04-14-2003, 10:28 PM
OK, Shockwave is only available in WereBear Form, Hurricaine in human form. Should he be switching back and forth between forms? A bit micro intensive, but I suppose some folks like that. That bit is a matter of choice of style, not quality. However, if in a laggy environment, delays in switching makes this approach appear poorly suited to the problem in question.
Defiance is a good choice to complement WereForm, but Holy Freeze, with the exception of a few Act V sorts, does better than Defiance, IMO, since it slows down the monster attack delivery rate: if the monster only attacks half as often, you have effectively cut chances to be hit in half, possibly less, since you kill faster per his number of attacks on you and yours when he attacks less often over a given period of time. On the other hand, WereBear/Defiance Merc/Really High DR equipment is a pretty good approach, but the typical lack of a shield on a Druid, in order to speed up your own killing speed via two hand weapons, may reduce the effectiveness of a defense heavy build. Item dependency is a key issue here. If it takes you longer to kill the foe, he gets more chances to hit you.
And as to that tripe about hiding behind a Barbarian: between a Grizzly Bear and an Act II or Act V merc, you
a) get lag warning from the 'freezes in the middle of a move' you can detect on your merc
B) you have a meat shield or two
No need to hide behind others, the key is to pay attention to what you are doing.
A merc and any other summonable, being run by the server, is your first tip off that you have just hit a lag spike, before the fps number changes. This is a key HC survival issue for me on my dial up connection. When the merc freezes, either TP or Esc out, and rejoin or sit in town, depending on what the severity of the lag is. My ping is typically from 120-440, depends on a lot of factors, and I usually average 240-260. Works just fine.
Other lag resistance approaches include massive amounts of -Damage to items, -%Damage to items, and the Reduce Magical Damage items. High resistance is of course critical when faced with elemental attackers in a laggy environment, so as to avoid the one hit kill.
In the interest of the health of the Lounge, I am going to ask you, please:
If you are going to give advice, raise the quality of your replies. Please? Put some more thought into them.
Defiance is a good choice to complement WereForm, but Holy Freeze, with the exception of a few Act V sorts, does better than Defiance, IMO, since it slows down the monster attack delivery rate: if the monster only attacks half as often, you have effectively cut chances to be hit in half, possibly less, since you kill faster per his number of attacks on you and yours when he attacks less often over a given period of time. On the other hand, WereBear/Defiance Merc/Really High DR equipment is a pretty good approach, but the typical lack of a shield on a Druid, in order to speed up your own killing speed via two hand weapons, may reduce the effectiveness of a defense heavy build. Item dependency is a key issue here. If it takes you longer to kill the foe, he gets more chances to hit you.
And as to that tripe about hiding behind a Barbarian: between a Grizzly Bear and an Act II or Act V merc, you
a) get lag warning from the 'freezes in the middle of a move' you can detect on your merc
B) you have a meat shield or two
No need to hide behind others, the key is to pay attention to what you are doing.
A merc and any other summonable, being run by the server, is your first tip off that you have just hit a lag spike, before the fps number changes. This is a key HC survival issue for me on my dial up connection. When the merc freezes, either TP or Esc out, and rejoin or sit in town, depending on what the severity of the lag is. My ping is typically from 120-440, depends on a lot of factors, and I usually average 240-260. Works just fine.
Other lag resistance approaches include massive amounts of -Damage to items, -%Damage to items, and the Reduce Magical Damage items. High resistance is of course critical when faced with elemental attackers in a laggy environment, so as to avoid the one hit kill.
In the interest of the health of the Lounge, I am going to ask you, please:
If you are going to give advice, raise the quality of your replies. Please? Put some more thought into them.
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete