Saturday, July 24, 2010

Dagger and a bowl of rice: Khitai report ep. 5


I have been preparing a post on how Kara Korum is Latin for bull shit. Seriously, you can't take a step without aggroing a spider or other member of araneae order (you google that shit). Compared to Grasslands Kara Korum is rocky hell in which you just die over and over. However this weekend I have decided to give Kara Korum another shot and to my surprise it has been the most pleasurable experience I have had so far in the expansion if not in the whole Age of Conan.

First and foremost the crater in Kara Korum and the story around it has set my imagination and interest a blaze. I am 100% sure that I will dwell in Kara Korum until I have checked every nook and cranny in that place and learned of it's secret. Seriously, I am willing, once rank 4 with Last Legion, to betray them (even thou I REALLY like that faction) just to explore Scarlet Circle's involvement with the crater.

I have also been pleasantly surprised with Brittle Blade's quests. Grasslands and Chosain gave me the impression that Brittle is this cheesy gathering of cutthroats. In Grasslands you take orders from fat assassin and Chosain officer is this insecure weakling. Lucky in Kara Korum you will have a chance to look at Brittle's dark side related to the worship of Goddess of death (from whom we will all take our final communion I have been told..). The cult of death behind assassination business has been briefly mentioned by fat assassin in Grasslands and I have truly missed that aspect of this faction. I won't spoil anything, but I am rank 3 with them now and it only gets better.

I still have to unlock Priests of Yun in Kara Korum, but I am fully expecting their quests to be pure gold.


So far only the Chosain has been disappointing for me since it gives very similar game play experience as Grasslands and there is not enough emphasis on the conflict: it should  have been ever present in that zone (that is how I have imagined it anyway when I have first read about Chosain) and it turned out to be small skirmish that players ride through and hoping not to get knocked off the mount by some mob.

 

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Assassin's hideout podcast - ep. 18


show notes:

- interview with Didek
- social tab in pvp
- it's over 9000!






title of the post is a link to the podcast.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Assassin's hideout podcast - ep. 17


show notes:

- changes to rangers (live)
- changes to Bori (live)
- chocking powder in pvp and pve
- future changes to pvp





title of the post is a link to the podcast.

Monday, July 5, 2010

FAQ - all things assassiny past 1.6

This guide will get you cutters up to speed with all the hoops you gotta jump through after resubing.

The following questions are the most common so I hope I have covered it all - if not feel free to ask in reply.

I am answering question in somewhat random fashion - just like you are asking them.


1. Where are the stances? I used to have one for lotus and one for corruption.

They are no longer here - removed along with 1.6. Its for the best, really.


2. Whats the deal with soul shards?

Soul Shards are now part of every assassin. Regardless of what tree you will pick you will relay heavily on shard consumption and shard management. The soul shards also work in different fashion now: they are no longer gained via successful melee hit, but rather passively regenerated or gained via feats and perks.

Every skill and feat description will inform you of shard costs: some are free (like kidney shots), some will always consume fixed amount (like avatar), some will consume all shards (like death whirlwind) and finally some will remove 1 shard if you happen to have it (snap kick).

Only feats that consume fixed amount of shards will NOT work unless you have the shards to spend (like deaths gaze, opportunistic strike) - all others will work, but will deal less damage or there will be no penalty at all.


3. How can I heal myself?

Right now only avatar of death provides healing on successful melee/magic attacks.


4. What is my survivability vs magic users?

Its better than ever. Not only assassins kept all of their goodies, but also got dull pain which basically makes you immune to magic for mare 2 shards. They only nerf is that lotus overload will now proc every 10s, no more.


5. What is my survivability vs melee?

Its worst when you consider only the passive feats. Assassins have to relay heavily on their CC in order to go toe-to-toe with other melee. The cat's paw is now on 2m cool down so you can use it more often (please do)


6. How does my DPS stack up to other classes.

When it comes to single target elimination we are IT.


