Build change after crafted gear rework

Are you using the new gems with crafted gear?

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...buff-ideas-for-imbued-gems-and-jewels.168591/

 

Nope. Don’t yet know how. But I appreciate (sincerely) the information.

 

Basically what has happened in this release was a MASSIVE change to the Crafting and Combat system of the game. Artifacts were reduced in power, but now an Imbued Gem can be taken from various Artifacts. These new gems and jewels can now be applied to crafted gear. This change was to basically make crafted items now the more powerful items in the game.

Every single month, a post with a link to the latest Release notes is posted in the Announcement Forum. The latest one can be found here: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/avatar’s-update-425-play-release-90-now-imbued-gems-jewels-balance-work-ui-improvements.168605/ Click the Full Update link to read all the various changes. There are so many changes reading all that may take some time.

 

A few things have been brought to air mages in this whole process though, I for one, found a few interesting things, here are some :

• Chain Lightning’s base damage has been increased by about 20%. Additionally, it can no longer be blocked by shields and the max number of jumps it will make has been increased from 4 to 6 targets or 8 targets with Wild Lightning boost.
• The base damage for Lightning has been increased by about 20% and shields no longer offer any protection from this attack.

Also, in terms of new Gems and Jewels to socket in your gear, note that these Imbied Gems and Imbued jewels can go in the same pieces we've been used to socket Gems and jewels in the past, except for artifacts :

Air Imbued Gem of Chain Lightning +20% Chain Lightning Damage Thunder Branch
Air Imbued Gem of Electrifying Stun +20% Air Stun Effectiveness Acara's Shield of Defiance
Air Imbued Gem of Greater Theurgy +25 Air Attunement Crafted
Air Imbued Gem of the Air Summoner +20 Summon Air Elemental Power Suutak's Bluster
Air Imbued Gem of Wild Lightning +1 Wild Lightning Wand of Static Discharge
Air Imbued Jewel of Greater Theurgy +12 Air Attunement Crafted
Air Imbued Jewel of Gust +15% Gust Chance Ring of Air
Air Imbued Jewel of the Storm +3% Air Damage Acara's Plate Helm of Defiance

So all of these potentially very nice things can be socketed into crafted gear, granting some very nice bonuses to air!

It might not be to the level you were before, but barely anyone retains their power from before.

I hope this helps see a slightly brighter future ahead for Robert, and I would love to discuss these options with you and theory craft some gear choices, many of these things sound very interesting, but I just dislike playing as an air mage too much to attempt these things myself!


As for the word "Persistence", I understood that as meaning no more wipes, these things haven't been wipes, just balance, or set backs in the eyes of some, but the original meaning of the term persistence has still been retained, you still have all your wealth and experience you've accumulated since persistence, but as all things in life, some of those things have lost value!

 

Yep. I know the grenadiers can drop them, I just haven't had much luck lately. The release notes from R88 have a huge list of who drops what now.

 

How many have you killed?

 

I haven't really kept track. I'm sure it's just my "normal" bad luck with RNG. It'd just be nice if the daily one were a little less difficult, is all.

I did finally get one of the new socket recipes last night. (If patterns hold, that means I'll get two or three more of the same one before the next "new" one...)

 

Bundles.

 

that's jewels?

 

I thought only jewel recipes dropped in bundles?

And, in fact, I did actually get the Theurgy jewel recipe out of a bundle. Good thing I was saving those up so I could open a bunch at once.

Main reason the gem is taking so long is I can't kill eles in Aldur very quickly. Also, as per Elgarion in Discord, I may have been farming elementals that don't drop it. (He wasn't clear about that.)

 

Are you using a LUA mod with a Kill Counter? I was also looking for this ring in various scenes, but was actually surprised to find I wasn’t actually able to find that many of the Kobold Grenadiers. But still looking to find a better place with more of them.

 

I am not.

Best (non-PvP, can't speak for Blood Bay) places seem to be K'Rul and Spectral Peaks. Maybe Mysterious Swamp, too, but, that's a little too tough for me, so I haven't checked there.

They do spawn reasonably frequently in Skrekk, but they are lower level. As per R88 release notes, the chance is greater on the higher level grenadiers.

Interestingly, I've gotten a fair number of Brittle Brawns, which drop off the Brawlers. Not sure if they just have a better drop rate, or, y'know, I'm not actually looking for them, so of course I get them a lot.

 

It seems to me that the tower in Mysterious Swamp (the one with the electric monkeys out front) has grenadiers that keep spawning in the upper room .....

But it's not a place for most solo players (including myself)...

 

I don't craft enough to completely understand all the new changes, but that's the main reason I'm in this thread to begin with.
So, thx for all the info on the "changes" - I've learned some stuff tonight ...

Speaking of learning stuff, thx @King Robert for calling my attention to a word that wasn't in my vocabulary !
Now it is...

 

They said crafted gear and arties would meet somewhere in the middle, which implies that lower end players would get fairly stronger while min-maxers would get hit hard.
Wasn't this the case?
Seems like arties were smashed to the floor and transformed into salvage items mostly, which will feed crafted gear to "meet in somewhere in the middle". Basic crafted gear and MW+E are overall the same (except for jewelry that got a stat boost which is nice).

I thought we would get crafted gear special E+MW after imbued gem is in, just like regular gem stuff. But worthy options, because there's more risk to socket prior to upgrading.

 

I'm implying that nearly everyone was using artifacts in some shape or form, especially with how easy the artifa to were to acquire in the past 2 months. I was one of the people who had switched to no artifact gear in preparation to this change, so I didn't take a hit, but I still had to get some gear remade. I feel like I have gotten slightly stronger now seeing how I now have cast time multiplier gems in my gear, which is an amazing stat for bards, but until people adapt to this, no, lower end players didn't just gain power.

Those who were using crafted gear remained where they were until they get the gems and get new gear using them, meanwhile artifact using players felt a big hit.

But, once people adapt to these new Gems, a lot of people will either gain power or return relatively to their old state, except maybe tamers who will still consider Artifacts to be best in slot, which will hurt them.

 

I do hope they have maybe something slightly different in mind for the crafting artis, though. There's really only one slot available for jewels if you've got crafting rings, so while a little bit extra on the necklace is great, it still probably means the rings themselves will pretty much universally be the best option. Unless they nerf them so that the jewels are even better than epic rings. (It'll totally work for things like Brutal Butcher or Gauntlets of Lead, though, since you can still wear those items and then socket 3 pieces of jewelry with the jewels.)

 

Well for gear, I am pretty much staying with what I got currently. I did swap out an epic death ring for dual lich rings for the extra attunement. I may change that back out soon though.

I now have almost all the socket recipes and almost all the gems/jewels I need. that said I will probably remake a chest to get the bigger attunement, and the rings I may sacrifice and remake to test a few options like death touch stuff and or mix it with some other results to see... I think from what I have now after that nerf I am still viable but much slow for sure at killing. adding the extra attunement will next me 30 of the 100 I lost. Which is still better than nothing.

As to finding Gem's and jews etc. Some of them are very low drop rate on purpose to limit them. Gems recipes are drops only from specific type mobs. where jewels are all found in bundles and the likes from what I see.