kamorrista
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2005
- Messages
- 492
source: Lugan
Starting Out
Whenever faced with creating a new template, the first task to do is to decide what is important to you and your character. There are some general rules of thumb to follow, which can vary as your template gets more complicated and you get a wider variety of items to choose from. It is out of the scope of this article to go over appropriate stat selection for each class, however the basic rules for a template are as follows:
1. Max your primary damage dealing stats. For casters you are looking at dexterity and acuity. For melee characters, strength and maybe dexterity. Hybrids require a fine balance of these 2, depending on the class.
2. Constitution and hits should always be capped or as highest as you can. The more of these you have, the more damage you'll be able to take.
3. Resists, resists, resists. Some resists you can skimp on, depending on realm and class type, but in general you want to aim to have (at level 50) 20+% across the board, and the more you have capped, the better. Again, by having higher resist percentages, you'll be harder to kill and easier to keep alive.
4. Depending on your server type, artifact abilities, overcaps, etc. come into play. On a TOA server, most templates start by a selection of which artifacts are must haves in the template, some for their utility, but most for their procs or /use abilities.
If you are not sure what to include in your template, and want some ideas, there are several good sources for information.
FH template section will help you to find out a decent template for any class
Camelotvault 's Template section is a relatively new area to submit and review templates.
Classes of Camelot has information on all DaoC classes dating back for quite some time. Class guides and the like also can provide some insight.
IGN's own VNBoards has forums for all character class types, and frequently has template discussions.
Selecting Items
The hardest part in putting together a template is selecting and gathering the necessary loot-items to be included. Some people design templates as a guideline for which items they need to acquire, and some design a template using items currently available. Both are viable ways to design a template, depending on the resources you have at your disposal, and how quickly you want to be "templated" out and ready to RvR seriously.
One of the first terms you will hear when looking at template information is "Utility". What is utility and where can I find the utility on an item I have or want? Utility is not a stat you will find while in game. It is a calculated number based on the relative weight the bonuses on an item are. The formula for Utility is:
Utility = (Resist % x 2) + (Stat Bonus x 2/3) + (Skill Bonus x 5) + (Hits Bonus x 1/4)
Utility should be used as a guide to relative usefullness of an item as far as stat bonuses go, only. There are times when items provide "lost utility" because, for instance, a specific resist on the item might only be partially used before your character is capped (ex. A character already has 20% spirit resist and adds a Feathered Wrap which includes 11% spirit resist. In this case, the Feathered Wrap has "lost" 10 utility, because 5% of the spirit resist is not used). As a guideline, a template which caps 3 stats @ 75, all resists, hits @ 200 and 1 skill to +11 has 723 utility. For a more complex hybrid template which would include multiple over-cap stats, along with other stat bonuses, the utility requirements can push upwards of 800 towards 900. Since a character has 14 slots not including weapon (which can make it 15 or 16, depending on class type), in order to make a good template, item utilities should average in the 50 utility range. Higher is better, but when choosing items keep that number in mind.
There are some items that most templates seem to have. These included the "SI Necklace". The reason? It is an 80 utility item. This also is the reason certain rings (Zahur's Ring, Band of Shadow, the Cat's Resist ring) are highly sought after for their high utility due to the ton of resist bonuses, Lately the Dragon stuff bought with scales also is very used, aswell as ML10 stuff.
Also a less used number is "TOA Utility" which attempts to classify TOA specific bonuses with a number. The requirements on a template for this is much lower, and in this author's opinion, a much less useful number to pay attention to.
The balancing act that makes template building difficult, especially on TOA servers, is the general low utility on some other highly sought after items. The Hybrid version of the Guard of Valor, for instance, weighs in at a meager 32 utility. Why is it so sought after? It's the proc, /use ability, and the unique TOA stats available on it. It is these artifact choices which force templates to want for the high utility items mentioned above, don't forget ML10 items or dragon stuff which many of them have much more utility than artifacts
Items should mainly be chosen for your jewelry and possibly your weapon slots. The reason for this is because of the lack of Jewelcrafting in DaoC at this time. Since you can't imbue jewlery with stat bonuses, you must rely on loot-items only for these spots. Armor slots (and weapon slots) can always been player-crafted and spell-crafted to suit, but again dragon scales stuff and ml10 stuff is always a good point to start on. Some armor choices are inevitable, but be wary of leaving yourself too few spots to be able to spellcraft the gaps in your template.
For this same reason, when deciding to overcap stats, or try to fully "TOA" out a toon with TOA specific bonuses, you must look to the loot-items to provide these for you. Spellcrafters have found a way to include stat cap bonuses (sigil/dragonsworn), but not very high caps you can get, anyways, always sueful. For all of these reasons, loot-item selection is the most difficult part of building a template. There are some resources to help you out in this quest. First is to refer back to any already made templates for ideas on items. Next, you can always consult an item database:
Camelotvault 's Artifact Database is a good place to lookup artifact information
Vision of Sages' Trials of Atlantis Info continues to be a good source of TOA item info, however after the patch this might change for artifacts.
Allakhazam provides a very nice set of item information including sources for the drop.
Ethinarg 's Workshop has an active database which can be downloaded and imported into your favorite Spellcrafting Calculator.
Filling in the Gaps
Once you think you have a set of items, and are ready to round out the template, you'll need to know a bit about spellcrafting. The basics of spellcrafting:
1. Each player-crafted item can take 4 gems to imbue it with magical properties (plus 1 slot extra bonus from sigil/dragonsworn)
2. The level of these gems allowed into the item is based on the item's level and quality
3. Some items can be "Overcharged" by putting more imbue points than are normally allowed into an item; but is more costly and time-consuming and can result in the item blowing up if failed.
