When done right, balance in the small things goes unnoticed. An example of this would be robe boni in A Grade - while Nightmare is unpopular due to the -2 WIT, all four robes get used and have their own place and viability, and people who swear by them.
Unfortunately, as we are all aware, there are many areas where this is not the case - and looking into those, more than looking into things like 'nerfing nukers' might do the trick.
I am personally thinking of weapon special abilities and buffs, with a special look at dances and songs.
On a 'fully buffed' picture, you will almost always see the buff bar filled with the same 20 buffs - with the exception of zerk/no zerk and possibly shield buffs vs no shield buffs.
There are also many SAs that people wouldn't even poke with a 10 foot stick.
Now, I do not know in which way to go - but I think that weak, unpopular buffs should be increased in strength, or the popular ones brought down (obviously I'd prefer the weak ones being pushed up) until it becomes a tricky, and possibly battle-turning, decision which group has which buffs - and a question, at that, without an obvious solution.
The same to SAs - some of them are just a joke (light anyone?).
Do you feel the buff/SA systems are OK as it is now, with a relatively clear pecking order? If yes, under what circumstances would you use the weaker buffs? If no, what would you change, and how?
In cases where there truly isn't a single player who swears by a given buff/SA, it should be investigated. I wouldn't even suggest a change based on that, since it's entirely possible that players are missing the point rather than it being useless, but it's definitely a red flag.
Bows with guidance aren't that popular with most players, but I wouldn't want someone taking mine away, for example.
So...which ones always just suck too much to bother with? That's the logical place to start, I think...
Magic weapon SAs - it has to tell you something that 80% of the player base completely skip a grade just so they can use acumen or mana up SAs. And it doesn't tell you that acumen SA is overpowered, but that too many of the SAs provided already are simply of no practical interest.
Duals with Accuracy... Yes! Every BD and Glad in the game wants their top A weapon to have an awesome SA like +4 Accuracy! We would LOVE to have no Focus SA so we can have Accuracy! We just love it!
Yea the only useful SA is Haste ont eh dual kesh's
Also i feel that acumen needs to be removed as a weapon SA, or dumbed down a large amount to make the other's(besides mana up) even a viable option.
Duals with Accuracy... Yes! Every BD and Glad in the game wants their top A weapon to have an awesome SA like +4 Accuracy! We would LOVE to have no Focus SA so we can have Accuracy! We just love it!
/sarcasm
Accuracy bonuses can be nice for the few mystic-types who use weapons and can't self-buff Guidance. I'd laugh it off as a BD, but as a PS it wouldn't sound nearly as crazy, especially if I often went unbuffed. I agree that Guidance is a lesser SA for most classes, but it's not truly pointless. If there's someone who would want it, maybe, sometimes, then it's not a total loss.
In that case, I don't think it's that accuracy is pointless for everyone so much as that we're lacking a good SA for the fighters to use.
hmmm maybe 3rd time will be the charm on this.
Can anyone tell me what the available SA's are on A grade mage weapons besides acumen, and what exactly they do.
Desparians Staff - Acuman/Mana Up/Conversion
Branch of the Mothertree - Acuman/Magic Damage/Conversion
Sword of Miracles - Acuman/Magic Silence/Magic Power
and S grade
Arcana Mace - Acuman/MP regeneration/Mana Up
Imperial Staff - Empower/MP Regeneration/Magic Hold
and Hero Weapons
*(hero weapon have special abilities applied automaticly and you get all those at once, no need to pick and choose)
Infinity Scepter(2H) - Chance of healing target's HP to 100% when casting a beneficial spell, M.atk increased, MP use decreased, Magic crit rate increased, decreased chance of being cancelled, increased damage in PvP
Infinity Rod(1H) - Chance of healing target's HP to 100% when casting a beneficial spell, Max MP increased, casting spd. increased, MP regen increased, increased damage in PvP.
Back to the OP topic though, there are defiantly some SA i would like to see get a boost, for example, the Empower SA, should be changed to a percentage increase, not a straight +24 to your total matk, if it the same increase for the Imperial staff, i can't see it getting much use.
It's quite ridiculous that all the A grade mage weps and 3 of the 4 A grade robes all increase casting speed by 15%. What the hell were they thinking when designing SAs and armor sets. If anything a GOOD design would be every weapon has its own unique SAs as compared to weapons of the same grade and same with armor.
