Crappy crat....

[MissCarmen]

...yes thats me

I don't think I am doing this the best I can, so...is there one of you that plays a crat that can take me on as an apprentice, and teach me a few things?

I really want to do this good, but I think I am going at it wrong :/

Huggles

MissCarmen (lvl76)

[Indefatigable]

I will just say one thing to make you feel a bit better. At your level people usually do very high level team missions in comparrison to your level and skills. Therefore calms and charms are hard but times get easier. This is from my very very limited experience as a crat.

Waiting for a proper crat to tell me how easy it is now

You can't go much wrong though if you can calm mobs and charm yourself something. Oh yeah and give xp buffs then i think your whole team will be happy.

Indef/Mini

[Legrandchef]

I have a lowish crat myself and although NTs are seen as calmers, it is an important part of your role also. Especially the area calms. You are a valuable member of the guild, we do not have enough crats. I felt similar to this when as a level 52 doc I could not keep everyone alive in the Totw fighting Aztur for the desolator. I was healing at my best and only really made one mistake. But one comment about a "level 50 doc ought to be able to...." and I have not played my doc since. If you can team with me, I would be delighted to keep you alive to the best of my ability. Cannot promise to do much damage though.

Legrandchef (Chefdoc)

PS How about an outing for members 50-70 one time, if this is possible.

[MissCarmen]

Hi,
Yes one of my first questions in a team is why the NT is calming when my lands easier and last almost twice as long...

[Flameforge]

You probably know too that it can be tough around your current level with IP allocation. I know from some alts I have that things seem really tight during that stage.

[Smacdevil]

My advice for those times when you feel a bit gimped due to IP crunch or maxed skills while missions keep getting tougher, is to get high lvl outside buffs. As a pet prof., this will be particularly useful (i.e. get mochams and good HE/CC) as you will have a much better pet and you wil be able to use better charms/calms as well as nukes.

Keep in there, you crats are one of the truely uber professions at later stages

[Legrandchef]

The NT probably calms because he/she is not used to having a crat in the team as he/she does not team with a crat often enough because there are not enough crats. I love it when I team with a crat: less work for me.

Chef

[Freuty]

Deefro is my crat (112).. they are much fun to play

I would recommend _always_ make sure you get Composite Masteries or Infuses (depending on level)... they last 4hrs and enable higher calms/charms/pets to be cast.

Get yourself the highest level SL calm you can, they land very well on most things and you can spam calm a RK version on top to remove aggro (SL calms don't remove aggro from mob). You might need Spec quests for these.

Try to get at least a head symbiant, control are better but rarer, but extermination will do just as well (it's what I use), they add points to all nano skills so are very handy. The eye is also a good one to have, but these seems as rare as rocking horse poop, so maybe just use an ordinary implant until you can find/buy one. If I can find an upgrade to my head (a +61) u are welcome to have my old one

I think it's worth deciding on what you want to concentrate on at lower levels, best calms, charms or pets... I went for pets since I solo a lot. Then you can tailor your setup around what you decide and raise just the skills needed rather than trying to keep them all high (since IP is tight sub 150).

Make sure your pet is 'trimmed', these trimmers aren't just for engis, they have a very positive effect on our bots too. I personally only use the agg/def one at the mo, since it only needs a small amount of mech eng/NP for the top one (QL100). This simply slides the agg/def slider of the pet to 100% so makes it fight at highest rate.

Other things that spring to mind... try to get yourself a crat suit, the one from the Foremans dungeon, they max out at QL 80, but have nice bonuses for intell. I think I have a spare QL70odd if you need one. Higher QL suits can only be found as mission loot and they seem quite rare lately. The crat suitcase is also nice to have, a portable bank and has nice bonuses to boot.

Perks, I went the XP route, so I put as many points as possible into Directorship. Also the Insurance agent line is a must have, everyman and his atrox wants this when they have a large pool If you have spare perk points, the commanding presence lins is nice for the pulsing combat auras.

Can't think of anything else at the mo, but most of all, just have fun with your char, you don't have to be the best so long as you enjoy playing your Crat... I know I do, it's great to charm that rampaging heckler and put it to work for ya

Anyway, if ya wanna team with Deef at any time, just lemme know, if I'm not busy with Freuty or Luvingston (my doc) I'll happily tag along

[HealerKat]

Ok. I can only speak for my self here.. I have/had some Crat alt's. What i have figured (so far) is that the best thing to do, is i never maxx pistol (or what ever weapon your using). I dont think crat's are ment to be über dmg dealers, so i only up my weapon skill to "keep up" with psitols. Its your Pets that will do dmg, and since you can charm atleast 2 pets you can do enough dmg with them. I also figured that i should choose only 1 nano line to concentrate on. Char/calm's is the "team" way to go. If you are soloing Pets is better. These 2 use different nanoskills. SO.. due to ip concerns, i like to maxx my skills to get the best charm/calm nano's I dont use an über gun. Crats is a team toon, not a solo toon. . So grab a desert reet from formans, and a pepper pistol. some outside buffs, and find a team. I think you and your team will be better off with high ql charms/calms
Ohh This is just a mess. Hope you get some info out of this tekst block.

Kat (LeetQueen)

[MissCarmen]

Hi
Thanks for all your hints and tricks, and PLEASE team with me...would be great fun and most helpful I am sure

I am now dual wielding 2 Desert Reets from Formans, and will stick with them for a long time, as I don't plan to up any more skills there.