I hope it Helps you out to make your own templates, also you can download nice calculators and other stuffs Here
Starting Out
Whenever faced with creating a new template, the first task to do is to decide what is important to you and your character. There are some general rules of thumb to follow, which can vary as your template gets more complicated and you get a wider variety of items to choose from. It is out of the scope of this article to go over appropriate stat selection for each class, however the basic rules for a template are as follows:
1. Max your primary damage dealing stats. For casters you are looking at dexterity and acuity. For melee characters, strength and maybe dexterity. Hybrids require a fine balance of these 2, depending on the class.
2. Constitution and hits should always be capped or as highest as you can. The more of these you have, the more damage you'll be able to take.
3. Resists, resists, resists. Some resists you can skimp on, depending on realm and class type, but in general you want to aim to have (at level 50) 20+% across the board, and the more you have capped, the better. Again, by having higher resist percentages, you'll be harder to kill and easier to keep alive.
4. Depending on your server type, artifact abilities, overcaps, etc. come into play. On a TOA server, most templates start by a selection of which artifacts are must haves in the template, some for their utility, but most for their procs or /use abilities.
If you are not sure what to include in your template, and want some ideas, there are several good sources for information.
FH template section will help you to find out a decent template for any class
Camelotvault 's Template section is a relatively new area to submit and review templates.
Classes of Camelot has information on all DaoC classes dating back for quite some time. Class guides and the like also can provide some insight.
IGN's own VNBoards has forums for all character class types, and frequently has template discussions.
Selecting Items
The hardest part in putting together a template is selecting and gathering the necessary loot-items to be included. Some people design templates as a guideline for which items they need to acquire, and some design a template using items currently available. Both are viable ways to design a template, depending on the resources you have at your disposal, and how quickly you want to be "templated" out and ready to RvR seriously.
One of the first terms you will hear when looking at template information is "Utility". What is utility and where can I find the utility on an item I have or want? Utility is not a stat you will find while in game. It is a calculated number based on the relative weight the bonuses on an item are. The formula for Utility is:
Utility = (Resist % x 2) + (Stat Bonus x 2/3) + (Skill Bonus x 5) + (Hits Bonus x 1/4)
Utility should be used as a guide to relative usefullness of an item as far as stat bonuses go, only. There are times when items provide "lost utility" because, for instance, a specific resist on the item might only be partially used before your character is capped (ex. A character already has 20% spirit resist and adds a Feathered Wrap which includes 11% spirit resist. In this case, the Feathered Wrap has "lost" 10 utility, because 5% of the spirit resist is not used). As a guideline, a template which caps 3 stats @ 75, all resists, hits @ 200 and 1 skill to +11 has 723 utility. For a more complex hybrid template which would include multiple over-cap stats, along with other stat bonuses, the utility requirements can push upwards of 800 towards 900. Since a character has 14 slots not including weapon (which can make it 15 or 16, depending on class type), in order to make a good template, item utilities should average in the 50 utility range. Higher is better, but when choosing items keep that number in mind.
There are some items that most templates seem to have. These included the "SI Necklace". The reason? It is an 80 utility item. This also is the reason certain rings (Zahur's Ring, Band of Shadow, the Cat's Resist ring) are highly sought after for their high utility due to the ton of resist bonuses, Lately the Dragon stuff bought with scales also is very used, aswell as ML10 stuff.
Also a less used number is "TOA Utility" which attempts to classify TOA specific bonuses with a number. The requirements on a template for this is much lower, and in this author's opinion, a much less useful number to pay attention to.
The balancing act that makes template building difficult, especially on TOA servers, is the general low utility on some other highly sought after items. The Hybrid version of the Guard of Valor, for instance, weighs in at a meager 32 utility. Why is it so sought after? It's the proc, /use ability, and the unique TOA stats available on it. It is these artifact choices which force templates to want for the high utility items mentioned above, don't forget ML10 items or dragon stuff which many of them have much more utility than artifacts
Items should mainly be chosen for your jewelry and possibly your weapon slots. The reason for this is because of the lack of Jewelcrafting in DaoC at this time. Since you can't imbue jewlery with stat bonuses, you must rely on loot-items only for these spots. Armor slots (and weapon slots) can always been player-crafted and spell-crafted to suit, but again dragon scales stuff and ml10 stuff is always a good point to start on. Some armor choices are inevitable, but be wary of leaving yourself too few spots to be able to spellcraft the gaps in your template.
For this same reason, when deciding to overcap stats, or try to fully "TOA" out a toon with TOA specific bonuses, you must look to the loot-items to provide these for you. Spellcrafters have found a way to include stat cap bonuses (sigil/dragonsworn), but not very high caps you can get, anyways, always sueful. For all of these reasons, loot-item selection is the most difficult part of building a template. There are some resources to help you out in this quest. First is to refer back to any already made templates for ideas on items. Next, you can always consult an item database:
Camelotvault 's Artifact Database is a good place to lookup artifact information
Vision of Sages' Trials of Atlantis Info continues to be a good source of TOA item info, however after the patch this might change for artifacts.
Allakhazam provides a very nice set of item information including sources for the drop.
Ethinarg 's Workshop has an active database which can be downloaded and imported into your favorite Spellcrafting Calculator.
Filling in the Gaps
Once you think you have a set of items, and are ready to round out the template, you'll need to know a bit about spellcrafting. The basics of spellcrafting:
1. Each player-crafted item can take 4 gems to imbue it with magical properties (plus 1 slot extra bonus from sigil/dragonsworn)
2. The level of these gems allowed into the item is based on the item's level and quality
3. Some items can be "Overcharged" by putting more imbue points than are normally allowed into an item; but is more costly and time-consuming and can result in the item blowing up if failed.
I hope it Helps you out to make your own templates, also you can download nice calculators and other stuffs Here
