Power levels?

zahinder

So I'm vaguely considering drifting back into this game, and looking over the changes. And a few things worry me.

The umbrella worry is 'how necessary are some of these things to be 'happy' doing pve?' (I don't care at all about pvp)

#1: Companions
So I spent $30 getting a rock dude, because it seemed funny (and one of the few ways to distinguish a dwarf cleric from a hippy dippy leaf lover (joke)). Great, a purple companion. Plus the free cleric so I can cleric alongside my cleric.

Except now I get bonuses from unsummoned but 'active' companions. How much better are the bonuses for paid companions? Am I going to feel a pinch if I don't have 5 purple dudes?

Because upgrading my cleric is still stupidly expensive (300k ADs to get to green... yeaaah)

(Side-note: how hard would it be to move my rock-dude to another character?)

#2: Artifacts/boons/lemurdings/whatever
Now there's 'more stuff to do at endgame,' with a slew of artifacts and widgets to get extra bonuses. I've only mildly poked at Faewild stuff, but it seemed... pretty boring/grindy to actually make progress. (IE: It's fun the first few times)

So, how weak will I feel without those things?


Note that I mainly play solo, occasionally skirmish.

acciobong

Removed Meme

adinosii

You can get a few green companions for next to nothing if you keep your eyes open for promotions.... currently the Ioun Stone of Radiance is being given away, in the past the mercenary, faithful initiate and a few others have been available - also, some CTA events and areas like Tower of Celadine, the Midsummer/midwinter events have "free" companion rewards.

You cannot move companions between characters, but you can get account-wide companions - I have 4 (soon 5) such companions, so every new character I create starts out his career with a full team of companions...nice, eh?

As for artifacts - it is very easy to get the first one (one quest) and it will take a few days of PvP to get a second one - but then things become a bit harder. Get at least those two - it is trivial to raise their quality from green to blue...and reasonable work to get them to purple. They will give you a nice boost, but are by no means necessary.

Same applies to the boons.... a nice boost, but not absolutely necessary. Then again, if you want to run CN/MC/VT, you might need every boost you can get.

kolbe11

In a quick summary, you will feel the same as you did without Artifacts or Companions... WITH them, you will only feel more powerful and able to complete dungeons or survive that much longer. As for the stats:

Review the following list of bonuses for companions and pick the ones you want to work towards getting:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?517521-List-of-Active-Bonuses-for-companions

If you are a min-maxer, look in the Class forums for your class to find the recommended artifacts/companions that would work best for you.

NOTE: you cannot move companions between toons.

/end-story

zahinder

Well, a simple quest for an artifact sounds reasonable. mmm. Thanks

twstdecho

You won't miss much by not stocking up on companions. You won't even miss much by not focusing on all available boons, especially since you said you are focused on PvE. I would grind through Sharandar and Dread Ring long enough to get your first three boons, and then decide if you feel going after the next one or two are worth it for each area.

You can't transfer your purple companion. Do not pay to upgrade your cleric. It's cheaper to buy other companions that are already purple (like the Rust Monster for instance) if you really want more companions. The other thing to consider with companions is the Sword Coast Adventure game that you can play on the Gateway with them. Having 4 purple companions and being able to run the Tier 6 dungeon with them to find the thief companion reward can be a nice little AD generator as well (if you get lucky and actually get one).

Not sure if you have a purple mount, or even want one, but if you do, and you also want to pick up a few purple pets, check out the Knight of the Feywild pack. It's $60, but you get both a purple mount and purple companion that can be used on ever single character you ever create on your account. You also get few other account wide things (like an armor enchantment and clothing), as well as 600k in AD (that you can distribute across characters if you like).

Now, you said you don't care about PvP, however, I would point out a couple of things. First, you can do the minimum 4 matches per day to gain raw astral diamonds (4k per day with the daily quest, another 8k on the days that it's also the Lord's quest). Also, once you grind enough Glory, you can buy the PvP artifact, which can be a huge help in PvE as well.

zahinder

I'm a big believer in not doing stuff I don't enjoy in MMOs. It leads to massive burn out.

I'd rather take a hammer to my own hand than play PVP in this game more than once.

