Thursday 15 December 2011

Holiday

Hi guys,
I'm on holiday, first in CZ and then Derbyshire for a couple days, pretty much until the end of the year. I will probably pop up every now and then but probably not a lot during the usual playtime, ie evenings and weekends (will be going out a lot :p), so you might not see much of me.
Take care everyone, Merry Christmas. :)

M.

Friday 9 December 2011

A misanthropic ranger with a lute

As a part of the neverending quest to find the gimpiest build, I've been contemplating this hybrid for Reckluse's 3rd life. At first I was planning to go back to the original build, ie. Ranger 15 / Monk 3 / Rogue 2 as that was quite fun, but I have a pure ranger on Ghallanda and I know from previous experience that, despite some differences, playing both at the same time gets a bit old. So I'm going to go for something a little different this time.
I don't think I'm going to post this on the DDO forums or anything like that as I'm not all that interested in the opinion of general public, and the build is designed to suit my playstyle and preferences anyway, but I thought I'd put it here for guildies to peek at.

Level split

Ranger 11 / Bard 8 / Rogue 1
Why this split? Why 8 levels of bard and not just 6 for Warchanter splash?
Ranger 11 - all free TWF and archery feats, 30pt energy resistance. And because I like rangers. :)
Bard 8 - Warchanter I for DR song, extra dmg and two extra levels for level 3 spells: Haste, Displacement, Cure Serious Wounds
Rogue 1 - trap skills

Final stats with easily sustainable self-buffs:

Strength 35 = Base 15 +5 (level) +2 (tome) +6 (item) +3 (exceptional) +2 (Ram's) +2 (rage)
Dexterity 24 (so I can shoot things sometimes) = Base 15 +2 (tome) +6 (item) +1 (enhancement)
Constitution 26 = Base 15 +3 (tome) +6 (item) +2 (exceptional)
Intelligence 16 = Base 14 +2 (tome), will put a +6 item on for difficult traps
Wisdom 19 = Base 11 +2 (tome) +6 (item) - need Base 11 to be able to cast level 3 ranger spells
Charisma 20 =  Base 11 +2 (tome) +6 (item) +1 (enhancement) - need Base 11 to be able to cast level 3 bard spells


459 Hit points (499 with Rage and ship buffs, 519 if I find space for a Toughness item) = 142 (base) +160 (Con) +20 (heroic dur.) +30 (gfl) +10 (draconic) + 22 (toughness) +20 (racial toughness) +45 (shroud) +10 (barb past life)
827 Spell points = 97 (base ranger 11) + (225 base bard 8) +80 (Wis bonus) +85 (Cha bonus) +40 (enhancement) +300 (shroud)


Feats
1 Toughness
3 Weapon Focus: Slashing (Warchanter pre-requisite)
6 PA
9 Extend
12 Maximize
15 Improved Critical: Slashing
18 Quicken
No Oversized TWF, but with Weapon Focus and songs to-hit should be fine. Will carry some Divine Power clickies as well.


Skills (without ship buffs and using items I already have; will farm all the new exceptional bonus stuff at some point)
Concentration 34 (without item on) = 22 ranks +7 (Con) +4 (GH) +1 (Focusing chant)
Disable Device 62 = 23 ranks +6 (Int) +4 (GH) +15 (item) +7 (tools) +1 (Focusing chant) +3 (Ventilated bracers non-upgraded) +3 (skill boost)
Search 55 = 23 ranks +6 (Int) +4 (GH) +20 (item - Epic Spyglass) +1 (Focusing chant) +3 (skill boost)
Open Lock 41 = 4 ranks +7 (Dex) +4 (GH) +15 (item) +7 (tools) +1 (Focusing chant) +3 (skill boost)
Perform 48 = 23 ranks +5 (Cha) +4 (GH) +15 (item) +1 (Focusing chant)
UMD 37 (39 ie. no-fail Heal scrolls with ship buffs, can put Head of GF or Cartouche on if no ship buffs) = 23 ranks +5 (Cha) +4 (GH) +5 (Shroud)


Saves (before ship buffs)
Fortitude 27 = 7 (rgr) +2 (brd) +0 (rog) +5 (resistance) +8 (Con) +1 (halfling racial) +4 (GH)
Reflex 32 = 7 (rgr) +6 (brd) +2 (rog) +5 (resistance) +7 (Dex) +1 (halfling racial) +4 (GH)
Will 25 = 3 (rgr) +6 (brd) +0 (rog) +5 (resistance) +4 (Wis) +1 (halfling racial) +2 (halfling enhancement) +4 (GH)

