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Nov 24, 2006, 02:07 PM // 14:07
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#1 |
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(屮ಠ益ಠ)屮
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hong Kong
Guild: Guildless
Profession: Mo/
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Making a Build
The Seven Principles To Making A Build A Guideline for Newer Players. There are many ways of creating a build. Many experienced players can just scribble down notes, make them neat and tidy, and call it a build. But if you're stuck, and don't know what to do, you can follow these guidelines: (0) Build To Your Role This step isn't really about doing anything, it's more about the mindset of which you create the build in. Many players put in good skills in a build, then play the the skills. In some cases, this appears as new players using a popular build and failing to use it to its potential. Good players usually start building a character or a team with a specific goal in mind. Is this character going to pressure out the opponent? Is this character designed to be able to run flags in Guild Battles and be able to stall people that are trying to kill your team's NPCs? Is this team build using a massive amount of hexes to overload hex removal and force defensive play? Is this team build utilizing the constricted factor of Heroes' Ascent to effectively “spam” Searing Flames? Searing Flames For example, if you are going to create a character that is expected to “snare” (i.e. Slow down opponents) enemies from kiting/enemy Warriors, then a Necromancer, who has no snare skills, would be a very bad choice. A more apt choice would be a Ranger with Crippling Shot, or a Water Elementalist. Keep in mind that skills are your tools, and you are not your skills' tool. Play to whatever you're trying to achieve, not whatever skills you have on your skillbar. (1) Use Good Skills Doesn't this seem simple enough? Play with poor skills or skills that don't synergize well and you tend to lose more games than you win. Play with good skills that synergize and you tend to win games. Usually, to be competitive means to be aiming for a victory. This often varies with player experience; but the general rule is to play with skills that give you an advantage over the opponent. A list is compiled in the back. Some skills are more useful than others. Let's look at a straightforward example of Ether Prodigy and Energy Boon in Guild vs. Guild battles. Ether Prodigy will let you pump out Heal Party happily without end. Energy Boon, in comparison, will also net you some energy, but its returns are far less. An Elementalist in the present GvG environment does not need too much on-demand energy, therefore the on-demand energy that Energy Boon gives and the gradual energy that Ether Prodigy gives have minimal difference. Energy Boon gives you less of an advantage over your opponent, and so is considered a bad skill. As another example, Mending is less useful than Healing Breeze; Mending gives you less of an advantage over your opponent. This is measured sometimes by skill flexibility. This is the case in the comparison between Healing Breeze and Mending. Mending takes very long to heal a certain amount compared to Healing Breeze; Mending is inflexible, because for it to heal a significant amount you have to expend a certain large amount of resource – in this case time – for it to take effect. It is extremely easy to pressure out the opponent, if he was using Mending. It is harder if the opponent was using Healing Breeze. Healing Breeze Mending Skill usability is also determined by the flexibility of the skill. Gale is a very good example of a flexible skill. The knockdown that Gale provides can 1) stop a Warrior hitting a teammate; 2) stop a foe kiting a Warrior teammate; 3) disable a target skill-wise for 4 seconds; 4) interrupt a target; or 5) deny movement to a target for 4 seconds. Frequently, more than one of these objectives are used; Gale-ing a Warrior stops the Warrior hitting the teammate; it disables the Warrior skill-wise; and it also denies movement to the Warrior. Gale Specific arenas also call for different skills. Take a look at Healing Seed. Healing Seed is a skill that is frequently used in Heroes' Ascent; it is almost unseen in GvG. While Healing Seed provides healing over a small area, in Heroes' Ascent usually players are stuck in a small area, while in GvG the players may be spread out over a large area, greatly reducing the potential effectiveness of the skill. Also, while in Heroes' Ascent this is put on a target that everybody will attack (the Ghostly Hero), in GvG there is no equivalent except for the Guild Lord, which only comes out in the late game (after the Victory or Death! shout). In the earlier stages of the game, the players attacking the target that has been Seeded need only stop attacking the target for the skill to be useless. However, in your skill choices, you must also take in the purpose of the build. While Dust Trap is a very useful skill when used properly, it is of no use putting it on a Crippling Shot Ranger, whose point is to spread poison and cripple targets at key moments. The same skill, however, is very useful on a character dedicated to