My Half Day Dex Experiment

[FluffNStuff]

So I decided to go back to dex yesterday on my bear because I really enjoy playing that way and learned some things about the other side. With no surprise to anyone except me, I was back to str by the end of the day. My dex setup was Level 50 thoth or isis helm, level 50 isis leather, level 45 isis wing, and mostly the level 50 thoth talon. I also had a super power hitting slow purple bow that I tried switching to. So here were my two options, and this is not for running, just for playing. Armor Pot (required) and survive with talon and shield but deal around ~2-3~ damage or Armor Pot, use the balista, deal nice damage, and still die potted.
So I realized, str warriors need pots for running, while dex warriors need pots just to stay alive. The high dodge was nice but deceiving. I survived a lot of hits because I dodged them, but MOST actual hits were one shot death. No pot punching, no isis bringing me back, just death.
Only benefit I found was it was fun going through low level dungeons with the quick strike talon on zero armor mobs. Using it in AO3 was a complete joke. I might go back if I find a Megablaster of the Void, but there was no way of farming one as dex.

[Arterra]

str really seems to be essential here... mages though are being beat up no matter what stat though lol. and pally sets... ugh...

[FluffNStuff]

Yeah, a Mage would need 200 str just to get to the health of pure dex bear. Ouch.

[Fyrce]

Pallies survive the same or better than birdies. Though since birdies damage is VERY useful in those fun farming runs, the good tanks come back and get us. Thanks guys. Did I mention I LOVE (skillful) tank bears? I've run with all bears as a STR bear and let me tell you, having a mage and/or bird works much better. Of course, I've also run with all bird groups (very hard, mostly FAIL), and all mage groups (very hard, mostly FAIL), so it looks like Ao3 works better with mixed class groups, which is what everyone SAID they wanted. The non-tank bears seem to be ok; they can play "mostly tank" with a mage-heavy group.


First thing I noticed once players learned more about Ao3: lots of STR birdies. Remember these were RARE once. I'm still hanging on to my DEX birdie, though. Call me contrarian, but I do not see the STR birdies being that much less squishy than my DEX birdie.

[Snakespeare]

First thing I noticed once players learned more about Ao3: lots of STR birdies. Remember these were RARE once.

For level 49 I re-specced to STR on my main (a bird). It sure was a lot easier than levels 45 through 48! With a tank pot for boss fights I was often the one left helping the bears while everyone else had to walk. I thought I might change back once I got to 50th, but I don't have any good pinks, so I guess I will have to farm. I had to grind. Now I have to farm. It's not what I call fun, but I am sure I should be able to run using elixirs.

[cry]

Dex-Bear FTW. Anyways sense I do not have ao3 I had no idea.

[FluffNStuff]

Thought I would update this, as I did go Dex bear again yesterday, mostly because I started the day clearing low levels with Banned looking for TwinkPinks. I have to give him credit, because he did say my problem was not playing the class correctly. I thought about it, and realized he was right. In AO2, the Dex Bear was the Land Rover of SUV's because it excelled in all areas. You could tank AO2 bosses as well as a pure str, and you put out a ton of ranged and melee damage. In AO3, it has become more of a Honda Pilot. Thinking I could still truly tank was my biggest problem. I had much better survivability then the birds or mages, but I had to make sure I was not the first one to get to the boss, because a dex bear can not handle 100% agro from an AO3 boss. And there where of course great benefits over pure bears. Ranged attacks, high dodge (higher with evade) meant even if I did not get an orb, I had a 70% chance of surviving a Gurgox blast, and of course a base 50% crit, 100% when raged, meaning double damage every shot. That made up for the low base damage on the high armor enemies.
So, it is definitely a viable class, but I switched back. But this time I switched because I got a hammer, and well, they are SO DANG FUN! Critting for 500 points is insane, and you can kill Bayou Boss Brawl bosses like they were mobs. If I do ever get the Mega Blaster I will have a really hard decision to make. Either Dex Bear, Str Bear, 20 bucks for 80 respecs that I use at will, or level another bear.

[cry]

The hammer looks fun, but how fun dex build is incredible x(

[konofo]

First thing I noticed once players learned more about Ao3: lots of STR birdies. Remember these were RARE once. I'm still hanging on to my DEX birdie, though. Call me contrarian, but I do not see the STR birdies being that much less squishy than my DEX birdie.

It is not even close. I gave up and switched to Str, and the difference is game-changing. When you're used to getting one-hit by anything worth killing, you certainly appreciate the opportunity to be two-hit instead, because at least now you can spam health potions. The only skill involved in playing a dex bird was trying to not draw aggro, which in this game amounts to not playing.

kono

[Raxie]

what weapon are you using currently?
but in all honesty, every character is good for pve. there just needs to be two tanks and you can just follow along if you aren't one. i'm a dexmage and i get on fine.
if you are interested in pvp, a bowbear could be better.

[konofo]

what weapon are you using currently?
but in all honesty, every character is good for pve. there just needs to be two tanks and you can just follow along if you aren't one. i'm a dexmage and i get on fine.
if you are interested in pvp, a bowbear could be better.

Not sure if this was for me, but I'm currently using a luminous harpoon of destiny, because I haven't acquired any Rift gear yet.

As a pure Dex bird, I had been mostly using the Buggedy Bow of the Void. Not many tanks had the ability (or desire?) to outpace that aggro magnet.

kono

[Fyrce]

LOL, that car comparison is so funny.

Snake, I had a lot more fun in AO3 once I got over the initial psycho-ness. Once I realized that I did not have to be caught up in the race to the top and the race to the best EQ, I started having a lot more fun. I xp when I want, rush when I want, mostly play with friends and it's a lot more relaxing.

And my pure DEX birdie, with ok EQ (no amazing full sets yet), usually reaches the Overlord first and does not die. So no, as long as the group is behind you, you don't have to wait. LOL. And he is sometimes the last one standing at Gurgox. And he was doing it since level 47 but it IS tons easier at level 50. Tanked up, of course.

BTW, I'm sure this is nothing new to everyone here, but you don't need an Orb at Gurgox. You just need to run a bit when he starts to rumble. You don't have to run very far. If he starts to rumble and he's in the middle of the room, I try to knock him back, so at least half the room is NOT covered by his roar. Alternatively, tank can keep him in corner while everyone else scatters. Someone mentioned roaring back at him and I do but I cannot tell if that works or not. We usually kill him before he roars or maybe he roars once. LOL. However, since roaring and screaming are useful skills, I always use them anyways. You can just make sure to do one as he's rumbling and knock him back while you're at it.

[Teflon]

I've done really good though in AO3 as an INT Bear (I know the topic was more around Dex Bears but since it's a similar hybrid I thought I'd mention it). I learnt to change my gaming style from Pure Tank to a hybrid bear. Folks I play with often comment saying "Is he beating the mob with his staff? LOL". Believe it or not but that's what i do. I do my melee attacks using my staff and it still creates quite an amount of damage.

So as a player that owns all three types of bears (pure, dex, and int), my general impression is Pure Tank is definitely easier to play with but the hybrid bears bring out your creativity (not to mention the fact that they look cool as hell when they are taking a smoke break in town ;-).

Cheers!