belgarathmth

Well, I'm glad I started that second shadow warrior toon with Astral Lore aspect, because I've decided I don't like it. So, I guess I won't be doing this "triple aspect" build after all. My problem with it was that the skeleton warriors from Nether Allegience just kept getting in my way. Also, I didn't like it when they took my kills. And, I was noticing some jerkiness in my screen movement, as though my graphics card or processor was struggling to handle everything on screen. I have a high-end graphics card, but I also have maxed out graphics settings going, and adding four skellie warriors and two raised souls to have a small army on the screen with me just seemed to be too much for it. As for Spectral Hand, since it has to roll to hit, that just seemed like Demonic Blow with range to me. If you have Demonic Blow, building Spectral Hand too seems to be a wasteful duplication. If I need range, I can just grab a ranged weapon. I found the early version of Skeletal Fortification to be underwhelming. It was a nice damage bonus, but it was just as easy to kill enemies in melee myself. I know it gets stronger later, but again, the passivity of letting it kill things for me was not my cup of tea. As for Shadow Veil with Dark Pact, I've already fallen into that trap before when I last played a few years ago, and I know to avoid it if I don't want to be bored to death. Walking around the game dropping Skeletal Fortifications that kill enemies while they just stand there staring is not as fun as one might think. It looks to me like the Astral Lord aspect is designed for a player who likes being a summoner, and standing around mostly passively while magical creatures do most of the killing for him. I get the fun of that intellectually, but it's not really a play style that I find I enjoy. So, I guess I will figure out something else to go in those last two slots for my build. I'm also considering dumping Spell Resistance in favor of Toughness. Do you guys find armor resistance with damage reduction, or evasion to be the more effective defense? @Mystix123, I tried an experiment with my shadow warrior with the mastered Speed Lore. I stripped naked and unarmed, then put on a ring with +24 defense. My defense went from 695 to 751, a total increase of 56 points. Unboosted Speed Lore says "Attack and defense value +135". That looks like a flat value to me, but the bonus from the ring does appear to be boosted by 135%. So, you are right, and that makes Speed Lore more useful than I thought. The question then becomes, was it worth not taking something else? The attack and defense might be overkill, where another defensive skill could have better returns. As for the speed bonus max, you are right again on that. It's maxed at 150%. That's a minus for Speed Lore as a mastery, because all you get for mastering it is about 10% run speed bonus. It might be worth considering as investing in up to the point of diminishing returns, and having good bonus synergy with +all skills, but I definitely think it was a mistake for me to spend 75 skill points on it.

LOL. Aw, that's okay for me, @Aegis. The fun for me is building the toon, collecting things, and exposing the map. I've never been on platinum level, because I almost always move on to something else during gold level. I still haven't got my master cartographer achievement either, and that is a goal of mine, if I ever can stick with a toon and keep my interest up long enough. I have a really good level 78 shadow warrior in mid-gold level, but I made the mistake of mastering Speed Lore with him, because I like to move around really fast. ("What!? Only 10% bonus to run speed and 150 to attack and defense after all those points spent? I've been duped!) And, I had enough equipment to already have my run speed maxed out at 180%, so I totally wasted 75 skill points. I've restarted so I can pick a better mastery and stay away from Speed Lore. Actually, I've got two new shadow warriors going now, because I wanted to play with Astral Warrior aspect, and I didn't feel like waiting for it on the first one.

LOL, oh, yeah. I guess I made that mistake because I already had Tactics Lore when I looked at the list again. But even so, if I took Dual Wield, I'd start wanting to use cool shields. And if I took Shield Lore, I'd start wanting to use a two-handed sword, hammer, axe, or pole. So, I can see where Dual Wield would solve the problem for anyone who has zero interest in collecting and using shields. But that's still not me, so I still want to avoid specialty skills as much as possible. Heck, I even agonize constantly, and occasionally restart toons, over Constitution vs. Toughness, or Combat Reflexes vs. Spell Resistance. My Holy Grail is to find the perfect Generalist build for every class. Is there a "Bard" build for the shadow warrior and other classes?

My issue is with the definition of "spells". I don't get what constitutes a "spell" for a shadow warrior. I don't really want to wade through the technical business of saving a character file, messing it up, and then reverting to the saved file. I have no idea how to do that. I'm quite sure I would just mess up my character file permanently, so no thanks. Based on what I have here so far, I will not be taking Ancient Magic. It sounds like a total dupe choice for a shadow warrior, along with Riding, Divine Devotion, and even Speed Lore (which is arguably a dupe choice for any toon - too much point investment for too little return.)

