I wish they would hurry up and make an announcement re: open beta.
Also guys please hold off on registering at the Legion website for the moment. We may be going with a different setup. I'll update this thread as things become finalized and we'll get the info into the op.
Ref the guildlaunch stuff, have a look at the alliance features which you'll find in your admin menu. Basically allows you to have one big alliance site made up of all the smaller ones so you'd keep the two seperate guild sites and add a new central alliance site which then invites the sub guilds to an alliance it seems. Not used it myself so not sure of the practicalities or how it works out but heres a quote from the descriptor:
An Advanced Alliance allows 1 or more Guild Launch guild sites to share membership fully between themselves and a seperate Alliance site. The alliance options allow you to create a new site to use as the alliance site. The current Guild Site will become the first Member of that new Alliance. New 'Member Sites' can then be invited by the Admin of the Alliance Site. The new 'Alliance Site' will have all members of the Alliance emember sites automatically added to it as members. You will be able to invite new Guild Sites, kick sites, and view the sites from the Advanced Alliance page.
The original purpose of the modification is to try and simplify the overall workload, Seneku, while giving everyone a space to work with in terms of having a Legion community. Since there will be at least 3 Legions for Elyos and at least 2 Legions for Asmodian if my predictions end up coming true, that approach would end up creating a minimum of six websites needing to be maintained, ordered, and updated to keep communication between the different Legions.
The Alliance option you have brought up is a very useful ability, and I cannot and will not say anything for certain because I am not the person working hard to make the site, but it would probably be better to start on the one web site to act as a central hub, and then let Legions who want a website of their own combine theirs in the manner you suggested. Kind of like the way the United States was first established. The states having autonomy for the way they want to do things with a central hub for regulation and maintaining relationships with each other.
CostanzaK on
"We shall Capture the Flag. We shall go on to the time limits.
We shall fight in Hoth, we shall fight on the spaceports
and the orbital stations, we shall fight with growing confidence
and growing strength in the instances, we shall defend our Republic,
whatever the cost may be.
We shall Re-Spawn on the beaches, we shall camp the landing grounds,
we shall PvP Flag in the fields and in the streets, we shall gank in the hills;
we shall never uninstall."
--Winston Churchwalker
So no PvP at all until 25? Except for duels? That kinda sucks, but I did get to 13 with a chanter and 10 with a mage in just the last CBT so maybe it won't take too long to get that far.
Also my friend rolled an assassin and just kept getting his ass kicked by everybody he dueled. Do they get better?
not really but yeah really,
yeah you can zerg a rift and get past the mobs that aggro around the rifts much lower like 18 I would say at the earliest. but rift PVP is just a fun diversion. at level 25 you do your abyss quests then head through the portal and it's game on , no need to find an open rift and all that hassle.
Rift PvP isn't really much AP and you can't use any abyss gear till level 30 anyways.
from levels 25-28 I got rank 5 just minding my own business , not looking for trouble. so there is no need to grind AP and spend alot of time rifting unless you enjoy it immensely and if so by all means. Many other people will have a few levels on you by the time you get tired of it and be waiting for you on the other side of the abyss...with bells on.
assassins. yeah they get better , fast.
goodtimes on
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spookymuffin( ° ʖ ° )Puyallup WA Registered Userregular
edited August 2009
I'm really worried about this game coming out, for the sake of my free time. Every class seems interesting to me, and I fear that I'll want to play them all, and never get anywhere with any of them. Still, after playing a Chanter for beta, I'm locked into that as a main.
spookymuffin on
PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138 Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I'm currently leaning towards Ranger, although I did have a great time with my Glad as well.
In open beta, I'll be forcing myself to try out an Assassin past 15, see how it goes. If that doesn't work, I'll test out Sorceror. I liked the concept of the Sorc, but kinda didn't like it in group PvE, because of constantly needing to deal with mana issues. But, if the Assassin doesn't work, I'll give it another go.
I liked the concept of the Sorc, but kinda didn't like it in group PvE, because of constantly needing to deal with mana issues.
See, what has me almost sold on the Sorc is their group PVE role, with dominant cc. It's important to me to be able to compensate for retards in my groups as much as possible, and main cc is the position that does that much more than tank or healer.
Although I'm expecting a slightly stronger level of overall play in this game than I've seen in other recent releases.
Assassin's start getting extremely awesome in the early 20s as far as PvE goes. It's just a damage machine that keeps going. I played one up to 22 during the last closed beta and managed to get my hands on some pretty snazzy gear (for level 20ish anyway) and I was absolutely dominating the rest of my groups in damage dealt. Dagger main hand, sword off hand, stack physical crit + manastones out the ass and watch those beautiful crits fly. I think at 22 I got a skill that increased my crit rate by 100 for a minute and my attack speed by 20% for 30 secs and my damage output just got ridiculous. I couldn't even use those skills in a group unless I wanted to be tanking.
