Okay, I'm finally getting around to this post. Took a while. Book 8 and the hotfix got in the way.
One of the comments in my Evaluating Legacies post mentioned that many of the bonuses for Legendaries give you the most reward simply by having them on the item unleveled. That is, the biggest bonus is the first bonus, with the rest giving only marginal improvement. I decided to look at a few of those I use.
First on the list is a series of critical modifiers: Relentless Attack, Devastating Blow, and Pressing Attack. The first is a tactics skill, a buff. The other two are melee attack skills. All three start out with a +245 topping out at +397. For the melee skills, I cannot say what percentage the increase is to the critical chance because that number is hidden. However, for Relentless attacks, I get a 34% increase with the first ranking. This goes up to 55% at rank 10. That's a 1.8% increase each rank. So, indeed having the first bonus is a huge increase and everything after that is quite small compared to it. Now we need to look at over all crit percentages to see the complete picture. With Mines of Moria, those became hidden in the critical modifier numbers, but if you mouse over your character sheet, you can see the actual percentages. Without the critical modifier bonus to Relentless Attack, I have a 6.4% melee critical chance. With the fully upgraded critical modifier (i.e. the 55% increase) I get a 11.4% melee critical chance. 5% is still noticeable, but barely.
Now lets look at another one I use, this time gained from my emblem. It's an increase to Rallying Cry healing. This bonus is a lot more straight forward. The percentages are already on top. Initially I receive a 3% increase. The rank 10 bonus is 11%, therefore after the initial 3%, I get a .8% increase each time thereafter. Again, we're front heavy with the bonus, but not nearly so much as with the critical modifiers.
So, simply having the legacy on the item you're using gives you the biggest bonus. Any rank ups will give less of a bonus, but 11% healing or 55% increase in critical rating is still noticeable, so ranking them up is not a bad thing. What else are you going to do with those legacies? I think looking at the numbers gives more weight to using a crafted item, as the DPS on those tend to be much higher than all but an upgraded level 60 first age weapon. You'll miss out on the sheer number of bonuses gotten from the legacies, but if you're only looking for damage, you might consider it.
EDIT:
Thought I'd add a bit of info about what weapon I'm using. Currently it's a level 59 Third Age Halberd. I mentioned before I got lucky with this one, but even still, if it weren't for the runics and legacies, I'd use the Peerless Thain's Halberd I have in the bank for when I need something other than common damage. I think I'd be able to get the DPS on my Third Age up pretty close to the Thain's Halberd anyhow. I've also got a level 54 Second Age Emblem equipped, legacies I want close to max. I have to ask again, what would you do with the legacies anyway?
One of the comments in my Evaluating Legacies post mentioned that many of the bonuses for Legendaries give you the most reward simply by having them on the item unleveled. That is, the biggest bonus is the first bonus, with the rest giving only marginal improvement. I decided to look at a few of those I use.
First on the list is a series of critical modifiers: Relentless Attack, Devastating Blow, and Pressing Attack. The first is a tactics skill, a buff. The other two are melee attack skills. All three start out with a +245 topping out at +397. For the melee skills, I cannot say what percentage the increase is to the critical chance because that number is hidden. However, for Relentless attacks, I get a 34% increase with the first ranking. This goes up to 55% at rank 10. That's a 1.8% increase each rank. So, indeed having the first bonus is a huge increase and everything after that is quite small compared to it. Now we need to look at over all crit percentages to see the complete picture. With Mines of Moria, those became hidden in the critical modifier numbers, but if you mouse over your character sheet, you can see the actual percentages. Without the critical modifier bonus to Relentless Attack, I have a 6.4% melee critical chance. With the fully upgraded critical modifier (i.e. the 55% increase) I get a 11.4% melee critical chance. 5% is still noticeable, but barely.
Now lets look at another one I use, this time gained from my emblem. It's an increase to Rallying Cry healing. This bonus is a lot more straight forward. The percentages are already on top. Initially I receive a 3% increase. The rank 10 bonus is 11%, therefore after the initial 3%, I get a .8% increase each time thereafter. Again, we're front heavy with the bonus, but not nearly so much as with the critical modifiers.
So, simply having the legacy on the item you're using gives you the biggest bonus. Any rank ups will give less of a bonus, but 11% healing or 55% increase in critical rating is still noticeable, so ranking them up is not a bad thing. What else are you going to do with those legacies? I think looking at the numbers gives more weight to using a crafted item, as the DPS on those tend to be much higher than all but an upgraded level 60 first age weapon. You'll miss out on the sheer number of bonuses gotten from the legacies, but if you're only looking for damage, you might consider it.
EDIT:
Thought I'd add a bit of info about what weapon I'm using. Currently it's a level 59 Third Age Halberd. I mentioned before I got lucky with this one, but even still, if it weren't for the runics and legacies, I'd use the Peerless Thain's Halberd I have in the bank for when I need something other than common damage. I think I'd be able to get the DPS on my Third Age up pretty close to the Thain's Halberd anyhow. I've also got a level 54 Second Age Emblem equipped, legacies I want close to max. I have to ask again, what would you do with the legacies anyway?
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3 Responses to "Evaluating Legacies Continued"
Those are good examples. Often 50% of the max bonus of an ability comes from the first rank, and the rest from raising an ability. However, if you look at the "sweet spot" for putting in points, I still say it is a rare ability that you will want to take to the max. Bonuses usually increase linearly, while costs increase exponentially.
I also absolutely agree with you that in some cases it's best to just use a crafted item. For example, I know many Captains that use a crafted Halberd until they can get a good 2nd or 1st age one. However, it depends on your class. There is no crafted bow that's better even in terms of DPS than the level 59 third age I'm using (fully upgraded). Or at least there didn't used to be, I haven't checked since the crafting revamp.
Good read in any case!
Do you not raid or group?
Telling mark is the single best legacy for captain weapons in a DPS weapon. Period. And it's worth leveling.
You can switch to a buffing stick (like you have picture) for raid-wide buffs, but maxing your telling mark legacy gives 5% to RAID-WIDE damage on top the 5% of normal telling mark damage.
After telling mark, go -melee power costs probably.
@ dwolfe
No, I don't raid, and rarely group. Most of the time when I'm grouping, DPS isn't as big of an issue as healing. But, I'll keep in mind Telling Mark for future weapons I might get.
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