Good point. Revised to include the MissingNo/Void Elemental group: Group Composition: 34 Paladin, 34 Cleric, 35 Druid, 34 Rogue, 34 Wizard (Fireball/Passive Spec) (Basically, a single-target destruction group, no AOE whatsoever, although CC options with the Druid). Black Dragon: Time to Kill: 2 minutes, 42 seconds Experience: 3150 Experience/Second: 19.444 Gold: 20 Gold/Second: 0.1234 7x Mountain Soldier Time to Kill: 3 minutes, 37 seconds Experience: 8184 Experience/Second: 37.7143 Gold: 50 Gold/Second: 0.2304 1x Void Elemental, 6x Missing No. Time to Kill: 4 minutes, 4 seconds Experience: 10503 Experience/Second: 43.0451 Gold: 67 Gold/Second: .2746 Conclusion: There is absolutely no reason to grind Mountain Soldiers; it's either Black Dragons or Void/MissingNo. The Catch: Black Dragons have a chance to drop "The Four Ring", which costs 1500 gold. Let's say that it drops 1/35 times (which seems about right for my experience). That means an extra 1500 gold every 35 tries, or an extra .2646 gold per second. Void Elemental/MissingNo groups have a chance to drop "The Three Ring", which isn't top-tier, but it's close and costs 1105. Let's be consistent with the Black Dragon and say it drops 1/35 times. That means an extra 1105 gold every 35 tries, or an extra .1294 gold per second. So, with item drops: Black Dragon G/S: .495 VE/MN: .404 Conclusion: If you're satisfied with 2nd Tier gear, VE/MN groups are probably better bang for buck than Black Dragons. However, given that items sell for only 1/10 of their value, if you're wanting The Four Ring, Black Dragons are still substantially better monetarily. Leveling, of course, will be better with VE/MN. Everyone agree? Any issues with my methodology/numbers/etc?
Well, trust me when I say that you don't want anyone to have threat other than your tank. For that reason, my paladin is the 5 threat 10% crit guy. E.T. is my bard. Gui is my hunter (the mana steal guy). My rogue is the +3 atk guy. And my mage is life steal (chose it when i didn't know it had to be physical damage). In truth, though...i chose many of those for leveling purposes. For instance, gui as my hunter only really makes sense for AoE grinding. Strictly speaking, it doesn't really help your chances at the end -- +1 atk or +5 health would be more likely to help you. But, it makes the grinding process SO much easier. The same can be said about E.T. for my bard. mana regen loses importance the further into the game you go. But, i would still stick with it -- especially gui -- considering it probably cuts your leveling time in half, if not more.
And, i chose the soldiers over other enemies for a reason. There's definitely a reason to choose them. maybe not for ajohnson. But, for me, there was. missing no's have stun effects. I respec'ed for pure AoE damage, maximizing on killing everything at once. The grind time for a group of 7 soldiers is substantially lower than it was for missing no's (for me). And, if I had to deal with single target killing an elite at the end of a fight, i would have to respec' for some single target killing skills, eating into my efficiency.
Someone want to point me at posts to read for someone who just started and wants to jump right into the most powerful starting group / combination?
yeah, its not alot. although i have been getting a lot of Pointy Amulet (+2 Initiative; -5 Threat) which sell for around 100. and finishing off the epic isn't that hard. i have very weak single-target damage, and i have no problems. by the time the other 6 have died, he's only got a sliver left.
Any tips on what team to run with then? Gonna switch my Barb to Pally Tank Dev guy or Grandma. E.T. Is my Mage but I can make him a bard and any other suggestion for Mage replacement? And for Hunter I'm not really sure either
welp...i did it. My guys were level 39. had 8 "the four rings." 2 of my guys were dead at the end...one of them died on the second turn.
Having just run it, I think bard and paladin are pretty necessary unless you were much higher level and/or had much better gear than i did. As for DPS, having just run it...who knows? I still maintain that mages and hunters do the best overall damage. But, i'm not sure if they're naturally squishier. It might make a big difference to have a DPSer who can steal life like the knight. It might be helpful to have a priest...spec'ed mainly for smite (allowing him to keep himself up) but having a little into circle of healing to help with the AoE healing load at the end. You might even be able to get away with using 2 priests and no bard...spec'ed that way. Seriously, there's a lot you can make work. You just have to understand what's coming at you and adjust for it.
you can't use 2 of the same classes. but i suspect that a bard and cleric combo is required. what was your class composition?
the way i see it, at the bare minimum, your entire party needs 300 HP. unless you are incredibly lucky, at some point during the fight, the boss is going to hit someone other than your pally and then do an AOE attack in the same turn. that's going to be around 300 HP. and then even if everyone in your party can survive a 300 HP hit, you still have to be able to heal through a constant 150 HP attack nearly every turn.
Looks like everyone already has their own take on the best farming/leveling teams, but here's mine: Best possible AOE composition in my opinion, with video demonstration of vs 7 lvl 30 missingNo: Cleave warrior tank, Volley Hunter, Meteor Mage, Hurricane Shaman, Dissonance Bard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCypaQKD9IY
that's true if you want to prepare for every possible scenario (although, I think 340 is closer to the number - my mage was hit for 172 plus the ~165 from the AoE). I kind of just went for probabilities. I could heal for 90 every turn with my bard. Add in equipment and other bonuses, and i could heal a little over 100 on all my characters. Some were higher. Regardless, what that meant is that I could survive 3 AoE attacks on consecutive turns, but not 4. I just had to hope it didn't happen (in truth, I don't think i ever had more than 2 consecutive turns with the AoE attack. but I might be wrong there). However, none of my characters (other than the paladin) had enough life to survive a hit+AoE. But once my flash heals started rolling, I was looking at 92% threat...and was hoping to avoid too much attention on my non-tank characters. They could survive a single AoE or a single attack (sometimes, the attacks were split among characters), but not both. I lost my mage to an attack plus AoE on turn 2, and basically 4-manned it the rest of the way. I also lost my bard on the final turn to a double attack.
nice videos! mine's pretty close to yours, except i have a pally to soak up some damage. you should throw an elite in those runs. gives some bonus cash. by the way, i don't think that group will ever be able to take the final boss. but i'd love to see you do it!
haha thanks. yeah that's the only thing I'm slightly worried about. I still have a while to farm before I can get the four ring x4 on everyone though so I can't really put up a good attempt yet, but if I'm successful I'll definitely post an update.
thanks for choosing me <3 haha also, the vids... wow, nice grinding team you have and I'm sorry but I must tell you that when I saw your 1st attempt to epic-boss battle... dude Spoiler I laughed really out loud that I woke up my mom when 'mom' threw you a meteor
