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Thread: so, anyway, just so you don't waste your time with your first shade

  1. #1

    so, anyway, just so you don't waste your time with your first shade

    here's what NOT to do:

    -raise brawl. at all. just because enforcers use tango dirks, it doesn't mean we should. if you want to use the tds at low level, just use the brawl expertise. you won't want to use them later, i promise.

    -raise dodge ranged or duck explosives if you plan to level on sl. we never saw any mobs other than melee for the most part, and ip will be tight. if this changes when sl goes live, my bad. at least i didn't tell you to spend it somewhere else.

    -max multi wield. we get pretty good multi wield buffs, so maxing this is probably not a total necessity unless you've already calculated what you want to equip next.

    -neglect runspeed. this is really for everyone in sl. put some points into this baby. you'll see why if you haven't guessed already.

    -hold on to your dimach. it recycles pretty fast, so let 'er rip. but wait until you have lost at least a little health.

    -go redeemed/clan. come on. i will personally sic the koga on any clan shade i see. jk, there's no real benefit to either one. except armor colour.

    -neglect parry/riposte. have a look at shade-specific piercers if you don't believe me. a lot of them require both, to more of a degree than dimach, even, i believe. we can complain about that later if we need to (hopefully riposte will be good now), but it's a fact of shade life. did i mention that ip was tight?

    -fail to max pm/si. most of our buffs use these two, and you want to use these buffs. they're good, but they're also very expensive. so max pm/si.

    -forget to read aelynn's and gwend's posts. i've run into both of them in game (they didn't know it), and they're very good at this shade business.

    i think that should kick you off. i'm sure there are other things NOT to do, but someone else can throw those in.

    aelynn, looking forward to your updated guide!
    Last edited by eahii; Sep 8th, 2003 at 22:58:34.

  2. #2
    Well this just sucks spent a crap load of money getting a bunch of sets of tango dirks improved.. Now im being told that this is not the way to go can you atlest tell us why?

    waaaaaaaaaaa... 10 sets of Improve tangos down the drain..

  3. #3
    The shade was built for piercing, not brawl. Shade is a profession that will do dmg in fast ammounts of time while the enforcer is keeping aggro. Shade attacks from behind, not infront.
    -Diff-
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  4. #4
    To bad their gimped to hell in terms of being able to get spirits/tatto's easly. I can see it now "Ql 20 shade armor 500k/piece"

  5. #5
    actually, you won't. The shade specific stuff is no drop
    Aelynn of the Shadows
    Pain so close to pleasure...

  6. #6
    Man Keeper is looking more and more like the way to go for me..

    Do spirits have there own terminal like Implants or do you have to run a mish from them?

  7. #7

    everything your shade wants

    has to be camped - not missioned for, camped!

    *edit: well ok you can buy ncu and health chargers and some weapons bwahahaha*

  8. #8

    Re: everything your shade wants

    Originally posted by Blackwing
    has to be camped - not missioned for, camped!

    *edit: well ok you can buy ncu and health chargers and some weapons bwahahaha*
    Uhm, what? Most Shade stuff is droppable from "normal" mobs, and many of the weapons for the profession can be bought of faction venduhs (most of them, in fact).
    Stabdude Opifex Shade, Atlantean (and my new MAIN!) - native of the Shadowlands
    Slapster - Retired
    Retriever - Retired

    This is it

  9. #9
    Originally posted by Scythe
    To bad their gimped to hell in terms of being able to get spirits/tatto's easly. I can see it now "Ql 20 shade armor 500k/piece"
    You don't know the drop rates of these things in the live version of SL. No one does.
    Stabdude Opifex Shade, Atlantean (and my new MAIN!) - native of the Shadowlands
    Slapster - Retired
    Retriever - Retired

    This is it

  10. #10

    Re: Re: everything your shade wants

    Originally posted by Slapster


    Uhm, what? Most Shade stuff is droppable from "normal" mobs, and many of the weapons for the profession can be bought of faction venduhs (most of them, in fact).

    But I would like to know if spirts can be bought in terminals can anyone who beta'd tell me the answer to this..If not It seems like twinking shades to be the best they can be will be tiresome and expensive even.. Unlike the other professions where u can simple just buy or build some custom imps

    I know shades are not suppose to be easy but having them this handicaped seems to make them feel like ur playing a completly different game than everone else.. Pls someone put me straight and tell me something. I really want to make a new char but seems like I would do better just making a MA or Agent..(And I didnt need SL for that)

  11. #11

    even if by some miracle the drop rate does not stink

    and the spawn is fast enough so you do not have to compete with tons of other shades...

    the fact remains that you have to find everything your shade intents to use and weapons apart with said shade toon and not one of your alts.

  12. #12
    Very true. I think this is a good part of the reason why a Shade is rated as "High" difficulty to play.

    I wish people would consider that before they choose the profession and start bickering about all its "weaknesses". The Shade won't be weak - but it will be hard to get him/her up to speed.

    Tatoos for one, drop in certain dungeons, and should be fairly easy to get at, considering the dungeons spawn new copies of themselves when there are enough people in one copy. Shouldn't be TOO hard camping-wise.

