MP for Beginners Tutorial

[Kollibri]

Well, I copied most of the scripts above into my scripts folder for use, and I love them! Thank you!

A few things.

1) Occasionally I am getting an "invalid command" message when I execute a script. On all of the scripts that do this, the first line in the script is:

/say <<something here>>

On my screen, I will get:

Invalid pet command
Quiloa: <<something here>>


The first line in the script is the say command, but I am getting an error BEFORE it? Why?


2) Someone above said that they loose thier macros upon logging in sometimes. I can confirm this, had my macros disappear on me a few times already.


3) Is there a way to comment out lines in a script?

4) I am getting the "spam warning" message a lot. I had to reduce the amount of "/say" and "/tell" in my scripts to reduce the number of times I was getting my messages voided by the spam-cop mechanism. If I increase the pause between the /tells and /says, will that reduce the chance that the spam-cop mechanism will flag it?

/wave!

[__________Syncronaut]

Originally posted by Amolyn
1) Occasionally I am getting an "invalid command" message when I execute a script. On all of the scripts that do this, the first line in the script is:

/say <<something here>>

On my screen, I will get:

Invalid pet command
Quiloa: <<something here>>


The first line in the script is the say command, but I am getting an error BEFORE it? Why?

This is because the script is trying to rename pets that you do not have. Delete the lines for pets you do not have and this till go away.

3) Is there a way to comment out lines in a script?

I would love to know the answer to this question, too

4) I am getting the "spam warning" message a lot. I had to reduce the amount of "/say" and "/tell" in my scripts to reduce the number of times I was getting my messages voided by the spam-cop mechanism. If I increase the pause between the /tells and /says, will that reduce the chance that the spam-cop mechanism will flag it?

You would probably have to create such a delay that the macro would become ineffective. Just don't hit them so often!

[______________Korant]

Thank you, XtermTech, for making this tutorial.

I have just started my 2nd AO prof - MP - and need all the help I can get. My NT went through major growing pains.

Cheers...

[______________Korant]

Hi XtremTech,

Just wanted to say thanx again for an excellent tutorial. I am sure it will save many trips to the reclaim... escpecially me.

peaces...

[________Iron Maiden7]

XtremTech, you rock! I have searched the web for days looking for info like this. Thanks so much for this awesome MP guide!

[__________goremonger]

i do not know what race you may be playing, so i'm basing this on you being of the nanomage breed. i'm not saying this is the only way to go, but it is a very viable option. as are in fact all the races, for varying reasons. anyway, treat this as basic guidelines - a quickstart option in contrast to xtremtechs more indepth guide - not as a blueprint for your char. if i don't mention some categories of skills, it is because they are not essential to mps. (unless you want them to be, as part of making your char stand out. but remember you will not have an unlimited amount of ip, so spend wisely, and consider before pressing the Accept buttton)

your main abilities:
always max int and psy. five points of int will trickle down and up all nano skills by 1. psy is also used in some nano skills, and usually acompanies int when it comes to useful nano-user armor like cyber, bau, waitt and nano armor. str, agility and sense you can let fall behind a bit, save ip so you can raise them as needed when putting in imps. but remember ag and sense is what makes up nano initiation, so don't forget about them. stam you may not want to max, but keep it current as it is directly connected with body dev. body dev is going to have to fall behind a bit as well, since it is dark blue and expensive, and to be honest not the most important thing. if it comes down to you taking alot of direct damage, you're usually buggered as an mp, because you'll want your pets to take that damage for you. mps are not tanks, nor were they meant to be. max nano pool as well. bottomline: max int/psy/nano pool. keep stam, ag, sense and body dev at 40-50% (if maxing is 100%) and str at about 25%.

melee:
you'll not be doing much hand to hand combat as an mp, but you will have access to a unique supply of weapons known as creation weapons. these are temporary (lasting a mere two hours), and aimed more towards giving you bonuses to hp, nano cost or nano points, and not towards doing damage to mobs. but you will have to spend some points getting these weapons on, and it is here you will have to make a choice. some creation weapons are one-handed, and use the 1h blunt skill, while the rest are two-handed and use the 2h blunt skill. my personal choice is to go for the ones that require 1h blunt, these include weapons that add to hp, nano cost and total nano points. and you can use two of them (a rod and shield combo, for example) by spending some points in the mult. melee skill. this is your choice, but focus on one, not them both, because all the skills in here are dark blue, and will suck up your ip like a sponge. bottomline: increase either 1h blunt or 2h blunt as required by your weapon of choice, spend only to get a weapon on, and leave it 'till a better one comes along. (remember 1h/2h blunt expertise buffs to save precious ip)

speed:
max nano init since this will allow you to fire off those nukes like a madman. not running away from trouble fast enough? put some points into run speed.

trade&repair:
you can earn a lot of money (and some xp as well) putting people's implants together. (and your own, remember to tip yourself.) and you have two buffs to stay ahead. this will alot of times help you put together your own imps and save you the hassle of finding someone to do it for you. but if you want to ride the crest of what lvl imps you can get on, you might have to find other people to help you afterall. so nano programming is very important. (as that is the skill used in imp making) very important is also comp litr, because this skill will allow you to expand your ncu. ncu is very important to mps, because our nano buffs require lots and lots of ncu space. other tradeskills are up to you, you might want to dabble in them in moments of boredom. atleast get elec engi up to 36 so you can get a floating torch and night vision goggles on. bottomline: max nano programming and comp lit.

nano&aiding:
this is where you will be spending most of your time and ip. you'll find two skills are blue, pm and si. (psycho mod and sense imp) this is unfortunate (blame the rascals at fc) since these two are what is required for our nano buffs. some mps max everything in here. apart from first aid and treatment, that is. me, i let mm (matter met) fall behind, because i don't use any mez/calm pets. but mm is a req for quantum wings, the nano that will allow you to fly without yalms or drugs, and since that is amazingly sweet, don't forget about it. (qw req's 480 mm) you'll want to max matter crea and time&space because of your attack pets, bio met in addition to t&s for heal pets, and pm and si like i said for nano buffs. when designing imps, make sure you get the most out of mc and t&s. first aid is not all that important, you can let it fall behind some since you have a heal pet. spend some in it to have a first aid kit as backup for those times when the healer doesn't seem able to keep up with the damage you are taking. (what are you doing taking damage anyway?) treatment is important, because it will let you get on better imps, but more importantly because you'll be able to use better nano rechargers. bottomline: max all nano skills (or let mm fall behind if you so desire), leave first aid at 25% and treatment at 75-85%.

remaining (slightly) important skills:
break&entry: to open chests. only put points here if you seem to be struggling opening those pesky chests.
map navigation: get it to at least 140 (but it's no rush getting there), this'll allow you to purchase map upgrades such as directional arrow, machines, people and monsters. (140 is to get the tlr map)

---

weapons:
personally, i use a ql1 Old English Trader, which adds +5 to int and only reqs 6 in the pistol skill, in addition to a creation shield that adds to total nano points. this is up to you, some mps use 'normal' weapons, some don't use any at all. we do have pets, i say they're there to do the damage for us, and we have nukes as well. pistols have got some good modifiers though, but putting points into it will just add another skill into which you have to put a lot of ip.

