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Thread: Opifex Information (Warning- LONG)

  1. #1

    Opifex Information (Warning- LONG)

    Well, this is being written because a few people are asking if being an opifex keeper is viable at higher levels. In short, it is. The long reasons for this are included within this post.

    This is not a random “my breed choice is better than yours” type of document. It’s not open for discussion and I don’t plan to get drawn into the why’s and wherefore’s of which breed will be more successful. This simply maps out the reasons why opifex is a decent choice.

    First off, a little information which I am showing the experiences that I discovered during my time as an opifex keeper (level 214 at time of writing).

    In Teams:
    It’s hard to find a fault with this, the ability to run many of the better nano’s mean that teams in general enjoy my presence. A keeper at high level (and low level of course) retains the ability to lessen the downtime of any team considerably. The increased damage output by the keeper damage aura offsets the fairly poor damage which the keeper himself gives out.

    Soloing:
    Keepers were built to solo as well as team. With access to our healing, combined with our excellent defences, an opifex keeper does very well indeed alone. I am able to solo pretty much anything which an atrox/soltius keeper of the same level can solo. Arguably slightly better at soloing as a result of evades, but that’s a debatable point.

    PvP
    Here I have few complaints. Soldiers, enforcers, adventurers, fixers, martial artists, all fall fairly easy prey to a well set up keeper. With the ability to self weapons easily and the low cost of IP, an opifex keeper can easily maintain a secondary ranged weapon without too much trouble. This can make a vast difference during mass pvp where infantry based professions traditionally run into problems. An opifex keeper has more than enough spare IP to be able to raise bow or rifle and aimed shot. This also can give us an edge in 1 on 1 duels. With raising dimach a little for our heal, we find it necessary to raise martial arts. This gives us access to some of the martial artist specials, and means that when we swap weapons we can use that “unarmed” few seconds to drop a couple of nice MA specials. Blessed with thunder is my personal favourite, mixed with brawl – heavy stun chance.

    [Edit - OOPS! "Blessed with thunder" is a DD/DoT based on parry, it's "Bright, blue, cloudless sky" which is an MA based stun, apologies]

    IP Cost Benefits.
    Skills which get greater than 50% trickledown from our core abilities (sense/agi):
    Dimach (80%)
    Riposte (100%)
    Fast Attack (100%)
    Bow (80%)
    Aimed Shot (100%)
    Melee Init (70%)
    Nano Casting Init (100%)
    Dodge Ranged (80%)
    Evade Close (80%)
    Duck Explosions (80%)
    First Aid (70%)

    Skills which get 50% or less trickledown from our core abilities:
    Martial Arts (50%)
    Parry (50%)
    Runspeed (40%)
    Psycho Modi (20%)
    Time and Space (20%)
    Treatment (50%)

    As you can see, we get a lot of skills slightly cheaper and some skills –considerably- cheaper than many other breed types. The difference is most markedly obvious when compared with atrox.

    There are some notable and important exceptions. 2he skill and Brawling are both strongly strength/stamina based and represent one of the biggest problems for us as all our primary weapon choices will be 2he, and some use brawling.

    Ok so that’s the “We’re a lot cheaper on IP” side of things out of the way, let’s examine weapons.

    Common misconception among the uneducated is that opifex keepers suffer a great deal from not being able to equip 2he weapons as easily as atrox or solitus keepers. This is *wildly* inaccurate for one main reason…

    Implants.

    Opifex remain the breed of choice for tweaking into the higher ql implants nice and early. Because of the insanely high agi and sense, and the lovely cheap trickle down for treatment, any opifex can twink into considerably higher ql implants than anyone else. This is a fact, and it more than makes up for the loss of 2he skill from having low str/sta at lower levels. There are some items which atrox have access to (legchopper gloves) but solitus suffer the same loss on this front and really don’t suffer badly.

    What this amounted to for me, was that I was able to get into FBR/Abyssal Desecrator/Permafrost just as soon as I’d have been able to had I been atrox or solitus. Yes I suffered a minor AR loss for being opifex, but this really didn’t make any difference to me at the time, especially when you consider that after 1,000 AR we have a nastily steep modifier against us, and all the majority of weapons tend to have MBS (maximum beneficial skill) caps.

    Ok so on the subject of implants, let’s look at a fairly traditional symbiant setup for a high level keeper. I’m going with the idea that the keeper will be wearing Support brain/eye/ear and infantry everywhere else. This may not be 100% accurate in all cases, but will give a rough idea (and it’s the setup I currently use).