In PvP (rifting), I found my assassin was best utilized taking out rangers, healers, and cloth wearers when they were distracted by the rest of the group. Also if a group had come through a rift, going behind enemy lines using Hide and destroying their kiosks was something I had pretty good success with. Going head on into a fight rarely resulted in any kind of victory. It's hard to do damage against templars and glads in PvP, but if I stacked evasion gear I could usually wittle them down because they would keep wiffing. The other classes either have some sort of snare or can slow you down continuously to the point you can't even reach them. I would say I had the easiest time against Gladiators and other Assassins. I had the hardest time against Spiritmasters and Sorcerers. I might have to look into some sort of magical resistance gear set.
Tre, did you have a really hard time leveling your Assassin in the low-mid teens?
That's what turned me off of them initially, was simply that it was like sandpapering my junk trying to kill anything. Every fight ended at half hp or less. Very discouraging, considering I was playing my chanter right before that.
Also, does the number of abilities, especially the signet abilities, get stupid as you get higher in levels? I keep looking at their skills, mentally working on an attack pattern, and I always give up because it looks like I'd have to keybind my entire keyboard just to play effectively.
Tre, did you have a really hard time leveling your Assassin in the low-mid teens?
Not to speak for Tre, and I haven't played an assassin (WoW rogue burnout) but it's definitely a known issue. Ranger is supposedly even worse. For both scout classes, they really should drop some of the higher level skills down a rung or two in the teens. I guess it limits the number of gankers a bit, but still, poor design that it hasn't been fixed by now.
I liked the concept of the Sorc, but kinda didn't like it in group PvE, because of constantly needing to deal with mana issues.
See, what has me almost sold on the Sorc is their group PVE role, with dominant cc. It's important to me to be able to compensate for retards in my groups as much as possible, and main cc is the position that does that much more than tank or healer.
Although I'm expecting a slightly stronger level of overall play in this game than I've seen in other recent releases.
This is part of the reason I'm going sorc, especially since it is VERY difficult for tanks to pull shit off of people in time if aggro is lost. Though I'm having a big problem with retards waking up my sleepers. This is why I host almost every group I've been in, and tag things consistently no matter what.
Tre, did you have a really hard time leveling your Assassin in the low-mid teens?
That's what turned me off of them initially, was simply that it was like sandpapering my junk trying to kill anything. Every fight ended at half hp or less. Very discouraging, considering I was playing my chanter right before that.
Also, does the number of abilities, especially the signet abilities, get stupid as you get higher in levels? I keep looking at their skills, mentally working on an attack pattern, and I always give up because it looks like I'd have to keybind my entire keyboard just to play effectively.
I was having the same feelings you were, then I put some more time in and now I'm having a real hard time deciding between assassin and chanter as my main. Assassin was rough low to mid teens and didn't really come around until upper teens (around 17ish). I did have more keybinds on assassin than any other class I played, but once I got a good sense of the cooldown times of the skills, I was able to play it quite smoothly. I had 3 engrave signet abilities (one of which was a stigma) and 1 burst signet at 22. My bread and butter attack pattern was like this (I don't remember the names of all the skills):
1. Dash Attack
2. Attack Up
3. Accuracy up and something else (can't remember)
4. Swift Strike Chain
5. Signet Chain
6. Swift Strike Chain again (usually up a few secs after signet chain is done)
7. Signet Chain again
8. Burst Signet
9. Run to back of mob and Surprise Attack
PvE mobs would usually be dead around step 7 and rarely lasted until step 9. At some point in the late teens assassin evasion starts to get pretty decent and you can use the counter attack skill pretty effectively. One tip I have is to save your guaranteed dodge skill for when the mob is about to use a big hit spell or skill. By doing this, I have been able to get through 5-6 mobs and still have half HP left. For my assassin, I prioritized manastones in this way:
Although, towards the end I started to have my doubts on whether Attack + was that important for assassin. I'm not sure how the damage formulas work and how attack affects crit damage (if at all). So I might put evasion and attack at a tie. I found the playstyle of assassin extremely fun once I got over the hump. The only drawback is it's guaranteed to be an expensive class to level.
Tre, did you have a really hard time leveling your Assassin in the low-mid teens?
Not to speak for Tre, and I haven't played an assassin (WoW rogue burnout) but it's definitely a known issue. Ranger is supposedly even worse. For both scout classes, they really should drop some of the higher level skills down a rung or two in the teens. I guess it limits the number of gankers a bit, but still, poor design that it hasn't been fixed by now.
