Is there any point to using light armor?

I am pretty new to the game, just started on release 12 but I'm not new to these sorts of games and have a pretty good grasp of the mechanics. I have been trying to do a dual wielding light armor character and it seems completely ineffective. I'm level 35 and have taken every damage reduction possible(including earth magic) and every damage bonus possible for my dual wielding and blades. The issue is that I can be able to solo anything outside of west ravenwood, my DPS dose not seem to be increased in any significant way, dodging seems pointless and it seems going anything less then full tank or full mage is just crippling myself, am I missing something or is heavy armor just so OP currently that this sort of build is not an option?

I have been loving the game so far, but I don't want to play the heavy armor tank like everyone else in the guild or go full mage(It feels like we are all carbon copies of the same two character). Any advice would be welcome, has anyone been able to make a ranger/rouge build that is effective? If you have please share it and point out what I am doing wrong or just confirm my suspicions that currently not using full plate as a melee fighter is suicide.

 

You'll hear this a LOT.. but you should keep in mind this is still pre-alpha with a long way to go. Nothing is completely balanced yet and what is effective now may not be effective later.

That said I'm mostly in agreement so far in regards to dodge and defensive moves. I'm also using leather armor and dual wielding but I haven't tried challenging large groups. I find so far I can take just about anything solo at this stage (I'm also about level 35).. but a swarm of low level baddies can still do serious damage. I believe this much at least is by design. Our power level doesn't go up exponentially like you find commonly happens in other games.

I go to some areas right now and I see just huge swarms of baddies everywhere and it's scary! I can poke around the perimeter and take 3 or 4 at a time but if I just wade in swinging.. yeah.. that wouldn't be pretty.

Overall though I'm happy with how my build has worked out. I'm still getting a feel for things but I can survive so long as I'm not reckless.

To make a long answer short.. yes I'm sure we'll be able to make viable roguish builds but we also need to be patient with the development process. Servers are live 24/7 now (woohoo!) but we're several months away from launch. So in the meantime.. play.. observe.. make comments and have as much fun as possible.

 

plate is OP right now and will be nurfed at some point i wouldn't really try light armor till that happens or till game goes live they still have a lot of tunning to do they got a lot of all the basic stuff in atleast enough to play it and give people a idea of what the final release will be like but still a lot stuff to add also the game map you see is about 1/10th of the release map

 

I have to agree with Bowen here. The amount of improvement in the last couple of Releases is significant. If the Dev team can keep up that rate it won't be that many Releases before you see a solution to the imbalance issues. As it is the cost to respec is cheap so mess around with what works even if it means playing a style that isn't at the top of your list. That way you get to experience the content and as the changes come you can switch back to the style you'd like to play.

It also helps to post suggestions as to what you'd like to see and provide feedback via the bug forums to help the Devs know where folks are at with each release.

There's lots good here already and lots of potential as we move forward so if you have fun along the way it keeps you from feeling impatient that what you want isn't here yet.

Goodgaming

 

I've been playing in light armor, with a blade and a shield, currently at level 31. My skill points are divided between Blades, Light Armor, Shield, Tactics, and some Focus. I've been soloing the elves at Greymark Forest and the skeletons at Ravensmoor. Was fighting at the Mysterious Swamp in prev. releases with light armor too, but I haven't gone back there this release. I can handle multiple fighters at once, or a fighter, archer and mage at once.

* Measure your use of defense versus offensive tactics. Using a defensive tactic in the middle of battle will often harm you, because while you're putting into play your defensive move, the enemy will be attacking you. When you're hand to hand, its more effective to go on offense, because you can do much more damage by attacking than you can resist damage by defending. However, defensive moves still have their use. Ready your weapons and wait before you go into a battle situation. Use a defensive move like Deflect or Dodge, and then go in for an attack. This will give you a defensive advantage before the battle starts. Also, you can use Tumble followed by a defensive move to regain the defensive advantage. Tumble itself will increase your defenses temporarily, but will also give you the space that you can do another defensive move right away, if you have it ready, without being attacked. Then go back on the attack. Riposte is also an effective move because it gives you a defensive advantage while not giving up an attack move.

