Curse

zehly · Aug 04, 2005, 09:37 PM // 21:37

Devil's advocate here.

Smite runs? Trapper runs? A new N/Me build (one of my more favorable)?

Farming.
That's your goal, right? Is it fun? Cool. Get the money, right? Sell me that Eternal Shield for 30 Ectoplasm. Congratulations.

I don't mind the farming. What bothers me is the arrogance surrounding this new wave of UW solo/2 man/whatever group. You all know what I'm talking about.. Enough said on that. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, just search for terms like "flame" or "arrogance" in this forum and look for references to "underworld"

).

Here's the dilema, and the reason this post wound up in the strategy fora:
"WHAT IS THE BEST SOLO UW BUILD???" Ok. That's all I've seen lately. And the replies are the same cookie-cutter recipies. I'm not dissing those kind enough to spend the time to post their builds in detail. You guys rock, and can cause some creative people to come up with their own builds.

The problem is, the people who ask that are usually the proponents of a game where there is no "best." I bet you could "farm" with a Me/R if you wanted to. People probably already do, but they are the ones who actually spend the platinum required to keep trying. Props to you.

I want some creative people to step forward and brainstorm some lucrative builds for farming. Stop being mindless Mo/W drones. And for god's sake, if you see a build you don't like, give CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, not the cliche, retarded-ass response "that sux0rs noob."

Taking my own advice, I will soon post my own creative builds for my W/R, my E/Me, my Mo/R and my N/Me that I'm going to make work. I'd be happy to help anyone test their ideas out with me in the UW.

LET THE CREATIVITY BEGIN!

EmperorTippy · Aug 04, 2005, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Hey I created the solo monk build first. I just never posted it because I didn't want the copying that occured once it was posted to occur. And I have found the most effective solo UW build to be a Mo/Me actually but whatever.

Any class can farm just about anything if done right. There are some exceptions but generally you can solo farm or 2 person farm with any combination of builds.

zehly · Aug 04, 2005, 10:14 PM // 22:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmperorTippy

Hey I created the solo monk build first. I just never posted it because I didn't want the copying that occured once it was posted to occur. And I have found the most effective solo UW build to be a Mo/Me actually but whatever.

Any class can farm just about anything if done right. There are some exceptions but generally you can solo farm or 2 person farm with any combination of builds.

I like that kind of thinking. "Some exceptions" is better than "no way." What kind of exceptions do you mean, though? No need to take "credit" for a build, though. I'm not trying to discredit you, but with so many players, it's inevitable that two players will try something very similar at the same time. (Think Calculus... Newton and Leibnitz [sic]).

I can sympathize with your use of the word "effective" in conjunction with the Mo/Me build. But if the Mo/Me method is the ONLY "effective" method [for exploiting drops to make a substantial personal gain which could be a cause for the in-game economy being so FUBAR

], then is there a balance issue here? I'm willing to bet that there are players out there with equally effective builds who just don't want to get the !@#$ knocked out of them with a big nerf baseball bat. But if we can all come up with different strategies, it'll make the nerf-batter have a much more difficult time finding a target.

Reiden Argrock · Aug 04, 2005, 10:17 PM // 22:17

Now I'm all for creativity and all that, but I really doubt that every class combo will be able to solo UW, and I hope that a-net fixes it so that the current mo/w build will not be able to solo any longer either, as for you Tippy, anybody could come on here and say the had the build first and that they just never posted it, honestly anybody who comes on and says that, in my mind, must be some little kid, and why they claim to be the first is beyond me...
I'd like to see some creative builds that incourage grouping, because it's always more fun with friends.

zehly · Aug 04, 2005, 10:25 PM // 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reiden Argrock

Now I'm all for creativity and all that, but I really doubt that every class combo will be able to solo UW, and I hope that a-net fixes it so that the current mo/w build will not be able to solo any longer either, as for you Tippy, anybody could come on here and say the had the build first and that they just never posted it, honestly anybody who comes on and says that, in my mind, must be some little kid, and why they claim to be the first is beyond me...
I'd like to see some creative builds that incourage grouping, because it's always more fun with friends.

