Thoughts of an (Almost) Casual

I read a few posts on this blog before writing this one.  It made me think about how much free time I had back then and how much less time I have now.  (Translation: Just because I'm writing this post does not mean that I will be active on this blog again.)

Also, the comments.  The majority of them are from spam bots.  Most of the genuine comments are from people playing Aurum Blade.  I'm sorry, but I can't help you with Siren.  I had (had) Aurum Blade on my Android phone around last year.  Then my mom took it away (yes, I am still a minor).  So I forgot almost everything.  I still remember Siren was a b*tch (excuse my language) to defeat.  Good luck, have fun, don't ragequit.

So where has the time gone, and what have I done with mine in the past year?  I'll try my best to cover this.

In my final post of last year, I cited YouTube as a reason why I was stopping my posts.  My last YouTube video was published in June, not too long after April/May.  So that didn't really go anywhere.  By then, I had grown sick and tired and tired and sick of the monstrosity that was EpicDuel Omega.  The purpose of Varium was near nerfed into the ground (that is, it provided no advantage other than getting gear more quickly).  I was a semi-free player, and prior to Omega, I enjoyed my spot between the people who bought a promo pack of Varium every month and the hardcore free-to-players.  Both were still a good challenge to defeat, though.  I'm pretty sure the true reason why I left, however, was because of the FUCKING STAT REVAMP.  I liked it better when all weapons had a set amount of stats and damage that could not be changed.  And when cores were an idea posted only in the ED Suggestion Forums.  Maybe I was just too used to the old ways.  So I left. I expressed no regret- after all, I had been playing the game for almost three years and had probably outgrown little Flash games.  Time to move on to bigger and better things.

No, this is not me.  I googled "fate".  Never knew Steam sold Fate, though.  Go buy the game or pirate it like I did.   Go play it.

At this point in time (beginning of summer 2013) I had only one computer game I played consistently and on a regular basis: Minecraft (oh, and I also bought legit premium shortly before my last post here.  I believe I played almost exclusively on Hypixel's Server.  (I also remember playing quite a bit of Fate- the original Fate.)

During the summer, however, most of the time I was away from the computer (summer school and whatnot).  So I turned to my phone.  I eventually found a mobile TCG called Spellstorm.  It's a husk of its former self from a year ago- don't play it.  But back then, it was in the prime of its life.  New content updates on a regular basis, a thriving playerbase, and probably the best forums you could ever ask for.  There were almost exclusively adults on there.  As a result, the forums were always civilized.  I spent a lot of time playing Spellstorm, and even more time on its forums.  Eventually, I became a moderator there, but that's not important.  What is important is that I played Spellstorm almost every day (phone app= more accessibility) until about October/November.  Then, my mom stepped in and took away my phone.  This was the base for my stopping of playing Spellstorm (yes, that is grammatically correct).  I fell behind new stuff, and eventually, I got bored with the app.  Just in time, too.

The Spellstorm team seemed to be falling apart.  The content updates were obvious rehashes of old stuff, the new pieces of content were money grabs, and it became apparent that the game was a huge clickfest.  Plus, the bugs, which had always been prevalent in the app, almost ran amok now.  That is, I'm pretty sure the programmers got up and left.  Many times, these bugs made the app unplayable.  And the app's customer service was sadder than shit (lack of people, not skill- those who did man Customer Service were extremely nice and well-known on the forums).  It was obvious that Spellstorm's developers under the helm of TinyCo had almost ceased work on the app.  Which really, really sucked, especially since Spellstorm was the only one with potential on the app market (and half-decent graphics).

But I must go back a bit.  During late summer of that year, I had found an SNES emulator for my phone (SNESDroid).  It opened up a whole new world of games (thanks, CoolRom) to me.  I downloaded three SNES games: Final Fantasy VI, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Chrono Trigger.

But wait: I must go back even further (yeah sorry, I know, fuck chronological order).  Prior to summer, a classmate at school had introduced me to The Sandbox (you should check it out if you don't already know what it is).  It was fun- very fun.  But that's not my point.  There was (and probably still is) a user gallery.  In one of the top rated works, I found a Sandbox version of "Chrono Trigger 600 AD" (using "Note" pixels one can create tunes in The Sandbox).  I listened to the song and I liked it (this was back when I still though Chrono Trigger involved a gun).  I liked it enough to go looking for Chrono Trigger.  That brings me to the previous paragraph.

So I played Chrono Trigger- my first SNES game.  I loved it.  Until I got to a certain point in 2300 AD (for those retro gamers, it's when you enter 2300 AD for the first time).  I had to enter a certain combination of buttons to go further by pressing the buttons all at once.  I couldn't.  The emulator didn't accept multi-input.  I did my homework and found that other emulators did, as did the original SNES (duh).  Well, crap.  I was stuck there.

I eventually gave up on Chrono Trigger and moved on to Final Fantasy VI.  I think I got stuck somewhere very early on (before Narshe, for those who played the game).  I gave up on it as well, and was considering deleting it (luckily, I didn't).  So I moved on, this time to A Link to the Past.

I went somewhere with that game.  It was fun, and the dungeons challenging.  In order to beat the first boss, I spent almost an hour circling him around a table in order to avoid his extremely damaging ranged attack.  Often was the day where I would have SNESDroid and Firefox open on my phone.  Thank you, StrategyWiki.  I loved the game, and all of the extra things in it that one didn't necessarily have to find.  I ended up with only one more dungeon to go.  Unfortunately, I had had enough of Link by then, so I got bored.  Then I gave Final Fantasy VI a second chance.

It worked out this time.  I loved the traditional RPG style game it was and the huge (14!) character cast.  I loved the storyline and the monsters and bosses.  I ended up just one dungeon away from the final boss (what a coincidence).  I was steamrolling over the game and ready to beat it.  Then my mom took my phone away (keep in mind that at this point in time, I was playing these SNES games as well as Spellstorm).  So, too bad.  I didn't get to hand Kefka's ass to him.  Oh well.

