So, what about the "melee" warden ? Anyone tried that now that EoF is out ?

[Celidya]

<DIV>I noticed that my fae warden doesn't display staff or 2H weapons on her backside. I have to say that's awesome, because i always hated with passion those weapons, as well as shields, they are ugly and most of the time i can't see my character. With that, i can know imagine going into melee with a big 2h weapon, so i started to browse through the broker's stuff and... well, i couldn't find anything with str/wis.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anyway, does anyone there tried the melee line ? It looks quite fun at first sight. I would love to have combat arts to do some damage between 2 heals, as well as not being interrupted or resisted 4 times when i try to land a spell. But it's still a lot of points, and i don't know if it's worth it to try.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have poor strenght even not enough to carry all the coppers i drop in a day :smileytongue: My warden is 45 now and i plan to be in T6 soon, so time for a new set of items. But i can't see any way to raise my wis AND my str both at the same time. There's no way i will give up any wisdom for melee damage. So even with poor str, is it worth it ? I noticed the combat arts did half the damage of a regular spell, but that's with 0 points in it (i guess i see the app1 lvl of the skill). How does the upgrade work with lvl ? I think with max AA in the line, a combat art will be adept 3 quality ? master 1 ?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I melee a lot more than i cast offensive spells in group, and i still deal a bit of damage, mainly with procs. I'm not sure if it would be worth it to drop some points in the melee lines, even if i can't raise much my str...</DIV>

[Writer Cal]

<P>With more strength, the CAs can go good damage.  But yeah, without the strength, they don't match up to the spells.  Less damage, longer recasts, not good.  I've been building my second Warden, Fae, with more strength instead of Int.  I tend to gear her up with mastercrafted stuff and go for around 50/50 wisdom and strength gear.  With that, I've been having a blast with the CAs and not having problems with my power pool.  The faster casting time makes it really easy to squeeze in the dps between healing, curing, etc...</P> <P>But I think also depends on your goals for your character.  I'm no longer a part of raiding, and I'm not sure I'd recommend them for heavy raider.  But as a Warden who does a lot of soloing, questing, and duos or small groups with friends, I'm finding them to be pretty [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] fun.</P>

[Mortimus V.]

<DIV>I've got an Ogre started to try this exact thing (in MMOs, I get a kick out of building total hybrids :smileytongue: ).  He's only lv. 10, but so far he works really well... and I've got him on the PvP/RP server, so it'll be fun to see how well that works.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The pros and cons of the CA's are pretty straightforward, so far as I can tell:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> + CAs don't pause your auto-attacks (compared to spells) and can't be interrupted or reset.</DIV> <DIV> + Being AAs, putting five points into one will guarantee it's *always* at Master level and never out-of-date, with no need to spend cash on books.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> - CAs seem to miss or be parried/deflected more often than the spells get resisted.</DIV> <DIV> - Using CAs means not using your spells as often, which can lead to the spell skills falling behind.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In the *long* long term, the obvious build is to max all the CA AAs, get the massive crit chance AA, get what it takes to get the root/snare immunity, then go full-bore down the Strength path in the old AAs.  At the moment the CAs I have do more damage than my spells, but I'd chalk that up to my Strength being as high (for my level) as it is.  It'll be interesting to see if that trend continues, or if their damage ends up falling behind regardless of how high one's Strength is kept.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Mortimus V. on <span class=date_text>11-21-2006</span> <span class=time_text>10:42 AM</span>

[Dragonreal]

the warden tree CA's aren't master level, which was one of the many problems ppl in beta pointed out time and again to seemingly no avail. They only go up to ad1 lvl and while that may be fine for lower lvls where it doesn't matter and you're not twinking it sucks at high end where you start working on finishing off your char which would include getting as many ad3 or masters as you can.<div></div>

[Fromingo]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Mortimus V. wrote:<BR> <DIV> - CAs seem to miss or be parried/deflected more often than the spells get resisted.</DIV> <DIV> - Using CAs means not using your spells as often, which can lead to the spell skills falling behind.</DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>When you get Primal instinct you will miss less often on your CA's.</P> <P>To keep your spells up to date just open up with the root/nuke method then when root breaks and they charge you finish off with melee.  </P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Dragonrealms wrote:<BR>the warden tree CA's aren't master level, which was one of the many problems ppl in beta pointed out time and again to seemingly no avail. They only go up to ad1 lvl and while that may be fine for lower lvls where it doesn't matter and you're not twinking it sucks at high end where you start working on finishing off your char which would include getting as many ad3 or masters as you can.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>If 5 points in a CA only brings it to AD1 then we all need to feedback that.  It should be AD3 if not M1 at least!   If they feel that it's too overpowering for 5 points to get AD3/M1 then lets add 2 more points to each tier with 6= AD3 and 7=M1.  They really can't argue that point when you've focused sooo much AA's on it.  <BR>

[Arielle Nightshade]

<DIV>I'm not very far into the Melee line, but I have to say I am having a LOT of fun with it.  I am saving respec in case I need to go down a more healing line - but thought I'd give it a try.   Since we do so well with power efficiency, some points into STR could not hurt....but I might revamp that, too if it doesn't meet it's promise.   I didn't really sign up to be DPS, but it's kind of fun when you do some... <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ultimately what will make the decision is group needs in PvP, but for now if it was my choice alone, I'd max that line out.   Since we are getting CA's I think it would also be cool if I could have Decapitate and Fusion.   I have feedbacked this.  (ok, not really...)</DIV>

[Fromingo]

You can really enhance your melee by going dow the druid Str line.  That should also give you a nice boost to Str.

