tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62869514447963276782024-02-20T05:49:29.481-05:00The Crushing BarbarianA blog dedicated to the Barbarian class in the MMORPG Age of Conan.Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-55116881719387194582008-07-17T18:05:00.003-04:002008-07-17T18:08:21.259-04:00AFKWell, the new job has turned out to be way more of a time sink they I had ever anticipated. Because of this, I haven't been able to find even a full hour to sneak in any playtime :( It's rather depressing, I miss the virtual world of fun!<br /><br />So, I've made the decision to cancel my AoC subscription for the time being until I'm able to figure a way to get some serious playing back in. As such, updates are going to be few and far between until I get back to playing (which is my goal, this won't be my end with this game). Thanks for all the support from everyone thus far, and keep an eye out for my return :) Good luck to everyone out there and feel free to stop by and drop a line.Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-13878858761794484392008-07-11T21:41:00.006-04:002008-07-12T11:58:38.365-04:00Test Patch Notes. Pretty good overall!Ok, I'm not posting the full patch notes, they are quite long and honestly.. this is a blog for Barbarians. So, here are the snipits that I've found to pertain to us and a little bit of what they mean for our future.<br /><br />Before we get started, sorry again for the lack of updates. Still in training at the new job and it takes a good chunk of my time.<br /><br />For some reason, lists aren't agreeing with indenting subtabs, so this might not look the best. I'll try to tidy it up later.<br /><br /><b>Combat</b><br /><br />* Combos and all other actions will be aborted when you start to charge.<br />* The combo chain will now be stopped when you begin a charge.<br />* You can no longer start combos in the middle of a charge.<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">-</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Easy enough. No more exploiting Finishing Blow, with any combo. Time to respec out of it.</span><br />* You can now abort multihit combos without all the damage being rolled back.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">-Awesome! No more lost damage when our combos get interrupted. </span><br />* Aborting multihit combos will not make the target's health become desynced from the client/server anymore.<br />* Fizzle and immunity rolls have been moved to the end of your spellcast. If your target becomes immune after you start your spellcast but before it deals damage, your target will resist the spell.<br />* Stealth is checked again at the end of your spellcast. If your target hides before you land the spell, your spellcast will fail.<br />* The distance to your target while casting a spell is checked again at the end of your spellcast, with a 25% bonus to your range.<br />* Line of sight to your target is checked again at the end of your spellcast.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">-All the above are putting casters in check. Now if you LoS them mid cast, they fail. BIG boost in PvP.</span><br />* Combo finishers (the last attack in the combo chain) now have 25% extra range, making them easier to land in PvP.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">-Again, awesome pvp boost.</span><br />* Aborting unarmed attacks (using a knockback, for example) will now properly cause the damage not to be dealt.<br />* Active Blocking now displays a buff in the debuff GUI indicating the effect.<br />* Active Blocking now has an initial stamina cost upon activation.<br />* Active Blocking has been modified to increase the player's shielding bonus rather than evade chance.<br />* Attacks and heals performed while in Active Blocking will now have reduced effect.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">-Again, starting to put casters and healers in check in PvP.</span><br />* Clickable abilities with instant effects will not be queued after your attack anymore, but executed right away.<br />* For each attack in the combo chain that you do without a valid target, your end damage (on the combo finisher) is reduced 15% per miss.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">-Ambiguous wording FTL. It seems that any directional swing you take that misses will reduce damage done by the actual combo by 15%. Not the best news, but PvP will be a whole new game if these notes all hit at the same time. Also, this is good news for Smash n Crush and Brutal Cyclone.</span><br />* Attack animation speed should be more balanced between genders.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">-Neat.</span><br /><br /></span><b>Player Character</b><br /><br />* You now only prohibited from entering stealth mode if team members are in combat nearby.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">-O.M.G. YES!</span><br />* All your team members and their pets will now get the fatality buff when a team member performs a fatality.