Thanks for the info. What is teh difference though between magic damage and magic power.
What SA options does elemental sword have also?
heh, possible exploit with the S grade? 100% heal. So could say a SH go nuking merrily fill up half his mp with b2m, buff himself with might and shield and boom full hp just b2m is all into mp?
Desparians Staff - Acuman/Mana Up/Conversion
Branch of the Mothertree - Acuman/Magic Damage/Conversion
Sword of Miracles - Acuman/Magic Silence/Magic Power
Thanks for the info. What is teh difference though between magic damage and magic power.
What SA options does elemental sword have also?
From the patch notes:
Magic Damage
When using harmful magic on a target, it delivers additional magic damage with a fixed percentage.
Magic Power
When attacking with magic, the amount of MP used increases with a fixed percentage and magic power also increases.
I have never seen a weapon with magic damage in use. Magic Power is not that good - the "magic power" (matk) increase is not worth the added mp consumption (15% extra mp per spell). Still better than "empower", though - that one increases matk by even less (24 added after buffs for C grade weapons and IIRC around 50 or so for A grade ones).
As for other useless SAs:
What about "Magic Focus" or "Magic Regeneration"? These two SAs cast these buffs on the target of a beneficial spell. At least "Magic Bless the Body" has a somewhat limited use - you can use it on yourself if you are a nuker, it's nice for soloing. But who would want a Focus or Regeneration buff as a soloing nuker? And if you are in a party, you will have a buffer for the other party members anyway...
But yes, "light" probably is the most useless one. And IMHO "empower" is pretty bad, too (especially since the name is misleading) ...
I might put magic: focus on my SoES with Mielle once I switch over to melee - nothing wrong with carrying focus 3 around with you for free. ;)
Magic Damage works in a way that when you use a 'bad' spell you have a ~10% or so chance to do an extra power rating of 8 damage (i.e. your own MAtk features in) - pretty lame.
But this wasn't meant to get a list of weak SAs, but whether or not people would want to push them and how.
The SAs are pretty lame.Look:
Avadon Robe gives 15% CS and 5% p.def(nothing negative at all)
Zubei +10% m.atk +5% mp regen
BW isn't for nukers
Doom isn't for nukers too.
What about heavy armors?
-Doom gives 320 hp and +3 CON -3 STR.
-BW has negatives too(+3 STR,-2 DEX,-1 CON,+7 speed +5% HP regen)
-Zubei gives 294HP and 5%(lol shield lvl 1 gives 7%) p.def.
-Avadon gives 294HP adn 24% shield block rate.
Now you can look the sets and compare.Are the 300 HP just SIMILAR to 15% CS or +10% m.atk?
Btw haste SA is +7% on one handed weapons and +4% on dual swords but acumen SA gives 15%.Every nuker has a +8 ,+9,+10 homu acumen even when he's 52+.
C grade robe(Karmian +15% CS AND 5% p.def and Demon sacrifising 270 HP you get -1 WIT and +4 INT)) bonuses are much better than C grade Light and Heavy bonuses too(Theca +5% pdef?DLA +5% mdef?MIthril +4 evasion?Only Plated leather is a good light set)(Compo +5% m.def and 5700 weight LOL,Chain set gives DAGGER PDEF FFFFS and 198 hp,FP gives 270 hp and 5% shield block rate WOW!).Sorry for posting all the sets but i did that so you can compare all the sets.Plz don't tell me that 300 hp is the same with 15% CS.Robes have overpowered bonuses cause of the low p.def but,why do nukers need p.def at all?You can never reach them and archers got to be full buffed to kill a nuker(dances and songs included).A nuker with Avadon and homu SA:Acumen,Acumen buff and dance of concentration gets +15% CS,+15% CS,+30% CS +30% CS.That just makes a nuker unstoppable.Empower gives 70% m.atk if i remember well +20% from dance fo mystic 90%.So a full buffed nuker has.+90% CS and +90% m.atk.With 2 bufs and 2 dances plus his equipment.Yeah pretty ballanced.
It would be interesting to make a poll of what SAs are really used.
I wonder if anyone uses the Rsk. XXX Stuff e.g.
