Artemis Shadowhawk
27-03-2006, 18:50
ARTEMIS' FACTIONS PREVIEW EVENT REVIEW
After seeing all the discussion on the boards about various issues concerning the FPE, I've decided to post my own results and discoveries from testing and game-play. Finally, I'd like to post the build that worked the best for me.
First off though, I'm going to take a few seconds to recap my accomplishments from the weekend as "pseudoquasi"-proof that I actually tested these and am working from experience instead of build theory and number crunching. Also, it gives me a chance to brag a bit.
Character Stats:
http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/4084/image000016gq.th.jpg (http://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image000016gq.jpg)
Character Age: 44 hours and 55 minutes
Experience: 322,385
Completion: 100%
Character Evolution:
Explosive Minionmancer
I started off playing a Rt/N so I could try my Explosive Minionmancer build. I ended up using the following available skills:
Deathly Swarm
Animate Bone Minions
Death Nova
Blood of the Master
Attuned Was Songkai [e]
Explosive Growth
Boon of Creation
Flesh of My Flesh
Although I was really looking forward to this build, I was pretty disappointed with how well it actually worked in game. This being that one crucial part of the build revolves around an urn, Attuned Was Songkai, and because of that, it presented many troubled areas. Usually I would get into combat and use Attuned Was Songkai. By using it first, I would have enough energy for Explosive Growth and Boon of Creation. However, once I activated Attuned was Songkai, I became the main target for the enemies. Saying the entire build revolved around spells, even moreso, long-casting duration spells, I was interrupted on almost every attempt to Animate Bone Minions. And that was if I was still alive after I had every enemy in the area chasing me.
Furthermore, I had a problem with enchant removal. Enchant removal strips away my energy and life management and practically nullifies my offensive output. Saying I rely on Explosive Growth and Death Nova to deal damage, when those are stripped, my minions are hitting for only a few damage and I'm left to just cleaning up corpses. Also Explosive Growth didn't add on as much damage as I hoped after accounting in armor, which seems like a common trend for the lightning skills. I found usually with each summoning of minions, I'd only deal somewhere from 50-70 damage total. In conclusion, I think the magnetic effect of urns and reliance upon Enchantments and long-casting-duration spells spoiled this build. [Not that urns are a bad thing. There's more discussion of that later.]
Restoratualist
I then tried my hand at a Restoration build for Aspenwood Fort and keeping the siege turtles alived. I used the following skills:
Soothing Memories
Mend Body and Soul
Spirit Light
Weapon of Warding
Wielder's Boon
Recuperation
Attuned Was Songkai [e]
Flesh of My Flesh
I thought this worked alright. It definately didn't compare to a monk in healing amounts, but it allowed me to endlessly spam heals without any concerns of energy. I eventually used it in some random quests because there was a shortage of monks, and it was adequate but nothing great. The same problem arose due to Attuned Was Songkai and the effects of urns. I turned into a tank moreso than a healer, which wasn't neccesarily the way I wanted to play that build. Overall I found this to be just adequate similar to an E/Mo Healer. Also similarly, it's greatest advantage was that no one expected me to be the healer during Fort Aspenwood Missions.
