Previous Thread
Previous
Expand All
Collapse All
Ignore Author
Reply
<<- Harmony gives a modest self-only bonus to your offensive abilities in all weapons, but also helps maintain balance and provides a solid set of defensive benefits as well.>>
It's a loud/quiet toggle for which effects are in place right? Loud for the offensive boosts, quiet for the defensive. Defensively it appears to give a reasonably good boost to evasion, more noticeable than Naming of Tears IMO. I've been fighting with evasion stanced down a lot lately but have noticed an increase in evading frequency with Harmony up...even at the piddly mana levels I'm able to sing it at. Coupled with the balance shift and the related easter egg it's a very nice enchante.
<<- Resonance gives the best offensive bonus, but is self-only, only works with melee weapons and then only those that qualify for the top two weapons. It also provdes a lesser parry bonus and helps prevent weapon loss.>>
Plus the added ability to remove cursed items from your main hand.
There probably isn't a noticeable difference between Rage, Harmony and Resonance as far as damage dealing goes if fighting something that you're able to hit consistently, without any of them. The damage boost from Rage is very noticeable when back-training weapons and fighting something you have difficulty hitting. And it works with ranged weapons which is a major plus.
Personally I don't/won't use Resonance much since I prefer more defensive oriented enchantes (DEMA and, well DEMA,) and switch weapons out often enough that it can be a hassle. It's more useful to me in multi situations where I'm taking hits and need to kill the extra add quickly.
Once I'm able to put more mana into Harmony maybe it will replace one of the others in my repertoire. I'll have to PAFO.
> It's a loud/quiet toggle for which effects are in place right? Loud for the offensive boosts, quiet for the defensive.
Nope. Loud/quiet determines which gets the bigger emphasis -- both sides still get boosted. So if you sing loud, you'll get more offense than defense, if you sing quiet, you'll get more defense than offense -- but either way, you get both.
> Defensively it appears to give a reasonably good boost to evasion, more noticeable than Naming of Tears IMO.
At it's very best, Harmony's evasion bonus is still well below Tear's potential. Tears can drastically outdo any other enchante in terms of evasion enhancement. No contest, especially at higher levels. The reason Harmony and DEMA seem better is simply because Harmony has a few other defensive bonuses and DEMA boosts your balance while unbalancing the enemy. What looks like a massive evasion boost in DEMA is actually the critters taking a penalty for not having good balance. What looks like a better evasion boost in Harmony is simply the fact all your defenses are improved.
I wouldn't underestimate Tears. It's a very effective enchante, especially at very high levels where the absorbtion field can make all the difference between a one-shot kill and just a bleeder.
- GM Dartenian
"So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled that thing
That couldn't be done and he did it."
- Edgar Guest
Nope. Loud/quiet determines which gets the bigger emphasis -- both sides still get boosted. So if you sing loud, you'll get more offense than defense, if you sing quiet, you'll get more defense than offense -- but either way, you get both.
> Defensively it appears to give a reasonably good boost to evasion, more noticeable than Naming of Tears IMO.
At it's very best, Harmony's evasion bonus is still well below Tear's potential. Tears can drastically outdo any other enchante in terms of evasion enhancement. No contest, especially at higher levels. The reason Harmony and DEMA seem better is simply because Harmony has a few other defensive bonuses and DEMA boosts your balance while unbalancing the enemy. What looks like a massive evasion boost in DEMA is actually the critters taking a penalty for not having good balance. What looks like a better evasion boost in Harmony is simply the fact all your defenses are improved.
I wouldn't underestimate Tears. It's a very effective enchante, especially at very high levels where the absorbtion field can make all the difference between a one-shot kill and just a bleeder.
- GM Dartenian
"So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled that thing
That couldn't be done and he did it."
- Edgar Guest
<<Nope. Loud/quiet determines which gets the bigger emphasis -- both sides still get boosted. So if you sing loud, you'll get more offense than defense, if you sing quiet, you'll get more defense than offense -- but either way, you get both.>>
Good to know.
<<What looks like a massive evasion boost in DEMA is actually the critters taking a penalty for not having good balance.>>
Understood. I was aware DEMA doesn't boost evasion directly. At my current ability though the unbalancing the enemy and balancing myself is far superior for evasion purposes than the direct boost Tears gives. Fighting at level I evade more consistently, especially in multi situations, with DEMA. Before the rebalancing of the defensive skills (removal of the double bonus for evasion) I would have to stop singing DEMA to parry at all. With Tears I still parry like a madman and notice no appreciable defensive boost between it and not singing at all.
