Parry and Potions

[Cado]

Ok...I'm still going back and forth and it's a pain, I know

Does anyone have any solid info on whether or not GM parry with high end shield (GM or better) is worth it for pvp? Are there good numbers to support claims or is this I highly debatable thing and largely based on skill and play style? If it is all about play style and skill then through practice it might be worth it to keep parry as I'm fairly effective at s/s tanks. But if heal pots out heal what even the best shields mitigate in damage ..then it may not be worth it.

I think for pvm it would be awesome for tanking...but my primary concern is using heal/cure pots and the delay with the shield. In reading the Parry guides on this site, it suggest that shields for pvp are pretty rarely used. But for pvm they allow you to stand a fighting chance against almost any mob in game. I don't know if that is still the case or not, but just what the guides indicate.

If it's a hindrance for pvp then I'd rather invest points that would be more useful and just GM Hiding and Magery or look into diversifying into Tracking, Stealth, Archery, Lockpicking, wrestling, Underwater basket weaving...I dunno lol.

[benny-]

or look into diversifying into Tracking, Stealth, Archery, Lockpicking, wrestling, Underwater basket weaving...I dunno lol.

Parry is def powerful in pvp...watch as another dexxer is hitting you for mere scratches while you pound away at 'em or see that pesky mage doing 5 pt hally hits...good stuff.

The only downside is that it slows down your pot chugging a bit.

There's two options you could do for this...

Either set Razor to automatically disarm/arm for drinking pots, or do it manually.

With auto disarm you're going to have a bit of a delay whenever you need to get the pot. Also if you need to chug multiple pots it will trip up. For example, if you need to drink both a cure and a heal or maybe drink a dex then a refresh pot (to fill your now higher max stam) what will happen is Razor will disarm the shield, drink the first pot, but when you go to drink the second the shield will be reequipping...thus you get the message "You must have a free hand to drink a potion..." So then you'll have to hit each pot key seperate....allowing Razor to disarm the shiled, drink the pot, rearm the shield, then start over for the second pot.

This does work and is admittedly much easier, but it does slow you down a bit. Whenever I jump into a fight, the first thing I do (on a dexxer) is drink a str, a dex, then a total refresh...the auto disarm/arm option really messed me up here.

What I'd suggest is to forget the option and have a hotkey that you can hit quickly (and often) to toggle your shield. Thus when you're about to drink a pot, go ahead and drop it, drink, then rearm...giving you much more control over it. With some practice, you could probably get pretty good about knowing when to arm/disarm to where it might not even slow you down. Such as seeing "In Nox" you'd then preemptively drop the shiled, wait for the poison to land, drink, rearm.....Or if you're low on health and the bandage timer is nowhere near ready...go ahead and drop the shield for a hasty g heal pot....Something to that effect.

Dunno, might trip you up a lil getting used to it, but I def think it'd work.

[Cado]

Ok...that is very useful feedback, thank you. I do have a hot key that toggles disarm/arm shield that is easy to reach (a mouse button). I'll restock on potions and start practicing with mobs...I'm not yet in the habit of chugging potions before battle, but I need to be!

Now I just need to settle on magery and hiding. Using the stratics Magery calculator it looks as though I can cast recall (or all 4th circle spells) at 100% at 70 skill level. With only 25 int I have little mana and can't cast 7th/8th circle spells at all. I could still cast 6th circle spells which I'm not sure I'd do much anyway beyond Mark and Blade Spirit. And I don't know the difference in effectiveness for g-heals at level 70 vs GM magery.

So, one possibility would be then to GM Parry, then go 70 magery and 30 Hiding.

However, my main question is what the break off point is for effectiveness in hiding? And is the invisibility skill a suitable replacement at GM magery? Right now my magery is still pretty low so I'm keeping hiding while I level magery....just too many uses to not have it. How badly will I miss it if I go completely w/o hiding and go for GM magery?