So the school year started up again.  I started playing Minecraft again.  However, this time I found a nice new server (PlayMindcrack) with its own textures, sound packs, and minigames.  It was a smaller server, but still, I loved it (and its level up system!).  That's pretty much all I did for the first half of the 2013-2014 Minecraft/school year: Hypixel and PMC (not to be confused with Planet Minecraft).  Then I found Hearthstone.

Hearthstone had been in closed beta for quite a while, but one of my friends told me about the game one day at school.  Intrigued, I tried it out.  I was a scrub and lost a crapton at the beginning, but I loved the game and stuck with it.  Hearthstone is a CCG (not quite TCG, but I'll take it) that really introduced me to real cardplaying games and strategy (I would rather not rant about how most if not all- including Spellstorm- TCGs on the mobile market have crappy automated random-ass battle systems).  I owned some MTG cards, but I never really tried to play the game (mostly because no one in my physical area wanted to play MTG.  Also, I tried Magic 2014, but much of the app is locked to all but those who shell out ten dollars.  Hell no.)  Hearthstone was the perfect F2P card game I was (not really) looking for.  I took a liking to it and stuck with it.

Now, time for a bit of bragging (depends on your point of view, actually).  I created my Battle.net account and installed Hearthstone somewhere in mid-December 2013.  December was Hearthstone's first Closed Beta ranked season, but I didn't rank at all (Angry Chicken please).  R25 scrub, woohoo.  The second season, January, I did slightly better.  Rank 16.  And on it goes.
Season 3: R14
Season 4: R14
Season 5: R14 (pattern much)
However, this season, May, I am rather happy to have finally broken that invisible wall and continue onto rank 13!  I probably could have gone further, but I will explain why I didn't.

Actually, wait a sec.  I must go backward a few months first.  Just a note.  I pretty much stopped playing Minecraft in February.  I know, too bad, no more Island of Doom videos.  (Well, the hard drive on which the world is on is screwed up, anyway.)

Okay.  Back to May of this year.  In early May, one of my friends told me about Smite (a MOBA, like League- another game I voluntarily don't play, but all of my friends do).  I downloaded Smite.  Was hooked fairly quickly.  (I swear, the smartest decision the game devs have made was making Smite a third-person viewpoint game.  Gets all the MMO(RPG) players.)  So now I play Smite pretty much every day.  (Case in point- I played about ten hours today).  I still play Hearthstone some, but not a whole lot.

A very, very, simplified history of my gaming life since April 2013.  Goodbye all, and I hope I get around to posting here again.  But for now, I need to complete a history project and get my ass off this toilet already.

~ReconnaisX

PS: I am also an avid Twitch watcher (of Hearthstone and Smite.  I also watched the original Twitch Plays Pokemon).  Also, some nice FFVI fanart.  As you probably expected, I can name everyone here.

The End?

Well, this is it.
Something seems to have changed recently, if it it's not already obvious to you guys.  The frequency of my posts has dramatically lowered.
I haven't run out of ideas for posts- I still have plenty.  It's just that I don't really feel the urge to tell the world whatever I'm thinking.  So no more rageposts.
I'm very sure that this decision to (temporarily?) stop posting was influenced by the growth of my Youtube channel.  I seem to like making videos more.

No worries, I might be back.
~ReconnaisX

Using my Delta Builds in Omega- My "Best TLM Build Ever"

Hello everyone.  Today, I shall be explaining why you can't (for the most part) use my Delta-era builds in Omega.
The big (really big) factor is the fact that now everyone is restricted with stat points.  From Gamma to Delta, enhancements were everyone's way of getting out of the (rather measly) amount of stat points that each weapon had.  I realized that there were Level 34 (or 35) people out there completely decked out in Varium gear and wielding fully enhanced weapons.  I couldn't keep up with them in terms of Varium, so I just got Varium when I could and tried to make my builds as Varium-free as possible, for at the time, to be a non-varium was a big risk.
A year and then some after Delta starts, Omega finally launches.  Everything has changed with weapons.  Stats can now be freely allocated to whatever category you like, but there are caps to how many stat points you can put in each category.  Requirements have been demolished.  Encumbrance is gone, too.  Agility is nowhere to be found.  There are these new and mysterious things called cores- passive cores and active cores.  And enhancements have been bulldozed from the game.  How could I forget?
I shall be explaining why the following build is not really Omega-usable. (Thanks to @MeganintenDork on Twitter for telling me that one of my TLM builds didn't work.)

In my blog post about this build, I called it "my best TLM build ever".  And it was.  Allow me to explain this one.
The first stat that most notice is my strength, which is 58+14, or 72.  That amounted to a 17-21+35-2.  In case if you need a refresher, -2 refers to encumbrance, which was a concept introduced in Delta which allowed everyone to wield weapons with up to four more levels in requirements.  Of course, once everyone got to Level 30, they started to abuse that.
I had a Level 4 Double Strike, which was fairly strong (Level 4).  The concept I abused, though, was that it had one turn of cooldown.  One turn is rather OPed, because then every other turn I could use Double Strike.  I made good use of that with 71 Energy, allowing for many Double Strikes.
The Level 7 Field Medic was a safety net in case if I ever got into a sticky situation.  It was Level 7 because heck, why not?  I had the energy to afford it.
The Level four Field Commander was a boost for those "just in case" moments or if I needed a nice boost to 20-24 weapon damage.  It was not necessary for a win with my build.
Max Reroute made use of the fact that my defense and resistance were only average.  Therefore, I could take advantage of that and gain more energy from my opponent's attacks, when I would then use to heal.  An extra Double Strike was always nice, too.
This build required a few enhancements- only nine stats in all, which was low when you considered that the highest number of enhancement stats a build could have was forty.
100 Agility provided a nice little +1 to both Defense and Resistance.  It helped to counter the -1 encumbrance my Beast Rider armor had.

However, that was from Delta.  Time to blast this build to pieces.
Firstly, strength has been nerfed.  I estimate that if I used this build today on my TLM with the exact same everything at the same level, it would only reach 14-17+35-2, which is not very strong.  One must not forget that now Strength improves with every 4.5 points invested into it, which may not seem like much, but is a considerable blow in the long run.  Plus, diminishing effects still exist today.

