02-07-2005, 11:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-08-2005, 12:01 AM by SwissMercenary.)
Minor nits:
Warrior Strength does not boost critical chances. It grants your attacks armour penetration, but only when you use melee attack skills. So, if you are using something like Cleave for your main damage skill, which can be used every third attack, Strength is much more useful then if you were using Final Thrust, which is available every 11th attack. IMHO, the biggest reason to take a Warrior primary is for the armour - I see Strength as a minor bonus, applied every few attacks. High investment into it is not all that necessary, unless you want the improvement to its skills.
Rangers: Their primary is expertise. It provides a 5% cost reduction to their skills per point. Pretty nifty, considering how expensive so many ranger skills are. I may also add that Rangers have higher elemental defense then Warriors.
Monks: Divine Favour is not bugged.
I do not believe that being a Me/Mo is all that some crack it up to be - most Monk skills take 1-2 seconds to cast. As much as I like Mesmers, I'd probably prefer the +40 healing per cast over a half a second reduction in casting time. Resurrection spells are the exception, of course. I'd rather take the Mo/Me, for the energy stealing or warrior crippling skills.
Elementalist/Monk is another toss-up. I mean, more mana is nice, but Divine Favour will grant you higher healing per second... As well as access to a few nice skills.
Now, that the nits are over...
I'd frankly say that the Elementalist mana bonus is really a mediocre attribute at best... Considering that Soul Reaping is superior in all but 4v4 pvp.
The Elementalist starts a battle with say, 30 extra mana, from 10 points in Energy Storage, right? Well, if throughout the course of the battle, your mana will never go above what a typical caster's maximum is (And it shouldn't... You should be casting, not staring into speace!), then that's the entire bonus. 30 extra mana. You burn through it, and it only comes into play the next time you fight.
The Necromancer, on the other hand, with 10 Soul Reaping, will gain 10 mana when something, anything, dies. In PvE, with large groups of monsters, itll definetely prove to be superior to Energy Storage, by far. It also makes minions viable - 10 mana for the corpse hitting the floor, 10 mana for when your minion dies - almost pays off the 25 investment. After you make 4 kills, you already get a bigger benefit then Energy Storage would provide.
In PvP, especially Tombs, Soul Reaping really shines - its the only attribute that gets stronger, the more time a battle takes. If your team is losing members, then the extra mana may change the tides - if your team is winning, then it gives you an extra safety cushion, in case things go wrong.
To add insult to injury, the Elementalist's Aura of Restoration is really not that great of a skill in PvP. It may mend little nicks and bruises, but its not going to save your life when two warriors, a ranger, and 2 elementalists are focusing their fire on you.
Edit:
Wind Riders:
Their Conjure Phantasm does not stack. It's just that Damage Over Time spells are far more damaging, and mana efficient then their Direct Damage counterparts. -5 arrows of regen is -10 health per second. Considering that characters tend to have life ratings of 250 at that point in the game, just two recasts of Phantasm will completely drain their life bars. :rolleyes:
Rules of Engagement:
Mesmers may be messing with your heads... But any Monk worth his salt is at least 60% more effective in healing his allies then healing himself.
Let me put it this way:
A team has two Monks... Your team focuses on the darned annoying Mesmer...
One Monk can throw on a healing seed - 30 health area of effect heal when the target takes damage... Then follow up with a Live Vicariously, to protect against enchantment removers, and cast an Orison here and there... And use a Word of Healing if someone's in trouble... The second monk is free to do more or less whatever he wants.
Results - with the focus fire of 6 people, you have taken one monk and one caster out of the battle. Great... A 50% drop in healing power, and a 16% drop in damage output.
Or, alternativelt, if you focus fire on one of the two Monks...
The targetted Monk is going to have to flee. When they are running, they won't be getting off the 2 or 3 second cast time spells - maybe an orison here and there. The other Monk will be busy healing the first one...
Results - you have taken both monks out of the battle. A 100% drop in healing power.
As I said, a Monk is far better suited to healing allies then himself - Healing Seed cannot be cast on yourself. Neither can Word of Healing - a spell that easily heals nearly half of a character's health, if they are under 50% life. That, and the monk doesn't have to worry about running around, avoiding attacks, worrying about Skull Crack, or Water Trident.