Rsk. Kitten
I've seen tanks use them. Like the risk focus on Dark Legion.
I can also see it being useful to Destroyers and Tyrants who have other skills that come into effect when low on HP. But thats only if the SA you want is only available in risk with the weapon you want
As I have said before, the reason why everyone gets Acumen is because the other SAs are miserable.
Acumen's power is severely limited once full buffs are considered. At 1333 cast speed, I barely notice the downshift when I unready the acumen weapon, and the 100 or so damage added by the 30matk of the unSA'd +4 Branch I was using is significantly more useful than listening to "spell not ready" dings.
When not fully buffed, the acumen helps, but it has little effect when I get buffs. While it stacks with buffs, casting less than a 1/4 of a second faster is not really all that useful.
If there were only a useful SA that wasn't acumen, I would get it in a heartbeat as I am usually buffed.
-Proc abilities need to be more common, but not last as long.
-Magic power is a joke... so is empower. Grats on doing a fraction of a % more damage. Could these abilities be scaled up to be useful please? If I put an SA on an A-grade weapon, I expect more than 10 extra damage per 2000pt nuke vs mobs. Magic power actually DECREASES efficiency overall. Why nerf yourself?
The truth is that mage SA's excepting only Acumen and perhaps mana up are near worthless. (Conversion has its uses for priest classes, but Mages cannot afford to lose HP or we become one-hits for archers.)
Frankly melee SA's have some of the same problems.
There are a few good ones and the rest are almost as bad as not having anything.
As I have said before, the reason why everyone gets Acumen is because the other SAs are miserable.
Thank you for re-railing!
I was more interested in the whole 'does anyone else think the others should be boosted up to match so it becomes a difficult choice', than complaints about this or that SA not being available on a good weapon or a certain weapon.
A nuker with Avadon and homu SA:Acumen,Acumen buff and dance of concentration gets +15% CS,+15% CS,+30% CS +30% CS.That just makes a nuker unstoppable.Empower gives 70% m.atk if i remember well +20% from dance fo mystic 90%.So a full buffed nuker has.+90% CS and +90% m.atk.With 2 bufs and 2 dances plus his equipment.Yeah pretty ballanced.
It's even worse actually, the CS and matk bonuses stack by multiplying. It's 124% cast speed and 104% matk.
Yeah I find my issue with this game is usually the illusion of choice. They make it seem like you can build your character and your gear in many different ways. But really there is a good way and many lame ways. I would like to see things balanced in a manor where there would be many viable options. I would like to see a market for all kinds of weapons with all kinds of SAs. Because as it is now, your sls better have focus, and your homu better have acumen, or your not gonna sell em. I don't mind having a popular SA, but I do mind that there is only 1 usefull SA per weapon.
I like the idea, Dual Fist weapon SA's are pathetic. Almost all the weapons we have gain Rsk. Guidence/Haste/Evasion/Focus or Crit.Bleed/Poison
Most weapons have the Crit. option.. and my reply to this is why? Dual Fists have like 51-56 base crit rate, what good is Crit. Based SA.
Same for Rsk. SA's who wants to empower their weapons at huge cost for an ability that only works at 60% hp, how many people can fight solo or in groups and maintain constant 60% or below HP. (Fist of Fury does drain hp, but not very fast and the amount is minimal).
We get Haste on all Lower Weapons of each Grade, and really crappy SA's on the Best Weapons.
As you can see above, certain SA's if not most of them are pointless.
Guidence : Why? Fist Weapons have the highest base accuracy, YOU NEVER MISS on Dark Blue - Pink mobs, unless your de-buffed. So this SA has absolutely no use what-so-ever, it may as well be Acumen.
Crit.Anything : Lowest Base Crit Rate Weapons in-game, 1/10 crit chance, and then its only a low chance to succeed.
Rsk.Anything : Who wants to fight mobs with 60% or below HP, Who wants to party someone who needs to be on 60% HP for an SA to work? Too much work and extra hassle on the healers.
Anger: Why would anyone want to pay for an ability that REDUCES HP, in order to get the bonus.
Haste: Finally, something worth while to a Tyrant. Faster Attack Speed is by far a great advantage to have over enemies.
