Any experienced staff friar out there who can give me some tips on RA progression? Grabbed tireless and purge 2 first, likely going to get ST1 next. After that should I just push reflex? Or rush IP? Thanks in advance.
I’ve always played staff friar in many DAoC versions and always solo.
Here is some state of game info for Friars:
Friars don’t have heal styles (from newer patches) Friars don’t have dex as a rising stat Friars don’t have 1.8specc points Friars don’t have dodger (from older patches) Friars don’t have passive Reflex attack RA (from newer patches) Friars don’t have active Reflex attack RA (from newer patches) Friars don’t have group endurance reduction Friars don’t have defensive healproc Friars don’t have their pbaoe disarm RR5 Assassins have WS/con poison not str/con which sucks for friars more than any other class All assassins have vanish so less RPs for a friar win
Friars do have cure Nearsight Friars do have single target better heals Friars do have offensive healproc in rejuv line Friars do have an nerfed version on passive reflex attack RA Friars do have Static Tempest RA Friars do have a useful backsnare @34 staff specc
Here staff friars were in a decent state and could solo ok (for a no-speed visible) and stealths were our best matchup... which is just how I remember the old days!! At this point friars were still low tier and in the bottom 5 most RP earning classes.
Then (awhile ago) the reflex attack nerf hit hard.
I stuck it out with reflexV but It became apparent that getting RPs was harder so I’ve not played much since. I’ve started playing more lately and will let you know of any changes.
I still think reflex attack is absolutely worth it. Not as good as it was, but very strong still especially if you pair it with a really slow staff (and MoPain eventually). However, the new formula for reflex, if I recall, meant it procced more with faster staves since they do less damage? It's on the forum somewhere, I can't remember specifics. I just like my big bursts of damage.
Your RA progression sounds good. I don't think it matters too much if you go reflex or IP first, but in the end IP2 is probably good enough, and I actually stopped at reflex4 since 5 costs so much. I've considered testing 5 lately but probably won't. I'll either dump those points into more MoPain or, if they change crits in a way that seems to render MoPain less useful, into dex.
Hello, i've played for ~7 days as a solo staff friar (39staff 45ench, 23parry, 16rej) using the Brazen Stout Defender staff (ablative proc) and i have reflex attack 5. And i have enjoyed myself for the most part as the server is bursting with life.
I have found that reflex attack is significantly less powerful and this means i can die to 1v1 stealths, and rarely win 2v1 or above. Also id forgotten how soul destroying getting vanished on when winning is. [i feel sorry for hib/mids who had the deal with Vanish on Infs forever.]
Getting RPs as a visible non-speed soloer is already a fools game and having a nerfed reflex attack, no RR5 ability, and now being in a busy NF have made it super tough. [Albeit, the group friar with hybrid or rejuv speccs seems to be doing better than most versions of DAoC with the rejuv buffs and lvl34 backsnare, yet this is irrelevant for me]
Solo RvR isn't in a good place at the moment, as their doesn't seem to be a place to go that is semi-busy enough so you don't get steamrolled by 8mans or smallmans. I found that staying near Beno/Bled/Crauch was the most viable as it doesn't take long to get back after deaths, but there is ~10 deaths for every solo fight.
For a realms point allocation i honestly don't know anymore. But i would guess Purge2, IP3 and ST1 would make more difference in fights, especially as you could then RA dump on that one solo fight that comes after the many steamrolled deaths.