Hmm, thanks @Aegis and @Flix, but what you two are saying is more or less directly contradicting. Could anyone tell me with some certainty? Is it true that Ancient Magic skill affects nothing but Skeleton Fortification? That really would seem like the Shadow Warrior shouldn't even have access to the skill. And that taking it would be kind of a dupe move. So, I guess I won't take it, unless somebody tells me with authority that it affects Spectral Hand or Nether Allegiance. In other news, I'm really liking my Astral aspect shadow warrior so far. I've fully modded Nether Allegiance to four spectral warriors, plus an armor increase for them, and I'm seeing new possibilities for the Augmenting Guidon, to make them even stronger. And, the whole new (to me) endeavor put me in mind of this quote: Luke: "Your overconfidence is your greatest weakness!" Palpatine: "Your faith in your friends is yours!" LOL - I've named my four spectral warriors "Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, and Dynaheir." I guess I should name my Skeletal Fortification "Imoen".

Hello, friends. Well, my chronic restartitis has already flared up, and now I'm trying a new Astral Lord sw. I've started with Astral Focus as skill one, Astral Lore as skill two, and will take Concentration for skill three. I know I will take Death Warrior Focus for the Grim Resilience boost. My question is whether I should take Ancient Magic sooner or later? I plan to make extensive use of Spectral Hand, Skeletal Fortifications, and Nether Allegience with this toon. The skill says it boosts "non-weapon based" CA's, as well as reducing enemy resistances. But, Spectral Hand appears to be totally weapon based. So, would Ancient Magic help make Spectral Hand any stronger? Exactly why is Ancient Magic available to a sw, and what does it do for his astral lord aspect combat arts? Thanks.

@Leaden and @Aegis, on the PC version of Sacred 2, Dual Wield is a secondary skill for the SW. It would make me choose Sword Weapons, Hafted Weapons, or Pole Weapons, and put five points in it, before I could take Dual Wield. That would be a nightmare to a sufferer from chronic restartitis like me. I would not only have to spend a skill slot on a weapon lore, I would have to spend another skill slot on Dual Wield. And, I love to collect and use shields - until I find a two-handed weapon with %life leech. I really like to be able to freely collect and use one-hander and shield, or two-handers, and energy weapons, or shurikens, or throwing bottles, or even knuckle weapons, and not feel like I am wasting (horrors!) - TWO skill slots! I wonder if the disconnect between my point of view and yours has to do with the differences between PC vs. console?

Good advice and feedback, thanks. One reason I don't want to go with a weapon lore, is that I can never make up my mind. As soon as I lock a toon into using one weapon, as sure as the world, something great in another weapon type will drop that I really want to use. That makes me keep restarting new toons, and I never stick with one past mid-gold level. I like Enhanced Perception, because I love to collect armor sets and rare uniques. So, even though I will miss out on a lot of weapon affixes, I should have a lot to choose from. I think the most important affiix is %life leech, and that one comes unlocked without needing a weapon lore, or at least, I am having no trouble finding lots of %life leech weapons to choose from with good EP. Blacksmithing is just necessary to get EP, so I probably won't ever put more than five points in it, but, I am finding that even the minimal skill in it is quite convenient, for not having to go back to a town to do quick socket switches when good new socketables drop, at least, for as long as I wear gear that is not far above my level. I don't really have to have the Astral Focus and Astral Lore in the last two slots, so I could take Constitution and another defense or a weapon lore, but then, my chronic restartitis would likely flare up, since I'd start getting in the mood for some skeleton warriors, fortifications, and invisibility. Also, I don't find that Constitution is really as critical for a shadow warrior as for a caster or a ranged class; since his defense is so high, not much can scratch him - plus, he gets a huge hit point bonus from Grim Resilience anyway. Also, I play soft core, so if I get in over my head and die a couple of times, it won't bother me too much. My personal limit of deaths before I start to consider my build a failed build is about five. If I die more than five times in a complete toon career, I usually delete the toon or make a pack mule out of it, and go back to the drawing board. So far, I'm having a lot of fun with it. It's kind of nice to be so tough, and to kill stuff so easily, after playing with my squishy dragon mage for a few weeks. (Not to disrespect my dragon mage toons, which are fun, but they're undeniably squishy, and very dependent on buffs, so I have to live in fear of anything that can disrupt buffs.)