Spiritualist
Finally, I felt that I wasn't doing the Ritualist justice by not using spirits. So I decided to play a Spirit Summoner with Channeling. To do this, I went and capped Ritual Lord from the boss Whispering Ritual Lord [go figure] in Silent Surf. I used the following skills:
Spirit Burn
Essence Strike
Painful Bond
Ritual Lord [e]
Pain
Bloodsong
Shadowsong
Flesh of My Flesh
I found this build to be extremely powerful. Although I didn't have energy or health management, this build does not require any as long as you are accompanied by a monk. Basically, I would use Ritual Lord and follow it with my three Binding Rituals. Then I'd aggro a mob and cast Painful Bond whenever they were clustered together. I'd spam Essence Strike and Spirit Burn for some extra small damage and just let my spirits do all the work for me. Also, I found that I could easily place spirits after a fight had begun without much concern of being interrupted [certainly not as much as the Explosive Minionmancer]. With all three spirits attacking and painful bond activated I was dealing 102 damage every 2 seconds while I could still move around, cast, or just spam wand attacks. Here are two consecutive screenshots of my spirits unloading on a pack of enemies:
First Shot:
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/6030/image000028hh.th.jpg (http://img55.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image000028hh.jpg)
Second Shot [only seconds later]:
http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/3121/image000031uj.th.jpg (http://img453.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image000031uj.jpg)
Furthermore, these attacks weren't AoE, but instead individual attacks for 34 damage each that I could aim at different enemies my wand spamming; All the damage my spirits are dealing ignores armor and I am still capable of my own actions. Also I found that the build did not rely on a slow moving group or required long recharge times or periods of inactivity. It was very versatile with my longest spirit recharge being only 30 seconds and very devastating. The thing I liked most about this is that it didn't require any urns and thus I wasn't being swarmed constantly. Finally, there is only room for improvement from here. You could get your spirits to deal 21 damage and Painful Bond to around 20 damage. Multiply that by three spirits and you're dealing 123 damage every 2 seconds.
Personal Opinions:
Concerning Spirits
There has been some talk about spirits and how effective or worth-while they are. After actually playing a Spiritualist and meshing offensive spirits with Painful Bond, I am really impressed with how effective they are. To eschew those long recharge times, I think Ritual Lord is a great boon; however, it is not neccesarily needed. Furthermore, concerning Soul Twisting, I believe it is incredibly useful for maintaining one spirit and one spirit alone. I used Union coupled with Soul Twisting to place down a new spirit every 10 seconds. Without Soul Twisting there would be no way to keep Union alive throughout an entire battle. Coupled with spawning skills and other additions, I do not think spirits are underpowered. Also, they do not seem to be overpowered at all. Personally, spirits are my most enjoyed aspect of the Ritualist.
There's been suggestions about shortening spirit cast and recharge times and even allowing stacking spirits, and I just want to say that after seeing the destructive force of spirits, there is definately no need for this. If I can deal 102 damage every 2 seconds while still being able to take any action I choose or cast any spell I like, I have absolutely no qualms with the spirits. And allowing stacked spirits is well ridiculous. If you had 5 spirits ritualists before a fight lay down spirits, you could easily get over 500 damage spikes every 2 seconds. I think spirits are probably the most balanced feature of the Ritualist currently.
However, one concern that I believe to offer a good point is that you should be able to keep a tab on your spirits. It is incredibly difficult to try to manage the life of spirits or even locate them by trying to find them on the battle field. I think a good solution to the problem would be something that the developers of Guild Wars have already done before in Diablo II. Instead of just showing that the spirit is active in the upper-left corner, incorporating a life meter would allow players to know when a spirit is about to die similarly to golems in Diablo II. Also, you should be able to click on the icon of the spirit to target it quickly for skills like Soul Twisting, because currently, I am left only watching my Union spirit waiting for its life to drop to Soul Twist it and thus rendering me incapable of doing anything else.
Sidenotes
I did a little bit of testing on spirits and here are some things I've concluded.
-Spirits cannot be directly affected by healing spells.
-Healing Spring does not work on Spirits.
-Weapon Spells work on Spirits.
-Signet of Creation cannot be used continuously without sacrificing your summons.
-Spirits attack every two seconds.
-Spawning does not aid pets.
Concerning Urns
Urns were the greatest let-down of the FPE for me. Upon first hearing of urns, I thought it was a great idea. Especially with urns such as Attuned Was Songkai to aid casters. Also, I entered the FPE with the impression that urns do not attract enemies such as other held items do. That's why I was really disappointed once I was swarmed and killed by a mob of angry Dredge.