basic fighting tactics, mp-style:
be sure to write up plenty of macros, as these will speed up your reaction time. the basic '/macro Attack /pet PET_NAME attack' will create an attack macro for your attack pet to put in your shortcut bar. type '/macro help' for more help on how to create your macros. be sure to name your pets, and use their names in your macros, so you don't cancel your heal pets' heal command when you are telling your attack pet to go kill something, for instance.

your attack pet will take the damage for you, therefore always be sure to have your heal pet set to heal it. mp pets don't have unlimited hp by far, so they will need that healing. if you get in trouble and start taking damage, just switch the healing over to you (you are, after all, more important than a pet who only sticks around for a few minutes anyway) but remember heal pets don't like switching targets fast, so leave a buffer zone of hp between telling the pet to heal you and the point where you are about to die. macros will again aid you in doing this quickly.

there are some pet specific buffs available to you, and be sure to put these on at all times. but pets will gladly accept any buffs you give them, so don't be afraid to buff them to the limit. (your evades buff on both pets, for example, and a nano cost reducer for your heal pet?) damage increasers for your attack pet is crucial (the 'chant' and 'instill' line of nanos), as are the short-term (20 secs) anima and evocation lines. (anima nanos only found in missions, evocation nanos are new and low qls in stores) these will add 20 seconds of pure ferocity to your pet, sometimes allowing the pet to take a mob down before the nano even runs out. the evocation line may have high reqs, but my opinion is that they are absolutely worth it. your pet will become a double-hittin'-freak, trust me.

and while your pets are clearing the way, you can stand back and nuke from a safe distance. (nukes are direct damage nano programs, sorry for using so many abbreviations and special terms) focus your nukes on the mob your pet is currently fighting. this will bring the mob down sooner, and if you're fighting more than one, allow you to move to the next mob quickly, reducing the amount of damage your pet will take. (duh!)

use your nano buffs (teachings, masteries, infuses, mochams) along with expertise buffs and imps upping mc and t&s, to get the best pet available to you. your pet should always be red to you. don't worry if you heal pet is all the way down to being green/gray before you get a new one, that happens to everyone because of the large gaps between the available healing pets.

besides buffs to nanoskills, nano programs that reduce the cost of executing nanos are nice, especially couple with a creation rod designed to do the same thing. you can also have an int boost running, this will also allow you to summon a better pet, since int is 80% of all the nano skills.

mps have available to them a line of nanos designed to lower the initiatives and damage output of mobs. ('shed anger' being one of them) feel free to use these, but keep in mind the mob will aggro you (attack you) immediately, whether it be currently fighting your pet or not, so use them at your own risk. personally i don't use them just for this reason.

i can't think of anything else to write or say, but i hope this was at least of some use to you. if you have any questions either about anything in this meagre guide, or about something i have not touched on, please post it here.

---

thought i might just list some of my macros here too, just as something you can build your own macros off.

Attack macro: "/macro Attack /pet ATK_PET_NAME attack"

Heal: "/macro Heal /pet HEAL_PET_NAME heal"

Follow: "/macro Follow /pet ATK_PET_NAME follow" (so your heal pet doesn't abort healing your attack pet.)

Wait: "/macro Wait /pet ATK_PET_NAME wait" (opposite of above, makes your pet stay where you want it, without aborting the heal pet.)

Report: "/macro Report /pet report" (keep a close watch on how much time your pet has left, nothing is worse than having your pet time out in the middle of a tough fight. trust me.)

Terminate: "/macro TermPet1 /pet PET_NAME terminate" (saves having to drag them everywhere, and also if you want to refresh them without waiting for them to time out)

Rename: "/macro RenamePet1 /pet rename PET_NAME"

Behind: "/macro Behind /pet ATK_PET_NAME behind" (seems to help in getting pets unstuck, and (unlike Follow) keeps them from auto-attacking a mob which aggro's you. unless that's what you want it to do)

/pet PET_NAME chat "Hello" (will make your named pet say Hello. feel free to say something other than Hello. not including a pet name in that command, will, as with all macros, make both pets say/do it.


and i'm spent.

-monger

[Skebet]

Here is the 1k token board:

http://auno.org/ao/db.php?cmd=view&id=99726&t=ag

There seem to be a fair number of new MPs on this board these days and so for them, I'll explain how to get it.

What is token farming? It is trying to get as many mission tokens as quickly as possible, even though the xp rewards are minimal. As a side benefit, a prolonged token farming campaign can be quite lucrative in terms of creds.

First of all, as pointed out by others here recently, the 1k token board is even more valuable for MPs than it is for many other classes. With our voracious appetite for NCUs, the most important reason to strive for the 1k board is the +210 bonus to comp. lit.

This NCU crunch really does not become apparent until just after the 100 title cap is reached, when we start casting infuses. As we prepare to cast mochams (which take even more NCU) and as teaming becomes more important, we really need as many NCU as possible. In a good team, the various members will want to cast all sorts of yummy buffs on each other and they all take NCU.

Those are important reasons why the sweet spot for token farming, the confluence of need and ability, is really between levels 100 and 120 or so. Remember, as we reach new title levels, we get more tokens for each physical token we get. Just before level 100, we get 4 tokens per token, if you will. After hitting 100, we get 5 tokens per mission.

So naturally, the longer we wait, the easier token farming becomes. The next step up, to 6 tokens per physical token, kicks in at level 125 and then to 7 at level 150. At that point, you may have the 1k board already. SO.. to reiterate, the time when token farming makes the most sense is probably in the 100 to 120 range.

So how to do it?

The key, obviously, is to get the smallest missions possible. A big mission only yields one token, as does a small one. The smaller the missions, the more can be completed in the same amount of time (there are some missions that are *too* small, but we will discuss that in a bit).

The nice thing about token farming as an MP is that MPs solo quite well. Token farming is lonely and repetitive, but yields great rewards.

I found (as have others) that the best place to token farm consistently is in south clon****. The Newland city mission terminals will generate missions to clon**** when you are in the level 100-120 sweet spot. Right click on the mission and unclick on the grid icon with the big map open to make sure that the mission is in *south* clon**** before accepting it.

In terms of the physical nature of the missions, there are only 2 that come up in south clon****. About 2/3 of the missions will be grey caves and about 1/3 will be subways. Grey caves are better because they are smaller. About 25 percent of the time, a grey cave mission will be *too* small to generate a token (if the mission has fewer than about 8 mobs, it will not generate a token at all) but that is a risk worth taking.

Some people have suggested that if you enter the mission and it is a subway, to leave immediately and move on. I disagree. The subway missions are bigger, but they are not *too* big and they generate a token about 95 percent of the time. Given the distances that have to be traveled, I found that it was worth it to suck it up and do the subways.

In terms of the sort of missions, I found that there were only 2 worth doing: bring-the-item back and activate-the-codebreaker. Item retrieval is great because no matter what % completed the mission is at the time you find the reward, you can pick it up and then go on killing the rest of the mobs. Conversely, with a "see the item" type mission you have to remember where the item is and then come back later once you have reached 100% completion. Even worse, with a "see the person" or "kill the person" mission, you may find you have completed the mission by mistake too soon, and you get no token :-(. The only downside of item retrieval missions is that sometimes the item can be hard to see/find.

Activate the codebreaker missions are also good because while you do have to remember where is is and come back upon 100% completion, the terminals are next to impossible to miss. They are a lot easier to find than some small item hidden in a corner somewhere.