I have the crat suit that drops from Formans as well, both of these I thank Patherson for

I up Intelligence, and the Pet-nanoskills first as I too solo a bit, as teams sometimes is hard to find (esp. a good one)

I have invested in charms / Calms as well for the team missions, and points are very slim for anything else...trying to keep the evades up so they don't crit me, as I tend to get aggro alot (but as I have docs I have gotten used to that )

Thanks for the tips on trimmers...thought they where just for engiees, so will pick up one of them as soon as I can.

As for symbiants...I'd love some, but as I am starting out on Rk1 there is no chance for me to go buy one, but soon I can start making some cash too

Huggles

MC

[Jpegg]

Deefro is my crat (112).. they are much fun to play

I would recommend _always_ make sure you get Composite Masteries or Infuses (depending on level)... they last 4hrs and enable higher calms/charms/pets to be cast.

If you see Clericon around btw, he's your man for your Composite buffs if you need ))))

[Smacdevil]

If you catch Werner (my MP buff-whore) online, he's 88 now and ready for more XP most times

PS: I know a SWEET spot in Elysium where you can solo well for 50-60k XP per kill with little risk and decent spawn and never camped

[MissCarmen]

Have one spot in Ely too, spiders, but there are lots and the aggro easily. If you get 3 or more your dead

MC

[Ynelin]

Greeting fair lady.

If you ever run into me, i would be more than happy to escort you in SL. Im a 99 Keeper, and seldom have a team. I have roamed Ely many a times, and im familiar with the spiders you talk about. I have had many accoutners with these evil monsters. Im proud to say i can easily tank and kill 2 of these by my own hand. So if you see or hear my name on your eye implant or your com. link. send me a tell. Maybe we even can try to take out a dragon or 2. I have soloed one of those, but i nearly had to visit the reclaim terminal.

Ynelin
Faithfull Keeper, Protector of life. Death to Evil.

[Lesttad]

I cant tell you more the Freuty already said, only wanted to share how I focus on my abilities.
I realized very fast, in younger years, that I'm no dmg dealer lol
So I focused on keeping myself from getting hit at any cost, as AC's are scarce too with what a nanomage can wear I think.
I did not use a weapon at all until very recently, when I got this ql169Flux pistol I wanted to test, and like, but still.... I'm not a dmg dealer myself, I use my pet, and charmed mobs.
Dont think you dont deal any dmg because you dont weild a weapon !
Just charm 2 mobs, get a good pet and add the dmg
Try it with hecklers, very trendy atm

Even today, when hunting in Penumbra, I find weilding a weapon is rather useless, cause..... when I'm hit twice I'm dead.Cause I'm a nanomage without hp you know........

So, I use roots, 3 pets (2 charmed ones ) and nukes.(and a flux pistol)

This can get very hectic. As you keep attacking the mob, you always have to take care on your 3rd pet, as it has a very low lvl charm, like 2 and a half minute. So I always have an eye on the pet I attack, short charm to run off and ...... adds !

This I think, (but thats just me ) is very, very powerful.
Also that I'm weak, die when attacked very fast, I can get to most places unwounded
only by using this calm nano. When I travel, (get CI first ), have my droid, charm a mob ( the long charms last 17 minutes), and explore.
The fun part is, you can have really powerful friends at your side, like Voracious Horrors, Hecklers and Rafters......
So, when you encounter a mob on your way, you still have 3 possibilities:
1) kill it 2) calm it 3) charm it to help you.

Any profesion that cant charm has not so many possibilities to choose from. I only can tell you a story about a shark I found in Adonis, that became a very good friend of mine and helped me kill some nasty fish....

I think, the crat has its very own position in teams, and not until recently, with those Insurance buffs where the crat has become more of a profession option to play, but also before sl.
Talking about missions.....

Taken away the xp buffs, calms are the way to go, at least still at lower lvl's . You, as a crat, must calm the adds, not deal dmg ! Other professions deal dmg, but not you (your pets do )
Try to picture this situation.....
You attack a mob in a mission with team, suddenly, an add comes along and attacks your doc......
A third one comes, and engie, with a massive slayer droid... attacking your tank....
and another one runs up, a real mean enforcer.......
a team member shouts "HEAL", another one"ROOTED"

Imagine it without the calms option.

Then comes the crat

Now, thinking of not being powerful to calm them all , charming the slayerdroid as backup and killing them one by one, without any hectic, and taking your time to wait while the doc comes back is not powerful.......I tell you it is, and it is alot of fun, and not boring at all.
You manage the situation by taking away all the stress you could have without using calms.

At lower lvl's, calms come in very helpful, but at higher lvl teams, dmg dealer are very powerful and rush through the missions without the need of calming abilitie anyway.But today with sl, you have Insurance Agent, and draining a 50M pool in a mission is not a problem at all.This sounds quite simple, but without IA, you'd need more time to empty it.

Same goes for any sl encounters.

And...., I dont know what an xp pool is, cause its always empty

Try to focus on your droid, at lower lvls, until you can use your highest charms and calms with implants and Composite Infuses.
I never used a weapon, just nukes, but NT's nuke.......

I'll stop boring you soon
Just forgot to mention the ever omnipresent bank access you have with the briefcase of holding..... I cant live without it anymore.
ah yes, and the speeches, agg/def, as is the perk line commanding presence....it helps too not getting hit sometimes

I stop now !
And yes I like being a crat
The only thing that counts anyway is having fun !

Les