setting traps. Time is usually one of the prime resource in Guild Wars. Usually in a competitive situation, a team would have a more aggressive setup than the other team. When making an aggressive character or teambuild, one must take in consideration if it is a “beatdown” – i.e. aggressive – or “control” – i.e. more slow-developing – build. For example, Energy Surge would be much more desirable in a “beatdown” build, while a utility elite such as Blinding Surge or Expel Hexes would be more “control” – although Expel Hexes may have its place in an aggressive build in a hex-heavy environment, where hexes on Warriors would be a great detriment to achieving kills. An additional Warrior would be a good addition to an aggressive teambuild; you might want to get a utility character, or build the Warrior more defensively, if you were more control-oriented. For a more lengthy explanation on how to identify and play aggressively/in a control manner, go here: http://www.team-iq.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1767 Also, keep in mind some skills are made good by their primary attribute. Without their primary attribute, it would fall apart. For example, Diversion, with a 3-second cast time, would be absolutely brutal to anything but a primary Mesmer with Fast Casting. (2) Balance Your Energy Management A problem with many builds is that they use too much energy and have no way of getting it back. For example, look at this sample build: Mesmer/Elementalist Fast Casting: 8 +1 Domination: 12 +1 +1 Illusion: 7 +1 Air Magic: 8 Blinding Flash Diversion Blackout Distortion Energy Burn Shatter Enchantment Crippling Anguish [Elite] Resurrection Signet All the skills that are used are "good" in general consensus, and the aim is clear. To disable anything that comes in this Mesmer's way, whether it be a melee character or a caster.. What is the problem? Well, apart from it having Crippling Anguish at 8 Illusion magic, and the skills having no synergy whatsoever, but that's for a different section. Notice that there are three spells that cost fifteen Energy, three more that cost ten Energy, and Distortion, costing 5 Energy, needs to expend more Energy for it to be useful...and there is no way to get that Energy. Nearly every build needs energy to function. Without Energy, as a Warrior or a Paragon you become less effective (sometimes, especially with Paragons, vastly less effective); as anything else, without Energy, you can just about cease to exist. Therefore, one has to make sure one does not end up with problems with your energy. Managing your energy basically means being able to perform your job normally for an indeterminate amount of time. There are a few kinds of energy management. Here is a list of these few kinds of energy management and what I personally call them: Skills that give energy; “Refilling”skills – Power Drain, Energy Drain Skills that give energy regeneration; “Regeneration” skills – Ether Prodigy, Ether Lord Skills that limit energy output; “Discount” skills – Elemental Attunement, Cultist's Fervor Skills that don't cost energy (or less energy) to cast and replace other skills' effects; “Imitation” skills – Signet of Devotion, Gift of Health The usual rule of thumb is to be able to perform your job reasonably well, within the energy management skills and etc. you have set for yourself. It doesn't always have to be skills; for example, the Ranger primary attribute, Expertise, is Energy management on its own already. If your build can run on the initial pips of regeneration your character has, that's fine – you don't need to bring anything to manage your energy. (3)Balance Your Attributes Skills are useless without points in their corresponding attribute. You don't want to put Reversal of Fortune in a Healing Prayers monk with no points in protection – it's pointless, seeing that the Reversal of Fortune won't do much. However, that same skill on a Boon Protection build, with 9 Protection Prayers, becomes very useful. Every rank that you add has to have some effect of importance on your character. Let's say that I'm making a Domination Mesmer character who has dipped a bit into Air Magic. It would make no sense to put any points into Earth Magic, since it does not affect my character. However, if I were to put the same amount of points into Domination Magic, or Fast Casting, there would be a substantial effect to the character; putting points into Domination would strengthen the character's skills, while putting points into Fast Casting would quicken the casting of your spells. However, adding an extra rank to Domination on a character who has 14 Domination Magic, and has Energy Surge, Energy Burn, and Blackout as her Domination skills, is pointless, as none of them have any change from rank 14 to rank 15, and Domination has no inherent effect. It is still pointless to add that same rune if you have Diversion, which does improve from rank 14 to 15, simply because the effect is not important – not important enough to justify the health loss, anyway. Continuing on this lane, let us look at this skill: Blinding Flash There are a few "breakpoints"; 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14. These are the points where the numerical value of Blinding Flash's Blind duration increases