Last night was fairly disappointing. It begins with me getting home after work and finding my wife in a bad mood. She had a long night the night before, the new puppies kept her up. And then her boss informed her that she needed to put in 5 hours of overtime this week, with the week half over. So her mood is understandable but still her mood effects my mood.

So I get logged in and check the channel/guild and no one is on. Okay, check out the Lfm and not a lot going on either. So I swap to my FvS and do a few Sin runs. And 3-4 runs no belts/necklaces noting of note, just vendor trash and not a lot of worth in plat even.

I even get stuck floating in place one run and get smashed. Grrr. But I keep and eye out for Shrouds and people.

About 8, I see a shroud and get in as the 4th person. The leader a fighter, another fighter, a clr and me. Fair start. But as Java is not a full caster, or even close really, I send a tell to the leader letting him know he will want a full caster. And look at the AH and get my ship buffs. We fill, it didn’t take too long. But I am the lone caster no bard even. Hell we can work with that. I let the clrs know that someone will need to go on portal duty as I can melee them trash down, but it would be better for one of them to spell them to death. One of them says they will try to handle it. And we are off. My 2 min hastes and 4 min rages and we are a go.

About the half way mark some people start to notice that our leader seams to be pikeing. Maybe it is lag? So we wrap up part 1, and the leader had no problem running to the chest to loot? Okay…

I did get passed a shard of power. One more of those to go. I ask for a little help with the crystal in part 2. I think Java can handle it, but with all the spell changes lately? Java has always been spell dps is a nice trick but not his forte. I don’t think I have not even fixed his enchantments since they split them up, now that I think about it… No wonder his spell damage was so low last night…

We do part 2 and 3 with out much of a problem. I noticed that our brave leader opened underwater chests in part 3 while water was still going out. And people asked him if he was still piking.

Oh and a great shard was passed to me, again many thanks. And one more of them to go.

We buff and move into part 4. Java doens’t run any of the dots atm. With him about to tr giving him dot scrolls feels like they would be wasted. But the party dps is okay not great but okay. It will be a 2 rounder. Another melee and I kill gnolls before going in. About that time I notice that 2 of our melees are not swinging but are surrounding Harry. Our leader is still over by the healers. And out of no were most of the party dies. Yep those 2 melees were Dcing. And damage caught up with us all at once. Two rangers and the clrs and the leader if you could count him lived. So there was still a good chance. Over mic I say to want you want if you think you can finish, Harry was at 20% or so when we all died. A little later the two that Dced are back but didn’t last too long once the clrs took some a fireball or meteor storm to the face. And the rangers where the last two standing. One died and every one cheered on the last man as it didn’t look like he was taking much damage. And our now dead ranger said Harry was at a sliver. But out of the blue the other ranger dropped group. Turns out he released back with the first wave of deaths. And was just still in group. Boo, wipe.

With that sitting in my mouth I decide to log and play with the puppies and watch TV with the wife. So the night wasn’t a total fail on all accounts.

❤

I think I have gotten Sam to the shroud/epic place I want to leave him for a few weeks and now it is time to focus on Java. Last night I started getting my gear in order for his WF FvS life. Hey look I already have a finished a full on CordOp goggles. Nice! Now if I can explain why I knew I didn’t have a complete CordOp on him….Oh well. New mystery, why does he have a never equipped pair of GS goggles in the bank??? Never mind.

Looking for shards and I notice just one normal shard and one greater shard. Oh boy time to grind the shroud….

I do have to make some decisions, both do to the lack of shards and on my large scale supply. I decide to make the first 2 tears of a Air/Air rest/Hp cloak. With the plan to round it out before TRing. 10 plus hps might get some use this life. Where a tear two great sword wouldn’t…

Blanks: I have made a Gs steel great sword already and I am thinking about making a pos/pos maul for abbot runs, if I do that I will need to do so before TRing as abbot comes before shroud.

Speaking of shroud runs. I need to remember to pack a run with as many guildies and friends to pass me shards over the next few days….

But I need to decide what to for that great sword. Bypassing good as a requirement limits the options to Min2, Lig2, Rad2, Steam, 3xpos or a CordOp weapon.

I could go Min2 but I have a min2 staff that will do fine as a catch all. And I can pick up a silver great sword and make a holy/ bane-greater bane for big boss battles.

A lighting 2 might be the right all purpose weapon. But I have lots of lighting 2s…. and while they are fun I might want something else for a change??

I have always been a fan of Rad2 weapons. You kinda control the proc rate (on crit) and extra 4d6 of light damage, on a FvS with the Shield of Condemnation helping out seems good. But how do you build one as most of the end game mobs are immune to fire damage? fire/pos burst/flame blast?