I hate hearing complaints of how broken Guild Wars is and demanding the developers to change it. Also for the most part, I believe the developers know what they're doing and for the most part get it right, because let's face it, they get paid to do this, and we do not. However, I think that they have really stolen the flavor of urns by making them attract enemies. Take my favorite urn for example, Attuned Was Songkai. Instead of serving as a very useful tool to casters, it serves as a bane by attracting far too much attention, which results in mass damage spikes, enchantment removal, and interrupts. The urns all have many different effects that make them unique in their own; however, by attracting enemies, it only turns the urns into a one trick pony for tanks.
Instead of having all urns attract enemies as a balancing mechanism, I would rather see the urns power dialed back a bit and completely removing the magneticism. Or, if they want to keep that magneticism, perhaps they should incorporate it into only a few urns or new ones that would increase armor or decrease damage taken while leaving the caster-based urns magnet-free. I really like the idea of urns, and I think they just turned them all into the same tool by making them attract enemies.
The Role of Ritualists
I believe that Ritualists have a very unique role inside of Guild Wars. They are not a repeat of any other class and bring their own flavor to the community. Ritualists offer a great secondary healer option for groups to help upset the monopoly of monks just as Assassins do so with Warriors. Also they offer many defensive and offensive capabilities through their spirits. Finally, they introduce new mechanics and tactics which change the gameplay through their use of spirits. Spirits allow for a much more tactical and organized combat style similarly to traps and wards. I have a feeling that many organized groups will be using two ritualists where one is offensive and one is defensive.
I think a large problem that people are having right now with the Ritualist is trying to incorporate them into the norm through generalizations and comparisons. Ritualists are not monks, elementalists, rangers or necromancers. They are Ritualists. After playing one, I've decided to change my secondary to Ranger to expand upon my spirit arsenal and accentuate the Ritualist instead of trying to skew it into a Necromancer.
Conclusions:
I really enjoyed the FPE and played through the entire preview. Also, I was very happy with the Ritualist and how things worked out overall. I was disappointed with urns and just the fact that they had some of their flavor stolen, but other than that I'm thrilled with the Ritualist class and spirits were everything I hoped for.
Now to the build that I promised in the beginning:
TSR Spiritualist:
Ritualist/x
Attributes:
Communing: 11 [+1+3]=15
Channeling: 11 [+1]=12
Spawning: 8 [+1]=9
Skills:
Spirit Burn: Target foe is struck for 41 lightning damage. If any spirits are in the area around you, spirit Burn deals +27 damage. [5/1/5]
Essence Strike: Target foe is struck for 41 lightning damage. If any spirits are in the area around you, you gain 6 Energy. [5/1/8]
Painful Bond: For 18 seconds, target foe and all nearby foes take 18 damage whenever hit by a spirit's attack. [15/1/20]
Ritual Lord [e]: For 30 seconds, your Rituals recharge 51% faster. [10/-/30]
Pain: Create a level 9 spirit. This spirit attacks deal 20 damage. This spirit dies after 150 seconds. [5/3/45]
Bloodsong: Create a level 8 spirit who dies after 150 seconds. Attacks by that spirit steal up to 20 Health. [15/5/60]
Shadowsong: Create a level 8 spirit. The spirit's attacks cause Blindness for 6 second(s). This spirit dies after 30 seconds.
Flesh of My Flesh: Lose half of your Health. Resurrect target ally with your current Health and 5% Energy. [5/5/-]
Synopsis:
With all three sprits attacking and Painful Bond activated on a mob you're spirits will be hitting for 114 damage every 2 seconds while you can spam Spirit Burn and Essence Strike for additional lightning damage. Ritual Lord halves the recharge time of your spirits allowing you to easily replace them at the beginning of combat or during a fight. This allows for a mass amount of damage while remaining incredibly versatile and not just versatile for a ritualist.