* Slam your opponent with multiple moves at once, if you can. Waiting before you run into battle also allows your combat bar to fill up, which allows you to hit them with multiple moves inn quick succession, draining them faster than you would be able to do otherwise. Flurry will help a little, too, though you have to prepare it before you go into an attack. Or, similar to defense moves, in combination with Tumble.

* Use different tactics for single opponents versus multiple opponents. Against single opponents, double slash is the most effective, although I've found, if you have your skill tree maxed right, riposte can do pretty hard criticals. Against multiple opponents, you'll want to mix in some Whirling Blades, and try to wait so you can do the combo with Rend, which will do a Sawblade Sweep. This will wear down all of the opponents attacking you. You want to mix in single attack moves too, obviously. Whirling Blades can also be effective against a single enemy, but essential for multiple enemies, and made better with the combo.

* If you can, try to pick out single opponents, rather than fight many at once. You have to learn how to draw out individual enemies from a pack. If another enemy is a far enough distance away and is turned in the other direction, he might not notice you when you pull towards the first one. Draw that enemy out of range until it's a safe one-on-one situation. While it might be possible to defeat multiple opponents at once, its always easier to defeat single opponents. Camouflage and Silent Movement will help with this.

* Don't be afraid to run. If you're low enough on health that you're afraid of dying, don't be afraid to run. Note that in the current build, when you get out of combat mode you start to heal. If you run far enough, out of combat mode, but still make sure the enemy is trailing you, you can heal by the time he gets to you. Run, until you get out of combat mode (sometimes this takes a while), until you get decent health back, then wait and heal some more until he gets near you, then ready your weapons again close to the last minute. The Light Armor Sprint skill no doubt helps this, although I haven't used it.

* Get the best armor and weapons available for your class. Augmented leather armor is better than regular, which you can purchase at the Owl's Head armorer. The blades I've used are the ones with high critical values. So the Iron/Pirate cutlasses, or the Iron short sword with Iron hilt that you find sometimes.

* Be patient and have fun.

 

speed

 

Plate has a high fizzle rate and armor slug rate. It is very powerful for staying alive solo, but in a group if a tank in plate is in front, someone could be in back in light armor dropping serious spells. But I don't think light armor is going to be very feasible solo even as they try to improve balance.

 

I don't know... making it feasible would be a high priority. Overall effectiveness though would be dependent upon play style. You will note for example that light armor skill includes a measure of stealth that could potentially allow light armor soloist to be very effective. Combined with damage bonuses for flanking and sneak attacks and you have a classic rogue build.

You also need to consider that the campaign and single player options has to be achievable in light armor. Otherwise you're forcing single player into a limited role.

 

one of the beautys of Ultima Online was it was possible to kit out your character any way you wanted to and be effective for example my favourite design was a plate wearing mage assassin, it is also one of the things that attracts ppl to Elder Scrolls, hopefully it will remain viable to balance out your gear appropriately for the diff classes

 

try blunts there are a lot of stuns and knockdowns in that tree that really helps in surviving multiple baddies

 

Welcome fireflygirl!

 

fireflygirl, this is a well kept secret--
crafting leather armor with leather straps will double your attack power.

I can't find the thread right now, but "leather" will add a multiplier of +1x to whatever you're crafting.
Leather anything with leather straps is 2x leather, thus, 200% damage.
Copper is damage avoidance, iron is damage resistance, and cotton is intellect. IIRC.

 

I use light armor and almost no magic. My Avatar is now at level 53 and having allot of fun playing that way !
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...wordsmanship-weapons-never-stop-moving.17339/
Here's a sort of blog I recently wrote on light armor fighting in R-12
Welcome to the game fireflygirl!
~Time Lord~

 

Bah humbug....there's one thing that I haven't seen mentioned here....keep moving!

My axer (using Augmented leather) keeps moving while fighting. Continue to move thru the baddie or around him, so you are behind him when you hit an offensive move. At first I didn't think it was actually doing much good, but as my skill level got to about 20, it seemed to make a difference. I seem to take less damage, and dish out more.