New Solo (TS mainly) Content and Agility

[DarkNovember]

<DIV>I've been reading a lot on the forums about the new solo content. Specifically, on how tough it is.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What I am curious about... is how Rangers of roughly the same level fare against the same solo content.  I am trying to find out mainly what the effect of agility and gear is on the solo experience.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First, I'll breakdown my Ranger a little so you have a baseline to compare to:</DIV> <DIV>        </DIV> <DIV>       <STRONG> 25.4 Level Ranger<BR>        <BR>        Health </STRONG>1141<STRONG>            STR  </STRONG>57<BR><STRONG>        Power  </STRONG> 990            <STRONG>AGI  </STRONG>142<BR><STRONG>        Attack   </STRONG>417 <STRONG>           STA   </STRONG>41<BR><STRONG>        Armor  </STRONG>2554 <STRONG>           INT   </STRONG>27<BR><STRONG>                                        WIS   </STRONG>41</DIV> <DIV><BR>        All resists are in the 500+ Range<BR>        Most gear is yellow/orange with a cople white pieces and one green piece (Gem Studded bracers).<BR>        Dual-Wielding a Steel LeafBlade and a Dwarven Dagger of Cleansing (against Undead I use two Dwarven Daggers).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>        I won't get into tactics as I'm sure we all use basically the same tactics on the solo front.  Pull with bow, lunge or whatever and go into the spamming of arts.  I, personally, always activate Survival Instincts before i pull though....not sure if that is normal or not..<shrug>.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Second, a little backgroun history:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>        At lev 23 I could easily solo the Darkpaw Fanglord.  Could get the Ghost of Vhalen down pretty close before I had to run away.</DIV> <DIV><BR>        At lev 24 the Sabertooth Hero was a breeze and the Ghost of Vhalen not much of a contest either.  I once got jumped by Grolven and stayed pretty much even until my courage broke and I ran.  In the right circumstances (like if I were ready) maybe I could've solo'd him.  Not sure on that one though.</DIV> <DIV><BR>        At lev 25 my solo days ended.  At least, the solo as I was used to it.  No more Green ++ or Blue ++ mobs for me.  Was once again forced to clean up the wilderness critters (funny how as a Ranger I am forced to slaughter tons of innocent forest animals..heh!).</DIV> <DIV><BR>        On a side note I always attributed my solo successes (in my eyes anyway) to the maxxing of my AGI.  Very few mobs could land a hit on me.  Until lev 25 anyway....the difference between lev 20 and 21 and up mobs is staggering.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>        Then came patch day...update day...D-Day...whatever you may call it.  The new solo mobs hit the scene in Thundering Steppes.  The same mobs a lot of people complain about.  Are they tougher, yes..a lot.  Impossible..?  No...but I'll get to that.</DIV> <DIV><BR>        In TS, I can effectively solo the new 'Crows...the new undead...and the bears are no problem.  The new crabs on the beach.  Disclaimer:  All these mobs con green or blue to me.  I have not tried one of the undead that is white to me (I will tonight...Death is my boon companion, right..?).</DIV> <DIV><BR>        This ability for me to solo got me thinking (after reading all the "I Can't Solo the New Mobs" posts).  I know I am not anymore skillfull or lucky than Joe Average.  I don't have any secret kiting tactics or exploits.  So, I wondered, why can I do this and others can't..?</DIV> <DIV><BR>        The answer...beats the Hell out of me.  I'm thinking some has to do with an extremely high AGI making it harder for mobs to hit me but I would like to verify that against other Rangers with lower or higher AGIs.  Does anyone know the correlation between AGI and mobs ability to hit..?  Does it pay off to maximize AGI at the cost of all other attributes (notice my Ranger is dumb as a rock and about as strong as...well, a Goblin Runt maybe).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>        So, if you other Rangers in my level range could post your experiences with these new mobs (IE "I beat 'em down and don't lose any health", "I run like a screaming baby when they appear", etc) and post your AGI maybe we could see if there is a relation between maxing agility or some magic number in the gear (ATT value or AC) that is a difference maker.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>        Thanks for any input on this.  Ohh...and if you do have a tactic that you think is good or out of the ordinary, I'd sure like to know....</DIV> <DIV>         </DIV>

[GoNom]

<DIV>First off I see this is just your second post here, do you frequent the boards often?  Are you aware of the Agility nerf that pretty much [Removed for Content]'d all scouts solo ability?  I don't think it has much to do with the mobs being tougher as it has to do with your not avoiding as much.  No fault of yours of course.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This was SOE's response to the rumor that Dirge's could tank almost as effectively as a Pally/Guardian, because of thier avoisdance and ability to spm AE songs to keep aggro, so Sony said "OUT WITH THE NERF BAT!"  THat was a while ago though.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So the correlation between Agi and avoidance has been remove for the most part, but it still has an effect on DPS and chance to hit.  At least that's what I've read here.  Get used to it, the solo mobs in TS and EL are gonna give you the same problems, you'll own blues, but white are going to give you fits.  And yellows will pound you in a pancake, and you can forget about the days of Soloing Green and Blue ^^, those days are over.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Yesterday i EL I decided to try my luck and pulled a Blue^^ just to see what happened, I didn't even get the thing into the yellow before I had to Evac outta there, and thats with doing about 600 points of damage before the mob even hit me.  Doesn't seem exactly fair considerig a pally freind of mine just solo'd a Green ^^ named for a quest, that came with 3 adds, all level 32 or so.(he's 37)</DIV>

[stainremov]

<blockquote><hr>GoNomar wrote:<DIV>First off I see this is just your second post here, do you frequent the boards often? Are you aware of the Agility nerf that pretty much [Removed for Content]'d all scouts solo ability? I don't think it has much to do with the mobs being tougher as it has to do with your not avoiding as much. No fault of yours of course.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>This was SOE's response to the rumor that Dirge's could tank almost as effectively as a Pally/Guardian, because of thier avoisdance and ability to spm AE songs to keep aggro, so Sony said "OUT WITH THE NERF BAT!" THat was a while ago though.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>So the correlation between Agi and avoidance has been remove for the most part, but it still has an effect on DPS and chance to hit. At least that's what I've read here. Get used to it, the solo mobs in TS and EL are gonna give you the same problems, you'll own blues, but white are going to give you fits. And yellows will pound you in a pancake, and you can forget about the days of Soloing Green and Blue ^^, those days are over.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>Yesterday i EL I decided to try my luck and pulled a Blue^^ just to see what happened, I didn't even get the thing into the yellow before I had to Evac outta there, and thats with doing about 600 points of damage before the mob even hit me. Doesn't seem exactly fair considerig a pally freind of mine just solo'd a Green ^^ named for a quest, that came with 3 adds, all level 32 or so.(he's 37)</DIV><hr></blockquote>1) avoidance and agility are still related. just it takes more agility to get the avoidance we once had.2) it seems to me that the green^^ your pally friend was fighting should have been greyed out. 5 levels is usu. just enough to grey stuff out. he probably was grouping with someone lower than him that made it green.3) fighter types usually pick a race (dwarf ogre barb human etc.) that gets a racial defensive bonus. +5 defense is a free level basically, so he has the defense of a lvl38 @ lvl37 fighting a mob that should be already greyed out to him. the +5 defense is available to you if you pick the race. it has nothing to do with class.4) pallys have a harder time than rangers in endgame. they might lvl easier now, but i think rangers have it better off in raids and other epic encounters.5) to the op. i can solo lvl30 and 31 orcs in zek @ 28. clearly there are aspects of your playing style that you need brushing up on.<p>Message Edited by stainremover on <span class=date_text>03-11-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:51 AM</span>