Sparking, when, how and more...

BabaORiley - Dreamweaver

I am working on my veno team support roles like helping out with a spark now and then.

I have figured out to spark the Cleric when they do the blue bubble thing, but am somewhat confused about all the Barb attack visuals and haven't worked out which ones to look for to know its time to spark the Barb. b:puzzled

Is there a particular effect to look for where its sure to be appreciated. I have yet to learn all the abbreviations and connect them with how they look.

Also is working off visual clues how most people do it, or is there some kind of squad chat signaling that works well? Ask the Barb to just yell when they need it?

How do you handle it?

b:laugh

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear

blue bubble and red bubble are obvious visual cues, and of course i spark after those.

i've heard it's good to spark after a barb uses invoke... but like you, i've no idea what invoke looks like. hm, maybe we ought to go searching on youtube... failing that, i try to remember to tell my squads to ask me for a spark as they need it. that's never yet been taken badly.

krisnda

All barb skills 1-79

Edit: I cant seem to find one with invoke, but i can probably find a pic of it.

Bellarie - Raging Tide

Krisnda wrote: »

All barb skills 1-79

Edit: I cant seem to find one with invoke, but i can probably find a pic of it.

I don't see invoke in that video...but the moving catshop was awesome!

And holy ninja edit batman!

Lorann - Raging Tide

Lol I've had the issue of not knowing when to spark the tank too but generally speaking if Cleric isn't RB/BB I just feed any spare sparks to the tank as and when I get them.

Mauntille - Heavens Tear

Invoke - barb goes into a yellow banana split dish and a little Buddha pops up above his head (I think DSHolder has a picture of it in his signature, but I could be thinking about someone else.) Another cue is that he get's the turtle icon next to his name.

Another 2 spark barb skill:

Sunder (also tiger form) - barb spins around in an aoe attack.

Waterfal - Sanctuary

What Mauntille says is right, though I always refer to it as "flower thing" xD

BB and RB are obvious "I need a spark-skills" If I see an archer use barrage, or a wiz a nuke, I usually ask around if someone needs a spark, if not they get one.

Also if the barb and cleric don't need a spark and there's a bm using HF(the red dragon that later gives the amp effect) hand the bm a spark

Anyway, if you're not sure, just ask them to give a yell when they need a spark ^^

Lyritha - Heavens Tear

In TW usually people want sparks all the time... however you need to keep 2 for yourself.

Reason being bramble hood... sending all your sparks away isn't going to help if you die as a result of it and cannot send more at a stead pace.

During the cool down of Lending Hand usually I spend it to build more.... hood comes in handy with just about any attack coming at you

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear

when i see a BM HF'ing (the spinning dragons are pretty hard to mistake, luckily) i'm often conflicted; spark them, or nova? it usually comes down to, is this an APS BM or not --- if yes, i nova; if no, i noxious then spark.

i'm out of the habit of sparking archers after barrage. that's partly because i tend to run with high-level faction archers who seldom if ever need sparked, and who i know will ask if they do. i should probably get into that habit.

krisnda

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear wrote: »

when i see a BM HF'ing (the spinning dragons are pretty hard to mistake, luckily) i'm often conflicted; spark them, or nova? it usually comes down to, is this an APS BM or not --- if yes, i nova; if no, i noxious then spark.

i'm out of the habit of sparking archers after barrage. that's partly because i tend to run with high-level faction archers who seldom if ever need sparked, and who i know will ask if they do. i should probably get into that habit.

Also a good move for BM's (especially if they are aps) is to go fox and use Amplify Damage on the boss. That extra 20% is awesome (30% if your sage )

Fistol - Raging Tide

BabaORiley - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I am working on my veno team support roles like helping out with a spark now and then.

I have figured out to spark the Cleric when they do the blue bubble thing, but am somewhat confused about all the Barb attack visuals and haven't worked out which ones to look for to know its time to spark the Barb. b:puzzled

Is there a particular effect to look for where its sure to be appreciated. I have yet to learn all the abbreviations and connect them with how they look.

Also is working off visual clues how most people do it, or is there some kind of squad chat signaling that works well? Ask the Barb to just yell when they need it?

How do you handle it?

b:laugh

Asking your team mate.. who wants a spark in the order of Barb->cleric->bm->Archer->wizard in term of piority.
If a sin ever say he needs you to give him a spark, kick him lol

Myrrmidonna - Dreamweaver

not sure, but is invoke what the barb uses on 2:15 here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGCdRxtw-Ho

Fistol - Raging Tide

Myrrmidonna - Dreamweaver wrote: »

not sure, but is invoke what the barb uses on 2:15 here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGCdRxtw-Ho

that is correct.

Hexalot - Dreamweaver

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear wrote: »

when i see a BM HF'ing (the spinning dragons are pretty hard to mistake, luckily) i'm often conflicted; spark them, or nova? it usually comes down to, is this an APS BM or not --- if yes, i nova; if no, i noxious then spark.