7. What is the best specc for PVP/PVE leveling/Solo PVE

Right now Hybrid builds reign supreme.Most hybrids are corruption based with lotus tree as supplementation (just like in 1.4)


8. I have just rolled an assassin, what should I feat in?

1. Feat in corrupted blades

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1630-15

2. Feat in lotus blades. This will give you best damage at the very beginning. Corrupted blades will also get upgraded as you level up (its tier based, each tier = level range)

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1601-05,1630-15

3. Feat in Swift ending, cat's paw and lotus dart. Its a solid damage upgrade, survivalist bost and your first feated in miasma.

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1601-05,1619-05,1623-01,1625-05,1630-15

4. Feat in necrosis for a solid face stab boost

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1601-05,1610-03,1619-05,1623-01,1625-05,1630-15

5. Put one point into dull pain to unlock next tier of feats

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1601-05,1610-03,1611-01,1619-05,1623-01,1625-05,1630-15

6. Get snap kick and lotus extract. Snap kick will be your first AOE CC that will let you knock back several opponents and lotus extract will grant you instant 3 shards.

7. Get lotus tainted blood and lotus overload - you won't be needing any more anti magic feats for a long long time.

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1601-05,1610-03,1611-01,1613-03,1615-01,1619-05,1623-01,1625-05,1614-01,1616-01,1630-15

8. Get opportunistic strike for more CC

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1601-05,1610-03,1611-01,1613-03,1615-01,1619-05,1623-01,1625-05,1614-01,1622-01,1616-01,1630-15

9. Get sense weakness, corrupting strikes and soul strike miasma. You will feel the power of sense weakness and corrupting strikes as you level up and get more crit rating gear so this is why I am not advocating getting it early on. Deadly venom from lotus dart and upgraded face stab will make up for not being able to use detonation early on.

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1601-05,1610-03,1611-01,1613-03,1615-01,1619-05,1623-01,1625-05,1614-01,1622-01,1616-01,1630-15,1632-15,1644-15,1652-11

10. Accelerated and Precise strikes. Accelerated will bail your ass out of sticky situations (bad mob pull) and Precise strikes will supplement both deadly venom from lotus dart and face stab.

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1601-05,1610-03,1611-01,1613-03,1615-01,1619-05,1623-01,1625-05,1614-01,1622-01,1616-01,1630-15,1632-15,1644-15,1640-15,1652-11,1634-13


From now on the patch is pretty straight forward. This is what you will end up with:

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=34&tpl=1601-05,1610-03,1611-03,1613-03,1615-01,1619-05,1623-01,1625-05,1614-01,1622-01,1616-01,1637-11,1645-13,1631-15,1630-15,1650-11,1647-15,1632-15,1653-11,1644-15,1612-12,1640-15,1641-11,1643-11,1648-15,1654-11,1652-11,1634-13

9. How miasmas work?


The basic stuff about miasmas is covered here:

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2659990&postcount=1


You can also read about face stab here:

http://forums-de.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=144543


10. What can I specc in for pvp?

Here are most common and exotic builds for pvp:

http://forum.assassinshideout.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=47

Here is what you should NOT specc in for pvp:

http://forum.assassinshideout.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=61

You can read more pvp guides here:

http://forums-de.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=114374


11. Can I use hide more often now? Is sneaking fixed?

No, its still broken.


12. Will I get any bonus to stealth as assassin?

Like hell you won't.

13. How should I open fights?

It is pretty much same for pvp and pve: first you need to apply base poison in form of grim corruption or slow death strikes.

- consume grim corruption with soul strike and use swift strikes combo. Swift strikes combo will end its animation when soul detonation goes off giving massive spike of damage

or

- apply slow death strikes and use swift strikes combo. During the animation use face stab to consume both base poisons

or

- apply slow death strikes and use lotus dart and then use swift strikes combo to beat down opponents with large HP pools,


The following are just examples, but those are the most common uses of miasmas.


14. What stats should I get on my gear?

Go for combat rating and crit rating. You can read more on 80lvl pvp gear here: http://forums-de.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=142927