Focus: Ahhh.. giving a weapon with the highest base Accuracy in game a boost in Base Crit Rate, Genious and worth the SA money.
Health: Not really my personal favourite nor do i even like this, but for those Players out there that choose the most powerful DD class in Game to sacrifice all the power to play a Meat Shield this is perfect for them.
I've said my piece, cut all the pointless BS SA's and give the players something that rewards their time/money they spend on these so called 'Special Abilities'.
.. End!
(Note: I've just seen the S Grade Dual Fist SA's: Crit.Stun, consider all Tyrants unbeatable in Melee with this weapon+sa+bison totem) GG NCSoft.
I like the idea, Dual Fist weapon SA's are pathetic. Almost all the weapons we have gain Rsk. Guidence/Haste/Evasion/Focus or Crit.Bleed/Poison
Most weapons have the Crit. option.. and my reply to this is why? Dual Fists have like 51-56 base crit rate, what good is Crit. Based SA.
Same for Rsk. SA's who wants to empower their weapons at huge cost for an ability that only works at 60% hp, how many people can fight solo or in groups and maintain constant 60% or below HP. (Fist of Fury does drain hp, but not very fast and the amount is minimal).
We get Haste on all Lower Weapons of each Grade, and really crappy SA's on the Best Weapons.
As you can see above, certain SA's if not most of them are pointless.
Guidence : Why? Fist Weapons have the highest base accuracy, YOU NEVER MISS on Dark Blue - Pink mobs, unless your de-buffed. So this SA has absolutely no use what-so-ever, it may as well be Acumen.
Crit.Anything : Lowest Base Crit Rate Weapons in-game, 1/10 crit chance, and then its only a low chance to succeed.
Rsk.Anything : Who wants to fight mobs with 60% or below HP, Who wants to party someone who needs to be on 60% HP for an SA to work? Too much work and extra hassle on the healers.
Anger: Why would anyone want to pay for an ability that REDUCES HP, in order to get the bonus.
Haste: Finally, something worth while to a Tyrant. Faster Attack Speed is by far a great advantage to have over enemies.
Focus: Ahhh.. giving a weapon with the highest base Accuracy in game a boost in Base Crit Rate, Genious and worth the SA money.
Health: Not really my personal favourite nor do i even like this, but for those Players out there that choose the most powerful DD class in Game to sacrifice all the power to play a Meat Shield this is perfect for them.
I've said my piece, cut all the pointless BS SA's and give the players something that rewards their time/money they spend on these so called 'Special Abilities'.
.. End!
(Note: I've just seen the S Grade Dual Fist SA's: Crit.Stun, consider all Tyrants unbeatable in Melee with this weapon+sa+bison totem) GG NCSoft.
Some tyrants I play with prefer to play at low HP. Bison totem FTW!! Buts thats like a lvl 68 skill. But they seemed to have put the wrong SAs on the wrong weapon class, lol. If anything B and A grade should be full of risk SAs, not C grade. Way to go NC Soft :p
Some tyrants I play with prefer to play at low HP. Bison totem FTW!! Buts thats like a lvl 68 skill. But they seemed to have put the wrong SAs on the wrong weapon class, lol. If anything B and A grade should be full of risk SAs, not C grade. Way to go NC Soft :p
I'm well aware that at higher levels we get bison, only problem is the weapons we can use at 68 have Haste, Focus and Health so who wants Rsk.SA's when Focus > anything else at 68 with bison.
Focus on Dragon Grinders for teh win, because Blood Tornado's look [censored]!
Someone pm'd me and said 'what claws are they NG?' A Grade Claws and someone says are they NG....
A nuker with Avadon and homu SA:Acumen,Acumen buff and dance of concentration gets +15% CS,+15% CS,+30% CS +30% CS.That just makes a nuker unstoppable.Empower gives 70% m.atk if i remember well +20% from dance fo mystic 90%.So a full buffed nuker has.+90% CS and +90% m.atk.With 2 bufs and 2 dances plus his equipment.Yeah pretty ballanced.
ya, but if we need alllllll that stuff just to be able to keep up with the archers who will stun shot and kill us Nukers in a flash... thats not a good thing. How often do we have full BD and SwS buffs? Its still alot of increase but for a damaging class.. we need to be able to do damage. Its the same with warriors and all the people who use Haste on their SA. They can stack that with BD buffs and Haste2 Pots. Might3 may not have the same particular allure as Empower3 but figthers do their damage in a series of hits not 1 big hit like nukers.
