Mystix123

As far as I'm aware, Attack Value does play a role in AW (like in all hybrid CAs). I've seen AW make contact with a mob without any damage triggering (including with Lock) many times. This is both for the console version and one of the earlier PC versions. I don't know if this applies beyond a certain patch on PC, but I can assure you (Enferian) that you're not alone in this observation. Also, Lock can hit mobs in the described scenario (though, not reliably). Again, I'm not sure if this is something specific to the console version, but I've seen AW make some huge curves to hit enemies. An example of some curvature (in a less extreme version of the scenario) can be seen here:

Not sure if anyone enjoys fighting games here, but I figured I would post it anyways.

I tend to use Speed Lore as a filler skill (when I've picked all of the other important skills, and still have a slot or two left over). If the choice is something akin to "Speed Lore vs. Toughness", then Speed Lore clearly loses. However, I've found Speed Lore useful when it does get picked. Beyond the run speed boost (which probably works better on console, between the control scheme benefits and non-nerfed All Skills+ synergy), I've found the Attack Value bonus from Speed Lore extremely useful for keeping an extremely high accuracy. In exchange, I can use the sockets for other purposes (instead of accuracy boosting bonuses). Also, remember that "overkill" in an earlier difficulty may become insufficient in a higher difficulty. For example: I noticed the gains of the Attack Value+ with the DW Seraphim that I've been posting the experience/second tests with. When she first entered Niob, her hit-rate dropped below 90%. However, when I pushed Speed Lore to Mastery, her hit-rate jumped above 95% (across multiple tests) and her kill speed increased drastically as a result. This particular character has little All Skills+, due to filling as many sockets as possible with Experience Per Kill+. I'll leave the "Spell Resistance vs. Toughness" question for someone who has more experience with the PC version. On console, Spell Resistance is pretty much worthless.

Just for the sake of my own knowledge, while it's been mentioned: Unless the mechanics have changed with Ice and Blood (and it very well could have), it should be +150% Attack/Defense (not a flat amount). It should also be applied after buffs and gear (maybe after other boosting CAs also...not sure as I didn't check for that). On the other hand, if it has changed, perhaps this is why Speed Lore is used more often on the console than on PC. I always thought it was just the difference in control scheme make Speed Lore a little more tactically valuable on console (especially if you're using kiting tactics in multiplayer). Also, did the Attack and Movement speed get boosted to 180% cap at some point on PC? We're stuck with 150% cap on console.

Aegis' information is correct for the console version, which explains the conflicting information. On the console, Spectral Hand is still considered a hybrid CA, and (like the PC version) is not affected by Tactics Lore. However, Ancient Magic does seem to affect both Spectral Hand and Skeletal Fortification (for whatever reasons). Edit: Reworded the hybrid CA part.

Experiment 3 Same as Experiment 2, except for the following changes: - A level 150 DW Seraphim was used for this test. (It only required 3 runs of each the Orc Cave and the AITBD conditions.) - Instead of only running the AITBD chain once, then recording the data, I ran it twice (including the load times from having to quit, save and start another Free World game). This better simulates how I would actually run the quest if I were trying to level my character (for prolonged periods of time, as opposed to once). General results: Mean Experience/Second SD Orc Cave 3,791.47 48.78 AITBD 3,429.92 109.71 Statistical comparisons: p Result In Favour Of Orc Cave vs AITBD 1.2% Orc Cave The Orc Cave regains favour (in experience over time) as you move beyond a single run. This makes sense, as you don't have to stop and reload at any point. Of course, for each additional run you put into the AITBD chain, the experience per second decreases accordingly. The difference between the Orc Cave and the multi-run variety of AITBD may disappear slowly (as the experience reward at the end of each quest increases), but both conditions suffer from the decreasing experience per kill, so this may not happen until somewhere above level 175 (if not higher). I'm going to continue to see if any other chain quests can compare to AITBD. At that point, multiple chain quests could be tied together (which could close this gap quickly).

That's the correct cave. The front-most pillar should have a Gold ring (for campaign mission) around it, requiring you to press L1 near it (which spawns the Holographic TG). If you're online anytime this weekend, I should be around all evening (and most of tomorrow) on my main account, so I can check it out for you. If scheduling a time works better, then I can swing that also.

On Shadow, same deal as Lujate said, just it's the Grand Inquisitor instead. When you press L1 at each pillar, it spawns a holographic Temple Guardian, which you then need to talk to. The section is a chain of pressing L1 and X: Pillar, TG, next pillar, TG, next pillar, TG, run to the back of the cave, pillar, (possibly another TG), holographic pad, "What's-his-face" (Light) or Grand Inquisitor (Shadow).

Etherian: I'd seen much discussion about switching from grinding to questing at the high levels, which mainly applied to the PC version. I wasn't sure if the same rule applied to the console version. I also wasn't sure if questing > grinding was the best rule of thumb, and I don't think that it's quite the rule of thumb yet. So far, there's only evidence of AITBD = Orc Cave (in short bursts). In other words, AITBD is an alternative to the Orc Cave, for variety. If beyond level 150, AITBD's experience/second becomes greater, that would suggest that the most effective way of leveling would be to grind AITBD. However, the load time from having to quit/reload might throw off a longer term experience/second (at least, compared to the Orc Cave, which can be run indefinitely without a break...my record is a little over 10 hours straight). For my next test, I plan on running a comparison between successive AITBD runs and roughly the same amount of time in the Orc Cave. Do you happen to have a list of preferred quests/chain quests which are commonly used by the PC players? So far, most of the chain quests which I've tested haven't been able to hold up to the Orc Cave or AITBD, so it might be good to have some alternatives. Wolfie: The experience decline isn't a function of a level cap in this case. The experience/kill would drop much quicker than it does, and the level cap would affect the gear dropped also. I believe the level cap for the Orc region is in the mid-to-high 190s. This diminishing returns is the overall decrease in experience/kill beyond a certain level (level 130, as Etherian referred to), across all mobs. This includes a diminishing return to the Nameless Guardians (at least on console).

Wow, it's been a while since I've run a statistical test that produced any noteworthy results for Sacred 2. So, without further delay, I present to you another statistical comparison for your consideration. Experiment 1 I used a level 147-149 DW Seraphim for these (so, like last time, this may not generalize to Area of Effect builds). Niob was the difficulty of choice. Each of the 5 conditions saw 6 runs in total, consisting of 2 runs in each condition per level (so 2 data points for level 147, 2 for level 148 and 2 for level 149). The equipment used remained the same throughout all of the tests. The chosen suit was an Experience/Kill gear set. I compared the Orc Cave to 4 different variations of either chain quests, or multiple quests combined together. - Orc Cave: Each run consisted of 7 cycles. - Attack Is The Best Defense chain quest in El-Darrag (AITBD): Each run consisted of finishing the entire chain quest (3 quests in total). - Attack Is The Best Defense chain quest in El-Darrag, combined with a Holos run (Holos): Each run consisted of finishing the enter chain quest, but during the second quest, a trip to Holos was made (while getting the 20 quest drops). - Kobold Chieftain (including Kobold Cave) + Muggers + The Brigand Camp (Kobold): This is one of my favourite early quest runs, combining Muggers and The Brigand Camp together on the way to the Kobold Chieftain. I also included a run in the Kobold Cave, which is a cave close to the entrance to the Kobold Village (which contains a horde of Kobolds). - Wild Boar: Each run consisted of teleporting to Kufferath Castle and running south to the Wild Boar, killing everything along the way (including the Wild Boar itself). The general results can be found below: Mean Experience/Second SD Mean Time SD Orc Cave 3,969.14 59.96 149.00 2.68 AITBD 3,844.51 320.99 307.67 47.81 Holos 3,149.89 191.90 532.00 18.45 Kobold 2,585.71 138.49 676.67 26.91 Wild Boar 2,550.07 205.51 280.17 30.70 The statistical comparisons can be found below (If "p" is less than 5%, the effect is deemed genuine): p Result In Favour Of Orc Cave vs AITBD 42.7% N/A Orc Cave vs Holos 0% Orc Cave Orc Cave vs Kobold 0% Orc Cave Orc Cave vs Wild Boar 0% Orc Cave AITBD vs Holos 0.9% AITBD AITBD vs Kobold 0% AITBD AITBD vs Wild Boar 0% AITBD Holos vs Kobold 0% Holos Holos vs Wild Boar 0.7% Holos Kobold vs Wild Boar 72.1% N/A In short, at the higher levels: Orc Cave = Attack Is The Best Defense Chain > Attack Is The Best Defense Chain + Holos Run > Kobold Chieftain + Brigand Camp + Muggers = Wild Boar Run. The face that the AITBD chain quest produces comparable experience to the Orc Cave at the higher levels was a surprise. In order to explore this more, I ran a second, shorter experiment with a lower level character. Experiment 2 I used a lower level character to compare the Orc Cave against the AITBD chain, to see if the null findings concerning Orc Cave vs. AITBD only applies at the higher level, as the experience per kill steadily decreases in the Orc Cave. The methods for Experiment 2 were largely the same as Experiment 1, except for the following change: Instead of the level 147-149 SW Seraphim, I used a level 71-74 DW Seraphim. Each run was in the Gold difficulty. Each of the conditions saw 4 runs in total, consisting of 1 run per level. The chosen suit was still an Experience/Kill gear set, and equipment did not change at any time throughout the tests. The general results can be found below: Mean Experience/Second SD Mean Time SD Orc Cave 4,373.27 155.04 115.50 3.42 AITBD 3,284.97 470.75 268.50 23.22 The statistical comparisons can be found below (If "p" is less than 5%, the effect is deemed genuine): p Result In Favour Of Orc Cave vs AITBD 2.2% Orc Cave In short, at the lower levels: Orc Cave > Attack Is The Best Defense Chain. Discussion Overall, due to the rapidly decreasing experience per kill, as well as the steady increase in the value of quest rewards, it seems that AITBD may start outperforming the Orc Cave as characters push beyond level 150. This supports the value of questing once the experience per kill begins to decline at the higher levels.

For anyone debating, I'd highly recommend that you try the demo before you buy. It's definitely not going to be everyone's choice game. The gameplay is enjoyable overall. It reminds me a lot of Castle Crashers. However, for those looking for anything close to looting goodness: I've noticed that repeating stages is pointless (without the challenges), unless you need to farm for experience/gold. Randomized loot (as found in Sacred 2, or even Borderlands) does not exist, in favour of fixed loot (which will randomly drop, but the drops are set per stage). The loot system is much better than Castle Crashers (changing to a new weapon actually feels meaningful), but it still lacks the random factor (which makes farming fun) in Sacred 2 or Borderlands 1.

It's been released now.

There's a fix to the resolution issue (Dobster posted this on a Sacred World thread, from a Steam thread). As the game only lets you select so high in the settings. Here is how to manually set your resolution. In windows 7 or up, go to C:\Users\username\Documents\Sacred Citadel There is a file called renderconfig.txt Edit that file with your desired resolution and save it. I would also set the file to read only so it does not get changed. Unfortunately, I can't help you with the other issues. Hopefully someone else will be able to though!

Eeep! That converts to roughly $20 Canadian. I should correct myself though: Same as the North American Steam price. (http://store.steampowered.com/app/207930/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1)

Anything compared to Guardian Heroes is a brawler (Final Fight / Double Dragon / Turtles In Time / Simpsons Arcade / X-men Arcade) with RPG elements (stats/loot). It can also be compared to Castle Crashers and Scott Pilgrim (or River City Ransom). Videos of gameplay are popping up on YouTube already, all from the PC version. Seraphim Mage (Xbox Gamepad) Ranger (Keyboard) Ranger with commentary (Xbox Gamepad) Warrior with awful commentary (Keyboard) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvxzmX3-wV4

It wouldn't be a hard copy. It'd a digital download. PS Store is like Steam. It'll be the same price as Steam ($15).

For anyone who is still searching the PS Store for Sacred Citadel: It has not yet been released (as of 11:20 AM EST on April 17th). Sony (via Twitter) is stating that continued technical difficulties from their last scheduled maintenance is the cause. In other words: Some intern spilled coffee on their update servers. Now, I do recall Sony using a similar excuse with "Dungeon Defenders", where they delayed the entire PS Store update (due to issues they were having with another game, I believe it was "Payday: The Heist"), simply so that they didn't have to do 2 separate updates to the PS Store. In order for the game to be released, Trendy Entertainment had to put pressure onto Sony to release it. I've posted this hint to Deep Silver via Citadel's official forums, so we'll have to wait and see I guess.

Much appreciated Gogo. I'll look around later and see if you missed any topics.

Hey all. I was just wondering if a Sacred Citadel section of the forums would be possible, seeing as the game is coming out this week and the Wiki hasn't been restored yet. I'd also assume there would be the need for some interest from the community as a whole before establishing this, so I thought here would be a good place to bring it up. Thanks!

I looked over Vaclaf's various guides. Good read! I haven't looked over everything, but I get the impression that none of the bonuses from Damage Lore Mastery actually trigger on consoles. The +Damage element was fixed for Ice and Blood (though it seems that the +Duration element still doesn't function).

There are visual indicators for "Damage Over Time" effects. They are burn (Fire), Freeze (Ice), Poison (Poison) and Weaken (Magic). They look like a glowing ball effect on the enemy (or you). If you fight some Kobold mages, and get hit by their poison bolt, you'll likely see a glowing green effect on your character. That's the indication that you're poisoned. I'll see if I can find a video or screenshot with it and post it later.

The only really bugged skill (as in "doesn't work at all on consoles") is Blacksmith. I don't remember what people used to say about Damage Lore, but I recall a few people using it and saying that it works fine. Perhaps it didn't work before the console patch.

Welcome to the forums! My two cents: ...Oh wait, Canada doesn't have the penny anymore. My nickel: - Blacksmithing is broken on the console version. It was never implemented, though it can be chosen (which wastes a skill slot). - If you find that Alchemy is providing a benefit, then great. Longer lasting potions are always a nice bonus. I've found it hard to justify Alchemy personally. As Chattius mentioned, the Trophies (items which give various buffs and can only be used when Alchemy is chosen) are only selectable via the inventory menu, making it difficult to actively consume trophies. Healing potions can also be spammed on the console version, making the boost in healing amount from Alchemy (as well as the always active "quick consumption of potions" penalty) meaningless to me. - I would take Concentration for sure. Shadow Veil (modded to be a buff) + Nether Allegiance + Reflective Emanation (modded to share with the party) becomes powerful later on. As a result of using Reflective Emanation, I'd choose Malevolent Champion Focus also (to be able to keep the CA level higher with less penalties). You could also actively use Augmenting Guidon for your skeletons as a result. An issue that all Summoner type SWs will encounter has been mentioned by Chattius also: Any enemy with Area of Effect spells. I'm looking at you Will'o'Wisps! They will hurt, and will hit you through your Shadow Veil, so keep an eye on your health around them until your Reflective Emanation is modified to reflect magic also, and it's high enough level to protect you consistently.

Good reference. I was thinking Guilty Gear Judgment with Borderlands' loot system. Brawler+Fighter in Guilty Gear Judgment, with loot not quite as randomized as Sacred.

Compiled details from yesterday's Q&A. Game Details - 4 areas, 5 stages per area. - 4 characters: Ancarian Ranger (Ranged), Safiri Warrior (Melee/Tank), Khukuri Shaman (Buffing and Debuffing), Seraphim Mage (Direct Damage Magic). All classes are available from the start. - Towns have vendors, personal stashes and quests (challenges which include "no deaths", "time limit" and "high score" elements). - Couch co-op and online co-op possible. Up to 3 players. Online co-op has a drop-in/drop-out system. Gameplay - Air juggling is possible. - Faster, tactical gameplay (as opposed to slow and methodical). - Dodging available with right-stick. - Combo finishers include: Uppercuts, area-of-attack stuns, knockbacks, and back-strikes. - Each class has a different secondary weapon: The Ranger has a bow, the Shaman has a tambourine for defensive and offensive/debilitating buffs, and the Mage has offensive magic. (Warrior was not discussed, but trailers have shown him switching to the 2-handed Hammer shown in artwork.) - Level cap not explicitly mentioned, but "Maxing out is more stat-based as you level up a character..." Loot Details - There are three different tiers of armor with their own appearance, and within a tier you can have different stats for armor. - Loot is not fully randomized like in Sacred 2, but random loot will randomly drop from enemies in a level and fitting to your progress. So, I'd say semi-fixed. Game Release Details - Will not be released for Vita at the moment. - PSN: April 16th, Steam and Live: April 17th. (No discount for PS Plus members at this time.) - 15 Trophies / Achievements. One will require all stages to be completed in multiplayer. - A demo will be available on release. - No currently planned microtransaction releases (costumes, for example). - Confirmed that US and EU will be on the same servers (no region locked servers).