Ranger has it the most rough out of every class in the game early on and that's a fact. Every ranger I see is struggling to kill anything and getting killed all the time. I grouped with a lot of rangers this past weekend and they were dying all the time from mobs I was able to obliterate and sometimes even take on 2 at once. I felt really bad for them because it's not like they were bad players, the class just has terrible skills early on. However, they do pretty decent in PvP like all the other ranged classes. Watching them in PvE was so agonizing I was frustrated for them.
So how is healing in this game in general, Chanters in particular? I'm mostly talking about pvp here but I enjoy pvp as well, but I don't think any MMO that has had a boring healing system has kept my interest for very long.
So how is healing in this game in general, Chanters in particular? I'm mostly talking about pvp here but I enjoy pvp as well, but I don't think any MMO that has had a boring healing system has kept my interest for very long.
I shelved my level 30 chanter and will be re-rolling something else for launch for sure.
Chanters healing isn't very spectacular , it gets the job done and there is probably only one or two named elite mobs I can think of offhand that you couldn't solo heal for a 6 man group up to that point. The reason why you couldn't solo heal it not being that the heals are gimp just that chanters and clerics would have an equally hard time maintaining heals through tank damage and aoe damage.
What chanters bring to the table in pve is some nice buffs in the forms of mantras. they're like wow paladin auras. You don't necessarily need 2 healers for the trash getting toward the boss at all , but at the boss you may need an off healer to top people off after AOE damage lets say. The chanter helps dps down trash and pitches in a heal when needed or tosses a res out if someone goes squish, you can res in combat in this game , and you can buy a res. stone cheap so anyone really can res. The chanter just usually handles this because his damage is a total joke compared to everyone else.
Clerics have more heals and later some buffs that really negate their casting interuption, they have instant heals and stronger healing spells that heal for more. They can also convert their health to mana and it's nice as a chanter to top off the cleric when he's doing this so he can keep spamming the tank while this is happening.
In group PvP it's best to go for the healers goes without saying. The chanters will drop like a rock because they don't have any instant heals and their heals are easily interrupted so they get focused first usually.
Your role in PvP is pretty weak you have no CC except a stigma you get at 28 which is useful for catching a runner. Spell of trap. which is useless against any ranged dps target or a templar that can just snatch you over anyways.
Your friends will tell you that your increase run speed mantra is important but that's just because they like having you around because they get to kill someone while you get killed. The run speed mantra is not very fast and anyone with a run speed or flight speed scroll will dust your group anyways and everyone goes through those like water.
the plus side of being a chanter is that solo grinding and questing you have some of the least amount of downtime of any class , I'm cautious to say the least but I'd be very surprised if that wasnt the case. You dont use pots , arrows , and you can usually out heal any incoming damage if you pull an add by mistake. So it's pretty cheap. It's very slow though.
TLDR clerics can heal better than a chanter, everyone can out dps a chanter , Everyone the same level can kill you, quickly. They don't do alot of things very well and what they can do well is mediocre at best.
People will tell you that 1.5 is going to be a different world, and that chanters really get good at <X> level (which is always 5 levels above where you are) but I played it farther than halfway above the level cap and did not like it.
one point that I'd like to try to impress on people who plan to play. Pick a class you like. It sounds completely simple and self-evident but it's worth saying again. They're all good. They're all effective. The real treat is going to be figuring out how to put together a 6 or 12 man killing machine that makes the best use of all of our strengths. I believe that we will have enough smart, driven members in our legion to come up with some really interesting and fun tactics. The fact that this game has not already been min/maxed to death before we get our hands on it is going to pave the way for some very interesting battles and the game mechanics are in place to support it 100%.
People will tell you that 1.5 is going to be a different world, and that chanters really get good at <X> level (which is always 5 levels above where you are) but I played it farther than halfway above the level cap and did not like it.
I'll be that guy. Chanters are at their worst in the 30's, and they are getting buffed in 1.5. Not that it's clear how the endgame balance will work out.
People will tell you that 1.5 is going to be a different world, and that chanters really get good at <X> level (which is always 5 levels above where you are) but I played it farther than halfway above the level cap and did not like it.
I'll be that guy. Chanters are at their worst in the 30's, and they are getting buffed in 1.5. Not that it's clear how the endgame balance will work out.
It's true that Chanter's healing is pretty poor compared to Clerics. The class really shouldn't be considered a healing class at max level as much as pure support class. The chanter does get the best AoE heal in the game, a large HoT that can be picked up from a gold stigma. They also don't get any real CC until level 42, and even then it's not an ability you can just buy. It's a book that drops from mobs.
Due to this HoT, plus the fact that the Chanter is in full chain, you are not actually the easiest class to kill in the game. Since Clerics and Chanters are fairly well armored, most PvP groups have been focus firing down the casters (sorcs and spiritmasters) first. They are far more deadly and much easier to kill with burst damage than either a Cleric or Chanter with backup is.