Enhancements
All song enhancements you can get
Warchanter I
All favoured attack and damage you can get
Ranger Favoured Resistance I
Rogue Haste Boost I
Rogue Damage Boost I
Ranger Spring Boost I
Ranger Skills Boost II
Halfling Cunning and Guile II, Sneak Attack Training I (planning to make a Rad II scimi)
Bard Charisma I
Ranger Dexterity I
Bard Wand and Scroll Mastery III
Ranger Devotion IV
Halfling Will II
Racial Toughness II
Rest can be divided among skills or halfling saves

AC
Ironskin Chant and Displacement. No, seriously, no real AC to speak of.


Gear (green items are ones I already have, rest I need to farm)
Head: Min II helm (heavy fort, prot +5), +45 hp
Goggles: Tharne's / DD
Neck: Torc / Shintao Cord / Silver Flame
Trinket: Bloodstone
Cloak: Conc Opp (+6 Wis, +300 sp, +5 cha skills)
Armour: DT robe - Heal Amp 10% / Heal Amp 20% / Dodge +3
Belt: Knost's (+6 Con, GFL)
Ring. Warchanter (+6 Cha, +1 exc Str, +2 exc Con) / Kyosho's (+6 Wis, +1 exc Str, +2 exc Con)
Ring: ?? (ToD Dex ring with +2 exc Str - need to look into those)
Bracers: Fabricator's Bracers
Gloves: Fabricator's Gloves
Boots: Striding / Anchoring

The Dodge +3 sovereign DT rune is mostly useless on this build but I already have it on my robe and I'll probably keep it, just in case I decide to TR into something with AC again. Or I might make a new DT with the two heal amps and a decent guard on the sovereign rune.
Torc and Shintao Cord and Warchanter and Kyosho will be swapped around as needed.
The problem with this gear setup is that there's no Toughness. Minos has been replaced by a Min II helm so I need to find another Toughness item or one with a blue augment slot that would fit in. Bloodstone doesn't help the slot problem a lot, some seeker is pretty much a must, but with nothing else on it (even on the epic version), it's quite obsolete. Ring of the Stalker would be the obvious solution, but that would prevent me from putting +2 exc Con on a ToD ring. EDIT: Epic Brawn's Spirits might be the answer, it has +2 exc Con and a green slot to put Toughness on, which would allow me to use the Ring of Stalker and slot +6 Dex on it.

Just thinking aloud here, really. :p


What I expect from the build
  • Speed! Ranger sprint + haste! I like the extra speed on my current barb life, but the need to either constantly drink haste pots or drag a bard hireling along is slightly frustrating.
  • Self-sufficiency. 30pt energy resistance, jump, extended haste, rage and displacement - basically everything a melee wants (except FoM). Quickened self-heals, CSW with ardour clicky and some heal amp should be in the region of 150 hp. UMD to use Heal and GH scrolls and to remove neg levels.
  • Songs - though this bard doesn't like performing for other people! He just hums tunes to himself while zerging through dungeons on his own. A bit weird, I know, seeing as the best thing about bards is that the whole group benefits from them. Anyone who's played a high level ranger probably knows that their damage output against favoured enemies is respectable, but against everything else they feel a bit gimped. By grabbing 8 bard levels, I sacrifice some favoured damage (and some BAB), but overal damage will be better. Also Ironskin Chant, in combination with Displacement, will make up for low AC.
  • Some ranged combat options. With 11 levels or ranger I get all the free archery feats, however there is no room for Improved Crit: Ranged. I'm not planning to use bows very often though, it'll mostly be about manyshotting distant casters, being able to do some ranged damage in EDQ while Lailat is ported away, being able to easily grab Sally's aggro in ToD etc.
  • A bit of trapsmithing. Melee combat is fun, but it's good to be able to faff with traps and locks a bit for variety. And with only basic evasion, I might actually be better off disarming some traps rather than zerging through them. Not to mention the up to 15% bonus XP.
Cons/concerns
  • No FoM.
  • Only two level 1 ranger spell slots, so will have to pick only two out of Resist Energy, Jump and Ram's Might. With ship buffs and some backup level 11 resist wands, I expect I will lean towards having Jump and Ram's on most of the time.
  • No room for Tempest pre-reqs. That doesn't bother me so much though, to be honest, I'm not a big fan of Tempest anyway, don't even have it on my pure ranger (who's pre-dominantly melee). Costs too many feats for the benefit it gives, and without a monk splash it would really just provide the extra attacks - the shield bonus to AC wouldn't get me very high anyway.
  • The Will save is a bit low for soloing. Being commanded or held while on your own is no fun. I might play about with the enhancements to be able to take all 3 tiers of Halfling Will. And I'll probably eat a +3 Wis tome if I can get my hands on one, for another +1.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Level 62

