Quote from: Anubis on May 02, 2014, 03:49 PM
Quote from: Aerox on May 02, 2014, 03:16 PM
Quote from: Anubis on May 02, 2014, 02:28 PM
I just played a few times the starting area with the various classes, I liked the dual wielding Power Stance (with daggers lol) but when I progressed further with it, it felt kind of lacking since you can't block/parry and sometimes you're forced to block/parry when you're in a corner. Didn't fight a boss yet, I am not sure what character I wanna create so I dunno what to do yet, casting/archer seemed easiest but also most boring since it's just 1 button.
So I guess you are forced to 1hand + shield or 2hand (at least can parry)?
Gonna wait for your response ropa, I don't just "play" new games I like, so I need more info before continuing for now. I need to know whats viable at endgame and not just funny at the beginning. For example if dual wielding is only good for co-op play (where someone can "tank") then I don't wanna dual wield since I plan to solo all bosses.
You don't need to mix max in this game to be succesful even though you'll end up doing so, so forget about the best playstyle because they're ALL viable. You can be anything you want to, it's all skill - go watch a speedrun.
It's best to focus on a quality build to start, that is, around 25-30 in both strength and dexterity so you can test the movesets of all weapons you find. You can respec in this game and you will find plenty of respec items in your first playthrough (3-5)
There's just too much things I suppose you don't know yet anyway? Weapon scaling and infusing, importance of armor weight, importance of adaptability, and obviously, importance of rolling, what poise is, guard breaking, staggering, i-frames.... Just stick to whatever weapon moveset you like, and remember to try it both at one hand and two hands. All weapons in this game are viable to carry you through the whole game if you have the proper stats and they're properly upgraded.
I haven't used a shield since Dark Souls 1, only for gimmick PVP builds. Rolling is your main weapon. You need to get 110 agility (a stat based off Adaptability and Attunement) in order to maximize your rolling, also keep a relative low equipment weight (<30% is optimal)
The starting class is also pointless. You can start Warrior and become a Mage and the difference from those that started Mage will be unoticeable.
I know about Weapon Scaling, importance of armor weight, adaptability, guard breaking and rolling. What's infusing, poise, staggering and i-frames? I actually played the most with the "explorer" class because it already started with 12 points in Adaptability. Also while I was farming some mobs at one point they stopped spawning, is it a fixed amount, timed or something else that triggers it?
Also, whats the point in picking the beggar? He starts at level 1 and while adding up +1 stat per level he still has less stats than for example when picking a pre-defined class like the warrior. I think beggar at level 12 had only 54 combined stats while another class at level 12 had already over 60 stat points. I thought maybe beggar has more base stats but starts at level 1, but picking him makes no sense at all, or am I missing something?
Btw, I placed the silk stone in that nest at the beginning, once I got an item that allows me to invade another realm (common item afaik), the other time I got a weapon, demon hammer or something. Has 300 attack power and requires 50 strength with grade B and 12 agility I think. Is that weapon any good to farm it?
I suggest you check out the wiki or reddit or similar for all this info anubis. Or play with me so I can teach you quickly

Forget about starting class, the differnece is 1800 damage or 1790 damage.
The Demon hammer is a gimmick weapon and nothing stops you from using it in PVE (it's too slow and uses too much stamina to be the main weapon in PVP, you can still use it with some sort of strategy though) It has B scaling, meaning that other apparently weaker weapons will out damage it far into the game with A or S scaling. Like the Mastodan Greatsword, fully upgraded does 300 damage but it has A scaling in strength, meaning that with 40 strenght (the hard cap, points invested after that give disminishing returns) it does aronud 450-500 damage.
Scaling is ultimately the most deciding factor in what build you make. Some weapons increase scaling as they get upgraded, the mastodan greatsword i mentioned earlier has +B sacling in str but at +8 becomes A.
Infusing is something you'll get to eventually when and if you manage to rescue a certain NPC (as most things in this game, totally optional and out of the way xD). You can infuse weapons with different things (Lighting, Dark, Fire, Mundane, Poison etc...) this has nothing to do with the weapon upgrade, you can have a +2 fire longsword or a +8 lightingt club. Infusion lower the main scaling of the weapon and give a B letter in the element it's infused meaning you can per example make any weapon Lighting giving it a B in lighting scaling meaning its damage goes higher with Faith or Intelligence.
You can build your character like you want, but for damage there's 4 main stats: STR, DEX, INT and FAI. Different weapons scale off different stats with different rules. STR improves raw damage per swing. DEX does too but less so, it improves the damage of backstab and guardbreaks more than STR. INT and FAI obviously also scale Miracles, Spells and Pyromancy damage, as well as the buffing of weapons with said magic. So most builds you want 40 in 2 of them to take full advantage of per example:
mastodan sword A scaling in STR, if you don't infuse it, it keeps that A scaling meaning you do optimal damage with 40 str.
because you need alternatives to be succesful in this game you can also go 40 in FAI. Allowing you the use of miracles and also allowing you to buff your weapon with lighting keeping both scaling off strength and faith. You can go STR DEX route and use double scaling weapons like the Sun sword (A/A scaling in str dex) and allowing you to use a wide variety of weapons. Go full FAI INT allowing you to use powerful HEXES (magic that needs both stats). Go INT DEX and use magic and katanas.
Basically, whatever suits your playstyle (an overused statement in gaming that it's only really true in this one)