Training pointers

[bassball]

I have a really hard time training my defenses.
I am come across a few people that have them mastered, or close, and I am just curious as to everyones different techniques of training their defenses.
I have gotten up to the high thirties and have been the tank in every group(mostly) and got to rank 15 without grouping, I have 40 quests done and still my defenses are thus:

shield block 77%
parry 79%
dodge 83%


anyone have any ideas for a good way to train?

[_Clifton_]

What level are you? Because the learning rate really kicks in at level 40+. Before 30 isn't really even worth trying.

[Davairus]

Well first of all dont do anything stupid like try to isolate defences and train them separately, its best all done together.

Now the next thing is the low level defences dont get used much because armor class checks first. So, either raise your armor class (naked with low dex?) or find something with a high enough hitroll to overwhelm the AC you have. Like a player, for instance. There are mobs like that too, but I dont remember which. Probably mobs wearing hitroll like golden dragon-knights , orc guerillas also hit pretty well. Or you can just hold out for high levels/surge, because rounds of solace and beyond get defences up just through sheer number of attacks from high level mobs.

[bassball]

I am level 37 Clifton... so I guess it will get better soon

I never try to isolate them, Dav, that has always seemed stupid to me.

Alright, so what your saying is the old version of training, the whole wear the demon talismans and the battered breast plate and those items will help training, just like they used to?
But, while wearing those.. how weak or not so weak, of opponenets are you supposed to fight?

[Blarg]

the point of wearing the gimping gear was to not damage the hobgoblins or chickens or whatever you used to fight. Like Dav said, ac checks first so that method isn't going to get you anywhere as the hobgoblins and chickens will just miss every time. The higher level the mob, the better your chances of learning from him, assuming he overcomes your ac forcing you to use your defenses. At 37 I'd try butlers in the mansion, just about anything inside mahn-tor, or maybe some undead in d'al kadar.

[Davairus]

Well its doable, you're just in for a very very long wait. I wouldnt want to train my defences at the expense of learning my weapons too, so thats why I've never used -hitroll gear. Just kill the mobs. Did you bother to maxroll ?

[bassball]

No, I didn't max roll Dav, but I had maxed stats after getting two more trains, so level 10.. so is that like -2 from max roll? I don't know...

So basically your saying that the best way to train your skills is to basically just fight stuff, don't really worry too much about trying to train, just kind of go through the game leveling up and killing things when you don't have anything better to do? And sooner or later you'll end up with mastered skills...?

[Davairus]

Seems like you already set the precedent there for not bothering about it that much. It'll never be perfection. So I would just focus on getting a buncha rares instead and seeing who I can take down with me on a suicide mission or two.

[Vertas]

I miss ivy sword and toy soldiers...To be honest the last character i actually trained was a warlord and i literally mastered my last defense the day before defense training was gimped...But i've found that the time when skills go up the fastest (and this probably won't help you) is when your at 50 and being pkd...thats how i mastered parry and shield block on my last two chars..tanking during leveling helps too, and im not sure proficiency plays as big a part as it used to, just always keep sanc up and stay in weapon/style advantage and you'll probably win most of the time...well depending on how smart your opponent is...

[jaran]

Getting skills up is not difficult really. All I tend to do (assuming I have a non-mage class) is not worry about skills till I hit around 35 or so then either solo rank for 2 or 3 levels or go find a bunch of mobs that take several rounds to kill and get loads of them to attack me at once (a few places you can do this). I prefer a mixture of both and dont forget to use your surges and guild rewards wisely - if you are on when not many of your level are around to rank with, think about using that guild reward and training your skills for an hour or two.

I also dont bother doing any more training once I have a few weapons and all my defences in the 90's, if you are rank 35ish then by the time you hit 50 you will have all main things you want mastered.

[bassball]

Dav, did you just say go on a suicide mission because i didn't max roll? If so thats pretty screwed up cause if I remember right you(and Groq) were frikin dicks whenever I deleted one of my characters before 50, or even before condeath... maybe I misunderstood....

[Davairus]

I didnt say delete.. I just think there's better things to do with your early characters than spend 500 hours training them. You didnt max roll = you didnt really comprehend its full value yet = you should be just pk'ing with some decent gear for practice and not fretting about 1% skills or what have you.

[Vanisse]

argh you people and your points...just play the character for the fun of it, it's a game....

[ryokan]

race of course will help you learn faster if you got int/wis. also fighting two mobs at a time that both have sanc would give you more chances to shield block, make sure and attack the second mob when the first is near death e.g. thalos golems. i trained my defences pretty good with a healer once fighting drinsik in the ford about rank fourty becasue he attacks alot of turns per round, if the mob has third or fourth attack then that gives you more chances to shield block/parry/dodge. one secret i was given after along time of playing is gnome village. have a couple days? you'll need JMC, set hot keys 1-10 for 1=kil 1.mob, 2=kil 2.mob, etc. lower damroll, raise hitroll, and get as many hobgoblin as you can in one room here fighting them and keeping em all alive by switching between them when they get to awful condition, if you train here between rank five and fifteen, you could get your shieldblock/parry to eighty plus in a couple days, hitting surges and spending as much time as you can with a room full of hobgoblin soldiers, but only one person can train there in gnome village at a time unfortunately, im not sure if this works with giants maybe too slow. good luck.

[goofy]

http://www.geocities.com/arshit/retards.html ahhh yes, and read this becasue basics are most important.

[Krakknot]

Wow, whoever wrote that needs to take at least a 10 minute break from playing AR.

[Mahkan]

haha
Dont talk about Dav like that.

[Davairus]

That was supposed to be for a laugh but apparently a lot of people felt offended.

[Mahkan]

But isn't that your site?
I really don't mean to offend, you're my AR idol.

[jaran]