Ok, sure, if you take it "in the broadest possible sense" it means armed combat with sharp stuff. Heck, by that definition you could have a "fencer" with a six-foot, two-handed, double-bladed axe... but that doesn't really fit the "swashbuckler" or "rogue" concept. I'm sure Kendo is considered fencing, but I don't see that fitting so well in EQ2. No, semantics aside, that's not what the Devs are aiming for with the "fencer" theme. Note from the same article... In both its modern and its classical guise, fencing consists of three different weapons: foil, épée and sabre. These three weapons had become standard by the late nineteenth century and all are represented at Olympic-level competition. Additionally, in classical academies, one will often find historical fencing weapons, such as canne, bâton, main-gauche or rapier and dagger, being taught. There's no problem here with fencing as outlined in the AAs. [/QUOTE] Not sure where you were going with this... Ok, the canne and bâton are basically sticks. You can imagine the kind of reception those would get in EQ2. And you can't use a main-gauche or dagger when you're unable to dual-wield, sooo... that leaves us with the rapier. The WIS branch is going for the musketeer / highwayman / duellist theme associated with rapier fencing. That's borne out by the skills. There's the lack of offhand weapon: a style associated with rapier fencing because it flourished during the 16th and 17th centuries, when rapiers were the fencing weapon of choice (also per your Wikipedia article: "This gave rise to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century systems of using the rapier" ). Then you have the mention of the lunge, popularised during the same period, associated with rapiers due to their long reach and emphasis on thrusting over cutting -- you don't lunge with a slashing or bludgeoning weapon. Then there's Unencumberance, which allows double attacks, mirroring the double-time fighting of later rapier fencing. The final skill is Coule, a fencing term still in modern use and, notably, of French origin... how much more Western Europe, Renaissance, rapier fencing can you get? Really, regardless of the "broadest possible" definition of fencing, the WIS line is themed around the "traditional" idea of rapier fencing. Just look at the other lines: you have the blackguard, the typical brigand. The pirate, a swashbuckler favourite. Mercenary, a generic, rough-around-the-edges "rogue" who'll take a few hits for the team. Then the thief, the purse-snatching, backstabbing sneak that the initial EQ2 concept of rogues seemed to be leaning towards -- not quite an assassin, but sneaky all the same. Then you have the fencer, the skilled musketeer-esque highwayman type -- take a look around the swashbuckler forum and you'll see a pretty even split in the numbers of people who regard themselves as "pirate" swashbucklers and "musketeer" swashbucklers. That's where SOE is going with the WIS line. I can't believe I just wrote all that at this hour of the morning... Edit: can't spell Message Edited by overfloater on 02-20-200602:33 AM
Just a thought on the wisdom line. If both the hits from unencumberance are counted as mainhand hits and are able to proc this line could well be worth it as offhand doesnt proc.
good call Nic, and with a 66% to double attack at rank 8 it could be decent Message Edited by AegisCrown on 02-20-200609:45 AM
Cool. Been wondering what % it would be at Rank 8. Asked in game a few times and got no response. With that % I will def go with my spec of Str 4-4-5-8 and Wis 4-4-4-8-8.
