A question for the experts: I am currently locked at level 25 and have 58 AAs. I have finished the melee line in the Warden tree and have the str line at 4-10 for the double attacks. I am looking at either Natural Boon, Wild Regeneration, or Serene Focus to finish out the druid tree but don't know what is best at this lower level. I primarily solo/quest which involves some named heroics as well. Thanks for any advice.
Tortise shell is an AE block & regen - very very handy to have when solo for pulls or when training. Also animal charm is fun to have and makes kills faster. Wild Generation adds a good boost to the base of initial heal ticks Natural Boon is a "free group heal" with a chance to proc bases on successful melee attack. Serene Focus is a crit chance You do not give what you are planning or what you already selected for your AAs in druid nor warden trees. However, since you are selecting melee, and solo, nice choices are: Druid Tree STR first 3 or 4, AGI through tortoise shell, STA first 2 or 3 and INT through infusion (you can leave this out, but take Thunderspike for additional melee) Warden Tree No brainer for melee - Wardens line for your CAs Shadow Tree select all the CAs options including Litany & Glacial Assault Plan carefully up to level 70 you can only spend 50points in each of the three trees up to (150 total) even though you can earn 250. Focus on melee, DA, dps crit. Use a calculator to help you... www.beetny.com
Thank you for the information. I maybe didn't phrase my question correctly. If you had to rank in importance for soloing the crits, wild regen and tortoise shell, or natural boon where would you put those points. I know what I should do after 70 when I can sink more points in the druid tree but before hand it is a tough choice.
I won't rank them because it all depends on how you play. Your play is different from mine as a warden. I know another warden who plays differently from me. You know what each one of those choices does. So, what is your #1 choice as the type of warden you want.... solo melee IIRC... so make your selections to enhance all that is melee and you'll know which one to pick.
I was never sure on this one so I'll ask.. It says "Serene Focus" - "raises crit chance of caster" - I wasn't sure if this was for spellcaster or for melee warden crit chance as well? Or perhaps both? The use of the word "caster" is what is confusing me heh. Since WISDOM is our "damage ability" is there any particular reason you didn't suggest going down the wisdom line? The first wisdom ability is a melee attack and a root at the same time, and "Rebirth" is a self-rez (which I thought perhaps would be useful for us solo-types heh). The AGI line (calm animal to Tortoise) seems almost half-wasted points for the clam/charm animal (how useful is this really?) just to get to the useful Wild Regen/Tortoise. Though they seem MORE useful for a group healer - and as a melee-solo (mostly) I don't WANT to be put into a healing role in the few groups I bother to run. THoughI can see how the heal can help SELF just as much as others. Specifically, Tortoise indicates "making sheild more useful" though nothing in the tooltip indicates the required presence of USING a sheild. Is this more of a description of a type of "magic sheild" you're throwing up or does it actually require you to have a sheild EQIPPED? (I'm thinking its just a description but hey I've been wrong before lol). And since the "new trees" went into effect my biggest quesiton has been that since Shapeshift is now a 10 point ability and not just a ONE point (as it use to be). And it effects health and your WIsdom (direct damage) stats - is it now worth it to put 10 points as it directly effects your base stats, something that usually is much more helpful than abilities that don't effect your base stats? Basically is raising your base stat of Stamina and Wisdom 40 points right off the bat far more beneficial for someone in lower levels than trying to go down the line and get Tortoise shell or Rebirth?? I've read a lot of guides but only found a couple since the re-stat shift and NONE of them really address the Shapeshift points providing that base stat bonus. Any help is awesome - this place has been dead forever and noone's really said much about abilities since the shift!
Koriani@Lucan DLere wrote: I'ts your call on where you want your points. I don't know any warden who has more than 1pt in SS. However, if you feel more comfortable putting 10 points into SS, then by all means, go ahead. Most all wardens take T-shell. If you do any group or self heal, Wild Regeneration is a must have. Charm Animal is very useful. Those wardens who don't like to charm, just put min. in them. Those who are big about self rez go down that line even though they know the first three choices to put 22 points are wasted. You just have to decide if self rez is worth throwing away 22 points. Some wardens think it is. Other would think not. With 50 points to spend in Druid tree, you should be able to go down two line easily to the 4th line with a few points available for most of the third line. When you reach level 70, that tree will open up to 70 points available to spend. Same with Warden tree.