Key word you used there was "combo," and that's exactly what we have here! Look at the numbers... how many classes are there? Create combinations for that. How many attributes? Factor that in. Skills? Factor those in. You get a gazillion combinations, and you mean to tell me that a trunk (i.e, N/R, Me/R -- the base two classes) could be excluded from this capability?

I find that mathematically impossible.

jesh · Aug 04, 2005, 10:29 PM // 22:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reiden Argrock

Now I'm all for creativity and all that, but I really doubt that every class combo will be able to solo UW

Name one that you don't think can, and we can get started. ^^
I'm sure there's some way it can be done, regardless of your class. Maybe not that effectively.. but yeah.

EmperorTippy · Aug 04, 2005, 10:35 PM // 22:35

^^
Actually without Protection skills, wards, or traps you can't solo UW and those were the exceptions I was reffering to. If anyone can solo UW with a Me/W I will give you 500 black dyes. Your skills just make it impossible to solo the whole place IMO ans experiance. And just for referance I count Soloing UW to be killing all the monsters and doing at least 50% of the quests.

zehly · Aug 04, 2005, 10:58 PM // 22:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmperorTippy

^^
Actually without Protection skills, wards, or traps you can't solo UW and those were the exceptions I was reffering to. If anyone can solo UW with a Me/W I will give you 500 black dyes. Your skills just make it impossible to solo the whole place IMO ans experiance. And just for referance I count Soloing UW to be killing all the monsters and doing at least 50% of the quests.

I took a screenshot of this page just for reference

I hope you have lots and lots of black dyes. Video will come soon.

EmperorTippy · Aug 04, 2005, 10:59 PM // 22:59

tell me when you come to do it. I don't trust videos. You have to group with me and have me die so that I can watch it happen.

zehly · Aug 04, 2005, 11:22 PM // 23:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmperorTippy

tell me when you come to do it. I don't trust videos. You have to group with me and have me die so that I can watch it happen.

Ah, a true cynic at heart! And why, might I ask, would you not trust videos, even if I use the control button to call out my actions. Surely you don't think I'm going to photoshop a 29fps video for 300-600 seconds. That'd be on average over 13,050 frames! A screenshot I can understand, but a video!?!

Very well. I'll let you know after I've gotten everything together. I'll post the video for everyone else who believes in UFOs.

jesh · Aug 05, 2005, 04:03 AM // 04:03

Dude..

Everyone knows UFOs exist..

Pinch · Aug 05, 2005, 04:33 AM // 04:33

I can farm UW with my water ele, but it takes ages so I don't do it. Guess what spell? MIST FORM. Other classes can farm without being cookie cutter ya know. Think outside of the box!
Anyways, instead of farming UW, I farm trolls with my monk (too cheap to buy goddamn runes for 30k)

Steve_V · Aug 05, 2005, 06:38 AM // 06:38

gotta be different from everyone else :P
instead of soloing UW
I tried Soloing Fissure of Woe
after about 6-7 tries
I cleared the first area pretty much and even killed the group of 4 shadow monks together...
then Rastigan opened the door to the first quest boss
and then Rastigan got killed by the two Abyssals...
gonna try some more and figured out a way to get farther :P
and I won't post my build or my class :P
and yay...average 3-5 shards per run

wiz12268 · Aug 05, 2005, 09:43 AM // 09:43

soloing smoloing.

A Net has pretty much fixed it. Where you used to get 1-3 ectos a trip AND a couple decent weapons you now might get 4 ectos in 7 trips,and are DAMN LUCKY to get any colored weapons besides some cyana "precious" crap.

I killed about 1000 aatexes and 5000 squids and who knows how many smites, I even did the cold fires to see if Anet got sneaky and made them the droppers. I got 11 ectos and a single purple shadow bow. That was basically all day, probably 15 runs, and I did two trips with a guy to show him I could do it, got one ecto that run designated to me luckilly. That includes the circle where the obsideons are(the gate keepers), all the way into the town killing those 15 squids, and into the smite territory. Thats alot of territory, smal compared to how big the whole map is, but more than most guys do.

I didn't get a single ecto off a smite. All of them came from aatexes and squids. And 3 of them were the very first run this morning when I got 3 BEFORE the door even opened. It certainly went downhill from there.

