Grey

I do hope that this is the correct forum to discuss Swashbuckler armor issues. I think that I have read every post in this forum since TSO was released, and many before that, and I apologize for not having found a post refering to this specific topic.


Simple question(s) really.


Background Information:
My guild is not currently staffed to raid VP at the moment, (however, we do run 2 raids per week in less aggressive instances like Thugga, Palace, and Shard of Hate, etc...) so I am relegated to making the most of the gear that I can resonably acquire in order to improve upon my mediocore (compared to the claims of many here on this board) DPS parse during these raid situations


I (80 Swash) am currently decked out in 5 pieces of the Tier 1 (Fearless Chain) Shard armor with 1 piece (shoulders) of Tier 2.


Questions:
I plan to have 2 more Tier 2 pieces made right away so that I receive the 3-piece bonus for each tier, so the first question is:


Which 2 pieces would offer the most benefit over my current gear?


I may want to shared-bank some shards for an alt I am leveling, so for the mid term I have a second question:


What is the current belief on maintaining 2(two) 3-piece bonuses from a combination of T1 & T2 armor vs. having the 5-piece bonus from the T2 stuff alone?


Summary:
My short term goal is to achieive a higer DPS parse on raids and help my guild prepare for bigger and better instances that may eventually drop gear more suited to long term success.


Thank you in advance for not flaming me because I cannot manage the mathmatics involved in this game I love. Unfortuatley, I had to abandon my dual Phd programs in Mathmatical Statistics and Quantum Physics at MIT, which are apparently required to play a DPS class in EQ2 and/or operate Advanced Combat Tracker (ACT), because as it turns out... heh, funny story really.... that analyzing values, evaluating ratios, and crunching numbers in general drives me FUCKING INSANE TO THE POINT THAT I MUST RIP THE MOTHERFUCKING NUTS OFF KITTENS SO THEY WILL STOP MULTIPLYING LIKE MOTHERFUCKING COCKROACHES. SOOOO MANY GOD DAMN NUMBERS!....ARRRRGGGHH!


Ahem,


Thank you for your prompt, pleasant and helpful responses


Grey

kanolth

You are full of fail. In fact you are the biggest fucking noob I have ever seen post on this forum. In fact, you should give your computer to the kidney foundation, sign your body parts off to the local university to help them find the missing link between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals and make sure to go down the road, not across the street.

Like fucking serious....

That or you can at least get the three piece TSO T2 shard set, which gives you a very nice proc. Focus on getting the arms for the combat art enhancement, hands for the haste and chest for the DA proc to round it off for the three piece. I believe that its now the 3 piece that gives you the lifetap proc.

You will notice many raiders wearing this kinda gear.

JimmyTurbo

HAHAHAHA!

Laalon

3 piece Dauntless and 3 piece Soul Lancer, imo. If your gear isn't even any VP gear.

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NicolasKL

Since he's already got fearless/dauntless I wouldn't worry about Soul Lancer. That's a big chunk of shards to make the switch at this point, as he already has the T2 shoulders.

I'd do what Kanolth said. For another 30 shards or so you can have half T1 and half T2 and get both lifetap procs which is a decent setup. If you do the Dauntless/Soul Lancer, there's no doubt that it is superior but it means you just flushed about 60 shards down the toilet. Eventually you're going to want to get T3 or T4 shard armor anyway and none of it will matter, and in the meantime it's doubtful that you doing 1.3% more damage is going to have a big effect on raid progression.

Grey

I think that, although Kanolth seems a bit rough about the edges, if not downright perverse, he has proven himself quite knowlegable about the innerworkings of our craft and I shall probably follow his advice so far as to trade my hard-won void shards for new Dauntless Chest and Arms this weekend. Thank you, Kanolth, for your prompt attention to my delima. (/ooc and for not making it impossible to understand)




Rumor has it that the powers that be are going to make some changes to the Soul Lancer series and/or the Shashbucklers ability to use this line effectively in whatever god-awful, customer hating, vile, and retched update that is on the horizon. I have negelcted to research these pieces for that reason.

Therefore, with your permission of course, I would like to pose 2 new questions:

Is the Reckless line upgradable to the Soul Lancer line in a similar fashion to the Dauntless set? Or is Soul Lancer a stand alone line at the present time?