    Body Part Stat Req Stat Req Stat Req
    Brain Agility Intelligence Sense
    Eye Strength Agility Sense
    R-Arm Strength Agility Stamina
    Chest Strength Agility Stamina
    L-Arm Strength Stamina Psychic
    R-Wrist Strength Stamina Psychic
    Waist Strength Stamina Intelligence
    R-Hand Strength Stamina Sense
    Thigh Strength Stamina Intelligence
    L-Hand Strength Agility Stamina
    Foot Strength Stamina Psychic

    Ok so looking at that table, one might assume that atrox is the obvious choice because so many are strength stamina based – right?

    Well it certainly means that atrox only tend to have to buff one stat, and will hopefully have no problems with the other stats, -however- remember that strength and stamina remain absolutely the easiest buffable stat in the game. On top of that, we as keepers have access to our very own +40 strength stamina buff!

    Just on buffs alone… how much can we buff str/sta by? Well 27 from essence, 40 from guardian, 12 from basic buff. That’s 79 points without even thinking about it! Add to that some fred sleeves (44 for a full set) and a couple of pillows (+16) and we’re up to being able to buff +139 points with relative ease.

    How easy is it to buff sense/agility/intelligence/psychic by 139 points? Simple answer really “It’s not easy.” Personally I like having access to the abilities which have little buffing items through breed choice because it means that the str/sta requirements of things can be buffed into without a great deal of thought.

    All of this adds up to the fact that opifex can get into some nice symbiants probably faster than the other breeds. The way that symbiants work means that when we squeeze into each higher ql symbiant, it makes squeezing into the next one that much easier (prime example being 220 brain symb, the moment you get into that, everything becomes easy from a treatment/psychic/intelligence front. Oh and of course that brain symb is agi/sense/int based – guess which breed is gonna find that easy to equip!

    Advice? From Traj!? Surely not!
    Now here’s my advice to any budding opifex keepers. First of all, opifex isn’t the easiest choice in the world. The HP difference and the lower 2he can all be compensated for in items, but it does all take a little work. If you’re a casual player you might not want to put that work in, so it’s worth seriously considering. Also, ensure that you have 2 bags in your bank at all times. 1 contains all your medsuit stuff (buy a full medsuit, rule 1 and never lend it out). The other will contain all your buffing items for str/sta. Everytime you see a piece of armour or any item, take a look at it, does it buff stats? If so, pick it up, and put it in your “buffbag”. Only remove it to either wear it or replace it.

    Low level armour suggestions:
    The new omni tradeskill armour is really good – especially so for opifex. It’s purely agi/sense based and adds to all inits and all evades. Can’t argue with that in the slightest. It’s not –that- difficult to get ahold of – just need some omnifiers, and some steel ribbed armour (oh and find a friendly fixer to make it for you).

    Other option would be omni carbonum – this is sta/agi based – remember… stamina is easily buffed, and you can twink into slightly better implants to make up for that problem. Again, need an omnifier, but it adds to hp/ncu/nano/nano init – and has a reasonable spread of armour classes, certainly suitable for pvm.

    Weapon Choices:
    Well, I’m a boring person, so I’d probably recommend just going the usual route…

    1-40ish Just get whatever you can equip that does a little damage.
    40ish-90ish Grab a frost scythe from temple (or a styg if you have the time)
    90-125ish Best longmoon you can equip – don’t forget your buffbags to get in better implants for this !
    125+ FBR is going to be key for quite a while. It’s boring and repetitive and looks awful, but it’s also pretty easy to obtain (I’ve let many rot simply because no one was around to take), and it does solid damage.

    Conclusions

    Well no one ever said opifex was the easy choice. It’s not, but we do have some nice advantages, which in my opinion make up for the disadvantages. No one can say to you “Oh… that’s a gimp breed!” without showing their ignorance.

    Nothing wrong with atrox or solitus (I’m still dubious about nanomage) either – just making sure that people realise that opifex is a more than viable choice for a fun profession. I really enjoy being a keeper, and am still having fun wandering around RK killing mobs which used to wipe out raid teams! So go now young opifex! And do your thing with your little grey spikey head held high!
    Last edited by Trajal; May 5th, 2004 at 10:26:34.
    Tsunameh
    First Savior of Rimor. Former keeper professional.
    Tsunameh

    Legends sometimes come back to haunt their enemies.

    Playing WoW as a facemelter.

  2. #2
    Thanks Traj.
    This thing has gone into my own library of useful advices.

