Taugrim's MMO Blog

This video is my first look at the Warrior class in Structured PVP from the April 27-29 Beta Weekend Event. I discuss Warrior mechanics with two weapon setups:

• Axe/Axe and Rifle
• Greatsword and Sword/Axe

Here are recommendations for abilities:

• Of the 3 healing abilities, Mending seems to be the most useful, based on the short 20-sec cooldown. The passive regeneration from the Healing Signet (~180 every 3 seconds) does not offset the downside of the long 40-sec cooldown, and once you activate the Healing Signet you lose the passive regeneration
• Of the 3 elite abilities, Signet of Rage seems to be the best choice due to the long 30-sec duration of the 3 buffs
• Endure No Pain is a solid utility ability that is not heavy on defense/shield; the 5-sec invulnerability can buy time for your heal to come off cooldown or for you to finish an opponent
• If your spec lacks a charge, consider picking up the utility ability Bull’s Charge, which provides a knockdown effect

Here are recommendations for traits for any spec:

• Embrace the Pain trait (builds adrenaline when hit) rocks
• Heightened Focus synergizes well with Embrace the Pain, since your crit % jumps up to 9% with a full adrenaline bar

Please share your feedback, questions, and tips.

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My first look at the Elementalist class in Structured PVP from the April 27-29 Beta Weekend Event. I discuss the core mechanics of the Elementalist class with illustrative footage from the Battle of Khylo and Forest of Niflhel battlegrounds. In this video I play an Elementalist built for a mix of DoT (Condition) damage, direct damage, and offhealing.

The spec:
http://www.gw2tools.com/skills#el;fakkk;caaaaaUcagdaUea;Ybaa;YYUSZ

Condition (DoT) damage comes from multiple sources:

1. Bleed effect from Earth spammable Stone Shards chain
2. 60% chance on crit to proc a 5-sec bleed from the weapon sigil
3. Burning effects from 2 Fire abilities: Ring of Fire and Flamestrike
4. 20% chance when hit by a melee to apply burning effect
5. 20% chance to cause burning on a crit

Healing is provided by:

1. Signet of Restoration’s passive effect to heal when weapon abilities are used. For the Stone Shards chain, this can proc 3 x 170 (510) healing. Note that the Hurl ability, which is a follow-up to Rock Barrier, does not proc the healing probably because RB is considered the actual cast
2. Signet of Restoration’s Active heal
3. PBAoE heal Cleansing Wave in Water Attunement
4. Ranged AoE heal Water Trident in Water Attunement
5. PBAoE heal when attuning to Water from the 15-pt Healing Ripple trait
6. HoT that ticks for 80 from the 5-pt Soothing Mist trait while attuned to Water
7. Temporary PBAoE regeneration buff that ticks for 90 from Elemental Attunement

Errata

• I incorrectly referred to my spec as a “Containment” spec, but I meant “Condition” spec
• The 90-point heal ticks were from the optional trait Elemental Attunement, which provides an AOE regeneration buff when you attune to Water, not from Signet of Restoration

Thanks to my guildee Top for helping me ramp up on GW2 mechanics and the Elementalist class. As I blogged earlier, the learning curve for GW2 is rather steep!

UPDATE (2012/05/02): After I posted the video, I did some theorycrafting and there are a lot of improvements I want to make to emphasize Condition over DD and provide more survivability:
http://www.gw2tools.com/skills#el;aapkk;aaaaaaUcdgdaUea;Ybaa;YVUSZ

Here are the key changes:
1. switching from Amulet PvP Pow Pre CritDmg to Amulet PvP CondiDmg Pre Tuf
2. moving the 10 points in Fire to Earth to pick up Signet Mastery and the buffs to Malice and Toughness
3. swapping the DD Arcane Power utility skill to Signet of Fire for the heavy burn

Between the Signet of Fire (usable every 16s) burn, the Ring of Fire burn, and the crapton of bleeds from the weapon sigil proc and Stone Shards, this spec should output very high sustained Condition damage, while providing high survivability (~1.8k Toughness plus all the healing).

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In this video, I discuss the mechanics for the Sharpshooter tree for the Gunslinger class in SWTOR, using footage of my 37 Gunslinger in a Huttball match (queued solo). Sharpshooter Gunslinger is the mirror to Marksmanship Sniper.

While the Sharpshooter tree contains talents that buff cast-time nukes, it also offers instant-cast nuking capability, defensive talents to boost mitigation and control gaps to opponents, and improved “mana” (Energy) management. Between Trickshot and the Foxhole talent, I rarely have to weave in the mana-free ability Rapid Shots. So more non-stop pew pew

Here is the spec used in the video

• Gunslinger: http://torhead.com/skill-calc#700bcrrdRoRZrz.1
• Sniper: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400bcrrdRoRZrz.1

At 50, if I don’t go 31 points into Sharpshooter, I am targeting the following 23/16/2 spec:

• Gunslinger: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bcrrdRoRZrI0boRZb.1
• Sniper: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400bcrrdRoRZrI0boRZb.1

I’ll have to see whether Shock Charge with the 30% snare for 18 seconds is worth investing 16 points into the middle tree. A snare is the main thing Sharpshooter is lacking. TBD.