Also another note.. if we keep getting upgrades for everything, eventually the game is going to be too easy and people will lose interest quicker. NCSoft needs to equalize all the characters almost perfectly then match the mobs to it. Because they need to make the mobs harder if they make the characters better.. but if there's unimproved characters that still suck.. they're going to suck even more.
I'd like it if I could play the characters I want and really enjoy the game without having to feel down-trodden at the fact that my particular character cant level half as fast as, lets say, a Silver Ranger and that my character wont last more than 2 seconds in any sort of pvp because that leaves room for people to be *****holes and, although getting what you want may seem awesome if you're the one bossing people around, its not real fun for the person who gets stepped on, of course. So then, naturally, everyone becomes SR's and we have a server full of archers and nukers and duo boxed buff slaves because no one wants to be at the bottom of the chain.
I see this quickly turning into a nerf nuker post.
just a thought on the cast speed stuff. Think in terms of PVE and you'll find that atk speed means way more than cast speed. mystic will run out of mp quickly, fighter just keeps on swingin.
90% matk equates to 1.5 x more damage.
where as full fighter buffs you're doing alot more than 1.5x more damage over time between increased crit rate, atk spd, patk, and crit power.
full buffed dagger will deal out more than 2x the damage of an unbuffed one.
I see this quickly turning into a nerf nuker post.
just a thought on the cast speed stuff. Think in terms of PVE and you'll find that atk speed means way more than cast speed. mystic will run out of mp quickly, fighter just keeps on swingin.
90% matk equates to 1.5 x more damage.
where as full fighter buffs you're doing alot more than 1.5x more damage over time between increased crit rate, atk spd, patk, and crit power.
full buffed dagger will deal out more than 2x the damage of an unbuffed one.
But consider this. 104% (see my post) more matk is 43% more damage and then 124% more cast speed is in total 3.2 times the damage. Add tattoo effects to that.
I see this quickly turning into a nerf nuker post.
just a thought on the cast speed stuff. Think in terms of PVE and you'll find that atk speed means way more than cast speed. mystic will run out of mp quickly, fighter just keeps on swingin.
90% matk equates to 1.5 x more damage.
where as full fighter buffs you're doing alot more than 1.5x more damage over time between increased crit rate, atk spd, patk, and crit power.
full buffed dagger will deal out more than 2x the damage of an unbuffed one.
While true the acumen SA took it a bit too far. Basically if you are a nuker without acumen SA you aren't competitive with others, therefore its a problem. Whereas with some, but not all, physical weapons you can stay competive with most SAs. Haste, crit damage, focus, health, etc.....even light has its use, though still not a great one. It depends on class and play style whereas with magic ALL of them want and get noticable results from faster casting while being more beneficial than other SAs. Quite honestly I actually wouldn't mind if ONLY 2-handed staffs have acumen, but anything short of that acumen needs a nerf badly.
But consider this. 104% (see my post) more matk is 43% more damage and then 124% more cast speed is in total 3.2 times the damage. Add tattoo effects to that.
That's all nice and good, but it doesn't matter.
Sheesh, I might repost less ambigiously.
Please have a look at Claira's post to see what the point was.
I see this quickly turning into a nerf nuker post.
just a thought on the cast speed stuff. Think in terms of PVE and you'll find that atk speed means way more than cast speed. mystic will run out of mp quickly, fighter just keeps on swingin.
90% matk equates to 1.5 x more damage.
where as full fighter buffs you're doing alot more than 1.5x more damage over time between increased crit rate, atk spd, patk, and crit power.
full buffed dagger will deal out more than 2x the damage of an unbuffed one.
But consider this. 104% (see my post) more matk is 43% more damage and then 124% more cast speed is in total 3.2 times the damage. Add tattoo effects to that.
Once again i point out that i was refering to PVE. Cast speed isn't going to = more damage over time, just means you'll run out and be useless quicker.
Maline is trying to point out that with the implementation of new SA's on weapons many others are getting overlooked and never used.