by 1. Simple, right? Let us look at a different skill. Well of Weariness In this skill, there is no evident "breakpoint". In these skills, it is simply more beneficial to put more points in the corresponding attribute, there are not certain ranks where you benefit more than others. Usually, these skills' attributes' ranks are only put in after you take in the the breakpoints of other skills. When you arrange your attributes, it is usually best to find out the breakpoints of your skills, assign realistic ranks to the attributes by the breakpoints, and then put in the most attribute points into your specialized attribute. The other attributes can follow. (4)Do Not Be A One-Trick Pony (Unless The Trick Is Very Powerful) Usually, “One-Trick Ponies”, or inflexible characters/team builds with only one way to play it, are disliked, and for good reason. A more flexible character/team build would be able to work around the “trick”, and/or disabling it. There aren't many of these builds around; however, some are powerful enough to get accepted as a real, usable build. For example, Searing Flames Elementalists aren't exactly known for their flexibility, but their immense amount of pressure that they can inflict makes up for that. (5) Achieve Your Goal Reasonably This is more of a reflection on the (0) step. While (0) is about setting up your mindset to create a build, (5) is about looking at your build and, following the roles listed in (0), evaluate what is unneeded in the character's build. One time, when I was still a very new Guild Wars player, I tried playing a Monk. I compiled a so-called “build”, as follows: Monk/Mesmer Divine Favor: 10 +1 Healing Prayers: 12 +3 +1 Inspiration Magic: 8 Orison of Healing Heal Other Word of Healing [Elite] Dwayna's Kiss Energy Tap Power Drain Infuse Health Rebirth What was the problem? I was only putting heals in. I thought of a “Healer”, and I just thought, hey, what about tossing all the Healing Prayers spells I can get into the skillbar? What I didn't ask myself was, what was a Monk's job? I achieved my goal of being able to heal; in fact, I overacheived it. However, in doing that, I totally disregarded the other duties of a Monk, for example condition removal, and hex removal. Now let's see another specimen from another person, this build being built for GvGs: Monk/Mesmer Divine Favor: 12 +1 +1 Protection Prayers: 10 +1 Inspiration Magic: 8 Signet of Devotion Mend Ailment Remove Hex Convert Hexes Inspired Enchantment Inspired Hex Energy Drain [Elite] Rebirth Now what is the problem with this build? This “healer” has too much of everything. With only Signet of Devotion as a heal, it is simply not capable to keep up with the damage that is being dealt. It cannot fulfill the role of a Monk in a GvG battle. This is another example (given by Makkert): (Attributes vary from person to person) Charm Animal Comfort Animal Power Shot Distracting Shot Troll Unguent Barbed Trap Poison Arrow [Elite] Resurrection Signet This build tries to accomplish too much. It tries to deal damage (by bow), deal damage (by pet), interrupt, lay traps, and spread poison. However, 1) it leads to horrific attribute spreading, and 2) it can't do anything properly. This one is in my opinion worse than the previous one, because unlike the previous "build", this has absolutely no thought given to the use of the ranger. (i.e. What am I going to accomplish with this build?). (6) Factor In Environment In constricted areas where small groups of people fight other small groups of people, a Ward against Foes is a lot more harmful than a Heal Party. The example above gave one sort of “environment”; different arenas have different environments due to their difference in team size. The variations in team size also affect team builds and how well they are accepted. Another sort of “environment” would be the metagame. Meta-game means “beyond-game”; the metagame is how the gaming process works. When there's something that's powerful, the metagame slowly shifts towards that build. Then it shifts towards the build that counters that powerful build. Sometimes, you can use the metagame to your advantage. For example, carrying Restore Condition and Martyr to counter condition teams is a smart move, when condition teams are prevalent. However, doing the same is stupid when there are virtually no conditions around. Martyr Restore Condition (7) Test And Practice The testing procedure consists of many things. From the general usability of the build (and who can play it better than others), the ease of playing the build, the amount of micromanagement needed for the build to perform optimally...these are all factors that need to be considered when a build is used (or published to the community). For example, an Assassin that relies on a complicated skill combo that relies on a particular terrain to kill a player from 100% health to 0% may perform very well in optimal situations; but in the game, perfect situations rarely arise. And even when there are perfect situations, people make mistakes. The game is intense and strains the player; you, as the buildmaker, cannot assume that the player is an automaton. A simple list is compiled below: Ministep 1: Be Comfortable With What You Are Playing Practicing generally means testing if