Taugrim's MMO Blog

This is my first PVP video for Allods Online (AO). I dinged level 25 today and captured footage of League players attempting to gank me 1v1 and a dynamic 1v4.

This video includes the following fights:

• 26 Melee Healer vs 26 Mage
• 26 Melee Healer vs 27 Summoner
• 26 Melee Healer vs 4 opponents

Here is my current spec:

http://allodsbase.com/en/talents#_2oxv3mc1xyc718820nvy

• I’ve earned 2 World Quest rubies in addition to the rubies available when leveling, so ignore the calculator saying this is a level 27 build
• I picked up Divine Prayer 1 (DP) instead of Holy Rage. DP is an excellent instant-cast burst heal
• I have 2/3 Condemnation, and this reduces the cooldowns for Blind Faith (disorient/snare) and Banished Words (ruby silence ability) to 24 seconds. Both are superb abilities in PVP, and BF is highly valuable in PVE. At level 26 I will take the 3rd Condemnation ruby to reduce their cooldowns to 21 seconds

Overall, I’m really enjoying the playability of the Melee Healer spec. The PVP mechanics in practice have matched or exceeded what I was hoping for when I wrote the Melee Healer Guide.

Here are some comments not mentioned in the video:

• Always make sure to pre-cast Heavenly Smite. Having an instant-cast AOE knockdown rocks in PVP (and PVE)
• I didn’t call out when I used DP, but I used it in each of the fights, and you can hear and see the spell animation (it looks like the green shimmer like Devoted Plea)
• Don’t underestimate the power of the self-healing from 3/3 Brilliant Faith. I talked a lot about PH in the video but when you watch the footage you can see the Brilliant Faith heal procs as well
• If you use the Kanian racial bubble and Holy Shield, after Holy Shield wears off you’ll still have the racial bubble up – so you have unbroken damage absorption. You can see that in the fight against the Summoner
• My gear in the 1st fight was from Darkwater, which is two zones before Holy Lands (HL). Yes I know that’s pathetic. I skipped the Elf rep gear because I didn’t want to do the repeatable quest 18 times. That’s simply not my idea of fun. My gear sucked until I was able to acquire the green HL rep gear. In the last two fights I had the green HL rep gear. I haven’t been able to run the repeatable rep quest in HL due to the lack of level capping/balancing mechanics

The PVP action in Holy Lands has been fun at times. However, there is no mechanic to prevent or discourage higher level players from ganking lowbies. I have watched a single level high-level player wipe multiple groups of under-30 players with ease. A lot of players I’ve chatted with are very frustrated with getting 1 or 2-shotted and not having a fighting chance. AO will lose players if the game mechanics are not changed, because life in the Holy Lands in the mid 20s can be pretty rough. A simple level cap would suffice, e.g. Asee-Teph PVP is only for players level 30 and under. This design flaw exists in both Aion and Allods Online and I am surprised that game developers haven’t figured out that level capping/balancing mechanics make for a much more enjoyable and competitive PVP experience that will result in higher player retention.

I’m still playing AO because gPotato adjusted the Item Shop prices to reasonable levels and I wanted to experience the PVP system firsthand. I’m still waiting to see what gPotato does about the 1.0.07 patch, which contains a lot of negative changes and is rumored to have caused many Russian players to quit playing Russian AO. Hopefully gPotato can work with the game developer to not implement those changes in gPotato’s AO.

If you have any comments / feedback / questions please post ‘em.

In the past week, I’ve switched back from Khaine / Hoeth spec to Hoeth / Khaine.

The 2h H/K spec featured in this video is very well-rounded. It’s an excellent performer overall for any scale of fighting (1v1,  group RVR, mass ORVR). You can read more about this spec in the Favorite Swordmaster Specs post.

The matchups, with renown ranks (RR):

• RR64 SM vs RR46 Shaman
• RR64 SM vs RR60 Shaman
• RR64 SM vs RR72 Chosen
• RR64 SM vs RR76 Chosen

Video Errata:

• the title slide says “Khaine / Hoeth Spec” but should say “Hoeth / Khaine Spec”
• the stats in the video are incorrect for WS, Init, and Wou. They are 704 Str, 708 Tou, 297 WS, 244 Ini, and 880 Wou, +7 crit

I didn’t mention it in the video, but against ranged healers and Squig Herders, Unstoppable Juggernaut is a very good tactic to slot in place of Rugged. Against ranged healers, Sorcerers, and Maguses (Magi?), you may find Focused Offense to be a better choice than either Unstoppable Juggernaut or Rugged. It depends on your opponent and how effectively they kite.

My Shaman is in mid-T2 now, and it’s been a blast soloing on him.

Some tips from the video:

• when you detaunt a target, your pre-existing DoTs will continue to tick without breaking the detaunt. That’s huge! So if you can, get DoTs on an opponent prior to detaunting
• detaunt + bubble (Don’ Feel Nuthin) is an amazing combination for buying time to heal up
• Shamans have two detaunts in T2, the single-target detaunt (Look Over There) and the PBAOE detaunt (Stop Hittin’ Me!). They have separate cooldowns, so you can chain the abilities together. The PBAOE detaunt is very convenient for detaunting nearby opponents without having to target them

Comments / feedback / questions welcome.