  3. #3

    But Traj!

    butbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbu tbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbutbut...

    nice "guide" =)

    i was also thinking about end game.. if not opi would have the upper hand for solo because of better evads at the cost of some hp. bump
    Ullgencer wewt. dust be gone
    Ullgenser teh nm enfo
    Quote Originally Posted by Means
    Stop parsing my database...I feel so violated!

  4. #4
    Hehe i'll add to this some endgame information in a bit. Probably want to get a few more levels first though. However the evades do make a major difference, a friend recently asked if i had a "stun aura" because it looked like the 5 mobs attacking me were just standing there.

    Truth is that they weren't able to hit me Very good evades mixed with great symbs + a lot of addalldefence and fighting at 100% defence really helps. I'll give some better info about that later though, that's a promise
    Tsunameh
    First Savior of Rimor. Former keeper professional.
    Tsunameh

    Legends sometimes come back to haunt their enemies.

    Playing WoW as a facemelter.

  5. #5
    Very very very good job Trajan, thank you for writing this!

    Just one thing - what is the name of the omni tradeskill armor you refer to?
    Last edited by Erxi; May 5th, 2004 at 12:16:03.

  6. #6

    Re: Opifex Information (Warning- LONG)

    Originally posted by Trajal
    Also, ensure that you have 2 bags in your bank at all times. 1 contains all your medsuit stuff (buy a full medsuit, rule 1 and never lend it out). The other will contain all your buffing items for str/sta. Everytime you see a piece of armour or any item, take a look at it, does it buff stats? If so, pick it up, and put it in your “buffbag”. Only remove it to either wear it or replace it.
    This is excellent advice for any player of any breed or class. An absolute necessity for a twinker. Nothing is more annoying than someone who WANTS to twink but is constantly begging to borrow a medsuit, buff armor, etc, etc, etc.

    Very good writeup. My question is what is opifex nanopool like? from some very non-empirical surveys it seemed like opifex fixer had considerably smaller nanopool than a solitus fixer, but it could very well have been a difference in setup (I was a GA4 fixer, and the people I was talking to either didn't have it or had GA2).
    Aameul - Fixer - RK1
    Hethradiah - Keeper - RK1

  7. #7
    I never doubted opi's. Nice post very informative

    And he means Omni-tek Steel-Ribbed armor - Omni
    and Apocolypse Leather armor- Clan
    Last edited by MrNord; May 5th, 2004 at 15:31:31.
    Rookie Nordzion -Keeper ~220
    Ashenshugar- 110 Enf
    Mrnord -Fixer 215

    "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

    "I more fear what is within me more than what comes from without."

    --Martin Luther

    ~Holy Ghost~

    Proud Member of Paradise

  8. #8
    I have around 5.4k nanopool at 214. More than enough to cast anything afaik.

    I've not made a huge effort at nanopool, raised it only when absolutely necessary, I think it's just side effect of using support symbs and the various items I have.
    Tsunameh
    First Savior of Rimor. Former keeper professional.
    Tsunameh

    Legends sometimes come back to haunt their enemies.

    Playing WoW as a facemelter.

  9. #9
    Good post Trajal.

    I think in the final analysis, opifex, solitus or atrox will have a zero sum advantage when the specific advantage vs disadvantage equation is balanced for each. Opi evades rule. Atrox HP rules. Solitus nano reqs and balance rule.

    And given the number of opi enforcers and soldiers I have seen, I think opifex suits any profession just as well as solitus does.

  10. #10
    My level 10 Opi Keeper will benefit from reading that. Thanks.

  11. #11
    Add to that some fred sleeves (44 for a full set)
    Clanners should know that there is no clan equivalent for the fred sleeves. Still, there are so many generic stam boosting items that it probably won't be a problem in the end.

  12. #12
    Originally posted by Makoto


    Clanners should know that there is no clan equivalent for the fred sleeves. Still, there are so many generic stam boosting items that it probably won't be a problem in the end.
    See, just -another- reason to come to omni

    Omni-Tek Protects !
    Tsunameh
    First Savior of Rimor. Former keeper professional.
    Tsunameh

    Legends sometimes come back to haunt their enemies.

    Playing WoW as a facemelter.

  13. #13
    Originally posted by Trajal


    See, just -another- reason to come to omni

    Omni-Tek Protects !
    Or, as it is the case here, Omni-Tek Buffs!
    Kiisu, TL 7 fixer of Project-Starlight, RK2.
    Eevatytar, LVL 220 keeper of Project-Starlight, RK2.

    Fixers don't need a new pair of glasses, they need a miracle!

  14. #14
    Originally posted by Kiisu


    Or, as it is the case here, Omni-Tek Buffs!
    Well either way, it's just another reason to come and join Omni.