The settings I used for missions were: max bad, order, open, midway on the next 2 sliders and max money. The desired effect is to have as few locked doors as possible (and, of course, human mobs). MPs in the 100-120 range should have no trouble at all soloing 50% difficulty missions, which is what you should take. The need for few locked doors will become apparent soon.

Next: how to do the missions themselves. Rule No. 1: /pet hunt is your friend! I had forgotten all about /pet hunt until about 1/2 way through my quest, a nice clanner MP whose name I dont remember reminded me.

The importance of /pet hunt is why you need as few locked doors as possible. I found that the most efficient method was to set the attack pet on hunt and then follow behind it with the heal pet on myself nuking the mobs that the attack pet is fighting and casting anima periodically. If the attack pet cannot find the next mob itself, hit /pet behind and go find the next mob and as soon as you see it, hit /pet hunt again. Rinse and repeat.

When all is going well, you should be able to do about 3 missions an hour, including flying and gridding time. Depending on exactly where the missions are, it can sometimes be a bit faster to grid from newland to Lush Resort and fly across the zone border into south clon****, rather than grid into clon**** and fly south past the refining facility. (Oh, of course Dovve's map is required equipment, as it should be for the entire game).

In all, you will probably find that perhaps 1 mission out of every four or five does not yield a token, because the mission is too small. Don't get discouraged; just move on.

The unappreciated side benefit of token farming is that it can be lucrative. If you are going for pure speed, of course you will ignore all corpses and chests and just follow behind your /hunting attack pet. But with a little sacrifice in speed, you can loot all corpses and chests, take everything, and sell it all for nice creds.

I started token farming in earnest when I had about 450 tokens already and when i was level 115. I needed 550 tokens. At 5 tokens per mission that was 110 completed missions. Because all missions do not yield tokens, I figure I did about 150 missions total. At an average of about 2.5 per hour, that took about 60 hours. For most of the time, i looted everything and got perhaps 75k worth of stuff from each mission, and so earned about 11 million creds while I was farming. Of course, the cost was that in all of that time, I gained only 5 levels, finishing at level 120.

Many people dont get their 1k board until about level 150 or even later. Now, I have much more NCU than other people my level (except fixers, hehe), can NP much better, can run faster etc. The real bonus is that when the next patch comes out next week, I can get back to outdoor hunting (where our pets really shine!) without worrying that I'm giving up mission tokens. Of course, I'm dozens of levels behind some of my friends now, but don't you worry, I'm coming after you now!

cheers

amis

[__________Aerinheart]

Hi!

I'd just like to say I had the extreme pleasure of being the 13000th person to read this most excellent post. Coo!

[cov186]

At Xtremtech's request, I'm adding this link to the tutorial -

http://www.halorn.com/petnamer.html

This is a program I wrote called PetNamer. It is a program (free of course) that will help you name and control your pets. It does this by providing an easy-to-use GUI interface.

It will also create scripts for you to use in-game to control multiple Meta-Physicist pets, and provides an in-game "help" screen for you to set up your macros.

Please note that if the program does not run for you, open up the "petnamer.cfg" file and change the "(None)" at the top of the screen to your anarchy online directory (e.g. "c:\program files\funcom\anarchy online").

[Xtremtech]

Hi All,

Well, I've been at it again and have this time tackled the thorny subject of choosing weapons for the MP.

What I've tried to do is avoid recommending specific weapons and take an open and unbiassed stance as to what sorts of weapons people should choose. Essentially, the guide takes the reader through the basic information and choices they'll need to make and helps them work out where to find the information they'll need to make those choices and how to go about making the decision.

Note: This guide was previously a separate thread and as a result may have some inaccuracies regarding links... my apologies if somebody has had trouble finding it. This means that discussion of the guide that took place isn't available here. If you'd like to view the original Weapons Guide thread you should go here.

Regards

X

[Xtremtech]

Secondary Weapons Choices and the MP
====================================
====================================

One of the most commonly asked questions on the MP boards is "Which weapon should an MP choose?". Unfortunately, this is a very complicated subject with no single simple answer. This guide isn't going to answer that question for you either. What this guide will do is ask some of the important questions for you and give you some idea of how to answer them for yourself!

• Note about the author: XtremTech is at time of writing a member of the Professionals Team. This guide was not written at the request of FunCom and is written purely as a personal effort to try help out fellow MPs.

The Main Areas are:

• 1) When should I start using Secondary Weapons?
  2) How weapons work
  3) The three basic weapons groups
  4) MP related skill restrictions
  5) MP related implant restrictions
  6) Damage over Time Vs Crit Vs Alpha damage Choice
  7) Playstyle Factors
  8) Choosing a weapon

There are 5 main categories of weapons for the MP:

1) MP attack pets which we cast from nanos

2) MP attack nanos (nukes: cold and mind lines)

3) MP Creation Weapons (sticks, staves and shields)

4) MP specific Weapons (Energy Shields)

5) Non-MP specific secondary weapon choice (like guns, bows etc)

Please read the section in The MP for Beginners Guide to get basic information on these.

Pets and Nukes are primary to the MP template and you'll use them throughout your MP career. The only MP specific weapon that is not cast as a nano is the beginners shield that you get and this is really only useful in the back yard (though a very few MPs play on with them for quite a time after that). This guide is concerned with the secondary Weapons types:

1) Creation Weapons

2) Non-MP specific secondary weapons choice

Essentially, Secondary Weapons can be viewed as those weapons that are equipped in the weapons slots. During this guide we focus on the choices of Secondary weapon.

Caveat on Future Change:
===================

At time of writing, the AO skills system is undergoing some considerable changes. Level restrictions have appeared on some nanos connected with future changes that will be being brought in with the Shadowlands expansion pack. Although details are few and far between we do know that Breed and Profession specialisation will be part of the package and that changes to the skills system will be introduced that considerably affect some of the advice and information above. As and when such changes are brought in, the guide will be updated.

One key change that has been confirmed is that Shadowlands will enable those professions that are intended as "Heavy Hitting" professions to be able to establish more of a lead on weapons damage over those professions intended as "Support Professions". This will be through the Weapons Professions being able to establish much higher attack ratings than other professions. As a result, if your weapons planning is based around weapons damage being a primary source of damage for your MP, you may well need to rethink that point of view.

Such changes could affect both MP weapons skills and also may well bring benefits to MP pet abilities, nukes, mez pet fixes etc that may change the way in which we think about Weapons and the MP. The added skills budget to allow higher attack ratings for weapons professions may also be used to allow MPs more pets, different pets new abilities... who knows.

Add to this that the planned massaging of skills caps and skills budgets could well lead to more of the available IP being pushed towards the MP core skill set (NanoSkills in particular) and it may well be that the amount of free IP available for weapons skills will overall reduce. Comitting to an 'Alpha Strike' type weapon at this time that would require you to invest in many skills may simply mean that you could find yourself needing to reset them all somewhere down the line.

Given that all these changes are coming within a few months, cautious players may want to hedge their bets in allocation of IP at this time. Less cautious players may trust in their IP Reset points and go for it anyway.