    And there is a certain device you can use to extract the spirit of dead... spirits.. to get a .. guess what - SPIRIT! (Wish FC would be a bit more creative with the naming scheme here :P). Dunno the drop rate on that one, tho. Look around aodb.info for information.

    edit : The certain device is ofcourse a Spirit Siphon - which is storebought, to the best of my knowledge (Yuttoses).
    Last edited by Stabdude; Sep 9th, 2003 at 13:54:41.
    Stabdude Opifex Shade, Atlantean (and my new MAIN!) - native of the Shadowlands
    Slapster - Retired
    Retriever - Retired

    This is it

  13. #13
    And it seems like spirits are not NODROP. Haven't checked tatoos yet.

    Rejected Spirit of True Seeing (QL200)

    They are Unique, but they change names with QL, example of QL130 one:

    Mourning Spirit of True Seeing (QL130)

    - so that should probably mean you can keep higher QL ones instead of having to wait to go hunt them when you can equip (that sentence didn't make much sense - but go back and read it again, and you'll see what I mean).
    Stabdude Opifex Shade, Atlantean (and my new MAIN!) - native of the Shadowlands
    Slapster - Retired
    Retriever - Retired

    This is it

  14. #14
    Thanks slapster man I appreciate this info you have posted..Seems people are very tight lipped about the shade pro(the beta testers I mean).. But tnks for passing along what you have..

  15. #15

    Re: so, anyway, just so you don't waste your time with your first shade

    Originally posted by eahii
    [B]here's what NOT to do:

    -raise brawl. at all. just because enforcers use tango dirks, it doesn't mean we should. if you want to use the tds at low level, just use the brawl expertise. you won't want to use them later, i promise.
    Wait a sec...I can only speak from an adventurer standpoint right now, but isn't Brawl an important source of extra damage for any melee?

    -Quartzz

  16. #16
    the whole thing about shades being rated as "Hard" and what that means was an argument we had during beta, and, to my recollection, i never saw an FC person confirm or deny what we posited that it meant.

    it seems, however, that it's not 'hard' in the same sense that some of the others are rated as 'hard.' well, it is, actually, but it's harder, too.

    eg. the trader. to optimize the trader, you can't ignore the drains. they're key in getting the most out of your weapons. additionally, you can't cruise along with the same levels of ncus that other classes will have (except agents, i guess) at your level, for the most part. you gotta work that bulk trader action as early as you can, or else you'll run out of room for stacking your drains.

    the shade is difficult similarly in that you can't just expect your performance to be driven by the strength of your weapons. you gotta use those perks, and use them as often as they recycle. how cool/uncool this particular facet is will be debated, probably ad nauseum, as more people play the class and realise that a shade with perks is only as good as any other class is without perks, and that those other classes still get perks on top of that. but i'll wait a little while for that conversation to begin.

    on top of that difficulty, however, is the layer that was mentioned above: that shades are waaaay more difficult to twink. here's why:

    -availability of implants
    -availability of weapons in normal city vendor shops
    -availability of shade-specific armor in any vendor
    -cost of nano-formulas at vendors, although this may change when it goes live. (i hope )
    -necessity to complete specializations to get nanos on par with other classes core abilities

    i think that's enough for now. if only one of these two things were the case, either the difficulty of actual gameplay or difficulty of optimizing the character, then i would still consider the profession 'hard.' but both makes it rather more than 'hard.' i'd say 'unfeasible to people without loads of time or loads of credits.' having a big main doesn't make all that much difference, since you can't farm spirits unless you're a shade. but, i don't believe they're no-drop, so we'll see how that goes.

  17. #17
    brawl is pale in comparison to backstab.
    brawl is a dark blue skill for shades. means it's going to cost ip.
    brawl is directly affected by your brawl skill.



    And we're tightlipped about shades until SL comes like and the info becomes public, we are still under NDA, and will still be after release.
    Aelynn of the Shadows
    Pain so close to pleasure...

  18. #18

    Re: Re: so, anyway, just so you don't waste your time with your first shade

    Originally posted by Quartzz


    Wait a sec...I can only speak from an adventurer standpoint right now, but isn't Brawl an important source of extra damage for any melee?

    -Quartzz
    we certainly thought so at first, as there were loads of shades trying out the tangos. but have a peak at the shade specific piercing weapons in http://aomainframe.info. none of them have brawl as a req or even can allow brawl. and piercing weapons that do allow brawl tend not to allow the ma attack.

    whether or not we're supposed to use ma attacks as part of the profile is something that i'm sure will be explored more, but keep in mind that we have a whole line of MA/dimach buffs, but none for brawl....

    i like how you're thinking, though. i had the same complaint about how fast attack isn't on enough of the shade piercers. but, have i mentioned that ip is tight?

  19. #19
    Originally posted by Aelynn
    And we're tightlipped about shades until SL comes like and the info becomes public, we are still under NDA, and will still be after release.
    isn't that today?

    (if not, oops )

  20. #20
    -reads, makes notes, reads more-

    -raises hand for question- You said the only difference between the tattoos was their color, based on which side you're on. What side has what color? Sadly this will strongly affect my side choice >.>"

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