As I inch towards 40 and the class change to Bish, it has become painfully clear the the days of soloing are about over (completely expected). C-grade armor will be Divine. But what I've read on here for weapon setup seems to be a mixed bag- Homu with Acumen or Ghoul's with Mana Up? Please help swing the vote. Casting speed with the one-hander or extra Mana on the staff? Assume most of the play will be underground in whatever party I can tag along in. All comments greatly appreciated before I spend the dough. Thanks!
I vote for Mysterious Sword w/ Acumen for the same reason (2x v. 3x SPS use). If not, go for the Homu, and get a shield (even without shield buffs, you'll help block arrows).
For robes, go Karmian (+15% casting speed). Divine only increases casting speed by about 5%, and all the MP in the world will not help if your heals always get there late due to poor casting speed.
Divine robes and Mana Up weapons are primarily for buffers.
For healers: karmian + acumen weapon
For buffers: Divine + mana up weapon
In either case you don't need m.atk unless you decide to use your offensive spells (such as mana burn) in PvP, which at your level shouldn't be too much of a priority anyways. (Most PvPing takes place at higher levels and a level 40 probably wouldn't mb a 75+ for much regardless of weapon)
On the other hand, if you really want to solo, I have a friend who soloed his way to 71 so far on his bishop subclass. He groups once in a while, but probably over half the time he's soloing.
So depending on how often you believe you can find parties or not, going with a melee weapon to solo can be a viable option.
In either case you don't need m.atk unless you decide to use your offensive spells (such as mana burn) in PvP, which at your level shouldn't be too much of a priority anyways.
Not really that one sided. M.Atk helps Trance and Hold Undead etc, other offensive PvE skills as well.... Even adds a few hp to heals.
I have a friend who soloed his way to 71 so far on his bishop subclass. He groups once in a while, but probably over half the time he's soloing.
Well, I'm impressed. I never figured out how to do that ... can you share his secret? Where did he hunt? What did he do??
For buffer, all but WC; ACUMEN WEAPON PLZ!!!!, I'm so dead tired of all this buffers wtih insane slow cast speed, takes +2-3 min to buff a party..... talk about adding boring time to it.
Mana up is ONLY good if you don't have enought MP to buff a party, thats all, it's not gonna make you be able to hunt more, as your MP regen will still be the same, and MP regen is factor #1.
Mana up is also good when you need a BIG burst of MP but not after, aka Raids, conversion weapon is however better in this case thought.
great comments- please keep them coming. Thanks to all.
But the Mysterious Sword mentioned above- why do I not see it listed on the website here?
I know Mystral has a C5 weapons thread somewhere with the details. (Players Guide forum I think.) Warcry has the details as well I think, Stratics is a bit behind on their DB though.
I completly agree with using divine robes and mysterious sword w/acumen.
Divine robes gives you that atra mana to play with, and acu weapon gives you that extra casting speed.
If you still think your casting too slow, get +WIT - MEN tats, always a very good investement for any healer/buffer.
Besides , karmian + acu weapon + tatoos = overkill for a healer in C grade unless your planning to joing alot of bad players trying to do some AOE party.
Exactly. It's good to have a balance in gear for a healer, not complete speed or total mana pool. An acumen weapon and +4 wit is PLENTY of speed. And when you hit BW you'll get even more speed.
I have to say now that you have to wait to 56 for a good heal, doing the whole cast speed -_- build is worthwhile. You will find yourself using standard heals with inferior HPS to conserve MP over GBH/Vitalise, and only cast speed makes that possible.
I had to battle heal maybe 5 times total between 40 and 52, and that's good as well, since battle-heal eats MP like nobody's business.
ETA: Well, you don't need any cast speed (and you're not needed :p ) if VR is available.
:) I sieged from 29+ though, so I used battle heal a lot more.. probably not that relevant since all that is much much higher level now. Oh and my heals weren't borked back in the C grade days either... <.<
I know Mystral has a C5 weapons thread somewhere with the details. (Players Guide forum I think.) Warcry has the details as well I think, Stratics is a bit behind on their DB though.