Second, stat allocation (if not already obvious) has been changed (for better or worse, I don't know).  This is probably the main factor in the destruction of this build.
For your convenience and mine (that is, not having to scroll up to see the build), I shall be:

Now, look at the stat allocation.
My base for strength was 58, and the add-ons only added up to 14.  This included a +4 enhancement.  You could tell that I was investing more of my points in Strength.
Now, look at this old (Delta-era) wiki page on the Energy Rapier:




Now, look at my build again.  You can tell that 25 support doesn't exactly indicate my use of any Support-related skills or mechanics in battle.  That total +15 to support was not needed and useless.
a) I only had 25 support in the first place because of:

The Carrierzooka had a 25 support requirement.  However, in Delta, the Carrierzooka was an all-around good auxiliary.  New Hope, the mercenary who topped the leaderboards for much of EpicDuel's history, would often use this as her auxiliary.

b) The +15 to support came from the +7 support on the Energy Rapier and--

Yeah, that.  Also the +8 on the Beast Rider armor.

The +29 to dexterity was composed of the stats on my weapons and a +5 to dexterity on my Beast Rider.  Because Carrot Impaler is the only weapon here in my build that I haven't shown an (old) Wiki page of, here goes:

The base weapon stats that contributed to part of my add on to dexterity are as follows:

1. +7 from my Energy Rapier
2. +6 from my Carrot Impaler
3. +4 from my Carrierzooka
4. +6 from my Beast Rider

For Technology:

1. +12 from my Energy Rapier (I loved that weapon)
2. +4 from my Carrot Impaler
3. +5 from my Carrierzooka
4. +4 from my Beast Rider

For Support (even though I already mentioned that this was useless):

1. +7 from my Energy Rapier
2. +8 from my Beast Rider

Well, there you have it- a breakdown of my stat allocation.

And now for a little explanation of Health and Energy.
Today's TLM's base stats are as follows:

• Health: 55
• Energy: 54
• Strength: 18
• Dexterity: 22
• Technology: 19
• Support: 21 

The Delta TLM's base stats:

• Health: 47
• Energy: 43
• Strength: 18
• Dexterity: 22
• Technology: 19
• Support: 21 

Today's TLM starts with more Health and Energy, but there is a trade-off (in case if you haven't noticed it yet).  Every stat point invested into either Health and Energy only increases it by 1 now, as opposed to two pre-Omega.  That is a very big game-changer that limits creative builds, in particular high-health or high-energy builds.  I still hate the devs over this decision.


Should I do an Omega redesign of my build?  Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to.  It's part of the reason why I play on my CH now.
My advice for anyone who wants to try this build, though, is to

1. Put no points in Support.
2. Put more points in Strength, either through retraining or weapon stats, because of all of the nerfs Strength has undergone ever since Delta.
3. Use any variant of Assault Bot- I didn't mention that I was using one in the original post and besides, nerfs are pesky little things to TLMs.
4. Make sure your final defense and resistance are not low.  I would put points in Dexterity until your defense hits 22-27 (+9).  That is still rather low.  For Technology, put points in until your resistance gets to (at the very least) 22-27 (armor stat not included). 
5. Make sure to put your armor points in Technology.
6. If you have a higher level than 33, by all means put that skill point in Mineral Armor.
7. Get Generator as an active core.  This is possibly the best core ever.
8. Maybe use Field Commander a bit more.  If you heeded my warnings about defense and resistance, you might not have enough points in Strength left to make an impact.  FC may be the only way out, in this case.
9. Maybe cut down on the energy and move it to the more essential health (remember my section on health and energy?)
10. Not use it.  There are too many variables and things that have changed.

~ReconnaisX

Skygrid

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asterisk Section; actual post is below


*I believe I just contradicted myself, people kill themselves a lot.  After all, there's /home.

**You may recall that non-hostile mob spawners need grass blocks to spawn their mob on.  Sheep eat grass.  Therefore, over time, sheep may kill all of the grass in their spawning area.  You would need a sizeable chunk of dirt blocks for the grass population to spread and be able to sustain itself.  My suggestion: Put a fence on the grass block you want to stay uneaten.  Grass can spread from under fences.  Therefore, your sheep will still have their woolen coats without killing off all the grass.

***Exception being more blocks.

****Cobblestone is actually quite valuable in Skygrid.  In MelonCraft, it can be sold for currency, and it provides a way to quickly expand and develop your land without having to actually jump around uncharted areas and dig your blocks.  That's why I have a cobblestone generator.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I forget sometimes that there are other ways to play Minecraft other than your regular old world.  Superflat's a good example (running away from Slimes in hope of finding a village).  But there's more than just that.
There's the widely popular Survival/Hunger Games (what's the difference between the two?).  There's CTF, or Capture the Flag.  There's Skyblock, which is pretty well-known, too.  There's even that Super Craft Bros map by Sethbling (how did he make it?).  And then there's Skygrid.

Not too many people know about Skygrid.  Basically, it's blocks suspended in midair, placed at specific intervals to create a grid pattern.  You just have to survive (refer to beginning of post).*
Now, when I first tried Skyblock (literally first, I didn't know what I was doing), I didn't know why the hell I had a Sponge.  Of course, I didn't know what to do, so I ended up falling into the Void and not caring about that.  As it turned out, Sponges (at least in this server) were used for land protection (you know, against griefers).  So when I realized what it was for when I actually started playing, there was only one way to express my feelings (/facepalm).
But I bought another Sponge block, and all was well.