Koriani@Lucan DLere wrote: I should explain the "crit" a bit better. Crit chance has no cap, but it's doubtful you'll need more than 100%. It gives a % chance that your hit will be a critical one, that is, by multiplying your DA, Spell or Heal value by your critical multiplier. This is a new feature with Sentinel'a Fate. With Stats, there is no hard cap on WIS for healers, but there is for all other stats (STR, AGI, STA, INT). There is a diminishing return on WIS. IOW, the higher additional stat, the less you get out of it. The two, that priests need to pay attenton are WIS & INT. Soft cap for priest WIS at level 90 is about 1370. INT is for your crit mit bonus. To calculate your WIS soft cap or hard cap of other stats, the forumula is level x 15 + 20. This link will explain all the changes for combat & player progression. http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=481258 Here are some more tips for you: Things to note when choosing gear and some AA choices: Crit Mit deals with all mitigation and is capped at 100% in PvE – mostly used on raids. It lowers the Mob’s multiplier but it doesn’t go below normal damage. Toughness reduces PVP damage and gives additional PVP mitigation Ability Modifier (spell damage, CA damage, heal amount, etc) adds an additional effectiveness to that particular ability. It is capped at 50% of the base of the ability. It's different for each spell includings combat arts or heal value. Crit Bonus gives a linear bonus and is stackable for spells and abilities. It determines how much of that spell/ability it does when it crits. It is uncapped. Potency increases the base percentage for any ability or spell you use. It use to be called base damage or base healing, etc. This is not capped. Potency is always applied to the spell or ability first, then the Crit Bonus is applied. ******** Note with GU56 Potency's cap is suppose to be removed. Casting Speed and Reuse Speed are capped at 100% at half the casting time. So a spell with a 3 sec cast and a 4 min reuse time would be capped at 1.5sec cast and 2 min reuse time. Damage Reduction is capped at 100% Double Attack and melee AE attack both cap at 100% Attack Speed - 200 (200 atk spd = 125% bonus on atk spd because there is diminishing return effect) it decreases the delay between each auto attack. Important to note for Druids – Ability Modifier applies to the initial tick (it boosts it up) of the spell on all HoTs and DoTs. However, Crit and Crit Bonus is applied to the entire spell including the subsequent HoT ticks. When choosing for a warden, keep in mind: Potency > Abilty Modifier Ability Modifier > Crit Bonus
Koriani@Lucan DLere wrote: To the OP....25/58? Start spending your next 10 points in the first line of the TSO page if you have not yet. Respec if you have any freebies left or even if it's not cost prohibitive. Once you have 60 AA spent, including 10 in the first line (Health + whatever else floats your boat, I went harvesting, but I was at the cap when TSO released. At lower level you may find power or run speed better.) But once you unlock the second line, spend your next 5 AA in Litany of Combat. Best bang for your buck AA for your playstyle. I love Natural Boon, I want to say I got it before the crit AA while leveling, but I was just plodding along
Thanks so much for all this feedbakc - definitely things to talk about. And you know I was feeling like the WIS tree was a waste, but then the few times I DO die in Solo (not too often) I HATE the runback. But at the same time good point about usually not dying in a safe place too - lol. And good to know on thos ebase stats, I know in some other games 'base stats' are the best things to raise, sounsd like here not so much - so cool I won't worry about spending the points there. Thanks for the other pointers, I know I'm respeccing a few things I wasn't sure about before and I'm sure it will be helpful to others as well!
