Tag Archives: TR Train

Wednesday…

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So I was super ready for last night, Tobril has been out for work for more then a week and other then a short phone call driving home from my pnp game I haven’t spoken/gotten to hang out for a while. Also on the none guild night weekdays I have been kinda rudder less, mostly rocking one of the lowbees or doing one or two quests with the wife before she is burnt out. Frankly with out someone wanting something even on the weekends we can be unfocused.

So I had a plan for the night, first it was amazing out so I was going to put a good hour – hour and a half into the green house. Will talk about that in a min. Work a little on a trade list, game with everyone for a few hours and end the night watching a episode of Game of Thrones maybe while reading a comic… aka an amazing night!

So I get home and start to work. After about 30 mins the wife gets home with dinner and wants me to get inside and eat before it gets cold. Oh well, finish what I am doing and clean up the tools for the night.

After eating I get logged on and start working on a trade list. That lasts for like 3 mins. There is nothing more boring then making lists of stuff I am willing to trade…. There needs to be a better way. In retrospect I think I might use my piker account to make a private party and just start linking things and then copy the chat list one time per char and then edit the list in post vs trying to list everything by hand. Might try that soon.

So I wait for tobril, I run the ship and redo any buffs that need added. Seems like my part time job any more. I say to the wife didn’t I just do this? She replies that she did a bunch last week and it was not her turn. When I reply I guess with the two of us playing most of the time I guess that is just how it is… Speaking of she noticed that we were super close to 80 but just the two of us can’t make much in gains vs the renown loss need to play more I guess.

Anyway about 630 my time I get a text, Stuck at work. Hope to be on later – Tobril. Hmm, well at this time the wife wants to do something but again we are rudder less. I want to work on my Rogue, he is ready (and took) level 8 but there are just a few more 5s I want to BB real fast. But I could use the last hour of the day and get some more work on the Green house done. So we shift gears and head back out side.

Green House update: the end cap walls are framed up and I got a door poorly hanged we shifted it slightly as to have a little more room around it for the chickens tracker thing I plan to work on next. We get the tarp I plan to use as a floor down and all I have left b4 laying the plastic is getting the inside laid out/filled and pinning the walls down so I don’t have huge sails in my backyard. Tonight I buy a water trough for my fish tank for watering and my aquaponices setup.

Anyway as dark falls we head back in, no Tobril the wife is done and is ready to watch TV with the boy. So I am in solo/pugville so I solo the last of my 5s and take 8.

About nine I log for the night and watch ep 5 of Game of Thrones and hit the sack. Have to say I don’t feel as satisfied as I would like but as it is Thursday I can’t complain much.

<3s

So pissed

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Last night post recording the new Cocktailhour (which is up @ http://www.ddococktailhour.com btw) I got to spend a little time playing. And I don’t know about your server or maybe it was just me but things were super laggy.

Now normally I don’t get a ton of lag or I get mild lag that I can live with like an item doesn’t swap or a clickly doesn’t click. But last night I was getting thrown back and or freezing for 5-10 secs at a time not all the time but often enough that I was worrying about lag deaths most of the night.

But I was able to play around the lag a lot of the time by not playing things close to the chest. But after spending over a min knocked down in the STK end fight I was steamed up, but I was able to knock Stk xp with out a death.

I have xp to level to 8 but I still have a few more level 5s to knock out and I want to start banking xp because I am thinking sands quests are not going to be a helper on my sneak attack driven alt.

Quick aside: I am getting in the grove of using Bluff while I am running to the next mob. I would like the timer to be shorter I can only use it every 3rd mob or so but still 20 damage a swing vs 40-50 points a swing is a big deal. Blinding weapons cannot get here soon enough!

Checking the list the last few 5s I care about are in Splinter Skull, no problem. Re buffing and heading out I start to notice things dragin on. Fine I can do this. Get in and start SLOWLY pulling and clearing. I am on the get the key quest in the chain aka the one with the super mobs. So I take care and pull smart and use bluff to drop casters and then boss mobs and then trash. A few big spikes but in single combat 5-10 sec of lagged out time stop is not a huge deal. I get to the key check easy enough and start pulling the trash off the chest. Kill a caster and a trash mob when the game enters stop go stop mode.

