Kaylon

Look who's talking... Go troll your own thread... PS.

Here's another video showing how a paladin is able to tank the adra dragon in potd and without heals - no traps, no cheap tactics. Base stats - wild orlan 17mig/15con/4dex/20per/3int/18res. Adragans had to be killed first to prevent summons/healing for the dragon... I used jolting touch scrolls because they're common/easy to craft and don't require high lore. https://youtu.be/0nNLwfGrpKQ

It just makes sure the dragon will land only grazes on you and lands 1/3 hits... In fact you can have close to 180defl, however the normal attacks of the dragon aren't what hurts you the most.If constantly taking 60 dmg and more counts for not hurting, sure. Try melee disengagement for fun and you might take 200 damage. Also you can't have max stats in def, fort and ref at the same time except you use the console. The fact you don't know how to do it doesn't mean you can't. And no, you don't take constantly 50dmg - it's more once in a while. But don't worry I will post a video to prove it, just like I did it for the ranger.

It just makes sure the dragon will land only grazes on you and lands 1/3 hits... In fact you can have close to 180defl, however the normal attacks of the dragon aren't what hurts you the most.

In fact a well build paladin is perfectly able to tank the adra dragon and all his minions at the same time (if you have 158+defl/170+fort/170+refl). Of course you can't do it idefinitely to kill him with your toothpick, but you can do it using scrolls.

You sort of missed the point, where being hit by lightning is bound to hurt a lot more (ie. deal more damage) than being hit by a sword. One leaves you as a lump of charcoal and the other makes a cut / hole. Realistically, both might be as deadly (such as putting a sword through an eye, into the brains) but a sword can in no way compare to a lightning bolt in actual damage done. The game is already balanced in this account by giving wizards/druids limited amount of times they're able to reduce a target to a lump of charcoal. No further balance should be needed. Literal 1:1 balance you're talking about would be more feasible for a competitive PvP based game, such as Guild Wars or WoW PvP. But it has no place in an actual single player roleplaying game. And fantasy is about warriors being able to take multiple foes and surviving (which they do) and being able to take on bears and dragons (which they can). It is not about swords dealing as much damage as lightning bolts and fireballs. No, it's you who missed my point. You talk about realism in a fantasy game - ie lightning should do more damage than a sword. What I said was that a warrior doing that kind damage with his sword isn't more ridiculous than the idea of a guy calling the lightning. It's not about balance, it's about not limiting choices and not forcing players into stereotypes. If a fighter is able to kill a dragon by himself (like it seems you agree) he won't certainly do it using a toothpick and trying to outlast the dragon... Talking about realism in a fantasy game is ridiculous. A poisoned dagger wielded by a nimble fighter who can reach the weak spots of a dragon could be just as deadly - you just need imagination (the literature abounds in fighter vs dragons fights...). But these days people seem more influenced by the mmo culture where the idea of hero doesn't exist anymore and people are always forced to play in large groups to be able to achieve something. Anyway this is my last post on this topic. I just posted an opinion and I don't like when other people are trying to impose their own as the right one...

