shades pvp, can we be assassins? ^^

[Mahren]

I'm new to ao and the shade class, and the last few days I started joining the first battlestation quite alot.

It is fun and all, but what is really annoying is being rooted 10 times in a row, often by agents, while they keep shooting me. I dont really see how I could prevent this since we dont get much with root resistance for all I know.

So I was thinking, is it possible to play the shade like a pure sneaker, attacking enemys by sneaking up on players and unloading our huge perk chains?
I mean we deal lots of damage quick, we have sneak attack and high concealment right?

How much better will agents concealment be, if I concentrate on concealment on my shade? Can they see me from miles away, or do I have a chance to avoid them to get close to other profs?

In pve, concealment and sneak attack are pretty much useless, right? or has anyone used those with any success for exping?

Oh and some more random questions: ^^
My plan is to always keeping leveling to the highest level for the next BS, then gather enough VPs there to buy the next set of Ofab stuff, then move on. Is there anything you can do with old Ofab stuff, or will it rott in my bank when I have outgrown it, because of the nodrop flag?

Is there a list somewhere that has the VP rewards for the different battlestations?

[Yukimuura]

Shades get a pretty good deal of concealment with it being a green skill and all, you can try it out, I'm sure it's viable. And as for old OFAB, I'm afraid it goes to waste. I'm not sure if there's a list for the different amounts of VP you get per battle station, but it's a pretty fair amount now since they've tweaked it some.

[Biggysmallz]

shades are better assassins then original assassins.
when I seel all those trox shades all I can do is run and try to root them.
only thing agents can do is finish targets off when at 30% and they are fighting 3 other persons like some of us do.

[Shaella]

Actually, sneaking and ganking is what we are best at so you should definately go for it :P

Just remember to get enough attack rating so you can land those perks successfully when you jump out of sneak to attack

Also, the chance of being seen while hiding is pretty slim, at least on later levels.

[Mahren]

what about pve when it comes to concealment and sneak attack?

if it doesnt help in pve Id probably wait, because ip is tight as it is

[mr_road]

it doesn't help in pve unless you are sneaking from greens (SL).

but if it improves the fun factor... ip it to half... and see how many people you can sneak from. everyone else will be tight on ip too so will probably be neglecting perception... so you just want enough concealment to beat the perception people get from gear and buffs.

[Kari]

Not like shades are short of IP in the 210s, unless you're doing something whacky. Got 2 million left at 220, still....

Yeah, sneak, use blur from sneak & pounce on people if it lands, it's pretty effective if a bit boring. I get more problems from agents kiting than them rooting me though.

[KaosMethod]

I wish i had 2mil spare IP. You know after IPing MA, and Phys init and all of that crap, it drains the IP quite fast.

[Kari]

Well, shen stick is something wacky :P 2m wouldn't be enough for me to use one, I've already tried... I like having duck + NR + other useful skills.

[KaosMethod]

Lol nah, duck and NR is not needed.
But seriously its fun to try out. Granted I'll be a lot happier when pande is instanced and i can experiment with builds. Think I may be going for some sort of tanking build with high HP and evades. Not too sure yet. ^_^

[Cyberleet]

So I was thinking, is it possible to play the shade like a pure sneaker, attacking enemys by sneaking up on players and unloading our huge perk chains?

Yes. Shades, along with agents are the supreme assassins of this game.

They are also very vulnerable however.

Few professions will sneak from agents, only other agents and some shades will stay hidden from them-
-and agent kills a sneaking shade pretty fast.

But so does a shade VS agent, you can kill them fast or simply OD their CH with limber up.

If you see the "Jarl's Kin" video in my sig you can see some shade vs agent action, both ways

only thing agents can do is finish targets off when at 30% and they are fighting 3 other persons like some of us do.

Absolute rubbish, maybe that is how it is for trox but not opi nor solitus.

There isn't a better or a more reliable DD (not to mention their multi-tasking like debuffing, unrooting and healing) than agent for group-pvp, and they are very good one on one aswell.
Yes, they can struggle against good builds played by great players. IE 3-5% of those in BS.

Not a big deal

[Kari]

Oh and some more random questions: ^^
My plan is to always keeping leveling to the highest level for the next BS, then gather enough VPs there to buy the next set of Ofab stuff, then move on. Is there anything you can do with old Ofab stuff, or will it rott in my bank when I have outgrown it, because of the nodrop flag?

Is there a list somewhere that has the VP rewards for the different battlestations?

Old ofab just rots away, yes. I wouldn't suggest using ofab all the way up unless you *really* like BS. Getting all the armour and especially weapon upgrades every time would be enough to put me off.

Only done tl5 BS & tl7, tl5 gets ~700 per win ( I have a 165, it varies ), and tl7 is 1175 per win for a 220, iirc.