So about finding a good place for a home.  First, I would like to point out that I did not know this when I set my home (/sethome).  I did not know this when I placed my sponge block.  But if you are reading this and want to try out Skygrid, read on.
Make sure your home/land is within close proximity of a mob spawner.  This is the most common way that nonhostile (no hostile spawners) mobs enter the world.  But I do have a special note about sheep.**  Besides, spawners are a good and reliable source of food (not counting sheep; but lambchops should be added).  And a spawner can easily be turned into an XP farm.
But spawners do need a few things to spawn.  They need a sufficient light level.  On the server I play on, it is never night in Skyblock, possibly to discourage hostile mob spawning (more on that later).  But the second requirement is more important.  Mob Spawners need grass to spawn things on.   I do not recommend breaking any Grass Blocks close to the mob spawner unless you happen to have a Silk Touch tool (good luck with that).  Instead, you want to surround the grass block with dirt so that
1) The mobs will have more spawning space when the grass spreads.
2) So that the grass spreads.
3) You can make the spawning area bigger than 1 block, and besides, you need space to walk.  There isn't between the block you're standing on and the Void.***

(Oh, and this is why stacks of dirt blocks and grass blocks are precious.)
Basically, the more mob spawners you are closer to, the better.

 

Okay.  Now that you have a home/base of operations, you might want to start searching for resources now.
Go look for Oak Wood (no other type of wood is included in world generation).  After all, 1 wood= 4 planks, and you might have that feeling that 1 block is a bit too small for your home.  You might want to expand.
If you find a chest, by any means necessary get to it (I hope you don't make a dumb mistake and fall into the Void- it's a very clear drop).  Why?  In Skygrid, chests are so much more than containers you can take back home and use for yourself.  Chests have randomly selected items within.  This could range anywhere from a spawn egg (hostile mobs are included here) to other types of saplings (only Oak saplings can be naturally found).  In general, you can bet that there will be at least one good thing inside Chests.  And you can always break the Chest to take home after you've looted it.
Eventually, you'll get to the point where your home is prosperous and thriving.

One of the more appealing things about Skygrid is that resource collection is easier and more fun.  Got efficient jumping skills and the right tool?  Good.  You see diamond ore in the distance.  Go for it.
In Skygrid, we don't have to spend hours digging and accumulating chests full of cobblestone.****  We can just look for whatever we want.  I abuse the random teleport portal in my server's Skyblock lobby often.  (It took me several teleports to find sugarcane.)

Also, the initial challenge is harder (I mean, you start out from one freaking block), but over time, it turns out to be just like any other survival.  Of course, you can still search for your shiny diamonds.

Mob spawning, especially hostile mob spawning, is limited in this mode of play.  Passive or non-hostile mobs can only spawn via spawn eggs, regular eggs (in the case of the chicken), or a mob spawner.  You can take advantage of this (for instance, I have a Mooshroom locked up behind a fence.  I like getting free food.  Also, my friend locked up a pink sheep (that had just spawned) in a one-block cell.  The same happened to a blue sheep).

Just remember to sneak.
~ReconnaisX

PS:
When I was just starting out, I did not know what Lockette was.  I didn't lock my chest.  Soon after, someone came along and stole all my stuff.  I had to start over.
Remember to put those signs on your chests (and any other interface blocks you don't want anyone else to access).

Oh, and a shoutout to hat_0987_ROCKS, my good Skygrid friend!
-----------------------------
IP: play.melonmc.com
On MelonCraft,
1)/server sky
2) Enter the random teleport portal
3) Find a place and set your sponge down
4) Good luck!
----------------------------

Finishing EpicDuel's Last Set of Frysteland Missions

Okay, so now Omega 1.5.5 is out for ED, and there are a lot of new missions.  So that means that it's time for me to cover them (in chronological order).

Rabble's Vendetta
Location: Rabblefroth, Minetower
So Rabblefroth wants you to fight five yetis.  (Oh, a Frost Reaper counts.)  This should be pretty easy unless you're at the lower-level end of the spectrum.  And 1000 Credits isn't too bad, either.

Food for the Gods
Location: Titan, Titan's Peak, Frysteland
Rabblefroth has sent you to Titan for more information on the Endless, and Titan only wants you to get dessert for him.  You must be his personal assistant.  But 500 battle tokens is worth it for a slice of cake.

Cold Comfort
Location: Krampus Warrior, Frysteland
It's a little lame how Titan can't walk a bit to get to the Krampus Warrior just outside of Titan's peak.  But the warrior tells you that you have to get five yeti pelts.  This can be a little boring, as the drop rate of the pelt decreases with each tier of yeti (Frost Demon>Yeti Hulk>Frost Reaper).  Oh, and I didn't know that the Reaper and Demon count as yetis.  They don't look like it.

New Allegiance
Location: King Alaric, RIGHT FREAKING NEXT TO THE KRAMPUS WARRIOR, Frysteland
This is stupid- the warrior can't walk over to Alaric, who just happens to be next to him.  Instead, you can play messenger again.  Alaric wants 12 PvP wins out of you- something about training (I forgot).  This took a while for me, though, as I do 2vs2.  If you mainly play 1vs1, this might be a little quicker, although if this mission was not here, I would have finished the storyline *much* sooner.  But as always, Credits help ease the pain (and freaking boredom of knowing that you are just fighting to complete a mission).

I AM A KRAMPUS
Location: Edgar Boothe, Frysteland
(I like the name of the mission.  All Caps certainly has its effects.)
So Alaric has made Boothe the Shaman.  (What about Aldhagrimm?)  He's using your Summoning Stone* to summon the Endless**, and indeed, when you fight the Elite Yeti, the Endless will be right there, and the Yeti will be a hell of a lot easier to beat.  And of course, you savagely rip take its horn as a trophy after the Yeti's defeat.
Oh, and one can infer that every Shaman can only summon the Endless once in his/her life (read the mission text after completion).

*Note about the Sumonning Stone
I don't think you actually need the Stone to complete this mission.  After finishing the entire chain, I still have it.  And the Stone was never a requirement to complete the mission.  Therefore, you can just start at Rabble without having completed any of other Frysteland 2013 missions.

**Note about the Endless
He looks pretty cool.

The Torch Passes
Location: Aldhagrimm, Frysteland
Boothe wants you to take the Horn to Aldhagrimm.  You get the Endless Guardian*** cheevo, which is worth 2000 rating points.  Sweet.

***Note about Endless Guardian
I thought storyline cheevos were always at 1000 (exception being the Bionic Battalion: 750,750,1500).