Let me know if you have any questions, tips, or feedback!

If you want to watch footage of a kick-ass Sharpshooter Gunslinger playing an almost identical spec at 50, check out Revy’s Gunslinger video:

To see me PVP’ing live, check out my TwitchTV channel. My stream features real-time commentary and between matches I interact with the Chat Room.

UPDATE (2012/04/26): I’ve changed my target spec at 50 from 23/16/2 to 28/13/0, to get the Surge talent toward the top of the SS tree. And I’d still have the 30% long-duration snare if needed.
- Gunslinger: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bcrrdRoRGZrI00oM.1
- Sniper: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400bcrrdRoRGZrI00oM.1

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“Vertical scaling” is the de facto way that most MMORPGs are designed: gamers level a character up to max level, then they grind out tiers of gear in PVE or PVP. And if you roll another character, you repeat the same process.

Here are the issues with the vertical scaling:

1. It’s grindy
2. It creates brackets. You can’t do content with other players unless your character levels / gear scores are sufficiently close
3. It causes power creep. Content is initially too difficult, but once players obtain the gear to do the content, it becomes progressively less difficult until it’s trivial
4. It creates dead zones and content. This happens when the bulk of active characters are at level cap and whenever expansions are released with new content

I believe that “horizontal scaling” – where new characters have a baseline set of necessary tools and progressing your character is about broadening your capabilities instead of centering on gear acquisition – would provide a much better solution for both gamers and developers.

Here are the benefits of horizontal scaling:

1. There are no brackets due to level or gear score. You can roll a new character and immediately group with other more-experienced characters
2. It levels the playing field in PVE and PVP. Performing well isn’t about your level or gear score, it’s about your ability to play your character effectively and work in a team
3. Content (zones, instances, etc) stays relevant forever

Here’s how would progression could work in a horizontal scaling system:

1. Take achievements to the next level, so that the game tracks performance at a granular level…
   - What’s my fastest time-to-clear for this instance (because this instance is never outdated)?
   - What’s my fastest TTC for this boss fight?
   - What’s my fastest Huttball match win ever?…and then have these stats feed into Leaderboards…- Which players / guilds have the fastest TTC for this boss for this week / the past x weeks / all-time?
   - Who had the highest DPS on this boss fight this week / month / all-time?

   So doing content for competitively-minded players is about excellence in execution, not getting geared up.

1. Support customization of the character’s look (armor / weapons / clothing) and guild heraldry based on achievements and performance
2. Have weapons with different capabilities, so that “gearing up” is about building up a collection of weapons that you can use in various situations or to support particular playstyles. So you acquire a Cinderburn staff if you want to buff up your Mage’s DoTs capability, or you acquire an Earthbind staff if you want to buff your Mage’ earth-based CC capability. But you just have to acquire each weapon once. There isn’t a +1 Flaming Sword, +2 Flaming Sword staff, etc – there’s just a Flaming Sword

I believe horizontal scaling would create a much more fun experience for gamers and also provide better ROI on content for game developers.

Let me know what you think!

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In this video, I explain for Patch 1.2 how to avoid “false” procs for the Accelerator talent in the Assault Specialist (Pyrotech) tree for the Vanguard (Powertech) class.

Prior to 1.2, to apply a burn effect on a target within 10 meters, it made sense to use Ion Pulse (Flame Burst) instead of Incendiary Round (Incendiary Missile), because Ion Pulse delivered more damage in a shorter timeframe, cost less mana, applied a snare effect, and could trigger the Accelerator talent to make the subsequent High Impact Bolt (Rail Shot) free.

However, in Patch 1.2, an internal 6-sec cooldown was added to the Accelerator talent, so you want to trigger the proc only when your High Impact Bolt (Rail Shot) has been used and is on cooldown. Remember, even if your High Impact Bolt (Rail Shot) is not on cooldown, by using Ion Pulse (Flame Burst) or Stockstrike (Rocket Punch), you can trigger the Accelerator talent.

Therefore, in some cases you may want to open on a target with Incendiary Round (Incendiary Missile) on your target instead of Ion Pulse (Flame Burst).

Effective PVP gameplay of Assault Specialist (Pyrotech) requires getting the most mileage out of your cooldown resets for High Impact Bolt (Rail Shot), so this is a critical concept to get right.

Let me know if you have any questions.

To see me PVP’ing live, check out my TwitchTV channel. My stream features real-time commentary and between matches I interact with the Chat Room.

Follow Me

Twitter: @taugrim
YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtv
Stream: http://twitch.tv/taugrim
Facebook: http://facebook.com/taugrim
GAMEBREAKER Host for “The Republic” SWTOR show: http://www.gamebreaker.tv/video-game-shows/star-wars-the-old-republic-video/the-republic-swtor-show/