If you're looking to be a healer in Aion, I really wouldn't recommend the Chanter. That job belongs solely to the Cleric once you hit 50. However, almost any serious PvP or PvE group still won't go anywhere without a Chanter due to the mantra and wish buffs, not to mention a very powerful AoE HoT.
Raiek on
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spookymuffin( ° ʖ ° )Puyallup WA Registered Userregular
edited August 2009
You guys keep saying the two words "Chanter" and "healer" in the same sentence. Stop it.
spookymuffin on
PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138 Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
I got my ranger to 21, and yeah, it's challenging. The class really doesn't pick up until 16, and finally gets to the point where you can kill stuff at 19, although the random damage of Stunning Shot can suck at times (once crit for 400, another crit for 1400).
The error most rangers make is trying to kite mobs to death before 19 (or possibly 16). Their best leveling technique before then is to ranged the mob down a bit, and switch to melee when they get to you. It actually works pretty well, easier leveling than the assassin really.
At 19, I finally got rid of most of the melee abilities on my bar, as at that level, point-blank shooting with the bow was better. Even so, I could kill most things with a minimum of kiting.
The other mistake most rangers make is ignoring the bonuses/penalties of moving in combat. Way too many times I saw rangers backpedaling to kite mobs. This is wrong. Because when you move backwards in combat, you take a hefty hit to your damage. The correct technique is to turn around and run forward. You can activate skills without actually turning around by swiveling the camera to get the enemy into your sights.
Currently I'm considering using a ranger in live, but will be trying out assassin in OB to see if I like it. I've always been a fan of toolbox type characters, and the assassin has a bunch of differing abilities based upon the situation, which appeals to me.
So what's the deal with HoTs? I got a second one at 13 on my chanter, but was unable to apply both of them to any one person at the same time. Is that how all hots are?
The other mistake most rangers make is ignoring the bonuses/penalties of moving in combat. Way too many times I saw rangers backpedaling to kite mobs. This is wrong. Because when you move backwards in combat, you take a hefty hit to your damage. The correct technique is to turn around and run forward. You can activate skills without actually turning around by swiveling the camera to get the enemy into your sights.
Wait wait. Is there an actual penalty to damage if you're moving? Is this something only for rangers because I would move around all the time assassin (attempting to stay at the mobs back) and I didn't see any damage reduction. The few times I pulled out my bow on assassin I would never backpedal (you move way too slow), rather I would strafe back sideways or sometimes in circles around the target so I could still shoot.
I'm torn on what to choose for live. I've determined that cleric will most likely be boring to play, but I hate putting my survival in someone else's hands. Chanter seems like a better fit as I like to play buff classes that can heal in a pinch. Does chanter also have some nice debuffs? Assassin was good fun, but any class with crit as its main focusing point is bound to be expensive. I don't have the time to farm huge amounts of gold anymore. Arrrrrrrgh. I guess I'll play whatever is needed guild wise.
Tre on
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spookymuffin( ° ʖ ° )Puyallup WA Registered Userregular
edited August 2009
I'm probably going to roll one from each main class upon release. Templar, Chanter, and Ranger definitely. For the Mage route, I haven't decided on Sorc or SM. Sorcs look fun, and SMs look like they're awesome, but only with the pet going. My experience with pet classes have been pretty negative, because the enemy usually ignores the pet and goes right for the caster. Another thing that DAoC did pretty well with the Necromancer, you had to kill the pet to get to the caster. That made for interesting fights.
spookymuffin on
PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138 Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
So what's the deal with HoTs? I got a second one at 13 on my chanter, but was unable to apply both of them to any one person at the same time. Is that how all hots are?
Far as I know, HoTs and DoTs do not stack in Aion. Just pick your most powerful one and use it.
The other mistake most rangers make is ignoring the bonuses/penalties of moving in combat. Way too many times I saw rangers backpedaling to kite mobs. This is wrong. Because when you move backwards in combat, you take a hefty hit to your damage. The correct technique is to turn around and run forward. You can activate skills without actually turning around by swiveling the camera to get the enemy into your sights.
Wait wait. Is there an actual penalty to damage if you're moving? .
Wrong> No there's no penalty< Wrong. You know while you are in combat and you see an arrow like this ^ under your character while you're moving forward? That means that your attack is getting buffed, when you're moving backwards you're not getting a penalty you're defense is getting buffed instead.
While strafing you'll see < > that means your evasion is getting buffed.
The buff effect fades as soon as you stop moving so if you are using an attack like snipe then it will effect that shot but since you are stopped for that animation the buff will fade by the time the animation is complete and not effect subsequent shots.