IE: Acumen on mage weapons, any mage (DD) that doesn't get this on their weapons would have to be stupid. Fast Cast speed = Win.
Only mages that can beat me are the ones in Full DC Sets and Acumen Weapons or the ones that Cancels. (this is Arena only) in the open they dont stand a chance, because i simply use rabbit to catch them before the second nuke hits me, cripple them, stun them and just lay waste to their frail bodies. A crippled mage against a Tyrant has no hope.
There is simply not enough variation of SA's on certain weapons, most of them are never used. I dont understand why if i can afford the best weapon money can buy or that the game can provide at this time that i cant get a decent SA on it.
Anthro Nails, Bellion Cestus - neither of these get SA's that can be used from the start they both require:
Low HP
Critical Attack
To activate a Special Ability
Blood Tornados - Focus (this is like the Acumen of Fists)
Dragon Grinders - Health? on one of the strongest melee DD classes are you joking?
Why give DD's Health? Tanks require this SA not DD's, i say this far too often but i'll say it again.
PLAY YOUR CLASS FOR WHAT IT IS, NOT WHAT IT ISN'T.
IE: DD's using Con Tattoo's, Heavy Armour with + Con and Weapons with Health. YOU ARE A DD not a TANK.
The SA's on some weapons are allowing people to play a style of play that wasn't meant for their class.
Mage Weapons Overpowered by SA's.
Homonkulus - Mid C
Sword of Valhalla - Top B (mage sword)
Dasparions Staff - Low Staff
BoMT - Top Staff
Sword of Miricles - Top A (mage sword)
Try to find me a average mage class that doesn't use 1 of the above (requirements permitting that is) levels 40+, all and i mean all mages i see in game on Teon have one of the above weapons and all have Acumen (provided they are DD's).
All those have Acumen, it seems most Mage weapons in all grade now have Acumen (in C4 B Grade will have it) you know there's a problem with the SA's when you see 65+ nukers using a Mid Top C Grade Sword as a weapon. Only reason most people use Homonkulus swords is the Acumen SA.
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As for buffs, there are simply too many in game and not enough spaces for them on the buff bars, i think buff bars should be extended or not count (songs/dances) as buffs, IE: they dont take up a Slot on the bar.
BD's/SwS get what? 10-12 songs/dances each? how much room do you have left for buffs then?. Most songs/dances from 62-72 are NEVER EVER used, only during specialist pvp. IE: Where you know what your fighting, and how often does that happen? How often do you come across an entire nuker group using one of the following Fire/Wind/Water/Earth spells? I'd guess slim to non.
For mages again, this problem doesn't exist, as they only need
11 Buffs just to do their maximum potential, then there are your individual classes active skills and toggles? (not sure if all classes toggles take a space up, as a tyrant mine do not, but totems do) that leaves 9 (-any active skills/toggles your class uses) spaces for dances/songs + the new summon buffs that are coming in C4 which we'll all use.
Once again i point out that i was refering to PVE. Cast speed isn't going to = more damage over time, just means you'll run out and be useless quicker.
Thats all well and good, but 9/10 people are at war with another clan/alliance and cant afford to use PvE weapons when leveling, they have to use a weapon that will give them the edge should PvP start. Thats why as i said above, you only see mages with 1 of the Above mage weapons with 9/10 Acumen SA.
Not so much that there isn't a good variety - but that there are some which are clearly better than others, and that that shouldn't be the case. Our SAs are unbalanced, and it's not a matter of focus vs acumen, it's a matter of me not wanting to tell people 'go focus, it's best'. It'd be pretty cool to say 'go focus - but you could go with crit bleed, it adds a nice chunk of extra damage when you're unbuffed'.
By this, I don't mean to bring up a discussion of acumen vs focus - they are not in direct competition - but for example, Acumen vs. Magic Power.
Or Resist Wind vs Empower: As a defensive spell, I feel Resist Wind should naturally have a considerably greater impact than Empower (since 'offensive nature' is an advantage in and out of itself, and it is restricted in its use on top of that), but it does not.
Who uses Regeneration? Would someone use it if it could provide an impact comparable to VR?
Would someone use Crit Drain if it had an effect even close to VR, when by comparison focus SAs usually have a stronger effect the focus buff*?