~ReconnaisX

Omega Tank (Sort Of)

Last Friday's ED release really screwed things up for my hybrid build (see last few posts).  Support has been nerfed and needs more points for the same amount of damage.  Hardcore support players (for example, 30-36 aux damage before the nerf) could still reasonably play, but my build used a little bit of support, and not a lot.  So I went with the flow.  I decided to make a tank build.

First, I started with my item stats.  I restatted everything to put all possible points into Dexterity and Technology.  Any extra points went into strength.  I was completely shunning Support here.

Then, I designed my build.  A high level Field Medic is a nice feature of any tank, as it allows tanks, which normally already take a while to punch through, to live longer.  My level 6 Field Medic heals 49 health points, which is a considerable chunk.  Max Plasma Armor is a must, in my opinion, as it allows for more resistance.  Level 6 Static Charge is a nice round number- 25%.  I have one level in defense matrix in case if anything goes wrong with my dexterity.  I put seven points into Malfunction.  The rest went into EMP Grenade, as those Support (and generally any type of) builds are still annoying and need to be taken care of.

More stats: this time of my weapons.

I don't think that the Generator core is a must, it's just left over from my other builds.  Used in this one, though, it heals 23 health and recovers 5 energy.

My technology-based robot damage is nothing special (12).  Robots are still a powerful weapon of tanks, though.

 And that's it!
~ReconnaisX

How Did I Respond to this Burst of OPed Builds?

Yeah.  For the most part, I just stuck with my regular 4 Focus, 115 Health build.

Then I got creative.  I (kind of) joined the dark side (Support to be exact).  Except I added my unique hybrid touch.

My current ED build- twitter.com/ReconnaisX/sta…
— ReconnaisX (@ReconnaisX) February 24, 2013

Here's a bigger picture-

Allow me to dissect this build, starting from the top down.
Field Medic: 5 Field Medic for a quick comeback.
Cheap Shot: Really no use except as a last resort (and I mean last).
EMP Grenade: Practically an essential for every Cyber Hunter.
Plasma Armor: Might as well capitalize on this, as I have 45 Technology.
Static Charge: Conveniently at 25%.  Sure, energy return is a little small, but after Level 6, the % per level lowers a lot.
Defense Matrix: For that Smoke Screen.  Level 2 makes it +24 Defense.
Malfunction: Level 7 brings my Malf above 40, which is a nice, solid number.
Plasma Grenade: Just so you can be prepared for any situation :P
Massacre: Again, this is to adapt to all possible situations.  I am taking advantage of the excess energy that everyone has here.  I usually do 40-45 damage, and then supplement that with my auxiliary (or the other way around).  Very good in my build.

Now for my stats. 
95 Health will always be a Health cornerstone.
72 Energy is my bare minimum.
I have 5 Focus stats (45 on everything) because of the +30 that is added to my robot damage.

My weapons are pretty average, except for my claws (when I use Massacre) and my auxiliary (well, 16-20 is low compared to the other Support builds you see out there).  My robot is a big advantage.  It serves as my only physical attack (yeah, having only one that needs a three turn cooldown is a bit risky) and a good energy attack (when I wait long enough, usually after Massacre, Generator, and Auxiliary).

My cores are:
1) a useless Icy Chill on my blades
2) Generator, which is useful every once in a while (more useful in other builds, actually)

Now for the stats on my weapons.
Blades: Energy, 32 Damage, +0/+7/+3/+8.
Gun: Energy, 33 Damage, +0/+7/+2/+7.
Armor: Hybrid, +7/+2, +0/+6/+5/+6.  Has Generator Core, which might come in handy.
Auxiliary: Energy, 37 Damage, +0/+5/+4/+4.
Robot: Physical (special is energy), 12 Base Damage, Infernal Android.

I should be making a Youtube video of this soon.
~ReconnaisX

Overpowered Builds (at the Moment)

Those builds.  Those overpowered builds.  I would like to point attention to a couple of builds which I (and certainly others) have labeled as OPed.

Firstly- Support Blood Mage.

@_RaynieDays_ (just someone I know on Twitter) tweeted "Too many people use support BM now...fuck I HAD a unique build :'( ".

Personally, I don't know about this.  I haven't encountered these people too often to make it a big problem.  However, I imagine Intimidate (which is a very powerful skill right now, as we are talking about Support here) could be used in the classic fashion.  Energy Shield and Reflex Boost would get a big buff, but this is all in theory.  Remember, I haven't fought too many of them to remember.
Still- theoretically dangerous.

How to Counter: I don't know.  Energy drain seems to be a start, though.

Next, Support Tactical Mercenary.

I don't need anyone's tweet this time around.  I know this from experience. 
These TLMs are like your normal Support Mercenary, except that they have Reroute, which is nasty given that less def/res of theirs equals more damage of yours which equals more energy to them.  I imagine that they could have a high Field Medic to capitalize on that. You never saw that.
In the worst cases, they have Max Poison Grenade for a follow-up attack.  Ugh.  (Oh, don't get any ideas from this section.  Please.)

How to Counter: Use your Yeti to chomp their auxiliary (be sure to strategically use it).  Paired with the core Azrael's Will (which by the way is overpowered too and will likely be nerfed), one's rage can be effectively wasted.

Next, Strength Tactical Mercenary.

Well, this build wasn't triggered by anything.  I was actually waiting for it to spring up. 
I realized the potency of this build during the Infernal War.  Back then, I had my Level 34 TLM and I was thinking of smart builds to counter the Delta Vault (and the Mechachillids).  I stumbled on the fact that Double Strike had a one turn cooldown. 
Bam, instant abuse.  Pair this with Reroute and Field Medic.  Terrific.  There are other ways to make this build even more OPed, but I won't say.  Heck, I'm trying to help out balance here.

How to Counter: Let's hope they put a lot of points into Strength, so their defense and resistance are open.  Good luck!

Next, Support Mercenary.