This is always active in the game but I think the arrows only show up when you have an enemy targeted. The effect is easily seen if you open your character screen and look at your stat values as you move back and forward and strafe and you'll see the values change slightly.
So what's the deal with HoTs? I got a second one at 13 on my chanter, but was unable to apply both of them to any one person at the same time. Is that how all hots are?
Far as I know, HoTs and DoTs do not stack in Aion. Just pick your most powerful one and use it.
true, also two hots from different people will not stack on a target either. One will overwrite the other. I don't know which one gets pushed off , the lower rank or the earlier cast.
No there's no penalty. You know while you are in combat and you see an arrow like this ^ under your character while you're moving forward? That means that your attack is getting buffed, when you're moving backwards you're not getting a penalty you're defense is getting buffed instead.
While strafing you'll see < > that means your evasion is getting buffed.
The buff effect fades as soon as you stop moving so if you are using an attack like snipe then it will effect that shot but since you are stopped for that animation the buff will fade by the time the animation is complete and not effect subsequent shots.
This is always active in the game but I think the arrows only show up when you have an enemy targeted. The effect is easily seen if you open your character screen and look at your stat values as you move back and forward and strafe and you'll see the values change slightly.
Haha what, I never noticed this at all. I guess I need to pay attention more. What if you're just standing still facing the mob like any melee class? No bonus?
So what's the deal with HoTs? I got a second one at 13 on my chanter, but was unable to apply both of them to any one person at the same time. Is that how all hots are?
Far as I know, HoTs and DoTs do not stack in Aion. Just pick your most powerful one and use it.
true, also two hots from different people will not stack on a target either. One will overwrite the other. I don't know which one gets pushed off , the lower rank or the earlier cast.
I'm pretty sure whichever HoT is more powerful is the one that remains, so lower ranks get pushed off. Due to HoTs being handled this way, most groups will have a Chanter keep a HoT up while the Cleric handles the rest of the healing. Easy enough to fire off an instant Hot and get back to your staff-fu.
The other mistake most rangers make is ignoring the bonuses/penalties of moving in combat. Way too many times I saw rangers backpedaling to kite mobs. This is wrong. Because when you move backwards in combat, you take a hefty hit to your damage. The correct technique is to turn around and run forward. You can activate skills without actually turning around by swiveling the camera to get the enemy into your sights.
Wait wait. Is there an actual penalty to damage if you're moving? .
No there's no penalty. You know while you are in combat and you see an arrow like this ^ under your character while you're moving forward? That means that your attack is getting buffed, when you're moving backwards you're not getting a penalty you're defense is getting buffed instead.
While strafing you'll see < > that means your evasion is getting buffed.
The buff effect fades as soon as you stop moving so if you are using an attack like snipe then it will effect that shot but since you are stopped for that animation the buff will fade by the time the animation is complete and not effect subsequent shots.
This is always active in the game but I think the arrows only show up when you have an enemy targeted. The effect is easily seen if you open your character screen and look at your stat values as you move back and forward and strafe and you'll see the values change slightly.
I'd actually like to revise this just a bit yes there is a penaltywhen moving
when moving forward the +sign appears next to your attack stat a - sign appears next to your physical def stat
while moving backwards a - sign is next to your attack and a + sign is next to your block and parry stats ( does not buff Physical defense)
while strafing a - sign appears next to attack and a + sign appears next to your evasion stat.
when moving in a combination of forward and to the side , or backward and to the side, as in moving diagonally forward or backward you are considered to only be moving forward or backward and receive the appropriate stat modifier for moving backward or forward only.
edit : when standing still no stat modification is taking place.
It's not a huge boost, usually on the order of 20%. But the penalties are 50% or more, so a tank constantly backpedaling is going to have a really tough time keeping agro.
It's not a huge boost, usually on the order of 20%. But the penalties are 50% or more, so a tank constantly backpedaling is going to have a really tough time keeping agro.
Not to mention how annoying it would be to be a melee and having to constantly move to stay in range to attack.
Moving backwards
+physical defense
+elemental defense (I think)
+block
-damage
Moving sideways
+evasion
+parry (I believe)
-damage
These bonuses take a second to show up, and hang for a second after you are done moving. This is why backpedaling for rangers is bad, since you're likely to screw yourself out of damage. The best move is to quickly turn around, run forward, then turn back around and shoot.
There is a handy option for rangers in the Options menu. It's called "show distance to target". This will add a range counter to the right side of the target's box at the top of the screen.
Seems like a thing maybe to help mitigate AoE or long warm-up boss attacks? Like... everyone sees it coming and backpedals for a second or 2 before it happens?
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I don't think it could 70%, that's very significant. Then again, I didn't even know this was part of the game so what do I know? I really don't want to have to run all over the place in PvE to increase my damage. The only running I want to do in a fight is to get in a better strategic position or avoid aggro.