the build runs fine, or if building for individual characters, if it runs well in tandem with the other characters. Most of practicing also involves your keyboarding and mousing habits, and a certain familiarity with the profession and the skills. For example, throwing a Monk player on a Warrior might not be the best thing to do - they have very different playstyles. Ministep 2: Be Able To Function In Worst-Case Scenarios The Assassin that relies on a particular terrain, mentioned above, would not be able to function in any other environment other than the one he/she excels in. It is not a character that can function at all in a worst-case scenario. However, a Warrior in a worst-case scenario still applies enough presumed pressure to the opponent - if they don't deal with him later as they are doing so now, they will be thrashed, even though the Warrior is somewhat useless at the current moment. This can make or break many promising builds; their build's capacity to react to opposing/natural measures against them. If it cannot function in these "worst-case scenarios", then perhaps a overhaul is in order. Ministep 3: Find Suitable Players This is somewhat self-explanatory. A person with quick reflexes would naturally do better with interrupts; a person who has tunnel vision probably doesn't make a good Warrior. One person might prefer playing an offensive character, another may be more on supporting the party. This step of finding players, although not within the creation of the build itself, is vital to the overall functioning of the build. A good build run by a bad or unsuited player will result in losses. Practical Application on the Seven Principles – Tweaking Out a Build Let's say I was looking at this draft build: Elementalist/Monk Energy Storage: 10 +1 Fire Magic: 10 +1 +1 Air Magic: 7 +1 Protection Prayers: 9 Blinding Flash Fireball Aegis Windborne Speed Ether Prodigy [Elite] Purge Conditions Meteor Resurrection Signet (0) Build To Your Role The idea of the build was to stay at the main point of battle, assisting the team by eliminating some pressure via Blinding Flash, Extinguish and Aegis, while being able to throw Fireballs around, with Meteor knocking down foes as utility. Purge Conditions is for removing conditions such as Blind and Cripple from warriors. Windborne Speed is to help friendly kiters or Warriors. Roles: Eliminate pressure so it becomes manageable. Knockdown foes at key moments. Remove conditions from Warriors. Increase the flexibility of positioning for your team by providing speed boosts. This list is manageable, as long as I don't put too large an emphasis on the latter three points. (1) Use Good Skills I look through the build, immediately picking up Purge Conditions as an unfavored skill. Usually conditions in Guild vs. Guild are easily applied, such as Cripple and Poison from a Crippling Shot ranger, or Blinding Flash from an Air Elementalist; Purge Conditions's 20-second recharge is a long time to wait. I set aside Purge Conditions, and look for possible alternatives. Out of all the other condition-removing spells, Draw Conditions seems most fitting. The premise of using Purge Conditions is to remove annoying conditions from Warriors, notably Blind, Weakness and Cripple. None of these conditions should affect you except from Cripple; and Cripple would not matter that much anyway if you were not targeted upon by enemy Warriors (or if you are retreating, but then you'd rely on the monk to Mend the warrior's condition). Purge Conditions Draw Conditions Then I look at Meteor. It isn't a spectacular skill, but usable on a Fire Elementalist since there's not much to put on a Fire Elementalist anyway. However, putting this on a Air/Fire Elementalist is questionable, since the Air Magic line has powerful knockdown skills already. Meteor's main problems are its tendency to miss kiting foes, casting time, and its 30-second recharge. A knockdown is usually either applied to stop kiting characters, stop Warriors who are attacking your team (and letting the victim kite away), and disrupting long-cast skills. With Meteor, a 3-second cast, you often miss these things – the kiting character has already gone back to her monk's casting range, the Warrior has already killed your friendly Mesmer, the Ranger over there has already finished casting Troll Unguent. Its recharge is also a problem. Generally, it is better for knockdowns to be more readily available, since there are plenty of situations where a fast-recharging knockdown will turn the tide of battle, especially in small-scale situations, such as a two-man split in a Guild Battle. It easily misses foes that are moving, as it takes time from the finishing of the casting to when the meteor lands on the target area. If the foe were running with a speed “buff”, then he would easily evade your Meteor, and you are stuck with the 30-second recharge. Its only upside, the fact that it does damage, is not relevant to its usage in this build. Gale in the Air Magic line is an outstanding knockdown skill, one that can singlehandedly shut down a character – granted, you'd need to wait a bit before being useful again due to exhaustion. It can accomplish everything that Meteor was supposed to accomplish, and it fixes all the problems listed above. Meteor