Is Dark Elf a good race for SKs?

[godlovesninjas]

Originally Posted by Galaa [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

does having a high Agi offers any benefits?

I remember in Eq live it was stated that Agi affects defensive skills like dodge and parry, and it gives a higher chance of mobs completely missing you.

Is it the same here?

AGI has a pretty minimal effect on gameplay unless it drops under 75, at which point you start taking AC hits. Starting a DE SK you're best off splitting your 20 points between STA and STR. Your starting AGI should be something like 90 without points which is fine.

[Faron]

Having the ability to hide always sold me on DE's.

[xshayla701]

Originally Posted by Faron [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Having the ability to hide always sold me on DE's.

This, and looking beautiful. Go DE

[mazukon]

Originally Posted by Faron [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Having the ability to hide always sold me on DE's.

between feign death and circlet of shadow i really dont see how this is all that great.

as for ogre vs DE, DE look way cooler and the str/sta difference can be made up with with gear, but yes stun immunity on a tank is pretty vital...

[Faron]

Originally Posted by mazukon [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

between feign death and circlet of shadow i really dont see how this is all that great.

It has its advantages over both. It's instant and you can sit and regen hp/mana faster than while FD, and it won't fade like CoS (so you can go afk with confidence). It's good all around, but yeah, far more powerful for other classes.

[webrunner5]

The Ogre Troll classes are a real turds at times with their size. Unrest comes to mind, Sol A etc. A Female DE in Velious gear is the best looking plate gear in the game.

[Itap]

Looks are everything in this game.

Who cares if you die due to being inferior to other races, as long as you look good doing it [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Vellatri]

Originally Posted by webrunner5 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

A Female DE in Velious gear is the best looking plate gear in the game.

Perhaps, but I'd love to get the male helmet instead of the female one!

In my opinion, for looks and "feel," Dark Elf just seems to fit the bill. Everything about a Dark Elf just screams Shadowknight. That's what makes it fun for me.

I'd love to have frontal stun immunity. As a tank, that would be a big help. I do like to craft, though, and the high intelligence lends itself well to that.

Regarding the Darkness line, isn't the best reason to use Clinging the cast time? Clinging is 1.75 and Engulfing is 2.45. That makes it bit easier to land during combat, or to tag a runaway mob. Yes, Engulfing might be best if you're using it to pull something to fear. Clinging is "good enough" in tight places where I can take over snare duty.

[Tarathiel]

Originally Posted by Faron [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It has its advantages over both. It's instant and you can sit and regen hp/mana faster than while FD, and it won't fade like CoS (so you can go afk with confidence). It's good all around, but yeah, far more powerful for other classes.

also, very few mobs can see thru hide, unlike invis

[stormlord]

Originally Posted by mazukon [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

between feign death and circlet of shadow i really dont see how this is all that great.

as for ogre vs DE, DE look way cooler and the str/sta difference can be made up with with gear, but yes stun immunity on a tank is pretty vital...

Circlet of shadow allows the SK to cast Gather Shadows (lvl 30 spell) with a 0.1 casting time. This is different from the spell because the spell has a 5 second cast time. They nerfed the Circlet of Shadows (rightly) in late Velious so that the casting time was higher. If this had been the case early on, Hide (the ability) would have had more value at least until lvl 35 since it has a instant "cast time," assuming it's successful. At level 35, all shadowknights are granted access to the hide skill, though. One thing about Hide that's nice is that it has no duration limit, unlike Gather Shadows which will fade after 20 minutes.

Worth mentioning that the cap for Hide is 75 at level 35 for all SK's. The cap for DE's is 50.

Is the Ultravision DE's have worth anything?

Of course they gave a 15% exp penalty to ogres. There's a SK exp penalty too. The wiki says that Ogre SK's have a 61% penalty and DE SK's have a 40% penalty. Not sure how 15% becomes 21%. If -61% exp translates every 100 exp to 39 then this means that DE SK's will get 53.8% more (raw) experience per kill. If the actual penalty for Ogre SK's is -55% (as I would be led to believe) then if every 100 exp is translated to 45 then this means that DE SK's will get 33.3% more (raw) experience per kill (60/45 = 1.333~).

Is a -40% exp penalty equal to 60 exp out of every 100, or 71.4285?

I'd say that if you want to have a viable invisibility before level 30 and you don't have the money (1000-2000p) for Circlet of Shadows then DE is nice. If you can't wait until level 35 to have hide (for its unlimited duration) then DE gives you it. But other than asthetic and exp penalty, it's hard to pick the DE. In all honesty, the DE is a better choice for other classes. Each race tends to have its sweet spot this way.

I'm not positive, but it does seem that the race selection for classes is kind of wacky. The experience penalty is not a good mechanic for balancing, first off. The ideal method to balance is via skills and stats. Experience penalties are a lazy work ethic. Second, why not add more varied differences for fun? Honestly, there're not a lot of differences between the races; not to my liking. It just isn't as interesting. I realize that there needs to be some in-between so that people aren't stuck with their race choice(s). But just have a look at the damage an ogre does and the damage a halfling does. While the Ogre has quite a bit more strength initially, it really doesn't translate to vastly greater damage in combat. Similarly, the shorter size of hte halfling should grant them much greater evasion in combat and sneaking aside, but you barely notice any difference in-game. Big differences might chase players away, but who knows? Developers are so shy about this. I think the predominant reason is that the financiers of the whole project don't want to take any risks; $$$. Thus, we come to the end of the road and we realize that third parties must get involved to innovate the genre.