AA question...

[Zorthaz]

Hello all,

It is hard to believe after 95 levels and 13 years of play I am still asking newbie questions, but here it goes.  I have been finishing out the AA planar power and I am seeing all these other AAs to raise individual stats and I want to make sure I understand how they will affect my stats.  First I will try to throw out some terminology to explain some basic ideas I have.  First you have your base stat from when you created your character with, say 100 strength.  Then you have the strength you get from items.  The strength from items adds to your base strength until you reach the cap.  Heroic strength adds on and can exceed the cap.  Planar power raises the cap which items with standard strength stats can attain.

Now we are ready to ask a question: 1) Do the AA that raise a single stat raise your over all stat even if you are at the cap or are they like adding traditional stats on armor (no afffect)?

[nedoirah]

Here it goes. If I can answer this correctly.

You start with a base stat. No items no mods.

90 str

Ok now you add items to raise it to your level cap. Let's say for simplicity sake we talk about the original cap of 255 at level 60.

255 str

You use Planar power to increase your caps. Planar power 5 which increases your cap by 25 total. (5 per aa level)

280 str

However you got 5 cap increase for every level over 60 and planar power caps at 65 for the first 5 levels. That's 5 levels so you get another 25 stat cap.

305 str

Obviously there's more but for now we're capping at level 65 to keep the explanation simple.

Now let's add in Heroics. Each item with a number highlighted in yellow following a + sign is heroics. Each heroics stats give different benefits (I'm not sure what they are so I'm going into them) Each heroic stat goes above your cap for a worn item only temporary cap increase. So if you equip an item with a +5 str in yellow you get a temproary worn item cap increase of +5 to that stat.

305 str +5 Hstr = 310 str

Each of the individual stat caps other than planar power just simply acts like another rank of planar power. They just permanently increase your stat cap for that stat providing the basic increase just like planar power did. Heroics only raise your cap as long as you wear them in addition to providing benefits other than the normal benefits. Earthen, Dreamlike, Veiled xx stat act just like planar power.

[Nusa]

Now we are ready to ask a question: 1) Do the AA that raise a single stat raise your over all stat even if you are at the cap or are they like adding traditional stats on armor (no afffect)?

That depends on which AA you're looking at, so there are two different answers to that question. In all cases, I think the description of each AA in-game clarifies it. If it says "raises the maximum", it means the CAP is increased. If it says "raises your base", it means it works exactly like normal stats on gear -- worthless once you hit the stat caps. Most, if not all, of those are named "Innate XXX", I think.

That said, I've bought them all long ago, simply because I had nothing else to spend AA on at the time. But they were the very last things on my list.

[Zorthaz]

If you were stuck putting AA into stats which stats would you focus on first?  I was thinking strength, stamina, agility, and dexterity. 

What is your self buffed attack rating with fero? I seem to be stuck around 3200 which seems low.

[stubar]

IF you really just want to get your attack up, then you should focus on Str and Enhanced Aggression, however I would suggest you try to balance all of your offensive AA's as that will help more in the long run.

[Khauruk]

You shoudl do a whole bunch of AAs before you bother w/ too many stat raising AAs.

STA - more hitpoints.
STR - slight boost to attack
DEX - teensy teensy tiny winy boost to proc rate.  Unparseably tiny and not worth getting (we're talking on the order of one additional proc every few hours).
AGI - absolutely useless.  Your AC will appear to go up in your window, but there is zero mitigation boost to it.  It's pure eyecandy but it's bullshit in any other regard.
WIS - actually a decent one for bst now.  More mana = burn a little bit longer.
INT - absolutely useless.
CHA - absolutely useless.