Steam, has the best proc rate at 20% but I can’t even tell you the dice for 12-22.. 2d6+10? Maybe? Its proc rate should be about the same as the Rad2 on a great sword with imp crit better before imp crit. But with out the blinding proc is it as good? Its cold damage should hit more mobs then fire… Holy/ Icy Burst/ Cold Blast doesn’t look to bad. And should hurt most everything fairly well.

If I say that I will use the min2 staff for dps when needed to bypass dr. Then we have a few other options. Ice2, smoke2, 3xEarth, Vacuum II??

Thoughts?

❤

I have seen a lot of different posts about how to fix the amount of Xp Trs need to grind out to level. There is the let Trs in to epics at 17-18 and give those quests a fair amount of xp. I like this idea, but that is not the only idea on the forums or in party chat. We have the hard and Elite only camp. The return the under level bonus back for Trs. There is a new one that I just seen today to make a TR count a few levels higher. So a level 1 Trx2 would count as a level 3. there for having to do a level 2 quest.

Me? What do I think? Other then epic at lower levels the idea that I like is my own. Lower the xp total needed, but speed up the repeat penalty of the quests if your a TR or not.

So First time in a quest per life you get your normal 100%+25%(first time bonus). Second time 100% xp. Third time you start giving a repeat penalty, -10%. Forth -20, fifth –40%, -99% from number 6 on. But return to 1.9 xp for +2 point Trs and 2.5 or so for +4 point Trs.

It is simple and clean. Doesn’t hurt first lifers, forces Trs to do a wider range of quests and not more of the same 5 quests until level.

Any way that is how I would handle it.

❤

Ps: double post.

I jumped a round from alt to alt a bit last night. And was on my way out to Sins on my human FvS, McGoogles. I am trying to tighten this guys gear up while I am on this TR down time.

But I am keeping an eye on the LFM pannel for an Abbot. Java was on 19 so I was/am ready to get that 20th. I was about ¾ to the quest when I see one. Grr. Swap, jump in and get assigned Goggles. NP.

We get in and get moving get to goggles and I get lead across. And start to lead the other guy across and I he slows down kinda unexpectedly and nearly falls, once, twice, and third time is the charm and he goes down. 😦

But a re-beat down and I am back in goggles and both me and my partner have the goggles for our own side. But we each pick up another person per side and we have to try to lead this extra person trailing behind. I lose my guy. He said he was half a step behind me but I guess not.

But we complete just fine.

Now for my bitchn. My 20th list was a lot of crap or items I already have. I end up taken a Vile Blasphemy a great item. But I was hoping for a Litany or Wretched Twilight.

Now for something totally different.

A little later in the evening, I get told to get on Samius for a Evon6. So I wrap up my Sins run and jump in we wrap up von5 and boom favor! Nice, first time in von this life. We get in von6 and I am told in channel to disintegrate the pillar when it is time. And I remind the leader that I still have Recon for Tod robot healing….

But Cyclonic Blast should work? Right? It wasn’t a one shot but it worked good enough. Being the only wiz/sorc I got to kite the reavers as I doted the dragon. Took an inferno to the face. I will blame Fopo here as he was calling them out and waited until I was too far out to make it back.

But again a completion. Lost a roll on the shard of the silver cloak. D50 or 100 and I got a 2. But got a 99 on a d99 for the Warding Bracers. I have the scroll and a seal I think. But the big winner was Fopo, finally getting that shard of the dragon. So now there will be more Evon6s for me as he needs 6 more reds…

So all in all it was a good night.

❤

Today I want to share a little internal struggle I am having with Samius’s gear. Right now I am using a Green blade and a Ring of Thelis, to cover my Wizardry, Spell Resistance, Empower II and Greater Arcane Lore needs.

However I have the pages (almost 2 sets 🙂 ) for a Skiver. And that one item would cover every thing but SR. While freeing up a ring slot. A ring slot that I could use to help with my other slots. That is the plus side.

Down side, 200sp 400 sp while finishing out my Sorc life will be tied up in a weapon. I often swap into clickys and having that as my Sp item is just asking for a mistake to happen….

I could dual weld and put it in my off hand but I would lose my shield. Which is now a +2 evocation & 33% electric absorption. Two things my most of my casters can use. And this sorc life is no exception.

The other down side, I would be taking a skiver out of another alt’s hands.

Thoughts?
❤

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!

❤

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.

❤

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…

❤

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.

❤

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.

❤