Nah, the tank "metagame" in most MMO's is a conscious design choice, not simply due to lack of advanced AI. The only "MMO" that I'm aware off where bad AI is part of the issues it's facing, is GW2. However, GW2 has so many mechanical problems when it comes to PvE that blaming it on just poor AI is mistaking the tip of the iceberg that's above water as the entire iceberg. Yes, I consider the actual design choices in modern rpg/mmo very poor and limiting. In my vision, any class should be able to achieve the same level of defense/offense if he chooses so, but by different means. Warriors should have high defense through their heavy armor/shield, rogues through dodge/evade and casters through magic. The damage level should also be the same - fighters through training/specialization, rogues through stealth/poisons/traps and casters with spells. From here you can have variations and combinations for any hybrid you want. The whole notion of fighter being as effective at dishing out damage as the guy who can call up lightning from the sky is ridiculous. Personally I think such balance has no place in an actual RPG. Some people are just better than others, whether they were born with it or trained for it. Its what makes things interesting. I want to play a wizard because of the raw power it holds in its fingers and I am willing to pay the price for it, which is generally the lack of physical endurance. Now if I could have a wizard who is as physically strong as a fighter (without the use of spells to achieve that) and still as good regular wizard, then I could talk about balancing, but only because it would make fighters entirely redundant (to a point where they should then be removed as a class). The problem is not really in the design choices of modern rpg/mmo games. Its the powerplay instead of roleplay mentality. People should roleplay their characters instead of whining that they can't play their characters because some other class/race/build is mechanically superior to the one they picked. If you can't handle fighters doing less damage than wizards, then don't recruit any fighters in your party, just play with a group full of wizards. If wizard suck and ciphers are the best, then by all means make a party full of ciphers (or just don't make/take any wizards). I finished my first game as a chanter, with spread around stats (I think I had like 12 dex) and zero summon invocations. Why? Because I didn't feel the summon invocations fit my character concept. I used one-handed weapons and no shield and used it as an off-tank and damage dealer. I had a rogue recruited NPC who used a crossbow instead of arbalest or war bow. I wore a sword on Edér because I felt he was not a hatchet (or flail) guy and I switched out the door shield because it looked silly. Sure my difficulty was only hard, but if you feel the difficulty is getting in the way of your roleplaying you can just reduce it. People are so overly concerned about effectiveness that they forget what roleplaying games are all about. Nobody prevents you to roleplay your characters the way you want, the problem is you want to prevent the others to play the way they want. And no, a fighter mowing through hordes of monsters (the fantasy literature is full of such examples) isn't more ridicoulous than a guy calling the lightning - that's what fantasy is .

Nah, the tank "metagame" in most MMO's is a conscious design choice, not simply due to lack of advanced AI. The only "MMO" that I'm aware off where bad AI is part of the issues it's facing, is GW2. However, GW2 has so many mechanical problems when it comes to PvE that blaming it on just poor AI is mistaking the tip of the iceberg that's above water as the entire iceberg. Yes, I consider the actual design choices in modern rpg/mmo very poor and limiting. In my vision, any class should be able to achieve the same level of defense/offense if he chooses so, but by different means. Warriors should have high defense through their heavy armor/shield, rogues through dodge/evade and casters through magic. The damage level should also be the same - fighters through training/specialization, rogues through stealth/poisons/traps and casters with spells. From here you can have variations and combinations for any hybrid you want.

Disagree, my monk super tank build could get higher Deflection with gear but I want to get hit in solo to get Wounds for TR. However I can assure you- you can put him in front and he will dish out more DPS than your DPS fighter with Torments Reach. Never underestimate Torments Reach. And he will still tank as good as tank paladin. Not as good as Fighter but he will at least dish super AOE (cone) DPS every second unarmed! Don't understand what your monk has to do with the discussion and where I'm talking about my fighter? And a monk tanking like a paladin? It's a joke, yes? No. That was to you saying "how you build your tank they will always do very low damage compared to casters". All I wanted to say that you can build monk for a tank and he will do great DPS. Thats all. And yes, my monk can tank as good as your paladin, becasue he will actually kill stuff 4x faster while doing so and being very capable against any CC in game. Tested in solo 2x runs, so in party that would be tank in the park. No, your monk will never do "great" DPS compared to a caster - that was my point. There's a difference between surviving and tanking - the paladin would probably finish most battles close to full life while your monk would need to rest after nearly every fight. When your monk will be able to tank the adra dragon then you can compare him to a paladin.

Disagree, my monk super tank build could get higher Deflection with gear but I want to get hit in solo to get Wounds for TR. However I can assure you- you can put him in front and he will dish out more DPS than your DPS fighter with Torments Reach. Never underestimate Torments Reach. And he will still tank as good as tank paladin. Not as good as Fighter but he will at least dish super AOE (cone) DPS every second unarmed! Don't understand what your monk has to do with the discussion and where I'm talking about my fighter? And a monk tanking like a paladin? It's a joke, yes?

