Ring of the stalker

[flipstre]

Hi guys if its ok could some let me know how long it takes to make the lvl 12 ring of the stalker and the lvl 16 variant please from scratch.

I want to use it for my monk. Also how useful is it? Is it worth enough to buy Cannith Challenges

Thanks guys

[Mastikator]

It's not worth buying Cannith Challenges, the challenges offer almost no XP.
I spent about 2 hours making the level 16 variant RotS, maybe more. Some challenges (especially rushmore) are just terrible and you're better off doing other challenges (especially kobold mining) and trading ingredients.
It's worth the time it takes to make, if you can make use of all the item's stats (like spare hand is only truly useful to a CC melee warrior with rogue splash for traps).
Would probably takes you a few days to make the Ring Of The Stalker using universal tokens, but it's not worth buying the challenge pack unless you're planning on making LOTS of items imo, they're not worth it for the XP anymore. Depending on how fast you level in the meanwhile it's probably better to just make the level 16 version only.
If I knew then what I know now I would not have bought the pack.

My 2 cents.

[flipstre]

It's not worth buying Cannith Challenges, the challenges offer almost no XP.
I spent about 2 hours making the level 16 variant RotS, maybe more. Some challenges (especially rushmore) are just terrible and you're better off doing other challenges (especially kobold mining) and trading ingredients.
It's worth the time it takes to make, if you can make use of all the item's stats (like spare hand is only truly useful to a CC melee warrior with rogue splash for traps).
Would probably takes you a few days to make the Ring Of The Stalker using universal tokens, but it's not worth buying the challenge pack unless you're planning on making LOTS of items imo, they're not worth it for the XP anymore. Depending on how fast you level in the meanwhile it's probably better to just make the level 16 version only.
If I knew then what I know now I would not have bought the pack.

My 2 cents.

Thanks for that man. Anyone else?

[WielderofGigantus]

If you are only planning on making two rings of the stalker, then no, buying the pack isn't worth it. On the other hand, the pack is a quick source of epic tokens if you have any interest in them.

As a side note, I find that the challenges are much more easier to farm on my sorc than on my monk.

[Purkilius]

I recommend the pack especially if you are going to TR but I must admit that I run it more seldom after the xp nerf.

Ring of the stalker is a very good item with Tharnes goggles for example.

[karl_k0ch]

I don't have the pack, and using the daily challenge tokens, I made a tier 3 epic ring of the stalker, a tier 1 lvl 16 cloak and a tier 1 lvl 20 cloak, iirc. Depending on the challenge, you usually get 250 - 500 ingredients per run.

If you're just after some of the items, and have a decent number of capped toons, getting the pack is convenience, but not strictly required if you are just looking to get some of the items. It's also nice that all tier 1 and tier 2 versions are BtA, so you don't need to make an item for every toon you'd like to level.

[tralfaz81]

I'm VIP so for me it was just a matter of using the area I had ignored before (and after). I was surprised that it only took me a day of grinding to get mine, but I did luck out in running with a guy who knew the kobold mining forwards and back. I think the ring is well worth the effort, not sure about it being worth the cost of the pack though.

[FestusHood]

Not sure if i would recommend buying the pack or not. Depends on how expensive it is, relative to you. I don't own the pack, but i started hoarding the tokens as soon as i found out they were available. There are lots more useful items available than just the ring of the stalker. Also, as stated above, it is far and away the fastest, easiest source of epic dungeon tokens.

They are also easily soloable. You may want to find someone familiar with them to give you a basic tour. Just remember to get the token everytime you log in. I keep my characters parked in house Cannith to make this easy.

Some of the advice on the forums relating to the challenges has to do with maxing out your ingredients relative to time. This is only practical if you own the pack. Otherwise you should look toward maximizing your amount of ingredients per token. I wouldn't advise using the trading 2 for 1 ingredients system if using tokens, unless you simply can't successfully complete something.

In summary, grab some tokens to try it out and decide if it's something you want to buy.

[bigolbear]

It's not worth buying Cannith Challenges, the challenges offer almost no XP.
I spent about 2 hours making the level 16 variant RotS, maybe more. Some challenges (especially rushmore) are just terrible and you're better off doing other challenges (especially kobold mining) and trading ingredients.
It's worth the time it takes to make, if you can make use of all the item's stats (like spare hand is only truly useful to a CC melee warrior with rogue splash for traps).
Would probably takes you a few days to make the Ring Of The Stalker using universal tokens, but it's not worth buying the challenge pack unless you're planning on making LOTS of items imo, they're not worth it for the XP anymore. Depending on how fast you level in the meanwhile it's probably better to just make the level 16 version only.
If I knew then what I know now I would not have bought the pack.