We hit level 62 last night. We can now have all +2 stat shrines and all 30pt energy resistance shrines. We don't have enough amenity hookpoints for all of those, so we have all stats and fire, lightning and acid resistance shrines. We reckon these are the most convenient ones for leveling. I was deciding between acid and cold, cold is probably present in more quests but acid traps generally tend to deal more damage. Sonic is handy at endgame when you fight a lot of orthons, but at that point most builds can either self-buff or there's someone in the group who buffs everyone up.
At level 63 we'll get a +3% XP shrine and, to be honest, that's about as far as my ambitions go with the tiny member base we have at the moment (5 people playing on a regular basis right now). It's pretty uninteresting all the way to 70, when you get Large Guild status, Tier 3 Shroud altar and Twelve teleporter. However, that's at 17 milion renown and considering it has taken us roughly a year and a half to amass 12 milion, we can expect to hit level 70 in the second half of next year ( remember, renown decay will hit increasingly harder) unless something changes and we get a lot more active. Which I don't really see happening, unless the crazy Danes come back and decide to stick around for more than 2 months or something like that.

On a related note - although we're not actively recruiting at the moment, we could definitely do with more people, so if you come across somebody who you think would fit in and would be interested, don't hesitate to refer them me, or me to them.

Friday 25 November 2011

Guild questing

Hi guys,
Think we could do some guild questing tonight (after 8pm UK or so). Don't think I'll put a Shroud together, I've still only done it once since the U12 blades change and I don't feel familiar/confident enough to lead it. We could do other stuff though, something on our level 16/17 dudes for example + I'm open to suggestions.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Update 12?

Apparently Update 12 is going live during today's downtime. A bit sneaky but I'm not complaining. Might be going to the gym after work but will definitely be on to explore it a bit in the evening.

EDIT: Release notes.

M.

Saturday 8 October 2011

Level 60

Hi dudes,
We hit level 60 last night and had our public announcement. Hanne and I did a shroud and ended up with some 400 renown left to 60. We decided we couldn't go to bed and leave it like that so we ran about in the Vale for a bit until we got it.
Screenies below (click to see full size version). Thanks to everyone for contributing!

 

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Shroud back at 8pm again

Thanks to some outstanding time management and careful planning (ie the decision not to go to gym on Friday nights :p) on my part, I am now able to move Shrouds back to 8pm, starting this week. Much better than starting at 9, to be honest, as there was hardly any time for any further subsequent guild questing.
I'm kinda distracted by Crystal Cove at the moment because I have figured out a couple items I could still use, but I'm still planning to run the new quests soon.. Not guaranteed it'll happen while CC is up since, with the limited time I spend in game atm, I want to make use of it while it's around, but flagging for the new raids is my next priority.

Friday 30 September 2011

No Shroud tonight

Hi guys,
I have to cancel my weekly Shroud tonight as Hannah and I are attending a Lau gig. Of course that doesn't mean you can't organize one yourself if you like. I might be online tomorrow night or Sunday.

M.

Monday 19 September 2011

Kobolds hate you once again

Crystal Cove is going live again today and will be open until October 9. I have most of the items I wanted from it on Thelanis but I'm planning to get a couple more bits, including gear for my new artificer. So if you'd like to run it, let me know, I'm definitely not going to farm it as much as when it previously on but I'll be happy to do some runs, it's a fun quest as long as you don't overdo it. :)
EDIT: I know that some people in the guild more or less missed the event when it was on the last two times, I've stumbled upon this thread that you might be interested in reading if you want to know what it's all about.

UPDATE SEP 28: The Cove is up now!

Also I'll probably try to get flagged for the new raids at some point this week, not sure when yet so if you'd like to team up to run the new quests, let me know.