[mikemcmodmi]

Not to mention 40% double attacks that works with a 2 hander.  Plus haste from using a sword.  Just swop in a sword, use the haste ability, swop in a 2 hander and away you go.

[xandez]

or for lazy, just use 2h sword? <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />(btw, can we even use 2h swords? <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)lol... ++Xan<div></div>

[Skivley101]

<P>Celidya wrote:</P> <P>I have poor strenght even not enough to carry all the coppers i drop in a day <IMG height=16 src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-tongue.gif" width=16 border=0>My warden is 45 now and i plan to be in T6 soon, so time for a new set of items. But i can't see any way to raise my wis AND my str both at the same time. There's no way i will give up any wisdom for melee damage.</P> <P>__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ____</P> <P>I just got the T7 provisioner enigma book.....and i have a recipe for making adornments for wrist items(the freakin components are way expensive right now..LOL)</P> <P>its called a Brawny fastening......guess ill be able to make one for each tier..............the level 60's are +14 str.......the lvl 20's are +4str....................i put 1 on my darkfaith bracer and black augur bracer(nice T7 legendary wrist items)........**poof** 28 more str</P> <P>with my good all around gear im sitting at 221 str and 550 wisdom......and i havent gone down the strength line yet.</P> <P>Im sure other Tradeskill lines will have these type of adornments also........so you wont have to give up any wis for str  :smileyvery-happy:</P>

[Arielle Nightshade]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> xandez wrote:<BR>or for lazy, just use 2h sword? <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><BR><BR>(btw, can we even use 2h swords? <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)<BR><BR><BR>lol... <BR><BR><BR>++Xan<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>LOL!!   I like the idea, and I am that lazy...but sadly no - we can't use 'em   <BR>

[Boli32]

<div><blockquote><hr>Dragonrealms wrote:the warden tree CA's aren't master level, which was one of the many problems ppl in beta pointed out time and again to seemingly no avail. They only go up to ad1 lvl and while that may be fine for lower lvls where it doesn't matter and you're not twinking it sucks at high end where you start working on finishing off your char which would include getting as many ad3 or masters as you can.<div></div><hr></blockquote>Even if they are only AD1 level in the end you still don't loose your spells (they just share the same timers), but 75% crit chance on AD1 abilities vs 35% crit chance on AD3/M1 prob works out about the same.The melee line really interested me even though I'm not a warden, as I took the STR line  with my fury. I can do a lot of 'free' damage and 'free' heals with that line and a warden gets a chance to run 75% crit chance with that just on autoattack alone that's pretty intense.40% double atatck15(FBSS) +38(haste sword attack) + imbued rings of Agility/Strength (for +Haste/DPS)75% crit rateTiger BIte ProcThat sounds like it could be pretty nifty, especially for 'free'.</div>

[Celidya]

Thanks for your answers <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />I decided to go full wisdom for my T6. I realized i group more and more often now, and that power is more important than everything <span>:smileytongue:</span>So i don't want to give up any AA point or wisdom point to increase my dps. I still do enough damage to solo when i need to, and i can kill everything i want, so no need there. I will see how it works and if it gets different in T7, but i'm usually the only healer in my daily group, and i want to remain the best at it (i always tell them to invite a second healer because i'm too lazy, and they don't want to, lol). I was pretty proud to solo heal scornfeather roost at lvl 50 (our main tank was a lvl 53 SK), as well as the nameds in silent city when i was lvl 48 (they were red for me <span>:smileysurprised:</span> ). The crazy power pool is the key for me, if i can spam group heals as well as single heals with no need to worry for my power, i can have enough healing power to survive almost everything.I will see how it works with adornments once i reach the T7, and if it can be helpful to melee a bit... Although i don't think i will have time for that. During big fights i cast as much as i can to keep the tank alive, so no time at all for a single melee hit. And when we do trash mobs we usually have enough dps for that...<div></div>

[Crimson Dragon]

<div><blockquote><hr>Arielle Nightshade wrote:<div></div> <blockquote> <hr> xandez wrote:or for lazy, just use 2h sword? <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />(btw, can we even use 2h swords? <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)lol... ++Xan <div></div> <hr> </blockquote>LOL!!   I like the idea, and I am that lazy...but sadly no - we can't use 'em   <hr></blockquote>no, we can't. the furies can use one. (just one: pride's edge from fitzpitzle in deathtoll)honestly, i'd rather be dual wielding. <span>:smileyvery-happy:</span></div>

[mikemcmodmi]

Oh man, if we could dual weild with the new melee line I'd so be there.  That would be sick and a lot of fun.  Besides, a lot of fabled daggers go to waste since all the rogues want 1 handers.

[Dragonreal]

they'd still go to waste cuz those are piercing adn we can only use slashing and only swords anyway =p<div></div>