Saturday, May 29, 2010

Reckoning

This is another level 900 skills that was recently introduced.

Description :
+0.2% per point chance of doubling a random skill level for the battle if you initiate the combat (Note that this skill does not work with Doubler, Summon Shield Imp or Counter Attack.).

So at level 175, that translate to 35% chance of doubling a random skill.
Now, the description is thrown up for interpretation. If you have 10 skills activated on you, do you have a 35% chance of doubling the skill level for EACH skill (which means each combat has 3-4 skills with doubled levels), or do you have a 35% chance of doubling the skill for one of those 10 skills?
My guess (and I will update this blog if I got it wrong) is the latter, and the algorithm goes like this :
#1 Roll a dice to determine if the 35% is activated.
#2 If activated, roll a dice again to determine which of the activated skill has its level doubled.

Given the above, that means the usefulness of the skill really depends on what skill was doubled.
For levelling, the most useful skills to have its level doubled are :

Adept Learner
I usually hunt with either a level 175 buff or a level 200 activated with guild RP.
At level 175, it gives 35% more xp, so if the skill level is doubled, you get 70% more xp!

Librarian
I usually use a level 225 potion, Potion of the Bookworm. That gives 22.5% more xp.
If the skill level is doubled, that means 45% more xp.

Conserve
With a level 175 buff, you have a 8.75% chance that the attack uses no stamina.
With Power leveller pack B, you can get a level 200 buff, increasing that chance to 10%.
Doubling those odds are great.

Now, if my guess on the algorithm is right, we really don't want the skill doubled to be anything else. In fact, if we can choose the skill, it'll always be Adept Learner. But we probably cannot choose. So here's now what I think will positively impact the way players play. Because the odds of activating one of those 3 skills above diminishes as we have more buffs, we now really want to hunt with minimal buffs. Each additional buff will compete for the doubling of levelling, and therefore reducing the odds of those 3 skills being doubled.





Friday, May 28, 2010

Distraction

No, this blog is not about me being distracted from FallenSword.
Which I am. I am playing another game (Empire Craft).
Since I did mention it, might as well give my referral link :)
http://in.ec.hithere.com/r.html?tg=759997

This blog is about a new skill, introduced today.
Distraction is a level 900 skill.
Description :
+0.2% per point chance to obtain no gold from a successful combat. +0.05% per point chance to inflict double damage in each round of combat. Note this skill has no effect in PvP.

So, the skill is an exchange of gold for a chance of double damage.
If you are 1-hitting, this is clearly not something you want.
However, if you are 2-hitting, is it better to simply save the gold and use that to buy stamina?

At level 175, you will be losing 35% of the gold for a 8.75% chance to double the damage.
If you are 2-hitting, I'll assume that you will be using Wither potion and Shield Strike.
Those 2 will give you a 75.25% chance to 1-hit in a 2-hitting setup.
With Distraction, that chance will only go up to 77.4%.

So you gain 2.16% in stam, losing 35% in gold.
At level 800 and up, each creature gives about 320 gold.
So the trade off is 112 gold for 0.0216 stam.
That means, to get 25 stam, you need to kill about 25/0.0216 = 1157 creatures.
At that rate, you would have lost about 129k in gold to gain 25 stam/1 fsp.

At first glance, it may seem like for 2-hitting, this is a buff to get.
But wait, the buff itself cost 25 stam and 1 fsp.
So assuming you kill 1157 creatures, you're trading 129k + 1 fsp for 1 fsp.
Clearly this is NOT the buff to get, not even if you're 2-hitting.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Hunting Setups for level 800 and above

It's been some time since I write on hunting setups.
Partly, because there's so many new items that I cannot catch up.
Also, it is no longer as straight forward as getting maximum damage.
In many cases, you can get enough damage AND enough defense.
Shield Imps now also do not kick in if the damage is not enough to kill you.
This means that armor setup is also feasible.

This post is on using defensive setups, not armor.

Level 792 : Armor of Jutindou
(I missed this one, and was not using this)
Volkers Set + Ormarrs set + Armor of Jutindou + Shield of Nouiban + Ring of Gasrel + Boots of Aeroni + Rune of Teuio
For some levels where you need more attack, trade Ormarrs set for Reborn Elemental Blade of Fire and Helmet of Comizhar.

Level 796 : Shield of Caldoura
This is an upgrade to the Shield of Nouiban. This will be the shield for 54 levels.

Level 801/811/830/831/836 : Amulets
These are nice amulets. However, since the hunting setup calls for Volkers set which include a gloves, these ugprades are useless.

Level 802/810 : Pailfe Gauntlets and Gloves of Rocuia
These are upgrades to the Gloves of Gialle, and like the amulets above, shadowed by the Volkers set.

Level 804 : Helmet of Houral
Since Ormarrs is still the preferred setup, this helmet only replaces Helmet of Comizhar in the alternate setup.

Level 806 : Rune of Yuahe
This replaces the Rune of Frokjas

Level 810 : Dimcriee Roc Rune
An alternative to Rune of Yuahe. This rune has damage/attack stats instead of damage/attack/defense. Can be useful when you need the extra attack.

Level 812 : Boots of Grovalke
Thanks to AndyPearce for spotting this one.
It's after 173 levels that we get an upgrade to the Boots of Aeroni.

Level 816 : Ring of Heppitor
The Ring of Gasrel gets an upgrade after 209 levels

Level 823 : Armor of Feldishja
Thanks to Tangtop for pointing out this one and the Rune of Chalbm.
This is an upgrade to the armor and has damage/defense stats.

Level 825 : Ring of Zarelk
This one's not as good as Heppitor.

Level 828 : Rune of Chalbm
This rune can increase the damage, but its stats is attack/armor/damage.
Compare with Rune of Yuahe, you are tradining 188 defense for 57 attack + 129 armor + 42 damage. Even if you don't care about the armor, that trade-off is probably still a good one, unless you need the defense.

Level 831 : Amulet of Ferhoal
This amulet upgrades the maximum damage, but we're still using the Volkers set.
However, this is the final amulet before level 850.

Level 837 : Ring of Gedaile
This ring can be crafted. A perfect ring will have 1394 damage after forging.

Level 850 : Archerons set / Chronos set
These 2 sets changes the setup quite significantly.
I can see 3 major setups :
1) Archerons set + Gloves of Rocuia + Amulet of Ferhoal + Reborn Elemental Blade of Fire + Armor of Feldishja + Ring of Gedaile + Boots of Aeroni + Rune of of Chalbm
2) Archerons set + Volkers set + Reborn Elemental Blade of Fire + Armor of Feldishja + Ring of Gedaile + Boots of Aeroni + Rune of of Chalbm
3) Archerons set + Volkers set + Chronos set + Reborn Elemental Blade of Fire + Armor of Feldishja

Setup #1 avoids any crystals. But setup #2 has the best damage among the 3 setups. Setup #3 has less damage, but a lot more defense. If the damage in setup #3 is sufficient, it is probably the best choice. If more attack is needed (but I doubt so), The Dimcriee Roc Rune can substitute the Rune of Yuahe.

Level 852 : Amulet of Dariila
This upgrade is only for setup #1, since the other setups use Volkers set.

Level 859 : Boots of Baliora
An upgrade to the Boots of Grovalke