Yet Another "Which AA Set Up Is Best For Me?" Thread

[Storm_Runner]

<DIV>Ok everyone here's the deal.  I solo most of the time...prolly 70% of the time.  The rest of the time I'm usually in 3-6 person groups but even then quite a bit of the time I'm not the MT.  Considering that I'm wanting to max out my DPS as much as possible so I'm looking at the tier 3 AA abilities.  The problem is I just can't decide which setup will give me the most dps.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When I solo I go in offensive stance and I switch btwn DW and using a 2H...whichever weapon/s I have thats best for that level or depending on which skill I need to level.  I use hammers, maces, axes, and swords.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The double attack in the stamina line looks good.  Also Buckler Reversal, with its added damage every time you or your target parries, deflects, ripostes, looks like it could add quite a bit of dps and generate a ton of agro if grouping.  The problem is I just can't see myself using a buckler...especially since it seems like I'd take a bunch more damage.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm not sure about the strength line.  Does the added % chance to crit really make that much difference to dps?  I've read posts from people who say yes and some from people who say it doesn't seem to help much at all.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The agility line with it's % chance to have your auto attack be AoE sounds good.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The wisdom and intelligence line both sound good also although INT is our least useful stat.  One makes you hit harder and the other makes you hit faster.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And how do I pick how many points I should put into each?  Do I pick 4 of the 5 lines and put 12 in each and get 4 3rd tier abilities with 4 ranks of each?  Do I pick 3 of them and end up with 3 3rd tier abilities maxed?  Decisions decisions...it's starting to make my head hurt.  Any advice would be much appreciated.    </DIV>

[beliker]

Your thinking of the stam line the wrong way. With 75% double attack your  doing more dps then a 2 hander and you get the added protection of a buckler. Now when you tank triple yellow heroics your still gonna want to carry around a tower shield. <div></div>

[ReviloTX]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> belikeron wrote:<BR>Your thinking of the stam line the wrong way. With 75% double attack your  doing more dps then a 2 hander and you get the added protection of a buckler.<BR><BR>Now when you tank triple yellow heroics your still gonna want to carry around a tower shield.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>If you have the second to last stamina ability at 8 (forget the name of it), you will block or riposte just about as much as you would block with a tower shield, no need to change them out.  I raid tank with a buckler nowdays <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[TanRaistlyn]

<DIV>Sta line is best DPS max it out.  +DPS mods and +Haste mods are more effective in all my parses over the str line.  But you really cant go wrong anyway you build your Guard.</DIV>

[beliker]

Crit  chance isnt going to make that big of a difference. Since your never going to be critting for 50 jillion like mages you critting is not going to make any difference. I think the crit is 30% more damage which is who cares. I will take 75% chance to do 100% more damage over 25% chance to do 30% more damge any day =p <div></div>

[Wabit]

<DIV>i just wish taunts could crit</DIV>

[beliker]

And crits did double damage like every other game on the market =p <div></div>

[Timzil]

<P>I play small groups exclusively. Having 5 or 6 members in a group just trivializes the game, and you have to split more ways :p Four is fun. Anyway, I went WIS 4/4/4/1 and am satisfied with it. Higher resists and mitigation and no penalty for stance. At 70 against heroic content I'm almost always in O stance and using DW. Will swap to D and use board and mace against some names. The extra knockdown was nice, but that's nerfed now. Still, I think the WIS path is solid.</P> <P>I just started down STR for my second path. No exp there yet, but was thinking higher crit chances would be nice. Pretty much a toss up between that and STA for me. Since my shield time is pretty much reserved for names, I didn't want to have to equip a buckler to take advantage of the STA path, so STR got the edge. </P> <P>Anyhow, with /respec in the game you can try them all <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>Spudge, 70 OMGuardian, AB</P><p>Message Edited by Timzilla on <span class=date_text>06-15-2006</span> <span class=time_text>07:02 AM</span>

[TuinalOfTheNexus]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> belikeron wrote:<BR>Your thinking of the stam line the wrong way. With 75% double attack your  doing more dps then a 2 hander and you get the added protection of a buckler.<BR><BR>Now when you tank triple yellow heroics your still gonna want to carry around a tower shield.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Even with yellow con heroics, and pretty much any single-group encounter for that matter, I often feel the extra dps you put out with the buckler equipped still makes it worthwhile. What's great about it compared to the int / str lines is the double attack doesn't contribute towards a cap ~ I often found grouped with a coercer & dirge I'd be hitting the haste and/or DPS caps making these AAs less useful.</P> <P>If you've maxed the +block/riposte part of the sta line, then you're only looking at a ~2% change in avoidance with a tower shield but that almost halves your autoattack damage. Since by nature the Guardian is an extremely defensive tank anyway, you'll still take the hits better than any other fighter whilst using a buckler if you drop to defensive stance and use defensive CAs.</P> <P>I think there's a line between being the best damage mitigator you reasonably can be and taking it to such an extreme you make the healer practically useless. I've got a habit for parsing encounters and unless you're grouped with a Fury you're better off going offensive whenever you can and making the healer pick up the slack than becoming the ultimate damage mitigator and leaving the cleric to try and nuke. There's also the obvious advantage of the higher dps when it comes to hate generation.</P> <P>Same as many other Guardians, I have a variety of tower shields hotkeyed because tower of stone can be the difference between life and death; but they only get pulled out for <EM>really</EM> tough situations.</P> <P>And note that, of course, this doesn't apply to raids when mitigation and hate generation are far, far more important than your dps. Until you hit 70 and do nothing but raid, though, the sta line takes some beating.</P><p>Message Edited by TuinalOfTheNexus on <span class=date_text>06-20-2006</span> <span class=time_text>05:44 PM</span>

[Wabit]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> TuinalOfTheNexus wrote:<BR> <P>I think there's a line between being the best damage mitigator you reasonably can be and taking it to such an extreme you make the healer practically useless. I've got a habit for parsing encounters and unless you're grouped with a Fury you're better off going offensive whenever you can and making the healer pick up the slack than becoming the ultimate damage mitigator and leaving the cleric to try and nuke. There's also the obvious advantage of the higher dps when it comes to hate generation.</P> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>whats wrong with Furies???  i prefer druid healers in a group setting...

[TanRaistlyn]

Does it really matter what healer you have in grp settings? All except nizara, are so insanely easy you can roll without a healer all together if you wanted to.

[Sirlutt]

<div><blockquote><hr>TanRaistlyn wrote:<div></div>Does it really matter what healer you have in grp settings? All except nizara, are so insanely easy you can roll without a healer all together if you wanted to.<hr></blockquote>I gotta say something here.this attitude bothers me.. your obviously a fabled equiped raid tank with probably full AA's and a crap load of masters.99% people are not.Your gear is what makes all the content easy for you, but not everyone, or many people infact have your gear and so your statements like that do not apply.  Most people dont find all except Nizara insanely easy as you wouldnt if you were in normal quested/dropped gear like most players.  It just bothers the crap out of me to see people talk about how easy some of the content is when they are sitting with 5500 passive mit and all masters.  Try doing the content with 4500 mit and adept 1's and tell me you dont need a healer. (not that i have either of those).I used to think there was something wrong with how I played the game because i wasnt finding things easy that I saw people posting about.. that was until i realised player skill had 0 to do with it, its all gear.  The problem is you guys get all this gear, and complain about how easy stuff is so they make things harder, and it screws over the rest of the people who were already finding things challenging in all player crafted gear.ok .. vent over.. flame on.</div>