Runes of Magic US / AU

Quoted from "Lavenderine;485355"

I'd like to question your choice of using sta/matk stat over 10 points weaker int/sta. Even as small as int bonus might be, it is still there. Have you tested enough that you could say that one will benefit more from a bit more matk over direct damage bonus from int even without VN-set?

Using second best stats meaning 10 points worse stat with rounded values picked from earlier posts, difference with one stat to every gear piece would be something like:

• 14 x ~20 = ~300 more matk (and little bit more for another combo)
  

[INDENT]vs[/INDENT]

• 14 x 115 = ~1600 more pure int to increase damage bonus of spells (that value is still without hero, wisdom, vn, pet, so overall difference would be closer to ~2000 more intelligence)
  

Even that small amount of more hp or defence one might get using higher level stat won't make any difference when mobs hit already hard enough to mage. The biggest difference would be if it helped one to get just enough hp to survive one or another direct hit.

Lavenderine, it isn't there at all on the spell that we spam all day long. Flame has no %int bonus modifier. None. Zero.

In a boss burn, during our buffed period, no mage is using anything but flame. After the buffs wear off, yes, most of us add in stuff like dots, plasma arrow etc. The bonus from int on those, considering how tiny the bonus is and how very few times we're actually applying them to a boss, is infinitesimal.

This is why I am currently a mattack addict first and an int addict second. I stack int anyway, because int gives me mattack, not because I'm getting a teeny weeny modifier bonus. I stack int because it gets the 7% bonus from our passive Wisdom skill as Yoman pointed out upthread and 20% from hero. All that adds to my mattack number, and where I currently am in the arms race is "NEED MORE MATTACK." Once we hit the softcap, then we can relax for a tiny bit and think about stuff like extra stam, maybe a little side of raw hp etc, for the reasons you just pointed out. As a mage, we just need enough hp to survive.

I think we're all on the same page though, we're all just expressing it differently. But the %int modifier rarely makes a difference in a boss fight. It's a paper tiger. It may make a difference in pvp, it really doesn't at endgame in boss fights, cause we rarely use those skills that even have a %int modifier.

Okay, thx for the answer. Yes, I know that current flame doesn't benefit from int bonus, but do not forget that there are loads of other spells mages can use outside of burst phases, not forgetting that broken pvp. Using flame only and everywhere would only limit your efficiency. I do use nearly whole cycle of mage skills depending from situations.

On the other hand as you basically proved and is true that spamming flame only boss fights would benefit more from that extra matk, also it's hard enough to hit anymore values at bosses where even big amount of matk wouldn't give any visible bonus at all. I also admit that even thought that little bit extra hp isn't much it might help some people to hit that cap where they can survive hit, what together would make that sta/matk good choice overall without VN-set bonus..

(That current flame spam system makes me depressed. Do not remind me.. I often even watch television while spamming flame button during boring burst phases, which has gotten me killed time to time )

Probably difference there is too small to really test it efficiently, but I'm still bit curious of their effects outside of flame spamming. Of course mdef/matk ratios and size of int bonus itself have their own effects there. I don't have perfect build and probably never will, but the difference there is to know and to not know... Every building starts from one small piece and boss fights aren't meant to be burned down under 10s from the very beginning of each chapter when they come out... at least I think so...