Latest update: - Thank you very very much Agra Brigand / Swashbuckler Achievements, Beta, 20060219 Root Ability: Pick Pocket Strength Branch - Level 1 Blackguard's Strength Increases the Blackguard's strength. Passive Spell. Rank4: STR +16. Rank5: STR +20. Rank8: STR +32. Strength Branch - Level 2 Torporous Strike A melee sword attack that reduces the target's chances of any critical damage or heals. 30sec duration, 30sec recast. Requires sword equipped in Primary. Rank4: 213-356 dmg. Decreases crit %'s by 4.2%. Rank5: 4.8% Rank8: 6.0% Strength Branch - Level 3 Blackguard's Defense Increases the Blackguard's defense skill. Passive Spell. Rank4: Defense +12.7 Rank5: +15.9 Rank8: 25 Strength Branch - Level 4 Blackguard's Luck Increases the Blackguard's chances at critical melee damage. Passive Spell. Rank4: Increases melee Crit Chance by 7.0% Rank5: 8.7% Rank8: 13.9% Strength Branch - level 5 Traumatic Swipe Increases Recast Timers of target by 50%. 1 minute duration. 2 minute recast. Must be flanking or behind. Rank1: 358-597 dmg, Recast timers of target increase 50%. Agility Branch - Level 1 Pirate's Agility Increases the Pirate's agility. Passive Spell. Rank4: AGI +20. Rank5: AGI +25. Rank8: AGI +40. Agility Branch - Level 2 Walk the Plank A melee rapier attack that causes the target to turn around for a short duration. 30 sec recast. Rapier required in Primary. Rank4: 83-138 dmg, 2.0 sec duration. Rank5: 95-158 dmg, 2.4 sec. Rank8: 118-198, 3.0 sec. Agility Branch - Level 3 Commandeer Increases in-combat movement speed. Passive Spell. Rank4: 5% Rank5: 6.2% Rank8: 10% Agility Branch - Level 4 Avast Ye Permanent dmg proc buff. Passive Spell. Must be Flanking or Behind. Rank4: 8% Chance to cast Pirate Stab, 117-196 piercing dmg. Rank5: 10% chance, same dmg. Rank8: 16% chance, same dmg. Agility Branch - Level 5 Sailwind Reduces Recovery and Casting timers of all abilities. Rank1: Reduces Recovery and Casting timers of caster by 25%. (0.5 -> 0.4) Stamina Branch - Level 1 Mercenary's Stamina Increases the Mercenary's Stamina. Passive Spell Rank4: STA +24. Rank5: STA +30. Rank8: STA +48. Stamina Branch - Level 2 Swear In-Encounter taunt. Roundshield Required. 20 sec recast. Rank4: 577-705 Threat. Rank5: 660-806. Rank8: 825-1008. Stamina Branch - Level 3 Conditioning Increases max hit points. Passive Spell. Rank4: 4.0% Rank5: 5.0% Rank8: 8.0% Stamina Branch - Level 4 Opportunistic Cover DPS Increase. Passive Spell. Roundshield required. Rank4: 25% Rank5: 31% Rank8: 50% Stamina Branch - Level 5 Formation Stamina, Mitigation, Reactive Aggro buff. Passive Spell. Requires Defensive Stance and Roundshield. Rank1: STA +51, Physical Mit +325, 50% chance to taunt for 244 when damaged. Wisdom Branch - Level 1 Fencer's Wisdom Increases the Fencer's Wisdom. Passive Spell. Rank4: WIS +32. Rank5: WIS +40. Rank8: WIS +64. Wisdom Branch - Level 2 Lunge Reversal The next time the Fencer or an enemy attacking the Fencer uses a defensive maneuver to avoid an attack, the Fencer returns with a melee attack. 20 sec duration. 20 sec recast. Offhand EMPTY required. Rank4: If target parries, ripostes, blocks, etc, inflict 249-416 melee dmg. Rank5: 285-475 dmg. Rank8: 356-594 dmg. Wisdom Branch - Level 3 Freehand Reversal Increases riposte and Parry chance. Passive Spell. Rank4: Caster will riposte 4.0% of frontal, and Parry for same % attacks from other quadrants. Rank5: 5.0% chance. Rank8: 8.0% chance. Wisdom Branch - Level 4 Unencumberence Double attack chance buff. Passive Spell. Rank4: 42% of attacks will be double attacks. Rank5: 48%. Rank8: 66%. Wisdom Branch - Level 4 Coule Offensive Skill Buff. Passive Spell. Rank1: Slashing, Piercing, Ranged +39. Intelligence Branch - Level 1 Thief's Intelligence Increases the Thief's intelligence. Passive Spell. Rank4: INT +28. Rank5: INT +35. Rank8: INT +56. Intelligence Branch - Level 2 Boot Dagger A positional melee dagger attack that places the Thief into stealth if it strikes. 30 sec recast. Dagger in Primary required. Rank4: 83-138 melee dmg, stealth. Rank5: 95-158 dmg. Rank8: 118-198 dmg. Intelligence Branch - Level 3 Thief's Prowess 2 hate positions reactive de-aggro chance % if Rogue takes damage. Toggle-able ability. Rank4: 12% Rank5: 15% Rank8: 24% Intelligence Branch - Level 4 Evasiveness Decrease Hate gain of caster by %. Passive Spell. Rank4: 5.0% Rank5: 6.2% Rank8: 10.0% Intelligence Branch - Level 5 Feign Feigns Death, avoids indirect AoE's. 3 minute recast. Rank1: 100% FD, duration 30 seconds. Prevents AoE, except when direct.
Uh . . . I guess i must be a noob -- I've only been playing this game for a year -- what is critical damage?