Gale Changes: Purge Conditions removed. Meteor removed. Draw Conditions added. Gale added. (2) Balance Your Energy Management Ether Prodigy provides 10 “pips” of Energy regeneration for the Elementalist for 18 seconds, more if he has an Enchanting weapon equipped. There are no energy issues. Ether Prodigy Do not make the mistake of bringing too much Energy management; some players bring so much energy management they have too much energy and nothing to use it on. For example, a Glyph of Lesser Energy, if put on this Elementalist, is better replaced by something else more useful since Ether Prodigy provides ample Energy, and you can only cast that much in a time period. Changes: None. (3)Balance Your Attributes Our Elementalist has only Fireball in the Fire Magic attribute, something that can be replaced with a damage in the already-used Air Magic line. Although Fireball is a good spell, using one high-rank attribute is often more suitable for characters - thereby you increase the effectiveness of the specialized attribute, instead of having "good" skills all over the place. Fireball can be replaced by Lightning Orb, for instance. Fireball Lightning Orb The attributes need to be reorganized due to the dropping the Fire Magic line. The skills with important breakpoints are Blinding Flash, Aegis, Ether Prodigy, and Gale. The breakpoints are listed below: Blinding Flash Air Magic 8, 10, 12, 14 Aegis Protection Prayers 7, 9, 12 Ether Prodigy Energy Storage 8 (preferred: 9) Gale Air Magic 5 As I won't be too worried about a second of difference in Aegis's length, I put Protection Prayers: 9 down on the list. We have now: Energy Storage: ? +1 (+1) Air Magic: ? +1 (+1) Protection Prayers: 9 Ether Prodigy does not have any evident breakpoints after 9; therefore, I put (any amount of ranks above 8) in Energy Storage. We now have: Energy Storage: (8+) +1 Air Magic: ? +1 +1 Protection Prayers: 9 I now put all the points I can possibly into Air Magic without dropping Energy Storage below 6, which means twelve initial ranks on Air Magic with the minor rune and the headpiece. I am happy with that setup, since I get to hit the breakpoint on Blinding Flash. Energy Storage: (8+) +1 Air Magic: 12 +1 +1 Protection Prayers: 9 I am able to put in one more rank into Energy Storage, and therefore increasing the length of Ether Prodigy by one second (as well as increasing my energy pool by 3, but that is near inconsequential). So the attributes now stand thus: Energy Storage: 9 +1 Air Magic: 12 +1 +1 Protection Prayers: 9 Other Changes: Fireball removed. Lightning Orb added. (4)Do Not Be A One-Trick Pony Unless The Trick Is Powerful This build is rounded in terms of flexibility, with Warrior hate (Warriors are prevalent in Player vs. Player combat, in any arena), a knockdown, and condition drawing; it also has an assist-“spike” skill. In the case there might be no Warriors on the opposing team and no conditions are hampering your warriors, then you should be winning, anyway, seeing that Warriors are the most reliable source of damage around, and not putting any Warrior hate in a team build is very dangerous. One team where you may be useless might be when facing a pure caster spike; even then, you're not totally useless, with assist damage and Gale to knockdown the spikers. Some caster spikes, however, do run Ward of Stability. Changes: None. (5)Achieve Your Goal In The Most Reasonable Way Possible The build's goal is to: Help the team cope with pressure Knockdown key targets at key moments Keep conditions off Warriors Give a movement advantage to your team I see Blinding Flash and Aegis as being somewhat redundant. They may be useful, but in most cases other spells in combination with Blinding Flash or Aegis – notably Heal Party – can deal with pressure better than those two put together. Furthermore, Aegis can be put on a flagrunning character, if the team build has one (It should have, for GvG). And so, I put away Aegis, and put in Heal Party. Because of an addition of a new skill, attributes must be revised again. Fortunately, Heal Party also happens to have a preferred point on Healing Prayers level 9, the same as the Aegis breakpoint, and so the only attribute change is the transition of Protection Prayers: 9 to Healing Prayers: 9. The leftover 7 attribute points can be put into Protection Prayers, since it is the only attribute of which investment would have any effect on the character. Blinding Flash Aegis Heal Party Changes: Aegis removed. Heal Party added. Attributes: Removed 6 Protection Prayers ranks. Added 9 Healing Prayers ranks. (6)Factor In Environment Looking at the current Searing Flames – Rampage Thumper – Paragon Guild Battle metagame, this build will be in most cases useful. Warrior hate can be applied on the Thumper, and Heal Party certainly eases the immense pressure from Searing Flames. It may need a “hard” resurrection skill, such as Resurrection Chant or Renew Life in conjunction with Glyph of Sacrifice, and so the team build must be brought into before further decisions, and testing is needed. Glyph of Sacrifice Resurrection Chant Renew Life (7) Test And Practice Ministep 1: Be Comfortable With What You're Playing Being comfortable with what you're playing often means having experience with similar