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=129193">Full Notes</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-2638189167555902732008-07-07T18:42:00.002-04:002008-07-07T18:45:32.058-04:00Goonheim feat calc fixedWell, I was just about to sit down and re-do all the feat builds in the calc since recently goonheim went bonkers, BUT turns out they were a step ahead of me and have made their calc backwards compatible :) So, just letting you all know the links should be working fine. If you find any that still seem to be wrong. I'll be working on some of the bits I mentioned below as the week goes on; started training at the new job today, though, so it might take me a day or two.Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-59493776680906224202008-07-04T11:47:00.002-04:002008-07-04T11:50:27.623-04:00Holiday weekendHey guys, sorry for the lack of updates. The past few days I've been a bit busy planning a 4th of July celebration for tomorrow. I also have a new job starting on Monday, so updates may slow down a bit until everything settles back down (haven't even been able to play :( ) But here's a little preview of some things I have in mind the near future:<br /><br />-Fix the feat calc links<br />-Analysis of our t1 raid gear<br />-"How To" make a nice combat log<br />-PvP stats/gems<br /><br />Anything else offhand you'd like to see?Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-3092766373899983142008-07-02T22:28:00.001-04:002008-07-02T22:29:38.920-04:00Issues with Feat builds in guidesApparently, the folks over at goonheim decided to change the way their feat calc was displaying saved feats. So, none of my old links work. I'll try to reupdate them sometime soon. Until then, just hang in there.. you should be able to figure it out without em :PGokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-76520480183969953922008-07-02T11:45:00.001-04:002008-07-02T11:46:58.122-04:00Today's patchIs going up.. here's a link to the notes: <a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?p=1350788#post1350788">http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?p=1350788#post1350788</a><br /><br />I'm not going to post any of them since none are of particular interest to us. Enjoy your freshly patched day :PGokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-20941370120037680112008-07-01T12:33:00.003-04:002008-07-01T17:30:57.211-04:00Update from FC about the female attack speed bugYou female barbs will be happy to know that FC is, in fact, working on the issue of different attack speeds. Unfortunately, since it is game wide, it still may be up to another month before we see the fix rolled out. But hey, at least they're keeping the communication open.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Let me begin with saying “yes, we here at Funcom agree with you; this is an unacceptable bug”. We never intended for any character to be stronger/weaker than another based on its gender, and we have been working on making the necessary adjustments to correct this issue for quite some time already."</span><br /><br /><br />Here's a link to the thread on the official forums: <a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=115251">http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=115251</a>Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-59898146319704229532008-06-29T14:05:00.002-04:002008-06-29T14:10:34.154-04:00Update on the 2H hybridIf you recall, I had been <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/cos-got-ya-down-consider-2h-hybrid.html">discussing trying a build that focuses on 2H damage</a>, but includes Haste and Predatory Instincts.<br /><br />For the past day or two, I got around to giving it a shot and I must say it worked well. The damage bonus from Haste seemed to but Staggering Blow just slightly below what CoS was doing. Also, with PI, the stam usage was negligible, which was a nice change for the style.<br /><br />Anyone else have anything to report? I've gone to a deeper 2H/General build for today, since there are a still few general feats I'm interested, but I wouldn't discount the 2H hybrid yet. Might be something I get back to soon.Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-10928247359982038242008-06-28T20:02:00.008-04:002008-06-29T14:05:02.376-04:00Pics of the new PCIF you were wondering, it's all together and running now. Quite well I might add. I have every bar all the way to the right and the shader set to 2.x (3.0 killllls it) and get 60+ FPSeverywhere. So, that's good.<br /><br />Refresher on the specs:<br /><br />Processor Intel Core 2 Duo 6MB L2, 45nm (caused some problems with mobo bios): <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037</a><br />Mobo (evga nforce 680i sli): <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188013">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188013</a><br />Heatsink: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106061">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106061</a><br />RAM - 2x (for 4gb): <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231121">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231121</a><br />HDD: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136178">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136178</a><br />Video Card (evga 9800gtx):<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339"> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339</a><br />PS: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023&Tpk=thermaltake%2b430w">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023&Tpk=thermaltake%2b430w</a><br />Case: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103010">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103010</a><br />DVD Drive: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151153">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151153</a><br />Monitor: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009108">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009108</a><br /><br />And, a few pictures:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0770.