Something new with KoS. Basically with every attack you have a chance to do more then normal damage. There is probly just a Base % of this happening and with the AA's it brings that % up so that it will happen more.
Hadn't thought about this, but this would indeed be huge if the extra attack did give chance to proc poison. Anybody from beta have a definitive answer regarding this. This could be make or break factor for me going wisdom line eventually.
Okay, So if I go agi/wis, im gonna need to find a good 1h rapier? Still, so tempted to go with sta, only for novelty though. I know I would regret it in the end. Would be really fun for instances. Don't know how many people would buy that I was going to tank. I'm excited they are bringing crit hits back. I don't think im going to be able to resist the 66% chance to double attack, even if I cannot duel wield anymore, or can this be used with duel wield? And it says 66% of attacks. Isnt that different then saying 66% chance? 66% of attacks sounds garunteed. Str line looks like a wise chioce, but that is one of those: 'am I really going to notice when this is working' (reuse timer decrease debuff). It seems like something you would have to do some comparisons on to notice. Not like double attack. I seem not to have any issues with agro lately, so int isnt looking too appealing to me. ---Raizzel, 60 swashy
LoL ok i was worried..becuase when i saw the STA line on PvP beta test i couldnt beleive me eyes when i read you needed a shield as a ROGUE to use it. I agree, SoE must have gotten help from blizzard with that one. The only line that really interests me is the agility one. Turning someone around in pvp is fine with me...and the quicker my spells repop the better i say. I just hope i can find a good rapier to do the job ...then agian auto attack dmg really doesnt matter in pvp... Agility is the best line currently IMHO.
one thing to remember, with anti hate skills, the current ones we are using are very good, master 1 avoid and adept 3 elude (for me), but....... these skills are lvl 59 and 60, so WILL NOT be replaced by new skills between now at 60 and 70, these skill will therefore loose some of their effectiveness because there is no scaling to lvl, the deaggro from the INT line is looking very nice for raiding, well to me anyway. I remember the problems I had with aggro at lvl 57 when I was using lvl 45 and 46 deaggro skills, I had one very upset raid tank for a while till I hit 60 and upgraded those skills. Remember that all your new skills will draw more hate due to higher numbers, whether in damage or debuff, but your deaggro is going to remain at the fixed amount that it currently sits at. I do realise that shadow slip is getting upgraded, but this is more an emergancy aggro drop than a constant use one, if it was on a much shorter recast timer, then there would be less problems. Message Edited by Licit on 02-21-200608:43 PM
*buries head in hands* omg so confused now ! All this AA stuff is going to make me crazy.. seeing as we wont be able to respec like ever ...correct? I want to make sure I make the right choices. Normally I wouldnt even consider the INT line but with FD .. and me being a raider .. I may .. MAY consider it. The confusion is only going to get worse ! LOL ~ Moxi ~
Now you guys have looked at it, i'll give you some of my major feedback: Weapon Restrictions are way too tight - they need to be loosened (or removed) - instead of Sword it should be 1H - instead of Rapier / Dagger - Dual wield or something like that. Str 5 - Traumatic Swipe - this is potential game breaking. Adding a 50% increase to recast timer is going to be make this a must for most raid leaders as delaying AEs by 50% is huge in most epic combats. I don't think any still should be a must - must - must. I also don't think that older epic combats have been tuned for this type of ability. Agi 5 - Sailwind - This isn't as good as it sounds - Casting / Recovery timer is about 1 second on most of our abilities. Oh joy we just saved 0.2 of a second - wow (this is dripping with sarcasm if you haven't guessed). Sta Line - we ain't tanks - stop with this stupid line. Wisdom - all the Wisdom line requires you to have a free offhand - still a [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] good line. Int 3 - Thieve's Prowess - if they make this a chance to proc when meleeing instead of when getting hit this would be way better. Our job is not to get hit and when fighting in raids if you get aggro you are dead. To have a chance (and not a very high one) to evade after getting hit is just silly. If this must stay the same, we need to crank up the % significantly. Int 4 - we need to be able to turn this off - after all aren't we a TANK class. (BAH!!)
The only problem that I have, is they should replace Lunge reversal with a +parry. En Garde takes a relatively cool and unique buff that we get and lunge gives it to brigands. Since they don't stack, it's going to be nigh useless (granted, you can cast one, then immediately the other)
I feel like it is a catch 22 though. With the int line, it seems like an over kill on hate reduc. on the other hand, if you take something else, youll need it. I wish the int line added some damage as well. I am honestly torn now.
