of HP if say my Min2 hat was all Hp.

I have +6 wis, dex, con in the neck, ring, belt(med guild -HP) slots. Mantel, Jungle, Twilight in the cloak slot. Jidz for bracers, yes I am in Earth stance.

Then I have the Icy, Chattering, and a crafted trinkets (+4 attack/ +3 natural armor) (+3 natural armor +1 dodge). Putting my AC at 55, 60 with a shield spell via wand.

See anything major missing? I can wait, think it over.

Yep no False Life. At 12 I was using a GFL robe, or a life shield of FL making my HP around 400 unraged.

But my Ac then was 4 less. Worked most of the time but not all the time. I could do some AC boosting, hear me out and tell me what you think. If I upgraded my Head of Good Fortune that is +2 dodge and drink Bark pots. And craft up a Cloak of the Flames level 12 t3 has Heightened Awareness II and crafting +3 for say dusk or something. That should be 4 more AC.

If we could put dodge on a cloak that would be 1 more Ac or maybe false life of some kind. Maybe with the new update and the new less restrictive crafting shards this can happen. Or maybe the shards count as a trinket. That would be full of win.

❤

I am taking a look at the Lamannia Release Notes: Update 13 right now. So as I see something that stands out I will copy and paste it and make my comment for you all.

“Monk melee attack ranges have been increased while moving forward or chasing a target.” – This is a good change. I don’t know about you, but unless I have a mob tripped or stunned I am moving to the next as my monk kills super fast.

“Monks and unarmed characters will no longer proc dual wield or double strike attacks when using Trip, Sunder, Stunning Blow, or other special attacks.. “ But “Special “monk-only” abilities are unaffected by this change.” – So a stunning nerf but the bad touch is the same. I can live with it.

“Monks will now resume their attack sequence a little faster after performing a buff-style finishing move.” – This is one I am happy about. I use the Walk of the Sun and Blur moves a lot. And not spending 2-4 sec waiting to get back to attacking again is good.

“Cannith Crafting recipes now have higher-level versions with less restrictive equipment slot restrictions.” – This is great news, as I kinda thought the whole idea was to fit things in where you needed them.

“The House Phiarlan Retainer’s buff for Enchantment Save DC’s is now a Morale bonus instead of an Enhancement bonus, to allow it to better stack with items.” – Wait, will this guy be useful now?

Skipping Madstone for now.

“Many adventures will now offer special end reward lists when players complete their quest arcs for the third time (and every three times thereafter!)” – this is a super long list of chains getting a huge boost. Maybe I can take a life and get the Sword from Threnal.

“Completing the final quest in this series three times (and every third time thereafter) will offer players a single random Ioun Stone, crafting items, and random loot from its end reward list.” – might run this for more then the upgrade run or Ear Farming…. Maybe.

“Characters level 4 and higher can now enter the Inspired Quarter.” and “Completing the final quest in this series three times (and every third time thereafter) will offer characters the option to select several shards or disks, and offer the chance for named items that normally appear in the Mindsunder chest, in its end reward list.” So now farming for a Mindsunder item will be a hair easier. As Mindsunder is one of my TR groups go to xp quests, I am behind this 100%.

“All chests in the Orchard of the Macabre that had a chance to drop Sigil pieces,” STOP! There is more but I don’t care. Now doing farming/slayer runs might help with Sigil pieces. Many times have we ran the 4 flagging quests into the ground looking for a random drop. Thank you.

“Shavarath Blades will no longer strike as rapidly, do less damage on all difficulties, and display a warning when they first enter the game.” – If they stop the little lag bump you got when the blades hit you the damage and whatnot could have stayed as was. It was the “fuck hit a blade, freeze… Unfreeze, Tic, Tic, Tic, Tic, Tic, Tic, Tic die that pissed me off.
“Ability Tome benefits are now preserved after True Reincarnation.” Mixed feelings, One hand it is a little less pnp feel. But on the other hand why sweet the small stuff. Once I know it is working I will eat my +3 tomes chilling in the TR bank.

“Item enchantment spells like Elemental Weapons and Lucky Cape now display a buff icon in the upper-right corner of the screen while an enchanted item is equipped.” – This will be very nice.

“Necrotic Ray is no longer subject to Spell Resistance” – Bout time.

“Conjure Bolts now creates more powerful bolts when cast by a more powerful caster.“ Makes since, but why are they not 50% + returnable?

“Deadly Weapons has been temporarily changed to address balance and other issues. The spell now adds +1d8 force damage to a target’s main hand weapon. This spell will undergo further changes in the future.” – Sounds like a fair option to me.

“The Auction House UI will now display remaining times more precisely.” – I ❤ this change! If it does Mins fine. If Seconds, Joygasium!