[Xtremtech]

When Should I start using Secondary Weapons?
============================================

We've defined here 4 phases of development through which most MPs go. Alongside each of the phase definitions we've included some comment on the way that MPs play during these phases on the whole and the effect that this can have on your decision to begin using secondary weapons. This basic breakdown of development into phases is largely true for all breeds. However, if you have chosen a weapons focussed breed such as Atrox for your MP then you may find that the commentary is less apliccable to you.

The comments given are broad generalisations that are included to give you a general idea of when most MPs choose to begin using secondary weapons and why. Later on, we'll cover in detail how you can go about choosing


1) Low Level: This phase ranges from level 1 to ~85. In this phase the MP is usually focussed on Attack Pets and Nukes as their damage dealers. The heal pet will largely be stuck to the attack pet when soloing and to the tank when in teams. In this range of levels the MP has usually spent the most IP on their nanoskills and their stats with some points having gone to defensive skills like body dev, evades and first aid.

• In this range most MPs should not be using weapons for damage. The pets are the key playing elements during this period. Many players find that using the Creation Weapons is useful during this period: the increases to NanoPool and nano-cost reduction are often useful for nuking and the HP, AC and DMS benefits of some of the shields are valuable as they don't take up NCU which most MPs will be filling with nanoskills buffs in order to reach their best pets and pet buffs. The damage that the Creation Weapons do is a secondary factor at best compared to other weapons and MPs will generally choose to stay at range if possible during the low level phase, because their defensive skills are likely to be weak. Creation Weapons/shields are melee weapons and will only work at close quarters. As a result, they are rarely used in anger, being wielded more for their Nano/defensive benefits rather than to actually do damage. A few MPs use weapons from the very beginning and to good effect... in general though MPs move to weapons much later.

2) Medium Level: This phase ranges level 85 to ~125. In this phase the MP begins to acquire the highest level pets and also begins to get direct damage nukes that pack a real punch. The MP is usually getting more aggro at this point and will often increase their defensive skills such as evades markedly during this period. The heal pet often finds itself healing the MP during this phase too.

• During this range quite a few MPs begin to make weapons choices. It includes the ~85 to 100 title cap which is seen by some as being an opportunity for using some IP on a weapons skill. Most MPs choose to focus their free IP during this period on defensive skills like evades and body dev and on pushing their base Abilities up. Towards the end of this phase, where the MP gets very strong heal pets and attack pets, much more powerful nukes and very good pet buffs, the MP is one of the most powerful professions in the game. In addition, the addition of infuses (and sometimes mochams) makes the MP a very powerful contributor to team play. The overall level of the team can be raised considerably by the MP.

3) Advanced Level: This phase ranges from level 125 to ~165. Near the beginning of this phase, the MP gets the very highest level pets and pet buffs. The biggest and most powerful nuke "Mind Quake" has usually been reached easily by this time too and in fact most of the nanos that an MP can cast can be achieved self-buffed. A large part of the beginning of this range is filled with a title cap (level 122 to 150 for most MPs) which means that most of the important skills get maxed during this phase with IP left over for secondary skills. After the 150 title cap, players get 80K IP every time they level too, so there is quite a lot of IP available at this time.

• This is the most common time for MPs to choose their non-MP specific secondary weapons skills. Having reached all of the MP-specific damage dealing elements of the MP template (with the exception of the very highest level Creation Weapons) MPs begin to see their lead over other professions get whittled down. In addition, towards the end of this period player speed increases considerably in most teams due to players having put more points into run-speed and more players having 1K token boards. Add to this that for games-mechanics reasons, most teams don't increase the difficulty of missions they choose and the mobs begin to drop extremely quickly as all of the team members keep raising damage without raising difficulty.
  
  The key effect of this overall faster mission speed is that the effectiveness of the attack pet begins to drop. Even without pet pathing issues, pets take a little time to get round missions and always lag behind their now faster owners. Add to this some delay between giving a command and the pet actually obeying and then the time for the attack pet to get close enough to the mob to hit the mob and you'll find that the attack pet is getting there later and later the higher the level of the team is. As a result, MPs generally notice that their effectiveness with just pets is actually going down, while the other professions effectiveness and ability to do damage is increasing. While the top of the range MP nuke is a very good damage dealer even this is seen by many as not being enough.
  
  Also, as most MPs can cast the best pets, nukes, debuffs and pet buffs near the beginning of this phase, there is little new that an MP can expect from MP specific items and nanos. As a result, adding a secondary weapons skill is an opportunity to add interest to your gameplay. New weapons, new specials and attacks, new tactics, new goals... adding weapons to the mix can considerably improve the gameplay for an MP.
  
  Towards the top end of this range, PvP also becomes more important for many players. In PvP, the usage of some sort of ranged weapon is nearly a necessity for MPs at these levels.
  
  All of this prompts most MPs to begin adding damage focussed weapons skills to their range of tools during this phase.

4) High Level: This is the range from level 165 to 200. At these levels the MP has had the top MP attack pets, pet buffs and nukes for quite a long time. By the beginning of this phase most of the Abilities for an MP will have reached their Breed Cap and will not be raised any further.

• During this phase where most professions are reaching most of their nanos without the need for external buffs, MPs often find that their buffs make less of a difference in teams. As a result, another of their key contributions to the team is reduced. Many MPs feel that by this time they need to have strong weapons skills in order to contribute fully to a mission team. The nature of most high level team play is that damage is a key consideration, so adding good damage with a weapon is seen as the best way to improve the contribution to the team.
  
  During this phase many (though certainly not all) players find that they have PvP as their main source of interesting and fun play. At these very high levels having some sort of good damage dealing weapon is essential if you are to succeed.

[Xtremtech]

How weapons work:
=================

Basically weapons work like this:

Required Skills:Each weapon has a set of required skills that you need to reach in order to be able to equip the weapon. According to the Overequipping rulles, for your weapon to work at full effectiveness your skill while using the weapon needs to be within 20% of the required skill. If your weapon is overequipped it wit appear red hatched in its slot on the weapons panel. Keep in mind that buffs (gen and from other players) can be used reach the skills to equip a weapon. You'll need to be sure that your skills levels without buffs are at least sufficient to mean that your weapon is not overequipped without that buff.

Damage: Each weapon has a damage range, specified in the weapon description as: min dmg - max dmg (crit modifier). This gives you an idea of the range of normal (unmodified) damage you can do using the weapon. The crit modifier gives you an idea of how big your crits could be. The higher the crit modifier number the larger your crits will be. In general, the higher the QL of similar weapons, the better the damage will be.

Attack Rating: Each weapon also quotes Attack Skills and gives percentages. This defines what your Attack Rating will be when wielding the weapon. If the attack skills are: Time and Space 80% and 1 Hand Blunt 20%, then your attack rating would be (80% of your present TS skill) + (20% of your present 1HB skill). The Attack Rating is an important figure. If you have high attack rating with your weapon you will do more damage, have more chance to hit and you will crit more often.

Rustot has provided us with a formula that will help you to work out the effect of your Attack Rating on the damage of weapons. Plain damage (that is not taking into account the AC of the target) is calculated with:

dmg * (1 + AttackRating/400)

So for example: if weapon quotes its damage as 100-200(400) and the attack ratiing is 800, then:

(1 + 800/400) = 3

So the damage figures need to be multiplied by 3 to give the damage with an 800 attack rating, which would be 300-600(1200).

This means that damage on leets in backyard will be 300-600. The Crit Modifier is 1200 and is added to the max plain damage, so your crits would be 1200 + 600 = 1800.