While 11 ectos might sound like a lot, considering the time I spent, 10 hours maybe, or just about one an hour on average, that is a lot of hours to earn that nice armor everyone wants(not what I am doing BTW). Mind you, that is all alone (with the exception of the two 2 man runs) How many PUG or guild trips would you need to make? It cost 105 ectos and 105 shards to make the armor, and FOW runs canlast 5-6 hours, what happens if you get nothing, since FOW is pretty difficult to solo you have to go at least 3 man, so that cuts the drop into thirds. So how many hours is that? About 400-500? Thats a lot of time especially from a game that claimed to take the long hours out of gaming, Granted the armor is a perk, but if you make it attainable people will bust their azzes trying to get it. I don't care because I am not in it for the ectos, or the armor, but making an observation for why thosethat DO want the armor are doing it. What if they have 4 toons they want to outfit wwith fissure armor? THEN how many hours we talking?

Who is going to want to spend 500+ hours AFTER spending 75-100 just completing the game itself, in order to get that armor. That is why Ebayers are making a killing, and why people get emails soliciting trying to buy GW gold/plat from them. Spend 10 bucks or whatever it is and get yourself a million gold, that is ALMOST enough to get that armor. So spend 20. Then you get your armor and you quit because there is nothing left to obtain. These guys are also the guys with the whole left of their world undiscovered (except for the Temple). They got rushed to Droknars, and that was it. Now they have to get to Sanctum key, but that isnt that hard, to get ascended at least. But how long does that take? Pay someone or get a guildy to run you through the mission. It would take 10 minutes except he has to raise the boat, and I think that takes 6. Then have some guys help you through the missions. Elonas is even easier now. SO it isn't like it is hard to get what you need the esy way.

As for the UW. It isn't even like soloing the UW is a challenge either, at least in the spots where the drops are/were. People just do it to get something. Some want ectos to sel, or for themsleves. I do it because am looking for a nice bow for my first character ever, a ranger . I dont want to spend 200-300k for a nice eternal or storm bow, I would rather find it myself. I used to go with groups, even with my monk I have now, I switched to heal for the group thing. But to watch everyone get wiped out is sort of disheartening when you can do it all by yourself.

So is it better to group up and fail, or is it better to go it alone and do what you need to do?

I have finished the game with 3 charcters, did all the missions and bonuses with two of those. So what else is there to do? I don't like PvP?.I really do not want the fissure armor. I have my Lions Arch armor and Judges set so I am all set. So I have set my sites on FINDING (not buying) a good bow. Once I do that, I will pick something else to look for, or stop playing until the update.

This is still a game people, a game. Economy this, economy that, ego here, ego there. It is a game. People act like it is the only thing going. Why get worked up so much over everything. Just play your game and others play theirs. it isn't that hard.

BTW I give eternal shields away I get so many.

zehly · Aug 05, 2005, 09:18 PM // 21:18

I have come to terms with my concept of farming in this game. There are essentially three kinds of farmers (this might not be all inclusive):

1. Those that farm solely for profit (i.e., to sell on Ebay). !@#$ you guys.
2. Those that farm to make their characters uber-leet. These guys want to get the fissure armor, perfect weapons, etc. and then show it off and have others feel jealous.
3. People like me. (See "Why do I farm")

Why do I farm?
I like to farm because sometimes I get tired of the FotM in PvP. I've always liked PvE (despite its apparent drawbacks). I like to have a challenge. Killing level 3 Charr in Ascalon doesn't boost my confidence anymore. So I take my ascended (or sometimes unascended) characters into places like Shiverpeaks, FoW, or wherever I can find that looks fun. I get parties together. I don't care the level or the profession, so long as I have a healer and a tank, the rest can have their fun. I'll get drops. But moreover, I get experience points, and for me, EXP is to PvE as Rank is to PvP. So it's fun. A lot of times I'll go with guildies, or people who look like they could use the loot. If something drops that I don't want.. instead of ignoring it, I pick it up and drop it down (and watch others have a FFA going for it, hehe). It's just fun. And I get to play around with builds and see what works!