Once again i point out that i was refering to PVE. Cast speed isn't going to = more damage over time, just means you'll run out and be useless quicker.
Oh didn't see that you were talking about PvE. Nukers are already the best solo class.
For some nukers (SH and Necro) faster cast speed helps them be able to BTM more often and by that XP faster.
As far as I know, the paralyse SA doesn't land an awful lot - I imagine it would be considerably more frightful on an auraflaring Sorc or SpS too, since they get more chances to trigger it.
Then again, they don't need to para people since they can just... uh... kill them. ;)
But that's another prime example of an SA that needs a boost - it should be powerful enough to land on a mob that's 'green to the weapon' with decent frequency, or be affected by the users' MAtk status (which then includes shots) somehow, in PvE at least.
I'm not "completely counting it out" any more than I am counting out the market system and its flaws - 1v1 balance simply doesn't have anything to do with the topic at hand.
um i asked about A grade weapon SA's, i know the bonus's for all robes and b/c grade :p
Sword of Miracles is Magic Power. Basically a huge increase in matk, which at this point is **** near godly in pvp. Ive seen a spellhowler obliterate an archer in two nukes with a +4 som with magic power as the sa. Whats worse is that the spellhowler wore B grade robes since no one in my clan beleives or ever wants to ebay or ige.
any chance you could post exactly the % that magic power adds? If its considerable than i'll take that over acumen.
(already going with a NM set, not too big on pvp equip that nerfs my abilities in party)
I apologize if this has already been said, I didn't feel like reading 6 pages of posts to find out... but I would love to see a Vampiric Rage SA :) ... I know it will never happen though.
I apologize if this has already been said, I didn't feel like reading 6 pages of posts to find out... but I would love to see a Vampiric Rage SA :) ... I know it will never happen though.
Crit drain is close. VR is overpowered, the already much too effective VR 4 and Vamp dance needs to get nerfed. I was just hunting ToI 5 and 7 and 8 with NO healer and first 40 minutes we had no BD, we had little to no trouble at all.
What about "Magic Focus" or "Magic Regeneration"? These two SAs cast these buffs on the target of a beneficial spell. At least "Magic Bless the Body" has a somewhat limited use - you can use it on yourself if you are a nuker, it's nice for soloing. But who would want a Focus or Regeneration buff as a soloing nuker? And if you are in a party, you will have a buffer for the other party members anyway...
I have a lower lvl staff (Paradia) that has Regen sa on it. I'm a SH and I carry it for the self buff. I do my normal self buffing and usually catch the Regen buff at the same time.
Was gona try it with a BTB sa staff but the 5% vs 30% land rate changed my mind.
It's not that great but it helps some. Just trying different things. It is nice to be able to cast it on tanks if you don't have other buffers around.
This is why you never see a nuker with an elemental sword. Its all about cast speed once you hit B grade and pvp more. In PVE Matk is more important to me as an Sps to help manage mp.
But in PVP its all about cast speed and buffs. Since I solo alot don't 2box an SE and have nightmare robes. PVP isn't very kind to me.
Depending on where and what types of mobs you level on, casting speed can be very important in pve, as well.
I levelled from around 60-66 in valley of saints. for those of you unfamilliar with it, mobs port to you, some mobs spawn different mobs, some mobs cast uncurable bleed/flame type attacks that are particularly nasty, some shapechange..
I tried an elemental sword with magic power there for about an hour. I had been 2shotting the mobs without the elemental sword.. so it was cast speed that made the difference whether I lived or died.
Now.. if I had been 3shotting prior to this, and the new sword had made it a 2 shot, it would be no contest. But the SA didn't add enough matk for me to be able to 2shot the higher level mobs.. so I was still 3 shotting them.
My opinion is, if you can afford it, carry both. When it's the difference between an extra cast, use the mag. power SA. When you're 2shotting regardless, use acumen.
A lot of people do the same thing with the demon set.. Nukers using it alllllllll the way to 75 for pve.
Varaya, SoES w/ focus is fantastic for solo archer (and actually for any solo melee class). It's very good for EE as well. (not that many solo past 52). Also excellent for olympiad.
I have used rsk haste back when it triggered at so low hp... Added extra thrill is kinda neat.
Actually one of the best SAs MM is gone now. Before anyone says MM was overpowered: it was not