If you make your fighter with max might and dex, use two handed weapons, take weapon spec, focus and mastery, and armored grace you'll out put consistent accurate heavy hitting around 40 damage per hit at a fairly fast rate. 40 damage is low compared to what spells can do and to multiple targets. My point is that a smart monster would never attack a tank and the devs are forced to come always with artificial solutions in order to help them fulfill their role (protect the caster). IMO a more realistic way would be to use a bodyguard system - where the tank is able to protect people in a certain area around him (ie all the single attacks against people he's protecting should be directed to him)

No matter how you build your tank they will always do very low damage compared to casters and monsters should always attack the latest first. In other games developers gave tanks the ability to "taunt" in order to justify why monsters are attacking them. Engage is just that - an excuse for having monsters not attacking casters in the first place - it has nothing to with disengage damage "scaring" the monsters.

The speed mod doesn't work on weapons right now.

I think there is a nerf: Reduced the accuracy on higher level player traps.

In theory it's possible to become immune to petrify with a paladin if talents like Body Control, Mental Fortress, Unstoppable, Righteous Soul, Berath's Boone, etc... would work properly. However in my game they are desactivated once you reload the game. Maybe other people can verify if it's only my problem or another bug.

I really don't know if it's possible to finish the game solo in PotD with a ranger. The ranger has good single target damage, but the game is mostly about dealing with multiple targets. You need a lot of pull and run using your pet in order to kill enemies one by one at the beginning. For close encounters you need summons/scrolls/traps however I don't know if it will be always enough.

Well, that was done on purpose to be able to finish him fast once the charm was gone. My big error was to not summon the scarab as soon as my shades were killed and I lost some endurance in the process, when trying to charm. I don't think it's possible to do it with other classes because their disabling spells are too short. However any party with a ranger can make the encounter trivial. Maybe a priest can use withdraw on a summon to block dragon's advancement long enough.

For people interested how to defeat the Adra Dragon with a ranger solo here's a little video. https://youtu.be/ewxtIFixUb8 In the video I forgot to show my accuracy vs dragon defenses in the logs. My max accuracy was 126 with bow while the dragon's lowest deflection was 96. I had 100 accuracy when I used Binding Roots and the dragon had 100 reflex. With Scale Breaker and the debuff from Lenas Er the dragon had 119 fortitude.

I can confirm a wild orlan paladin can tank and outlast absolutely anything in the Endless Path. However he kills things very slowly if you don't use scrolls. I don't know yet if a ranger can kill everything (the conditions would be to find places where you can run around an kite all day long/your pet can block the path to the ranger, while the ranger stunlocks the mob in front of the pet/tank enough using summons), but I can confirm a ranger can kill the adra dragon because he can use binding roots and kill him while he stays out of the range of his attacks.

Or maybe I just don't use Steam so I don't follow all the bull**** jargon that the trophies are called. But thanks for being rude. TC means Triple Crown achievement.

The bears in the cave are doable (of course not 100% guaranted) even at lvl2. When you reach the cave you should have the ingredients for 2 scrolls of fan of flames and some food (from the bandits). You need a crosbow, a brigandine and 2 hatchets (2hatchets offer at the beginning of the game the same defense as a shield, but with better dps/recovery). You stealth in the left corner of the cave (where you can keep the bears in a 90° angle before you) and you shoot the bear with the crossbow using flames of devotion. Switch to hatchets and start casting fan of flames in order to cover the entire angle. The big bear should be dead after the second fan of flames (if not then use the last flames of devotion on him). Of course in TC, if you don't want to reload, it's better to wait until you have better equipment/stats.

Yes, but that means you won't be able to pick a better talent instead.

A ranger with high int/accuracy can root the dragon in place long enough while everyone stands out of his breath range and attacks him with their ranged weapons.

Is this shield considered as a real weapon? Do the dual wielding rules apply to it (shorter recovery)? Could you possibly benefit from the Two Weapon Style talent while using it?

Per isn't enough to put you over 170refl because you have no means to buff perception outside items. Right, but you can shift a point from one to the other, can't you? You can't add more points to perception because you were already at max. The only way to add mor reflex is through dex. Taking White That Wends for your culture would let you do it (sorry, should have said that from the start) - none of your other stats are maxed, so there's no reason not to. It's not a huge deal, but it would buy you a point of Deflection, I guess. Ah, you're right, I forgot I took +1res when I created him - that would make +1defl.