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0770.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0771.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0771.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0776.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0776.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0775.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0775.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0777.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0777.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Can't see the LEDs using a flash :(<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0779.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0779.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0786.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/DSCN0786.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>^ Temporary testing Keyboard<br /><br />It's tough to take a steady pic without a flash or tripod.. but you get the idea ;)Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-8243404536185593562008-06-27T14:11:00.005-04:002008-06-27T14:59:25.252-04:00Final piece of the new PC has arrived!A while ago, I posted that I was building a new system.. after RMAing 2 motherboards and finding a spare processor to get my final mobo to work with a 45nm processor I found out the stock Intel fan/heatsink was pretty useless (broken) and I had major overheating issues.<br /><br />So, THIS came today:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/fan.jpg" target="_new"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/fan.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Another angle:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/35-106-061-05.jpg" target="_new"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/35-106-061-05.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The good ol' <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106061">Thermaltake Big Typhoon</a> (they don't lie. it's big.) Hopefully this will get my heating issues under control :D<br /><br />However, it also means most of my night will be spent getting this all rigged up and getting the new PC running. I'll have pics and SSs when I'm done, if all goes well :PGokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-31495330902685313722008-06-26T22:54:00.001-04:002008-06-26T22:55:31.059-04:00Graphic added to LureJust noticed this: Now, when you activate Lure, you get a shield graphic over your head. No more checking the tiny buff icons to see if it's up!Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-16111279052721879362008-06-26T22:12:00.001-04:002008-06-26T22:13:31.978-04:00Savage Rage fixed?So I hear the females now don't have the delay after using Savage Rage? Yay :) While I play a male, I'm sure it was quite annoying.Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-42658050069766800572008-06-26T20:50:00.003-04:002008-06-26T20:53:44.518-04:00Was the CoS nerf akin to Ony's Deep Breath?You old school WoW players know what I'm talking about :P every patch theres mountains of anecdotal evidence pointing to stealth nerfs, but nothing to really confirm it.<br /><br />All day the US boards have been full of people citing a small sample of tests done by a EU player seeming to indicate a massive nerf to CoS. If you don't believe me and feel courageous, go check it out :P<br /><br />However, now that the US servers are (finally - I'm still patching) back up, we're getting reports of CoS being fine and just how it used to be. So, what's the deal? The tooltip for Cyclone of Razors has certainly been changed from 28% to 10%, but some people are claiming that this was simply a display error that was corrected (wouldn't be surprising) and that we had always been getting only 10%, thus, no nerf.<br /><br />WELL???? What are you seeing?Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-4939645342782434962008-06-26T15:43:00.003-04:002008-06-26T15:45:32.060-04:00CoS got ya down? Consider 2H hybrid!Well, servers are still down and we don't know where CoS stands. However, I like to play, so I came up with a build focused on 2H damage. What do ya think:<br /><br /><a href="http://feats.goonheim.com/barbarian#t0a5b5d5e2i3k1t1a5b5c5d3f5g1i3k1l1m3o3q5u2w3t2a5b3d1f1j3" target="_new">http://feats.goonheim.com/barbarian#t0a5b5d5e2i3k1t1a5b5c5d3f5g1i3k1l1m3o3q5u2w3t2a5b3d1f1j3</a><br /><br />PvP Hybrid with a focus on 2H damage.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><br />Why go hybrid with 2H?</span><br /><br />Haste - More damage<br />PI - Stam regen, 2H's biggest downfall (coupled with Second Wind?! zomg :P)<br />Sever - DOES work with 2H, increased burst ftw!