lumic

I've been playing my warden as a melee build ever since the 20s and have really enjoyed it. Now a few weeks ago in KoS I could typically do these things:

- Beat a 69 even con solo mob... at 63;
- Take on 2 or even 3 such mobs at the same time... at 66;
- Not think twice about taking on yellow ^ solo mobs up to 3 levels higher than me; and
- Take on green ^^^ heroics and some low blues.

Typically if I was fighting an even con half the time my proc heal (STR line) was sufficient. I should mention by AA build thus far is:

STR to the end
STA (not final)
5 SoW
Spores
Bat
4 CAs
75% crits

And I've got about 16 unspent as i can't decide what to do next.

I should also mention that the whole way up I've had MC str/sta/agi leather sets. Very rarely have I had leg+ gear and very rarely have I had M1s (and probably only 5 or less AD3s per tier).

This toon was started 2 months ago and never stayed in a tier long enough to bother investing a lot of effort into the best that tier had to offer.

Fast forward to RoK:

- I will use up to 6 heals on an even con mob. Those mobs hit for 600+ sometimes;
- At 71 72-73^ nameds hit for up to 1200. I can take some of them down but some, like that named at the end of the Gra'al Shul temple in eastern KP was damaging me faster than I could heal;
- Blue mobs hurt me worse than orange mobs used to.

I've done 68-71 in RoK. I'm still wearing my 62 MC set. Some guildies have had an easier time because they are older toons and had a significant investment in T7 leg/fabled gear. Thats not really an option now since noone does T7 content (except once maybe to get the AA).

In fact sub-80 grouping is pretty much dead (thanks SoE you f**kers). I've managed to find a total of like 7-8 groups... in the last 71 levels (1 RoV, 1 RE, 1 Hidden Cache, couple SoS, 1 Nest, 1 Den). It's sad that I can remember and count off all my groups.

So I'm now 71 with 99 AA wondering if I should go the str/sta/agi T8 leather MC set and keep going or I should recognise that the winds are blowing the other way and respec to root/nuke (maybe AA mirror it but it affects stats too so kinda warrants 2 sets of gear).

The problem is that furies seem to be better nukers so if I'm going to be a nuker, why not be a fury?

I've now basically finished the KP quests (77 done, max ally TG, just fistful of metal to finish) and 35% off 72 (and better miti/stats). I was hoping to get to 72 before I hit Fens cos the prospect of getting rectally violated by 74 mobs doesn't exactly fill me with joy.

Thoughts?

Eminaria

I used melee spec + agi (charm animal) for leveling to 80 and didnt really have any problems living, tho I did have alot better gear than you do now I'd say... but the added pet from the agi line if you get some aa's in it, is nice for the insane amount of soloing you have to do in RoK. Once your done leveling, respec to something usefull :P

Aerofae

Ive only used melee spec since RoK came out.. i tried charming pet etc but i found out it's alot slower and better just go and tank the mobs.. concerning your spec: if you don't plan to raid full time melee spec is just fine and won't hurt your healing at all.. now it's pretty easy to get mastercrafted gear with full wis and str so you won't lose power because you want to beat the mob..
On raiding though, it's totally different story.. except few trash mobs or the first 4 nameds in PR you can't melee them at all so better use spellcasting spec (although your dps would be lower by around 30%).

About fury better nukers, well that's true and can't deny it.. actually if think about betraying better do it now so you won't lose too much plats on spells

Eminaria

Your not a summoner, ofcorse your supose to just go and tank the mobs, the pet is just there for a little extra dps, making you kill faster.

lumic

Do you mean MC gear with str AND wis or MC wis gear and getting wis gear on top of that (which is what I do now)? I haven't seen any str/wis sets.

The str/sta/agi set is +melee crit. Who needs that when I'm already at 75%?

I'm tempted to go down the AGI line for the better HPS of wild regen. T8 is the first time where my base HPS hasn't been enough (at times).

If I went root/nuke I'd probably need to respec to INT line too. Haven't looked too much into how much that helps.

Aerofae

on last gu there's level 77 mc gear with wis\str.. before that i was using mixed gear with both.

Eminaria

Dont forget that as a warden you get the best death saves in the game, so take advantage of that if your HPS isnt enough for some of the spike damage.

Also the INT line is great for when you have to focus on healing yet still do dps. Just casting heals and other benificial spells in a raid will net you around 800 dps, and thats very respectable damage 'for free'.

Cydonia

I use Melee spec quite a lot - Since we buff wis anyway I find it quite easy to still have a reasonable amount of power, and I loaded up on brawler-type gear : got around 680 str self buffed with my current gear. I certainly found it a lot easier to solo and level in ROK compared to my raid setup which is with all the damage spell crits etc.

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Aerofae

I personally still using melee spec even in VP :P only on trash ofc but still nice to be able to melee mob even in there.

Malignx

You stay melee spec'd, yet you only melee trash?

Psst, you can also melee while you aren't spec'd for melee!

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