Stop – the one caster I am on is the only mob around.
Go – Drink a CSW pot and now the other caster is also on me.
Stop – swear
Go – Comeback held
Stop – Oh a trash mob is running this way
Go – tripped get up drink a pot start to run away
Stop – Okay, at ¾ life but its all good.
Go – held
Stop – hmm
Go – hold timer starts again
Stop – FML what is with all the damn lag
Go – Hold timer again restarted also tripped
Stop – shit I am at 40 hp…
Go- come back dead the mobs are walking off!

I was so pissed I slammed my mouse on the table almost knocking my Tea over… Shouted a few swear words, as this is the first death on this guy that was unplanned ie the quest is done and I don’t want to bother killing all this trash and I need buffs anyway deaths which was one time, btw. I was so pissed I knew I was about to tilt real hard and while I had the Sully cake in my pack I decided to just release and go watch TV with the wife.

Man I hate it when something like that happens. It is so aggravating and reminds me why I don’t play PD even though I am compelled to try it again.

<3s

I like Mondays

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Well I like Mondays after work anyway. Mondays for me is Samius time, not that every other moment of my life isn’t Samius time… But Monday is really Samius time. I don’t have any other plans and can just be care free with my play.

Last night my Monday was spent in game, it was too cold for a nice bike ride or working on the green house. Give me 2 or 3 days of fair weather and I will knock it out and get my grow beds rocking. So my in game time was more or less split between my Arty and my new rogue build. And they couldn’t play more different even though they are very similar.

My starting plan was to start on McPlunderer and hit Ghost of a Chance until I was burnt out. I logged on my alt account and shared the quest using him to open the quest. Don’t under value the helpfulness of an opener. I was almost to the quest, 3bc is a big open explorer with no ports after all, just then the wife says, “Lets do something.”

I say sure and inquire what she wants to do. After watching her switch alts for 10 mins while I just wonder around the explorer zone she finally decides she is willing to play her clonkish alt so I can use Samiusbot.

We do a few runs in the House J graveyard, about the time I remember how to play Samiusbot well, she is ready for dinner and thinks she is done for the night. I tell you there are not a lot of builds out their with a greater ability to change combat styles mid stream then a (simi-well equipped) WF Arty…

Also it was nice playing the arty in a quest where invis wouldn’t have worked anyway so I didn’t miss it. But I would love for it to work again…. In any case I got to use my new mace a lot and still got to rock my Xbow. Took me awhile to get in the swing of things with all the different layers of defenses the Arty has, Stoneskining the turret while I lit the funeral pyres in Beyond the Grave was a big help once I remembered I had those spells…

Anyway post dinner, I was back on McPlunder who doesn’t have the option to be good at ranged damage yet, but he will… So for Ghosts he was using his heavy pick and shortsword. The guys were tough enough that I could play with the bluff skill and got to see my sneak attack damage for a change. I can really see those sneak attack d6s doing their job as I climb the ranks some. Think once I get a little higher and start grouping more then I will really like this guy a lot. Right now I am wondering how come he is not stunning everything! Blinding weapons can not come soon enough.

All right you all! Hope you all had a good Monday and remember only 4 days left until the weekend.

❤

Random Thoughts: Weapon Changes

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I have been looking at gear for my rogue. One of the really great things about TRing an unloved under geared alt into something totally different is you can think about gear from a totally fresh place. Ie this guy was a clonk so almost none of his old gear aligns with his new life, unlike say Javabot going from Wizard to Pally to Fvs to Druid. All caster melee dps typed/geared builds. So being untangled can be a good thing.

So what do I do when my amazing level 4 gear starts to feel old? Hit the DDowiki. In this case I am looking at minimum 6-8 weapons.

Vorpal sickle of haggling: Man I would like to have one of these now between the vorpal changes and it would be a great off hand weapon.

But this is about changes not things I can’t get anymore.

Xoriat Forged Blade: Man this guy is real good now, +3 flaming, anarchic and a red slot long sword. Good but not super impressive until you notice that its damage dice is now 2d5… Yep it is almost a one handed greatsword. At level 6 this guy is fairly impressive.

