Troubador Confusion

[Ashad]

 Troubadors are so dramatically different from the other scout classes that I find myself very confused.I gather our most important attribute is INT because that increases our max damage with spells and power. Secondary attributes I've treated as STA and STR (hitpoints and melee dps).So INT is directly related to the damage of our Shrill line and its AE counterpart, our Essence line and the Thunderous line. I would also guess STR affects the damage of Night Strike (the stealth attack) and Bright Blade (the backstab) because they do melee damage. Does our choice of weapon (high damage high delay weapons for example) affect the amount of damage those abilities do?But what about Draining Incursion and Noble Blade which deal mental damage but in melee range and require a melee weapon. Are they based on INT or STR? Does our choice of weapon matter for these at all?A guild mate of mine (Brigand) is saying they really want high damage high delay weapons to enhance their combat arts, but if weapon choice doesn't affect combat arts I would imagine faster delay weapons would do more damage in between combat arts/spells instead of being cut off by them.So, are my stat preferences correct to what I should be getting? And what is the type of weapon that is best (high damage but slow delay OR highest ratio)? Oh and what stat affects ranged DPS / stifling missile / messenger's letter?

[Cadori Seraphim]

This also confuses me too lolI have been going for more int over str because on parsing myself I have found that I do a significant amount of damage with my spells > my melee.I haven't specifically done parsing searches for what you are asking, though if I remember by the time I get off work and log in I will see about looking into that, as I am curious about it.I have been told, by a dirge I know, that str > int. But in parsing I have found this to not be what I would want for a troub.I don't neglect str by any means.. I will sacrifice alittle of it for int but I still am aiming for a decent amount <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[RanmaBoyType]

<p>i would put my money on int until you get around 900 raid buffed (though this value may change now with the new level cap, as the diminishing returns curve may now move) and then focus on str.</p><p>"Does our choice of weapon (high damage high delay weapons for example) affect the amount of damage those abilities do?"</p><p>No - weapon choice has no effect on damage of combat arts, however i "think" weapon skill will affect you ability to land said combat art.  IE (i recall seeing this in the past, however it may have been changed, please someone correct me if i am wrong) say your peircing is cap, but your slashing is 0, if you switch to a sword, melee attacks may miss more often until your slashing skill reaches cap.</p><p>"But what about Draining Incursion and Noble Blade which deal mental damage but in melee range and require a melee weapon. Are they based on INT or STR? Does our choice of weapon matter for these at all?"  </p><p>again choice of weapon does not matter. as far as str or int, i do not recall off the top of my head, but this is really easy to find out.  turn off all your buffs, examine ability.  turn on self buff (plus 200+ int) and re-examine ability, you will then have you answer.</p><p>"A guild mate of mine (Brigand) is saying they really want high damage high delay weapons to enhance their combat arts, but if weapon choice doesn't affect combat arts I would imagine faster delay weapons would do more damage in between combat arts/spells instead of being cut off by them."</p><p>High delay weapons are preferred due to several reasons.  higher crits, and more effective when hasted.  proc rates and crit rates are based off your un modified normalized weapon delay.  when you haste a high delay weapon you will see a much bigger RoI over a weapon which is already quick.  Also, remember troubs are partial casters.  when you are casting a spell you are no longer auto attacking, though the delay is processing.Example 1 - 1 sec delay weapon, hasted to 0.5 sec delay. you just swinig your sword and now you begin to cast a 2 second debuff.  In that 2 seconds your sword could have swung 3 more times (0.5 sec mark, 1 sec mark and 1.5 sec mark) but it did not.  it will stay in queue until you finish your spell and then swing (it will swing even if you have another spll queued) but the damage is done, 3 swings lost, 3 chances to crit lost, 3 chances to proc lost, and because the delay is quick, the damage on the swings that do make it are trivial at best.</p><p>Example 2 - 4 sec delay weapon, hasted to 2 seconds (same exact haste as example 1)now you swing your sword, and begin to cast your 2 second debuff.  you recast on the sword swing begins, but no swing is missed since refresh is 2 seconds anyway.  you finish your debuff and your swing continues.  the swing lands harder, has a higher chance to proc and crit, and nothing was lost due to spell casting, where again in example 1, 3 swings were lost totally due simply to casting.  Now imagine how many spells/combat arts are cast.  granted alot of troub abilities are quick, so a 2 second cast time is not goign to be on every ability, also remember come raid time with the right gear you can get a serious amount of haste, and bring a 4 second delay weapon down to a really quick delay, which still hits hard and crits and procs like a mofo</p><p>"Oh and what stat affects ranged DPS / stifling missile / messenger's letter?"</p><p>Your bow+arrows+ranged skill+str affects ranged DPS.  you ranged skill affects your ability to land stifling missile/messengers letter.</p>

[Ashad]

Thanks. FYI Noble Blade and Draining Incursion, despite doing mental damage, are STR based and not INT based.

[Harzel]

The other thing I don't see mentioned so far in this thread is that your power pool is based on INT and AGI, with AGI being twice as imporant as INT if I remember correctly.H.