Quote:I'm a dumb at building dps, and I'm totally on board to do a Tempest, is there a ghetto first life build to work with here? I've got +8 tome +1 racial and +1 universal already set up if that matters. I'd read more of the actual thread but there's only so much of this Magumbo's stuff I can stomach glazing over to get any better sense of what's going on here.
Disclaimer - This will likely be the only response I ever make towards you that isn't intended to trigger you, so take it for whatever it is or isn't worth.
The TL;DR of this is: It's the player, not the build that makes a toon good. If you're dumb at building DPS, you will most likely be dumb at running DPS, even if the build is solid.
That is a general statement and not targeted towards you specifically.
If you don't understand what it takes to make a good DPS build and which details make it good, chances are, you won't understand how to run the build in a way that takes full advantage of those details.
I've seen several different players running the same build where one player runs it like a boss while the other is just average or even outright bad with it. Same build, same gear set, etc. I have seen this time and time again.
Conversely, I'm sure most of us have seen those rare players who rock it regardless of what build they're currently on. Every server has a few of these players and they do what they do by having an intimate understanding of the minutiae of the game mechanics.
For example, take a good CC+instakiller spec'd Wizard build. Anyone can get a workable wizard build from the forums. What will differentiate the good from the bad players/toons is knowing which mobs are weak to which saves and which spells check against those saves. The players who know this type of thing will be faster, more mana efficient and far more useful to their groups than a player who is ignorant of those details and just spams all their holds and instakills in an endless rotation while hoping something lands.
So yes, you definitely want to run a solid build, but the far more important part of the equation is to learn how and why the build actually works.