Serpentbranch: +3, poison +6 to poison saves, purple and a red slot long bow 1.25[d8] but it is still BtA. Think I will farm one of these up super fast. I have an alt on my main account parked on the last bit I can use her or I can burn threw real fast on a capped alt.

Mace of Smiting: It picked up a red slot and is now a d10. That d10 change should have been applied to your old maces so getting a new one for a red slot is not really necessary.

Mace of Wrath: +3, ghost touch, force and a red heavy mace d8 just a really solid ghost killer think I will stick with a cannith crafted ghost touch flametouched iron X of everbright but this is a solid toy for breaking ghost bone times.

Sword of the Thirty: This is a real sleeper. +3, keen with a red slot greatsword 1.25[3d4] this is a really excellent no gear having Alt weapon. Stick one of the force rituals on it and your under geared melees are good to go.

Level 8s

Nightforged: All the Nightforged weapons got a nice boost. Most of them are now 1.5[d] and picked up a red slot want to say they picked up profile boosts. Like the avenger blade is now 18-20 and the hammer is x4 the dagger got the biggest boost in my eyes as they are slashing and piercing and extended crit range. Oh and the other stuff is nice too but I will save not weapon stuff for later.
Luckblade: This guy is a leveling casters dream as it picked up red, orange and purple slots. It is only +2 so adding spell power only gives a small implement bonus but hey 3 slots for spellpower are covered. Melees might like it as it is [d7] now and 3 slots cover a lot of stuff…

Most of the Tempest Spine stuff got a big boost. Enough I might even do some loot runs now at least for newer alts. The Nightblade and the Star of Irian got a real power boost.

Threnalian War X: These are with getting now. Red and purple slots on +5 weapons they both got a die step up AND 1.5[]ed. Casters if you only need two slots for spellpower then these guys are your leveling implements.

Okay I have covered my quota for the day. I will keep running this down in the coming weeks but lets just say there are some winners and some not winners in the loot changes. And if they are good I will let you know.

<3s

Picking your Pocket

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So even working on the floor I have gotten a little game time in. Not much but more then none. Monday I was able to go from 5 to 6 rocking the level 3s and 4s. Then Tuesday, I was able to hook up with some of the brits for some New Ring Leader on a bank alt that is chilling at level 4. Got them to level 4 on their TRs and got to hit a few other quests before I needed to head back to work. Last night I was back on McPlunderer finishing off my list of level 4 quests, well most of them anyway think there is 1 or 2 more to do before taking level 7. Like Proof in the Poison and Irestone might just hit the xp cap for this level…

Anyway, I want to talk about how things are working.

Well not bad, but not amazing. With out someone to take the agro 100% of the time my sneak attack damage is worthless after the first swing. Granted that first swing normally kills the guy but then all his friends are pissed. Bluff is a helper and having the second buff from being a Helf helps even more but still 2d6 less damage is a lot at this level. Lets just say I know that I will be rocking the blinding gear as soon as possible.

Also I will be crafting stunning/blinding runes….

Weapons may or may not take a hit real soon. I have a level 6 rapier with bodyfeeder and Icy burst, which would really help with the pot use, swear I am just downing the damn things left and right. Also I know that the Delera’s end reward list just changed (maybe for the better?) and I have an alt on the last part. Wonder if rocking that real fast would be worth wild?

Speaking of weapons I need to remember to move some Sunblades over. Zombies suck with a heavy pick and a short sword…

I know it is a shorty but hey I haven’t really played this week so I am running out of DDo talking bits. Oh I know I worked really had to run myself out of trap tools in Repossession. But I ran straight to the Book Binder quest and burned my last tool on the first trap box making it uncompleteable as I locked a hostage in that room… grumble… I don’t remember the last time I ran out of tools on a skilled person. But it happens.