Kicking myself for having bought a purple mount (which at least is account-wide) and companion (which isn't), because I could have done it more cheaply with the Feywild pack. Ah well.

beckylunatic

Ghaleb Dhur is an awesome companion for a cleric that solos a lot, so don't kick yourself too hard.

pitshade

The active companion bonuses and artifacts are nice, but people were beating the dungeons before they existed and the difficulty hasn't increased to match the extra stats and special abilities. For soloing, you don't need them at all. I finished Sharandar without any of that stuff. Frankly, I think the solo content in the modules is easier by far than the last two leveling zones. The artifact quest wasn't that hard for me (eight chars including two clerics) but others have had trouble with it. If it gives you difficulty, you can probably find someone to partner with fairly easily using chat. There is a small chance of getting an additional artifact from a skirmish chest. I haven't had that happen yet. As far as companions go, the bonus is proportional to the quality of the follower, so even just getting white quality ones for gold and green quality ones from events can be helpful. The current CTA event has a chance of dropping the armored orc wolf again, which has a nice bonus. Regardless, they add to your character but the content isn't any more difficult, so if you were doing fine before, you don't really need them.

zahinder

Ok, that's good to know, thanks, guys!

icyclass

I'd also throw in that Sharandar and Dread Legion have pretty decent purple drops that can help boost your stats if you're playing solo (i.e. not getting gear from dungeons).

ladymythos

zahinder wrote: »

I'm a big believer in not doing stuff I don't enjoy in MMOs. It leads to massive burn out.

I'd rather take a hammer to my own hand than play PVP in this game more than once.

Kicking myself for having bought a purple mount (which at least is account-wide) and companion (which isn't), because I could have done it more cheaply with the Feywild pack. Ah well.

You, sir, is my hero. I too hate doing stuff I don't enjoy, and I really don't enjoy PvP. And as for buying mounts and companions, I've done more than what's healthy with both. The biggest difference between us is that I don't regret buying the mounts and companions. Despite having the unicorn from Knights of Feywild, I also bought a warg-thingy for my ranger. It was expensive and not faster than the unicorn, but she looks so good on it. Same with the cleric on her armored bear. And looking good is important. Even if it's just for my low selfesteem.

That said, I'm on a break from this game for a while. My rogue reached lvl 60, and I grinded up to gear-score 9700 or so. Enough to get through Malabog's Castle, if barely. Which I unlocked too, btw. (takes quite a while, and involves grinding Sharandar a lot.) My ranger and guardian fighter are both in their 40s, and the other five characters (one of each class) between 20 and 40. So you can say I do play quite a lot, or at least used to.

This leads to two things:

First of all, there's the solo content. I find companions priceless here. Whether they heal me, draw aggro from me, attack for me or just steal my stuff and run off (note to self: get kobold companion refund, hehe), they do add enough to combat that I'd rather have them than not. It's the old saying "I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." And believe it or not, but they have saved my butt on a few occasions. So if you can get one, get one. The cheaper the better, but keep in mind it will stick with your for a while. Might as well get one you like, rather than one with stats you like. The best is of course both on one companion, but I go with looks rather than usefulness.

Second, there's the skirmish stuff (as you mentioned occasionally skirmishing.) I don't find companions useful here, to be honest. There are too many players charging ahead without a care in the world, so the companions will mostly just be useless. They simply can't hurt the enemies enough to draw aggro or contribute much to the damage. The only useful ones are the healers, but they tend to DO draw aggro for some reason. Even if they don't, they don't heal as much as the player healer. That leaves us with groups without a healer, but in this case, just withdraw a bit and pop a potion when you get too hurt.

tl;rd: If you only go solo, get a companion you like. If you go with groups, don't bother.

chemboy613

I would say the core of this game is team oriented, and if you want to play solo, i'd say some other game is best for you

That said, the teamwork in this game is phenomenal There's a lot of great stuff here.

zahinder

Unless you are prepared to come watch my twins while I game, solo is about all I can regularly manage...

(And if you ARE prepared to do so, PM me! We pay well!)

chemboy613

LOL, haha i do understand that man, just play when they are sleeping

valasqua

I would say the core of this game is team oriented, and if you want to play solo, i'd say some other game is best for you

I solo almost exclusively--I do skirmish, especially during the Call to Arms events, but I haven't done a single dungeon. I don't really agree with the above. I have six characters (two 60s) and I enjoy the solo game. I don't even mind the grinding in Sharandar and Dread Legion all that much, because I like having a way to improve my characters after they've gotten to max level. And yes, those two zones do provide you a way to get decent purple gear, although not as good as you would get if you were running T2 dungeons.

I wish there were more content, and I'm looking forward to more classes, but I've still enjoyed the solo game quite a bit.

krimbarbarroja

twstdecho wrote: »

You won't miss much by not stocking up on companions. You won't even miss much by not focusing on all available boons, especially since you said you are focused on PvE. I would grind through Sharandar and Dread Ring long enough to get your first three boons, and then decide if you feel going after the next one or two are worth it for each area.

IMHO, the dread ring boons are certainly worth the grind, specially since you also get some stuff while you are at it: Greater marks are pretty nice boosts to your artifacts, and once in a while you get a purple with, if nothing else, is worth some RADs. Some say you can also get an artifact, but I have no evidence to it (j/k).

The last boon in DR, Madness...fully deserves its name.