Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 - Credits / The Basics
Chapter 2 - Quests
Chapter 3 - A Scout's HO Primer
Chapter 4 - Upgrading Your Spells (under construction)
Chapter 5 - Weapons (under construction)
Chapter 6 - Armor (under construction)
Chapter 7 - Songs, Spells, and Abilities (Spell List)
Chapter 8 - Methods and Techniques
Chapter 9 - Weapons Configurations (1H vs. DW)
Chapter 10 - Where to Hunt
3.0 - Heroic Opportunities Primer
[Thanks to Iccon Demure of Oggok for his work on this guide]
HOs are essentially free damage and buffs, there's no reason not to use them if they're handled well. A little time spent in getting your group acquainted with HOs can mean faster kills, and thereby, faster experience.
When grouped, scouts should be the experts on Heroic Opportunities. Scouts can change the randomly selected HO once its reached the "wheel," and thereby can adapt the HO to the situation at hand.
Before reading on, please go to the Ten Ton Hammer Heroic Opportunities Guide and print yourself out a copy if you don't have any detailed information on HOs! You'll need it when grouped.
3.1 - Solo HOs
Your 3 possible solo Heroic Opportunities are, and in order of frequency.
Ringing Blow - Damage and Stun
Swindlers Luck - Self-only attack buff. This can raise your attacking ability to almost equate a gain in level.
Bravo's Dance - Haste
buff, rare but nice
Here's some suggestions for solo use of HOs through
level 20:
Lucky Break - Your Starter
Dirty Tricks - Reduces the Mobs Defensive capabilities
Quick Strike - Direct Damage (replace this at level
11 with "Sparkling Blade" when fighting casters - this reduces the mob's
power)
Then for good measure:
Cheap shot - Stuns Mob. Turn off attack while doing this. Walk thru the mob then hit your...
Sneak Attack - Direct back-stabbing
damage
(Hint. Cheap Shot is good for running too. Hit it
before taking off to give you a bit of an extra head start.)
Now repeat this until either your target is dead!
I upgraded Dirty Tricks at 18 to Kelkarms Opening act. This reduces the mob's damage output as well as its defense (susceptibility to damage).
3.2 - HOs in Groups
Scouts have the special ability to change its HO by switching the random
draw. Do this to avoid an unnecessary spell result, like a repeating a buff, or
to switch from a single target DD to a Group Damage spell. Again, this is one of
our defining abilities, don't underestimate it.
When to re-roll:
When you're fighting in the open, any HO is typically a good HO. I'm
not a proponent of HO maximizing- it's frustrating being in a group with a
flip-happy scout. You see your icon pop up, you waste mana on a spell you
wouldn't usually cast. Next thing you know, the scout's flipped the HO
twice, calling for another spell you wouldn't usually use... it's a vicious
cycle. On long, tedious encounters, you might want to flip around a bit to
see what you can do, however.
Problems DO arise when someone springs a HO with an Area of Effect in a
dungeon like Crypt of Betrayal, Varsoons, or Runnyeye. If there's grays or
non-aggro mobs in the spell radius, you can welcome them into the fight.
I've seen more than one group get wiped due to an HO gone bad.
Therefore, when you're in a dungeon...
IMMEDIATELY re-roll when you see these AoE HOs come
up:
Crushing Anvil - Fighter initiated and executed- pretty
common
Arcane Storm - Mage initiated and executed AE - again,
pretty common
Ancient Wrath - Fighter / priest / mage rarity, but is an
AE
Ancient Demise - Scout / fighter / priest / mage extreme
rarity and tough to execute, but be watchful
Get in the habit of watching for these and flip them out when you see
them. In a good group with smart players, your fighter and mage will
recognize the danger and flip for you. Don't depend on it until you know
who you can trust - it's a necessary, if thankless, job.