Bunch of newbie questions

[ProSophist]

Hi everyone. Fairly new to the game and current have a level 30 mage and 32 dexbird

I just have a couple of newbie questions.

1. Do debuffs stack? As in would the armor debuff from Break Armor stack with Shattering scream?

2. Regarding the Hot Flash combo. I noticed that Ice Storm has about a half a second delay before it damages monsters. Do I need to wait for it's damage to hit before I cast Firestorm to get the combo or can I cast Firestorm right after I cast Icestorm?

3. Do combos do additional damage?

4. Does hit rate affect magic as well?

5. At what level can I farm for gold/items effectively? And where? I noticed that gold farming is redundant since monsters and chests only drop loose change. Obviously, I expect that the only way to get gold to buy your own gears is to get lucky with pink drops.

6. What's the difference between a Pure Pally and a Duel-spec Mage? Do they have different purposes pvp and pve-wise?

[Seratonin]

1. The same debuffs don't, but different ones from different skills do.
2. Yes, you have to wait until the ice freezes the mobs in place before you can proc the Hot Flash Combo. Put something in between like Weakness, Lightning, or Nightmare.
3. Yes. The faster you combo it up, the faster they drop.
4. Not sure here, It may, but once you're level 50, your hit rate on any char should be 100%+
5. You can farm gold at any level, and yes, that is the hard way, a lot of level 50's go to low level maps like hidden passages in which the monsters continually spawn quickly, and just run around slaying everything and opening chests. Slow, but steady income. Some farm for pinks in all sorts of places.
6. A pally is a dual sort of, except they are using str gear(rift) and dual spec usually means that they have either STR/INT, or DEX/INT, and the gear to swap out for those purposes. When INT gear equipped, mages are super squishy, but deal loads more magic damage. When STR/DEX, Survivability is greater, can take more hits because of increased armor. STR takes better damage because rift gear has lots of armor, and STR adds to health, whereas DEX does not.

[Snakespeare]

With my Str/Dex bird I use the Talon in the hallways and the Vibra against a boss.

[KingFu]

1) Some debuffs do, some don't. It varies. Also, Sera, break armor stacks with itself some times;)
2) Yes, the enemy has to be frozen for the hot flash combo to take affect.
3) Some do, other debuff an insane amount. So depending on the combo, it either debuffs to the extreme or deals heavy damage.
4) Yes, hit % AND crit affect your skills.
5) Any level! As long as youre in your zone made for your level you shouldn't have a problem! Also, selling to buy gear isn't the ONLY way, but it is the fastest and most affective.
6) Well, first, a pally is a hybrid, not a pure;) The difference is that a pally is dedicated to the use of str gear, while a dual weild splits it's attributes between, in this case, str and int, and they use low level items to boost their stats high enough to equip weapons. Meaning that can weild str, and int gear, not necessarily at the same time might I add.

[ProSophist]

Thanks a lot for the help :)

[mrpredalien]

I don't think 30 and 32 are newbs,, Personally thinking..