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The original purpose of the modification is to try and simplify the overall workload, Seneku, while giving everyone a space to work with in terms of having a Legion community. Since there will be at least 3 Legions for Elyos and at least 2 Legions for Asmodian if my predictions end up coming true, that approach would end up creating a minimum of six websites needing to be maintained, ordered, and updated to keep communication between the different Legions.
The Alliance option you have brought up is a very useful ability, and I cannot and will not say anything for certain because I am not the person working hard to make the site, but it would probably be better to start on the one web site to act as a central hub, and then let Legions who want a website of their own combine theirs in the manner you suggested. Kind of like the way the United States was first established. The states having autonomy for the way they want to do things with a central hub for regulation and maintaining relationships with each other.
We shall fight in Hoth, we shall fight on the spaceports
and the orbital stations, we shall fight with growing confidence
and growing strength in the instances, we shall defend our Republic,
whatever the cost may be.
We shall Re-Spawn on the beaches, we shall camp the landing grounds,
we shall PvP Flag in the fields and in the streets, we shall gank in the hills;
we shall never uninstall."
--Winston Churchwalker
not really but yeah really,
yeah you can zerg a rift and get past the mobs that aggro around the rifts much lower like 18 I would say at the earliest. but rift PVP is just a fun diversion. at level 25 you do your abyss quests then head through the portal and it's game on , no need to find an open rift and all that hassle.
Rift PvP isn't really much AP and you can't use any abyss gear till level 30 anyways.
from levels 25-28 I got rank 5 just minding my own business , not looking for trouble. so there is no need to grind AP and spend alot of time rifting unless you enjoy it immensely and if so by all means. Many other people will have a few levels on you by the time you get tired of it and be waiting for you on the other side of the abyss...with bells on.
assassins. yeah they get better , fast.
Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
In open beta, I'll be forcing myself to try out an Assassin past 15, see how it goes. If that doesn't work, I'll test out Sorceror. I liked the concept of the Sorc, but kinda didn't like it in group PvE, because of constantly needing to deal with mana issues. But, if the Assassin doesn't work, I'll give it another go.
See, what has me almost sold on the Sorc is their group PVE role, with dominant cc. It's important to me to be able to compensate for retards in my groups as much as possible, and main cc is the position that does that much more than tank or healer.
Although I'm expecting a slightly stronger level of overall play in this game than I've seen in other recent releases.
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In PvP (rifting), I found my assassin was best utilized taking out rangers, healers, and cloth wearers when they were distracted by the rest of the group. Also if a group had come through a rift, going behind enemy lines using Hide and destroying their kiosks was something I had pretty good success with. Going head on into a fight rarely resulted in any kind of victory. It's hard to do damage against templars and glads in PvP, but if I stacked evasion gear I could usually wittle them down because they would keep wiffing. The other classes either have some sort of snare or can slow you down continuously to the point you can't even reach them. I would say I had the easiest time against Gladiators and other Assassins. I had the hardest time against Spiritmasters and Sorcerers. I might have to look into some sort of magical resistance gear set.
That's what turned me off of them initially, was simply that it was like sandpapering my junk trying to kill anything. Every fight ended at half hp or less. Very discouraging, considering I was playing my chanter right before that.
Also, does the number of abilities, especially the signet abilities, get stupid as you get higher in levels? I keep looking at their skills, mentally working on an attack pattern, and I always give up because it looks like I'd have to keybind my entire keyboard just to play effectively.
Not to speak for Tre, and I haven't played an assassin (WoW rogue burnout) but it's definitely a known issue. Ranger is supposedly even worse. For both scout classes, they really should drop some of the higher level skills down a rung or two in the teens. I guess it limits the number of gankers a bit, but still, poor design that it hasn't been fixed by now.
This is part of the reason I'm going sorc, especially since it is VERY difficult for tanks to pull shit off of people in time if aggro is lost. Though I'm having a big problem with retards waking up my sleepers. This is why I host almost every group I've been in, and tag things consistently no matter what.
