Vlog #14: Summer Battleblood Updates and News (5/23/11)

Topics: Blogging/Vlogging, PVP Videos/Commentary, secret projects, self-improvement, and a future "offer" from TPC.

Vlogs #8-12: Wintertusk Adventures

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)

Test Realm: Waterworks Run #1 a Success!

About an hour and forty-five minutes after entering, Perfect Catch manages to solve and emerge victorious from the Legendary Tower "Waterworks" on the Test Realm!  While not the first team to complete the tower, we had no help or tips from others who have...coming in there was a fresh, new puzzle to us all.  Here are some screenshots:

First Room:  Fight two groups of Elite mobs to activate a lever...

Second Room:  Fight Luska Charmbeak, a squid that "squirts" you with corrosive and blinding "oil"...  21,000+ HP

Second Room:  Luska Charmbeak is telling you that if you ARE NOT blinded, DO NOT use any spells on him, or he will  punish your entire team with a strong Power Nova.

Second Room:  With Fallon's new Storm Spell (Supercharge), we manage to hit him for 10k+ damage without traps...still not enough...  So then he proceeds to blind everyone from first Wizard up to Fallon.

Second Room:  Second hit...still too short...

Second Room:  Third time's a charm...break...ha...ha...   >_>

Final Stage:  Three bosses, who cannot be stunned, will force you to "dance" with them.  When a bubble is placed up, you are allowed to EITHER trap OR blade...but never at the same time.  In other words, one bubble allows for positive Charms (blades), while the other allows for negative Wards (traps).  Listen to the boss to find out when you can do whichever.  Try to take out the hammerhead and eel ASAP; they love to Critical hard on their spells.  I went in first to take the attention of all three bosses at the beginning of the battle.  Fallon used a combination of Supercharge with Ronan's Donates to ensure we could create 100%+ blades on her, and allow her to strike hard.  Since Sylvester changes the bubble up around every three rounds (before a turn starts), we had to use Cleanse to ensure Fallon's hit does make it through the Smokescreen.

Final Stage:  With only a few blades and turns available to us, we decided to strike all three bosses with a huge Storm Lord...

Final Stage:  Storm boosts on the Eel boss....

Final Stage:  5,700+ Damage wasn't enough to kill the bosses...but it was definitely a huge dent in them!

Final Stage:  Ronan then proceeds to clean the Critical-Hitting bosses up with his Gargantuan Power Nova...

Final Stage:  K.O.'d!!!

Final Stage:  Bye bye, Hammerhead!

Final Stage:  After a few more bombardments of attacks (make sure that there's at least one trap up when the Trap Bubble is up; the same for blades when the Blade Bubble is up), we're finally able to use Lady Judgment to win...

Final Stage:  No need for traps with just 300 HP left on Sylvester...he isn't going to Cheat back, this time!

Final Stage:  See ya, don't wanna be ya!

Aftermath:  And Level 60 Ice Boots drop!  Compare the difference between the new Legendary Gear and the old!

Aftermath:  You may find the quest line bugged, especially for those who did not turn/touch the final valve.  The good news is, everyone who beats the instance will get the badge:  Waterworks Warrior!