Okay,
<3s

What a Night

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430 rolls around and I am practically running to my truck to get away from work, it was like 70 fahrenheit, hmm 21-22 celsius for not Americans, aka amazing. So back to working on the green house, if it would just stay like yesterday for the next few months I wouldn’t need a green house but the forecast says amazing again today then rain on Sat and SNOW on Sun…

Any way yesterday I needed supplies. TO THE HOME IMPROVEMENT STORE! I start in the lumber department, getting one of those little trollies for holding wood I start to load it up. I need a base to sit on the ground so I can build the walls for the not curved walls. Presser treated 2×4 about 16 foot long will do nicely (I am not sure how to convert that for metric peoples… other then fucken long). Then two 1x6s 10footers for the curved walls to run along the ground, these are so I can have an place to attach the plastic. Then I start hunting up 2x3s 7footers so I can actually frame the walls. Add in a few flexible brackets so I can bend them over the former trampoline frame to give the top of the walls some structure and screws and I am ready to head home.

Get everything loaded up and it dawns on me that the bed of my truck is like 8 feet and I am going to have a lot of hang over on these boards. But I use my bungy cords very creatively and I think we will be okay. But I still have 9+ feet of board hanging over the back. Now this will sound strange but a few years back a friend of Tobril and I bought us matching Lucha Libre Masks. They are super bright pink and I just so happen to keep mine in my truck. What better way to let people know that I have a LONG load? Nothing!

We make the drive home hoping that no one runs into us or that a nasty bounce doesn’t break my boards in half but we make in home in one piece and I get some work done until dinner happens.

After dinner I am done with not playing DDO and I long on my Rog and start rocking a few levels. I take MnaSidhe’s advice and use the fighter bonus feet for Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons and waited on toughness until level 3. Over all I am really digging this guy. I am almost lvl 4, I feel slow with out big striders or the monk/barb speed but I can deal for now.

After an hour or so of play time Comic Book men had recorded watched it and slept like a baby. Well a nightmare having getting up more then once to piss baby anyway.

Tonight? More of the same I think, see what I can make happen before the rain and snow locks me in my basement to play ddo all weekend long. Yeah, it is the rain and snow fault that I will be gaming all weekend….

<3s

Mcplunderer Gurobo

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People paying attention know that I have been mulling over making a rogue for a while now thanks to seeing how amazing they can be when a good player is behind them. So I have done what I always have done let my mind wonder, ask twitter and looked at the forums for rogue builds. And while I got some good replies I got a lot more information that was opposed to what i felt i wanted to do. Also i wanted to get away from using a monk shell, i know it is amazing and i really liked my 11/9 rog/monk life on Samius but i want something different…

Anyway I have a work in progress for the build I TRed (an unloved Clr) into last night. Yes I am leveling this guy with a fairly rough plan and hoping that my instincts are simi close on this one.

Before I post the build and show the changes that have been made even as early as this morning, I want to say for some reason I am super excited about this side project. More so then Java even who I am super pleased with and really liked how is turning out. The last project I was this excited over was Darth Samius my DPS project.

The build:

Bowassin (Working Title)
18 Rogue 1 Artificer 1 Fighter Helf Assassin/AA
Str 14, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 8, Chr 8
+2 tomes for all stats, +3s for some maybe +4s in a few… All level ups currently in Int but there is some possible room for a few points in Dex if decide to max ranged dps (Not currently planned)

Skills: I think this build has like 12+ish points a level most levels think I can work in all the different skills I want as a rogue.

Leveling order:

Level 1 (Rogue)
Feat: (Half-Elf Dilettante) Half-Elf Dilettante: Ranger
Feat: (Selected) Two Weapon Fighting

Level 2 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Toughness

Level 3 (Artificer)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons

Level 4 (Rogue)
Level 5 (Rogue)
Level 6 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Point Blank Shot

Level 7 (Rogue)
Level 8 (Rogue)
Level 9 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting

Level 10 (Rogue)
Level 11 (Rogue)
Level 12 (Rogue)
Feat: (Rogue Bonus) Improved Evasion
Feat: (Selected) Rapid Shot

Level 13 (Rogue)
Level 14 (Rogue)

Level 15 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Manyshot
Feat: (Rogue Bonus) Opportunist

Level 16 (Rogue)
Level 17 (Rogue)
Level 18 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Feat: (Rogue Bonus) Slippery Mind

Level 19 (Rogue)
Level 20 (Rogue)

Epic Feats:
Precision
Improved Sneak Attack (need to play with dex to be able to take this)

Feat Comments:

Again like most of my AA builds my feat order is to work in AA as soon as possible. In this case we are looking at level 7 or 8 depending on if I want to take AA or Assassin first.

Also the “rogue bonus feats” I am not sure what ones to take OR the order to take these feats but this is my best guess.

Finally I can move Precision up in the feat list at anytime if I am willing to move Manyshot up into post 20 level area, which right at the moment I am not willing to do but if I starting hitting heavy forted guys stopping my sneak attacks I will move as needed. Right now I hope Black Dragon armor from 14-20 will cover most fort bypass needs.

Projected Enchantments:

Rogue Damage Boost I
Rogue Damage Boost II
Rogue Haste Boost I
Rogue Haste Boost II
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Acid Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Explosive Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Burst Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Slaying Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Terror Arrows
Improved Ranger Dilettante I
Improved Ranger Dilettante II
Human Adaptability Constitution I
Human Greater Adaptability Intelligence I
Human Improved Recovery I
Human Improved Recovery II
Human Versatility I
Human Versatility II
Rogue Subtle Backstabbing I
Racial Toughness I
Racial Toughness II
Racial Toughness III
Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +2 Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +3 Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +4 Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +5 Arrows
Elven Arcane Archer I
Rogue Assassin I
Rogue Assassin II
Rogue Assassin III
Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy I
Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy II
Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy III
Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy IV
Rogue Sneak Attack Training I
Rogue Sneak Attack Training II
Rogue Sneak Attack Training III
Rogue Sneak Attack Training IV
Improved Hide I
Improved Hide II
Improved Move Silently I
Improved Move Silently II
Artificer Energy of Creation I
Fighter Toughness I
Rogue Wand and Scroll Mastery I

Now there is a little play here, not a ton but some. I could pull Haste boost 2 and some human versatility for Improved Ranger Dilettante 3 for 8 points of bow strength.

Goals/Thoughts:
I want a high DC Assassin guy, DC 10 + Rogue Level (18) + Int Modifier (base/lvl ups +4 tome 25+ 1 enchantment + 8 item +3 item +1 item +ship = 40 or +15) + EMG 45 + 6 Shadowdancer Stealth == 51 fairly easily. Add in Yugo pots as needed.

Massive burst DPS Sneak attack + Manyshot aka make the tank work at the moment this build has 13d6 of sneak attack dice + that possibly Improved Sneak Attack and who knows what from Shadowdancer…

I don’t have any real long-term gear plans or destiny plans other then Stealthy.

So there you go my rogue build, feel free to comment via the comments/email/twitter or whatever.

<3s

Melee Weapon for a Ranged Build

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So Monday afternoon, on twitter, I started asking about rogue builds and was debating pausing Samiusbot for some other easier to level sans invis build. I have been really inspired by a few of the Brits to try my hand at a full time rogue. But I was mentally building and gearing out this for fun build I started wondering if there was something I could do to push Samiusbot on into the post BB/Recon levels. And I started thinking about pasting on some mild melee skills for some encounters…

So I started looking at weapons, focusing on the Sora Katra stuff at first. I had a few reasons; first I had a ton of the different items clogging up my TR cache on more then one alt making it hard to find items in said caches. And second I know that at some point real soon I will be ready to go back to more of a ranged arty (maybe) and I want to be able to throw everything away at any moment.

So after much debate with myself and looking at the mats I had on hand I made a Maiming Rockspliter and a Petrifying War Axe. I wanted both a one handed and two handed weapon, my thought was the Rockspliter would be good for most of my melee needs, leaving me a trail of numbers behind it and using insightful weapons an elemental d6 as needed for monster type the force rune arm it would be good enough for solo work. Where the War axe would be more for times when I have one or two guys to clear and I want to use the axe for more of a CC weapon. If I could have made a Petrifying Rockspliter (which you can’t) I would have made one of those. But over all I really liked how they handled.