Final Words:
I really like this build and I really enjoyed this weekend. I'm looking forward to actually being able to play through Factions and play a Ritualist full-time.
After seeing all the discussion on the boards about various issues concerning the FPE, I've decided to post my own results and discoveries from testing and game-play. Finally, I'd like to post the build that worked the best for me.
First off though, I'm going to take a few seconds to recap my accomplishments from the weekend as "pseudoquasi"-proof that I actually tested these and am working from experience instead of build theory and number crunching. Also, it gives me a chance to brag a bit.
Character Stats:
http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/4084/image000016gq.th.jpg (http://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image000016gq.jpg)
Character Age: 44 hours and 55 minutes
Experience: 322,385
Completion: 100%
Character Evolution:
Explosive Minionmancer
I started off playing a Rt/N so I could try my Explosive Minionmancer build. I ended up using the following available skills:
Deathly Swarm
Animate Bone Minions
Death Nova
Blood of the Master
Attuned Was Songkai [e]
Explosive Growth
Boon of Creation
Flesh of My Flesh
Although I was really looking forward to this build, I was pretty disappointed with how well it actually worked in game. This being that one crucial part of the build revolves around an urn, Attuned Was Songkai, and because of that, it presented many troubled areas. Usually I would get into combat and use Attuned Was Songkai. By using it first, I would have enough energy for Explosive Growth and Boon of Creation. However, once I activated Attuned was Songkai, I became the main target for the enemies. Saying the entire build revolved around spells, even moreso, long-casting duration spells, I was interrupted on almost every attempt to Animate Bone Minions. And that was if I was still alive after I had every enemy in the area chasing me.
Furthermore, I had a problem with enchant removal. Enchant removal strips away my energy and life management and practically nullifies my offensive output. Saying I rely on Explosive Growth and Death Nova to deal damage, when those are stripped, my minions are hitting for only a few damage and I'm left to just cleaning up corpses. Also Explosive Growth didn't add on as much damage as I hoped after accounting in armor, which seems like a common trend for the lightning skills. I found usually with each summoning of minions, I'd only deal somewhere from 50-70 damage total. In conclusion, I think the magnetic effect of urns and reliance upon Enchantments and long-casting-duration spells spoiled this build. [Not that urns are a bad thing. There's more discussion of that later.]
Restoratualist
I then tried my hand at a Restoration build for Aspenwood Fort and keeping the siege turtles alived. I used the following skills:
Soothing Memories
Mend Body and Soul
Spirit Light
Weapon of Warding
Wielder's Boon
Recuperation
Attuned Was Songkai [e]
Flesh of My Flesh
I thought this worked alright. It definately didn't compare to a monk in healing amounts, but it allowed me to endlessly spam heals without any concerns of energy. I eventually used it in some random quests because there was a shortage of monks, and it was adequate but nothing great. The same problem arose due to Attuned Was Songkai and the effects of urns. I turned into a tank moreso than a healer, which wasn't neccesarily the way I wanted to play that build. Overall I found this to be just adequate similar to an E/Mo Healer. Also similarly, it's greatest advantage was that no one expected me to be the healer during Fort Aspenwood Missions.