M.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Update 11 is live + no Shroud this week

Hi!
In case you didn't know, Update 11 is live now. A new class, 3 new quests, 2 new raids and some other goodies. Also some controversial changes to raid boss HP and damage that make the fights longer (possibly too long for some). Release notes here.
Hannah and Oss are already running about on their artificers, I might make one as well soon, just need to decide on build.

EDIT: Oh, also.. I'm afraid I won't be about for Shroud this Friday. Hannah and I are traveling. I need to delete the announcement from the MotD...

Thursday 8 September 2011

Regular Friday Shrouds moved to 9pm / 10pm CET

Hi people,

As you have probably noticed, I haven't been playing a whole lot lately. I still enjoy the game but I have been busy with other activities and it's been a bit hard for me to find enough time/energy and motivation to hang around in game as much as I used to. I also need to move our Friday Shrouds to 9pm UK time because 8 is a bit problematic for me ad Hannah at the moment. I hope it's not an issue for you guys.

Thanks a lot to all of you who are keeping active and sustain our progress in guild renown. And if you plan guild runs or activities while I'm not about, don't hesitate to let me know on here or the forum. I still check those places on a daily basis (most of the time anyway). I can also provide Skype/ICQ/whatever contacts if anyone wants to be able to reach me outside the game.

M.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Quiet week but Shroud on Friday

Hi peeps, I'm having a bit of a quiet week DDO-wise, trying to catch up on some non-gaming activities. If you want to do something specific in game, let me know and I'll see if I can log in and help out. I'm definitely planning a Shroud on Friday night as usual and perhaps some more guild questing afterwards if there's interest.

M.

Friday 19 August 2011

New Weapons Shipment - total mayhem?

Mwahaha. I like the look of that!
http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=4006613&postcount=32
Might be total chaos just like the first few waves in Kobold Asssault elite on lowbies. I've always loved that quest. :)

Now they just need to make the other two chests on leet drop ingredients and bauble so that people actually run it, hehe.

Thursday 11 August 2011

Trades section on guild forum

Hi dudes, I've added a Trade section to the forum. The primary purpose is, obviously, for guild members who want to sell or buy items to be able to check whether another guildie has or is after any of the items, as sometimes you will get a better price from a guildie than you would get from an outsider etc etc, yada yada.

I have started a thread with my wants and haves, at the moment it's just epic scrolls which might not be interesting for everybody as not all members of the guild are running epics (although Hannah and Tangy do and so does Hanne, occasionally) but I'm sure I'll think of other goodies I need or have as I log my characters.

This weekend

I'll be home alone for two days or so and, unless the weather is nice and I decide to go a-walking, I'm planning to play throughout the weekend. Shroud on Friday at the usual time (8pm UK / 9 CET), probably followed by a guild SoS, and then I'll probably be on and off on Saturday and Sunday. We can agree on specific times, just talk to me in game. I'm planning to get Reckluse to 14 and will be running some GH and possibly other stuff as well.

Mic

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Update 11 Lamannia release notes

Hi guys, the Lamannia Release Notes for Update 11 have been posted. Check them out, looks like there are a lot of changes, three new quests and two raids.

Friday 22 July 2011

Holiday

Hi guys,
Hannah and I are going to CZ for two weeks on Monday. We might pop up occasionally but the schedule will mostly be busy so don't expect to see much of us.
Enjoy the summer everyone. :)

Mic

PS: Shroud tonight! Check the calendar.

Monday 11 July 2011

No Mic for a few days

Hi guys, just wanted to let you know I'm having a busy week at work and I might not be about until Thursday or Friday night. Have fun and see you later. :)

M.

Friday 8 July 2011

Cannith Crafting overview

Stumbled upon this nice database of what can be crafted on what and whether it's a prefix or a suffix. It's not really a "guide" as the title says, but for me it's a nice way to finally see what can actually be made besides the most obvious stuff like boss beaters that everyone has been talking about making.
http://cannith.deathwishgame.co.uk/

Forum post/discussion about this: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=327541

M.

Thursday 7 July 2011

Midbie questing and Shroud tomorrow night

Hi guys,

I'm planning to run a Shroud tomorrow night, however Hannah has something happening at school so depending on what time she'll be back, I might postpone the run until she's home. I will provide more details in the message of the day tomorrow.
I've also been leveling Reckluse again (currently 12) and I've decided I want to use Maenya's Fists for a couple levels so if anyone wants to join me for some Eyes of Stone runs, you're welcome to. We can run the prequests too, if needed, as well as other quests or quest chains for teh XPz. :)

Mic

Sunday 19 June 2011

Grey Moon Waning (elite) and Cult of the Six (normal) quest chains tomorrow night

Level range 7-10. Starting at 7.30pm UK time / 8.30pm CET. As I think we have one or two F2P players in the guild at the moment, I should probably mention that one needs the Sorrowdusk Isle adventure pack to be able to do these chains.
There are 2 people besides me who are likely to come so atm it looks like there are 3 free spots.