You are at level 25, so you have a way to go. Mobs are generally purdy easy which allows peeps to play with their characters and learn the spells backwards and forwards. You can learn tricks of using things like - oops.... I know I can't defeat this mob and my hp is dropping and I can't keep it up without spending all my power.... choices 1. die and hit rebirth - yeah... sure like that... no walking factor 2. hit t-shell, and run... (yes, mobs to leash rather quickly in lower tiers) 3. take the gonna do it attitude - if I root this, snare that, hit this heavy nuke, small dot heal on me - send in the dog, turn the mob away from dog (dog lasts a bit longer), run faerie & tree... hit CA frost, keep auto attack going.... you just might make it even if you have a mm of red left in hp bar point is - peeps can tell you to do this or do that try things - die - try pulling to a better spot against that tree or rock if the mob has a kb - instead of fighting mob where it is and if it's in close proximity of roving mobs, try moving the mob back and away from the others using your nukes to entice him to you (no roots -heh). that is how you learn what your spells and spells turned into CAs, heals, roots/nukes are all about. That will stick to you more than someone telling you to do this or do that. Then you'll know the type of warden you want to be and you'll understand those AA choices a heck of a lot better than you do now. And go get your free repec card for 5 free respecs each for your druid and warden trees if you don't have it - just go to your friendly mage faction in your hometown and ask for respec.... free In the meantime - good adventures to you
oh aye I found the free respect cards, got those - both of 'em! Always in my bags.. One question though - you said "send in the dog" - um..what dog? We have a dog? WHERE? HUH? I must be missing something..lol.
It's called Nature's Pack - pack of dogs for a bit of dps... but they die easily unless you turn the mob so the dogs are behind the mob instead of in front. They aren't fantastic but every bit helps when you solo, or want to have fun in a group. heh If you start thinkin' a bit - you can use the dog pack to distract your mob, hit T-shell, sprint and get out of aggro range when your hp starts having problems staying up. Best way to learn stuff is to try different things with what you have on your hotbars - combinations - change combo order.... until you figure out what works best for timing and recasting with the duration. This way you can get in your melee and hps inbetween your auto attacks so they aren't wasted. If you don't time things, a CA or spell can disrupt your auto attack and your dps gets lowered.
huh, I've never noticed the Pack - thanks. Sounds like something I'd enjoy using, esp. when I'm out solo grinding and pulling groups .
Nature's Pack is a level 55 spell. It's a dumbfire pet, which are basically a damage over time spell with a graphic. You cannot control them once you have released them, and they poof as soon as whatever you sic them on dies. It also is one of your longer casting spells, so if you are on a mad dash runing away from something I personally question standing around for two seconds to cast a spell intended to delay pursuit, especially as said pursuit is very short range before an undamaged mob gets tired of chasing you. Also, the leash range always seemed to be extended once you do damage to a mob, since now you made it personal against it. Also on the note of training. Tortise Shell is a very nice tool. A must have for any raiding Druid. You'll even get some use out of it in Heroic group content. I have it and use it for those situations. I fail to see how it would possibly be of any use as described in training though. It is an AoE blocker, blocking any non-direct Area effects from you and your group. Anything any mob you aggro while training casts will be directed at you and have a chance to hit you despite Tortise Shell. With enhanced SoW you ought to be able to outrun anything. Even if you find yourself getting low on health you have a single target emergency instacast heal Sylvan Touch you can cast while running from level 14. There is a second emergency group heal that works the same way that you receive at level 48 called Sylvan Embrace. Either of those far outstrip the regen benefit from Tortise Shell so I would not recommend getting Tortise Shell just to use while training. A far more useful ability would be Nature Walk. It's the end line of the Warden movement tree. Makes you and your group immune to root, so all the old world mobs with the everpresent pin that rooted you are no longer an issue. It also reduces the effects of snare by 50% so even if one does land it should not slow you down enough to allow chasing mobs to catch up to you. As a bonus along the way to getting Nature Walk you improve on the best roots in the game.
