Last night, I finally committed my 10th spot to a Glavier. Originally, I had been debating whether to use that spot for a Wardancer, Destroyer or the Glavier. After checking out some videos on the upcoming Destroyer, I figured that I would wait to see what the feedback is once the class comes out. Just from the videos I’ve seen, it sounds like the class is slightly awkward to play. With Wardancer, I figured that cooldown aspect might not make it an enjoyable class for me. So pretty much my decision boiled down to a process of elimination.
I only got up to freeing Pridehome from demons but with all the additional skill points from the stuff I’ve been doing, it was quite trivial. Already, I have a few skills with two Tripods so the damage is great and leveling fairly smooth. The real challenge is figuring out a rhythm for skills and knowing what to do when.
However, I might go back to leveling my Deathblade. I’m still not very keen on her just yet and want to get her to at least 30 before passing any kind of judgment. But I am seeing the proverbial animation locks and occasional annoying ability misses that are problematic with this class. In certain early bosses, I won’t have many back attack opportunities so I am slightly concerned for those situations. Generally, it’s difficult to really see how a class plays out until you get to 50 where more abilities unlock and you can at least do Chaos Dungeons to really see them in action.
In addition, I got further with my Gunslinger. It’s such a joy playing her compared to the Deadeye. One thing I did for my Deadeye was drop all the various quests that he’s been holding onto especially certain Roster quests that are just hanging around. In truth, I might end up deleting my Deadeye since the Gunslinger fulfills that role with a far more intuitive play style. If that happens, I’ll have another spare slot which potentially can go to a Destroyer or even a Berserker, which I’m seriously contemplating.
I am starting to push my gear a little on my Paladin and Scrapper too. They have so many Harmony Leapstones from daily quests that I didn’t want to let them sit around, especially since I got the bonus chances from my Stronghold. So I might do a little upgrade every day. At the same time, my Shadowhunter had finished up Rohendel yesterday but lacks access to the Tier 2 Chaos Dungeons. So I’m going to probably use her in the meantime to farm up spare mats to get my Gunslinger, Paladin and Scrapper into Tier 2 gear soon enough.
But I am in that weird phase where everything is in transition. I stopped trying to progress my Artillerist, even though I’m doing Chaos Dungeons again just because the honing chances are pathetic and the gold cost outrageous. Instead, the plan is to work on my Sorceress and Gunlancer to move them to Punika and Feiton respectively. Then once they hit those areas, I’ll start working on my Shadowhunter to get her into Yorn, which should not be difficult due to her already owning Tier 2 gear.
At the very least, I want to push my Gunslinger into Tier 2 more than the other two. I’m really enjoying what she can do and I intend to get her as high as I can go. She won’t replace my main, which has become my Artillerist, but I can see her moving forward just like my Sorceress.
One thing I almost screwed up with in terms of my Gunlancer and Shadowhunter is the stupid Accessory ilvl issue you get when you switch tiers of gear. I completely forgot and ignored purchasing accessories when I got them their Tier 2 gear and noticed one of them with mediocre damage for the content. Then I realized just how much of a difference even basic accessories make.
I will say that with Rohendel my Shadowhunter completely trivialized it by having 820 ilvl gear. The two annoying encounters with the fiery demon and Brelshaza were made infinitely easier than my first time on my Arterillist. Of course, by now I knew the encounters better so I wasn’t shitting in my pants. Maybe the worst part of the last Rohendel dungeon was that stupid chess puzzle but that part is more of a slowdown rather than a Shunshire stealth scenario dungeon level irritation that would kill the game for me.
So my Artillerist has slowed down and just is focusing on dailies and non-honing content to progress while my Sorceress, Gunlancer and Shadowhunter are making pretty big gains. I expect my Sorceress to get into Punika in a week or so. She might be on the final Chaos Dungeon level or near it (maybe ilvl 1050). I’ve been saving up honing mats from the Lost Ark Pass and may open a few things up for her once she gets there. My Gunlancer is close to moving to Feiton, probably another day or so at most. I might try to push him through the entire quest chain if I can manage that. But that would make me want to get my Shadowhunter into Yorn just to not have her sitting around in Tier 1 any longer. I could just pay 1k gold to Knowledge Transfer but I think that you simply lose out on too much on a place that’s actually not difficult to complete. Same thing with Feiton even though the cost is more.
If I ignore leveling and completing continents while focusing exclusively on dailies and honing, the game actually takes on a pretty good rhythm for me. With the right Bi-Frost in place, you can complete a lot of dailies fairly quickly. I still would like to get my two newest characters into Tier 1 as my next set of characters start preparing for Rohendel. But until I get my weekly gold from my Una’s, I think holding off on anymore Knowledge Transfers is a good idea.
On the other hand, I’m starting to think of other ways to progress my characters. For instance, I completely have ignored non-combat skills especially tools that make higher level gathering easier. I just picked up some of the Adept Craft Kit from the so I would like to upgrade what I have to the next level. Also, I’m looking at progressing Rapport and adding more collectibles. The skill points really help since I can have more Tripods.
In addition, I’ve gotten to the point in my Stronghold where the Research are in excess of 100 gold. So the only way to progress is crafting items. Besides the tools, I know I’m going to need honing materials, which of course have their own requirements. That’s why I got onto the trade skill aspect readily.
And there’s my ships. I have yet to participate in any of the sailing activities so I’m going to need to start increasing my Pirate Coin pool as well as getting more materials, crew mates, etc. One thing I learned about through another video is a certain skin on Mari’s Secret Shop that provides some excellent QoL bonuses for your ship, which makes those sailing activities a lot easier. Unfortunately, that particular item also cost Crystals. So I might have to invest in the Vanquisher Starter Pack, which I honestly don’t think is a bad deal considering my emotional investment in this game at this point. Not to mention the bi-frost addition has become pretty huge for me as my daily quest strategy optimizes over time.
If that happens, I can skip out on the immediate idea of deleting my Deadeye as I will get that character extension slot, which will probably go to a Berserker. All of this might happen in the next day or two just because I can’t afford to lose the Crystalline Aura bonus and the extra Crystals are going to be a major positive for me in the near future.