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Wiseman -> RE: What were the major factors in your build making (10/5/2011 19:02:31)
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1 What factors made you better at building?
I was trained by a few players with very different approaches to battle and builds.
From level 1-29 I trained myself mostly, with a bit of input here and there from a few friends, like Dorumon, Kyoshi, Jaunti, and NJThug.
xxDantExx always seemed to take his time in battle, he mostly played by instinct with very little calculation involved, he was my first trainer and helped me when I first hit the level cap. I prefer faster fights than he did, however I still adapted his play-style of instinct over calculation, and that's how I've played for a long time.
My second trainer was PlzJustDieNoob, he thought me about stat progressions and high health builds, before that I always used low health builds, but he explained to me how health was worth more point for point than def/res. Also he used mid-high DEX builds most of the time and thought me how useful the stat can be, even for mercenaries, I always try to make sure that my builds have a decent amount of DEX over tech because DEX is still more useful overall.
My third trainer was Shaniqua, and I think out of all the players I learned from, I learned the most from him. He taught me the value of skill point placement. When placing skill points it's best to try to get a lot for a little, in other words you shouldn't waste points for a small gain, when you can use that point for a much larger gain in another skill. He also taught me the importance of energy efficiency, which is having enough energy to use your skills in many combinations, one effective method is making sure your skills all cost around the same amount of energy. I tend to have 1 primary skill which cost a lot of energy, and then 3-4 complimentary skills that can be used in any combo with my main skill. I also try to make sure that my builds can survive even if my main skill isn't usable, since there's a lot of energy drainers these days.
While Shaniqua taught me about energy efficiency, he still preferred low energy builds over high energy builds (which was a common trend back in beta), it wasn't till I met Illuminator that I learned how useful higher energy builds could be. Since then I've always used more energy than most players for more options in battle, this isn't always the case, however it does make a difference.
The final trainer I wish to talk about is Experience, all the battles I've had over the years taught me the most important thing, which is that no build is perfect, and there is always room for improvement. Honestly I'm more proud of my 10,000+ loses than I am of my 76,000+ wins, because I've learned more per loss than I've learned per 1000 wins. Each loss has helped me improve my builds, as well as my ability to make a good build, and I am grateful for that.
If I ever found a perfect build, and could never lose, I wouldn't use it. I think it would be boring to win every battle with no chance of losing, also I'd lose my touch and never learn anything new. That is the same reason why I refuse to only do NPCs, I must do some random battles otherwise the game would be far to boring. :P
Other notable mentions are.
- Dax - Who thought me the value of turn order, and helped me learn how to use Bounty Hunter effectively.
- Xendran - Who taught me how to use Tech Mage effectively.
- Sparticus - Who taught me that losing or winning isn't important, it's the battle itself that matters.
- BarneyStillPwnsYou - Who taught me that thinking outside of the box when making builds can achieve surprising results...and he taught me just how useful a well time booster can be.
- KotR Members - For helping me field test my builds to see just how good they are on a wide-scale basis.
2 Just for you
When I make a build that is based off of a past build I usually just utilize the current meta-game to my advantage. For instance at this time many players aren't able to handle getting their energy drained, so I try to keep a good energy drain option in my builds. Also physical weapons are more common these days, so I tend to keep high DEX and/or use a physical armor. When making a build from scratch, that nobody has tried, I always start with a 1st draft that usually fails. I improve the build till I can win 7 out of 10 battles, and after that I start to test newer drafts in 50 battle increments. Every 50 battles I change something depending on how I lost my fights, for instance if I lost a lot due to being energy drained, I'll add more energy, or if I lose due to blocks often I'll add more DEX. I continue to do this till I can get about 40 wins with 1-5 loses which is when I consider a build to be successful, if I toss in some NPCs I can easily get 100+ wins with 1-10 loses using that build.
3 For others also.
I tend to only make builds for my close friends and faction members, however there are rare occasions when I make exceptions.
When making a build for others I always fall back on old builds I've used myself, then I tell them to test it out in battle and adjust as needed. The fact is nothing can really determine how good a build is for someone, except the person using the build. The only way to really make a build work is to test it in battle multiple times, if someone expects a perfect build then they will always be disappointed. I do not make builds for people that tend to retrain after every loss, and I prefer not to waste my time trying to help someone that only wants to win constantly.
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