You also have DI (death intervention) which helps when training. Although there are wardens who don't put stock into T-shell when soloing - my philosophy is - every little bit helps.... it's an instant cast and it it saves your butt, it is fine. Thing is, the warden has multiple tools at their fingertips. As a new warden, you need to learn all of them and know which ones to use when and where considering the situation you are dealt with. I have used the self rez, animal charm, serenity, tranquility, points in cures, warden line, casting spell (INT) lines and so on. It makes a bit difference in knowing what I can do no matter what the situation. When one simply "copies" what another did in terms of specs, one doesn't learn other than that one spec. This is why I encourage using different specs. Then when you mostly group, put a solo spec on your AA mirror and run with a group spec. If you ever do get into raiding, you may decide to go 100% heal or a hybrid using either melee or spell casting. Today, as far as dps goes, there is little difference between melee and spell casting. In any case, in regard to a group or raid, you are expected to be a healer first and any dps you can do is gravy. If you are the solo healer in a group and are melee spec hybrid, you may have difficulties healing the mage who is at range, so you may have to forget the melee action and move enough to be within range of that mage. Same thing for raids - unless your group is totally on the mob, you'll most likely be in a mixed group or mage group, in which case your position will be between the mob (further than melee action) and the mage's range. So, do look at the GA, litany as well as the NA in the shadow tree, too. The most successful wardens be it in group or raid or solo are those who are flexible with their abilities and actions. There is no absolute cast orders or what do use or what not to use because there are variables in any given situation. Learning what you have, and how/when you use them is what separates the below average from the average from the above average from the well knowledged wardens. Good adventures to you...... Wardens do rock!
Experience is the best teacher. But does that mean we should let children play with matches until they burn themselves before they realize it may be a bad thing? A drastic analogy to be sure (And not trying to call anyone a child, just using a most extreme case to make a point) and no, people should not simply mindlessly parrot what someone or even a consensus of people say is the "best" way without understanding why it is the best way. For example, I loathe PvP. A few weeks in Lineage II open beta solidified that preception. As such I have never set foot in a Battleground. If something were introduced that made having to go into a Battleground mandatory, once I'd read 200 pages of vitriol on these boards about it I'd ask for advice on what I needed to do differently from what I do in PvE. I'd then sift through the answers and use the advice backed up by logic and data rather than experiment on my own just to try it. Advice is a jumping off point to start learning, not the be all end all of it. I'd hope that anyone reading a forum would understand that, and I give them credit that they do. Every little bit helps. But what is the cost of that "little bit" in releation to what could have been bought with what you spent on that little bit? Remember we are not talking about having 250 AA to play with where you are to the point that spending them really is in that trivial every little bit helps catagory. The same points spent at 90/248 or even 70/104 are not a good buy at 32/58. Say someone asks for help with a casting order. Someone replies with a casting order for a melee spec'd Warden that goes Hierophant Grasp/Whirl of Permafrost/Thunderstrike/Dawnstrike/Icefall Strike/Nature Blade/Frostbite Slice. I find that to be a bad order so I decide to post and say no, you want to lead off your melee with Nature Blade in order to get the temp haste buff running and then use it ASAP when it becomes useable again for the same reason. Then I'd go down the line and explain why I'd put each ability in it's slot. Finally after all done, the disclaimer that this is obviously not etched in stone and will change as conditions around you change. Maybe it's arrogant on my part, but if I can save someone from wasting time trying out an option that is inferior I'm going to try and do so. Friendly, constructive advice and helping people avoid pitfalls is a much better M.O. than just saying try it all and see what works IMO. Good adventures to you
ahh while I want advice on AA trees no, myself anyway am never looking for the "cookie cutter" build. I just know that sometimes what looks good "on paper" doesn't exactly transfer that way in-use in game . I am mostly soloing with the occasional (usually beyond level - lol) group running an instance. Most cases I'm soloing dungeons once the mobs are all grey-level/easier (just for the quest being done or something because finding groups for these has been scarce at best (at least on my server). I'm also locking AA, going slow - as I have *no* wish to Raid and be at end game (I do that in another game, I don't want to do it in this one too lol). So at level 38 right now, no wonder I dindt know about the pups! HA! Being more of a "quest completiest" explorer - so just taking my time. But all advice is welcome, I am trying out different things - for example I ran with roots early on in game but I just never seem to need/use it so I've spent the points elsewhere. Perhaps as things get harder I'll feel a need to root but as of level 38 I've just never needed them *shrugs*. I'll spend points there when I get to it - right now they just seem to be better spent elsewhere. And when I do get in a group I let pepole know my healing is limited! "I'm specced for melee - I has no healy specs/points!" (which right now is true). So far its been fine - there's usually a "main healer" and I just off-heal. I know that's not "ideal" for people running with a warden so if they need to remove me from group I already don't have any issues with that.
