What are you looking for in a GD?

[Harb]

The ranges on greater dragons for stats and skills is so broad, what causes you to excited about taming one to add to your stables? Two things seem a no brainer, physical resist as close to 85 as it can be, and hit points. Phys resist as most creatures hit that resist, and hps as that effects everything. 120 wrestle or higher seems helpful, if you're venturing into the PvP world over 115 resist magic also seems desireable. High strength also seems a goal so the damage the pet deals as much damage as possible. I'm not really sure about dex, based on swing speed calculations it seems anything over 90 doesn't really matter, though it is irksome to tame a greater who doesn't reach 125 dex. Past that, what actually matters to you, and why please? Thoughts?

 

[NuSair]

I look mostly for resist, then skills, then HPs.

Higher resist = less damage taken

I know so people seem fixated on hps, but really, for me, it is can I heal more damage (or as much) than it's taking. Other than that, I don't care if it has 500 hps. Yes, more hps is better, but I look for resist 1st, then skills.

 

[Kazumi the Wild]

near 85 phys, near 90 fire, as they seem to be pretty much THE resists almost always used. I'll accept 80/85 if other stats are spectacular.

I prefer 800+ hit points, to make sure the Fire Breath is worth the animation. Otherwise, I agree with NuSair's assessment.

I very much like Wrestling (120+ preferred), and decent Magery is also a huge plus, based on apparent casting rate.

Non-HP stats are nice to have, but not necessary, generally - 10 points in Wrestling will probably make a larger difference than 100 points in strength.

 

[Taylor]

I look for phys/fire in the 80s, 900+ hp, and 120+ wrestle. No compromise on these qualities. Next, I look for mana (a huge life saver) and as much tactics/resist as possible. Still not convinced higher mage contributes anything...have you ever seen a greater cast an eight lvl spell (e.g., summon or rez)? Awesome as that would be, I'm fine w/ magery around 110.

 

[weins201]

Lets say pre tame stats in these ranges or greater

HP - 1900
Phy - 81
Fire - 85
Cold- 53
Pois - 57
Ener - 72
Wrestle - 138
Tact - 133.3
Resist - 133.3
Mage - 133.3

Now i know you are all going to call me insane but What the hey, I got time to kill. This will be over 95% off all stat maxes thats a nice goal dont ya think?

And as somone else posted I figured I name it "Jackpot"

 

[Kazumi the Wild]

I look for phys/fire in the 80s, 900+ hp, and 120+ wrestle. No compromise on these qualities. Next, I look for mana (a huge life saver) and as much tactics/resist as possible. Still not convinced higher mage contributes anything...have you ever seen a greater cast an eight lvl spell (e.g., summon or rez)? Awesome as that would be, I'm fine w/ magery around 110.

The rumor is not that they cast higher level spells, but that their casting speed is increased.

I agree, though - high magery for me is purely a "that's nice to have" rather than a "must have".

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Greater Dragon .... For me (vs as a Server Reset Save and sell or a Special Request)

First Look

Hit Points (875+)
STR (1200+ but is soft)
INT (600+ bit is quite soft here)

Second look

Phys Resist (80+)
Fire Resist (80+)
Energy resist (80+)

Third Look

Wrestling (pretame) (135+)

Forth Look

Tactics, Resist Spells, Magery.

Int and Magery are very soft requirements.

 

[Farsight]

Lets say pre tame stats in these ranges or greater

HP - 1900
Phy - 81
Fire - 85
Cold- 53
Pois - 57
Ener - 72
Wrestle - 138
Tact - 133.3
Resist - 133.3
Mage - 133.3

Now i know you are all going to call me insane but What the hey, I got time to kill. This will be over 95% off all stat maxes thats a nice goal dont ya think?

And as somone else posted I figured I name it "Jackpot"

That.

My current better dragon is so good that only a perfect dragon gets my attention. I am willing to sacrifice on hit points (down to 1600) or magery (any magery will do), but the rest of the stats have to be at least that good.

My current better dragon may only be 3.8 on the calculator, but has 123.4 wrestling and incredible resists. The only thing it lacks is offensive power (very low tactics).

 

[Taylor]

The rumor is not that they cast higher level spells, but that their casting speed is increased.

I agree, though - high magery for me is purely a "that's nice to have" rather than a "must have".