Spiritualist
Finally, I felt that I wasn't doing the Ritualist justice by not using spirits. So I decided to play a Spirit Summoner with Channeling. To do this, I went and capped Ritual Lord from the boss Whispering Ritual Lord [go figure] in Silent Surf. I used the following skills:
Spirit Burn
Essence Strike
Painful Bond
Ritual Lord [e]
Pain
Bloodsong
Shadowsong
Flesh of My Flesh
I found this build to be extremely powerful. Although I didn't have energy or health management, this build does not require any as long as you are accompanied by a monk. Basically, I would use Ritual Lord and follow it with my three Binding Rituals. Then I'd aggro a mob and cast Painful Bond whenever they were clustered together. I'd spam Essence Strike and Spirit Burn for some extra small damage and just let my spirits do all the work for me. Also, I found that I could easily place spirits after a fight had begun without much concern of being interrupted [certainly not as much as the Explosive Minionmancer]. With all three spirits attacking and painful bond activated I was dealing 102 damage every 2 seconds while I could still move around, cast, or just spam wand attacks. Here are two consecutive screenshots of my spirits unloading on a pack of enemies:
First Shot:
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/6030/image000028hh.th.jpg (http://img55.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image000028hh.jpg)
Second Shot [only seconds later]:
http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/3121/image000031uj.th.jpg (http://img453.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image000031uj.jpg)
Furthermore, these attacks weren't AoE, but instead individual attacks for 34 damage each that I could aim at different enemies my wand spamming; All the damage my spirits are dealing ignores armor and I am still capable of my own actions. Also I found that the build did not rely on a slow moving group or required long recharge times or periods of inactivity. It was very versatile with my longest spirit recharge being only 30 seconds and very devastating. The thing I liked most about this is that it didn't require any urns and thus I wasn't being swarmed constantly. Finally, there is only room for improvement from here. You could get your spirits to deal 21 damage and Painful Bond to around 20 damage. Multiply that by three spirits and you're dealing 123 damage every 2 seconds.
Personal Opinions:
Concerning Spirits
There has been some talk about spirits and how effective or worth-while they are. After actually playing a Spiritualist and meshing offensive spirits with Painful Bond, I am really impressed with how effective they are. To eschew those long recharge times, I think Ritual Lord is a great boon; however, it is not neccesarily needed. Furthermore, concerning Soul Twisting, I believe it is incredibly useful for maintaining one spirit and one spirit alone. I used Union coupled with Soul Twisting to place down a new spirit every 10 seconds. Without Soul Twisting there would be no way to keep Union alive throughout an entire battle. Coupled with spawning skills and other additions, I do not think spirits are underpowered. Also, they do not seem to be overpowered at all. Personally, spirits are my most enjoyed aspect of the Ritualist.
There's been suggestions about shortening spirit cast and recharge times and even allowing stacking spirits, and I just want to say that after seeing the destructive force of spirits, there is definately no need for this. If I can deal 102 damage every 2 seconds while still being able to take any action I choose or cast any spell I like, I have absolutely no qualms with the spirits. And allowing stacked spirits is well ridiculous. If you had 5 spirits ritualists before a fight lay down spirits, you could easily get over 500 damage spikes every 2 seconds. I think spirits are probably the most balanced feature of the Ritualist currently.
However, one concern that I believe to offer a good point is that you should be able to keep a tab on your spirits. It is incredibly difficult to try to manage the life of spirits or even locate them by trying to find them on the battle field. I think a good solution to the problem would be something that the developers of Guild Wars have already done before in Diablo II. Instead of just showing that the spirit is active in the upper-left corner, incorporating a life meter would allow players to know when a spirit is about to die similarly to golems in Diablo II. Also, you should be able to click on the icon of the spirit to target it quickly for skills like Soul Twisting, because currently, I am left only watching my Union spirit waiting for its life to drop to Soul Twist it and thus rendering me incapable of doing anything else.
Sidenotes
I did a little bit of testing on spirits and here are some things I've concluded.
-Spirits cannot be directly affected by healing spells.
-Healing Spring does not work on Spirits.
-Weapon Spells work on Spirits.
-Signet of Creation cannot be used continuously without sacrificing your summons.
-Spirits attack every two seconds.
-Spawning does not aid pets.
Concerning Urns
Urns were the greatest let-down of the FPE for me. Upon first hearing of urns, I thought it was a great idea. Especially with urns such as Attuned Was Songkai to aid casters. Also, I entered the FPE with the impression that urns do not attract enemies such as other held items do. That's why I was really disappointed once I was swarmed and killed by a mob of angry Dredge.