If I combine Soul Lancer with Dauntless (forgoing the 3-piece Reckless bonus altogether) does that change my item options for my current upgrades?

Thanks again to all of you rocket scientists that make this site possible! I hope that you do not feel that those of us who do not possess your advanced intellect in these matters are, in some dubious way, taking advantage of your many years of study; however if you do, I will glady offer my services as a grammar tutor (which many, many of you need) in exchange for just telling me what may be the best course of action rather than insisting that I understand the GOD DAMN LOGRYTHTM USED TO CONSTRUCT THE PIECE OF SHIT PERCENTAGE CHANCE THAT I COULD, IN SOME ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, DOUBLE FUCKING ATTACK ONCE IN A MILLION MUTHERFUCKING YEARS ... phhffffftt!

uhh

Cheers

Grey

Laalon

Sarcasm? If not, that's not the best way to get good advice.

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Grey

Sorry, I thought the sarcasm was obvious...

For those of you that are humorously challenged, the point that I was trying to make is that EQ2 is based on advanced mathmatical principles that are far beyond the understanding of the non-engineer (career or mind-set).

Often, a question is posed by the casual player and the answer from the elite few becomes so difficult to understand with its ratios and multipiers that I don't even want to play Monopoly anymore, let alone EQ2.

You see, some people are simply not blessed with the ability or interest in numerical equations, and yet they really like to get on an on-line video game and kill shit with their friends to relieve the stress of every day life. Many of those people may be more adept at language arts than (see, I used the word "than" rather than the word "then") thier engineering-type couterparts.

The explanation kinda spoils the joke though ....

kanolth

Grey shut up lol. Seriously. You are beginning to sound like someone I hated in highschool. For someone who uses such colorful, descriptive language I am not naive enough to think you are incapable of working with percentages.

Not understanding crit mechanics doesn't deter from the fact that more crit is good kay? Bigger numbers are always gud.

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to know that more DA makes you hit twice with one weapon more frequently. Meaning if you have 100% DA and you hit with two weapons you hit four times, and if hurricane procs on four mobs you hit up to 16 times. I learned that kinda math in grade 4. 2 x 2 = 4.... woohoo... look at me go with the complex math. IA plz!

Or that melee crit makes you hit for more damage per attack... Oh wait I already covered that, but you know I thought I would bring it up again so it would sink into your apparently simplistic mind.

Or that procs have a chance of adding more damage to your attacks, and that the more proc gear you have, and the higher the trigger chance per minute, the more dps you get. It's not fucking rocket science. Oh one thing you might not know is spell crit effects procs.

There's no complex mathematics involved with understanding the front face of what is going on with the backend. You're just being completely fucking lazy, and not reading your AAs or checking out the gear, or using ACT and analyzing the parse at the end of the night, which also requires no math to do.

Oh look I gotz bigger numbers tonight YAY! Maybe IA is better than BC after all.

A piece of advice for you. If you have a question, then ask it. Stop trying to be a smart ass about it because its obviously not suiting you in the least. You'll get the tards flaming you for asking something that they forgot at one time they had to ask themselves. Let them. But then you'll get those who do want to help. Is that simple enough for you?

Grey

Yes, even I understand these things. But there are caps and balances to consider. Is +melee crit better than +melee bonus or should one go for extra DA chance vs +CA? There are ALOT of variables and although you describe it as being 2 + 2 = 4 but if 3 is the cap, then there is no 4. I know that you understand that the casual player who just wants to improve his DPS parse for the Friday night raid can't comprehend when too much is too much.

Those are the lurkers that read this board during lunch at work hoping that someone else asks the question they need to improve their play. Moreover, praying that it gets answered in a way that they can understand.

Kanolth, I thought you got it...

Geez, Chill out guys. I started out trying to ask an intelligent question and I got carried away with the numbers and sarcasm stuff trying to be funny. I see it is not your type of humor so I will back off of it.

I did follow your advice though and got the chest and hands to go with my shoulders. Then I bought a +61 combat adornment for the shoulders to see if that helps a bit.

And hey, I am not completely lazy, I just don't have the play hours I used to, but I have read this board (at work) from top to bottom as research so that when I am able to log in, I have a plan and can enjoy my session.

Sorry you guys had to endure my dry wit, nevertheless, I still appreciate the advice.

Hope your day gets better,