TrotterOfSylph wrote:
Hi there, I'm a recently a convert from FFXI. Well, not convert, just taking a break I guess.
Welcome to the "dark side." A lot of us started out in FFXI. You may not want to leave, either...
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1. I've been keeping my sword, staff and wand skills capped. Is that the proper way to go or is one weapon enough? I tend to like the wand as it "seems" to give me the best DoT to go along with my DoT spells.
Keeping melee weapons at cap isn't really necessary, as a warlocks aren't at their best in melee. We aren't red mages here.
Keeping wand capped is an excellent idea. The wand lets you keep your distance while still doing a bit of damage.
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2. Whats a good number of shards to keep on hand? I've got about 15, but I'm not going through them all that fast. Could I dump 10 of them for more bag space?
If you're not using them fast, don't worry about it, especially at your level. Keep enough on hand to make health stones and resummon your minion as needed. It's no fun trying to kill something with the imp just so you can get your voidwalker back...
The number of stones kept on hand tends to go up as you level, and if you end up grouping for a dungeon (a.k.a. "instance") you'll want as many as you can get your hands on, since handing out health stones and soul-stoning the healer makes people like you.
Later on, you get access to
soul bags. These bags can only store soul shards, but they tend to have more slots than normal bags. The first one you get is a 12 slot one as a reward when you get your succubus (around level 20), and you get a 16 slot one along with your felhunter (level 30). There's a 24 and a couple 28 slot ones that can be made by tailor later on, but they're not exactly cheap...
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3. Drain life ... I just got this, but it doesn't seem like I'm draining as much HP as damage I'm taking. Am I msessing up, or do I just need a higher rank of the spell.
The best way to improve Drain Life is with the Soul Siphon talent, in the Affliction tree. With that talent, each affliction effect on the target causes Drain Life to drain a bit more.
Are you trying to drain-tank? That's where you basically act as a tank and your minion just is additional damage (usually done with the succubus or felhunter later on). The goal there is to drain life equal or better than what's being dealt to you. This isn't really possible until later on, when you can get enough talent points for 5/5 Fel Concentration, Siphon Life, and 2/2 Soul Siphon .
Again, welcome to the dark side. :D