PSN: TheScrublet
I was having the same feelings you were, then I put some more time in and now I'm having a real hard time deciding between assassin and chanter as my main. Assassin was rough low to mid teens and didn't really come around until upper teens (around 17ish). I did have more keybinds on assassin than any other class I played, but once I got a good sense of the cooldown times of the skills, I was able to play it quite smoothly. I had 3 engrave signet abilities (one of which was a stigma) and 1 burst signet at 22. My bread and butter attack pattern was like this (I don't remember the names of all the skills):
1. Dash Attack
2. Attack Up
3. Accuracy up and something else (can't remember)
4. Swift Strike Chain
5. Signet Chain
6. Swift Strike Chain again (usually up a few secs after signet chain is done)
7. Signet Chain again
8. Burst Signet
9. Run to back of mob and Surprise Attack
PvE mobs would usually be dead around step 7 and rarely lasted until step 9. At some point in the late teens assassin evasion starts to get pretty decent and you can use the counter attack skill pretty effectively. One tip I have is to save your guaranteed dodge skill for when the mob is about to use a big hit spell or skill. By doing this, I have been able to get through 5-6 mobs and still have half HP left. For my assassin, I prioritized manastones in this way:
1. Phys Crit +
2. Attack +
3. Evasion +
4. Accuracy +
5. Parry +
Although, towards the end I started to have my doubts on whether Attack + was that important for assassin. I'm not sure how the damage formulas work and how attack affects crit damage (if at all). So I might put evasion and attack at a tie. I found the playstyle of assassin extremely fun once I got over the hump. The only drawback is it's guaranteed to be an expensive class to level.
Ranger has it the most rough out of every class in the game early on and that's a fact. Every ranger I see is struggling to kill anything and getting killed all the time. I grouped with a lot of rangers this past weekend and they were dying all the time from mobs I was able to obliterate and sometimes even take on 2 at once. I felt really bad for them because it's not like they were bad players, the class just has terrible skills early on. However, they do pretty decent in PvP like all the other ranged classes. Watching them in PvE was so agonizing I was frustrated for them.
I have it down to Gladiator, Chanter, or Assasin.
Depending on what the witchaloks need i guess i'll roll with that
It'll probably be Spiritmaster if anything at this point, considering my fiscal hardships of late.
I shelved my level 30 chanter and will be re-rolling something else for launch for sure.
Chanters healing isn't very spectacular , it gets the job done and there is probably only one or two named elite mobs I can think of offhand that you couldn't solo heal for a 6 man group up to that point. The reason why you couldn't solo heal it not being that the heals are gimp just that chanters and clerics would have an equally hard time maintaining heals through tank damage and aoe damage.
What chanters bring to the table in pve is some nice buffs in the forms of mantras. they're like wow paladin auras. You don't necessarily need 2 healers for the trash getting toward the boss at all , but at the boss you may need an off healer to top people off after AOE damage lets say. The chanter helps dps down trash and pitches in a heal when needed or tosses a res out if someone goes squish, you can res in combat in this game , and you can buy a res. stone cheap so anyone really can res. The chanter just usually handles this because his damage is a total joke compared to everyone else.
Clerics have more heals and later some buffs that really negate their casting interuption, they have instant heals and stronger healing spells that heal for more. They can also convert their health to mana and it's nice as a chanter to top off the cleric when he's doing this so he can keep spamming the tank while this is happening.
In group PvP it's best to go for the healers goes without saying. The chanters will drop like a rock because they don't have any instant heals and their heals are easily interrupted so they get focused first usually.
Your role in PvP is pretty weak you have no CC except a stigma you get at 28 which is useful for catching a runner. Spell of trap. which is useless against any ranged dps target or a templar that can just snatch you over anyways.
Your friends will tell you that your increase run speed mantra is important but that's just because they like having you around because they get to kill someone while you get killed. The run speed mantra is not very fast and anyone with a run speed or flight speed scroll will dust your group anyways and everyone goes through those like water.
the plus side of being a chanter is that solo grinding and questing you have some of the least amount of downtime of any class , I'm cautious to say the least but I'd be very surprised if that wasnt the case. You dont use pots , arrows , and you can usually out heal any incoming damage if you pull an add by mistake. So it's pretty cheap. It's very slow though.
TLDR clerics can heal better than a chanter, everyone can out dps a chanter , Everyone the same level can kill you, quickly. They don't do alot of things very well and what they can do well is mediocre at best.
People will tell you that 1.5 is going to be a different world, and that chanters really get good at <X> level (which is always 5 levels above where you are) but I played it farther than halfway above the level cap and did not like it.
I'll be that guy. Chanters are at their worst in the 30's, and they are getting buffed in 1.5. Not that it's clear how the endgame balance will work out.
It's true that Chanter's healing is pretty poor compared to Clerics. The class really shouldn't be considered a healing class at max level as much as pure support class. The chanter does get the best AoE heal in the game, a large HoT that can be picked up from a gold stigma. They also don't get any real CC until level 42, and even then it's not an ability you can just buy. It's a book that drops from mobs.
Due to this HoT, plus the fact that the Chanter is in full chain, you are not actually the easiest class to kill in the game. Since Clerics and Chanters are fairly well armored, most PvP groups have been focus firing down the casters (sorcs and spiritmasters) first. They are far more deadly and much easier to kill with burst damage than either a Cleric or Chanter with backup is.