<br />Unstoppable - Great PvP talent, when it works<br /><br /><a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=109485" target="_new">Thread on the forum</a>Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-23048534589421728812008-06-26T11:39:00.005-04:002008-06-26T12:27:05.556-04:00Today's patch, potential CoS nerfWell, if you spend any time on the forums, you'll notice they're overrun with trolls and QQers seeming to indicate a stealth nerf to CoS, specifically reducing the bonus damage given by Cyclone of Razors from 28% to 10%. What does this mean? We have to wait and see, but, if that is the only change, I don't think it will be particularly game breaking. Some preliminary EU parses seem to say CoS isn't hitting for that much less, but I don't trust it until I test it myself :P<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Edit</span>:<br /><br />Since I know a lot of people are wondering exactly how much reducing CoR to 10% will reduce the damage of our CoS, here's the math I did earlier:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> So if it does 2000 damage unfeated, it will do 2200 now with CoR</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Prepatch, 2000 damage would become 2560</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Damage difference of 360, 360/2560 = 14% less damage</span><br /><br /><br />Other than that, this is what we got in today's patch:<br /><br /><br /><b>Barbarians</b><br /><ul><li>An issue where Barbarians lose strength between the levels of 42 and 45 has been resolved. Please note that this is only between those specific levels</li></ul>So there ya go, for those levels, you won't lose strength. Grats :P<br /><br />Also, this may be worth noting, since many of us are Cimmerian:<br /><br /><ul><li> Cimmerian and male Stygian dancers beware - dancing near the edges of tall cliffs may be fatal to your health.</li></ul>So yeah, we'll see what happens with CoS.. I'll keep you updated with what I can find.<br /><br />Full Notes: <a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=107983" target="_new">http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=107983</a>Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-88610485343798823022008-06-24T09:32:00.006-04:002008-06-25T14:51:31.957-04:00Barbarian Reaver Feats GuideHello! Today I am bringing you my take on the Reaver (or, Dual Wield) tree and the feats available within it. As with the <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/barbarian-feats-guide-berserker-solo.html">Berserker Feats Guide</a> and the <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/05/barbarian-skills-guide.html">Skills Guide</a> this will be focused toward a solo/small group playstyle for PvP and leveling/raiding for PvE.<br /><br />The Reaver (DW) tree is often refered to as our primary DPS tree, and for good reason. The feats within this tree that augment Cyclone of Steel serve to make it our highest damaging combo and a staple of the <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/hybrid-spec.html">Hybrid Spec</a>. For end-game raiding, this is hands down the top DPS spec and generally will put barbs ahead of the rest on single target.<br /><br />Further reading on Reaver feats can be found in <a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=98198" target="_new">Mad's Reaver Guide</a> over on the official forums. I'll be giving each feat an "out of 5" rating for both PvE and PvP along with including a little information about each specific feat.<br /><br /><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Reaver Stance: Grants the barbarian a combat stance that increases the damage inflicted by their strikes, which also have a chance of causing additional damage. This effect can be applied three times.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></li><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">The first feat in the tree, and, as such, a must take. Great stance for raid environments where it can stack to full.</span></li><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvE: *****</span></li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *****<br /></span></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Hand Weapon Expert: Increases damage inflicted with one handed edged and blunt weapons.</li><ul><li>Flat, passive, DPS increase while using 1H weapons. Wonderful talent when it comes to maximizing damage.</li><ul><li>PvE: *****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *****</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Ambidextrous: Permanently increases the chance of attack with their secondary weapon.</li><ul><li>Offhand swings are not yet fully understood, but they CAN add a decent chunk of damage. However, for PvP, there are often better places to allocate your points. This is a great filler talent, and absolutely necessary for a max DPS PvE build<br /></li><ul><li>PvE: *****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: ***</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Sever: Attacks with the barbarian's primary weapon have a chance of inflicting additional slashing damage.</li><ul><li>First off, THIS IS NOT A DoT. Just to clear that up, it is a direct (slashing) damage proc that his for a significant amount. This is in the same line as Ambidextrous, good filler for PvP, necessity for PvE.