focus skill?

[nateee]

I remember a while ago they were going to make it where you could not get the full benefits from your armors MR unless you had focus. Did this take effect? I can't find any info about it on the usual sites.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Focus is still a waste of skill points. You'd be much better off putting the points into something else.

 

[Eslake]

*checks his medication labels since he is about to agree with Connor on something*


Sadly, while Focus was a good general concept (melee mana and stamina regen) it had to be implimented with meditation+mr and +sr items in mind, so it ended up being so weak that there nearly any other skill in its place is a better investment.

I'm not saying people don't have it, and benefit from it. I'm just saying that in most cases, the value of it is not as much/points as they could get from having any number of other skills instead.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I remember a while ago they were going to make it where you could not get the full benefits from your armors MR unless you had focus. Did this take effect? I can't find any info about it on the usual sites.

Having either Focus or Meditation enhances the effect of Mana Regeneration. The idea was to get it so that items couldn't actually replace a skill.

As to the general usefulness of Focus? It means you can wear any armor you want, and don't have to worry about it being leather or having the Mage Armor property. It also gives you Stamina Regeneration to go with the Mana Regeneration.

Most people these days argue that Meditation is more useful, because if you're a paladin you can cast divine fury to regenerate stamina, or gulp a potion no matter who you are, and thus enjoy full stamina and the mana regeneration bonus of Meditation.

I disagree. I think that Focus can still be of good use, especially in PvM character. PvM can sometimes be about a damage over a long period of time, and the Stamina regen (at GM Focus it's the equivalent of about 10 Stamina Regen) is really, really useful. I like the Hell out of Focus on my Doom Paladin.

-Galen's player

 

[Ailish]

To answer the initial question, yes, they did change MR to have diminishing returns and you have to have Focus or Med to get the full benefit. However, a human character with JoAT has 20 of each and usually sees decent MR. Add a Mana Leech weapon and you are fine.

 

[Sheridan]

Most people these days argue that Meditation is more useful, because if you're a paladin you can cast divine fury to regenerate stamina, or gulp a potion no matter who you are, and thus enjoy full stamina and the mana regeneration bonus of Meditation.

Casting divine fury is great for restoring that stamina but it's a double edged sword. While your damage, hit chance and swing speed get a bit of a boost, your defense chance drops as well. A number of my paladin friends couldn't figure out why they were taking so many hits and damage in combat until I explained the full nature of that spell.

 

[5% Luck]

I make use of partial or not gm/leg skills. One such case is with the paladin. I never go above 70(mostly 68) chivalry. This is Bare minimum for EoO with decent success (about50%) This leaves the room for 30-32 focus. It makes alot of difference in the MR on armour as well as stmr. As some one stated being human can make that difference for you. Pretty much anytime I have a few Sp left I stick them in focus.

A good Mana leech weapon will bypass all need of focus.

Also my smith wears ringmail gloves of mining and I had to switch med to focus just for that. There are alot of artis that have no mage armor properties. This is why I have no idea how pvpers are trading their focus for med. Even in no active mode I dont think med works as well as focus in non mage armor.(i could be wrong here).

 

[Kiminality]

When training characters with skills requiring mana, I usually end up with GM Med/Focus and all the MR I can fit on a suit with (100% LRC if required).
That's the only time I ever really use focus.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Casting divine fury is great for restoring that stamina but it's a double edged sword. While your damage, hit chance and swing speed get a bit of a boost, your defense chance drops as well. A number of my paladin friends couldn't figure out why they were taking so many hits and damage in combat until I explained the full nature of that spell.

Another reason why Focus does so well on my Doom Paladin, coupled of course with high DCI.

I am very much a proponent of Focus..Especially since I think that non-mage armor is going to get some kind of bonus sometime soon; they've been talking about it enough. My bet goes to a "physical damage absorbing" property, kinda like a swamp dragon's barding, but more limited. (Like, say, capping out at like 2% to 5% for a full non-meddable suit, enough to make it worth it but barely so.)

-Galen's player

 

[Ailish]

I did this as well, Kimi, until I played a bit with Noximus's calculator and found that 120 med was almost the same as GM Focus/GM Med ... so now my fielder (her whole job is to cast fields non-stop) has 120 Med/80 Focus and the MR is crazy

 

[nateee]

so does anyone know the formula for how much focus lets you untilize the mr on your items?

 

[hen]

I have gm focus on my warrior. It works for me.

 

[Kiminality]

so does anyone know the formula for how much focus lets you untilize the mr on your items?

The formula was never made public.
It was revealed to the PvP Focus Group, but covered under the NDA (which was never lifted).
Noxin, however, made a flash calculator that utilised the formula.
http://noxins.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=28
Plug in values, and hit (I think) "New Calc"

 

[Masuo Kenji]

Focus works wonders on Siege, since I'm not wearing any special armor. Leech effects on weapons are sometimes helpful (in PvM), but in a (PvP) field fight people are not going to stand around long enough for you to land enough hits.

I'm also a ninja, so I barely lose any stamina running around in mount-speed animal forms with 100 focus. If I had meditation instead of focus, I'd have to carry around a lot of refresh pots (which I have a possibility of losing when killed and looted).

 

[Nexus]

I find Focus to work ok for Dexxers that don't rely totally on Mana, the MR you get from focus is only half what you get from Med, but the Stamina regen really helps with how Stamina effects swing speed.