roles in a similar team-build. Therefore, practice by the user of the build would be needed – or else he must have need previous experience of playing a similar build, and using similar strategies. Ministep 2: Be Able To Function In Worst-Case Scenarios This build can: - Blind - Deal with party degeneration - Deal with party-wide pressure - Deal with enemy conditions - Knockdown - Aid team with mobility - Support damage While a team with no Warriors, Rangers, Dervishes, Paragons or Assassins will render the Blinding part useless, usual teams with no such physical classes are caster spike teams. Spikes also have little to no pressure as well. However, in this "worst-case scenario", this Elementalist can still deal some support damage, as well as knock people down. The Windborne Speed factor is largely ignored since caster spikes can ignore their positioning; however, it can still prove useful by aiding flag-runners, helping retreats, and so on. Ministep 3: Find Suitable Players Ministep 2: Be Able To Function In Worst-Case Scenarios The Assassin that relies on a particular terrain, mentioned above, would not be able to function in any other environment other than the one he/she excels in. It is not a character that can function at all in a worst-case scenario. However, a Warrior in a worst-case scenario still applies enough presumed pressure to the opponent - if they don't deal with him later as they are doing so now, they will be thrashed, even though the Warrior is somewhat useless at the current moment. Ministep 3: Find Suitable Players This step relies on your amount of personal contacts with the people you play the game format with. While a person who is relatively unknown may find it hard to find a suitable player for a specific build, a person with a large contact list will be able to find that player more easily. For this case, the originator of the build has enough experience to use the build. FINAL BUILD: Elementalist/Monk Energy Storage: 9 +1 Air Magic: 12 +1 +1 Healing Prayers: 9 Blinding Flash Lightning Orb Heal Party Windborne Speed Ether Prodigy [Elite] Draw Conditions Gale Resurrection Signet NOT COMING SOON: Practical Application on the Seven Principles – Tweaking Out a Team Build /unfinished
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Last edited by LightningHell; Jan 07, 2012 at 02:43 PM // 14:43.. |
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Nov 24, 2006, 05:21 PM // 17:21
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#2 |
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Lion's Arch Merchant
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: 667 Neighbour of the Beast
Guild: Ttgr
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Thank you. This was a great read.
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Nov 24, 2006, 06:12 PM // 18:12
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Lion's Arch Merchant
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Good job. Many people could find this useful and should read it.
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Nov 24, 2006, 09:25 PM // 21:25
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Lion's Arch Merchant
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Good read for new players, few weak spots though.
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Nov 24, 2006, 11:10 PM // 23:10
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#5 | |
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Re:tired
Join Date: Nov 2005
Profession: W/
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Quote:
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Nov 25, 2006, 02:37 AM // 02:37
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#6 |
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Grindin'
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: MO
Profession: E/Mo
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more like it depends on what time you play.
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Nov 25, 2006, 05:34 AM // 05:34
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#7 | |
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(屮ಠ益ಠ)屮
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hong Kong
Guild: Guildless
Profession: Mo/
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Quote:
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Nov 25, 2006, 05:41 AM // 05:41
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#8 |
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Dallas, TX
Guild: The International Terrorists [USA]
Profession: W/Mo
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1) Correct spelling
2) Great guide, very handy! |
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Nov 25, 2006, 05:50 AM // 05:50
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#9 | |
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(屮ಠ益ಠ)屮
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hong Kong
Guild: Guildless
Profession: Mo/
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Quote:
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Nov 27, 2006, 10:14 PM // 22:14
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#10 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: USA: liberating you since 1918.
