Item of the Month Discussion

[achtung5]

falseeevil says that the best HC familiar is the hobo.

thoughts?

[pacone]

Far better than the troll now, that's fo' sho' >.>

[zomguberclubber]

thoughts: Is the WAF a safe investment? I figure, if they double to 8-8.5 mil, that's fine. Could this feasibly happen?

[teh_bigquack]

thoughts: Is the WAF a safe investment? I figure, if they double to 8-8.5 mil, that's fine. Could this feasibly happen?

IotM can generally be considered a safe investment, provided you look over a long enough timescale.  The chances of the WAF doubling in price in the foreseeable future (i.e. <1 year) look exceptionally slim.  The size of the donating player base has increased a lot in the last year or so and, as a result, you simply don't see the rapid increases in value that you used to (with some exceptions, of course /pets his dandy lion).

I don't see the WAF as a 'must have' familiar.  On the other hand it is a consumable so the numbers available will decrease over time with an associated increase in cost.  Anecdotal evidence suggests the newer players are fairly young (compared to all us 30-somethings), so a Harry Potter themed familiar might appeal more than others might.  The constant requirement to replace the equipment is a definite negative though...

So, to answer the question...it could feasibly happen but seems unlikely to.

[yori]

All right then.  After spending time with a bunch of veterans, I have determined that the green pixies are a great investment.  Why?  It's a familiar, it cuts days off runs with the not-a-pipe which is a spleen item.  Of coarse - the adventures even out but it's free stat gains...
Everyone in the contest except me and noobs used it.

[Daitezen]

It costs 10 adventures to get any one of those items though, so for a fast run (particularly in HC), im not sure if i see not-a-pipe really as the way to go (as most of its adventure gains are less than this), and i would usually go for flask of Amontillado instead (better than any other booze you can get to drop).

However, its definately a good familiar, and i use it almost as regularly as my NPZR now, which is saying something.

[teh_bigquack]

It costs 10 adventures to get any one of those items though...

Not at all - where the 'choice' adventures crop up is fairly tightly defined.  You can pick up a !pipe in 5 adventures with a high level of confidence, 3 if you want to chance it.

An oft-overlooked benefit of the Green Pixie is the +10% stat items you can get - the mask (moxie) and skirt (muscle) are well worth taking the time to pick up in a HC run.

[Daitezen]

Well you can if you really want to, but there are some worthwhile drops (at least IMO). But stop/starting adventures is a bit of a pain (and there is no benefit now the queue has changed).

I always go for one of each of the pieces of equipment from there (well i did in my last HC run).

[zomguberclubber]

And the opinions on this month's IoTM are...

[achtung5]

i like it. on top of a chefstaff, you can do some significant damage even with stream of sauce.

[yori]

You can't - damage cap...

[Daitezen]

I'm not too keen on it, it is very much just a spellcaster thing, and as spellcasting isn't all that powerful anyway, this isn't enough to make it any better. And again it seems a kind of bodged together item, there haven't been many i have liked in recent months, i liked the pixie, but thats about it.

[teh_bigquack]

You can't - damage cap...

The damage cap isn't affected by +spell% as the bonus damage is added after the calculation of any backwash from the spells.  I think the intention of the navel ring is to make spell-slinging a realistic option cross-class.  The side-effect being that myst classes, or those with a lot of myst skills permed, can one-shot just about anything at low mana cost for pretty much the entire game.

Personally I will be picking one up as soon as I finish my current run - it seems a useful basement diving item and, hey, it's rare to *lose* meat buying an IotM. 

[achtung5]

may i remind you of the penguin, good friend?

they are so low it isnt funny. i bought 4 of them, i got so ripped off...

[yori]

I know - what I mean is that with the damage cap - you can do like 30 damage
with the naval ring, you can do 60 damage - not nearly enough...