Fencer Archive

Hi People,

I am fairly new to the world of SWG (they took forever to import it to me in the UK :smileyindifferent so why I was waiting I have been looking over the forums alot, and I have decided that the Fencer class seems like a pretty cool rout to take, I especially like the idea that you dont `need` to look like everyone else in identical armour and I like the idea of the class being generally under-rated.

Anyway, onto my question.... I am really after some good advice for a template to use becasue I do not want to spend ages labouring away at a character only to find in a month that he sucks and I should have put my skills elsewhere to make the best fencer. There are alot of threads on these boards that give usfull information (thanks everyone), I have been taking notes and what not, but I am a complete newbie to MMORPG`s aswell as SWG and need some advice on where to best put my skill points to make the ultimate Fencer. I have a rough idea in my head, but I would really appreciate it if the more experianced players could give me some good help, tips and advice.... I am sure I am not the only one finding it rather hard to get into the role of a Fencer! I have broken down my quwest for advice into the following areas... if anyone can think of something obvious I have missed (which is allmost a certainty!) then please let me know! By the way, I am going for a PvM character right now... I think my ping from Europe to the US servers is too high to get any decent PvP action. My characters name is Englando Calahaxion and I am playing on Naritus by the way

The Skill Tree

Right now I am planning to get upto the higest level in 1 handed swordsmanship within the Brawler tree... that is obviously a given for any Fencer as its a pre-requisit. However, then what - where is it best to take your character from there? I was wondering if it is best to go straight into the Fencing experiance tree (if so, what to work on in this tree), or is it best to go for a master brawler before going into the Fencer tree? At the moment I am at the advanced 1 handed swordsman level - once I take it to the final swordsman level I am concerned about the best path to take. Also, if it it best to go right into the Fencing tree before going for master brawler (is master brawler even worth doing?) then what to work on first?

Player Stats / HAM

I have read many conflicting views on this subject - someone recently posted some info from the Prima guide which was fairly usfull (thanks for that), but there are still lots of conflicting views. With consideration for an all out PvM Fencer, how it is best to distribute / re-allocate your stat points... right now I have moved it so that my quickness, concentration and quickness are fairly high, with little concern for the other stats... it is working out faily well considering my rubbish sword, but whats the best way to set these for a PvM dedicated Fencer - or does it all coem down to weapon choice?

Weapons / Armor

I reliase that the armour debate is rather controversial at the moment, but personally I would rather take the rout of no armour becasue it gives your character a chance to look individual. However, I do not understand why having no armour is benificial, is it becasue armour slows you down so much so without it your character is significantly quicker at dealing damage therefore will (in theory) take less damage and also heal faster? Also, could it be benifical to take a compromise on the armour and perhaps only wear certain parts of armour, mabye leg and body but no helmet, gloves, etc - or is that just crazy? My main concern doesnt so much lie with armour, its more with swords... right now I am using a bog-standard sword which is basicly usless, I seem to take an age to kill anything, is that to do with the sword I am using (obviously I intend to upgrade it soon!) or is it more down to my fighting style (continued in Hunting section...)? Also, where is the best place to get good 1 handed weapons from, I know that the bazaa is basically usless (I think the devs need to re-evaluate that), but where can I get good weapons from! I am playing on Naritus which according to the forums have some of the best weaponsmits around, but I have tried many of the well respected ones and there vendors never have anything of use for me... and there stuff is allways 20,000 credits which is an allmsot impossible target. Also, can you repair a weapon once it has been damaged yourself or do you have to take it to a weaponsmith?

Hunting

In order to level up as a Fencer, its obvious that you need to go out hunting and run destroy missions to fund new weapons etc. However, I am finding that white monsters (in packs and humanoids) tend to seriously hurt me, it seems to be rare for me to get a kill on them. I am using the standard skills which you gain as you level up the 1 handed tree, but they seem to deal less damage than just a standard attack... is this normal, is it becasue of my weapon, etc? I am not overly concenred about it right now, but I will be if it doesnt significantly improve soon becasue the damage I am dealing out is pathetic - even on blue monsters I can struggle, which makes the destroy missions extremly hard. Is it likely that as I get all the way up into the 1 handed sword technique, the new skills / moves the game gives me will improve this significantly... or am I allways going to be struggeling against the easiest monsters? I apprecaite that my character is new and should be pretty usless, but not this usless! I am wearing bone armour on my chest and legs, using a standard sword and hitting monsters with 1 handed lunge and body hit, but it seems to be soooo ineffective. Also, when I am up close, my chance of hit thing (cant remember its correct name!) is allways in the minus figures, I have never ever seen it go into positive numbers... surly this cant be a good thing, how on earth can it be changed? What I supose I am really getting at is that I have put all my efforts into working up the 1 handed sword ladder (curerntly 3 levels into it), and my damage seems to have statyed the same as when I started, will this all of a sudden improve when I learn a good new attack (spin attack or something mabye?) or is it more likely my characters setup? As for the question of where is the best place to gather exp, I wont ask that question in this post becasue it has been coverd in many other threads.