Hi, I've just returned for another glorious cycle of playing Sacred 2 and socializing with this wonderful Dark Matters crowd of friends. I've just tonight stumbled onto a build idea for a triple aspect shadow warrior, inspired by my dragon mage toons, and I am interested in feedback. This build presumes, as a very important factor, that you TURN OFF that annoying default feature that puts all your timers together. You will use SEPARATE timers for each aspect. Here's the build, in no particular order: Tactics Lore (basic no-brainer, for mods and damage. This and the two focuses will be mastered first.) Concentration (one-point wonder, for two buffs and potential three buffs down the road) Death Warrior Focus (basic no-brainer, for maxed-out Grim Resililence and spamming Scything Sweep/Demonic Blow. One of your first three masteries.) Malevolent Champion Focus (basic no-brainer, for maxed-out Reflective Emanation and spamming Belligerent Vault/Frenzied Rampage. One of your first three masteries.) Blacksmith (for opening Enhanced Perception, and for basic convenience on the road and saving money). Enhanced Perception (basic no-brainer for good gear, left at one point through silver and gold, with resistance crystals to pump it to a significant bonus with only one hard point. Also opens experience and magic find bonuses on jewelry and other rare gear.) Armor Lore (basic no-brainer, for reduced penalties and unlocking armor stats. Can be left at one hard point for a long time if you're in no hurry to leave silver and gold, and I'm not.) Spell Resistance (can be left at one point until later levels of difficulty, but will become critical, eventually.) Astral Lord Focus (to open up mods - you will be able to drop Skeletal Fortification against tough mobs and bosses, and save the rest for quite far down the road. Once Concentration is maxed and you can use a third buff, use Nether Allegiance for a lot of help in crowds and with bosses, or start building Shadow Veil, if you want the game-breaking deus ex machina of that.) Astral Lord Lore (this is the last thing you will build. To make yourself finally, a god.) The Shadow Warrior triple aspect is so powerful, you don't need a weapon mastery at all. Use any weapon or weapon/shield combo that suits your fancy at any given moment. That's part of the beauty of this build. I am finding so far that lightsabers almost overpower the silver level game because of the willpower boost from Grim Resilience, and I have access to all two-handers and shurikens with % life leech for bosses - I've built quite a collection of both lightsabers and %life leech items over the past couple of years. Caveat - I've only just started it, so, it is completely untested in gold, platinum, and niobium.

I'm a little busy with Diablo 3 at the moment. But I want to come back to Sacred 2 soon. I've been doing a female monk in D3, and it gave me the idea to try a seraphim who be basically the same toon in Ancaria. I've never played a seraphim in Sacred 2, so it would be a new kind of experience to enjoy in a great game. I've still never played in the expansion areas, either. I'm trying to save the Christmas area to do for the first time this Christmas. Or maybe next Christmas. I'm a highly distractible gamer.

Ye gods, this game is awesome! I just finished Act II for the first time, and I thought of a couple more things I want to put here: (POSSIBLE SPOILERS) 1) The final Act II battle with Belial! OMG! I got my butt kicked twice, then decided I'd better quit game and go look up some advice on boss-mechanics and strategy. I came back, adjusted my skills bar, and beat him on the first try after a nail-biting battle. I actually screamed "Wooooooh!" out loud in a high-pictched falsetto voice like a choir-boy! Not many games can make me do that. 2) The movies in between acts. Very professionally done, and totally awesome. So far I've only seen the end of Act I, Tyrael's Fall, and end of Act II, Introducing Asmodan. I thought it a wonderful artistic and appropriate decision to make the Lord of Sin a fat, wormy, Jabbba-the-Hutt type. I immediately thought of the Seven Deadly Sins, especially Pride, Sloth, and Gluttony. I was also inspired by the style of a "Lord of the Rings" type epic heroic story. I think they should make one of those full-length motion-capture films like Beowulf or Jim Carrey's A Christmas Carol for the Diablo 3 story. They could call it "Diablo - The Lords of Hell". They already have several scenes made in the game. I bet it would be a hit! What do you think?

Awesome point, Knuckles! I especially agree about the intense combat and the achievements.