The classic build from the days of Beta has come back.
This person uses a lot of support (no duh), Artillery Strike (no duh), and an auxiliary (no duh).  It's really simple, but it is effective (teams of them are the worst).  In the worst cases, they have Assimilation, too, to help along with that rage bar.
It's a little ironic, how the changes to Hybrid Armor (now requires support) have actually helped these guys.

How to Counter: Yeti, Energy Drain.  Azrael's Will if you have it.  A lot of luck.

Next, Strength Mercenary.

I consider this type of person to be easier than their strength class counterpart.  A well-placed Energy drain can do wonders.  Just remember to be on the offensive so they can be taken out quicker.
The changes to Hybrid Armor have hurt these guys.  Do you really expect them to have points in Support?

How to Counter: Energy Drain.  And always be on the offensive.


Basically, guys, mercenaries are as dangerous as f*ck right now. 
~ReconnaisX
PS: I should do a post on the Azrael weapons (promo), as they are worthy of one. 

Infinity Blade: Thoughts

There are two iOS games that I know of that have the feature of combat- Aurum Blade and Infinity Blade.  I believe Aurum Blade's big selling point, its "big thing", its "thing worth getting it for" is its storyline.  With Infinity Blade, that's combat, and in my opinion, graphics.
Where to begin on this one?  Hmmm.  I suppose I shall start with the combat.  After all, combat seems to be Infinity Blade's "big thing".

As I said already, I have played only two games with direct combat.  I'll tell you this- Aurum Blade was really more "tap fiercely" than anything else when it came to fights.  Infinity Blade is definitely more realistic.
The controls are simple.  Swipe to slash.  Swipe correctly to parry.  Hold the shield icon to block.  Use the arrows at both sides of the screen to dodge.  With a few exceptions, the word here (at least for me) is 'realistic'.  It reminds me of an FPS in a way- how, I'm not sure.
Of course, this combat system means that it is possible to repeatedly swipe in one direction over and over again in a battle.  Will the rageswipes pay off in damage?

Now for the graphics.  First, let me clear something up (even though this should be obvious already): Infinity Blade is in 3D.  None of that pancake-flat 2D crap.
Apparently, the game owes its graphics to its Unreal Engine 3.  Don't ask me what that is.  I don't know.
In my opinion, this is comparable to Final Fantasy in this aspect (the good FFs).  The graphics are sharp and make everything easier to imagine for me.  Or maybe it's just the castle-like setting that captivates me.  That is a pretty epic place to set a game in.

Oh, and this is not a review.  It's just what I think of it (in case if that was not obvious enough).  Basically, in a nutshell, this game is great and you better get it if you have an iOS device.  There, I even put it in bold.

I believe Infinity Blade's regular selling price is $6.99.  For now, though, it's completely free, and it's definitely worth getting.  Just get it.  Your iWhatever will thank you (at least I think it should).

Get it!  Seriously!  Get it!

~ReconnaisX
PS: I might do some posts on the storyline, weapons, etc...

EpicDuel Omega- Cores

The concept of cores could probably be considered a new feature in Omega.  Instead, really, it's just the concept of weapon specials wrapped inside new packaging.
Remember EpicDuel Pre-Omega?  So some weapons had special effects- let's take the Azrael's Bane.  It had the Mark of Azrael, which meant that each hit with that sword had a 5% higher chance to achieve a critical hit.  The concept of cores is that you can take that weapon special and slap it on your other (in this case, primary) weapons.  Oh, and armors can have cores, too.  Cores basically are that little trick up your sleeve (that you paid 7k Credits/495 Varium for).
So, how to put a core on your weapon?  Well, select the weapon first.

Underneath the stat points and damage, you can see two apparently empty dotted boxes.  One has a lightning bolt icon and the other, a skull icon.  The lightning box represents passive cores and the skull box represents active cores.  Passive cores are always effective during battle; they're like passive skills (hello Blood Lust).  Active cores, on the other hand, can be used once and only once per battle.  You can do that clicky trick with them.
Anyhow, click an empty box:

A list of cores that you can put in that slot will appear.  Take your pick, pay, and you're done.  Wasn't that easy?
~ReconnaisX
PS: I don't know how to remove cores.

EpicDuel Omega- The Character Profile

I thought that the profile would be a good place to start.  After all, a lot of people see theirs and others' often.
Here's a picture of my current profile:

Well, the name itself is more aligned to the left now.  It's separated by a bar that continues on and on, for the rest of the profile space.

In all of the damage fields, it does not list Energy Damage or Physical Damage now, just Energy and Physical.  I don't see this having too much mass effect, really, just a simplification.

Robot damage has been split more cleanly: Technology Bonus (and damage range) + the base damage of the robot you are equipping (now one single base number) + your focus.

Agility has been removed.  This might be worth talking about in another post.  But notice how my health is <95 (as mostly everyone's is), and I have no +1/+1 bonus.

The 'Character Page' button has been removed and replaced with a simple 'Webpage' button.  (Note: Nothing has happened to the character page itself.)

The 'Cancel' button, for when you are done viewing a profile, used to be where the Webpage/Achievements buttons are.  It has been replaced by an 'X' at the top right corner.  This is very hard to get used to for me  (It's hard to switch when you have been playing two years with the same thing).

The silver Battle Token symbol is gone from the main screen and now rests here in the form of a button called 'Achievements'.  I keep on accidentally viewing someone's achievements when I'm done with their profile (see above).

Not much changed, here, in my opinion.  The more drastic changes lie elsewhere.

~ReconnaisX

Pre-Omega Madness and about the Enhancer Cheevos

Well, a lot is going to change.  That's for sure.

I won't elaborate now, just talk a bit about Oz W7 today and the Enhancer cheevos.  First, W7:

Yeah, so it was a bit laggy.  Actually, really laggy.  There were two types of people here:
1) "Take off your bikes!" (Unequipping bikes helps stop lag)
2) "OMG!!!111eleven"

A few mods were here, too.  Charfade was "hiding", and Eventus and Goony (and his copycats) were here, too.  I remember one guy who yelled "Nightwraith's at the Minetower World 5!".  That probably was to help shoo away people.  (A little later on: "Biodome World 7!")

