Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Wintertusk Checklist and Analysis

Wintertusk is coming out today!  Too bad for me, I'm stuck with studying for a final for Thursday... -_-  I'll try to manage my time best to maybe even squeeze in some time for Ravenwood Radio 40 tonight, but no promises!  We'll just have to see if I can plow through or avoid some unnecessary chapters...

BUT, nevertheless, I've created a personal checklist while playing the Test Realm to remind me of some in-game obligations and duties for the Live Realm (once I'm free from academic burden).  This list is made public to help some of you PvPers manage your time, decisions, and resources to efficient use:

Concept to Grasp
A new generation of PVP has arrived, with 15 new spells.  Eight are completely new utility spells, and seven are upgraded versions of existing spells.  Various mechanical changes have been implemented, such as Earthquake no longer removing Stun Blocks, but stunning spells providing just one Stun Block of protection, opposed to four.  To balance this, Stun Resist gear has been added to Dueling Diego's supplies.  Also, the gear that's dropped within the Waterworks dungeon is for Legendary Wizards (Lv. 60), and provides Universal Resistance regardless of school.  New Crafted Gear is also available, allowing for an expansion of many new strategies (which I'll extensively be exploring and developing over the next few months).  Level 58 pets will also take us into a new dimension of PVP with new abilities and unique Innate Cards.  An additional Training Point will be provided through a new Zeke's quest.

The following checklist will be completed before my Ice Wizard returns to the Arena:

  • New Spells
    • Obtain Level 35 spell (Legion Shield)
      • Great counter against Area of Effect (AOE)-Damage over Time (DoT) spells, allowing me to protect allies for an addition 30% resistance to next incoming damage.  Also helps me reduce damage for all allies if I can't make up my mind on who to protect.  A must have.
    • Learn an additional spell from Zeke's Trogg Finder quest.


  • New Items/Gear
    • Purchase Stun Resist Amulet from Dueling Diego
      • Replacing my Life Mastery Amulet, since Perfect Catch has vigorously trained and adapted to a Pip-building style before the Amulets were released; it shouldn't be unfamiliar territory.  I'll then have a 15% reduced chance of getting stunned.  Because stunning spells will provide just one Stun Block, the number of Chain-Stunners can be expected to increase.  Thus, having an innate chance of resisting a Stun can be advantageous against a team expecting to win by pure immobilization.  I would rather keep my Stellar Signet and Cosmic Kris for massive Incoming/Outgoing boosts to complement Spritely, so I will choose to stay at just 15% max Stun Resist (as opposed to 30%).
    • Stitch Wands
      • Personally craft one of the new weapons with help from someone who has access (going to port to them; thanks to Aiden for helping with clarification) to the wand recipes, stitch the Hammer of the Stone Sky to my "Banhammer" (a promo wand called the "Galvanic Hammer" from Beckett's).
        • This wand allows for a variety of AOE support spells such as Bladestorm (increase team's damage), Brilliant Light (increase team's recovery rate via casted spell/Spritely), Legion Shield (increase team's resistance), Unicorn (increase team's damage recovery), and Guidance (increase team's accuracy).  All these spells have 100% accuracy, so the chance to fizzle will be very low (given that there is a Smokescreen or Black Mantle upon us).
      • Will stitch my Lifeforce Sword to another model
        • Just for aesthetics
    • Repeat Waterworks with Perfect Catch until all members have their complete Legendary Gear before questing in Wintertusk.
      • Gear boosts will allow for faster questing (higher critical rating without sacrificing survival via resist)
      • Ronan's boots, hat, robe
      • Fallon's boots, hat, robe
      • Cassandra's boots, hat, robe
      • My boots, hat, robe
    • Create a new generation Perfect Catch Defender Pig, and research the Weakness talent more.  (Spell Proof, Spritely, Snow Shield/Weakness, Sharp-Shot)

5 comments:

  1. The new craftable gear is no auction; sadly, crafting for friends has taken another hit ~ between that and flagging much of the crafted gear for the bazaar snipers (instead of the intended recipients), the message seems to be that we should all craft our own gear instead of the marginal advantages we used to enjoy . . . just a minor setback for you to get your Hammer of the Stone Sky, but who knows ~ these restrictions may be lifted in the future (remember when level 58 gear was no trade, no auction)

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  2. @Aiden: Oh, I'm sorry I miscommunicated. The only assistance required with these recipes is teleporting to someone who has access to this area; otherwise, yes, we will be crafting our own wands :)

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  3. If/when you get a pet with Weakness let me know, I've got a Reaver with Hex & Spritely (once she's fully trained) I'd love to add Weakness to.

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  4. hey i got the galvanic hammer and its cool

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Let that thought out here: