General Skills - Underrated or Overrated

[Androdion 884]

Hey folks. Title says it all really, but without further ado I'll put out the long version.

 

Ever since the game became available players have been running shoppers, smithers, seekers and whatnot. Our in-house expert, Chattius, has been a longtime apologist of Alchemy as an important skill. Even Riding has seen some use in some builds here and there, so unless you don't count for Divine Devotion which can't be made as important as the rest, General Skills area actually a big deal in this game aren't they?

The ability to get all your loot dressed in yellow, of buying the best items money can afford, of circumventing slot rarity by means of in-house smithing, and in more complex ways of circumventing penalties and lack of proper skills, or unlocking extra bonuses from Elite Mounts (generally available via CM Patch). There's really so much that can be done with these green skills that sit at the bottom of the skill page that I find it hard to believe that they are ignored.

So the question that I dare ask is this, why such little adoption of those skills in large scale? Sure players use shoppers and smiths, but what about making builds that always account for the use and mastery of General Skills? Why isn't that more of a standard schematic for each new build? I dared defy the norm a while ago and created a BFG Seraphim with Enhanced Perception, Bargaining and Blacksmith as primary skills (well, Blacksmith was left for the 100ish levels) as it felt like a decent challenge for a typically overpowered type of build. And it worked! I reached Niobium and stopped playing it around 118 or so, but I can just pick it up and keep going strong. So it is in fact possible to have builds made with these skills and still keep a balance of power.

So why aren't there more of them? Ideas, thoughts, notions? Young and new, please contribute.

[chattius 2,538]

I think editing drop-tables and experience rate, not playing hardcore online any more. save game editors are factors.

Alchemy

If you can boost the experience rate by editing some numbers there is no need to use alchemy to have long lasting mentor potions.

If you don't play hardcore online you don't have to care for not dying by having healing potions doing full heals using alchemy in higher difficulties.

...

Awareness

Why expanded awareness if you can get the same effect by editing the drop rate...

Awareness unlocked experience rate modifiers on gear, but it is a no reason if you play with edited experience rate.

Bargaining

Late game you can't bargain for unique rings and amulets, and you need them for damage reduction, extented combat range, ...

Having 3 shoppers is enough normally

Blacksmith

You need only one smith.

Riding

You can't use your mount in caves. The only use in riding I see starts at level 175+ when killing monsters gives near null experience and quickly doing quests is the main experience. But again people edit the experience rates.

 

And yes I played a melee elf with FIVE general skills for a challenge once. The first general skill I pushed to mastery was alchemy to fill all the holes

[Androdion 884]

Five general skills? My hero!  

Absolutely no sarcasm meant there, you've had some excellent guides over the years. I'm just surprised to see you advocate editing the drops and experience gain, though I'd reckon it has to do with having little to no time to play the game at "regular speed" perhaps?! Anyway, I do agree with some of what you say. You only need one smith, make it a level 200 and you're set in stone. As for Enhanced Perception it's good but not incredible as it makes drops infinitely better but at the same time doesn't guarantee you all those set pieces you're after. I swear it, I could never complete a Genesis Siderea set with my Seraphim, and I'm talking about a six pieces set over the course of nearly 120 levels. Sad, I expected more of the skill to be honest.

I can't vouch for Alchemy because I haven't tried it, though I'm curious about its capabilities in filling the holes like you mentioned. Riding has become more interesting with CM Patch 1.60, even if it's just for the 1 to 5 points on it (with the rest from +all skills), since Elite Mounts are available from the Jungle onwards and they have a bonus tied to the skill. And since you mention caves, mounts can now be used inside them too. You just need to go through the mount/dismount routine upon entering a cave, but I think Dimitry has coded around that in his Addendum, so a solution exists.

Bargaining I think is what breaks the game for good. Sure you can't get your hands around uniques or sets, but the ability to pick every piece of equipment you'd like and carefully select every bit of jewellery to use or socket as accordingly as you'd like makes it an incredibly overpowered skill. Sure it has a high upkeep, but you can basically make your own modifier list as you see fit.

[chattius 2,538]

No I mean people use to edit and therefore generals skills are not really needed for them. It took me 2 years to play a character to level 200, just CM patch 1.50 and rest untouched. I try to design characters in a way that they stay interesting for quite a while:

levels 1-26 Dragon mage Berzerker

26-60 using Reg per Hit and alchemy boosted attack value and speed: used elementals without having focus and lore in it: damage was from early mastered combat discipline.

61-120 using mentalism spells and reg per hit

121-200  just spells, no reg per hit needed, fine tuning toward half regen time, + combat range , protection

all in hardcore

 

Had no time to try CM 1.60 or any of the other patches.

[Androdion 884]

Oh, sorry that I misunderstood your post. Well that makes more sense, if players opted for the easy route as opposed to the "normal" one then those skills were bound to be left untouched. And yes, your builds are usually very fluid and "progressive" in the way that they develop through different styles. I'm more one to play in a particular way all the way through, so the fun for me is in taking a new planned toon all the way to Niob and fine tuning it to exhaustion.

I'm sorry to hear that you couldn't play with 1.60, it's really a world apart in terms of stability and content. Maybe somewhere in the future.

I'm thinking about using general skills as a way to make builds more challenging and more for the long term, as I lack the motivation to level my toons past 110+ levels. I just seem to hit a cold place where levelling begins to take too much time so I think making a build more dependant on levelling should be an interesting way of keep playing.