I might also put together a Shroud on Wychcraft before or after. Not sure yet though and also depends how many people would be interested, if not many, I'll probably just join a pug.

Thursday 16 June 2011

Moar Shroud ingredients + maybe a Shroud tonight + some VoDs in near future

Hi dudes,

I've popped another bunch of Shroud ingredients into the large guild chest, 20 of each small and medium type including charged energy cells. Feel free to grab as much as you need if you're missing stuff for your 1st and 2nd tiers.
I might do a Shroud on Wychcraft tonight, time permitting. Not sure what time and for how long I'll be able to get online so no promises but stay tuned if you fancy a run. + Deffo a Shroud after pub tomorrow night. :)

I think also want Gloves on the Glacier on Wych so I might be talked into organizing some VoDs in the future. Let's discuss, if some people are interested in this.

Mic

Monday 13 June 2011

Dev tracker

For those of you who like to stay updated on what teh devz have said, I've found this fan-made RSS feed that tracks all posts made by devs on the DDO.com forum. You will need an RSS/feed reader to use it. I use Google Reader but I know some browsers and email clients can handle feeds as well.

URL: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=XscG5ggF3hGiqevMpQt1Yg&_render=rss

Shroud and possibly Reaver's Refuge tonight

Hi guys, I need shards on Wych so I'll try to run a Shroud tonight. I think Zeree was asking about Reaver's Refuge so if he still needs it, I suppose we could do some after the Shroud, I could use some of the quests on Wych and SoS on Eversmile.
I'm not sure what time exactly I'll be able to get online but I'll try to arrive at 8pm UK or so.

Thursday 2 June 2011

New member, Shroud tomorrow and Shroud flagging quests afterwards

Hi guys,

We have a new member, Zeree from Norway. Be nice to him and invite him to groups when possible. He has a level 17 ranger who's not Shroud flagged, so I'm tentatively planning to run some flagging quests after tomorrow night's Shroud - on elite, because Hannah needs them on leet on Milacku. That might require me bringing Eversmile so the level range will probably be 17-20.
See you tomorrow.

M.

Thursday 24 March 2011

Small and Medium Shroud ingredients

Hi guys,

I have far too many small and medium Shroud ingredients that I've hoarded over the years and my bags are too heavy. If you're new to shrouding, want to start crafting your items and are lacking some smalls or mediums, let me know, I'm happy to give mine away while stocks last, including charged cells.

Mic

Thursday 17 March 2011

Oh noes, they're back

In case you didn't know, The Crystal Cove is back, from today through March 27. I know I want at least one tier 3 item so I'll be up for some runs.

See you there. :)

EDIT: I've also scheduled a Shroud for tomorrow night. We have to maintain some regular guild activities so we don't drop back to level 50. :p

M.

Tuesday 8 March 2011

WW elite tonight

I intend to run WW on leet on my TR tonight at 8UK/9CET if anyone wants to come. Level 4-6 or something like that. I'll even try to remember to get ship buffs this time so I don't get outkilled by Hanne's cleric again. :p

M.

Wednesday 23 February 2011

5th DDO Anniversary

Hi guys,

I'm planning to spend a lot of time farming lootz in the special event - see details here. :) Some interesting epic items to be obtained. I'd love to do as much as possible of it with guild. Don't miss this and come online for the anniversary, running through Thursday through Tuesday.

See you there. :)

Mic

Monday 10 January 2011

New member, more guild runs

Hi guys,

We have a new member, Temro. He hails from Germany and has returned to DDO after a lengthy break (2 years and a half). He previously played on Keeper.He has a level 11 rogue at the moment and is waiting for his old EU character to be transfered from Ghallanda. Be nice to him and invite him to groups if you're questing in his level range. :) I've added him to the guild roster and updated the whole thing a bit.
Also I've been trying to organize more guild runs,  mostly Shrouds and SoS + prequests as that's what I need on my characters the most at the moment. Watch the calendar.

Mic