Now, about the Enhancer cheevos.

It turns out that Delta was not the big enhancement-fest I thought it was.  For example, on my BM (ReconnaisX) I had only enhanced a couple of weapons to the max.  I ended up with Legendary Enhancer (top 12.5% of all enhancers) on that character.  It's a shame that ReconnaisX is disabled.
I read on the forums about this guy who spent ~200k on Enhancements.  So I wasn't too surprised that he got Ultimate Enhancer (top 1%).
Merc1225 got Prestigious Enhancer (top 50%), and Bountyhunter1225 just got Epic Enhancer (basically top 100%, if you understand what I mean).

At least all that enhancing of the Dark Ages is over.  Rejoice!
~ReconnaisX

PS: I will be blogging some more after the actual release of Omega (which should be in a few hours).

Minecraft Pocket Edition 0.6.0!

This update is pretty full of stuff, so I'll just start now.  Forget any introductions.  If you're reading this, you probably know what Minecraft is.

I'll quote the change log right now so I can give my two cents on everything:

New features:

• Signs
• Armor
• Baby animals
• Fancy clouds
• Improved D-pad
• Stonecutter for crafting stone blocks
• Sheep can be colored with dyes
• New block types: Netherrack, Nether Brick, Block of Quartz with 2 variants (pillar and chiseled), mossy/cracked Smooth Stone Brick variants (creative only), chiseled/smooth Sandstone variants
• New stairs: Nether Brick, Sandstone, Smooth Stone Brick, Quartz
• New slabs: Sandstone
• New item: Nether Brick (smelted from netherrack and crafted into nether brick tile)
• Upside-down stairs, corner stairs
• Slabs can be placed in up position (needs testing on small screens)
• Sand and Gravel are affected by gravity

Tweaks:

• Recipes for crafting slabs give 6 slabs instead of 3 (as in PC version)
• Nether Reactor spawns Netherrack blocks instead of Obsidian
• The fog and sky color have changed
• The Nether Reactor now spawns more items
• Cows drop Leather

Bug fixes:
Melons had several bugs where they would spawn too fast and where they shouldn’t
Okay.  The first thing I'll talk about is Signs.  I actually have a complaint about Signs right now.  They seem to be screwed up.  When you try to type what the sign will say, Minecraft will crash.  That's weird.  (I'm running the latest version of Android.)  So basically, don't use signs just yet.

Armor is much needed by me.  If you have ever seen me fight a Skeleton before, you know that I am not a good fighter.  Armor is crucial, and now it is here.  I can now fight Skeletons in full iron in MCPE.  Yesss.

I've been trying to make two sheep mate, and so far, there is nothing.  Hmm.  I'm doubtful about the whole 'baby animal' thing right now.

Fancy clouds?  I really don't care.  I don't play with clouds, anyway, even on the PC.

The D-pad does seem to be better.  Now, when you move forward, two additional smaller buttons pop up.  With those, it is possible to walk diagonally.  It's great.

So there's a new Stonecutter block.  It joins the list of blocks not in the computer version of Minecraft (Nether Reactor, Cyan Flower/Rose).  It has replaced the Crafting Table as the go-to for making Stone-related blocks.  Mimicking the Crafting Table too, it requires four cobblestone (I bet in a 2x2 as well) to make.  It seems a bit useless, though.  Why couldn't we just stick with the Crafting Table?

New blocks?  That's nice, I guess.  In MCPE, I've never really cared about how my house looked.  But I do notice that Quartz is among the new blocks.  Beating the official 1.5 Minecraft release to it?  Wow.

I don't really care for upside-down stairs, but with corner stairs, I can make some things look better (forget what I said five seconds ago).

Sheep can be colored with dyes?  Yes!  Finally!  I shall have a red sheep before the day is over!  A reason to smelt red mushrooms has come!

Apparently, gravity is now a force in MCPE.  I actually beg to differ (at least for some part).  Let's say you dug a big underground room in 0.5.0.  The top was lined with gravel that you dug into.  If you accessed that world on 0.6.0, the gravel would stay there.  However, I did find a way to "trigger" gravity in "0.5.0" areas.  Simply break a gravel block, and all the blocks on that layer will suddenly remember to fall down.  The same thing happens if you put a gravel block next to the gravity-defying ones.

Apart from all that, I don't really care about the Tweaks.  Honestly, I think the most important thing in this release was the armor.

~ReconnnaisX
PS: Dear Mojang, please fix the signs.   

For all of my Youtube viewers out there.

Here are some of my more recent videos:

EpicDuel- Switch to Cyber Hunter

Minecraft- Daylight Sensors

EpicDuel- 2vs2 Battles

Minecraft- Island of Doom- Part Seven

For those of you who subscribe to me just for my RuneScape videos, I'm currently not making RS videos right now.  It really all depends on what game I'm playing.  (Although I do have an old hour long clip of some Clan Wars battles.)  What game I play really just depends on whether or not the other games are getting boring.

I have an idea about recording Quell and Quell Reflect videos.

~ReconnaisX

PS: Today, one year ago, this blog was created.  138 posts later, I still suck at fighting skeletons.