    Omni-tek is mother and father. We are your family. Join us today.
    Tsunameh
    First Savior of Rimor. Former keeper professional.
    Tsunameh

    Legends sometimes come back to haunt their enemies.

    Playing WoW as a facemelter.

  15. #15
    Nice post Traj. Im a firm believer that Opi/Soli/Trox all about equal in the endgame just in different ways and different playstyles so its nice to see info about each for ppl who want to decide what their playstyle is more like. Just 1 thing not noted here Id like to add. Agi;/Sense/Int/Psychic have Uber rings to add to those stats so it helps make up for them in the symbiant department for other breeds Nice all together post tho Traj.


    -Enchantd
    220 Rimor Keeper

    "Impossible is an Opinion, Not a Fact"

    Advisor of Dark Front

    Hydro - 205 Trox Solja
    Midnyte - 75 Opi Martial Artist

  16. #16
    Ok im not an atrox

    but

    at 220 Atroxes will be able to get all of those things, so the fact that you got them a few levels earlier really doesn't matter...

    So doesn't it really just boil down to Evades vs HP? And vs raid mobs....

    /me sits down and waits for a reply
    Morph - TAG Kingpin

  17. #17
    Originally posted by Morphling
    Ok im not an atrox

    but

    at 220 Atroxes will be able to get all of those things, so the fact that you got them a few levels earlier really doesn't matter...

    So doesn't it really just boil down to Evades vs HP? And vs raid mobs....

    /me sits down and waits for a reply
    No, it really doesn't, and I say that for the following reasons.

    Symbiants are going to be a much larger challenge for Atrox Keepers with 3 of their Base abilitys being dark blue -- Solitus and Opi have a large advantage here.

    The evade bonus is there, and it largely has to do with playstyle, Trajal(Opi) is more of a finess type playstyle, Ballrogiis and I(Trox) are more of the brutal("I wanna tank") playstyle, and Nynnie(Soli) is kinda the in between("I wanna be well rounded").

    Atrox will be better at gaining agro than the others, as well as having full ql 300 tier 3 possible. Casting will be harder at times nanopool wise but in the end it won't really hurt.

    Opifex -- Skipping this because it's well covered in this thread.

    Solitus will be best for Symbiants, have average hitpoints and nanopool, decent armor.

    In the end they will all cast the same things, but they will all be different, more or less armor, hp, np, AR, symbs...

  18. #18
    Originally posted by Morphling
    Ok im not an atrox

    but

    at 220 Atroxes will be able to get all of those things, so the fact that you got them a few levels earlier really doesn't matter...

    So doesn't it really just boil down to Evades vs HP? And vs raid mobs....

    /me sits down and waits for a reply
    By my maths, there are some higher ql symbiants that are just plain out of range for trox, no matter the twinking. I think that some of the psy/int based stuff will cap for them at 220 and the agi/sense stuff will cap for them at 240. It's not a huge difference, but it is enough to make note of at least.

    It's not really evades vs HP - there's just more differences in playstyle than you can shake a stick at. For example the opi shadowbreed can be used to land perks on otherwise unperkable stuff (+800 AR is no laughing matter). It's purely about taste, as I said, not going to get involved in a big fight about "Opi is teh uberest because...." type argument.

    My post was to highlight the positives of opifex, rather than argue that they're the best of all. For me, they are the best, but that's down to my personal taste and playstyle. I know that for some soli is considered the "only" choice, and the same can be said of atrox - it's just what you like This whole thing was to give more people information about the viability of an opifex keeper and I rather thinkthat it succeeded
    Tsunameh
    First Savior of Rimor. Former keeper professional.
    Tsunameh

    Legends sometimes come back to haunt their enemies.

    Playing WoW as a facemelter.

  19. #19
    Originally posted by Hyperlink
    The evade bonus is there, and it largely has to do with playstyle, Trajal(Opi) is more of a finess type playstyle, Ballrogiis and I(Trox) are more of the brutal("I wanna tank") playstyle, and Nynnie(Soli) is kinda the in between("I wanna be well rounded")....

    ...In the end they will all cast the same things, but they will all be different, more or less armor, hp, np, AR, symbs...
    Another thing to add to this playstyle thing is how perks are spent. Looking at possible perk setups, and figuring that AoR10, BioShield10 and Blessing10 are becoming a defacto standard, the way those last 10 points are spent can seriously diminish the differences that would be present at 220.

  20. #20
    Great post! w00t for all the aspiring Opi Keepers out there, keep it up!

    /Os
    Braver 220 Neutral Doctor

    *click*

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