Healing

This is one of my major problems. Becasue I am in the UK, when I play most of the US players tend to be asleep or at work / school, which leavs me with a big problem when I need healing and need to get the battle fatigue down.... if there is no one around, and there is no one responding to messages, what on earth are you to do?!? It seems to me there is no way to get healed, which means my character can be too injred to go out and earn exp etc and also cannot be healed, so I am left being forced to turn the game off and come back a few horus later when the US wakes up. Now, I know this is partially my fault becasue I am playing in Europe on US servers, but surly the devs have thought about this and put something into the game to help you out a little - if not, thats defnitly wotrth consideration! Does anyone have any ideas waht to do other than message random doctors and beg or just sit in the emd room for upto 3 hours (which is absolutly ridiculous!).

The Community

This is not so much Fencer specific, but I am new to MMORPG`s (I am coming from a Q3 and Diablo 2 background), but whats the best way to get involved in the community? Are there any good SWG rescources that you people know of other than here (or did I break the rules asking that - if so, sorry!), any good guilds for newbies like me, stuff like that?

Summary

Basically, I would like to know how to build the best out and out dedicated PvM Fencer, where to spend my stats, what weapons to use, how to hunt and who to hunt with, do I need any backup profesions to assist me, etc, etc, etc. Basically, a template or an overview on the best Fencer possible, something for me (and other newbies!) to aim for!

Any help would be genuinly appreciated! I know there is no substitute for experiance, and I hope I will figure this whole game and profesion out soon so I can help the many other newbies who will be arriving and asking all the newbie questions I am right now!

WOW! Your still here and still reading.... cummon, admit it, you must be bored of me asking such idiotic questions by now hehe.

Englando Calahaxion, Naritus, NewB Fencer Extraudenaire!

PS - Sorry for terrible spelling and grammer, I am far to lazy tp spell check it heheh. And wow, I just wrote a full on essey... still, its a good way to use the computer at work hehe.

1. Dont wear armor. Armor is for pansies who like to grow flowers and eat shortcake.

2. Get some other basic skills. Medic would be good for that healing problem of yours. Scout would be good to, so that you can harvest from animals on missions, make camps and heal faster.

3. Get a player made weapon ASAP. Read the boards of your server to find out who can make weapons.

4. As for joining the community and interactin withj others....you should start making friends, like you would in any RL situation. If your cool people will respond to that, if your a suckass type of guy, well they will respond to that too.

Welcome to the Fencer class. I would like to start off by saying that not too many people join this elite skill class. I have 3 of the bottom fencer skills trained so far and working on advanced footwork. I almost never use armor (with the exception to ubese gloves and thats just because the way they look). When you hit novice fencer all things will change. I still amaze people in my group on the damage I deal. y the way, 1 hand lunge isn't made for damage, it's made to knock your target off balance. Works well with 1 hand dizzy, will knock down almost any humanoid in the first attempt. Here is an example, u get hostiled, 1 hand dizzy, then one hand lunge then use berser and just swing, after you go berserk you shouldn't need to perform any more specials.(At your lvl anyway). Ofcourse that changes depending on what/who you're fighting. Slash spin was a favorite when you learn it in doing destroy missions. Just go to the lair, hit it once, and then start 1 hand spin'n the crap outta the target. It attacks multipl targets surrounding you. You will have to progress a bit more before this can me trained, but it's well worth it.

I accented my fencer skills with master scout and some in ranger (just the advanced trapping tier 1-3). Wire mesh traps which you learn early on in scout will help you greatly. They lower the target (creature's) melee def. I aalso trained some medic skills (which DarthGanjookie previously stated) to heal myself when I'm in my camp. Anyway, I'm at work and I have to run, customers buggin me. Hope this helps.