What was funny was I took all that time and made those weapons and half the time I ended up using the xbow for the quests I was doing. (Attack on Stormreach chain) but when I did use them they worked as intended. Well enough I have even been thinking about making a main one handed dps weapon for this guy.

Now that I am 14 and Tome turn ins are both so much better/ easier to get I am thinking about making Samiusbot one of them for leveling. No one a Skiver, believe it or not there is more then one option in Tome weapons now depending on your needs. I am leaning towards making a Phosphor.

+5 Heavy mace (1.5[2d4], 18-20×2): Sun Burst, Righteous, Coruscating, Red Slot

I can add a spell power boost to it and make a fairly solid melee/caster stick or go more damage and add an d4/d6 of some other element. I also really like how it has an extended crit range with out being keen so I could work in IC:B and have a simi solid dps simple weapon that can grow with my guy. Also the artwork is Bad Ass!

But I will hold off making anything that is not super easy to replace for a little bit as I have lots of old Reaver loot to look at and possibly use as a make shift melee weapon… although none of them are as smexy as the Phosphor….

And yes I would just try making a green steel xbow, but I hadn’t picked which one to make before TRing but I did check that I had everything to make a double shard green steel weapon before TRing but the middle shard is either hiding in the TR cache or got lost in the TR possess. I have lost many items in while tring, but most of the time missing items are just hiding in a full cache and as the bot had all my scrolls/dragon shard stockpile his cache is super full. Much time will be wasted soon digging through the bank…

Anyway back to work,
<3s

First Rule of Healing

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The first rule of healing is to heal yourself first; you can’t heal anyone if you’re dead. I know this. You know this. So why am I dying with my heal spell on cool down?

Because for some reason I believe that I can make it long enough for the regn/vigor to tick and get me back out of the danger zone and person that just got my heal would not have made it. Think most of the time I do make it and that is just normal happy questing but those times when I don’t make it I can’t help but wonder was there some sign that I missed letting me know that I should heal myself and try to save person X after I am safe…

This weekend is where I noticed a lot of getting in over my head to the point where I tweeted that I needed to stop taking Javabot into Madstone because I had now died for the third time in that quest. On Samius I have done a few two-man hards and no deaths and an EE also no deaths. So why is Java having so many issues?

Because he is more battle clr then healbot so he is in the action when he should be standing to the side. I really need to work those muscles.

But I was able to cap him last night and thanks to the keys of destiny being on sale I am over into the arcane destinies. Currently working my way out of the Bard line and into the Sorc line. Once the Sorc is maxed then I will take a look at making my way over into the primal destines mainly the sleeper Shiradi Champion.

Shiradi Champion is good enough that I am tempted to max it out on Samius and use it for Epics…

But will it help Java stay alive when I let myself fall in to the battle harder then I should? Only trying it will tell.

Well I want to do gear lists for the other main guys this week taking the GH gear into account.

<3s

Summoners

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Looking over my epic bits spreadsheet I have realized that I have two “summoner” items ready to go, more or less, the Wolf Whistle and Roderi’cs Wand. To me this items scream “summoner” but we really don’t have a “summoner” in ddo, or do we?

At first when I realized that I had these items ready to go I thought to myself, “Got to get my Arty capped, ASAP!” The wand makes total sense as my Arty uses his dog, Robutt, in battle. Robutt, btw comes from the classic short story by Isaac Asimov “A Boy’s Best Friend” so no dirty jokes or reporting me for using “butt” in a name.

The Epic Thaarak hound would make a killer summon once the flame turret as more or less out lived its main usefulness.

But then last night I was working on Javabot, who made it to level 21 over the weekend, if you were wondering. And the first thing I did once stepping into some quest alone was summon Fin Fang Foom, the dryad and called my cat gold seal hire. Aka I summoned an army.

And I really don’t have room to fit in augment summoning into Java’s build but I could push it into Samiusbot’s build….

Unless the feat stacks with the granted feat from the wand, which I don’t think it does, giving Java the wand is just a better idea.

As for the wolf whistle, I think atm it is still best to remain on Samiusbot’s gear list. That poor bot doesn’t have an torc yet so he might even leave it on for the slots post 20 until an torc comes on line???

Anyway what do you think?

❤