Granted I'm not able to get anywhere near the cap for Tears (I can only sustain 28 mana without backfiring) but at my current skill level and fighting style DEMA is a much more useful enchante. I'll take not getting hit over potential damage mitigation every time. Of course as my skill grows I'll revisit the enchante (as I do all the enchantes) and may find it eventually surpasses DEMA in utility.
Good to know.
<<What looks like a massive evasion boost in DEMA is actually the critters taking a penalty for not having good balance.>>
Understood. I was aware DEMA doesn't boost evasion directly. At my current ability though the unbalancing the enemy and balancing myself is far superior for evasion purposes than the direct boost Tears gives. Fighting at level I evade more consistently, especially in multi situations, with DEMA. Before the rebalancing of the defensive skills (removal of the double bonus for evasion) I would have to stop singing DEMA to parry at all. With Tears I still parry like a madman and notice no appreciable defensive boost between it and not singing at all.
Granted I'm not able to get anywhere near the cap for Tears (I can only sustain 28 mana without backfiring) but at my current skill level and fighting style DEMA is a much more useful enchante. I'll take not getting hit over potential damage mitigation every time. Of course as my skill grows I'll revisit the enchante (as I do all the enchantes) and may find it eventually surpasses DEMA in utility.
> Vaaaary intersting...
Fairly basic. Potential damage increases as folks go up the critter ladder. The problem is that there comes a point where the damage can and will exceed the amount of damage a single body part -- most importantly a vital area -- can handle. So given that you are going to get hit once in a while, even if only through a very lucky roll, anything you can do to decrease the incoming damage is going to become more and more meaningful as you get to the high end of the game.
- GM Dartenian
"So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled that thing
That couldn't be done and he did it."
- Edgar Guest
Fairly basic. Potential damage increases as folks go up the critter ladder. The problem is that there comes a point where the damage can and will exceed the amount of damage a single body part -- most importantly a vital area -- can handle. So given that you are going to get hit once in a while, even if only through a very lucky roll, anything you can do to decrease the incoming damage is going to become more and more meaningful as you get to the high end of the game.
- GM Dartenian
"So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled that thing
That couldn't be done and he did it."
- Edgar Guest
I never really thought about TEARS as a means to reduce one-hit fatalities.
I don't know if my other defenses could handle the hit in effectiveness from switching out DEMA, but it's certainly worth a try.
Always frustrating to be hunting for days on end without a scratch only to wake up dead from a one-hit. Although, I haven't really been hunting anything that could actually kill me from a Zoha crit until recently.
Thanks for opening my eyes to this one!
GENT
I don't know if my other defenses could handle the hit in effectiveness from switching out DEMA, but it's certainly worth a try.
Always frustrating to be hunting for days on end without a scratch only to wake up dead from a one-hit. Although, I haven't really been hunting anything that could actually kill me from a Zoha crit until recently.
Thanks for opening my eyes to this one!
GENT
Someday soon, I'm going to test how effective a fully plated bard is. Eeary is forging me a top end protective set of field plate and accessories soon... going to see how it does with Tears for damage absorb.
Heck, I hunt mostly with lilt because my current training involves swarming creatures that have no trouble pounding me after the sixth or tenth one engages... vit never goes low enough for marauders or vines to get any crits on me with current set of mixed plate.
Another random observation. Shield is awesome. Playing harmony on defensive (17 mana) with 120 shield and 130 multi, I can fully block 6 vines/creepers all the time without dancing using a croc hide buckler. Stance to parry, 135 ranks, and 2-3 of the 6 get glancing hits on me. Dunno.
Original point. Super protective plate armor. High power Tears. Pallie-bard?
Fearweaver Olyandir, Olvi Bard
Stealing your booze since 2005.
Heck, I hunt mostly with lilt because my current training involves swarming creatures that have no trouble pounding me after the sixth or tenth one engages... vit never goes low enough for marauders or vines to get any crits on me with current set of mixed plate.
Another random observation. Shield is awesome. Playing harmony on defensive (17 mana) with 120 shield and 130 multi, I can fully block 6 vines/creepers all the time without dancing using a croc hide buckler. Stance to parry, 135 ranks, and 2-3 of the 6 get glancing hits on me. Dunno.
Original point. Super protective plate armor. High power Tears. Pallie-bard?
Fearweaver Olyandir, Olvi Bard
Stealing your booze since 2005.
I've found that Naming of Tears won't reduce damage if it is below a certain level. In plate, I doubt you're seeing hardly any hard hits anyway, so you're just going to be overkill if you go that route.
On an aside, I sure would love some scream action... I'm within 100 ranks of my goal now.
__
~Leilond
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h307/ss1shadow/leilondsootherin.png
http://soundsoftime.bravehost.com/bard_planner_v2.xls
http://soundsoftime.bravehost.com/bard_compendium.html
On an aside, I sure would love some scream action... I'm within 100 ranks of my goal now.