If you're looking to be a healer in Aion, I really wouldn't recommend the Chanter. That job belongs solely to the Cleric once you hit 50. However, almost any serious PvP or PvE group still won't go anywhere without a Chanter due to the mantra and wish buffs, not to mention a very powerful AoE HoT.
Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
The error most rangers make is trying to kite mobs to death before 19 (or possibly 16). Their best leveling technique before then is to ranged the mob down a bit, and switch to melee when they get to you. It actually works pretty well, easier leveling than the assassin really.
At 19, I finally got rid of most of the melee abilities on my bar, as at that level, point-blank shooting with the bow was better. Even so, I could kill most things with a minimum of kiting.
The other mistake most rangers make is ignoring the bonuses/penalties of moving in combat. Way too many times I saw rangers backpedaling to kite mobs. This is wrong. Because when you move backwards in combat, you take a hefty hit to your damage. The correct technique is to turn around and run forward. You can activate skills without actually turning around by swiveling the camera to get the enemy into your sights.
Currently I'm considering using a ranger in live, but will be trying out assassin in OB to see if I like it. I've always been a fan of toolbox type characters, and the assassin has a bunch of differing abilities based upon the situation, which appeals to me.
Wait wait. Is there an actual penalty to damage if you're moving? Is this something only for rangers because I would move around all the time assassin (attempting to stay at the mobs back) and I didn't see any damage reduction. The few times I pulled out my bow on assassin I would never backpedal (you move way too slow), rather I would strafe back sideways or sometimes in circles around the target so I could still shoot.
I'm torn on what to choose for live. I've determined that cleric will most likely be boring to play, but I hate putting my survival in someone else's hands. Chanter seems like a better fit as I like to play buff classes that can heal in a pinch. Does chanter also have some nice debuffs? Assassin was good fun, but any class with crit as its main focusing point is bound to be expensive. I don't have the time to farm huge amounts of gold anymore. Arrrrrrrgh. I guess I'll play whatever is needed guild wise.
Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
Far as I know, HoTs and DoTs do not stack in Aion. Just pick your most powerful one and use it.
Wrong> No there's no penalty< Wrong. You know while you are in combat and you see an arrow like this ^ under your character while you're moving forward? That means that your attack is getting buffed, when you're moving backwards you're not getting a penalty you're defense is getting buffed instead.
While strafing you'll see < > that means your evasion is getting buffed.
The buff effect fades as soon as you stop moving so if you are using an attack like snipe then it will effect that shot but since you are stopped for that animation the buff will fade by the time the animation is complete and not effect subsequent shots.
This is always active in the game but I think the arrows only show up when you have an enemy targeted. The effect is easily seen if you open your character screen and look at your stat values as you move back and forward and strafe and you'll see the values change slightly.
true, also two hots from different people will not stack on a target either. One will overwrite the other. I don't know which one gets pushed off , the lower rank or the earlier cast.
Haha what, I never noticed this at all. I guess I need to pay attention more. What if you're just standing still facing the mob like any melee class? No bonus?
I'm pretty sure whichever HoT is more powerful is the one that remains, so lower ranks get pushed off. Due to HoTs being handled this way, most groups will have a Chanter keep a HoT up while the Cleric handles the rest of the healing. Easy enough to fire off an instant Hot and get back to your staff-fu.
I'd actually like to revise this just a bit yes there is a penaltywhen moving
when moving forward the +sign appears next to your attack stat a - sign appears next to your physical def stat
while moving backwards a - sign is next to your attack and a + sign is next to your block and parry stats ( does not buff Physical defense)
while strafing a - sign appears next to attack and a + sign appears next to your evasion stat.
when moving in a combination of forward and to the side , or backward and to the side, as in moving diagonally forward or backward you are considered to only be moving forward or backward and receive the appropriate stat modifier for moving backward or forward only.
edit : when standing still no stat modification is taking place.
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I suspect the slight stat boost is hardly worth the inconvenience.
Steam
Closed beta wrapped up last weekend.
Not to mention how annoying it would be to be a melee and having to constantly move to stay in range to attack.
The closed beta events are over.
edit - what they said
The damage penalty ALSO kicks in when sidestepping. Here's the breakdown:
Moving forward
+damage
-physical defense
-elemental defense
Moving backwards
+physical defense
+elemental defense (I think)
+block
-damage
Moving sideways
+evasion
+parry (I believe)
-damage
These bonuses take a second to show up, and hang for a second after you are done moving. This is why backpedaling for rangers is bad, since you're likely to screw yourself out of damage. The best move is to quickly turn around, run forward, then turn back around and shoot.
There is a handy option for rangers in the Options menu. It's called "show distance to target". This will add a range counter to the right side of the target's box at the top of the screen.
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