Warrior Strength does not boost critical chances. It grants your attacks armour penetration, but only when you use melee attack skills. So, if you are using something like Cleave for your main damage skill, which can be used every third attack, Strength is much more useful then if you were using Final Thrust, which is available every 11th attack. IMHO, the biggest reason to take a Warrior primary is for the armour - I see Strength as a minor bonus, applied every few attacks. High investment into it is not all that necessary, unless you want the improvement to its skills.
Rangers: Their primary is expertise. It provides a 5% cost reduction to their skills per point. Pretty nifty, considering how expensive so many ranger skills are. I may also add that Rangers have higher elemental defense then Warriors.
Monks: Divine Favour is not bugged.
I do not believe that being a Me/Mo is all that some crack it up to be - most Monk skills take 1-2 seconds to cast. As much as I like Mesmers, I'd probably prefer the +40 healing per cast over a half a second reduction in casting time. Resurrection spells are the exception, of course. I'd rather take the Mo/Me, for the energy stealing or warrior crippling skills.
Elementalist/Monk is another toss-up. I mean, more mana is nice, but Divine Favour will grant you higher healing per second... As well as access to a few nice skills.
Now, that the nits are over...
I'd frankly say that the Elementalist mana bonus is really a mediocre attribute at best... Considering that Soul Reaping is superior in all but 4v4 pvp.
The Elementalist starts a battle with say, 30 extra mana, from 10 points in Energy Storage, right? Well, if throughout the course of the battle, your mana will never go above what a typical caster's maximum is (And it shouldn't... You should be casting, not staring into speace!), then that's the entire bonus. 30 extra mana. You burn through it, and it only comes into play the next time you fight.
The Necromancer, on the other hand, with 10 Soul Reaping, will gain 10 mana when something, anything, dies. In PvE, with large groups of monsters, itll definetely prove to be superior to Energy Storage, by far. It also makes minions viable - 10 mana for the corpse hitting the floor, 10 mana for when your minion dies - almost pays off the 25 investment. After you make 4 kills, you already get a bigger benefit then Energy Storage would provide.
In PvP, especially Tombs, Soul Reaping really shines - its the only attribute that gets stronger, the more time a battle takes. If your team is losing members, then the extra mana may change the tides - if your team is winning, then it gives you an extra safety cushion, in case things go wrong.
To add insult to injury, the Elementalist's Aura of Restoration is really not that great of a skill in PvP. It may mend little nicks and bruises, but its not going to save your life when two warriors, a ranger, and 2 elementalists are focusing their fire on you.
Edit:
Wind Riders:
Their Conjure Phantasm does not stack. It's just that Damage Over Time spells are far more damaging, and mana efficient then their Direct Damage counterparts. -5 arrows of regen is -10 health per second. Considering that characters tend to have life ratings of 250 at that point in the game, just two recasts of Phantasm will completely drain their life bars. :rolleyes:
Rules of Engagement:
Mesmers may be messing with your heads... But any Monk worth his salt is at least 60% more effective in healing his allies then healing himself.
Let me put it this way:
A team has two Monks... Your team focuses on the darned annoying Mesmer...
One Monk can throw on a healing seed - 30 health area of effect heal when the target takes damage... Then follow up with a Live Vicariously, to protect against enchantment removers, and cast an Orison here and there... And use a Word of Healing if someone's in trouble... The second monk is free to do more or less whatever he wants.
Results - with the focus fire of 6 people, you have taken one monk and one caster out of the battle. Great... A 50% drop in healing power, and a 16% drop in damage output.
Or, alternativelt, if you focus fire on one of the two Monks...
The targetted Monk is going to have to flee. When they are running, they won't be getting off the 2 or 3 second cast time spells - maybe an orison here and there. The other Monk will be busy healing the first one...
Results - you have taken both monks out of the battle. A 100% drop in healing power.
As I said, a Monk is far better suited to healing allies then himself - Healing Seed cannot be cast on yourself. Neither can Word of Healing - a spell that easily heals nearly half of a character's health, if they are under 50% life. That, and the monk doesn't have to worry about running around, avoiding attacks, worrying about Skull Crack, or Water Trident.
"One day, o-n-e day..."