Affliction Question from a New Player

[ucci28]

Hi, there's a chance I may have double posted this, I guess it timed out the first time. if so, I apologize.


I'm interested in raising Affliction, but because of the way I play, I'll be soloing/duoing a great deal of the time. I saw a reference in another thread to the ability to combine afflictions with damaging spells. It seems to me that would make it easier to raise affliction while in a smaller group, since I'd be doing damage too. Is that how it works?
What level do I have to be to do this?
Can I access this ability purely through the Affliction branch, or do I need to keep my Elemental raised contantly too?
Can I attach damage-over-time effects to an Affliction?
Can anything be attached to Defensive afflictions?


Just so you know, I know I'm choosing a more difficult path for myself, that's what I go for- status effects tend to be the thing I find most fun/interesting in an RPG, and the two things I hate more than anything else in games like this is
1.) hanging around waiting for a party of strangers to accept me, and
2.) Being told by uber-leet players that I'm wearing the 'wrong' armor, raising the 'wrong' skills, and all the other things I need to do to maximize my damage/hour or whatever. Advice is nice, telling me I'm playing the wrong kind of character sucks.

[mehanson]

Haven't done much with afflictions myself, so if I'm wrong here, I'm sure SOMEONE will correct me!

My understanding is that afflictions CANNOT be combined with other types of spells. Therefore, to level up afflictions you have two choices:

1) Team with a damage doer, like an elemental or a melee.
2) Cast your affliction, and when the link breaks attack with a damage dealing attack like elemental or melee (this one splits the XP between the affliction and the damaging attack, so levels slower).

[ucci28]

The thing that gave me the impression you could do this was a quote from a player named sprite, from a thread called 'Afflictions', which reads as follows:

"As for Defensive vs Offensive afflictions - there are 6 offensive vs 3 defensive.
You can combine OA with a nuke when you get the afflicting missile plan at lvl125 ele or OA so can make up some pretty funky spells (either in terms of looks or use)."


I know nothing about nothing, so I'm not trying to argue, just showing you what gave me this impression. Seeing the above was really an inspiration to how I want to build my character, so I'm fishing to see if I can get some details on what (s)he meant.

EDIT: By the way, thanks a lot for the response!

[apolo]

U can can combine affliction with elemental spells, u get the stanza when u get lvl 101 in any of the magic skills, same as the double healing spells or the double nukes
I dont remember if u can combine the elemental with an OA or a DA or both though...

[iphdrunk]

U can can combine affliction with elemental spells, u get the stanza when u get lvl 101 in any of the magic skills, same as the double healing spells or the double nukes
I dont remember if u can combine the elemental with an OA or a DA or both though...

OA only, with DA you are doomed to spam, specially at the very last levels. DA is one of the most leeching and hardest skills at the end (combinig mob resistance, lack of variety, et= sleep spamming on ploderos). OA was pretty fun, using madness on kinchers is quite effective, DA felt like a grind

Ani

[ucci28]

Any idea how the XP works? if I combine a nuke with an afflict, do I get Xp for both, or just one depending on some factor, or...? I assume the nuke damage depends in some way on how high I've raised my Elemental stuff, eh?

[ghyselsj]

U can can combine affliction with elemental spells, u get the stanza when u get lvl 101 in any of the magic skills, same as the double healing spells or the double nukes
I dont remember if u can combine the elemental with an OA or a DA or both though...

Correction: All double and combination spell plans are at lvl 100. Mos upgrades are at lvl 50/100/150 etc. Most people don't notice this because they keep going for one more level to get the title which is always 1 level later.

At 100 elemental, you get the double missile plan (ele+ele), afflicting missile plan (ele+OA) and drain missile plan (ele+DoT). At 100 OA (Offensive Affliction) you get the afflicting missile plan (ele+OA). At 100 healing, you get the double heal plan (heal+heal). At 100 DA (Defensive Affliction) you get nothing (pwned!).

In short: yes you can combine ele with OA. However to be effective with it, you will need to keep your ele and OA about equal.

Long version:
While the ele+OA spell plan will allow you to level both at the same time, you will level more slowly since you level 2 skills at the same time. Also, if your ele is too low, the damage part will get resisted/reduced(partial resist); if your OA is too low, your affliction will not hit or not link.

If you do get a link, it means you won't cast a new spell usually, and this lowers your damage over time. No problem in larger groups, but in a group where you are expected to do your share of the damage, you will need to chain cast, which will lower the effect of your afflictions to a point where you'd be better off not using them.

Defensive afflictionists are plain out of luck. there's no way to raise this skill with nuke/aff combos in one spell. Worth a shot however is the fear/nuke method. Fear a mob so it runs away, then nuke it till it returns, fear again, etc. If you have a tank in your party he will absolutely hate you though, but if you're all casters/ranged, it's a decent method to make up for the loss of a tank.

Damage over time spells are generally best left behind. You will do more damage chain-casting single nukes for about the same expenses or less. A certain few mobs are worth using it on, but as a rule of thumb this should be a novelty spell only.

Hope this helped, and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask them.

Greets,

[ghyselsj]

Any idea how the XP works? if I combine a nuke with an afflict, do I get Xp for both, or just one depending on some factor, or...? I assume the nuke damage depends in some way on how high I've raised my Elemental stuff, eh?

You get a percentage of xp based on how many hits you had with each. Let's say your root hits (doesn't mean it has to link for x seconds, link and break counts as hit) twice, as does your elemental. Assuming you get 3000 xp, 1500 will go to OA, and 1500 will go to ele. If your root hits once, and ele twice, you get 1000 in OA, and 2000 in ele. Pretty simple.

Damage: your damage depends on the spell level and amplifiers. Spell lvl 100 does more damage than 80, of course, but your amplifiers can modify this. Someone with really good amplifiers could do more dmg with an 80 nuke than someone with average amps with a 100.

Chance to hit depends on your level for nukes, and the spell level for affs. If you're level 125 ele, and use a 140 spell, your chance to hit will be based on the 125. If you were 125 OA and using a 140 spell, your chance to hit is based on the 140.

[ucci28]

Wow, thanks a lot, I'm really getting a feel for the kind of character I want to play now.
One follow up question about Damage over time spells- can they be combined with a root to do constant damage against an immobile target, and if so, would that potentially make both the root and the DOA more useful? Even if it's ineffecient and crappy, I'm destined to play with it at least a little. In fact, I'm one of those players who when I hear "Doing this sucks, avoid it" my little ears perk up and I try to figure out some new way to use what everybody else is avoiding. The best way to keep me from using something is to tell me it's what everbody else is doing.

So mainly what I'm interested in this point is what's theoretically possible. I'm stubborn enough that I'll have to learn what's actually good the hard way.

Thanks a lot again, for helping me out. I'm really happy with the game so far, even though I've only played a couple days.

[ghyselsj]

No, DoTs can only be used on their own or with a drect nuke attached. Root/DoT would be a little overpowered, no?

DoTs are only inefficient since they are essentially elemental spells. They're fun to use and better in certain curcumstances, but to grind levels, straight nukes are faster. That's all I meant by it.