My 2 cents.

I have to say i disagree with evrything said here, Of course your entitled to your opinion - and thats the crucial thing here, its all opinion. here's mine:

Having different lvl versions of the items is useful if you plan on tring that toon. Aditionaly the non upgraded items are bound to account so you can pass them on to characters that are lvling.

I also enjoy the challenges - and that may be a crucial point, I like trying to beat my previous score, find a different tactic etc.

Using univeral tokens your looking at 6 to 9 days(tokens can be hoarded so you can do it all in a day if you like) to make a ring of the stalker, assuming your getting a half decent successful run every time (ie 200+ ingredients). every day you dont have a successfull run will be wasted.

regarding xp on challenges - 4000ish xp for 10 minutes aint bad, its not good tho, challenegs arent the easy xp they were other than first time. I find xp wise the challenges are very useful if your tring with some one and for whatever reason you xp is showing a significant difference(tomes/pots and occasional deaths are the normal reason) they dont break streaks, and are viable at most lvl ranges.

The one thing i realy wish they would do with challenges is make the epic ingredients tradeable for non epic ones - because getting non epic ingredients is a pain in the neck on a lvl 25 char unless you have a lower lvl toon to get them on.

[Purkilius]

The one thing i realy wish they would do with challenges is make the epic ingredients tradeable for non epic ones - because getting non epic ingredients is a pain in the neck on a lvl 25 char unless you have a lower lvl toon to get them on.

Ditto

[Missing_Minds]

you usually get 250 - 500 ingredients per run.

1) you do it at level.
2) You are geared for it (geared being self with class optimal, or a good group.)
3) you or someone else knows what you are doing and the rest of the group (if there is more than you) knows what to do /follows instructions well.
Note: some runs are better for drops than others.

The one thing i realy wish they would do with challenges is make the epic ingredients tradeable for non epic ones - because getting non epic ingredients is a pain in the neck on a lvl 25 char unless you have a lower lvl toon to get them on.

Very true.

[karl_k0ch]

1) you do it at level.
2) You are geared for it (geared being self with class optimal, or a good group.)
3) you or someone else knows what you are doing and the rest of the group (if there is more than you) knows what to do /follows instructions well.
Note: some runs are better for drops than others.


Very true.

1) Yes. You are right; I didn't think of the fact that for lvl 12 items, you will need to run some challenges which are only available up to level 16 (?).
2) Not necessarily. Self-sufficiency and decent gear is worth much more than no self-sufficiency and very good gear, imho.
3) Yes, I usually run the challenges with guildies who know the challenges well.

I didnt mean to boast, and as missing minds shows, my info should be taken with a grain of salt. I just wanted to share my experience.

[Missing_Minds]

I didnt mean to boast, and as missing minds shows, my info should be taken with a grain of salt. I just wanted to share my experience.

I didn't take it as a boast because I know what you stated is most deff possible. I know several very strong people don't think of it from a new player point of view. So I just wanted to augment your information with some extra. Teamwork!




To buy or not...
You know, take a few days to store up several tokens, then go about trying them out. If you like them for what they are, why not buy it? If you don't like it, take your time and use the dailies. It really depends on how much time you want to wait in grinding for what you want.

[Brennie]

I have recently made a level 12/tier 2 ring of the stalker, and have enough ingredients to make a level 20/tier3 ring of the stalker. Here are my thoughts:

Don't buy the pack. But DO be absolutely religious about picking up universal tokens on a daily basis on every character that you have "Active" (e..g. forget retired or bank characters, but do use the guy tou play once a week or so). I do go through bursts of running challenges when i decide there's an item i want (And frankly there are so many good ones, i do come back and decide i want a new one every so often), and usually by that time i have a stockpile of universal tokens that cover all my ingredient farming needs! The "new day" starts at 5pm Pacific Standard Time, every day, so make sure you pick them up before then!