My Switch to Cyber Hunter

I've finally made the switch tons of other bounty hunters made when Delta came out.  Well, I'm a Cyber Hunter now.  Weird.
I really don't know what made me do the switch.  Actually, let's go back a bit more.  I had 4,000+ Artix Points sitting in my Master Account.  I was going to save up for 10,000 Artix Points (aka 10000 Varium and 5 keys), but that went down the drain when I remembered how much I wanted the Wraith Weapons (a lot).  So I thought about it.  And then bought the varium.
Now, what did I do with the Varium?  I realized that my love of Wraith Weapons had suddenly vanished.  I still wanted a Varium weapon, though.  So I went over to Rabblefroth.
Rabble did not disappoint.  I went away with Macabre Harvest, which I bought for its suspiciously tankish stats (+15 dex, +8 tech).
Then I hit another wall.  What the hell was I going to do in battle with an energy primary and sidearm as a Bounty Hunter?  And no, I was not going to save up to get a physical gun.  I go on EpicDuel about once a week now (suffering from 'I will play other games while Omega is still in development' syndrome), just to prove to my faction leader that I am still alive and on a computer.  (I wonder what Faye Runaway is thinking of my disabled Tactical Mercenary- if she sees this, Merc1225 is disabled, and yes, it may take a while before I have him back, along with ReconnaisX).
Wow.  That went off-topic really fast.  But anyhow, I switched.  There.  Simple as that.
And then I hit yet another wall.  What kind of build would I use?  Strength was definitely out of the question; that is for people with all varium weapons enhanced to the max who will probably leave when Omega is released. I just wanted a simple basic build (and to balance my defense and resistance.  That didn't work so well, try using Plasma Armor with Cardboard Crusader).  I was familiar with only one in the CH category (don't worry, I know a crapton of builds for the other five classes, as I have played as one before).  And that happened to be a Five Focus build.  Ha.

Note the obvious unbalancement of defense and resistance.  Then add 10 to the resistance.  Yeah, I know.

That's my build up there.
But really, even as I write/type/push buttons at 70 wpm/demonstrate an input-output system, I am still thinking: Am I an idiot?  I joined the already massive league of Cyber Hunters months after their great nerfs.

~ReconnaisX

PS: Since I am a Cyber Hunter, I guess now I shall be arguing for them, which is ironic, because at one time in my ED life I hated them to no end.

Coal Bag: Number Crunching Time

There's no denying that the coal bag is a very useful piece of equipment.  It holds 27 additional coal- which is a lot if you happen to be training Smithing, like me.  The cost is pretty low- just four thousand Dungeoneering tokens.  That's only about forty dungeons (assuming one gets about 1000 xp per dungeon).  It's a good deal.
But what I'm going to do here is calculate a bunch of numbers.  Don't worry, they'll be useful.

Mining
50 xp per coal
27 coal slots in coal bag
For bag only: 50*27= 1350 xp
28 inventory slots
For inventory only: 50*28=1400 xp
Coal Bag + Inventory: 50*27*2=2700 xp per filled inventory

Smithing (Smelting part)
Comparing Iron to Steel (Is it worth it to get 2 coal to make steel?)

Iron Bar
Smithing Level+35= percentage change that your iron will smelt into a bar.  Cannot be greater than 80% (level 45 Smithing).  I'll take my Smithing level as an example (50).
50+35=85
85>80 so my percentage change of getting a bar is 80% (which is still relatively low).
But assuming that one smelts an inventory of iron ores (28 ores-28 bars)
28*12.5=350 xp, assuming that there is no loss of ores (highly unlikely, as 20% is still a sizable chance)

Steel Bar
So someone smelts an inventory's worth of steel bars (from ores, 18 coal and 9 iron)
ONLY steel bars: 9 (total number of steel bars produced with inventory full of resources)*17.5=157.5 xp, which is a lot lower than 350 xp (and we're just on the smelting part!)
But for Iron, there is a risk.  For steel, there is not.
Now let's bring in the Coal Bag.
Inventory's worth of resources: (27 coal from bag+9 coal in inventory+18 iron ores)
That equals 18 bars (twice that of the above result), which is 315 xp, which is unfortunately still less than 350.  But compared to the first scenario, this is twice the xp.

Now for the actual smithing of gear.

Smithing (Smithing part)

Iron 
25 xp per bar used in Smithing
Assuming that you lose no iron in smelting: 25*28=700 xp
Add that to the first figure, and you get 700+350=1050 xp per 28 iron ore

Steel
37.5 xp per bar used in Smithing
18*37.5= 675 xp
Add that, 675+315= 990 xp per full coal bag, 9 coal, and 18 iron ore.

Iron would be easier to do for training, but there is a risk factor involved.

Now for the higher tier bars.

Mithril bar

1 mithril ore
4 coal
30 xp
Without Coal Bag: 20 coal, 5 mithril ore is the highest you can get.  Sorry.
So...5 bars*30 xp per bar=150 xp.  That is actually pitiful.
But 50 xp per bar used in Smithing, so 50*5=250.
250+150=400 xp for 20 coal and 5 mithril ore.  Sad.

Enter the Coal Bag.
Full coal bag (27)+10 Mithril ore+13 coal
So that would be 10 Mithril bars.
10*30=300 xp.
10*50=500.
300+500=800.
Now I know to what to train with.

Adamantite Bar (aka Adamant)

1 adamant ore
6 coal
37.5 xp
Without Coal Bag: 24 coal, 4 adamantite ore
4*37.5=150
62.5 xp for each bar used.
62.5*4=250
150+250=400.
Wow.  Just wow.

Add the Coal Bag.
Full Coal Bag+15 coal+7 adamantite ore
7*37.5=262.5.
7*62.5=437.5.
262.5+437.5= 700 xp exactly.

Do you realize yet that the higher tier we go, the less xp one gets with an inventory full of resources?

Runite Bar (aka Rune)

1 runite ore
8 coal
50 xp
Without coal bag: 24 coal, 3 runite ore
3 bars possible, 3*50=150 xp.  Hey, it's the same as the one for Adamant.
75 xp per bar used.
75*3=225.
225+150=375 xp.

Add the Coal Bag...
Full Coal Bag+21 coal ore+6 runite ore
6*50=300.
6*75=450.
300+450=750 xp.

So without the coal bag, making Runite bars is worse than Adamantite, but with the Coal Bag, it gets better.  Strange.

Anyhow, if I were training (as a matter of fact, I am), I would stick to steel, because:
-Higher tier bar-->more coal needed
-Iron ore is easy to get (heck, I can mine it myself)
-Does not pose the risks that iron does.

But for those who happily disagree with what I said (and support Iron):
-Potential to harvest more xp per inventory load (note the word potential)
-Harvesting just iron ore is easier (especially if you're mining it)

Oh, and if you ever need iron, go to a populated world and then go to the Al Kharid Mine (the one with scorpions).  There's bound to be some Mining pure dropping iron ore at some time.

~ReconnaisX