Hi, friends, I thought I'd come out of lurking to share why I'm really enjoying Diablo 3. I'm still in Normal level, so these are first impressions for me. I've been readng so much hate from people on different forums that it almost put me off the game, so I wanted to start a positive thread somewhere. I know better than to try to say anything nice on any Blizzard-supported forum. Those people flame niceness. Since I know the folks here on Dark Matters are friendly and supportive of each other, I decided to say my piece here. So, this thread is for posting one or more things that you really like or enjoy about Diablo 3. 1) I like the dialogues with the npc's. I know it probably gets old after hearing all of it a thousand times, but it reminds me of Baldur's Gate. The npc's have personalities. The templar and the rogue both flirt with Leah in their own ways, and they even have a rivalry for her affections going during the brief time they are together at the same time with the player. I found it all delightful, at least the first time. 2) I love the sense of humor. I've laughed so many times at the little one-liners from the lore-journalists, as well as from the npc's 3) I think it captures the flavor and feeling of Diablo 2 very well. I know I'm playing a Diablo game when I play Diablo 3. The art is dark and shadowy, and the kinds of mobs and bosses you face are similar, and you have the waypoint system. It's Diablo. 4) I can't really speak to the drop system much since I've barely started, but I'm getting golds at about the rate I expect in Normal level. They keep tweaking it in the patches. I'm not sure Europe has the latest patch yet, but we Americans have been playing with it over a week now. So far, the drop tables are not perfect, but it seems okay for me as a casual player. 5) I love the music. OMG, the music. I've had those haunting little guitar arpeggios running up and down in my head for days. A lot of the thematics are directly quoted from Diablo 2. So if you liked the music in the previous games, how could you not like the music in Diablo 3? So, bottom line for me, is I'm having fun with Diablo 3 commensurate with what I paid for the game, and I can see a lot of love that went into it from the creative side of the development team, even if the financial people might have mucked things up a bit with the auction house system. Could some other people post things that they like about Diablo 3?

Hello, all, I'm back playing Sacred 2, this time with a lightsaber dragon mage, up to level 25 after about a week or two of spent leisure time. I'm using Tactics Lore, Sword Lore, Elemental Lore ("Force Push"), Elemental Focus, Combat Discipline, Armor Lore, Shield Lore, and I'm thinking Constitution, and ? and ?. Maybe Mentalism Focus, since I'm using Protective Runes for my one buff, and either Concentration or a green (EP or Bargaining) for the last. What's different for me this time is that I'm not taking a green skill (EP or Bargaining) at early levels, choosing instead to focus on combat abilities. So far, I've discovered that simply clearing map shroud meticulously seems to yield just as many set pieces and special finds as building a green skill. Also, I'm coming back to Sacred 2 with a new perspective - I bought a Blizzard account and spent some time with World of Warcraft as a first multiplayer experience. Now I can see all sorts of Sacred 2 game elements, that used to bother me, as being there for multiplayers (e.g. extremely fast respawn rates and low (for single players) regional level caps that can make most of the game get too easy ( for single players who are meticulous about clearing map and doing sidequests in silver level). That is, most multiplayers see to be in it for the competition with other players' builds, equipment, and DPS rates. Sometimes they get rather aggresive about "being the best". They also want to "hurry up and level, go, go, go," so that they can join friends that they've made online. It seems to me to be a constant problem in multiplayer situations that someone starts a new character, meets a group of "level 85" people that they want to be friends with and play with, and then become obsessed with leveling as fast as possible in order to join their new "friends" in play. Single players, by contrast, are more likely to want to casually explore map and do quests. They couldn't care less about hurrying up or competing with other players. My opinion is that Sacred 2 does a most excellent job of meeting the needs of both kinds of players. Wow does virtually nothing for single players, barring them from a huge percentage of game content and equipment drops, and combining that with a glacially slow combat pace (press rotation button 1, wait five seconds, press rotation button 2, wait five seconds, press rotation button 3, if lucky, enemy number 1 drops. Start again with enemy number 2. If more than 2 enemies, prepare to die for the umpteenth time and navigate your ghost back to the encounter.) I must say, Sacred 2 is a far superior game to WoW in almost every way - graphics, general gameplay, timing and pacing of combat, incentivizing drops (in WoW, you will NEVER get a good drop as a single player), and most especially, friendliness of the community. That's just my opinion, btw, in comparing the two games. If anyone is a huge fan of both, please do not take offense. Anyway, sorry for the anti-WoW rant; it's just that I'm so happy and relieved to be playing Sacred 2 again. Thanks for listening.

I finally got it to work by using the Sacred File Cleaner utility.

My game (EU version, Dark Matters, with community patch) is now crashing when I try to adjust the graphics settings. Other than that, it works fine. Does anyone know what causes this or how to work around it? Thanks.

I second the recommendation for +CA regen per hit. I have a dragon mage who focuses his equipment on this, and it's amazing how fast the combat arts recharge.

It wouldn't be Sacred without the Sacred sense of humor. Sacred 1 had it too. I still remember lots of lines. From the battlemage: "Time to go see Shareefa. This 'horn' will impress her!" "Oh, you're already dead." "I don't need my magic against the likes of you - but, it's more fun!" From the seraphim: "<exasperated, fed-up shout> Why do you want to die? <quieter, with a sigh> All right then, line up." If you equipped the wood elf with a staff or spear, and then took your hands off the controls and left her standing still for a few seconds, she actually would start to do a lengthy, elaborate, and very suggestive pole dance with her weapon while she waited for you! Good times.