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I see that you have a lot of key points emphasized, but there are a few things that would be prudent to bold, underline, enlarge, and sparkle. I've been down the road of builds, from utter noob to - uhm...what I am now. So, here are points I think need re-emphasizing:
Make every skill effective. The best skills fill multiple roles and are useful in a variety of situations. Too often people just go with the biggest green numbers, or their favorite skills, and find their team losing. Prepare for the worst. Ensign stresses this over and over again - bad builds will be prepared for the norm, good builds are prepared for the worst. This goes doubly for monk and support characters. Fill a role. Characters that try to do everything usually suck. There are three general places, IMO: Offense, support, monk. Furthermore, there are stratifying places for those characters, such as frontline, backline, skirmish, gank, etc. A build should know its role and play it well. It's tweaking the second and third points that make charcter building interesting. Otherwise, it's a solid article; sorry it didn't get more hits. |
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Nov 27, 2006, 10:34 PM // 22:34
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#11 |
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2005
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I could call this a very general introduction to build creation... That said it has some good points.
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Nov 28, 2006, 08:22 AM // 08:22
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#12 | |
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Lion's Arch Merchant
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: The Netherlands
Guild: Lightning Strikes Twice
Profession: Mo/
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Nice reading! Glad you didnt go into all the tiny details. It gives a nice overview on various aspects! thanks for that! |
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Nov 28, 2006, 09:02 AM // 09:02
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#13 |
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Forge Runner
Join Date: Jul 2006
Guild: Guild Of Handicrafted Products [MaSS]
Profession: W/Mo
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Cool guide, I have another tip as well, take skills that do 2 things in 1 skill, for example:
Inspired hex removes hex+gives energy Blessed light heals and removes condition+hex Vampiric touch/bite/whatever gives life and does damage etc. etc. |
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Nov 28, 2006, 10:14 AM // 10:14
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#14 |
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Furnace Stoker
Join Date: Sep 2005
Guild: Thousend Tigers Apund Ur Head [Ttgr]
Profession: A/
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Na, take b-light because it is good, and don't take inspired hex and vampiric bite
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Nov 28, 2006, 11:13 AM // 11:13
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#15 | ||
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(屮ಠ益ಠ)屮
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hong Kong
Guild: Guildless
Profession: Mo/
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Quote:
I'll just quote a bit from a draft of this article that I thought I lost then found again after I wrote all that is reproduced in the article that is being displayed now: Quote:
EDIT: I put in some parts of the original draft in the first part of the article's "Use Good Skills" portion and "Balance Your Attributes" portion. I will write some more on the points pointed out by Byron. Many thanks.
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Nov 28, 2006, 03:10 PM // 15:10
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#16 | |
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Frost Gate Guardian
Join Date: Jan 2006
Profession: A/
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Looks pretty dam nice. I have a few friends who are trying to make the conversion to pvp and would enjoy the read however one small sugestion.
Quote:
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Nov 28, 2006, 07:35 PM // 19:35
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#17 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Apr 2006
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nice guide, however you forgot 1 very important point.
how do I fit my individual build into the team? your build can do this and that and is very good but it doesnt do what your team needs it to do. an example of this is having a good trapper/spiker in a hex heavy build. the trapper can do its thing but it doesnt help the team at all... another small point is that your individual build doesnt have to be ingenious for your team to succeed, it can be very shallow as long as it does its job properly... |
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Nov 28, 2006, 11:25 PM // 23:25
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#18 |
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Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Jan 2005
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There is an implied step (0) which is the common failing for many new players:
Build to your role, don't play to your skills. You need a vague idea of what is expected of your build, before you select the class you want to play. Too many players start with a popular build and play to the build, where the best teams seem to build around what they want to achieve with the build. Points (5) addresses some of this with "achieving your goal reasonably", so maybe we should start the article with point 5. Setting broad yet reasonable goals seems to be the easiest way to play a build efficiently. |
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Nov 28, 2006, 11:52 PM // 23:52
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#19 | |||
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(屮ಠ益ಠ)屮
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hong Kong
Guild: Guildless
Profession: Mo/
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
I'm a bit short on time today, I'll start rewriting it tomorrow.
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Dec 04, 2006, 03:54 AM // 03:54
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#20 |
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(屮ಠ益ಠ)屮
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hong Kong
Guild: Guildless
Profession: Mo/
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Added Step (0). I have a feeling it's too brief.
I'm in the process of writing the application on teambuilds.
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