Some Clarification please

[HilstonPols]

<DIV>I have a 23 Bruiser alt, that I use in an opted group once per week.  He is a great char to play and tanks well.  Following some research I have taken him down the Str AA line (9 points so far).  The thing is that I have removed his weapons and fight barehanded.  Is this the only way that I can use the Str AA abilities or am I misreading it?  i.e. do "Fist" weapons count as no weapon.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I know this is a newbie question, sorry but just wanted confirmation.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks in advance</DIV>

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

You are doing it right. You have to have no weapon in primary and secondary to use the abilities from the Strength line.Not even fist weapons count, it has to be purely unarmed.<div></div>

[HilstonPols]

thank you

[DeathEater024]

yeah right now I have only got my first point past the strength so 4-1 and my dmg is only 28 less then with both my master crafted fists on.

[Thoral]

You'll find that your damage using the STR line wont really match your damage using mastercrafted or legendary weapons until you have around 4/4/4 or so.  After that, your bare-handed damage will be greater than your weapon damage.  At 4/4/8, you'll need some fabled weapons to compare, which can be expensive because you will have to upgrade them as you level unlike the STR line.Many people will go down another line and use weapons until they have 12 to 16 points to put into the STR line and then respec into STR.  Your first 4 respecs are relatively cheap, but it reaches 10pp per respec around the 5th one, so it may not be worth it to you to respec out of STR and then back into it.  Beside, the first 4 points in STR apply whether you use weapons or not, so you haven't really wasted any points there!<div></div>

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

Honestly.. now that you get AA at level 10, and how quickly it can be gained (do the Return of the Light and In Honor and Service HQ's and you'll get a nice chunk right there), it's not a big deal to put points straight into the Str line.Most of the low end content, especially pre-20 is easy enough that "having the right AA's" doesn't really matter. Especially since the game has to be balanced for others who don't have the expansions. Level 60-70, Kingdom of Sky might matter more, because you HAVE to have AA's so it's a little more balanced with that in mind... but the rest can still easily be done without any AA's.And if you are higher level and starting your AA's, it's even easier considering the AA's you can get for some quest lines... just find someone to mentor to and finish off a bunch of quests in the 20s and 30s. I got most of my alts from 0 AA's to ~20-30 AA's in a few days of questing. Steamfont is awesome for that.So I'd just start dumping them right into Strength right off the hop. 17 points is fairly quick to get, and you only need 13 before you'll match any mastercrafted weapons anyways. Just use weapons until you hit the 4/4/4 mark or so.<div></div>

[Thoral]

<blockquote><hr>Raidi Sovin'faile wrote:Honestly.. now that you get AA at level 10, and how quickly it can be gained (do the Return of the Light and In Honor and Service HQ's and you'll get a nice chunk right there), it's not a big deal to put points straight into the Str line.Most of the low end content, especially pre-20 is easy enough that "having the right AA's" doesn't really matter. Especially since the game has to be balanced for others who don't have the expansions. Level 60-70, Kingdom of Sky might matter more, because you HAVE to have AA's so it's a little more balanced with that in mind... but the rest can still easily be done without any AA's.And if you are higher level and starting your AA's, it's even easier considering the AA's you can get for some quest lines... just find someone to mentor to and finish off a bunch of quests in the 20s and 30s. I got most of my alts from 0 AA's to ~20-30 AA's in a few days of questing. Steamfont is awesome for that.So I'd just start dumping them right into Strength right off the hop. 17 points is fairly quick to get, and you only need 13 before you'll match any mastercrafted weapons anyways. Just use weapons until you hit the 4/4/4 mark or so.<div></div><hr></blockquote>Good point!  Save that respec for later.  Keep in mind that if you ever do respec, your brawler points stay in your brawler tree and your bruiser points stay in your bruiser tree.<div></div>

[HilstonPols]

<P>thanks alot guys for all the comments.  I am really enjoying the class and our little group/guild is making good progress.  The Str AA line is working out well, nice damage and I am doing well tanking.  The Warlock in the group is generally 1 level above me so he can be a problem if he gets excited!!:smileytongue:  </P> <P> </P> <P>One question: with not having weapons equiped am I losing out on stats?  i.e. a fist weapo or blunt weapon with +str+agi etc vs nothing!</P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[Thoral]

<div><blockquote><hr>HilstonPols wrote:<div></div> <p>thanks alot guys for all the comments.  I am really enjoying the class and our little group/guild is making good progress.  The Str AA line is working out well, nice damage and I am doing well tanking.  The Warlock in the group is generally 1 level above me so he can be a problem if he gets excited!!:smileytongue:  </p> <p>One question: with not having weapons equiped am I losing out on stats?  i.e. a fist weapo or blunt weapon with +str+agi etc vs nothing!</p> <hr></blockquote>LOL!  I feel your pain.  My fiancee is a warlock and we are grouped almost all the time!  The Wis line and the encounter taunt AA were must-have for me!Yes, you are loosing out on stats by going with bare hands.  The strength, procs, and skill buffs (crushing/piercing/slashing) don't matter if you are doing more DPS with STR because they are all counted into your DPS.  Agility, stamina, defense, parry, defensive procs, and any other defensive things a weapon might have affect your ability to tank.  This is where you have to decide whether you want to be more offensive (str line does more DPS) or defensive (weapons can have tanking stats).  One thing to know is that agility has a relatively small effect on your avoidance.  Defense, parry, and deflection have much more of an affect, but weapons with these stats are somewhat rare.</div>