I hate hearing complaints of how broken Guild Wars is and demanding the developers to change it. Also for the most part, I believe the developers know what they're doing and for the most part get it right, because let's face it, they get paid to do this, and we do not. However, I think that they have really stolen the flavor of urns by making them attract enemies. Take my favorite urn for example, Attuned Was Songkai. Instead of serving as a very useful tool to casters, it serves as a bane by attracting far too much attention, which results in mass damage spikes, enchantment removal, and interrupts. The urns all have many different effects that make them unique in their own; however, by attracting enemies, it only turns the urns into a one trick pony for tanks.
Instead of having all urns attract enemies as a balancing mechanism, I would rather see the urns power dialed back a bit and completely removing the magneticism. Or, if they want to keep that magneticism, perhaps they should incorporate it into only a few urns or new ones that would increase armor or decrease damage taken while leaving the caster-based urns magnet-free. I really like the idea of urns, and I think they just turned them all into the same tool by making them attract enemies.
The Role of Ritualists
I believe that Ritualists have a very unique role inside of Guild Wars. They are not a repeat of any other class and bring their own flavor to the community. Ritualists offer a great secondary healer option for groups to help upset the monopoly of monks just as Assassins do so with Warriors. Also they offer many defensive and offensive capabilities through their spirits. Finally, they introduce new mechanics and tactics which change the gameplay through their use of spirits. Spirits allow for a much more tactical and organized combat style similarly to traps and wards. I have a feeling that many organized groups will be using two ritualists where one is offensive and one is defensive.
I think a large problem that people are having right now with the Ritualist is trying to incorporate them into the norm through generalizations and comparisons. Ritualists are not monks, elementalists, rangers or necromancers. They are Ritualists. After playing one, I've decided to change my secondary to Ranger to expand upon my spirit arsenal and accentuate the Ritualist instead of trying to skew it into a Necromancer.
Conclusions:
I really enjoyed the FPE and played through the entire preview. Also, I was very happy with the Ritualist and how things worked out overall. I was disappointed with urns and just the fact that they had some of their flavor stolen, but other than that I'm thrilled with the Ritualist class and spirits were everything I hoped for.
Now to the build that I promised in the beginning:
TSR Spiritualist:
Ritualist/x
Attributes:
Communing: 11 [+1+3]=15
Channeling: 11 [+1]=12
Spawning: 8 [+1]=9
Skills:
Spirit Burn: Target foe is struck for 41 lightning damage. If any spirits are in the area around you, spirit Burn deals +27 damage. [5/1/5]
Essence Strike: Target foe is struck for 41 lightning damage. If any spirits are in the area around you, you gain 6 Energy. [5/1/8]
Painful Bond: For 18 seconds, target foe and all nearby foes take 18 damage whenever hit by a spirit's attack. [15/1/20]
Ritual Lord [e]: For 30 seconds, your Rituals recharge 51% faster. [10/-/30]
Pain: Create a level 9 spirit. This spirit attacks deal 20 damage. This spirit dies after 150 seconds. [5/3/45]
Bloodsong: Create a level 8 spirit who dies after 150 seconds. Attacks by that spirit steal up to 20 Health. [15/5/60]
Shadowsong: Create a level 8 spirit. The spirit's attacks cause Blindness for 6 second(s). This spirit dies after 30 seconds.
Flesh of My Flesh: Lose half of your Health. Resurrect target ally with your current Health and 5% Energy. [5/5/-]
Synopsis:
With all three sprits attacking and Painful Bond activated on a mob you're spirits will be hitting for 114 damage every 2 seconds while you can spam Spirit Burn and Essence Strike for additional lightning damage. Ritual Lord halves the recharge time of your spirits allowing you to easily replace them at the beginning of combat or during a fight. This allows for a mass amount of damage while remaining incredibly versatile and not just versatile for a ritualist.
Final Words:
I really like this build and I really enjoyed this weekend. I'm looking forward to actually being able to play through Factions and play a Ritualist full-time.