Going defensive or offense AAs?

Discussion in 'Berserker' started by ARCHIVED-Laereneth, Feb 21, 2006.

  1. ARCHIVED-infernus006 Guest

    ^ I agree, I don't really like that ability either (the final one of the agi line). It doesn't seem all that good to me, but whatever. I like the ones in the STA and WIS lines a lot. Obviously, having all penalties removed from offensive and defensive stances will be hella nice and I also really like the idea of consuming less power and having the extra power that I would have spent changed into health. I really need that too, I'm sick of being such a power hog and I think that will help me a lot by making me consume less overall power plus I will get an extra health regen from it too. Not to mention all the extra HP, mitigation, and resists I will get as well and some extra DPS and procs too.
  2. ARCHIVED-scl Guest

    I'm going for Dragoon's reflexes in the Agi line. Then Executioners anger in the str line and my remaining points in Gladiator's stamina.
  3. ARCHIVED-scl Guest

    Oh, I just read the post about being stifled when using the 100% parry ability... does anyone know if we can still use our AE taunt, since it's usable when stunned or stifled?
  4. ARCHIVED-infernus006 Guest

    ^ I will have to look at it again but I'm pretty sure it just says that you can't use any other abilities while that spell is active. I don't think it says anything about stunning or stifling you, it just says that you can't use any other abilites with it on. So in that case I would not count on being able to use your aoe taunt with it either.
  5. ARCHIVED-Thor Of Halla Guest

    Id agree with infernus about choice of lines. I think the wisdom line is essential as it removes penalties encoured with our stances, AND if you noticed, we can DEBUFF mobs for 750 mitigation when we hit with mace type weapon, My lvl 60 SK bro can debuff for around 1k with Dispoiling Mist and you really do notice the difference in dps.
    However, im concerned about the use of '%' in the AGI AA trait line, as currently traits/weapons that are beyond our levels (expect spells afaik) dont show true stats. Therefore, once it becomes active we may get a nasty %5 reduction in penalties encoured with maybe a cap w/ all 8 points at 30% or somthing like that which tbh is not as attrative as 100% absolute reduction.
    This idea i believe is supported when you examine the final STA AA strait, as it shows like ~ 0% power used, 0% transfered to health 0% or somthing along those lines.
    NOTICE: Infernus, im not entirely sure i read the STA final AA trait correctly but im sure it says it DRAINS HEALTH or somthing like that!! =o/. I personally think the description itself doesnt make much sense.

    I am currently Torn Between the STA and STR trait lines... I may reconsider the AGI trait lines if it is only a PERCENTAGE reduction in penalties encoured not an ABSOLUTE i.e. to nil.

    Vladnor The Berserk
    lvl 60 Adventurer, lvl 40 armorer
    The Odyessy
    Butcherblock
  6. ARCHIVED-Montaigu Guest

    Just my 2cp, but I would select your AA path for DEFENSIVE capabilities First, and Offensive second.
    Why? because we are tanks and our primary role is to tank. I know its hard. I always tend to want to upgrade my damage dealing combat arts first with Masters or Adept 3, but I dont, because our first priority as Tanks should always be increasing our defensive capabilities.

    Monty
  7. ARCHIVED-scl Guest


    Maybe. I'm pretty sure that if you spend all your AA's on offensive you could do some serious dps though. Personally, my play style is to tank, so I'll be spending them on defensive stuff but I see no reason why you shouldn't spend them on offensive if thats your style.
  8. ARCHIVED-Pegesus11 Guest

    I'm liking the agi the best from our choices. Having a "Tsunami" like ablity will really help out. After i put 24 into that im most likely gonna go wisdom path. Now all i have to do is get my hands on a nice spear.
  9. ARCHIVED-infernus006 Guest

    "Infernus, im not entirely sure i read the STA final AA trait correctly but im sure it says it DRAINS HEALTH or somthing like that!! =o/. I personally think the description itself doesnt make much sense."

    That's not what it says. It says that you will consume 7% less power and that power (that extra 7% that is no longer being deducted from your power pool anymore) will be *added* to your health. It does not say anything about draining health. It basically makes you use less power every time you use an ability that costs power and it also gives you a health regen from it at the same time.
  10. ARCHIVED-SugarGirl Guest

    I'll be maxing out the Wis line and spending the rest of my points in INT. Right now, my DPS is awesome, but our defense lacks, especially when in offensive stance. The added resists/ and mitigation you'll get from maxing Wis will help a lot... along with not having penalties in offensive stance it just seems to be a huge benefit over the other lines and fills in the gaps where we lack. In addition, the 3rd tier increases DPS by 2.4 % per point... that's like a big Duh! for me. I'm all about it. The Belly Buster is also IMO the best art in the second tier for heroic mobs (since it requires an initial knockdown to land). I was using this with shield bash the other night and it was GREAT. I am excited about this line and intend to dump a lot of points into it. The Wisdom line also does not have any timers assosiated with it. The abilities are passive instead which has a lot of appeal for me.
    The next line I am choosing is INT for th increased attack speed and recasts. The other 3 lines just aren't that intertesting for me.
  11. ARCHIVED-Epyx Guest

    wis/int

    i'm doing last rank in wis(to get rid of penalty's) i'm also maxing to 8th lvl the 4th rank in wis(mitigation)

    i'm maxing the 4th rank in int(% to parry)

    my thoughts.

    as i said b4, i think the stifled use of "tsunami" won't be as worthwhile as i had hoped, probably would loose aggro.

    i'm also a bit "on the fence" as to which would provide more "tanking" %defence or %parry. i'm guessing parry would as defence gives a bit to avoid also(but would it also put me on a "higher" defensive level?)

    i'm maxxing out my mit on aa's b/c i'm not in a heavy raiding guild so i won't hit the mit cap by myself with equip.

    i want as many "passive" abilitys as i can get, i don't want any "situational" abilitys, i want to spend my points and everything would affect me, instead of me deciding that i can push a button and it'd be useful(aside from, bind wounds, which is mandatory, and the 2nd rank in all the abilitys, give you a "push" button to cast)

    the last rank in the int line intrigued me, but i don't see the recovery/recast % to be that big of a factor, even tho it is a passive rank.