Gotcha. Thanks for filling me in, hehe.

 

[Harb]

... The only thing it lacks is offensive power (very low tactics)...

Whats more important offensively, tactics or strength? I was under the impression it was the latter.

 

[Kazumi the Wild]

Unless the formulas for damage have changed (I don't think they have significantly, since the range I get through formula is very close to what I see in game), Each 10 points of strength adds +3% to damage increase, while each 10 points of tactics equals 6.25% to damage increase.

Strength has greater effect, since the damage difference is 11ish% between min and max tactics GDs, and is 60% (!!!) between min and max strength.

Since these %s are treated like Damage Increase, 11ish% difference means your min-tactic GD hits for 2.7 to 3.7 less damage than he would if he had the same stats and max tactics.

Strength, on the other hand, is so variable that lowish stats really hurt. A 60% difference means a min-Str GD hits for 14.4 to 19.8 less damage than a max-Str GD.

TLDR: Tactics isn't really all that important, at least in comparison to other stats, for the purposes of offensive output. Also, if a perfect GD comes with crap tactics... tame that sucker!

 

[Pfloyd]

That.

My current better dragon is so good that only a perfect dragon gets my attention. I am willing to sacrifice on hit points (down to 1600) or magery (any magery will do), but the rest of the stats have to be at least that good.

My current better dragon may only be 3.8 on the calculator, but has 123.4 wrestling and incredible resists. The only thing it lacks is offensive power (very low tactics).

How can you have a 3.8 with incredible resists? Please post the full listing.

 

[Salokin18]

I recently tamed a dragon that I'm very happy with. It has low HPs but awesome resists and i value resists more than HPs. It's not bonded yet so I havent started training it yet but these are its stats and skill caps:

HP 814
Str 626
Int 520

Physical 85
Fire 90
Cold 54
Poison 58
Energy 71

Wrestling 117.4
Tactics 118.4
Resist 124.9
Magery 116.8

This guy only scores a 4.0 on the pet calc, but he is a lot better than a 4.3 I tamed.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

As far as the Pet Calculator goes ....

First and foremost, I am NOT knocking the PC, I am not demeaning it, I am NOT casting anything negative on it ....

I simply do not agree with it vs an indicator of power for the way I play.

I have 2 GD on each account.

As a generalization, one is a Finesse GD and the other is a Brawler GD.

As a general rule the Finesse tends to need less intervention on my part but may take a small amount of time longer to kill the target vs the Brawler.

Said another way, I could probably leave the Finesse GD alone with a mob and have it be alive when I returned were the Brawler would probably be dead.

Yet the PC consistently ranks the Brawlers higher than the Finesse GD's.

For what it is worth, I do believe there is a value in a computed evaluation system such as the PC is, to be able to rank like pets in a consistent manner.

 

[Harb]

As far as the Pet Calculator goes ....First and foremost, I am NOT knocking the PC, I am not demeaning it, I am NOT casting anything negative on it ....I simply do not agree with it vs an indicator of power for the way I play.

Concur. Thats a big part of the reason I started the thread, the PetCal (which I also use) and the "stickies" with player opinions all seem generally viable, yet none seem to "play out" with comprehensive accuracy. There are so many variables to consider I don't know if its even possible to develop a formula for ratings and comparisons, but we all seem to try! I've never really understood how the game mechanics determine a bard difficulty rating for tamed creatures, but have noted that on GDs, the higher this rating goes with training, the better the dragon tends to play overall. That said, it doesn't seem to hold true for Cus, so I'm not sure if its useful, but would love to see how how this rating is actually determined.

From our fleet, this one plays noticibly better than its "peers:" 992 HP/ 118 dex/ 597 int/ 654 str, 79/79/53/57/66 resists, 127.9 wres/ 120.2 tact/ 122.5 res/ 121.9 mage, scoring a 4 on the pet calc (w/ skills, 3.9 without). The other seven we have range between 4.1 and 4.3, yet the one above stands longer/ stronger (with or wiithout assistance), and is always "rewarded" for damage dealt long before the others. The barding difficulty for the one I mentioned is 151.5, the others range from 145.3 to 150.4, so in that characteristic alone this one is our best, in every other aspect, it isn't. More to ponder I suppose!