Just dinged 80 - clueless with tons (!) of questions

[Ruhenous]

The Nexus neck from Forgotten City Unchained is good too
And yeah the Bedlam blues from HoC are great.

Mysterious Necklace is also a good choice for an undergeared HoX. The con on it is nice.

[Anubium]

My thoughts on UC were whether or not the sixman leader would allow in a caster without having UC available. It might not be needed for most sixmans, but would it be something that the group leader requires before getting an invite?

Joining a guild that advertises doing t1/2/3 and sixmans would be a good idea, since its nicer to have sixmans of people you know and like than trying to find compatible pugs.

The sword in t3 is pretty darn nice, so that's a good goal to try for if you can (upper t3 pug runs). The new unchained drops some new hox type swords also.

[Ruhenous]

My thoughts on UC were whether or not the sixman leader would allow in a caster without having UC available. It might not be needed for most sixmans, but would it be something that the group leader requires before getting an invite?

Joining a guild that advertises doing t1/2/3 and sixmans would be a good idea, since its nicer to have sixmans of people you know and like than trying to find compatible pugs.

The sword in t3 is pretty darn nice, so that's a good goal to try for if you can (upper t3 pug runs). The new unchained drops some new hox type swords also.

99.9% of group leaders don't ask for UC unless it's for Coppice. And in that situation, HoX wouldn't even really be considered unless it was a "have to" case. HoX is less a mage and more a random DPS class to most group leaders.

[stalkerfan]

99.9% of group leaders don't ask for UC unless it's for Coppice. And in that situation, HoX wouldn't even really be considered unless it was a "have to" case. HoX is less a mage and more a random DPS class to most group leaders.

this ^^^^^

Funny how many global shouts for "Need 1 Mage for K6's".....i send tell "HoX here".....reply comes "sorry need mage"......so many hoxists out there lol

[Suctum]

If you buy enough sub time you could always do what I have done for 10 of my alts and just buy MoA, IS, and Dungeon tokens from the vet reward vendor and instantly get rank 4 with one faction and buy the boots and arms, then buy the t3 dungeon legs and the rest faction blues.

Then you can buy the two dreamer's keepsakes, do the destiny quest for the neck, and buy a lordly cloak (basically same stats as black dragon cloak minis protection and armor).

The only crap thing about gearing a hox this way is that there are very few suitable swords for you on the trader. Best bet is to lame out in some t2 and get the searing sword, but I think I have seen a blue sword out of K6 which has 100 magic damage or so and some crit.

The Asgardian Snow Axe, while pretty trash for a HoX, has extremely high crit rating and a slot for a crit gem, so if you can pick that up cheap or can craft it yourself it works for a little bit, at least for crit rating. I wouldn't go looking for it though unless it's basically free to you.

[Argantes]

...

The only crap thing about gearing a hox this way is that there are very few suitable swords for you on the trader. Best bet is to lame out in some t2 and get the searing sword, but I think I have seen a blue sword out of K6 which has 100 magic damage or so and some crit.

The Asgardian Snow Axe, while pretty trash for a HoX, has extremely high crit rating and a slot for a crit gem, so if you can pick that up cheap or can craft it yourself it works for a little bit, at least for crit rating. I wouldn't go looking for it though unless it's basically free to you.

some other quite easy to get swords:

Jade Dugout NM drop
http://static.is-better-than.tv/armo...arlet_fire.jpg

AoK Unchained drop, stat-wise almost on par with the Hyrkanian one, so I would save your rare tokens
http://static.is-better-than.tv/armo...of_acheron.jpg

both those above mentioned ones require some activity and luck, but there´s also Soulkindle, which is a blue BoE sword looted from Khitai boxes... stats are kinda lame, but it can be bought on trader for next to nothing (at least last time I´ve checked)

and yes, there is always a fresh Asgardian Snowaxe on trader brought to you by me

[CueQue]

"Quite easy to get"... Jade dugout lol
There's a simillar sword in flame.

[Greyloins]

Woah, surprised so many took the time to answer - thanks a lot everyone, most of the answers were really helpful.

Entire game is for fun. Those who are playing to "reach the end" are doing it wrong.

I know, I know. I actually started playing again after giving up at launch and never reaching over 40, because I've played TSW and found the dungeon "HMs" and raid there to be the best PvE I've experienced, renewing my faith in Funcom. My goal is really to experience all the PvE in the game, though I guess T4 is a bit hard to get into.

Anyhow a lot happened last night that kinda rendered some of my earlier questions moot ^^. I joined a guild, and was lucky enough to get taken into a W1 raid, and we then did a Flame/Vortex/"the warlord of the Cheng Ho dude" loop thrice. It was a lot of fun, and I got started on my Bowls of Set quest, and Searing Sword seems really great - guess it'll hold up until Hyrkanian sword/AoK unc sword?.

Apparently I got extremely lucky in my first Godslayers, 'cause we got tons of hox specific drops - almost all my gear is Khitai blues, and I got a hox epic belt and (I think) mage epic gloves. So now I'm going to hand in Destiny quest, which I guess will give a decent necklace, and I can get an epic cloak if I do Vistrix I think.