I’m trying to decide if I level up to T3 as fast as possible or just hang out in T2 and have fun

This is my 1st Swordmaster (SM) 1v1s video spec’d as Khaine / Hoeth. The matchups, with renown ranks (RR):

• RR59 SM vs RR60 Discipline of Khaine
• RR59 SM vs RR63 Discipline of Khaine
• RR59 SM vs RR63 Chosen
• RR60 SM vs RR62 Sorcerer
• RR60 SM vs RR56 Sorcerer

I’m back to playing Warhammer Online after 10 weeks away from the game. I decided to check out Patch 1.3 on a 10-day trial to see whether the game had improved in terms of stability. It’s much more stable overall; it still crashes but not multiple times a night.

When I re-subscribed to WAR, I was quite rusty and wasn’t sure if anything had changed with the SM class. So I tried out a bunch of different specs and blade enchants against the same opponents. Here is the list of specs I experimented with:

• 1h Hoeth / Khaine
• 1h Vaul / Hoeth
• 1h Vaul / Khaine
• 2h Hoeth / Khaine
• 2h Vaul / Hoeth
• 2h Vaul / Khaine
• 2h Khaine / Hoeth

Compared to the other specs, 2h Khaine / Hoeth spec performed surprisingly well. I had tried that spec in Patch 1.1 and in Patch 1.2, but I didn’t like it for two reasons:

1. Ether Dance (ED) did not fire consistently. This was the main issue for me
2. the spec lacks crowd control (no silence or knockdown)

That first point seems to have been addressed; ED is much more usable now. Overall the build is a lot of fun to play, and it’s suited well for both soloing and grouping.

Here are the pros to 2h Khaine / Hoeth spec:

• ED provides the best single-target burst damage we have, and burst damage kills
• ED synergizes superbly with other excellent tactics: Potent Enchantments (PE) and Balanced Accuracy (BA). As ED is a 5-hit ability, there are many opportunities for PE to proc. Every proc of PE gives an immediate damage over time (DoT) tick and re-starts the PE DoT timer. BA gives +20% crit chance to each of the 5 swings of ED
• ED makes the spec efficient in terms of the damage-to-Action Points (AP) ratio. I notice with an ED spec that I can DPS for longer before running dry on AP, primarily because ED is a 5-hit ability

Here are the cons to 2h Khaine / Hoeth spec:

• as noted above, lack of silence or knockdown
• opponents can interrupt ED
• the spec is squishier than other specs / doesn’t allow for use of a shield

If you have any questions or feedback on the video or this post, please submit a Comment.

Here is the complete list of narrated PVP / RVR videos I created for the Warhammer Online (WAR) Swordmaster (SM) class.

The description on YouTube for each video provides a link to an associated discussion thread over on WarhammerAlliance.com.

I spent the majority of my time in WAR playing SM as my main. I originally played a Bright Wizard (BW) as my main, but we had a real shortage of tanks in my guild and on our server, Phoenix Throne. So I decided to re-roll as a tank in November 2008. I chose SM over Ironbreaker (IB) for several reasons:

1. IB was much more popular than SM
2. SM was regarded as under-powered relative to the other 3 tank classes. My impression by mid-Tier 2 (esp at R14-16) was that the SM class was capable, if one played to its strengths. I was told “it would change by Tier 4″ for the worse, and I wanted to see for myself
3. I figured the probability of the SM class getting nerfed was low, given the previous 2 points. Whereas I thought that the Grudge mechanic of IB faced the same issues as Combusion for BW: it scaled too well and therefore would be difficult to balance
4. the classic samurai-ish look appealed to me

Tier 2 Videos

The two T2 videos cover the basics of SM play. If you’re new to the class, I recommend checking these out first.

The following video covers our damage mechanics (Spirit damage FTW), target selection, and melee positioning.

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The following video covers our tanking mechanics in PVP.

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Tier 3 Videos

The following video discusses punting (knockback) mechanics. I’m grouped in this video with Keen the blogger, who is playing Stocky the Ironbreaker.

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The following video is my first SM video of 1v1 fights.

Keep Defense Tactics for Tanks

The following video shows what a tank should do in defending the ramp to the keep lord room.

Tier 4 Videos

For whatever reason, I never got around to making a scenario video in T4 with my SM. But I did create a lot of 1v1 videos against different classes. Some videos I packed a 1h + shield, in other videos I used a 2h.

The following video has 1v1s against casters and healers, with 1h + shield. I used a 1h while leveling to R40, because we don’t get the great ability Wall of Darting Steel until R40.

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The following video is my 1st video at R40. When I dinged R40, I had very mediocre gear, so I was still using a 1h + shield to boost my survivability in 1v1s.

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The following video is my 1st video video using a 2h in 1v1s. I was using Annihilator gear and the quest reward 2h sword Ninth Peak.

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The following video is one of my favorite ones. It’s a 1v2: me against a Discipline of Kaine and a Chosen.

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In the following video, I had just earned the 2h Bloodfist Greatsword influence reward, so I went looking for 1v1 fights.

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The following video shows 1v1s in Patch 1.2, during which I went back to 1h + shield due to the very high caster DPS. This video showcases the addons Aura and WSCT (Warhammer Scrolling Combat Text). I love Aura and WSCT, with ability names turned on, as you can see exactly what’s happening in a fight.

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The following video shows 1v1s against the same opponent, Skragg the Choppa, with a 1h + shield. I discuss tactics for beating Choppas, which are a very strong in 1v1s when they spec for Furious Choppin’ (the 6-hit ability that heals the Choppa for the damage done).

Addendum

For the record, before my subscription ran out on April 20, 2009, I did spend a couple weeks running with a 2h again, with 3 Sentinel and 3 Darkpromise pieces and BA/EA/PE/Rugged slotted (~610 Strength + 21 Melee Power, ~620 Toughness, ~895 Wounds). The results were good. I could output good burst damage while retaining solid survivability.