</li><ul><li>PvE: *****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: ***</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Unstoppable: When dropping below 30% health the barbarian gain a large amount of damage deflection.</li><ul><li>Fluctuates between broken and functional. Even while functional, not very impressive.</li><ul><li>PvE: *</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: **</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Brutal Cyclone: Increases the chance of inflicting critical damage when using the Cyclone of Steel combo starter.</li><ul><li>Take a look over at <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/official-word-on-smash.html">The (my) official word on Smash 'n Crush and Brutal Cyclone</a> to get a feel for how these abilities work. They only affect the damage from the initial press of the combo. Due to the popular technique in PvP of getting all of the presses of a combo done except the last before you get to the target, this is not very useful. Makes for great damage in PvE.<br /></li><ul><li>PvE: ****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Smash 'n Crush: Increases the combo starter damage done by the Cyclone of Steel combo.</li><ul><li>Reference what was said above, this works the same way.<br /></li><ul><li>PvE: ****</li></ul><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Twist and Tear: All attacks with the barbarian's off hand weapon have a chance of inflicting a bleeding wound that damages the victim for a short time. This effect can be applied five times.</li><ul><li>Does good damage, and in a raid environment, this can definitely add up. In PvP and solo PvE, though, DoTs aren't too big of a deal. One point here is MUCH better than none, but I'm not sure it's worth going further.</li><ul><li>PvE: **** (at least one point)<br /></li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: * (at least one point)</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Predatory Instincts: Grants the barbarian an ability which increases their evasion skill and rate of stamina regeneration for a short time.</li><ul><li>Wonderful ability on its own. However, as a prerequisite for Spirit of the Panther, there is no excuse to skip it.</li><ul><li>PvE: *****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *****</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Gushing Wounds: Augments the Cyclone of Steel combo with a chance to inflict a bleeding wound that damages the victim for a short time.</li><ul><li>Again with bleeds: great in raids, not so good while soloing (lots of one shotting mobs make them not very useful). This will proc a bleed of your most frequently used combo. Again, one point here will do great things compared to none.</li><ul><li>PvE: ****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: **</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Haste: Grants the barbarian an ability which for a short time increases their movement speed and increases damage inflicted by their attacks.</li><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Awesome. Use it before a CoS for huge damage. Or, use it for the speed boost to chase someone down.</span></li><ul><li>PvE: *****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *****</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Too Many to Count: Grants the barbarian an ability to increases the damage inflicted by their attacks, based on how many living foes are nearby. The effect can be applied ten times.</li><ul><li>Never tried this one personally, but I've heard the damage can be pretty significant. In a raid or 1v1 environment, probably not very necessary. However, in mass PvP, it might be useful.</li><ul><li>PvE: **</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: **</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Berserker: Grants an ability that increases damage inflicted by the barbarian's attacks, but can only be used when they are significantly wounded, and cancels when their health improves enough.</li><ul><li>Another I have no personal experience with. I'm not a big fan of feats that you have to activate when you're holding the short end of the stick. However, I can think of some occasions it could be useful.</li><ul><li>PvE: **</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Unstoppable Berserker: Improves the Berserker feat by increasing the rate of stamina regeneration.</li><ul><li>May be a nice augmentation to Berserker (the feat) but as it stands, stamina is not a huge issue. Even less of an issue if you begin to consider potions.</li><ul><li>PvE: **</li></ul><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Jagged Weapons - Increases the damage done by the barbarian's Jagged Cut combos.</li><ul><li>Jagged Cut is horrible currently. Do not spend points on it.</li><ul><li>PvE:<br /></li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: </span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Cyclone of Razors: Increases the damage done by the barbarian's Cyclone of Steel combo.</li><ul><li>Increasing the damage of Cyclone of Steel is always good. This is great.