Okay the biggie – “The effects of Madstone Rage have been changed so that its bonuses to Strength and Constitution are Morale-based, it no longer prevents spellcasting, it inflicts penalties to Will Saves, Intelligence, Charisma, and Wisdom, and it bestows a 30-second Shaken effect when the buff wears off.” – I am fine with it. Really. I love Madstone boots. The people that have a pair Samius, Java, Butters, Healz, AS400 see a pattern? No? Let me tell you then: They all have blue bars. I will have to watch the debuff but with a little practice I can use them more then I got to use them before. So I am good. Add in upgrading them with the new alters makes them totally bad ass, double win and more Reaver raids for me again. May need to set a “raid” night again.

Those are my stand outs. Feel free to comment below.

❤

As I have gotten older I my childhood dreams have come to the forefront and morphed into something new.

When I was a kid I dreamed of being a pilot. Namely a island hopper/guide around the Caribbeans or Hawaii islands. And for a while i wanted to be a wild life expert. Then i wanted to own a restaurant. Back then the idea of a wife and kid were not a notion I considered. For a while I went to flight school and got instrument rated. And learned that while it is a dream, there is way to much BS for me to ever make that dream real. And i ran a small food stand and that was boring and paid so so. But ate my whole life. And i would rather eat something small and furry rather then watch it for hours.

Lets just say my dreams has waxed and twisted over the years. Here is my dream/s as it stands today.

I want to open an exotic animal ranch in Arizona. Namely, Kangaroo and Emus. But other animals will be a must, Rabbit, chickens, Guinea-pigs. I am sure most of you have no idea that Kangaroo and Emus are very popular meats and Guinea-pigs are very popular food around the globe. And they are fun to watch, the Kangaroos and Kangaroo not the Guinea-pigs so mush. And I wont stop with animals, I want a huge aquaponics system with lots of different fishes and veggies.

But I am sure you know my ideas don’t stop there.

I want to build this ranch in to my commune. I know I am nuts for wanting a commune. But why not? To me a commune is just a small village with like goals and a more of a family is the village mindset then we currently have in America today. A bit of a through back.

I want to have a “bedroom” houses around a larger “living” area. Picture an old summer camp like feel but with everything covered with solar panels and rain catches. My hopes would be to be like that small town in Europe that makes a profit for the people by selling power to the grid as everyone and everything has solar panels everywhere..

My other idea would be to make the place a bed and breakfast. With an amazing environment with non standard animals and this super village environment.

What do you think? Are my dreams a little far fetch?

❤

Don’t panic if I get time I will do a real post later today also. But if not then I got tomorrow’s topic ready to go.

I am starting a “fund”. Charity is defiantly not the right word. Grant maybe?

Anyway this is the Gamer Divorce Fund. It is a small fund to help out a friend of mine play while he is in the throws of separating from a bad marriage. Atm he doesn’t even have a computer, and is forced to live at home with is mom as he is covering all his old house hold expenses as well as attorney fees as he fights to get full custody of his kids.

I can’t go into too many detail. But I will say is this guy is one of the best men I have ever known. He left the game a while ago to focus on his marriage. I want to say they had been in counseling for a few weeks/months before he left. And I don’t think it stopped until (as I understand it) his wife surprised filed on him.

I knew she had some issues, as I always thought she was a little nuts. (The crazy ones are the best at… bed room activities.) But turns out she has a substance abuse problem and that is a major issue as she currently has temporary custody of the kids. Despite testing positive for drug use twice in court appointed drug tests.

We would often play ddo after he got home from work for the day, overseeing/helping with dinner that the oldest daughter cooked. While the youngest daughter sat on his lap.

I remember once I was pissed at something that happened in game, and I said something like “What a Penis!” over mic. And his youngest came back over mic “Did he just say Penis, daddy?” He replied “He meant scientifically. So it is okay.”

Sometimes we add “scientifically” to the end of a slue of swear words. In a kind of joke/homage.

Anyway I explained that to say this:

The newest Circle Jerk is ready to go. I just need to put it someplace to host it so you guys can download it but keeping the url to myself until you PayPal some money to cocktails@ddococktailhour.com. For the record you can send in any amount and I will send you the link. One dollar or hundred dollars, really don’t send in hundred dollars.

When you buy the Circle Jerk, you can win a copy of the Shard Axe by Marsheila Rockwell. Personalized by her as well! I don’t know what that means exactly. But in that same conversation she said she was easy. So I am not sure, sounds like it could be real sexy. 🙂

To win get your copy of the Circle Jerk 2 and email/pm me Samius@ddococktailhour.com your guess as to where Skaggy keeps is Dr. Who tattoo. Every one that guesses correct will be entered into a drawing and a winner will be randomly selected.

All proceeds will go to the Gamer Divorce Fund to help my friend get a small gaming rig running, and a few Tps.

❤