User:Valen/Strategy

In this section, I will be providing the strategies that I play by. Over time, some of these, I will move out of my user page and into GuildWiki articles, but for now, I will post them on my user page. Also note, if any of these are duplicates of something that is already post as a GuildWiki article, I am sorry, I have looked at many, many articles, but obviously not all of them. Please post on Talk if you feel that these are duplicates or should be moved.

Background
To better understand my strategy, I need to provide some additional background on myself. I started playing RPG in 1978. Back then it was paper and dice. Most of this period I was a DM/GM and awarded more experience for roleplaying than for kills. In 1986 I started playing a LPMud called Realms of the Dragon (RoD). In RoD I held a number of positions, including Druid Guild Leader (Lessa), Matron Mother of House Teken Duis (Moksha) and even Immortal - i.e. Developer (DeMontra). Bottomline: My overall RPG strategy is based on roleplaying verses kills. Therefore my build and strategy may not be the most refined, but they fit the personalities of the characters that I play.

Placement of Skills on the Skill Bar
As stated above I spent many years playing RoD, which is purily text based, so keyboard management is critical. I have used this same idea in deciding where to put the skills I will use. You have 8 slots, each mapped to the numbers 1 to 8 on the keyboard. Most players cannot use one hand to repidly use these 8 keys. I have watched my kids play and they generally keep one hand on the mouse and one hand for the keyboard. Forget that!!! Instead, I use both hands on the keyboard. Based on the skill used and the location of the target, the program will re-orientate or move me to where I need to be.

I general use the low nembers (1-3 or 1-4) for my primary skills (usually ofensive, but when I run as a party healer, then they are party healing). I use the high numbers (6-8 or 7-8) for preservation skills (usually self healing based). The middle numbers are for situational use. In looking at a number of builds, the majority of the time, Resurrection Signet is in the 8th slot. This is not (unless party members die alot and you have no healer) a good place for this skill. It has situational use only.

This is the skill bar I am currently using for Lupia:

In this example, skills 1-3 are my primary offense, with 1 and 2 being used the most offen. Skills 7 and 8 are my self heals. The middle group are for situational use. Note, Winter is there because I am in the Fire Islands, previously it was Poison Arrow. This layout of skills allows me to use my left hand to activate my offense and my right hand to activate my self healing.

As always I look forward to any feedback on this strategy.