JKtheWonderguy

It's why I built her that way bro. And, after I get 65, ancient magic will lower resists too It's the network bro, not us. I got IT skills, I did my diagnostics. I can reach everywhere but there

Yes. Seems like more every day to me. I meet one new peop after another. Except now where I can't connect to servers. Dangit

That'll pump your max EP even further bro. XMas presents will be falling at your feet

As far as what you can control, boneslicer is a good target. You absolutely know what is at the end of the chain. Otherwise, you kill stuff and wait for drops *shrug* You kill enough stuff, something will drop you'll be in love with. Then you'll outgrow it, and you'll look for something else

Yeah. It's kinda sad that the buff is so situational, and that a celestial/dual wielder shouldn't use it constantly in a build, but I believe you are right. So I'll just use it situationally, and choose something else for a skill more useful

If I unnerstand right, the XBox/PS version is akin to version 2.34, although an earlier version. Is this correct? Cause where I leveled in 2.41 and prior was the wasteland run. Right before the guardian cave. The demon mages that are bugged in current PC versions were not so much then, and the drops and XP were better than anywhere else, specially for uniques. I got bored to death in that little cave, so couldn't hang more than a coupla levels per difficulty. This applies of course to more melee centric toons that I play primarily of course, as a decent Area of Effect character can pull much better XP elsewhere. What I would do most of the time is finish a level of difficulty, then run 50/50 in new difficulty/wasteland runs (w Blue Pots pumping) for about five levels, then focus on the next campaign, because by that time the XP for that difficulty was picking up and there were better drops.

Cool. Is that all that applies to everyone? Does Celestial Lore augment those two mods for intensity as well? Reason why I ask is I am considering running two buffs on a celestial dual wielder. I see what an unmodified brilliance does to undead, and I assume it does even better when modded. I know the conventional wisdom is 'good for XP'ing swamps, worthless otherwise'. I dislike pushing a CA that is situational only, so wanna know how much it affects everything else universally.

I know it damages undead/T Energy guys. I also know it says 'decrease attack/defense' depending on mod. Who does it affect? Everybody? Or just the dead/energy guys?

Yeah, since now it not only interests me but others, I'll do hard study on em bro. From what I can tell, shields seem to be overpowered, according to tooltips. Yet we both (and every other player who has played for a while) know bout those lying character sheets.

Absolutely positive bro. I can provide exact numerical data on future shield characters, but right now I'm running online characters only, so will give you info as I go. Now keep in mind I'm only talking about three mods that show up on shields, + D, + block CC, + block proj. As Dobri pointed out wiki-wise, shields add to *total* D, as opposed to direct D. I feel it is just like another armor piece as the game sees it as a whole, as the numbers line up, and the percentage of D + is added through the shield lore number in skill points. Also, I feel these scalable numbers add to 'D against' certain attacks. For instance, if a shield has the D+ mod, it adds to D for all attacks, block CC adds to the check to be hit for CC, and block proj adds to the check for projectiles. It doesn't have a shield check then armor check, in other words. Right now I'm running two shield toons, one 78, one 39, so during level ups and such I can give you hard data, adjusted and non adjusted for skills Without getting crazy with tables, as they show up really icky looking depending on the format you're looking at, I'll just list what I see -- Also keep in mind as I roll, although I studied advanced theoretical mathematics, and can pile numbers on top of each other, if they can't be communicated clearly, then why bother? It's why I try to show direct correlation as much as possible =0) Pouring through armor and sigma, there are no additional to block values than what is listed on the shield or shield lore alone One hard point is chosen so far (and in the next few levels that will change), so those numbers can be viewed directly for perusal. All Numbers provided here are 'Plus to Existing Values', not Absolute Values To block CC -- Silver -- Shield Itself - 41.5 Secondary Damage Effects Screen - 68.0 Plus Skills - 50 Defense Plus - 139.0 Secondary Damage/Shield = 163 Percent Difference -- Gold -- Shield Itself - 49.0 Secondary Damage Effects Screen - 93.1 Plus Skills - 51 Defense Plus - 140.6 Secondary Damage/Shield = 190 Percent Difference -- Plat -- Shield Itself - 55.0 Secondary Damage Effects Screen - 119.0 Plus Skills - 52 Defense Plus - 142.3 Secondary Damage/Shield = 216 Percent Difference Now, what I see here is a plus added for difficulty through the secondary damage effect screen per difficulty of roughly 25 percent. I assume for now Bronze is the number for defense plus added (AKA 100 percent multiplier), but I haven't checked yet (no matter; I only play Bronze when forced, and I'll check it very soon anyway with another toon). I can also assure you AT the shield plus block raises absolutely every level. Take a second level toon with a shield lore unlocked and watch the mod as you move up. Don't have hard numbers yet, but I'll bet my suspicions will be confirmed they move up like this: (Character level/2) * difficulty adjustment (0/25/50/75/100 for Bronze through Niob, respectively) So, my preliminary findings bring me to tentative conclusion ==> Shields with Shield Lore with these mods directly augment Defense THREE times, with difficulty modifier used TWICE --- -- Global Defense -- ((Character Level/2)*Difficulty Modifier) X (Defense Plus*Difficulty Modifier) toward more global defense, Block CC, or Block Projectiles

Well, trying to get into the servers, yet they seem to be doing some kinda maintenance I keep getting logged out, and my connection ping is just fine. I'll keep trying, trooper that I am

He must have something going on with that toon. Rolling with him I got the only legendary I've found. Hmmmmm....... Let's all roll with Lujate, and get his toon to Niob, and see what happens......