Specials: Some weapons which have more than one skill requirement will enable you to use 'Specials'. These are special attacks such as Burst, Fling Shot or Full Auto which can be executed at the same time as normal shooting. Specials are usually time limited, so that you can use them only once every so many seconds. Specials generally do considerably more damage than a normal hit and considerably less damage than a crit. Specials can 'crit' too though, delivering occasional very high damage. These high damage hits from specials are not displayed as crits in your text window, but they are essentially just that.

Weapon Speed: Each weapon has an attack and recharge time, given in seconds. The weapon has a cycle which it goes through: begin attack - wait attack time - hit for damage - wait recharge time - begin attack. So if the attack time plus the recharge time is 4 seconds, then you can hit a mob every 4 seconds with that weapon. The position of your agg/def slider will affect the attack and recharge times of your weapon. If you are at full agg you will hit faster and if you are at full def you will hit a lot slower.

Weapon Init: Each Weapon is also dependent upon an Init skill in the speed section. Unlike NanoC-Init which increases your speed of casting nanos, weapons inits will speed up both your attack time with a weapon and your recharge time with a weapon. The Init that affects your weapon is not quoted in the weapon description so you need to find out which will work. Generally, ranged weapons work on Ranged Init, Melee weapons work on Melee init and Martial Arts attacks work on Phys Init. There are exceptions to these rules though, so it is worth checking to make sure (the init dependency is listed in the descriptions on the AntiGuardians Database) . As an example, pure Bow weapons should work on Phys Init and not ranged init as they are 'meant' for the MAs to use. They have only recently been fixed to now work with Phys Init. Other bow types (like half bows and crossbows) work on Ranged init.

Raising your Init skill for weapons by 600 points will reduce the attack time by 1 second and reduce the Recharge time by 2 seconds.

Dual Wield: Some weapons will quote a "Dual Wield" skill requirement. This is a requirement that must be met for you to equip a second weapon. You can only dual wield weapons of the same type. In order to equip a second melee weapon you must meet the "Multi Melee" requirement on the second weapon. In order to equip a second ranged weapon you must meet the "Multi Ranged" requirement on the second weapon. You cannot legally equip one melee and one ranged weapon. Some weapons do not allow dual wield at all. These will show noe dual wield requirement.

Ammunition: Weapons that use ammunition will say which ammunition type they take and how much ammunition you have in each clip. When using a weapon, the clip will run out and you will have a pause in firing as you reload. This affects your overall damage over time.

Equip Time: Each weapon also quotes an equip time which is how long it take to put the weapon on or take it off. This can be important in weapons choice. Some play tactics involve using one weapon at the beginning of a battle then unequipping it and equipping a different weapon. The speed of equipping/unequipping can make a major difference for this tactic.

Range: Each weapon also gives a Range limit. Beyond this range the weapon will not hit. For most melee weapons this is around 2 or 3 metres. Ranged weapons vary more widely in range. In particular in PvP range can be a very important factor. The ability of a weapon to pick off and damage melee users long before they are in range to hit you can mean that the target will be dead before he even finds you never mind hits you.

The three basic Weapons Groups:
===============================

There are three basic groups of weapons types you can use:

1) Ranged Weapons: (Guns, Bows, Grenade Launchers etc)

These are generally preferred by MPs for three reasons:

a) By standing back from a battle and firing you are less likely to get aggro as a result of the damage that your weapon does

b) In PvP both the pets and yourself are vulnerable to being rooted. While rooted you can still fire your weapon at yout opponent

c) In team PvP being able to keep away from a melee fighter and nuke/shoot reduces risk to yourself

d) In general, the highest weapons damage can be reached by using large guns (e.g. shotguns, MG/SMG, Rifles etc)

Some Ranged MPs prefer bows because they feel that these better fit the 'spiritual idea' of being an MP. Others Dual wield pistols which have good skills modifiers etc. Most ranged weapons MPs choose the large gun weapons as these can deliver the best weapons damage overall for an MP. Damage is often a key consideration for higher level MPs.

Ranged weapons do not use up nano, so if your nanopool is low, then having a ranged weapon makes a great deal of sense.

Ranged weapons tend to have the most "Specials", which can make them very powerful in giving one big burst of damage at the beginning of a battle. This is often called the "Alpha Strike". If you have a weapon with 2 specials then you can get off a normal shot and two special shots all at once. Having used your specials though you'll need to wait for them to become available again before getting another alpha strike.

2) Melee Weapons: (which include the MP Creation weapons and shields, sword weapons and beams among others)

MPs with a very strong emphasis on nuking and debuffing as a key part of their playstyle will often enjoy the Nano benefits from the creation weapons. Since the creation weapons/shields require investment in either 1 Hand Blunt or 2 Hand Blunt skills, some MPs may choose to follow this route so that they can use the higher level creations and/or use other 1HB/2HB weapons (this is a particularly popular choice for Atrox MPs).

When engaged in melee combat, you are more likely to get aggro. As a result, MPs that follow this route need to ensure that they have very good evades, hit points and armour. MPs that nuke/debuff a great deal (particularly with MindQuake) will often find that they get aggro quite easily anyway and find themselves often up close and personal with mobs. As a result, some make a choice to build their skills to deal as well as possible with aggro and as a result are not overly worried about it.

Also, some players who have played MPs at a distance in the low and medium levels find that they simply want a change and want to get into the fight amongst the mobs. The nuke and attack pet are essentially ranged weapons and some MPs might feel that adding another ranged weapon would be less fun and less 'different. These might choose to get up close and personal too with melee or MA skills.

PvP MPs will generally find themselves at a considerable disadvantage using Melee weapons.

Melee weapons also do not use nano, so if your nano pool is low melee weapons can be very useful. Add to this of course that the MP creation weapons (which are also melee weapons) can enhance your nanopool usage.

3) Martial Arts: (Fists, Brawl, Dimach, MA Specials, MA Weapons etc)

Martial Arts covers a very broad range of skills. The basic skill-set that most people choose if they are using Martial Arts as a secondary weapons skill is Martial Arts and Brawl. The Martial Arts skill transforms your bare fists into weapons. The damage possible and the crits your fists will do depend upon the level of your skill directly. Other attacks like Brawl, Dimach and Riposte act a little like specials on a gun.

In addition, MA users can find and use "Special Attacks" which come in a variety of flavours and have their own skills requirements. MA users also have a broad range of specialist MA Weapons (which have MA as their main requirement) which they can wield at the same time as punching. These weapons are available in 3 types: Piercing, 1 Hand Edged and 1 Hand Blunt. In addition, some of the skills raised for MA Special attacks/Weapons such as Parry and Riposte enable an MA user to use deflection shields and reflection shields.

Nearly all Martial Arts attacks and specials have a short range and so require you to be close to your target. As such, they suffer from the same drawbacks as quoted for Melee Weapons, in particular that the MA user needs to be able to handle aggro well.

Some MA attacks (the MA Special Attacks) will use nano or require you to have a certain level of nano to use them. As a result, if your nano-pool is very low MA special attacks may not be available to you.

[Xtremtech]

MP related skills restrictions:
===============================

MPs have only dark blue weapons skills. This means that for MPs, raising the skills to the levels needed to equip high QL weapons can be a struggle. Alongside this, since the attack rating will define how much damage you actually do with a weapon and the chances of hitting/critting it is important to maximise your skills as much as possible in order to get the best overall effect from a weapon.

