User:GW-Hatch

About me
My name is Benjamin “hatch” Stemmer, I am a German Guild Wars (Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall) player since November 2006.

My Guild
To come.

Boral Yam
This character was my very first Prophecies character and primarily used to play a few introductory missions with my Guild. It is now deleted.

Itarian Der Grobe
(Itarian The Rude)

This character was meant to claim the “Legendary Defender of Ascalon” title, but I didn’t read through the guides and started wrong, so I decided to leave Pre-Searing early.

Zylvian Von Ascalon
(Zylvian Of Ascalon)

With Itarian Der Grobe leaving Pre-Searing early, this character represents my current attempt to reach the “Legendary Defender of Ascalon” title.

Toral Yam
This was my very first character and somewhat far developed, but has never reached ascension. However, with the great success of my other Factions character Li Nalaz up until now, Toral was “downgraded” to Mule.

Tora Zyal (PvP)
This was my first (and probably last) attempt at PvP. With my assassin, I was refused by a group simply because of my class. In PvP I find all the negative attitudes that I know from the Electronic Sports League (where I acted as admin) and that I cannot agree with. (I see them in PvE too, but much less superficial.)

Her name is a reference to Tora Ziyal, daughter of Dukat, the Cardassian prefect on Bajor during its occupation.

She got deleted in December 2006.

Li Nalaz
Li Nalaz is another attempt at the Assassin career, this time in PvE. Initially meant to go after the Survivor title, a death during the Appearance of the Naga quest spoiled the attempt. However, since then the death count did not increase until trying to farm for Tahkayun's Pincers… Now I’ve lost count ;-)

Li developed very quickly and has reached ascension in only two weeks of non-consecutive gaming. Upon arrival in the Kaineng Center (by storyline), he acquired all Istan and both Tyrian/Canthan Heroes (i.e. Koss, Melonni, Dunkoro, Tahlkora, Olias, Zenmai) which he is developing at the moment. Luckily, a few elite skills became available via some glitch (found undocumented) from Setam Ral once Li acquired the first hero.

Unlike the names of almost all my other characters, this name was inspired by a character from a TV show; a famous Bajoran resistance fighter called Li Nalas (someone else is using that name though).

Setam Ral
This is my first Nightfall character and meant to play through the campaign as quickly as possible.

Staff vs. Wand
Both Staff and Wand articles claim the discussion be “as old as the game itself”, however it can be made easy by thinking it through.

To determine whether a Staff or a Wand/Focus combination are most suitable, one must first determine all available upgrades/inscriptions and check if an upgrade of the specific type is useful or provides a synergistic effect with the character.
 * raising health This is of great importance for this character, because of the use of two superior runes (which I find extremely hard to play with from time to time, especially with death penalty).
 * raising maximum energy Steam Ral’s maximum energy is of no actual concern (not with an Energy Storage of 15) an also because he doesn’t lose energy quickly due to attunements.
 * Raising armor Armor is of no pressing concern for him either (Ward Against Melee plus 2 healers in party).
 * quickening skill recharge by 50% As an attuned caster, it is a requirement for this character to lower recharge time of spells, since he gets so much energy back from the spells, allowing him to almost continuously spam Flare or Fireball (assuming low recharge times).
 * reducing casting time by 50% With Fireball, Fire Storm and of course both attunements, this upgrade type is of importance. However, those skills have a good chance of not being interrupted because of using Ward Against Melee and only a handful of interrupting builds in PvE. It is not important whether casting time of all spells or just for those of one attribute is reduced (most of them are Fire Magic skills).
 * prolonging the duration of any enchantment by up to 20% This is a very nice feature, allowing the character to be attuned a certain time longer. No questions asked, as an “Energy Manager”, this upgrade is a must-have.
 * raising one attribute by 1 while using a skill It seems less important to raise Fire Magic to increase damage because the use of Glyph of Elemental Power and the already maxed attribute, providing an efficient base for dealing damage.
 * increasing dealt and decreasing received damage As already stated, neither dealing extra damage nor decreasing received damage are part of the main strategies for this character.

Both Staff and Wand/Focus combinations have a total of five upgrades, derived from inherent boni, staff/wand wrappings, staff heads or focus cores and inscriptions, where any upgrade components with the “while enchanted” extension are favoured, because as an attuned caster, the character should always have at least one Enchantment active; be it the attunement(s) or the Aura of Restoration. Reviewing the above list, my character needs (see Weapon upgrade and Inscription for reference): It is easy to see that only a Staff can satisfy all the needs. This lists all the negative aspects:
 * 1) Raised health. Provided by:
 * 2) * Hale Staff Head (+30)
 * 3) * Staff Wrapping of Devotion (+45 while enchanted)
 * 4) * Focus Core of Devotion (+45 while enchanted)
 * 5) Quickened skill recharge (20% chance for Fire Magic spells). Provided by:
 * 6) * Inherent Staff modifier
 * 7) * Wand Wrapping of Memory
 * 8) * Focus item inscription “Forget Me Not”
 * 9) Prolonged enchantments (+20% duration). Provided by:
 * 10) * Staff Wrapping of Enchanting
 * 11) Reduced casting time (20% chance for Fire Magic spells). Provided by:
 * 12) * Adept Staff Head
 * 13) * Focus Core of Aptitude
 * 14) * Spellcasting weapon inscription “Aptitude not Attitude”
 * Hale Staff of Enchanting with “Aptitude not Attitude”
 * -15 Health This build should always have an enchantment active during battle, so this is a decisive drawback. However, if under pressure by disenchanters or if surprised (no preparation time to cast attunements), the health bonus will prevail.
 * -2 Energy. Of no consequence.
 * Wand of Memory with “Aptitude not Attitude” and Focus of Devotion with “any”
 * Enchantments won’t last longer with this combination. This means Elemental Attunement has to be renewed after 55 seconds (66 with 20% prolongation) and Fire Attunement has to be renewed after 65 seconds (with Glyph of Elemental Power cast beforehand, 72 seconds with 20% prolongation). Those ~8 seconds lost due to the missing upgrade could be decisive in a battle considering a typical mob fight should not last any longer than 70-90 seconds.

The discussion is as old as the game itself and with this build it doesn’t get any easier. Sorry ;-) However, considering both negative aspects of the combinations, I tend to prefer the Hale Staff of Enchanting with “Aptitude not Attitude”. It will lengthen the Enchantments and, after all, what’s 15 Health?

Note: The Wand/Focus combination can be used with unique items, namely Hajkor's Flame and either Chung's Focus or Korr's Focus or Milius' Eye, where Chung's Focus is less beneficial due to inherent upkeep. There is no green equivalent for the Staff.