</li><ul><li>PvE: *****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *****</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Spirit of the Panther: Increases the barbarian's chance of inflicting critical damage with the Cyclone of Steel combo, as long as the Predatory Instincts ability is active.</li><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazing feat, combine Predatory Instincts (with this feat) with Haste for crazy CoS damage.</span></li><ul><li>PvE: *****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *****</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Boiling Blood: Increases the damage done by the barbarian's blows while the Savage Rage combo is in effect.</li><ul><li>If Savage Rage itself gets improved, this will be more valuable. As it stands, you use SR so infrequently, that it's not particularly useful to put points here.</li><ul><li>PvE: **</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: </span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Lashing Swords: Increases the area of effect of the Jagged Cut combos and it to also reduces the victim's chance to evade blows for a short time.</li><ul><li>Once again, Jagged Cut is not good.</li><ul><li>PvE: </li><li>PvP:<br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Back in the Fray: Grants a short range charge ability that can be used after the barbarian suffers a knock-back in combat.</li><ul><li>I have never seen this work properly. Currently bugged. Do not take. (However, if this is fixed before I update, 5 *'s for PvP)</li><ul><li>PvE:<br /></li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: </span></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Overpower: When the barbarian evades blows in combat they gain a temporary damage increase. This effect can be applied 5 times.</li><ul><li>It has been indicated that this is actually misworded (not uncommon) and should be gives a damage increase when our targets evade, either way.. not very good. We don't evade often, nor do we get evaded often.</li><ul><li>PvE:<br /></li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Rupture Armor: Improves the Wreck Armor combos by increasing the chance of inflicting a devastating critical hit.</li><ul><li>Rupture Armor does decent damage as it stands. If you find yourself using it frequently, drop a point here.</li><ul><li>PvE: ***</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: **</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Shrapnel: Improves the barbarians Wreck Armor combo by inflicting piercing damage on any enemies nearby the primary target.</li><ul><li>Unfortunately, the prerequisites for this feat make it not worth getting. If it were alone, it'd be great.</li><ul><li>PvE: *</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Lure: Double tap forward also grant the barbarian an absorb shield. If hit the enemy will also suffer a counter attack. This effect can only occur once every 30 seconds.</li><ul><li>Awesome. What isn't spelled out is that once you activate Lure, the buff is actually a 99% reduction in damage on the next attack that hits you. Only one point is really necessary, not truly sure what more do.</li><ul><li>PvE: *</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *****</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Impale: Grants the barbarian an ability so their next attack inflicts significant bleeding wounds with both their weapons.</li><ul><li>Great damage DoT. More points = more damage.</li><ul><li>PvE: *****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: ****</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Dance of Death: Grants an ability that makes all attacks inflict instant damage to all foes in close vicinity.</li><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Again, poor prereqs will prevent many people from even trying this out (myself included). However, those who HAVE tried it all indicate that the only effect is a wider frontal cone. On a longish cooldown below another crappy feat, not worth it.</span><br /></li><ul><li>PvE: *</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: *</span><br /></li></ul></ul><li><b style="font-weight: bold;">Armageddon Falls</b><span style="font-weight: bold;">: Grants an ability so that for a short period of time when the barbarian strikes a foe they are temporarily doomed to suffer lingering bleeding wounds whenever struck in combat.</span></li><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>This adds some great damage in a raid environment. Probably not too useful in PvP.</li><ul><li>PvE: ****</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">PvP: ***</span><br /></li></ul></ul></ul>So there you go. Don't forget to check out the <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/barbarian-feats-guide-berserker-solo.html">Berserker Feats Guide - Solo PvE/PvP</a> and the<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/05/barbarian-skills-guide.html">Barbarian Skills Guide</a><br /><br />If you guys find any problems or corrections to be made, post em up! Thanks for reading and good luck.Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-68010255240937256402008-06-24T08:08:00.002-04:002008-06-24T08:14:45.836-04:00Blood Rage Stance bugged?Well, looks like yesterday's patch introduced a new bug. While the damage from BR stance is now being properly applied to weapons' displayed DPS, it seems that the proc'd health regenerations is currently broken.