Advancing HOs

[Dae]

The HO system change was a good one obviously. They also increased the damage of the Mage triggered HOs, which is also nice.This brings me to the problem I now face. I use 3 nukes (Dark Distortion, Suffocating Breath and Hemia's Poisonous Bolt) at level 27 and have two ways to trigger a HO. Those are Tongue Twist (stifle) and Negative Absolution (AE).The only way to really use HOs would be to break out Ice Spike again. Now I retired Ice Spike a long time ago. In groups I pretty much use my first two nukes period. I've got other things to fit into my rotation. When soloing I use all three.HOs are meant to be on top of your normal attacks not something you use as an alternative and require you to use abilities not suitable to your current situation in order to use.Dark Distortion has some stick icon I've never seen appear in a HO chain and Suffocating Breath and Hemia's both have fire icons (which were an extremely rare result in Mage HOs).If I choose to use Ice Spike to trigger HOs I waste valuable time that could be spent casting other nukes. If I don't use Ice Spike I have no choice but to use a combination of Tongue Twist and Negative Absolution in order to trigger 90% of my HOs.Something needs to change. Either the lightning icon needs adding to one or two of our nukes OR the main way of triggering Mage HOs needs to be the fire icon.I pretty much ignored HOs until now since they were an inconvenience for little to no benefit. However since they revamped the HO system I thought it was worth mentioning again.

[Spag]

<DIV>Now that the have fixed th HOs they are definitely worth doing.  I am not at your level so I do not notice the problem you are having.  The key now is that the HOs cannot be accidentally broken.  This means in groups they should be constantly in use.  Only difference is now it is down to a 10 second timer to complete each stage.  The groups will need to be on the ball to finish them off, but it is so much more possible in less organized groups.</DIV>

[Dae]

Yes they're worth doing however the only icon I've ever seen come up in a group situation is the Lightning Bolt. I no longer actively use any spells that can be cast on a whim just to finish a HO. Tongue Twist and Negative Absolution are spells you use situationally not artificially in situations created by HOs where their only purpose is to trigger some event.I think the best solution would be to just get rid of the Fire icon and give all of our nukes the Lightning Bolt one.

[Effie]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Daerv wrote:<BR>Yes they're worth doing however the only icon I've ever seen come up in a group situation is the Lightning Bolt. I no longer actively use any spells that can be cast on a whim just to finish a HO. Tongue Twist and Negative Absolution are spells you use situationally not artificially in situations created by HOs where their only purpose is to trigger some event.<BR><BR>I think the best solution would be to just get rid of the Fire icon and give all of our nukes the Lightning Bolt one.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Some of the HUGE HOs require different spell icons.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Giving all spells the same icon would only serve to dumb down HOs even more.</DIV> <DIV>There should be some 'skill' involved in completing HOs... not just mindless button mashing. </DIV>

[Effie]

<DIV>Oh and for the 5th time, you get an upgrade for the HO trigger, Ice Spike at level 30.</DIV>

[Dae]

No need to be rude. I'd not read anything about Noxious Bolt on these boards until today and the OGaming ability list doesn't have HO icons for abilities over level 20.Noxious Bolt may be a useful spell AND a HO trigger. However that still leaves levels 24 to 29 where people have to use Ice Spike when they shouldn't. Suffocating Breath at least should be able to advance our HO's. In a solo situation using Ice Spike twice could and probably would get me killed since it does bugger all damage.

[Victicu]

<DIV>ice spike, noxious bolt, and soul flay are pretty much the only nukes that can start and end the solo HO wheel...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>really need to change the Distortion line or suffocating breath line to Lightning bolt symbol</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>HO's are not good enough for me to waste the power and time to cast my worst nuke twice for 100-150 extra dmg</DIV>

[Schaestm]

<DIV>Well cool, check the test server notes: they made the Distortion line of spells all lightning now <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  So can't wait for this stuff to all go live...</DIV>

[Brumba]

<DIV>If the change to distortion line is correct than we are all set, however given the extremely short casting time of ice spike(1 sec I think) and the quick recast time(3 secs? enough to cast dark distortion or hemias)  you dont really lose much in terms of dps(2 ice spikes, 1 dd, 1 ho) in under 10 secs.  Gotta look at this in term of dps opposed to a one time hit.</DIV>

[Victicu]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Brumbata wrote:<BR> <DIV>If the change to distortion line is correct than we are all set, however given the extremely short casting time of ice spike(1 sec I think) and the quick recast time(3 secs? enough to cast dark distortion or hemias)  you dont really lose much in terms of dps(2 ice spikes, 1 dd, 1 ho) in under 10 secs.  Gotta look at this in term of dps opposed to a one time hit.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P></FONT></P> <P>at lvl 50 nearly anything would be better dps than casting ice spike, noxious bolt, and soul flay...so yes im looking at it in terms of DPS...</P> <P>but it doesnt matter its getting changed soon, thankfully they do listen.</P> <P> </P><p>Message Edited by Victicus7 on <span class=date_text>02-13-2005</span> <span class=time_text>09:59 PM</span>

[Victicu]

<P> </P><p>Message Edited by Victicus7 on <span class=date_text>02-13-2005</span> <span class=time_text>09:59 PM</span>

[Brumba]

<DIV>Didnt know you still needed ice spike at 50 to advance hos, thats just stupid of SOE.  There isnt any 30-40 lvl spells to trigger the ho?  That needs fixing.</DIV>

[Effie]

<DIV>Soul Flay, Nox Bolt and Ice Spike are all 'Ligntning Bolt' HO advancers.</DIV>

[maddawg138]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Effie wrote:<BR> <DIV>Soul Flay, Nox Bolt and Ice Spike are all 'Ligntning Bolt' HO advancers.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>and now the distortion line as well</DIV>

[MMOG]

Does it bother anyone else that the distortion line advanced HOs or is it just me. When grouped I am usually the sole mage so I just trigger my HO and bomb away with my DD line waiting for another group mate to advance it. Now it seems like there is very little I can do without starting my own HO ...

[BritishKnight20]

<DIV>Whats wrong about this is now the bard in my group is gonna get even higher on the damage leaderboard at my expense <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> HOs should so not count as maximum hits.</DIV>