Also, remembered a few questions if anyone cares to answer

1. I took a look at the PvP reward tiger (coolest mount in the game along with the drop in T4 imo), and 150 pvp tokens doesn't seem like a ton really (though I could be vastly underestimating how long minigames take). How long does an average game take? I assume I'll get roflstomped in PvP as a newb hox in still-mediocreish/mismatched gear, but considering the mount doesn't require PvP rank and that I probably won't buy PvP gear since I'll be focused on PvE...

2. I've barely used double-tap dodging - what can I actually use it for? Are the buffs significant? I learned you can get out of Vortex's... vortices (?) with it, but since it's more of a tiny skip than a jump, it doesn't seem useful for getting out of ground-targeted AoE. It doesn't seem like you can dodge combos/stuns with it, since in my experience, if a combo actually starts it doesn't matter if you're out of range (like if a mob stuns me on my horse, I get stunned even if I've run far away).

3. I'm curious about when to use Exultation - do I try to use it every CD cause it's that good? For now, I've been using it on my last BtD step (my first combo in dungeons), and basically whenever I remember it, especially when I'm about to use Essence/Avatar/PoiF 3 and 2, and Firelance. Don't use it much when soloing though, should I?

4. Demon Maw. Just got it and forgot to use it most of the encounters last night, but the CD doesn't seem very long. Is this just a buff to use whenever it's off CD both when soloing and in dungeons/raids, or should it be saved for something specific?

5. The HOX raid guide sticky says that MSS and Inferno C aren't worth casting if there's a demo/tos because of no stacking. I've got no feats/aa in either so far. Should I just ignore these skills, or are they worth using (I assume for my personal damage) when there's no demo/tos in group/raid?

[Argantes]

"Quite easy to get"... Jade dugout lol
There's a simillar sword in flame.

Jade Dugout NM as a HoX all you have to do is not die under the falling stones and if you still manage to die, you can still selfress twice

[Suctum]

Woah, surprised so many took the time to answer - thanks a lot everyone, most of the answers were really helpful.



I know, I know. I actually started playing again after giving up at launch and never reaching over 40, because I've played TSW and found the dungeon "HMs" and raid there to be the best PvE I've experienced, renewing my faith in Funcom. My goal is really to experience all the PvE in the game, though I guess T4 is a bit hard to get into.

Anyhow a lot happened last night that kinda rendered some of my earlier questions moot ^^. I joined a guild, and was lucky enough to get taken into a W1 raid, and we then did a Flame/Vortex/"the warlord of the Cheng Ho dude" loop thrice. It was a lot of fun, and I got started on my Bowls of Set quest, and Searing Sword seems really great - guess it'll hold up until Hyrkanian sword/AoK unc sword?.

Apparently I got extremely lucky in my first Godslayers, 'cause we got tons of hox specific drops - almost all my gear is Khitai blues, and I got a hox epic belt and (I think) mage epic gloves. So now I'm going to hand in Destiny quest, which I guess will give a decent necklace, and I can get an epic cloak if I do Vistrix I think.

Also, remembered a few questions if anyone cares to answer

1. I took a look at the PvP reward tiger (coolest mount in the game along with the drop in T4 imo), and 150 pvp tokens doesn't seem like a ton really (though I could be vastly underestimating how long minigames take). How long does an average game take? I assume I'll get roflstomped in PvP as a newb hox in still-mediocreish/mismatched gear, but considering the mount doesn't require PvP rank and that I probably won't buy PvP gear since I'll be focused on PvE...

2. I've barely used double-tap dodging - what can I actually use it for? Are the buffs significant? I learned you can get out of Vortex's... vortices (?) with it, but since it's more of a tiny skip than a jump, it doesn't seem useful for getting out of ground-targeted AoE. It doesn't seem like you can dodge combos/stuns with it, since in my experience, if a combo actually starts it doesn't matter if you're out of range (like if a mob stuns me on my horse, I get stunned even if I've run far away).

3. I'm curious about when to use Exultation - do I try to use it every CD cause it's that good? For now, I've been using it on my last BtD step (my first combo in dungeons), and basically whenever I remember it, especially when I'm about to use Essence/Avatar/PoiF 3 and 2, and Firelance. Don't use it much when soloing though, should I?

4. Demon Maw. Just got it and forgot to use it most of the encounters last night, but the CD doesn't seem very long. Is this just a buff to use whenever it's off CD both when soloing and in dungeons/raids, or should it be saved for something specific?

5. The HOX raid guide sticky says that MSS and Inferno C aren't worth casting if there's a demo/tos because of no stacking. I've got no feats/aa in either so far. Should I just ignore these skills, or are they worth using (I assume for my personal damage) when there's no demo/tos in group/raid?

About double tapping.

If you double tap back you get an evade buff. If you double tap forward you get a chance to cause a stun on melee attacks for a few seconds. If you double tap to either side you get and immunity buff.

So the logic is if your under physical attack jump backwards, if magical jump side to side. There is also another benefit to jumping forward or backwards in anticipation of KB where you can absorb the KB animation and not get knocked down, you just have to time it right during the animation sequence.

As a hox this works ok, but classes that have naturally higher evade and/or immunity and abilities that boost those stats (like cat's paw, evasive maneuver, or planar shift) can double tap with those abilities active and take better advantage. You should get into the habit of learning combat animations and timing your double taps, learning to evade KB in pvp is a huge factor to being successful. Many pve mobs have the same KB animations as regular classes, so practicing on them is beneficial for pve and pvp