For MPs all of the weapons init skills are dark blue too. So if a weapon has long attack/recharge times then in order to get good damage over time you will need to raise the related Init skill for that weapon high enough to get it hitting fast. The fastes any weapon can hit is 1.0/1.0 - that is 1 second attack time and 1 second recharge time. With a single weapon this gives about 26 hits per minute. Using more than one weapon can give you more hits per minute - however, there is a maximum of 40 hits per minute.

Add to this that there is a trickle down effect from the abilities which affects the level of skill. This means that breed will have some effect on the level of skill that you can achieve.

In order to get the best possible damage over time from your weapon then you need to:

1) Maximise your attack rating by maximising the skills that contribute to Attack Rating (quoted in the weapon description)

2) Get the weapon related Init skill high enough to give you the most hits over time.

All of these skills are dark blue for the MP but not all of the skills cost the same amount of IP to raise. On the Anarchy Lore Skills Table you'll find out exactly how much each of the different skills cost relative to one another. The cheapest green skills are all listed as having a cost of 1. Each of the dark blue weapons related skills for an MP costs from 2.4 to 4.0 times the amount of IP to raise as it would cost to raise a cheap green skill that amount.

There are 3 broad groups of weapons related skills for the MP:

Cheap - costing 2.4 to 2.8 times what a green skill costs.

• 1 Hand Blunt
  2 Hand Edged
  Bow
  Bow Special
  Brawl
  Dimach
  Martial Arts
  Multi-Ranged
  Pistol

Medium Cost - costing 2.81 to 3.2 times what a green skill costs.

• Melee Init
  MG/SMG
  Phys Init
  Piercing
  Sharp Objects
  Riposte

Expensive - costing 4 times what a green skill costs.

• 1 Hand Edged
  2 Hand Blunt
  Aimed Shot
  Assult Rifle
  Burst
  Fast Attack
  Flingshot
  Full Auto
  Grenade
  Heavy Weapon
  Melee Energy
  Multi Melee
  Parry
  Ranged Init
  Ranged Energy
  Rifle
  Shotgun
  Sneak Attack

Acoording to the Rustot Skills Emulator assuming no implants and maxed abilities for a level 200 MP:

• Cheap Weapons Skills allow a Skill Max of ~595 at a cost of between 290K and 320K IP points. The one exception in the emulator is Pistol, which reached a max af ~655 for a cost of 350K IP points (see below for the reasons).
  
  Medium Cost Weapons Skills allow a similar Skill Max of ~595 but at a much higher cost of 350k to 370k IP.
  
  Expensive Weapons Skills allow a much lower skill Max of ~535 at a very high cost for the low skill achieved of 350kIP.

Note: The following groupings define the maxima and number of points per level that a skill can be raised (based on skills cost with no trickle down from base abilities):

1.0-1.4 (max 600, 5 pts)
1.5-2.4 (max 540, 4 pts)
2.5-3.4 (max 480, 4 pts)
3.5-4.4 (max 420, 3 pts)
> 4.5 (max 360, 3 pts)

The reason that Pistol gives such a high potential max value is that it is the only MP weapons skill that falls into the 1.5 to 2.4 grouping.

[many thanks to rustot himself for providing this information]

When considering your weapons choice then it is important to realise that

1) The cheap and medium cost weapons skills allow you to reach a higher maximum skill

2) The expensive cost weapons skills will cost you a great deal of IP points.


So specifically, a Nanomage MP can max Shotgun to 535 at a cost of 352K IP. The same nanomage MP could instead raise MA to the same level as the shotgun - 535 and still raise Brawling to 395 for the same IP cost (352K IP). Or he could max 1 Hand Blunt at 594 and raise Melee Init to 310 for the same cost (352K IP).


MP Related Implant Restrictions
===============================

One of the major ways to attain the skills required for weapons usage is through implanting. Since the major implants that an MP requires are the nanoskills implants any conflicts may affect your ability to maximise your weapons skills to the fullest without sacrificing Nanoskill clusters that may be more directly useful. Below is a list of implant slots where weapons skills conflict with a nano-skill cluster (based on nanonanny).

Shining Head:

* Melee Energy
* Bow Special

Bright Head:

* Ranged Init
* Dimach

Shining Chest:

* Dimach

Faded Chest:

* 2 Hand Blunt
* MG/SMG

Bright Eye:

* Ranged Energy
* Multi Melee
* Grenade
* Heavy Weapons

Faded Eye:

* Assault Rifle
* Bow
* Multi Ranged
* Pistol
* Sneak Attack

Faded Waist:

* 2 Hand Edged
* Brawl
* Dimach
* Full Auto
* Melee Init
* Piercing
* Shotgun

Bright Right Hand:

* Assault Rifle
* Bow Special Attack
* Fast Attack
* Fling Shot
* MG/SMG
* Pistol
* Shotgun
* Sharp Objects

Faded Left Arm:

* Phys Init

A tool that will enable you to investigate in more depth the possibilities of implants and possible conflicts is Nano Nanny.

[Xtremtech]

Damage over Time Vs Crit Vs Alpha damage Choice
===============================================

Some weapons have low normal damage but lots of special attacks. With these weapons you can deliver a huge amount of damage at once as long as all of the specials have cycled and are free to use (Alpha Strike) Once an alpha strike is delivered you have to wait for the specials to recycle and come free again. In that period your weapon will only be doing its normal low damage.

Some weapons have low normal damage and no specials at all, but when they crit they will crit for huge amounts (Crit Damage). With these weapons, it's important to maximise your chances of critting with very good Attack ratings, item modifiers that add to your crit chances (for example by equipping low light scopes) and by getting crit buffs from agents, crats and MAs. Without raised crit chances, these weapons will do low damage most of the time with only occasional flashes of high crit damage.

Some weapons have consistently good normal damage and few specials and average crits, but they do consistently and reliably good damage (Damage over time). In a sense the longer it takes to kill mob the more advantage Damage over Time weaponry has over Alpha strike weaponry.

The MP standard weapons of Pets and Nukes are essentially damage over time weapons. They do consistently good and predictable damage. Debuffs too are essentially 'over time' focussed. The longer a debuff is in effect the more effective it is. In fact, the MP as a profession is largely a damage over time profession and as long as we can keep our pets with us and keep our NanoC INit high the Advanced and High Level MP can deliver excellent damage over time.

In the past MPs tended to choose weapons that gave extremely high crits. Since the introduction of the Overequipping rules and the reduction in available crit buffs, there has been a move away from this focus. Essentially, high crit/low normal damage weapons only make sense if the chances of critting are very high. Without very good crit chances, you're just using a low damage weapon (often with few specials) that occasionally (and unpredictably) gives you a burst of high damage. When choosing a weapon such as this, you need to take into account the IP cost for the skills to raise the crit chances to a high enough level. An additional hidden cost lies in NCU space. The crit buffs that you can get from other players take up a huge amount of NCU for the benefit they give.