<br /><br />I'll still probably use BR over Reaver, since it'll still be more damage, but I'd love to get the heal back. Hopefully next patch.Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-34004415325876725422008-06-23T11:16:00.003-04:002008-06-23T11:26:31.507-04:00Today's patchNot much in the way of Barbarian notes today. And, to be honest, I'm kind of happy to see it. Right now, I don't think we have any glaring issues that need to be resolved. Any issues we do seem to have, I believe, are generic melee class issues (if you disagree, post up the fixes you'd like to see, I may have very well missed something). And, of course, not being in the notes means no nerfs coming our way, also good.<br /><br />Here's a link to the full notes:<br /><a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=101147" target="_new">http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=101147</a><br /><br />Tempest of Sets got smashed in the face.. we all saw that coming. One of their AoE spells was limited to 3 targets, another was changed to single target. Their ability to power AoE grind was just stupid, especially on a Priest class.<br /><br /><ul style="font-style: italic;"><li>All bags have had their size doubled!</li><li>Many level 80 items that increased Max Mana have been adjusted to provide Max Stamina as they were intended. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Barbarians will greatly benefit from this change.</span></li></ul>This is pretty awesome. Many people have noted that we're wearing "ToS Gear" at 80, because it's just better. I have a feeling a lot of that gear just got a whoooole LOT better. We will see.<br /><br />So that's about it.. a quiet patch overall. Have a barbarianarific day!Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-21389179912822918632008-06-21T11:09:00.002-04:002008-06-21T11:14:32.362-04:00Spammers:Two notes. First off, Tild and I have found our guides being posted on other websites with no credit or linkbacks given. I'm not going to post the links since these sites are just ad farms that blast you with spam, and every view is money in his pocket. If any of you guys happen to come across this, please let one of us know so we can take the proper actions. <br /><br />Secondly, I have comments open right now, and I don't really think it's going to be a major issue, but the occasional spammer has been dropping by to try to throw some links into the comments (for placement on Google). If you come across a comment here with a URL in it to anything besides a known feat calculator, the AoC Forums or something of that Nature, don't click it. The one today was just a link labled "AoC Leveling Guide" linking to something like aoc-leveling-guide-from-gold-spammer.blogspot.com Whenever you see a crazy blog address like that, it's another of the ad farm spam sites. I don't plan to restrict comments at all since it's pretty easy for me to monitor them. Just giving you guys a heads up.<br /><br />Also, I have a triple bachelor party this weekend (I'm not one of the three non-bachelors-to-be, thankfully), but don't expect much as far as updates go this weekend.Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-60010678767598820592008-06-20T10:34:00.004-04:002008-06-20T10:36:28.888-04:00Update to Feat leveling guideI updated the <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/barbarian-feats-leveling-guide.html">Barbarian Feats Leveling Guide</a> today. Took care of not counting the bonus Feat point every 10 level, so all the points should fall right into line with their levels.<br /><br />Also added a 50-80 hybrid build, for anyone interested in trying that out.<br /><br />Let me know what you think!Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-32764274222815339722008-06-19T13:03:00.006-04:002008-06-21T13:29:20.640-04:00Keeping on the hybrid spec trainWell, modified the build a bit further.. if you see my most recent post on <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/official-word-on-smash.html">The (my) official word on Smash 'n Crush and Brutal Cyclone</a> , you'll see that I don't find them very practical for PvP. So, the build changes again. You'll note I also don't have sever maxed at the moment, this is because of some handy information from a reader named Mark indicating that the actual damage gain from it is relatively minimal (about 5% for 5/5.. more on that later, don't quote me, yet.) but we're still trying to determine the frequency of procs to see if its useful for burst.. anyway.. before I get too off topic, here's the build:<br /><br /><a href="http://feats.goonheim.com/barbarian#t0a5b5c5d2h1i3j5k1p5q3w1y1z5t1a5b3c5d3g1i3k1l1m3o1t2a5b3d1f1j1" target="_new">http://feats.goonheim.com/barbarian#t0a5b5c5d2h1i3j5k1p5q3w1y1z5t1a5b3c5d3g1i3k1l1m3o1t2a5b3d1f1j1</a><br /><br />Thanks to powerslave7 for pointing out I could get Escape Artist, totally missed it!<br /><br />(this post is a follow up to <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/hybrid-spec.html">Hybrid Spec Info</a>)Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-67967037006156471172008-06-19T00:06:00.005-04:002008-06-27T08:10:15.810-04:00The (my) official word on Smash 'n Crush and Brutal Cyclone<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/smash.gif" target="_new"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm175/TCBBlog/smash.