artisan upgrade

• Q wrote on 2011-02-07 08:27
  so after completely effing up my first crystal lightning wand on the last upgrade... i made another one. when i got the artisan upgrade...i got 8 int. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
  
  is artisan upgrade worth redoing on T_T? and according to the artisan upgrade removal kit, it says that i can only use it once. is it true D:???? and does anyone know how rare 4cm aquamarines are in tarlach o____o?
• qaccy wrote on 2011-02-07 08:36
  Should be in the questions forum, but yeah...that's a pretty bad result. :/ Definitely worth redoing it.
  
  The kit of course is only usable once, you basically get to play Gachapon with that upgrade (except the first one's "free").
• Cryosite wrote on 2011-02-07 08:41
  The kit is usable only once meaning once you use the kit, it goes away. If you then do the artisan upgrade again, and still don't like the result, you can use another.
  
  as I repeatedly said in your last thread, 70 is the -max- possible amount. Of course it is random what you will actually get, and it can be crap. Apparently you also didn't understand that even with the max, you're only getting +2.5% damage. On a crystal lightning wand you're already lowering the damage more than that, and you're still going to end up with a wand that lowers your damage by a large amount in exchange for some mp reduction. You may as well reduce the MP as much as possible at that point, and accept that your thunder will hit much more weakly with that wand.
  
  I'm not on Tarlach, so no idea on gem prices there.
• qaccy wrote on 2011-02-07 09:44

  Quote from Cryosite;324149:

  The kit is usable only once meaning once you use the kit, it goes away. If you then do the artisan upgrade again, and still don't like the result, you can use another.
  
  as I repeatedly said in your last thread, 70 is the -max- possible amount. Of course it is random what you will actually get, and it can be crap. Apparently you also didn't understand that even with the max, you're only getting +2.5% damage. On a crystal lightning wand you're already lowering the damage more than that, and you're still going to end up with a wand that lowers your damage by a large amount in exchange for some mp reduction. You may as well reduce the MP as much as possible at that point, and accept that your thunder will hit much more weakly with that wand.
  
  I'm not on Tarlach, so no idea on gem prices there.

  
  
  Eh...way I see that wand, those upgrades are an utter waste. I like my Thunder to be powerful, and it annoys me to no end that what I consider the good upgrades (the speed ones) are hidden behind at least one of those crappy MP reduction upgrades. Before artisan upgrades were available, I literally left my crystal wand at 4/5 simply because I didn't want that final upgrade. At the time, I had no knowledge of artisan upgrades so it really was just because I didn't want the last slot used.
  
  Yes, 70 int is still less than the damage you lose from that first upgrade. But to me, it's better than losing even MORE damage just for some minor MP reductions. To a serious mage, MP isn't even an issue (really, how difficult is it to obtain MP potions?). Why would you want to reduce your damage even further for no benefit?
• Cryosite wrote on 2011-02-07 13:03
  Because going for max mp redux on a wand turns Thunder into a different spell with different applications than the base spell. Single cast, 4 targets costs less mana than a +3cc lightning wand, does more damage, and has much longer range. Especially useful when rafting, where even with all the damage loss, you still one shot hobs. It can also be useful in a variety of other places where killing more and hitting not as hard will still get the job done. It is a tool to shape thunder toward a specific purpose, and any serious mage will have a variety of tools at their disposal.
  
  And also, to a serious mage, MP is always an issue. The more time you can spend killing things efficiently, and the less time you spend refilling your gas tank, the more exp and gold you are earning.
  
  I'm not saying this should be your main wand by any means. I did suggest the OP make a regular lightning wand for that, with artisan upgrade for the 5th upgrade. That should be the main wand used for thunder for most situations.
• gentrone wrote on 2011-02-07 13:31

  Quote from qaccy;324177:

  Eh...way I see that wand, those upgrades are an utter waste. I like my Thunder to be powerful, and it annoys me to no end that what I consider the good upgrades (the speed ones) are hidden behind at least one of those crappy MP reduction upgrades. Before artisan upgrades were available, I literally left my crystal wand at 4/5 simply because I didn't want that final upgrade. At the time, I had no knowledge of artisan upgrades so it really was just because I didn't want the last slot used.
  
  Yes, 70 int is still less than the damage you lose from that first upgrade. But to me, it's better than losing even MORE damage just for some minor MP reductions. To a serious mage, MP isn't even an issue (really, how difficult is it to obtain MP potions?). Why would you want to reduce your damage even further for no benefit?

  
  
  As Cryosite said, a modded Crystal Wand allows you to achieve different things than with a regular wand. Mana cost becomes insignificant with R1 Lighting Mastery and a -40% wand --some people might add a reduction set to the mix but I don't think it's that efficient. R-type upgrade it and you got yourself a nice wand for Rafting and middle level dungeons like Ciar Adv.
  
  So I don't think a regular wand is the best choice in *every* situation, despite your infinite supply of mana pots (do you really need that much power 100% of the time?).
• Q wrote on 2011-02-08 00:56
  well should i then fully upgrade a crystal lightning wand or a lightning wand if i would like to use this wand for mainly rafting and occasionally on shadow/theater missions?
• Cryosite wrote on 2011-02-08 07:04
  For rafting, with rank 1 thunder you can one-shot hobs even with the biggest -damage penalty possible on a crystal lightning wand. There is no point to not going for the biggest -mp upgrades possible for a rafting wand. Lightning mastery and good int help even avoiding the occasional survivor due to low damage rolls.
  
  Theatre missions on the other hand damage is still pretty important. I'd say a lightning wand with artisan upgrade would let you get -20% mp costs without losing any damage at all, and will even boost damage via the INT gains from the artisan upgrade. This wand would do pretty well rafting, and perform best in theatre missions.
  
  If you raft as often as I do though, a dedicated rafting wand is worthwhile to have around.