Alpha Strike weapons are looking more attractive at the moment for MPs. These offer several sepcials in addition to their normal damage. This adds considerably to the standard damage over time they can do. In addition, since the specials have a chance of 'critting' alongside the normal shots' chance of critting, you area little more likely to get crits out of the weapon due to haveing more 'hits' that can crit. The big downside of Alpha Strike weapons is the IP cost. An Alpha Strike weapon will usually have one 'weapons type' skill requirement and several 'specials type' skill requirements. Most alpha strike type weapons also have two skills that contribute to the Attack Rating, both of which need to be maximised to get the most oout of the weapon. All of the 'specials type' skill requirements (with the exception of Bow Special) are in the Expensive Skills group at 4.0 times the cost of green skills. In addition, most of the weapons that commonly have several specials fall into the medium/expensive cost skills groupings (with the main exception of Bow and 1HB).

Damage over time weapons will also crit of course, but as a trade off for their good normal damage, the crits tend to be considerably smaller than for specialised crit weapons. There are also a few weapons that fall into more than one category. These are weapons that have good normal damage but also have a few specials available. Or weapons with excelent Crits that have specials available too.

[Xtremtech]

Playstyle Factors
=================

MPs like every other profession have all sorts of goals and reasons for playing. Some find roleplyaing important, others like variety and difference, some feel that an MP should be spiritual, others again are out for plain damage and raising mayhem etc All of these basic choices about how you like to play the game can have an effect on your choice of weapons. Here are some examples:

1) The 'Metaphysical MP': Some players feel that they would prefer to use no weapons at all - that weapons do not 'fit with the idea' of being an MP. For these players, the only weapons of choice might be the Creation Weapons which are derived from our bodies through force of mind and control of the nanobots. This is a perfectly valid standpoint and can be played quite well throughout the life of the MP in PvM. As mentioned above, the MP is an excellent damage over time professional. The majority of your power will be in your Nukes and pets.

• * In the advanced and high level phases, you can maximise your damage by overbuffing PsychMod and MatCre, getting NanoC Init up extremely high (recompiler and implants). Chain instacasting overbuffed MindQuake will give you an average 1100 hit every 2 seconds.
  * Add to this the full damage from a fully buffed top of the line Enmity pet at approx 1400 every 3 seconds and you can quite easily hold your own.
  * The 1 Hand Blunt weapons do very little damage indeed, with the top of the line stick hitting for about 250 normal hits and 300 crits. It is reasonably possible to get the 1HB stick down to 1.0/1.0 speed though and you have an advantage in being able to use the Shields alongside them. The nano-benefits will help you nuke for longer, but at the highest level you will probably find that you rarely run out of nano in any one battle so this use is lessened.
  * While the 2 Hand Blunt top of the line staff will hit for an average of 1000 for a top level player, it is very slow indeed (3 second attack/12 second recharge). You would need 3300 melee init to get this weapon down toa 1.0/1.0 speed.....

Unfortunately, such MPs will never make very good PvPers. They will always be at a disadvantage to an extent in duelling, because the Creation Weapons do not do very good damage over time. Additionally, for PvP MPs the range of pet and nuke can be a great advantage and having to get close to hit with your creation weapons means sacrificing that advantage. In addition, you need to keep in mind that a lot of your damage is in your pet and in fast teams or laggy conditions keeping your pet with you and engaged can be a hard business.

The 'Metaphysical MP' is hard work to play excellently, but some feel that it is worth the effort.

2) The 'Spiritual MP': Some players feel that only certain types of weapon fit the monk/priest idea of the MP. They'll generally choose low-tech simple weapons like Bow or Staff and some will choose MA following the idea of far eastern monks who developed martial arts. For these MPs, Bow is probably the best choice adding the advantages of range while still fitting with their idea of what an MP should be. Since Bow (bow special), 1HB and the key MA skills of MA and Brawl are all in the Cheap IP group, there are advantages to choosing these weapons.

3) The 'PvP MP': The PvP MP will generally choose a ranged alpha strike weapon with preference. The ability to get off a huge volley of normal shot, several specials and debuffing nuke just as the pet starts hitting can give an MP a very good start in any fight. PvP MPs will also choose high critting weapons where possible giving them the chance of doing massive damage quite quickly to augment the MP's natural good damage over time.

4) The 'Toolset MP': There are some MPs who enjoy playing the MP because of the range of different tools available to them. Debuffs, Nukes, Stun, Attack Pets, Heal pets, Mez pets etc. These MPs enjoy using the full toolset of the MP pallette. These may use creation weapons as a result or they may see the Cheap IP weapons group as 'intended' for the MP and thus stick to those weapons. An advanced or high level MP that debuffs, stuns and nukes a lot with Mind Quake will find themselves getting a lot of aggro. They need to be well built to deal with that fact.

5) The 'Damage King MP': There are many players for whom the main goal in the game is to do the most possible damage. These players want to be the biggest damage dealer in any team if possible. For these players, the damage of weapons is the key factor when choosing weapons and they will very often go for high critting weapons.

6) The 'Percentage MP': These are players who balance damage against risk carefully. Generally, these players will choose high damage ranged weapons and reduce the use of MP weapons that increase their chances of getting aggro (MindQuake/debuffs/stun), thus reducing risk to themselves. At very high levels when the amount of XP you need to ding gets very large, many players find that reducing the chances of losing any XP is most important. These players will often play the 'Percentage MP' style to an extent.

7) The 'Aggro MP': Believe it or not there are some MPs out there who enjoy getting aggro and living on the edge. It's a sort of "I've got a heal pet and I mean to use it!" approach to the MP. These MPs will not hesitate to use MP tools and weapons choices that are likely to get them aggro. They are the thrill seekers of the MP world who laugh in the face of danger. These MPs build their skills carefully though to maximise their chances. Excellent evades, excellent First Aid skill, top of the line armour, good HP and AC buffs all add to their ability to get their kick while still dying rarely enough.

8) The 'Variety MP': As mentioned earlier, one of the reasons that many advanced and high level MPs pick up weapons is to add variety and something new to their gameplay. They already have the best pets and pet buffs alongside the best nukes, debuffsand the stun (Curse of Chronos). For these players, the most important thing in their weapons choice is adding flexibility and variety to their gameplay. There are a few options for such players:

• * At these high levels, if the MP has been played well, the MP will have plenty of IP Reset points and can choose to go with various different weapon types over time. They can build their weapons skills and implants to fit one weapon and then later use their IPR to change to something else
  
  * They can choose to keep to Cheap and Medium IP cost skills weaponry and maybe have several different weapons types available to them at the same time. This enables them to choose their weapons skills to fit the situation. An example might be to choose MA, Brawl, 1HB and some Melee init. This would enable them to use MA skills, MA 1HB weapons alongside the fists and brawling, the creation weapons for when they want to focus on nanos etc. By using different implants and carefully building specials skills it can be possible to choose Bow and MG/SMG weapons that use the same specials. By spreading IP over several skills they will lose out on damage because of lower attack ratings, but will mostly still do enough damage to contribute well alongside their pets and nukes while having the added benefit of more variety. At the very highest of levels though, it is possible to raise several weapons skills to reasonable levels.
  
  * MA in general is a good skill for these players. The core MA skills of MA for fists and Brawl as a main special can be added to to use some of the 7 special attacks and many MA weapons. Changing the secondary weapons while always keeping the basic fist damage adds variety for them. Also, some of the skills required for the special attacks (parry, riposte, dimach) can be useful for their own damage or using shields.

Essentially, the 'Variety MP' chooses for gameplay diversity over outright damage or safety.

