Confession Time

[katieannikins]

<DIV>Hi,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Just dinged 31 over the weekend and am starting to feel the strain a bit because of what I've been doing up till now. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Basically I've been almost totally fixated on buying the best armour I can whenever I've got some gold in my pocket. I'm proud to say that all my gear is yellow or orange and self buffed I can reach just over 2300 hp. I know that's not the best by a long way but it's not bad either with other guardians of the same level I see around.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The trouble is of course because I've been spending every spare penny on gear I've totally neglected my spells. I think I've got one App 4 and all the others are App 3 or even 2. So far I've managed to get away with my crappy spells but I think now at 31 it's time to get sensible and upgrade. I was in the Weavemasters room last night in RoV and I had a hell of a job keeping aggro on the skellies and tomes, in fact most of the time I didn't keep aggro at all, and I was wondering all the time if I had better spells would I be doing a better job?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So I guess my question is the next time I've got a few gold in my pocket would I be better off forgetting the shiny new armour pieces and going for spells instead, and would it really make a noticeable difference if instead of trying to taunt with a App2 spell I was using an adept?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>How do you guys spend your money, do you split it evenly between spells and armour or concentrate on one or the other. The next time one of my armour pieces goes blue should I worry about replacing it straight away with a yellow or should I still be worrying about buying another spell upgrade?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks for your help.</DIV>

[Nazo]

As part of your job description Taunts and any ability that generates agro should be your first priority for upgrades. After 30+ class distinctions really begins to show up with everyone getting nice abilities so you will end up looking at mobs backs if you dont upgrade your skills.

[Zaboo]

<P>my advice is to app 4/adept 1 all abilities you use alot. you can get by without any adept 3.  get descent armor but dont blow on feysteel.  the pristine player made seemed to work fine for me.  save every copper you have for your T5 armor.  The reasoning is that the T5 armor will be on you much longer.</P> <P> </P> <P> of course this depends on how fast you level but if you can make it into your 40s sometime in July then i think this is the way to go with the expansion not coming out til September.</P>

[Shizzirri]

<DIV>In regards to aggro at least 50% of the time its probably not your fault its probably someone going a little too crazy with their specials, in the 30's I had the same problem I'd go nuts spending money on the best armor and such when you probably don't need it at that point as you don't need fabled/legendary gear to do your job in the 30 range, I would defineatley invest some money on getting suppress and smothering cry adept 3'd, probably do or die and your other buffs when you get them as well, app 4 should do you just fine in the other categories, at this point in the game its probably more important to have stronger spells rather than armor don't blow your wallet on the feysteel stuff because it will be grey before you know it.</DIV>

[jreed]

I would worry about getting all your taunts to Adept I, and the ones you will have to lvl 50+ to adept III (yes there are a few lower level taunts you use at lvl 50 because they are on different timers then your higher level ones).  Save your money for Ebon, because thats where you will be going and unless you get in a raiding guild you will be spending a ton on that gear so start saving now.  A full set of fulginate armor to bridge you should not run you more then maybe 35gp ish depending on server for a full set. Weeper lvl 50 Guardian The Tribunal Butcherblock <div></div>

[Rorrak]

<P>Make sure you're using your 45 second buffs too, they generate a lot of aggro.  Adept I taunts should be your top priority, ahead of armor.  If you can't hold aggro it doesn't matter if you have all master chest armor on, the mob isn't hitting you, it's killing your groupmates.  Your job is to gain and hold aggro.  Does armor help you generate hate?  No.  Will it make you mitigate a little bit more damage during a fight while you have aggro so that your group is a couple % more efficient?  Sure.  Will it make the difference on a high end raid against you being durable enough to last the fight or not?   It might.  But if you can't hold aggro that doesn't matter.  </P> <P>If a mage or scout is going nuts with specials while you're pulling, that's their fault obviously.  Ask your group to give you a few seconds at the start of a fight to establish hate, then they can start in with their abilities.  If it's another tank that's stealing hate then a lot of the time they're probably still taunting, whether intentionally or unintentionally.  Ask them to examine their abilities and not use abilities which say that they generate hate in their description.  Also ask them to pace their power usage with the health of the mob.  So if the mob has 50% health they shouldn't have less than 50% power.  If it's a dps type that's stealing aggro then ask them to try to use cleaner dps abilities.  ie abilities that don't debuff a lot.  I group with a scout fairly often who used to steal aggro despite doing much much lower dps than a wizard in the same group, the difference was he was using a lot of combat abilities with snares and debuffs in them, and abilities like that will generate a lot more hate than an ability that just does damage.  </P> <P>It's hard when you're grouping with random people but if you stick to people you know (guild, friends, whatever) they'll learn and you'll become a lot more efficient as a group.  Upgrade those taunts, then buffs to Adept I.  Worry about upgrading your armor when you're 40+</P> <P>- Rorrak</P>

[Mig]

Unless your the MT in a raiding guild, don't bother with Adept III's.Anything you do as a six man team you can get away with adept 1.Also, with the combat revamp coming up and the expansion, I'd be hesitant recommending anyone to spend money on rare adepts (even masters) at this time.<p>Message Edited by Migyb on <span class=date_text>05-23-2005</span> <span class=time_text>02:48 PM</span>

[Khyzoth]

<DIV>Adept I's for your main taunts and App 4 for buffs/damage attacks and you should be fine. I use the freebie Solexa's Daunting Cry (or whatever and I think 's Adept II) to grab the mob and then Suppress Adept I during the fight and I rarely lose aggro. When you hit 40 and have tons of spare cash you might want to get Adept III's but that's debatable.</DIV>