TOPIC: Another First Timer

Yeah agree, I would try to grab tix as soon as they go on sale. Then see if you can find your group on the forums. If you somehow get shut out, then come to the forums and look to get picked up in a group forming who are looking for players.

Are their any "tiers" of least popular and most popular classes? So if I were to get any tokens not usable by all classes before GenCon, I could concentrate on less popular classes to raise my chances to actually use the tokens come game day?

In my experience all the classes get picked fairly equally these days. Your best bet for covering your bases would be to focus on stuff thats generally useful like +1 save iouns first. Beyond that I'd just shoot for a range red/green quality items you can use for the different rolls. A defenders set and a +1 bastard sword for he heavies, a footmans set, a shortsword and a mace for the mid rangers, maybe some heartwood armor and a robe of the vale mage for the lightly armored classes should cover just about every eventuality.

Here's some fun information from my survey I did for TeamSynergy this year;

Answer Choices
Responses
Bard
10.34% 3
Barbarian
17.24% 5
Cleric
13.79% 4
Druid
10.34% 3
Fighter
27.59% 8
Dwarf Fighter
27.59% 8
Monk
10.34% 3
Paladin
34.48% 10
Ranger
27.59% 8
Rogue
24.14% 7
Wizard
13.79% 4
Elf Wizard
17.24% 5
Any/All
3.45% 1
Total Respondents: 29

Not sure if that helps - best of luck =)

The first list was primary choice of class. The below list of classes is the alternate class choice.

Answer Choices
Responses
Bard
7.69% 2
Barbarian
26.92% 7
Cleric
19.23% 5
Druid
3.85% 1
Fighter
50% 13
Dwarf Fighter
50% 13
Monk
3.85% 1
Paladin
30.77% 8
Ranger
7.69% 2
Rogue
11.54% 3
Wizard
11.54% 3
Elf Wizard
7.69% 2
Any/All
30.77% 8
Total Respondents: 26

So at least within your survey, my conclusion is "people like sliders".

Robert Thomson wrote: So at least within your survey, my conclusion is "people like sliders".

I provide the data, you draw the conclusions

Bear in mind this is a group whose focus tends to be on min/maxers and most of our respondents do not prefer puzzle and focus on combat. Therefore the results you see I would expect based on the focus of the group. Just my two coppers. Glad you found it useful =)

If you stick with tokens that have multiple classes you'll have options. I turned a rogue into a paladin with just 2 token changes. The melee classes seem to interchange a bit easier than the others. Casters often don't even need tokens to be effective.

As long as you avoid the single class only tokens you should be ok.

How much will your damage and to hit really affect the overall results?

The reason I'm asking is that Gauntlets of Ogre Power and Bracers of Fire would result in +1 to hit, and +3 damage, but when I go through my wishlist (at least my realistic wishlist) that is 20% of the cost if I bought the items. Of course, both items are usable by any class (win), but they there are a lot of classes I'd hope to not be doing much meleeing with.

To hit seems to have less to do with your effectiveness than actual sliding skill since it isn't random dice. Damage still seems useful, but if playing through the puzzle version of things, would +3 damage be worth 4 or 5 other rare items being equipped for other slots.

From the videos it's hard to get a sense of how often each person typically attacks and gets attacked during the course of a quest. (I realize it varies by quest, and by combat vs puzzles, but I'm assuming that there is some kind of pattern for averages over the years.)

+hit/damage items are fairly important to keep things moving quickly (remember we only get 12 minutes per room). How important the hit/damage balance split is depends on how good a slider you are and what difficulty your playing. On Normal you can get away with more damage because things are easier to hit, on higher difficulties hit becomes more important as AC20+ starts to become more common.

All that said Gauntlets of Ogre Power and Bracers of Fire are both amazingly powerful items for the cost. While yes they are more expensive then the majority of other rares they are (IMO) among the most powerful.


If I were starting over with tokens I would start with Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Bracers of Fire, Boots of free action, the +1 saves ioun, and the +2 saves cloak. With a few exceptions you will basically use them no matter what class your playing.

If you are playing a melee role then they are important. If you are doing a combat run they are more important because you will face more combat opportunities.

Since + to hits and damage literally add up the more you can get as a melee character the better without sacrificing anything that you might actually need.

My parties 3 big hitters are not maxed out by any stretch of the imagination, but they still are +9/+18, +9/+17, +10/+18 versus bases of +3/+3, +3/+1 and +4/+2. With them being able to hit easier and harder makes battles not last as long which makes everyone's job easier. If you role is to beat the monster you want to make sliding as easy as possible by making more areas of the slide board hits versus misses. You also want to maximize your hits but pumping out as much damage as possible. If this is your role every little bit does help.

If your role is not one of a basher then of course they are not as useful.

Expect at least 2 combat rooms in a puzzle run. I don't have the stats to tell you on average how many combat rooms there are for both puzzle and combats. Until this year we also had a run that was neither labelled combat or puzzle so that could skew things.

I should add don't worry too much about numbers for your first run if you playing normal. Have fun (unless numbers are your thing then crunch away). The most fun I have had on a run was the first year we played and we had no tokens and became BBQ for Smoak.

Picc wrote: If I were starting over with tokens I would start with Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Bracers of Fire, Boots of free action, the +1 saves ioun, and the +2 saves cloak. With a few exceptions you will basically use them no matter what class your playing.

Ironically, all of those items were on my first pass of my wishlist. The boots and cloak I actually decided against due to wanting to go with a full wind set. I also am wavering on the +1 saves ioun.

My "base" I'm looking at right now that fits all classes is:
Hat of Readiness
Earcuff of the vale
Earcuff/Amulet/Cloak of the wind
2 Rings with +4 saves of specific types (undecided on which yet)
Boots of Traction
Copper Cube Ioun Stone
Shirt of Health

My "wavering" set of base items (due to cost or questioning usefulness):
Gauntlets of Ogre Power
Bracers of Fire
Ioun Stone Beryl Prism
Eyes of Seeing
Belt of Retrieval

From there it's pretty much adding weapons, armor, and a lot of potions based on class, and I'm good to go.