Hands on with ED, and where's my net?
Oct. 21st, 2005 09:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothSo, yesterday I decided to get Cinnamon up to 32 so that I could evaluate Phase Shift and decide if I really wanted to keep in, in light of the extra pinch ED would be putting on powers and slots. It took four or five missions, but only a couple hours.
Phase shift test number 1: Click it as soon as I got it. Huh, that wasn't that long of an ani -- wait, it's not done yet? Okay, that's still... no... ah, now it's working. Hmm. Seems to take a long time to recharge, too...
Phase shift test number 2: Run into the middle of a group of 3 red minions, and click phase shift. Result: Phase kicked in with ~20% health left -- the enemies actually got multiple attack cycles off before it finished animating. Prognosis: using it as an escape button is... marginal.
Phase shift test number 3: Accidentally wander too close to a bunch of earth thorn casters and get quicksanded. Click phase shift... what do you mean it's *still* recharging? The last test was *minutes* ago!
So, anyway, once I got out of the hospital, I decided to go ahead and use the free respec from I5 to spec into a build not including phase shift. And since I6 is coming up soon (it's supposed to be out Halloween) I decided to be 'ED compliant', so that I could use the I6 respec to fix anything that turned out not to work.
I swapped Chilling Embrace for Shiver and Frozen Sword for Frozen Fists, based on the theory that since this was a preliminary build, I might as well try all the powers I'd skipped. Phase Shift and Grant Invisibility were traded for the snipe and aim. Stamina and Hasten were 3-slotted, most attacks were only 5-slotted, and the extra slots were used to (a) make ice patch perma even when hasten was down, (b) make aim and build up recharge faster, and (c) slot frozen fists for damage.
Then I did a bunch of streethunting, some of it in a small group, to test out the changes. Yes, in the first battle I got myself killed, but after that I came up with strategies that worked. Leaving hasten on auto, non-perma, turns out to be less annoying that I expected -- my blaster doesn't have any super-long-recharge powers that I want to synchronize with, so it really just plays like being randomly slowed for one minute out of three. I'll wonder why all my powers are recharging, glance up and see hasten is down, and go 'oh'. It hasn't killed me yet, because I never really relied on 'attack chains' -- my attacks are all different range and half are AoE and such, so I hit whatever's ready that's most appropriate.
Shiver... has a pretty hefty to-hit penalty, and I made the mistake of slotting it for slow instead of accuracy. To get it to actually work, I have to build up or aim first. Or just use it over and over... man it recharges fast. Build up Shiver Fire Breath Fireball more reliably hits all the enemies with both fire breath and fire ball, and they always got their alpha off against me anyway.
On the other hand, it has to be activated, over and over and over, instead of just working passively like Chilling Embrace.
Maybe I'll take both; I still have an open power slot at 38.
Frozen Fists is *worlds* better than Frozen sword. It does less damage, but it doesn't have the one-second stand there rooted, posing thing after you hit. It doesn't look nearly as cool... but I'll take being able to continue running away over looking cool anyday.
Aim + Build Up + snipe overkills minions and doesn't kill lieutenants. Sigh. It comes close... I think that if it was sixed for damage it'd kill the lieuts. Bummer. I really wanted to be able to pick off lieutenants. Specifically, fungoids. With Dam Dam Dam Interrupt I have yet to miss, but then I am always aiming and/or builduping before sniping, so yeah, I think I made the right decision not slotting accuracy into it.
Anyway, the next two levels with her are just slots, which are going to go into re-sixing my main attacks (with more endrec and recharge and range) except for fire breath which doesn't need endrec or recharge because I mostly keep it around for alpha strikes, and putting damage slots in Chillblain. Slotting up frozen fists and Chillblain is what's supposed to get me through hastenless periods, and so far slotted fists has proven its worthiness...
At any rate, yeah -- not a disaster for my blaster, although that's mostly because I hadn't quite FOTMd her, and doing so helped compensate. Next up: K'Teri! But not until actually after I6, since I already used her respec to cope with I5.
I stopped around 11, planning to... I don't know what I was planning, really. When I tried to check my e-mail, though, I discovered that my net was acting all wonky -- couldn't see the nameserver and such. I watched some TV (Bigger Longer and Uncut, which really loses a lot on a second viewing) and tried again, but only got a busy signal. Sigh. It's working again this morning, at least.