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>As is the current trend in Age of Conan, two of the feats in the Reaver tree have very, very vague descriptions. So vague, in fact, that I have heard at least 3 different explanations about what they do!<br /><br />In an effort to put all the confusion to rest, I went ahead and did a little observational testing of my own. Didn't log any of it, since it was pretty clear and anyone can easily reproduce it.<br /><br />Basically, when performing a combo there are 3 "stages" of damage. Apparently one of them is known as "Opening" as per the tooltip. Let's just say, for ease of definition, the others are called Pre-combo damage and finally Combo damage.<br />These stages occur as follows:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Opening</span></li><ul><li>When you initially press the key to activate a combo, before any directional attack input is given, you perform one white damage swing. Press the CoS key, and nothing else, and you will do one swing of white damage.</li><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">THIS IS WHAT SMASH N CRUSH AND BRUTAL CYCLONE AFFECT</span></span></li></ul></ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pre-Combo</span></li><ul><li>This is the white damage that occurs as a result of the directional attack input required to execute the combo.</li></ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Combo</li><ul><li>CoS Hits for XXX</li><li>CoS Hits for XXX</li><li>CoS Hits for XXX</li><li>.</li><li>.</li><li>.</li></ul></ul>Now then, since we have this established, we can see that the effects of Smash 'n Crush and Brutal Cyclone are applied to the Opening damage. One white damage attack per CoS has a very high chance to crit.. really hard. Right now, at level 64, they are critting for 700-900. This is a substantial chunk of damage, and when it doesn't land in PvE, it's noticeable. However, due to the general tactic in PvP, and, even in fast paced PvE, of winding up combos, this <span style="font-weight: bold;">Opening </span>damage rarely gets applied to the target.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">So, what's it mean?<br /><br /></span>I'll be taking both of these out of my PvP build (look for an updated build, and some thoughts on sever tomorrow) most likely. However, following a Clobber, it seems you might be able to reliably lay down an opening hit... what do you guys think?<br /><br />I would like to thank Remnance for originally providing this idea, of the three I initially mentioned, this one was correct, and without his mention, I probably wouldn't have thought to look at that aspect.<br /><br /><a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=94157">Here's</a> the thread on the Forums<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-72268208672225748852008-06-18T18:21:00.005-04:002008-06-19T00:36:17.939-04:00Hybrid spec follow upFollow up to: <a href="http://thecrushingbarbarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/hybrid-spec.html">Hybrid Spec Info</a><br /><br />In my continual display of indecisiveness, I have changed my potential end game spec a bit again. This spec was developed taking into consideration what I mentioned in the last post about comatose, and in this case, scatter foes.<br /><br />The plan here was to take about 10 points out of the Berserker tree and transfer them to Reaver to further enhance the damage output and increase the Bleed (DoT) damage. Theoretically the bleeds, along with Rupture Armor, should help us out a bit with the higher HP classes, bleed em down.<br /><br />Here's the build:<br /><br /><a href="http://feats.goonheim.com/barbarian#t0a5b5c5d5f2g3h1i3j5k1p5q3w1y1z5t1a5b2c5d3e3g1i3k1l1m3o1t2a1" target="_new">http://feats.goonheim.com/barbarian#t0a5b5c5d5f2g3h1i3j5k1p5q3w1y1z5t1a5b2c5d3e3g1i3k1l1m3o1t2a1</a><br /><br />Discuss this on the <a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=93897" target="_new">Official Forums</a>Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-14013828099421204752008-06-18T11:51:00.003-04:002008-06-18T11:52:42.045-04:00Hammer and Anvil and ComatoseI've been thinking over my level 80 hybrid build, and the more I think about it, the less I think these two feats will be particularly useful. Chances are, I'll be using earth shatter more frequently than stunning punch. Seems like that could free up a few points. Thoughts?Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286951444796327678.post-87255780555480406152008-06-17T11:23:00.002-04:002008-06-17T11:25:02.528-04:00Two new off-site linksOn the sidebar, under Great Offsite Reads, you will notice two new links. It took way to long to get them up here, so go check them out!<br /><ul><li><a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=75940" target="_blank">Mickers Feat Tree Guide for Dummies (AoC Forums)</a></li><li><a href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=61667" target="_blank">Tild's Barbarian Leveling Guide (AoC Forums)</a></li></ul>Gokexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14240992710861278500noreply@blogger.com0