scout observations

[Potterguy]

<DIV>Hello,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Just wanted to tip in my 2c. I played a swashbuckler to 28. I quit and have leveled up a guardian to 29, and a templar to 23. Both the guardian and templar solo much better than the swashbuckler. One of the wonderful things about EQ2 is that you have a choice of solo content and group content. Like othe posters here, I would very much like to see SOE come up with some way to make a swashbuckler soloable. Currently for the swashbuckler, blue solo mobs can present a problem, and certainly require a rest between kills. Progression on solo greens is simply not fun enough to warrent playing.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>All classes do not have to be equal, but should present a similar level of challenge. Soloing with the templar is much different than soloing with the guardian. Soloing anything higher than solo con blue mobs is very risky with the swashbuckler. Please, don't make them less effective at DPS. At least leave them a viable roll in a group encounter.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Please use your creativity and brainstorm some way to allow scout classes to progress at a similar rate to fighter and healer classes in solo encounters. I fear that the current fixes are moving things in exactly the wrong direction.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Gharden - 29 guardian - Nektulos</DIV> <DIV>Filch - 28 swashbuckler - Nektulos</DIV> <DIV>Dirvel - 23 templar - Nektulos</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>all gnomes btw <SPAN><IMG height=22 alt="Insert Smilies" src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/global/post_emoticons.gif" width=22 border=0></SPAN></DIV>

[Fennir]

You haven't reached 30 with a single one of your characters yet?  My Ranger got an incredibly great deal better at soloing at 30.  The only solo mobs that could even begin to give my character trouble were orange, and those just left me with longer downtime between fights. I'm 38 now and can easily solo white and yellow cons in Feerrot.  Maybe giving up easily is your strong point, not soloing. <div></div>

[Baelzharon]

<span><blockquote><hr>Fennir wrote:You haven't reached 30 with a single one of your characters yet?  My Ranger got an incredibly great deal better at soloing at 30.  The only solo mobs that could even begin to give my character trouble were orange, and those just left me with longer downtime between fights. I'm 38 now and can easily solo white and yellow cons in Feerrot.  Maybe giving up easily is your strong point, not soloing. <div></div><hr></blockquote>He has a point. Some classes don't come into the full scope of their abilities till the mid 30s even.</span><div></div>

[Iggmarr]

of course then you have classes like necros and conjurors , wich of course go to crap as they get higher lvl even more so after 40.... <p>Message Edited by Iggmarr on <span class=date_text>04-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:29 PM</span>

[Platfing]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Fennir wrote:<BR>You haven't reached 30 with a single one of your characters yet?  My Ranger got an incredibly great deal better at soloing at 30.  The only solo mobs that could even begin to give my character trouble were orange, and those just left me with longer downtime between fights.<BR><BR>I'm 38 now and can easily solo white and yellow cons in Feerrot.  Maybe giving up easily is your strong point, not soloing.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Ok, I'm going to chime in here.  The person that I duo with is 38 ranger and she can't solo worth a *$%#&!.  Unless your talking about kiting a mob around running backwards while firing arrows into it (not sure how you could do that in Feerott though), then I don't see how you can solo a yellow con mob as a ranger.  This I would really like to see.  The ranger that I know can barely stand toe to toe with a blue con and survive, and if she does she doesn't have much power left.  She uses poisons, pulls with bow, has nice gear, etc. but she has a very limited number of attacks that can be used while facing the mob.  </P> <P>Please explain what you are doing differently - I would be interested to know this.  I read the ranger board, and the only thing that I come up with is you must be kiting and not standing toe to toe with the mob taking hits.</P>

[Malack]

I solo yellows toe-to-toe, and kite oranges without much trouble as a 25 assassin. Dunno why you're limited to blues...

[Fennir]

<div></div>Is this where you belittle kiting as a 'cheap tactic' that your ranger friend would never use because she's 'too good for it'? I don't kite for an extended period of time.  If you mean "do you shoot arrows at the mob before it gets to you, and sometimes move away so you can shoot a few more?" then yes.  But I only have to run about 10 feet to get off a Triple Shot, which is more than enough room, even in Feerrot, as long as you pay attention to your surroundings, and where you start your pull. Agreed, yellows aren't easy, but they only have a chance against me if they're casters, and I don't solo casters unless they're blue or green. Honestly, if your friend is having trouble with blue cons, she might want to evaluate her tactics.  There is a middle ground between kiting constantly (something you can't even do in this game because the encounters reset) and standing toe to toe with a mob.  It also changes based on your surroundings and the mob you're killing. What 'good gear' is she wearing, anyways? At 38, with only my solo buffs on, my stats are as follows: AGI: 202 STR: 150 STA: 71 spellavoid: +5 constant defense: +5 constant, +12 when Adroit is up. parry: +5 constant slashing, crushing, piercing: +2 to each constant I also have a proc rare bow, proc rare rapier, and the PGT. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Fennir on <span class=date_text>04-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>03:43 PM</span>

[Jakr]

i solo blue ^^  with my 23 necro <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Malack]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Jakron wrote:<BR>i solo blue ^^  with my 23 necro <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Shudup

[Davitt]