__
~Leilond
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h307/ss1shadow/leilondsootherin.png
http://soundsoftime.bravehost.com/bard_planner_v2.xls
http://soundsoftime.bravehost.com/bard_compendium.html
>I've found that Naming of Tears won't reduce damage if it is below a certain level.
How would you even test it? What you're seeing is the difference between protection and absorption. High absorption won't reduce blows to nothing often since it works by %, but it may prevent open rolls from killing you outright. It likely works BEST in heavy armor, unless there is a hidden cap.
How would you even test it? What you're seeing is the difference between protection and absorption. High absorption won't reduce blows to nothing often since it works by %, but it may prevent open rolls from killing you outright. It likely works BEST in heavy armor, unless there is a hidden cap.
It gives you messaging whenever it reduces damage, and I've only seen that messaging when the hit is over a certain level(solid hit I believe, maybe hard or some such equivilant). I've never seen the messaging for damage in the lower bracket.
__
~Leilond
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h307/ss1shadow/leilondsootherin.png
http://soundsoftime.bravehost.com/bard_planner_v2.xls
http://soundsoftime.bravehost.com/bard_compendium.html
__
~Leilond
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h307/ss1shadow/leilondsootherin.png
http://soundsoftime.bravehost.com/bard_planner_v2.xls
http://soundsoftime.bravehost.com/bard_compendium.html
>It gives you messaging whenever it reduces damage, and I've only seen that messaging when the hit is over a certain level(solid hit I believe, maybe hard or some such equivilant). I've never seen the messaging for damage in the lower bracket.
Ah, that makes sense then. I still thing it would work well with plate armor though.
Ah, that makes sense then. I still thing it would work well with plate armor though.
<<>It gives you messaging whenever it reduces damage, and I've only seen that messaging when the hit is over a certain level(solid hit I believe, maybe hard or some such equivilant).
My experience with it is that I see the damage reduction message on any light or greater hit. Grazing or brushing does not produce the message ever.
What I haven't figured out is if the damage you see has the reduction applied already or if it is the base damage and is reduced from that. So if you seed a good hit, is it actually a hit that's been reduced to good or is it a good hit that is then reduced? Since I never see the mesaage on non-damaging hits I tend to think the latter, but I'm not really certain.
-Evran
<<and a G'nar Pethian would be "underpants-on-head crazy" - Armifer
My experience with it is that I see the damage reduction message on any light or greater hit. Grazing or brushing does not produce the message ever.
What I haven't figured out is if the damage you see has the reduction applied already or if it is the base damage and is reduced from that. So if you seed a good hit, is it actually a hit that's been reduced to good or is it a good hit that is then reduced? Since I never see the mesaage on non-damaging hits I tend to think the latter, but I'm not really certain.
-Evran
<<and a G'nar Pethian would be "underpants-on-head crazy" - Armifer
>What I haven't figured out is if the damage you see has the reduction applied already or if it is the base damage and is reduced from that. So if you seed a good hit, is it actually a hit that's been reduced to good or is it a good hit that is then reduced? Since I never see the mesaage on non-damaging hits I tend to think the latter, but I'm not really certain.
I would assume that what you see is after the reduction, as that his how other spells work.
I would assume that what you see is after the reduction, as that his how other spells work.
Ok nevermind, I see now. I've never noticed it before the times I've used it during regular hunting.
Zrxa leaps from hiding and ambushes you, completely surprising you.
The reverberating sound around you seems to hinder the attack.
* Zrxa sweeps a bastard sword at you. You barely block with an ordinary shield. The sword lands a strong hit that cuts deeply into your right tricep.
[You're hurt, solidly balanced with opponent in good position.]
I did a few quick tests, playing at 30 mana, and the damage reduction was noticeable as opposed to the hits taken with no song. I hope it's nice at 60 mana.
It would be cool if other players saw the reverberating messaging. I like annoying, fluffy stuff.
Fearweaver Olyandir, Olvi Bard
Stealing your booze since 2005.
Zrxa leaps from hiding and ambushes you, completely surprising you.
The reverberating sound around you seems to hinder the attack.
* Zrxa sweeps a bastard sword at you. You barely block with an ordinary shield. The sword lands a strong hit that cuts deeply into your right tricep.
[You're hurt, solidly balanced with opponent in good position.]
I did a few quick tests, playing at 30 mana, and the damage reduction was noticeable as opposed to the hits taken with no song. I hope it's nice at 60 mana.
It would be cool if other players saw the reverberating messaging. I like annoying, fluffy stuff.
Fearweaver Olyandir, Olvi Bard
Stealing your booze since 2005.