    Message Edited by Epyx on 02-25-200610:31 AM
  12. ARCHIVED-Matheau Guest

    I think it would be pretty unbalancing if the STA line let you use Tower Shields. Basically you are trading off shield avoidance for other abilities. Double Attack will balance out the fact you can only use one handed weapons.
    Personally, I am going Gladiator, tower shield or not. I think the other abilities more than make up for losing a tower shield for my particular play style.
  13. ARCHIVED-Rabbit24 Guest

    As for the buckler thing I believe this was an intentional attempt to use the game mechanics to add an aspect of role-play to the AA line. If you notice the name of the path is called the Gladiator and a traditional tool of gladiators is a buckler. I believe the thinking was that while you'd take a mitigation hit with a buckler you would gain all of that parrying ability in exchange and that some people would go for that and start thinking of their characters as Gladiators.

    - Leeden Greywind, 61 Berzerker AB.
    Message Edited by Rabbit24 on 02-26-200607:40 AM
    Message Edited by Rabbit24 on 02-26-200607:40 AM
  14. ARCHIVED-Erick_Stormfury Guest

    too bad shields dont add to mitigation. they add to avoidance (Block)
    so take 700 points away from block, and add up to 8 percent (if you dump all 8 points into parry) to parry.
    which is better?!?! not sure, but its probably going to be debatable.
    i'd guess probably 7% vs 8%. but thats pretty crappy when you spend 24 points to gain 1% avoidance.
    pretty much invaldates the entire line, guess i'll be choosing a different line altogether.

    -Erick
  15. ARCHIVED-Laereneth Guest

    I'm wondering about the difference between the defensive AA 4th down in Agi line and the parry AA 4th down in the Int line. Since you have to put 4 points into Agi at the top of that line anyway, wouldn't those 32 points of agi add to your avoidance on top of the points you spend in the defensive AA. So in essence, which nets a higher defensive bonus: 32 agility points + the defensive skill AA or the parry AA?
    Bjoern
  16. ARCHIVED-Matheau Guest

    Actually you aren't getting 8% parry from the Gladiator line, you are getting 8% Riposte. Big difference, you also get 8% parry in the other quadrants, the riposte applies only to the front quadrant.
  17. ARCHIVED-Laereneth Guest

    Oh, it's 24 points of agility for 4 ranks of the top Agi line. My bad on the math. Was posting quick before heading out of the house.
  18. ARCHIVED-SugarGirl Guest

    Still trying to figure out what the benefit is to the AGI line for zerkers. Seeing as how 4 of our spell lines proc off successful hits, I prefer having less AGI and more MIT and HP. Buffing up on AGI/ Avoidance skills is only going to make it tougher to proc our IG, Provoking Defense, Blood Boil, and Weapon Aegis, all of which are incredibly usefull when trying to build hate in group situations on secondary mobs (mobs that are not targeted). Increasing AGI and Defense are only going to decrease the possibility of these spells proccing.

    The 1 benefit I can see to the AGI line would be maxing out the sweeping strike line if you are going to be MT on group encounters. This skill would be quite nice for hitting the entire encounter and therefore maintaining aggro accross the encounter.
  19. ARCHIVED-Laereneth Guest

    The Dragoon's Cyclone (previously Sweeping Strikes) only hits 4 mobs in an encounter.

    Bjoern
  20. ARCHIVED-infernus006 Guest

    I do not think that the buckler restrictions on the abilities in the STA line are fair or balanced at all. Using a buckler requires you to use a 1h weapon instead of a 2h or DW set just as any other type of sheild does so you are sacrificing a lot DPS for the extra protection. Except bucklers provide next to no protection as they are the lowest form of a sheild in the game (unless you count symbols of course that can only be used by mages and crusaders). So they expect us to have lower DPS and lower protection at the same time now just so we can use a couple of extra abilities when we are supposed to be using a tower sheild with a 1h? I'm not buying into it. We use a 1h so that we can use a tower sheild. We sacrifice a huge amount of DPS that we can get with 2h and DW weapons compared to a 1h so that we can have the added protection of an uber sheild. No one wants to be stuck using a 1h and a buckler just so they can use a couple of extra abilities that aren't nearly great enough to make such a sacrifice even remotely worth it. Plus, using a tower sheild, or at least a kite sheild, is the trademark of any plate tank. How they expect any self-respecting warrior to run around with a buckler on for ANY reason is beyond me. As much as I want that final ability in the STA line and the extra HP...I may just go ahead and respec my AA's now since I already put some points into it and forgo the STA line altogether, which makes me sad. I don't know that they would be worth having to waste 8 AA ppints and wind up being stuck with two abilities that are totally useless to me and that I will never use under any circumstance. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just one, but no it has to be two. I don't really like being forced to use a hammer in the WIS line either but I will because I feel that the ability that requires it is worth it and so are all the others in that line. But that buckler crap in the STA is going way too far. I'm still hoping they will change it...I know Khalad said they had changed it on beta to say sheild instead of buckler right before the game was launched so it boggles my mind why they went back on it now.
    Message Edited by infernus006 on 02-27-200607:08 PM