<P>From the original post the person was talking about having played a swashbuckler. I would tend to agree. I too play a swashie currently at lvl 27. If I kite I would be kiting a mob for an hour. We have 1 range attack the shoots twice for STATED 85-125 dmg but its more like 25 to 50 for that is what appears in my chat window.</P> <P>True we are based on scouts but we do have different skills. A swashie does not have the high end dmg style. Swashie are know for the constant medium dps, but in order to get that we have to be behind or to the flank or a mob. </P> <P>So please dont classify a swashie the same way as a ranger for their are different tactics to playing each.</P> <P>I have top of the line gear for my class at my lvl and last week I died to a grey heroic centuar that was level 22. Thats 5 levels below me. True it  was heoric but it shouldnt have taken me down that much or my arts should have given me better scale in doing dmg. If I miss with my 2 only 2 front style arts I have to run to fight another day. </P> <P>The biggest problem I see is scouts dmg is based off Str just like fighters, now if it were based off something like str/agi then that should put us more on par.</P> <P> </P>

[Fennir]

<div></div>Like I said, I'm not really kiting.  I pull with one positional (behind only) arrow attack that is on a 60 second timer, and I shoot another one while the mob is on its way in, also on a 60 second timer.  The only time I 'kite' after that is if the second skill refreshes before the mob is dead (rare).  All the rest of my damage comes from up-front, toe-to-toe, Ringing-Blow and Cheap Shot laden melee dmg. They've said that scouts are going to be looked at soon.  I'm sure if swashy's are that behind in the solo department, something will be done to make it up. Besides, after this combat revamp, lots of things are going to be changed.  Hell, I may not be able to solo at all without the effectiveness of Adroit's +defense buff after the patch... we'll see. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Fennir on <span class=date_text>04-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>04:00 PM</span>

[Platfing]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Fennir wrote:<BR> Is this where you belittle kiting as a 'cheap tactic' that your ranger friend would never use because she's 'too good for it'?<BR><BR>I don't kite for an extended period of time.  If you mean "do you shoot arrows at the mob before it gets to you, and sometimes move away so you can shoot a few more?" then yes.  But I only have to run about 10 feet to get off a Triple Shot, which is more than enough room, even in Feerrot, as long as you pay attention to your surroundings, and where you start your pull.<BR><BR>Agreed, yellows aren't easy, but they only have a chance against me if they're casters, and I don't solo casters unless they're blue or green.<BR><BR>Honestly, if your friend is having trouble with blue cons, she might want to evaluate her tactics.  There is a middle ground between kiting constantly (something you can't even do in this game because the encounters reset) and standing toe to toe with a mob.  It also changes based on your surroundings and the mob you're killing.<BR><BR>What 'good gear' is she wearing, anyways?<BR><BR>At 38, with only my solo buffs on, my stats are as follows:<BR><BR>AGI: 202<BR>STR: 150<BR>STA: 71<BR>spellavoid: +5 constant<BR>defense: +5 constant, +12 when Adroit is up.<BR>parry: +5 constant<BR>slashing, crushing, piercing: +2 to each constant<BR><BR>I also have a proc rare bow, proc rare rapier, and the PGT.<BR><BR> <P>Message Edited by Fennir on <SPAN class=date_text>04-14-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>03:43 PM</SPAN><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Ok, based on your stats your gear is beyond good gear (it's actually pretty uber for your level) and that is probably making the difference then.  She is working on the PGT now - that should help some with the proc.  I didn't mean to belittle kiting, but rather didn't understand how it could be done in Feerott for any length of time.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>    </DIV>

[Fennir]

She ought to check out some of the gear from Bloodlines.  Honestly, the high AGI and STR are not what's making the difference IMO, but the plusses to stuff like parry, defense, and spellavoidance. And tantamount to all of that is picking your battles and where you fight them. The funny part?  Even though I can solo like nobody's business, I generally just don't.  I find duoing and grouping waaaaaaaaay too fun to spend any real length of time alone these days. <div></div>

[Kenazeer]

<DIV>I am a level 45 Swashie atm and can solo no problems. I can still take some Yellow solo mobs and have been able to throughout my career. Here is some advice...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <UL> <LI>Keep in mind that one blue does not always equal another..and same for other cons. You might be able to go toe to toe with one blue melee type mob and not another. There may be a wizzie type blue caster mob that will flat kick your [Removed for Content], but a healer type blue you can take. All mobs are not created equal; find the ones you can take.</LI> <LI>Try to do the class mobs for which you have mastery abilities. The debuffs are sweet and really do make a difference.</LI> <LI>Try to get AppIV or Adept1 in your primary melee arts. Buffs make a difference, but no one buff upgrade will probably add the accumulated damage as a melee upgrade. </LI> <LI>Be sure to read and understand what your self buffs do and which one might stack.</LI> <LI>Try not to forget to upgrade your equipment...especially your weapons. Switching from a 5-14 to a 6-17  will make a difference. It is easy to sometimes forget....ohh....I meant to upgrade that shoulder piece. Not saying you should have all orange gear, but as cheap as it is now, you definitely should not have any grey gear.</LI> <LI>Use your bow special arts to pull. A double shot sometimes can do some real damage...and coupled with the next item can really drop some hps....</LI> <LI>USE THE BEST POISONS YOU CAN!!! Your class is <STRONG>designed</STRONG> to be gettting a significant portion of its DPS from posions so if you are not using them you are really gimping yourself. For you...Food, Drink, Poisons,..everything else. Merchant poisons are realtively inexpensive also.</LI></UL> <P>Hope this helps ya.</P> <P>Gori</P>