9) The 'Chic MP': These are often players who want to look cool. I've met them so they do exist. Basically, these guys will choose weapons more for their looks than their gameplay. They might think that Bows just look very cool and that they really want one.... or that MA kicks look great in battle so go that way... or that the creation weapons are really stylich and go for them. Usually these players will be happy with the damage they're getting from pets and nukes and as a result are less worried by the secondary damage they get from their weapon. Still, many of the cool looking weapons can be found in versions that do great damage too, so it's not entirely vanity.

10) The 'Solo MP': Many players enjoy the flexibility of being able to solo for XP as an MP. We are certainly one of the few classes that can solo reasonably well for XP at all levels. Soloing can be good for people who only play occasionally for a short period of time and don't want to waste lots of time trying to find/build a team. Some players enjoy going out into the wilderness alone and exploring and soloing the beasts out there etc. For solo MPs the choice of weapons can be very different from those MPs who focus on teams. Solo MPs aren't going to have good acccess to external buffs from team mates, so they may choose to avoid weapons that rely on Crit Buffs. They may choose to augment their HP with creation shields because doc buffs are less available for them and go with 1 Hand Blunt weapons to use alongside the shield. A lot depends upon the soloists style.



There are many more playstyles and goals that players may feel are right for them. Some players may be a mix of several playstyles. The key thing is that when choosing your weapons you need to understand what your goal is and what you want your playstyle to look like. Remember that your playstyle choices may change over time. Even the simple addition of a weapon can change the way you play the game. Some players like to equip a low QL version of weapons they are thinking about and play with them for a while to get a feel for them. Others have very set roleplaying views which will guide them. Keep in mind the development phases mentioned at the beginning of the game which give you an idea of how your play requirements may change in the future.

[Xtremtech]

Choosing a weapon:
==================

From all of the above, you can see that When looking at your weapons choice, you need to take into account a lot of factors:

1) Type of damage done (Damage over Time/Crit/Alpha)

2) IP Investment Required to wield the weapon

3) IP Investment required to make the weapon effective (Attack skills/Inits/Crit modifying items)

4) Your preferred gameplay style

4) Your preferred weapons style (Ranged/Melee/MA)

5) Implant impact when implanting for the weapons

7) Potential for change and diversity to ****e up the MP game and give you new goals.

8) Which Phase of development you are in when you choose to pick up your first weapon.


There are three important tools that you will probably want to use:

1) The Rustot Skills Emulator: This tool allows you to model your skills based on your profession, breed, level, implants etc. To modify values click and hold on the value and slide your mouse to right and left or double click on a value which toggles it between max and min. With this tool you can work out exactly what your IP investment would be for raising skills (by watching the Derived Ip readout toop and centre). You can work out what your attack rating could be with certain weapons and see how different changes would affect you in the future. It is a very powerful tool indeed

2) The AntiGuardians damage calculator: This tool allows you to input all of the relevant facts that you have derived from the skills emulator and then find out what the average damage will be that the weapon can deliver. As far as I know, this calculator doesn't include specials damage though so you will need to add that to your considerations. The calculator does include Crit damage though.

3) The AntiGuardians Weapons Evaluator: this tool allows you to input certain factors and will give you a list of the best weapons available for you based on those factors.

As general advice follow these steps:

1) Decide when you want to pick up weapons as secondary damage: Look at the development phases of the MP and decide where you are now and where you want to be in the near future. Most MPs will use creations in the Low and Medium phases, raising their 1 Hand Blunt or 2Hand Blunt just high enough to squeeze into their creations and often using implants to do this in order not to waste too much IP on skills they may not use later. In the Advanced phase most MPs begin using a weapon - often a low IP investment high damage weapon. In the High Level Phase many MPs have more IP available and are looking for variety more so they make different weapons choices. You may plan to use different weapons in the different future phases and make your skills/implants/IP Reset choices based on that plan

2) Decide whether PvP is going to be an important part of your game: If it is then you can pretty much immediately restrict your selections to Ranged Weaponry. You can of course take the hard road still based on playstyle requirements that you may have, but in general if you want to PvP you will want a Ranged weapon.

3) Decide what Playstyle you want to have with your weapon: Playstyle is a very important factor. If the weapon you choose doesn't fit your playstyle goals you may find it less fun and the game is (after all) about having fun.

4) Get an idea of your preferred weapons style: Try a few low QL weapons out that you can equip with buffs from friends and try different types of weapon out. Get a feel for how they work in play against low level mobs so that you can understand how they work.

5) Make a shortlist of weapons: Once you've made the above decisions, post to the boards, talk to friends etc to ask about options. Use the AntiGuardians Weapons Evaluator for ideas. Make sure you post what your choices have been and what sort of weapon you're after. That way people can suggest weapons to you that fit your criteria and your chosen playstyle.

Search the MP board archives too to find older postings about weapons choices. They will often be very informative.

If you're thinking of guns, you might want to have a look in on the Soldier and Agent boards, if you're looking at melee weapons the Enforcer board is worth checking out, if you're thinking about MA skills then drop by the MA boards and ask their opinion.

6) Calculate the effects and costs of the shortlist: Take the shortlist and find the weapons on the AntiGuardians Item Database. Put all of the requirements into the skills emulator and work out how much IP you'll need to invest to wield the weapon(s). Assess the damage type of the weapon and work out how much IP you'll need to invest to make it as effective as possible. Do this for your present development phase and the future ones so you'll have an idea of how far you'll be able to take the skills in the future. You may eliminate some of the shortlist at this point.

7) Calculate the average damage: Take the remaining shortlist and plug all of the details from the emulator into the Antiguardians Damage Calculator to get an idea of the damage that your weapons shortlist candidates will deliver. If you are considering MA skills, then you can input skills and implants into the Rustot Skills Emulator and you will see damage ranges for Fists and Brawls in the top right corner.

The attack rating changes when you get buffs on the attack skills for your weapon from other players and go back to normal when the buffs terminate. This means that when calculating your damage you may want to include the effect of commonly available buffs for your weapons skills. Similarly, most teams have one member that can buff Crit chances to an extent, so you may wish to include that in your calculations too.

8) Make your final choices and go have fun!

I hope that this guide has helped you to understand how weapons work and what the big questions are that you need to ask yourself when choosing your secondary weapons. Hopefully, it's also given you some ideas about how to answer those questions for yourself.



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[_________Basher Tarr]

Originally posted by Tobaras
In everquest, they provided only 8 static "gem" slots for spells to reside that you had memorized.

To cast one of these in a script, you merely typed

/cast 1
/cast 2

etc..

In AO, because you can place nano's in any given slot on your macro bar (with 10 possible bars), I haven't seen where this is possible.

Well, what a about a command such as:

/quickbar x y

Where the game performs whatever action can be found on quickbar x, slot y. So if your nuke is on the first slot of bar number one, you'd type:

/quickbar 1 1

Or if your treatment and nano kits were in the second bar, eight and ninth slots respectively:

/quickbar 2 8
/quickbar 2 9

So you could play with it and make some complex scripts.

[Xtremtech]

Casting Macros is something that has come up often enough in the past for there to have been an official FC statement on it somewhere. Does anybody know of one?

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[Xtremtech]

Added a bunch of third party links for utilities, websites etc to the Quick Index.

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