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Odoyle

06-01-2008, 12:52 AM

So I have a new little melee spec'd Warden who's level 16 now, and I'm trying to figure out the bonus(es) of going the combat route. I'm still kind of new to EQ2 so I'm not quite sure on all of the mechanics (but I've done a lot of reading and I've been an MMO since the early days of EQ1). So basically, I'm wondering:1) Do the CAs end up doing more over damage base than the spells? Because at this point, their cast+recast is quite a bit more than their spell counterparts.2) Does melee crit affect the CAs? I'm guessing it does as that would be one of the big bonuses given there's no equivelent to the 75% bonus for spells.3) Is STR supposed to increase the damage of AA CAs like it does for classes with standard CAs? I found the thread with a few parses that showed it did increase the damage of them, but I couldn't gather from the thread whether the gain was less than expected. It also seemed to indicate that the different CAs where gaining by different amounts; is that normal?4) The quality of the spell has nothing to do with the CA right? So Master II'ing one would be a bad idea?5) Is it better to stick with a 2h'r or go with a shield for normal grinding?Thanks in advance for any help <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Torri

06-01-2008, 06:42 AM

<cite>Odoyle wrote:</cite><blockquote>So I have a new little melee spec'd Warden who's level 16 now, and I'm trying to figure out the bonus(es) of going the combat route. I'm still kind of new to EQ2 so I'm not quite sure on all of the mechanics (but I've done a lot of reading and I've been an MMO since the early days of EQ1). So basically, I'm wondering:1) Do the CAs end up doing more over damage base than the spells? Because at this point, their cast+recast is quite a bit more than their spell counterparts.Once you have maxed out the Crit Achievements when you crit on your CA's I believe it makes up for the longer reuse time of Combat Arts compared to spells, but to be honest, I've never used a major spell-casting build that concentrated on Getting as much Int as possible.2) Does melee crit affect the CAs? I'm guessing it does as that would be one of the big bonuses given there's no equivelent to the 75% bonus for spells.Yes, melee crit affects all melee, auto-attack and combat arts. And no, I don't think you can get spell crit anywhere close to that on your own.3) Is STR supposed to increase the damage of AA CAs like it does for classes with standard CAs? I found the thread with a few parses that showed it did increase the damage of them, but I couldn't gather from the thread whether the gain was less than expected. It also seemed to indicate that the different CAs where gaining by different amounts; is that normal?Sorry, like I said in the other thread, parses confuse me, and I don't really trust them that much, they are only as good as the data in the logs, stuff can be missed. Yes strength increases the damage range of CA's. I have no idea what a "normal" increase is though.4) The quality of the spell has nothing to do with the CA right? So Master II'ing one would be a bad idea?Correct. Apprentice I or Master II of a spell has nothing at all to do with the melee combat art version you get from Achievements. Only buying additional ranks of the Combat Art with more achievement points will improve the quality. The advice I've always read was to pick a heal to Master II whenever possible. At the end of the day, we are Priests with a main duty in any content other than soloing being to heal5) Is it better to stick with a 2h'r or go with a shield for normal grinding?For soloing, once you have all your spell lines (You don't get your first weapon skill buff till 26) going with a high damage spread 2 hander seems to be the way to go. The loss of avoidence without a shield shouldn't be a deal breaker, the best defense is a good offense. If you want to bore mobs to death, make a Defiler (Which I have as an alt). I use a 2 hander when soloing, but swap to a one hander and buckler with healing effects on them when healing in groupsThanks in advance for any help <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote>

metacell

06-02-2008, 06:00 AM

The combat art versions have much lower casting time (0.5s + 0.5s recovery) than the spell versions (2s + 0.5s recovery). If you're in a group, that means you can easily fit in a combat art between heals. Low recast time doesn't matter when you hardly have time to cast.Also, when you're waiting for your CA timers to come up you can still auto-attack. You can't do that while casting a spell.

lancia

06-27-2008, 09:38 PM

I too am a returning player and I have a few additional questions as well.1. What type of stats should I be going for as a melee warden? STR/WIS mainly?2. Am I trying to find ways to increase my melee crit chance as well over the 75%? How do I do that?3. How well does the melee warden fair on end game content? Do most people switch back to spells at lvl 80 or are you combat arts skills still better?TIA

Fyranaer

06-27-2008, 10:11 PM

<cite>lancia wrote:</cite><blockquote>I too am a returning player and I have a few additional questions as well.1. What type of stats should I be going for as a melee warden? STR/WIS mainly?2. Am I trying to find ways to increase my melee crit chance as well over the 75%? How do I do that?3. How well does the melee warden fair on end game content? Do most people switch back to spells at lvl 80 or are you combat arts skills still better?TIA</blockquote>1. Strength and wisdom are the core attributes when melee specc'd. It's not that stamina isn't important, but it's so easy to get that I don't ever try and focus on it. I personally like the str/agi MC gear and wear that except I use 2 pieces of + wisdom gear to help keep the wisdom high. I use mostly wisdom jewellery as well. I probably should focus a bit more on strength than wis, but I'm happy with my build.2. I don't know enough yet to recommend a solid way to bump melee crit (such as if strength directly affects that or if it is items and AA only), but I do know that I like being balanced. The 75% crit from AA is important but I think the AA buff to wolf form mitigation is just as important. They go hand in hand.3. Since I'm not 80 yet I can't say for sure, but by the time I hit that point I plan on:- having 2 sets of gear (a strength melee set and a wisdom / healing focused set)- my mage type of spells at AD3 (I plan on starting this around 68 - 70)- an AA mirror so I can switch between the twoOne thing I would recommend is to keep up your unused skills. So if you have been using a slash weapon have a crushing weapon and switch to that. My one hander and shield is a slasher. My two hander I use for grouping is crushing. Also cast roots and snares often even though you are melee because if you want to root-n-nuke later it's going to suck having to catch up on subjugation. I'm still a noob so take what I say with a grain of salt, that's my 2c.