I'm gonna kill some bad guys. Cause that's what I like ta do

Dang if you ain't straight about that Belgarathmth I stopped playing MP altogether because of my experiences with D2 and EverCrack (primarily, other games too) Even though I'm a fanatic with Sacred One and Two, I didn't wanna taint my experience with the game with MP garbage Gotta be in a clan, gotta watch monster characters smashing you and walking away, if you're not on nineteen hours a day you're a poser, blah, blah, blah. Peops on this MP are the best MP players I've met. Everybody tries to support each other. 'Hey, I got a level 177 smith, you need some help with your equip?' 'I can get you to gold man, let's roll' 'I gotta level 65 Tendrils of Time Chest piece man, sitting my box, you need?' 'Hey, you want me to take you off map, push your level to 35?' I can also roll by myself, and not hafta worry about 'evil clans' dropping in and pulling stuff, like you experience in other MP's, so if I want I can leisurely level this guy or that guy, and feel safe doing so. Point is, like you said, I don't hafta play a certain way to succeed, and if I don't play that way I don't hafta fear big uglies running around like thugs to take what I worked for. It's why I'm addicted to MP here.

Like claudius said, they all get the job done bro. It all depends on what you like to do. 2h weapons hit very hard, but less often. dual wield hits more often, but not as hard per hit 1h and shield has more defense, and hit almost as quickly as dual, but does less damage per second (generally). then of course there are spell casters who hit many things at once too, as well as single targets Different kinds of defensive strategies as well. Some like tanks, some like invisible, some like 'best defense is strong offense'. Astral as far as I am concerned is a cool way to start, and is more finesse than say a wraithking dual wield build or lochnar's loner axe fiend build, less involved with equipment than say furian's build. Go as far with stephane's build as keeps you innerested. If that's all the way, cool. If not, switch to something else Along the way, you'll find what you like best. Then of course, you'll prolly have your own unique build style as you go, and then will write your own guide for us to follow Welcome to the board bro. You found the right place.

That indeed may shed the light needed Dobri. The adjusted stat for secondary effect assessment is more than likely where the understanding of it comes in. You can see if you take a shield lore toon into silver, then log into the higher level difficulties, the number jumps substantially each difficulty level As said also, soft skills, boni, etc, prolly add into the adjustment as well. As far as I can see, the modifiers for chance to block close combat, chance to block projectiles, and defense boni are applied universally to character level. In other words, any shield I pick up, whether it's a level one or level 101, the bonus on the shield itself is tied only to character level, and nothing else. So you have a base stat modified by the adjustment, which is what you see in the secondary effect window. I have a preliminary assessment. I will need test to confirm formulae involved. ---- What I wonder is why the mathematics involved with Sacred 2 were not finished, in my opinion. They had the raw data of course, and the raw data applied as intended, yet was not represented when completed. IOW, it was like working a complicated math problem in school, and handing it to the professor thus: X = 'we didn't bother calculating the final answer' I sure hope Sacred 3 does a complete job of calculation

K. I must confess I don't know what the numbers on shields mean. I pick a shield up, my level is 20, and it has a modifier on it that says '28.6 to block close combat'. I pick it up and use it. When I level up, my shield says '29.5 to block close combat'. I haven't added a point to shield lore, yet it increased. Matter of fact, in Niob, any shield I picked up with a 98 level toon (even a level 29 shield in my box) says '144.4 percent to block close combat' when I look at my character for secondary effects. It is usually more than double what the shield itself says by a little bit. This happens even if I have one point invested, or if I have 50 points invested, in shield lore. Then, logically, I would be unhittable by close combat......not. Now the defense plus it shows in the tool tip is accurate when I put points into it or when plus skills pump it, so that's not what's misunderstood. Also, I am aware of the 'lying character sheet' that is shown by the Sigma and elsewhere ( a really cool one is when you have battle stance that affects party members, where members see they suddenly are hitting for a million or more per hit, and 500,000 to hit ) If it has been Xplained prior, I missed it, so I apologize in advance in case I missed it. If that's the case, point me to it. If it hasn't, what is the answer?

I know. I believe I have the answer. The dufus on the bridge is who debuffs you (in the light campaign) You know, the reenactment of the darth vader scene. it is his very first attack. It is how my 108 died in SP on the guardian run. I saw it two nights ago when I took my dryad to Gold. I have yet to test if it happens every time, but that is what I have observed so far. I intend to watch it very closely when going through him in the future.

He takes your buffs off, so makes you more vulnerable then you would think with him. I actually fear him more than guardians because of it . Sorry to hear it happened.

Beating up Bad Guys In Ancaria that is.....

It's also a business decision. If they buy say 1000 keys, and only sell 400, they're stuck with 600 in inventory The discounted price comes w volume in the buy, so if they reason they can only move 100 in say a month, they don't wanna invest in keys.

Congrats Big Dog. We're not worthy

:thumbsup:Truth. So, I'm gonna swing a dead cat now.....

Yes. That place rocks too. And here is a cow surfing.