T
Talifer
Guest
Well everyone else seems to be getting one so let's have a Merc one 
I did some tests on Gorre that you might be interested in but my first question would be as follow.
If we don't buy Ignore Pain will we gimp ourselves?
I picked the Merc because I wanted offense, offense and more offense (Well I was conned from the start but...) with realm abilities I'd like to continue this desire, i.e. Master of Pain, Dualist Reflexes etc... But I feel at the end of the day Ignore Pain will far outway these slight enhancements to damage. While these abilities might add 20-50% to your damage (admittedly, all the time), Ignore Pain can increase your damage by 100%, since you live twice as long.
Rain of Fire/Ice/Annihilation etc... I tested Rain of Fire at level I, it's actually quite nice, especially for us dual wielding Mercs, at level I it's 10% additional damage and this stacks with the paladin chant, so I was getting some nice adds. At a cost of 3 points it's pretty reasonable, but probably not an end game choice.
Tireless: I was thinking of putting one point into this, so I tested in on Gorre and quite frankly it's pants. Maybe at higher levels it might do something but at level I it did nothing for my regeneration of endurance while sitting (25 seconds from zero to full mana with and without tireless). In combat/running it took nearly 14 minutes to regenerate from zero to full endurance. I'd say sitting down for 25 seconds is much more efficient
Long Wind: Seems reasonable, without long wind I can sprint for ~20 seconds, Long Wind Level I ~25 seconds, Long Wind Level II ~34 seconds. Is this useful though? It will allow you to catch opponents that have no speed buff, but anyone with a speed buff doesn't need to out run you over the long term, they only need the 5 second head start that allows their buff to kick in. So, since Long Wind doesn't increase your speed, I'm dubious as to it's usefulness.
Master of Pain: Tried this at level 4, basically who needs styles when you crit every other round Level 4 gives you a crit change of 30%, base is 10% level 4 +20%, I think. So if you manage to get two swings in most of the time, on average you should crit at least once every other rounds.
Dodger: Tried this at level 4, should give an evade chance of 5% (Base for evade I) + 12% (4 levels at 3% per level) = 17%, that's effectively Evade III+. Works nicely, got 4 rocots attacking me, I was evading like mad, the animation barely stopped
Toughness: With 163 con (With bonuses) I got 41 extra hits buying level I of this. I have read on the US boards that your actually stats at the time of purchase affect the amount of hits you get, I ddin't have a cleric around to test this though
First Aid: Tested this at level I. Basically a bit worthless, you need to drop out of combat and wait 2 seconds (Yes you can use it even if YOU are getting hit, as long as you aren't hitting something) then hit first aid. Gave me between 90 and 125 hits. Let's face it if you need to use that in combat the 2 second cast time is enough to take more than the ability heals. Of course you have to have first aid at level 2 to get ignore pain.
Anyone tested anything else?
Talifer
I did some tests on Gorre that you might be interested in but my first question would be as follow.
If we don't buy Ignore Pain will we gimp ourselves?
I picked the Merc because I wanted offense, offense and more offense (Well I was conned from the start but...) with realm abilities I'd like to continue this desire, i.e. Master of Pain, Dualist Reflexes etc... But I feel at the end of the day Ignore Pain will far outway these slight enhancements to damage. While these abilities might add 20-50% to your damage (admittedly, all the time), Ignore Pain can increase your damage by 100%, since you live twice as long.
Rain of Fire/Ice/Annihilation etc... I tested Rain of Fire at level I, it's actually quite nice, especially for us dual wielding Mercs, at level I it's 10% additional damage and this stacks with the paladin chant, so I was getting some nice adds. At a cost of 3 points it's pretty reasonable, but probably not an end game choice.
Tireless: I was thinking of putting one point into this, so I tested in on Gorre and quite frankly it's pants. Maybe at higher levels it might do something but at level I it did nothing for my regeneration of endurance while sitting (25 seconds from zero to full mana with and without tireless). In combat/running it took nearly 14 minutes to regenerate from zero to full endurance. I'd say sitting down for 25 seconds is much more efficient
Long Wind: Seems reasonable, without long wind I can sprint for ~20 seconds, Long Wind Level I ~25 seconds, Long Wind Level II ~34 seconds. Is this useful though? It will allow you to catch opponents that have no speed buff, but anyone with a speed buff doesn't need to out run you over the long term, they only need the 5 second head start that allows their buff to kick in. So, since Long Wind doesn't increase your speed, I'm dubious as to it's usefulness.
Master of Pain: Tried this at level 4, basically who needs styles when you crit every other round
Level 4 gives you a crit change of 30%, base is 10% level 4 +20%, I think. So if you manage to get two swings in most of the time, on average you should crit at least once every other rounds.Dodger: Tried this at level 4, should give an evade chance of 5% (Base for evade I) + 12% (4 levels at 3% per level) = 17%, that's effectively Evade III+. Works nicely, got 4 rocots attacking me, I was evading like mad, the animation barely stopped
Toughness: With 163 con (With bonuses) I got 41 extra hits buying level I of this. I have read on the US boards that your actually stats at the time of purchase affect the amount of hits you get, I ddin't have a cleric around to test this though
First Aid: Tested this at level I. Basically a bit worthless, you need to drop out of combat and wait 2 seconds (Yes you can use it even if YOU are getting hit, as long as you aren't hitting something) then hit first aid. Gave me between 90 and 125 hits. Let's face it if you need to use that in combat the 2 second cast time is enough to take more than the ability heals. Of course you have to have first aid at level 2 to get ignore pain.
Anyone tested anything else?
Talifer