lancia

06-28-2008, 12:49 PM

Couple final questions:1. Does the speed of the weapon matter to a melee warden?2. Does the dmg of the weapon really matter to a melee warden since all of your "spells" have a dmg rating anyway? Or does the dmg of your weapon somehow factor in to your melee spells? Or does it just affect white dmg?

Norrsken

06-28-2008, 03:46 PM

Meirril

06-29-2008, 06:04 AM

<cite>lancia wrote:</cite><blockquote>Couple final questions:1. Does the speed of the weapon matter to a melee warden?2. Does the dmg of the weapon really matter to a melee warden since all of your "spells" have a dmg rating anyway? Or does the dmg of your weapon somehow factor in to your melee spells? Or does it just affect white dmg?</blockquote>Once you spend the AA to max out the Warden combat art line you should pick up the end line ability that gives you a 75% crit rating on your melee attacks. This practically guarentees that you'll hit every autoattack for over 100% of the max damage of your weapon. Choose a melee weapon that swings slowly and has a huge damage range (something that numbers in the 10s for its min damage and somewhere in the hundreds for its max would be perferable to a similar DPS weapon that has both numbers in the hundreds because the range would be larger, therefore crits would hit harder). Auto attack damage will be a major factor in your DPS if you decide to become a melee warden.

Karlen

06-29-2008, 08:17 AM

Here are some observations from the point of view of a mystic. Mystics also get CAs and I am pretty sure they work the same way (except that mystics can get up to 100% melee crits).>>>1) Do the CAs end up doing more over damage base than the spells? Because at this point, their cast+recast is quite a bit more than their spell counterparts.<<<I believe that fully upgraded spells probably do about the same as fully upgraded CAs if your character is set up correctly (for example, if you are using spells you need high INT and high +spell bonuses, while CAs look for more STR and +CA bonuses). Keep in mind, though, that CAs improve themselves every level, while spells get replaced every 14 levels -- which mean that your spells are at their best when they are new but don't improve at all until you get new ones.>>>2) Does melee crit affect the CAs? I'm guessing it does as that would be one of the big bonuses given there's no equivelent to the 75% bonus for spells.<<<Melee crits do affect CAs. When you crit, you do 30% more damage.>>>3) Is STR supposed to increase the damage of AA CAs like it does for classes with standard CAs? I found the thread with a few parses that showed it did increase the damage of them, but I couldn't gather from the thread whether the gain was less than expected. It also seemed to indicate that the different CAs where gaining by different amounts; is that normal?<<<STR increases melee (crush/slash/pierce) damage, INT increases the other types of damage. So generally speaking, STR increases your CAs, but if you have any "DoT" CAs, the way it works is the initial attack is boosted by STR, but the DoT is increased by INT. Procs are usually increased by INT as well. This means that it is best to focus on increasing STR -- the effort you put into INT depends a lot on how many proccing things you have.>>>4) The quality of the spell has nothing to do with the CA right? So Master II'ing one would be a bad idea?<<<The spells are unrelated to the CAs except that they share recast timers. You don't even need to buy the spell, let alone upgrade it (for post-50 when you don't get spells automatically). You may wish to buy the spells anyways for occasional use. CAs have no range, so you cannot do damage from a distance -- which sometimes you might want to do.>>>5) Is it better to stick with a 2h'r or go with a shield for normal grinding?<<<I always use +STR/+AGI 2H for maximum damage and avoidance (to make up for lack of shield)>>>1. Does the speed of the weapon matter to a melee warden?<<<The longer the delay the better to allow time between swings for casting spells (you still have spells you like to cast I am sure even if you use CAs). You don't want to reduce your autoattack damage (which happens when your swing gets delayed by spell casting) because autoattack is an important part of your damage. 2>>>. Does the dmg of the weapon really matter to a melee warden since all of your "spells" have a dmg rating anyway? Or does the dmg of your weapon somehow factor in to your melee spells? Or does it just affect white dmg?<<<Damage of the weapon doesn't affect your CAs, but it affects your autoattack. Autoattack is increased by STR (which you are working on to improve your CAs anyways) and my melee crits. When you crit autoattack, 30% is added to your hit and if the result is less than your max damage, it is bumped up to max + 1, so you always do at least max damage. Because of this, you want a weapon with a very high maximum damage. This usually means looking for a weapon with a high variance -- a 20-60 weapon and a 10-70 weapon of the same speed should have about the same damage rating, but the 10-70 weapon would never hit for less than 71 (when it crits), while the other would only occasionally hit for that much.The biggest advantage of CAs is that you can focus your efforts on the same stats that your autoattack needs which means that you become very effective at melee combat and can pump out some big numbers. With spells, you need to focus on INT for your spells and STR for your autoattack, and different crit types for each.