95% of BMs invited to Nirvana nowadays have some sort of aps (of varying levels) yet are still expected to spam HF whenever possible while DDing between the dragon's cooldown time.

So yes... sparks are always needed and appreciated by most BMs. However 95% of the time the average Veno in squad never even looks our way. b:surrender

Sarrafeline - Sanctuary

I've got Cloud Eruption on my Archer, and the Sage chi skill, so I never need sparks for barrage. In fact, it makes Sage Spark + Barrage possible.

As for cleric, if they are doing RB, I'll ask if they want a spark, as RB only requires one spark. For BB, I toss one anyway.

Barbs... Eh. I haven't played mine enough to figure out the skills yet. I just toss one whenever I have one.

BabaORiley - Dreamweaver

Lyritha - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Reason being bramble hood... sending all your sparks away isn't going to help if you die as a result of it and cannot send more at a stead pace.

I'm one cultivation step away from getting bramble hood, so that conflict will be a new one for me.

Myrrmidonna - Dreamweaver wrote: »

not sure, but is invoke what the barb uses on 2:15 here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGCdRxtw-Ho

That helps a bunch. I tried looking at a few Barb skill videos, but I could not glean much from them, but I definitely recognize that gold circular pattern from now on.

Will be sure to pipe up in squads now and ask. b:thanks

Lorann - Raging Tide

Fistol - Raging Tide wrote: »

Myrrmidonna - Dreamweaver wrote: »

not sure, but is invoke what the barb uses on 2:15 here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGCdRxtw-Ho

that is correct.

Awesome! Thanks for this. Now I won't feel so useless about when to spark teh barb.

Fistol - Raging Tide

Hexalot - Dreamweaver wrote: »

95% of BMs invited to Nirvana nowadays have some sort of aps (of varying levels) yet are still expected to spam HF whenever possible while DDing between the dragon's cooldown time.

So yes... sparks are always needed and appreciated by most BMs. However 95% of the time the average Veno in squad never even looks our way. b:surrender

thought most bm who went nirvana would have taken cloud eruption with them.

4+1 spark is enough for you to spark first , HF, wack till you get 4 spark again.
if you have 5aps of cuz =x

Samurai_Jack - Dreamweaver

Spanking: http://media.photobucket.com/image/spanking/tinahopper/spanking.jpg?o=8 b:laugh
But were and how idk lol b:laugh

Heavenberry - Dreamweaver

Here is a tip from me, read it over.

The top tiers needing sparks are as following in my personal opinion:
S- needy
F- unneedy


S - Barb: Invoke, devour, flesh ream
A - Cleric: BB, spark
A - BM/intBM: HF, MSS, GS, spark
C - Sins: Spark imo
F - other ppl

If you are going to spark people regulary/on CD, get a Demon/Sage spark. It has 15 sec CD instead of 60 sec.

LongWushi - Heavens Tear

Can I ask what the heck happened that venos never spark me when I put up BB? I would expect a L90+ veno to know that if I'm putting up BB it would be nice to get a spark, especially if I'm expected to keep moving the bubble. In all of my BH squads and FF squads (haven't run TT too much lately) whenever I put up BB I'm left to foot the bill for my own sparks. Yes, I do have Cloud Eruption on my genie, but I have to wait a long time for it to recover, especially if I have to HP to follow the tank. Once in a very, very long while will a veno remember to spark me.

I disagree with your statement about Sins needing sparks. They don't. 1. The attack Rising Dragon Strike grants 1.5 sparks. 2. Maxed out Inner Harmony grants 2 sparks. 3. Tackling Slash grants half a spark. 4. If they really need it (and aren't acting as tanks) they can use Shadow Escape to gain a full spark. Besides, by the time one of the better two spark skills coolsdown the other is ready to use. I have Cloud Eruption on my sin's genie too, she never needs a spark.

Mauntille - Heavens Tear

LongWushi - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Can I ask what the heck happened that venos never spark me when I put up BB? I would expect a L90+ veno to know that if I'm putting up BB it would be nice to get a spark, especially if I'm expected to keep moving the bubble. In all of my BH squads and FF squads (haven't run TT too much lately) whenever I put up BB I'm left to foot the bill for my own sparks. Yes, I do have Cloud Eruption on my genie, but I have to wait a long time for it to recover, especially if I have to HP to follow the tank. Once in a very, very long while will a veno remember to spark me.

There could be a couple things to this:

1. You run with the noob venos who don't know about Lending Hand.
2. The veno decided it wasn't necessary.
3. It's still on cooldown (pre-99, the cooldown is 1 minute.)

