Lady Azu :: Asmodian Cleric

Double Dipping for the Holidays

2009-12-15T21:55:00.001-05:00

Yep! It's official. It's ok to double dip for the next 3 weekends in Aion! Ok, so I'm referring to the double xp weekends announced by Tamat today. After the next three weekends, there will be one or two of these bonus weekends per month.

Starting with this week's patch (update: instead of Wed, will be out at end of week along with Solorius & Double XP), Soul Healing will also cost less for all levels and Energy of Repose will give bonus xp for levels 20 - 44. We all know the real problem with leveling once you hit 20 is there is a bit of a grind and lots of PvP to get through. Admittedly, the real fix will take lots of development time, as Tamat explains in his forum post. So this early holiday gift should help in the meantime. I say, "Nyerk!"... err... I mean, "Woot!" Between this and the Solorius Festival, I'm dizzy with sparkly, shiny bonuses.

Azu is now level 28 and hopefully she'll reach 30 before the end of 2009. Geez, that's only a few weeks away! I guess now I'll have to try Ice Claw again. The last time I was in there at 25-ish, maybe 26... it was a slaughter and a heck of a walk. Happy Patch Day!

PS -- I'm so loving the bot-busting vids! It's so much sweet revenge to watch those bots be reduced to cinders! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFfy90w_C9A&feature=player_embedded

Ding! 26! Time for FUN! Sockets & First Experiences into the Abyss

2009-11-08T10:14:00.004-05:00

I've had to really re-think how I'm socketing my gear as a Cleric. When I'm in a full group, I generally don't have a problem with mana, but when I'm soloing or playing along side my favorite tank (hello, baby) then I seem to burn mana pretty quick with dps-ing and healing. So I started stacking some MP. (Noob Confession #1: I really thought I needed more MP. Even though my mana pool was plenty and I should've known that being squishy is not going to get better with MP stones. Surviving is more important than running low on mana. Pots are a better strategy for those situations.)

What I'm discovering after listening to the Cleric Channel (you guys were really captured the spirit of the LFG channel last night LOL) and a few forum posts, is that socketing for HP is still a good thing to do and getting Magical Accuracy is something I've been ignoring. Magical Accuracy helps with spell resists. (Noob Confession #2: I did not know that!) Lately, I've noticed that many of my spells were being resisted. Especially as I neared level 26 and was fighting mobs at levels above me.

Back to the whole mace/shield vs. staff dilemma: I understand why people say mace/shield for grouping. It' all those durn sockets on the shield. *Smacks herself in the head, DOH! I was thinking I needed something with stats. The staff has more damage and concentration, good for soloing. The shield is like a big manastone trinket and stacking with the mace usually have equally beneficial stats and I can disregard the attack damage. Like my soup ladle, it gives me more MB over the staff. Plus if I do get too close I can block a little damage till I can lose some aggro. So there ya go.... my dilemma is done! (You may not agree, but that's what I'm thinking right now. We'll see at level 40.)

First Experiences into the Abyss
Ah, the Abyss. I went into the Abyss quickly to grab quests and do the 'messenger' quests. You know how those lazy NPCs send you hither and yon and all over the universe to deliver a message or ask about some wine. (Wine? How can they just keep passing that same bottle around to 7 different NPCs!) Then I actually tried flying to some of the outer reach over to the Eastern Shard. Naturally I landed on a rock in between to earn some more flying time and ooo, look! A monster to kill and gain some XP while I wait. Smite, Hallowed Strike, launch the Holy Servant. The Abyss is so much fun! WHAM! WHAM! BOOM! Wot?! I'm dead? Then I see an Elyos creep over my corpse as I fold my wings over my head. Dang! How'd did I forget I am in a PvP zone? (Noob Confession #3: I'm so bad at PvP. I am too easy to gank.) So I rezzed in Morheim and called it a night. But then last night I went with my favorite tank (hello, baby) and I learned that 1) I could've teleported there (Oh man!) 2) Those rings with pretty sparkles help me stay flying longer and give a little speed boost. 3) It's so much better when you don't solo in there.

We actually started questing out by the Steel Graveyard and the XP is epic. Of course, we did end up both getting ganked by an Assassin who was about 15 levels higher. No shame in that though. He basically owned a bunch of us Asmodians who were questing over there. Sins are vicious! He critted me on the first two hits in a row! So we're back to stacking HP for sure.... What I do like is the fact that I can get Abyss Points for questing there. I haven't gone on a siege yet, but I'm actually thinking that will be ok. I'm not a PvPer and sometimes I get frustrated that the game is structured so you don't have a choice. But the good thing is there's no XP penalty when you do get ganked and someday I should actually be able to fight back or at least survive long enough to run away! RUN, AZU, RUN!! My first impressions on the Abyss after sleeping on it, is that it's not so bad. I just have to remember there are people who really enjoy pouncing on other players even if they're 20 levels lower. (I wonder if they even get points for that?)

Patch Preview 1.5.1: There's Treats for Clerics!

2009-10-31T07:44:00.003-04:00

Yesterday NCSoft announced a patch preview for the upcoming 1.5.1 patch. No date is set since it's still in testing, but so far the Cleric love is welcome:

Increased the damage inflicted by Cleric’s ‘Thunderbolts’ skill.
Resolved the issue of the cooldown time not being seen clearly when using Cleric’s ‘Ripple of Purification’ skill.
Resolved the problem of abnormal mental conditions not being removed by using Cleric’s ‘Splendor of Purification’ skill.

I don't have Ripple of Purification or Splendor of Purification yet, but as I'm about to ding 24 and onto 25 to buy about a dozen new books, it may be soon. Happy Halloween!

Nearly 24 & Still Undecided...

2009-10-28T20:51:00.001-04:00

Azu is nearly Level 24 and is starting to quest beyond the Morheim Snow Field and into places where the other side can come by and gank you. By now, I've run Black Claw Village & Outpost a few times. Healing was fun and I really like the AOE Heal (Healing Wind or something like that...I'll have to log in and see what it's called) especially when I spent some time grinding the boss by the Abyss Gate. (At the sixth kill, it got a little tedious, but it was fun to see a blue ring drop.) I learned a lot about how gold spammers/farmers/bots can really annoy legitimate players and how easily they get around anything NCSoft tries to implement. (Remember to report these guys when you see them. It gets them banned faster. AutoReport does work in cities now.)

My biggest dilemma besides figuring out why a 25+ Rank 6 Elyos can run up and gank me, is how I should run with a staff or sword-n-board. It seems the big advantage Clerics have over Holy Priests from WoW (err... I mean that game that shall not be named) is that they can rock a shield. Blocking attacks seems to make a whole bunch of sense. But the mace doesn't do too much damage, I should be spamming smite and other offensive spells. (I said spells, not smells. Quit laughing!) Here's some numbers to ponder while you're trying to decide for yourself....

My Tundra Mace gives me 62-93 dps. My Black Claw Staff gives 82-124 dps +3. The mace is faster, and then there's the shield block of 297, 35% reduction in damage and +20 concentration. So why all the rambling about what to do? Players are saying sword-n-board to level; staff for grouping. Right now, I think my gear is too close to make a real difference. Staff gives more Magic Boost (but that doesn't help healing) and Magic Accuracy. Can heals really miss? I'm not so much into Theorycrafting, but I am leaning towards keeping a staff with good attributes since I shouldn't be fighting with it in a group and a nice mace and shield for soloing. Is this much ado about nothing? What do you think? And about that Elyos guy that ganked me while I was questing... some Asmodian pals took care of him as I rested in Morheim.