The level 12 ring/tier 2 took me only 6-9 runs or so (Although I used a fairly well geared low level sorc to do some of it. Low level self healing casters or self healing melee can absolutely trash at-level challenges. I actually find it a lot easier to get ingredients on lower level characters, though some may disagree with me). With a good but small group, you can definitely get everything you need for 2 tiers of the level 12 very quickly. I only went to tier 2 on this one, so that it could be swapped around for other characters while leveling. Tier 3 has benefits though, not least of which is using cannith crafting to bump its minimum level down to 10. Or adding mobility (2% dodge and +2 max dex bonus on armor ain't shabby)

As for the level 16 ring - Personally, I would skip it. Investing in tier 2 of the level 12 ring gives you everything the level 16/tier 1 ring would give you except ethereal... but also 4 levels earlier! And ethereal, while nice, is not something i would grind for personally (Ethereal bracers/ethereal gauntlets, a few other items/abilities or just good ol' fashion ghost touch takes care of the relatively few ethereals you see from level 16 and above). While tier 2 of the level 16 ring also gives you +1 exceptional sneak attack, i didn't feel that +1 to hit and damage while sneak attacking really warranted 3000 ingredients!

The level 20 ring, on the other hand... now that is smexy. This one i would recommend going all the way to tier 3, if you can stomach it. More exceptional sneak attack, more seeker, ghostly (Like ethereal, but also permenant 10% incorp, which now stacks with blur, woo!), and some slots which coudl come in very handy, if you're down to farm out a lot of epic tokens (I'm planning on +1 exceptional stat and Greater False Life, since my Shavarath belt will be getitng replaced by one of the Eveningstar ones)

[Inouk]

I have recently made a level 12/tier 2 ring of the stalker, and have enough ingredients to make a level 20/tier3 ring of the stalker. Here are my thoughts:

Don't buy the pack. But DO be absolutely religious about picking up universal tokens on a daily basis on every character that you have "Active" (e..g. forget retired or bank characters, but do use the guy tou play once a week or so). I do go through bursts of running challenges when i decide there's an item i want (And frankly there are so many good ones, i do come back and decide i want a new one every so often), and usually by that time i have a stockpile of universal tokens that cover all my ingredient farming needs! The "new day" starts at 5pm Pacific Standard Time, every day, so make sure you pick them up before then!

The level 12 ring/tier 2 took me only 6-9 runs or so (Although I used a fairly well geared low level sorc to do some of it. Low level self healing casters or self healing melee can absolutely trash at-level challenges. I actually find it a lot easier to get ingredients on lower level characters, though some may disagree with me). With a good but small group, you can definitely get everything you need for 2 tiers of the level 12 very quickly. I only went to tier 2 on this one, so that it could be swapped around for other characters while leveling. Tier 3 has benefits though, not least of which is using cannith crafting to bump its minimum level down to 10. Or adding mobility (2% dodge and +2 max dex bonus on armor ain't shabby)

As for the level 16 ring - Personally, I would skip it. Investing in tier 2 of the level 12 ring gives you everything the level 16/tier 1 ring would give you except ethereal... but also 4 levels earlier! And ethereal, while nice, is not something i would grind for personally (Ethereal bracers/ethereal gauntlets, a few other items/abilities or just good ol' fashion ghost touch takes care of the relatively few ethereals you see from level 16 and above). While tier 2 of the level 16 ring also gives you +1 exceptional sneak attack, i didn't feel that +1 to hit and damage while sneak attacking really warranted 3000 ingredients!

The level 20 ring, on the other hand... now that is smexy. This one i would recommend going all the way to tier 3, if you can stomach it. More exceptional sneak attack, more seeker, ghostly (Like ethereal, but also permenant 10% incorp, which now stacks with blur, woo!), and some slots which coudl come in very handy, if you're down to farm out a lot of epic tokens (I'm planning on +1 exceptional stat and Greater False Life, since my Shavarath belt will be getitng replaced by one of the Eveningstar ones)

General *bump* to this ^. As some have stated there are many items worth getting. If you have a crafter, the tier3 elemental weapons are sick (khopesh gets you +4 paralyzing, icy burst, crushing wave at level10?!) all the way up through level 20. The mournlode armors are good options, the bracers, cloak, tunic, boots, chime, both rings, belt are all good on various builds. I'm VIP so I've farmed about a dozen items from here.

A note on return rate, it depends greatly on quest length. Some are timed 5 minutes, expect fewer tokens, but faster return rate on those (~100 per, solo). Some are 10 min, some 15, 1 or 2 are 20 min, and some are semi-open ended. Many people hate on the mansion missions, but IMO they are so different from the others they help break the monotony and give me 400-600 mats in 1 run, which is great for a universal token, and they take maybe 30-40 minutes. And even if you run out of items you want, as others have mentioned they are a great way to farm tokens (which is a fair trade for the fact that you don't get epic scrolls/seals/shards).

BTW, I highly recommend running with a toon that can d-door, bonus for haste and self heals. Casters and bards work great.