Koriani@Lucan DLere wrote: A warden in my guild is totally spec melee and he's in his 80s now. He loves it. He also has a heal spec for groups on his AA mirror, so he switches out when he is grouping. I am melee/heal hybrid and my character is 90/250. I do have a total heal spec on her AA mirror for raids. I use to solo a lot, but now it's divided with perhaps slightly more in the group dept in T-9. I am 99% of the time the only healer in groups. So, the choices are there - totally depending on your style. My experience with roots are used mostly with multi mobs, so I can tie one down for a bit while dispatching another - saves additional dmg to my character. I do use snare to slow the MOB which helps in some cases, particularly fast scout and mage types. If you have no need for those, no, I would not put points in them either. BTW, I have a lvl 32 'zerker with 106AAs. She is part of a static group that meets once a week for 2 hours. Our goal is to clean just about every dungeon in Norrath in every tier at level! No mentoring allowed. Some dungeons we are in 2x such as FG, RoV, CBK, SH, NEK Castle and Kaladim so far due to the quests that involve each dungeon. Talk about fun! So, I understand where you are coming from in regard to your goals. BTW, try those dungeons when green! I just took my 'zerker back to finish up her quests in SH. The lower levels were still green. She solo'd those and it was fun. A couple times she was a mm away from death, but pulled it off due to the way she changed her castings during the last 3rd of her hp. She only had one hp potion to use with a long recast timer on it. Talk about fun and adrenalin going! SoE has nerfed a lot if not all of these shattered land dungeons by taking out tons of the mobs, changing many heroics and nerfing their dmg output, especially on the names. So, don't overlook going down in those dungeons before they go grey. Most dungeons go grey in sections at a time. I've been swinging solo back and forth between SH, RoV, CBK to complete some of the quests and names that weren't up that my wed group had finished or decided to just clear the basic dungeon and not return. You also get a bit more AA that way since any mob green will give XP that is converted into the AA through your slider bar. Quest completions when green will also give XP which is converted per AA slider bar, too. Although you can earn some XP/completion on grey, it is very very small. And if a white starred mob is grey, you get absolutely no AA for killing that named. If it's green, you get AA. Of course, any AA quest will still give that AA regardless if grey or otherwise. Just something to consider if you wish to build up your AAs while working those quests and dungeons solo.
Yea I try to hit them up while they are green but sometimes can't solo it and can't find a group.. Still working on Stromhold/Stormhold/whatever the heck that dungeon is - can never seem to get in a group that sticks together to get down past the 2nd or 3rd level - cuz it takes so long and everyone gets lost lol. By the time we get down to the third floor its been several hour and people call it quits. So by golly, just hte last parts of those quests are still waiting for me and I've gone this far so dangit I"m going to finish off the last steps! LOL Grey or not dangit I"M FINSIHING IT! So it turns into "try to find group at level" "try to find group at any level" "time to solo" and then "ok time to just finish it because now its a mission...AA be danged!"
LOL..... you should be able to solo the first couple floors of Stormhold in Antonica since most all is non-heroic except the names. Save the library, jail and tunnel for when you get around 30-32. There are 26-30 triple ups in the lower levels. Unless you are in a hurry to complete it, just bide your time for the lower levels. Of course, I've been in these dungeons many times on different characters, so I do have a feel for the layout, but yeah, I remembered getting totally soooo lost and turned around when it was all new! Maps are indespensible! Our group did SH down to library and jail and we were like locked at level 22 -25 (for MC gear). Since the group didn't finish the tunnels nor a couple of the quests in our 2 hour timelimit, I decided to go back when I was 30-32 as a solo. Our group consisted of 'zerker, wizzie, fury, conji, swashi and troub att. Since then a couple of them didn't have time to play ne more due to rl, so they are taking a break through this fall. We have since added another conj and an illy to the Little Peep Tribe! BTW, I'm the only one with very high AAs for the level. Most only play their character wed eve for the 2 hours. Their AAs range from upper 20s into 40s.
