Getting Closer to T4…Oh So Slowly. And an Update on Stats.

I hit Rank 29 on Khazgar last night. I also hit Renown Rank 25, and purchased my Devastator Torc as well. Now I have the Devastator Boots, Armbraces and Shoulders. All I have to do now is participate in as many keep sieges as I possibly can, and hope that the contribution gods smile on my rolls for a gold loot bag. I really want to complete my Devastator set, but I’m also really looking forward to getting to Tier 4. 

This time around, I really tried to include regular RvR and scenarios into my questing rotation. Normally, I’m doing PvE first, while doing scenarios in between. I would also wait  until I was in the middle of the tier before doing sc’s. On my first 40, I was rank 40…and renown rank 23. Heh. I definitely like it better this time around. I started doing T3 scenarios as early as rank 21, instead of waiting. And I run around with warbands taking keeps and BO’s much more often as well. I should have done that sooner. 

On a related note, my guild was running a small group around Thunder Mountain last night taking BO’s and keeps, and they asked my near-useless rank 28 slayer to tag along. So I did, feeling sorta sheepish, as I really couldn’t do much aside from assist dps and not die. We took the west keep in TM, and I got a lesser loot bag. But what’s this? I have TWO Massive Loot bags?! My guildies had donated their gold bags to me! It was awesome, I came away with the Annihilator Helm and Torc. I really want to thank them here. I can’t mention their  names since I’m unsure if they’d want to be named online. But you Candies, you know who you are, Khazgar thanks you! 

Update: I’ll be hitting Rank 30 tonight with any luck. Recently I just ground out the Dwarf Chapter 14 Influence for the Runic Stone Waraxe. I really like two-handed axes, even though dual-wielding is arguably superior. I will say that when I played around with the 2h in scenarios last night, it felt like my targets were dying quicker. I’m also a fan of the Deathblow ability, it feels awesome to use especially when it crits. I’m planning to grind out High Elf Chapter 14 tonight while doing scenarios. I’m am trying to collect more “split-stat” items, in preparation for when the planned changes to all stats gets implemented. Currently, they are testing new changes to all stats in upcoming patches. For example, toughness will also grant a small amount of hp regen in combat in addition to the current effect. For melee classes, some big changes to our crit damage are planned as well. Weapon Skill will now add to your base bonus crit damage, which will be affected by your targets Initiative. So say that you have 0 WepSkill, and you crit someone who stacks Ini, you may do as little as 5% additional damage. 

Basically, Mythic is trying to address the issue of arguably “useless” stats. Players currently stack their main offensive and defensive stat, like Strength and Wounds, while ignoring other stats such as WepSkill and Initiative. So many items that have these unwanted stats get ignored my a majority of the playerbase. So the plan is to give additional bonuses to stats like Toughness, while making stats like WepSkill and Willpower more attractive by tying them into your bonus critical damage. In a way, this is similar to what WoW did with stats like Resilience and Spell Penetration. 

Of course, whether this will be an overall positive or negative change remains to be seen. While I like that Mythic is trying to make spreading your stats out more attractive, I’m sure that many players will lament the end of stacking 2-3 stats on their gear. Also, I predict that we will see an overall lowering of dps across the board, at least at first. This is actually a good thing, because players will live longer in combat, instead of getting insta-gibbed, the moment they get focus fired. Even squishy classes should see an increase in their overall survivability, as killing power decreases for anyone. I know that players will be up in arms about this initially, but I think as players realize that combined with the nerf to stacking AoE, this will result in survivability getting better for everyone. Right now, even tanks are complaining of getting melted within moments. AoE is considered to be out of control. Even melee dps say that they are cut down long before they can actually make it to the back lines. Time To Kill is so short, that it is extremely frustrating to many players who feel like they are constantly dying within seconds of entering combat. 

With increased survivability on the horizon, I hope that we will start seeing slightly more tactical combat, with a less spammy feel. Let’s cross our fingers and hope these proposed changes work out for the best.