It's really, really annoying to be cut off from the net, and thus unable to (a) complain about being cut off from the net on LJ, and (b) find the customer service number to ask when the net will be back up.
Phase shift test number 1: Click it as soon as I got it. Huh, that wasn't that long of an ani -- wait, it's not done yet? Okay, that's still... no... ah, now it's working. Hmm. Seems to take a long time to recharge, too...
Phase shift test number 2: Run into the middle of a group of 3 red minions, and click phase shift. Result: Phase kicked in with ~20% health left -- the enemies actually got multiple attack cycles off before it finished animating. Prognosis: using it as an escape button is... marginal.
Phase shift test number 3: Accidentally wander too close to a bunch of earth thorn casters and get quicksanded. Click phase shift... what do you mean it's *still* recharging? The last test was *minutes* ago!
So, anyway, once I got out of the hospital, I decided to go ahead and use the free respec from I5 to spec into a build not including phase shift. And since I6 is coming up soon (it's supposed to be out Halloween) I decided to be 'ED compliant', so that I could use the I6 respec to fix anything that turned out not to work.
I swapped Chilling Embrace for Shiver and Frozen Sword for Frozen Fists, based on the theory that since this was a preliminary build, I might as well try all the powers I'd skipped. Phase Shift and Grant Invisibility were traded for the snipe and aim. Stamina and Hasten were 3-slotted, most attacks were only 5-slotted, and the extra slots were used to (a) make ice patch perma even when hasten was down, (b) make aim and build up recharge faster, and (c) slot frozen fists for damage.
Then I did a bunch of streethunting, some of it in a small group, to test out the changes. Yes, in the first battle I got myself killed, but after that I came up with strategies that worked. Leaving hasten on auto, non-perma, turns out to be less annoying that I expected -- my blaster doesn't have any super-long-recharge powers that I want to synchronize with, so it really just plays like being randomly slowed for one minute out of three. I'll wonder why all my powers are recharging, glance up and see hasten is down, and go 'oh'. It hasn't killed me yet, because I never really relied on 'attack chains' -- my attacks are all different range and half are AoE and such, so I hit whatever's ready that's most appropriate.
Shiver... has a pretty hefty to-hit penalty, and I made the mistake of slotting it for slow instead of accuracy. To get it to actually work, I have to build up or aim first. Or just use it over and over... man it recharges fast. Build up Shiver Fire Breath Fireball more reliably hits all the enemies with both fire breath and fire ball, and they always got their alpha off against me anyway.
On the other hand, it has to be activated, over and over and over, instead of just working passively like Chilling Embrace.
Maybe I'll take both; I still have an open power slot at 38.
Frozen Fists is *worlds* better than Frozen sword. It does less damage, but it doesn't have the one-second stand there rooted, posing thing after you hit. It doesn't look nearly as cool... but I'll take being able to continue running away over looking cool anyday.
Aim + Build Up + snipe overkills minions and doesn't kill lieutenants. Sigh. It comes close... I think that if it was sixed for damage it'd kill the lieuts. Bummer. I really wanted to be able to pick off lieutenants. Specifically, fungoids. With Dam Dam Dam Interrupt I have yet to miss, but then I am always aiming and/or builduping before sniping, so yeah, I think I made the right decision not slotting accuracy into it.
Anyway, the next two levels with her are just slots, which are going to go into re-sixing my main attacks (with more endrec and recharge and range) except for fire breath which doesn't need endrec or recharge because I mostly keep it around for alpha strikes, and putting damage slots in Chillblain. Slotting up frozen fists and Chillblain is what's supposed to get me through hastenless periods, and so far slotted fists has proven its worthiness...
At any rate, yeah -- not a disaster for my blaster, although that's mostly because I hadn't quite FOTMd her, and doing so helped compensate. Next up: K'Teri! But not until actually after I6, since I already used her respec to cope with I5.
I stopped around 11, planning to... I don't know what I was planning, really. When I tried to check my e-mail, though, I discovered that my net was acting all wonky -- couldn't see the nameserver and such. I watched some TV (Bigger Longer and Uncut, which really loses a lot on a second viewing) and tried again, but only got a busy signal. Sigh. It's working again this morning, at least.
It's really, really annoying to be cut off from the net, and thus unable to (a) complain about being cut off from the net on LJ, and (b) find the customer service number to ask when the net will be back up.