Today I was in a 3 person group for UW. I was the E/Me, we had a Mo/N that did Protection+Seed, and a Mo/W that tanked like a madman. We killed almost everything, and then somehow one of us agro'd and we all died. But what was the reaction at the end before I clicked "return to outpost"? It wasn't "WTF NOOB U AGROED THEM YOU IDIOT." We all said "good game guys, very well played."

Farming can be fun and exciting, or it can be tedious, and monotonous. You pick.

stumpy · Aug 05, 2005, 09:24 PM // 21:24

Reasons why I farm ...

a) to get fissure armor (bah ... who cares)
b) to give my ego a boost (more like it)
c) I love seeing the endless amounts of yellow cover my screen. (bingo)

edit **** Emporor tippy we meet again ... wanna come to UW to watch me? I have a video to but its 100MB and amazing but first hand facts are facts. You can pm me in game this weekend and we can meet up american servers and you can

a) die and watch me for evidence ... it should be about 20-30 minutes of your life ... although any drops I cannot res ya for ... sry ...
b)you can stay alive and take along the back to collect free xp and drops without aggroing
c) you can come for kicks and aggro everything until eventually we both die for sh-ts and giggles

... either way ... fun is fun ... (inside joke * or should I pay for a runner to do it for me * from other post)

I will add 5 ecto to the first Mesmer / Warrior to solo UW

EmperorTippy · Aug 05, 2005, 09:27 PM // 21:27

hey I farm to test builds usally. I mean with the constant enchant strip of a bunch of the monsters you can see how you would fair against NR in tombs. And I only solo UW (And I do almost all of it no stopping at the smites or coldfires) because I am trying to find out how long it will take to get a full suit of FoW armor by only doing UW and FoW runs. (I sell all the stuff I find and use it to buy etos/shards and sofar with over 100 hours put in to these runs I have about half of what I need)

zehly · Aug 05, 2005, 09:30 PM // 21:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmperorTippy

hey I farm to test builds usally. I mean with the constant enchant strip of a bunch of the monsters you can see how you would fair against NR in tombs. And I only solo UW (And I do almost all of it no stopping at the smites or coldfires) because I am trying to find out how long it will take to get a full suit of FoW armor by only doing UW and FoW runs. (I sell all the stuff I find and use it to buy etos/shards and sofar with over 100 hours put in to these runs I have about half of what I need)

Thanks for helping to find a way against NR (even there's a multitude that exist). Also, let us know how your builds go! And if Fissure armor is the reward you seek for your build-testing, go you.

Evisicator · Aug 05, 2005, 09:33 PM // 21:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmperorTippy

Hey I created the solo monk build first. I just never posted it because I didn't want the copying that occured once it was posted to occur. And I have found the most effective solo UW build to be a Mo/Me actually but whatever.

Any class can farm just about anything if done right. There are some exceptions but generally you can solo farm or 2 person farm with any combination of builds.

I find that you are going to be hard pressed to prove that you were the 1st to do it.

Why?, Because I can make the same claim and how are you going to disprove it? I think it really doesnt matter who the 1st was. Just know and be proud of yourself for doing it before it was ever posted I know I was. I think you will find lots of ppl were doing it before it was ever posted and the ppl that could do it protected it for the same reasons you listed. I know I did.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmperorTippy

And just for referance I count Soloing UW to be killing all the monsters and doing at least 50% of the quests.

Ok I'm glad you have your own definition but I can say you are not soloing unless you show me a video uncut from begining to end and clear it 100%. But that isn't what the general masses accept as soloing and you know it and therefore no one has to pay heed to your claims to prove they can do it. And Unless you have indisputable proof that you can do the same then why did you even open your mouth and make yourself look a fool?

stumpy · Aug 05, 2005, 09:40 PM // 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evisicator

Ok I'm glad you have your own definition but I can say you are not soloing unless you show me a video uncut from begining to end and clear it 100%. But that isn't what the general masses accept as soloing and you know it and therefore no one has to pay heed to your claims to prove they can do it. And Unless you have indisputable proof that you can do the same then why did you even open your mouth and make yourself look a fool?

you know how big that video is going to be right? ... my smite run alone was 100MB ... and thats only a 14 minute smite run ... lol ... you talking about a full feature presentation at cineplex (*sits down and watches the video)

*** Calling all people with 300GB hard drives we need a 2 hour uw solo run on fraps ...