Hmm, I don't know the answer to your question, but it sounds like it's part of the ambience soundtrack for towns. One time, I adjusted the sound options a certain way, and I was actually able to hear snippets of conversations in the background ambience. Not the two-person conversations you're supposed to hear in every town that are clear, but a usually subliminal background buzz that you wouldn't normally be aware of. I couldn't make most of it out, but what I could hear was just talk-about-the-weather stuff, almost as if they hired some extras for a day, and the actors were just improvising "watermelon-squash" stuff the way extras do. I didn't like the sound settings that amplified it, and I turned the other stuff back up almost immdediately. I haven't thought about this since. Anyway, I think it's just another example of how good Sacred 2 is in its art and sound design.

Okay, thanks for the info, but I'm going to stick with Norton's strictness and erring on the side of caution. I used to use McAfee, and I had two operating systems on two different computers destroyed by viruses that it let through. EDIT: Okay, I tried that link, and it's flagged and blocked. I guess I just won't go there again. Fortunately, Dark Matters is still safe, and I like this site better anyway. If it is a false positive, sometimes those get reported and resolved in a few days by the webmasters and/or moderators of the flagged site and the security company that flagged them.

I'm really interested in this. I have always had an affinity for staff-fighting magical characters. Please keep us updated on how your magic-staff DM does. I currently have a triple-aspect caster DM, from whom I have taken a rather long break, but I'm thinking about getting back into to playing him. He owns gold level with his spells, using his staff and shield for supplemental damage only (and +% to recharge), but I would be very interested in trying a pure staff-fighting build. Especially this is so with Christmas coming up, as I have always been attracted to St. Nicholas/Santa Claus as an RPG build idea, and St. Nicholas' icon is the white-horse(I.e. draconicon)riding bishop with the crooked staff. Another beloved icon/archetype that comes to mind is Friar Tuck from Robin Hood lore. Fat, jolly, wears nothing but robes, is a spiritual leader, and kicks butt with a staff. P.S. - I've been a huge fan of yours since your Might and Magic days, Dave-O. Your history of the Might and Magic series over at Celestial Heavens rocks!

Hello, I just tried to go to the Sacred 2 official site. My Norton Antivirus Security Suite denied entry. Norton has flagged the official site as a "fake redirect, driveby malicious download", and claims that the Sacred 2 site attempts to involuntarily download malicious software. Does anyone know what is going on with this?

I've got one hard point in Enhanced Perception plus bonuses, for about 25 or 30 soft points. That's supposed to be about 10% to magic find. I'm wondering if EP has tiered diminishing returns by character level like Bargaining. When I was at low levels, magic items were dropping all over the place. Now, they rarely drop at all - I'd say it's about the same rate as a 1st-15th level character with no EP. And the high level character has the bonus from about 40% map explored. Also, I had another three unique polearms drop in about 2 hours of play last night. I could swear that my Dragon Mage has some kind of modifier that makes more polearms drop, almost like some CM-writer thought that the character was supposed to use polearms and nothing else. These polearms dropped in the swamp region. Do certain creatures have a greater chance of dropping certain items? If so, which creatures drop more staves? EDIT: Hmm, I was just thinking, earlier in the character's career, I was using a lot of rings of +%Find Valuables. As he's progressed, I have switched to using rings and other gear that help keep him alive, like bonuses to attack and defense and +.x Seconds Regen per Hit. I wonder if all sources of magic find are not weighted equally. The bonus from EP does not appear in the summation window, either. How can we be reallly sure that it's functioning?

The thread title says it. I have a level 76 Dragon Mage going through Gold - I'm getting gold and orange swords, gold and orange polearms, including a dozen or more %LifeLeech, and ditto with hafted weapons and ranged weapons (except shurikens). But I haven't had a single gold or orange magic staff (or shuriken) drop since about level 25. I've noticed this same problem with some of my other characters. What's going on, here? Do magic staves have a lower percentage chance to drop than other kinds of weapons?

It's the same as the English, not a German vocabulary word. the -isch ending is the same as English -ian or -ish. It's just a suffix to convert a noun into an adjective. (With language names, the word "language" is implied after the adjective, for example, "English language", where "English" is an adjective, is shortened to just "English", which is then treated as a noun. The rest of it is translated as exactly what it says in the English version. (Except it says "I should talk to the mage" instead of "He wants me to....")