If there's a long period between when you should be putting up BB, then there's really no point to sparking the cleric as they are expected to regain that chi through healing/attacking/debuffing/etc. That goes for both bh's and higher level FF squads. The priority of who gets sparks should be dependent upon the instance and the squad. If someone is being lazy they get fewer sparks. If someone is doing great and it would benefit the squad to spark them, they get more sparks.

LongWushi - Heavens Tear

The veno didn't spark anyone, period. She didn't use Hood or Nova, so it wasn't like the sparks were productive. Although once or twice they used Frozen Scarab (I don't remember the name for the water skill - I never use it). Or they didn't use sparking stuff at all and failed as DD too (which happened today in BHs). I just miss that when I was leveling my veno it was expected that you gave the cleric a spark in case of an accident after BB went up. Everyone else came second.

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear

LongWushi - Heavens Tear wrote: »

The veno didn't spark anyone, period. She didn't use Hood or Nova, so it wasn't like the sparks were productive. Although once or twice they used Frozen Scarab (I don't remember the name for the water skill - I never use it).

you are describing a failveno, someone whose playing skills are so deficient i'd have to wonder if they even completed their 59 culti and got their second spark.

(i believe i've used my frozen scarab exactly once, to see what it looked like. and i've since forgotten, it's been so long...)

tweakz

LongWushi - Heavens Tear wrote: »

The veno didn't spark anyone, period. She didn't use Hood or Nova, so it wasn't like the sparks were productive. Although once or twice they used Frozen Scarab (I don't remember the name for the water skill - I never use it). Or they didn't use sparking stuff at all and failed as DD too (which happened today in BHs). I just miss that when I was leveling my veno it was expected that you gave the cleric a spark in case of an accident after BB went up. Everyone else came second.

At 90+, you shouldn't need to be using BB left and right and veno should be using Nova. I feel lucky if a veno has a Herc, and uses amp and Ironwood. Too many seem to think we want them around as decoration, and not enough squad leaders kick them for it.

LongWushi - Heavens Tear

tweakz wrote: »

At 90+, you shouldn't need to be using BB left and right and veno should be using Nova. I feel lucky if a veno has a Herc, and uses amp and Ironwood. Too many seem to think we want them around as decoration, and not enough squad leaders kick them for it.

I seem to get fail squads. In Brim or Eden I have to set up BB two or three times because somehow we end drawing 5+ mobs. Occasionally I go to Abba/SoT or Metal/Fire, but in the 99s is generally only have to BB at the bosses (when they aren't the interrupt bosses). In my BH Eden/79 the veno had a herc and sometimes that was all that was DDing. Reminds me of yesterday when I was in 79 and we had a barb stand around with his thumb up his butt until the bosses were almost dead. I don't get how people don't know how to play their classes at all or just fail hardcore at it. I kinda get it, with the plvling now, but I would think (and hope) that they knew a little bit about the class they played. Maybe I am putting too much faith in people.

tweakz

LongWushi - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I seem to get fail squads. In Brim or Eden I have to set up BB two or three times because somehow we end drawing 5+ mobs. Occasionally I go to Abba/SoT or Metal/Fire, but in the 99s is generally only have to BB at the bosses (when they aren't the interrupt bosses). In my BH Eden/79 the veno had a herc and sometimes that was all that was DDing. Reminds me of yesterday when I was in 79 and we had a barb stand around with his thumb up his butt until the bosses were almost dead. I don't get how people don't know how to play their classes at all or just fail hardcore at it. I kinda get it, with the plvling now, but I would think (and hope) that they knew a little bit about the class they played. Maybe I am putting too much faith in people.

I used to love Barbs, but now it seems they're worse than venos on avg. No other class gos AFK as much. There are still some great Barbs in the game, but for the most part they're played by people taking advantage of their rarity.

I also see that squads lately are very cleric unfriendly. -That is squads and not just the veno. Barbs will play aggro pong when they should realize they can't hold aggro. Assassins will steal aggro knowing it will kill them just to show off. Archers and wizards will steal aggro just to show off, and cause bosses/ mobs to move (slowing down melee DD and causing repeat AoE).

It's no wonder I favor solo classes. I like group dynamics but sometimes it's just too many idiots.

Before doing Happy Valley runs in RB: Spark the cleric (after BB)! You don't need the freakin sparks for the runs, and the quest isn't even available until a bit after the time the first wave is destroyed! Sometimes the BB goes down for whatever reason (has to move it, gets interrupted, etc).

Thayl - Heavens Tear

Before doing Happy Valley runs in RB: Spark the cleric (after BB)! You don't need the freakin sparks for the runs, and the quest isn't even available until a bit after the time the first wave is destroyed! Sometimes the BB goes down for whatever reason (has to move it, gets interrupted, etc).

Yeah i wait to spark cleric in RB culti for maps and squad members star saying, Veno runs? why veno dont start run? veno still here?. so i laugh n start doing the runs b:chuckle