From the astralfire codex it seems that pre lvl 30 madness seems to be the weakest of the trees and that for speed and ease of leveling Deception is way to go? Anyone else under same impression? Is anyone planning to lvl as Madness? I plan on playing Madness endgame pve, and sometimes to really know the ends and outs of a spec is to play it long term.. Seeing as game is so new this means levling at the moment...

Ive been leveling as Madness. At the end of my first day, i hit 20 and picked up Death field and everyone else was lvl 18 or lower. I might switch to deception but i like having death field to tear through the trash packs. [i only made it to 24 in beta]

 

Sadly i cant play for another 36hours due to prior engagements So ill have to let you know how madness goes.

Please do, I didnt get to play any beta, but have played wow for 7yrs to should be easy to pick up, just new skills and names to learn. The madness tree looks to be where my play style is, I just wonder how viable it is early game.

Personally I think madness is better for lvling. The bottom tiers of Madness there are talents that directly effect Damage output, while for Deception the good damage talents and abilities are higher in the tree.

 

I'll be lvling as Madness then at some point in 20's or 30's will be switching over to Deception.

Planning on lvling madness because it seemed like more of the mixed/hybrid spec.

 

I may wind up picking some of the Darkness tree (i tend not to min/max things)

Haven't gotten in yet. (here's hoping for tomorrow!) But I plan to level as Madness or a Madness/Darkness hybrid, since I plan to tank at 50.

Haven't gotten in yet. (here's hoping for tomorrow!) But I plan to level as Madness or a Madness/Darkness hybrid, since I plan to tank at 50.

 

This.

 

It has the defense talents of tanking tree and a sweet dps/hybrid tree mixed. You cant go wrong IMO.

 

Plus no disrespect to Astralfire, but do what works for you. I leveled 2 assassins in different betas, and for me a darkness/madness build worked great.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Bravemonster

Ya, I just ask based on Astrals Codex, he has firmly stated that deception is the leveling spec... And seeing as it is an amazing thread, and he had beta access and this nublet didnt I figured I would get the communities thoughts on it. Really excited to get going is anyone else planning on taking two gathering skills to 50 and then dropping one for crafting at max lvl? I hear its very expensive to level ur crafting skill...

From what ive seen madness is the leveling spec and deseption is more pvp spec. I toyed with both and my damage out put was much better as madness.

Ya, I just ask based on Astrals Codex, he has firmly stated that deception is the leveling spec... And seeing as it is an amazing thread, and he had beta access

Didn't he actually say it's better to go deception early because deception gets some of it's big hitting abilities before darkness/madness? Not to mention madness is a dots spec compared to deception's burst and burst is of considered better for leveling because it saves you from doting up everything that moves.

 

That said really it doesn't matter where you throw your talent anything is viable for leveling.

my build contains almost as much madness as deception and it's fantastic in my opinion. madness has some very good abilities at its disposal.

Not to mention madness is a dots spec.

 

 

 

this^^^^

Gonna try something like this:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200Mc0MZhZcrfRr0krfz.1

 

I think it has the potential to be realy good, but i guess time will tell.

I'm leveling in Madness spec. I like the Death Field opener along with Khem Vals aoe ability.

The self healing from Parasitism is still weak without Corruption, but will probably catch up later on.

Nope, I'm levelling as deception. Mainly because the playstyle is more my type. Madness looks interesting as well though. Gah, too many choices Edited December 16, 2011 by Tayk

Personally, I am leveling as deception. However, I am also leveling in a group that contains a tank and occasionally a healer (if not companions). I do know from beta experience that deception is a fine spec for solo leveling.

 

That said, Madness starts to become viable once you obtain death field. It is my strong opinion that early madness talents are not worth the point cost due to how quickly you will drain your force trying to make use of the talents. Also, Lightning Charge and is associated discharge are more or less useless for general mob killing, but do have greater effect against elite level and higher mobs.

 

So, while possible to power through it (honestly 10 levels isn't too bad), I wouldn't put up madness as the most efficient leveling spec until post level 20, but after then it provides it's own unique style and a good experience. I also don't recommend finishing the tree before level 50, taking secondary talents elsewhere after roughly 28 points to maximize dps against lower hp mobs.

 

 

These are just my opinions and experience gained from levelling the mirror class to 50 three times during beta. But I hope they are helpful.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Lina_Inverse

Is leveling in a specific tree really that important? I mean, before lvl 20 everything seems really easy. I had absolutely no problem taking out mobs (if anything I finish them off too fast! haha) and none of the content is really super challenging. So why worry about min/maxing at all?

 

I've been leveling (currently lvl 22) as madness... though I did pick up a few points in the deception tree (2 points in dark embrace) and 1 point so far in the darkness tree (in charge mastery). Seems fine for me.

 

So far my only complaint is that the healing from parasitism seems to be non-existent.

I'm leveling as madness and enjoying it. It's a fun mix of melee and force damage, and has less focus on stealth and positional abilities than deception. I don't think it's really appropriate to say either is "the leveling spec" either way, because both are quite effective.

I switched to Madness at 27 or 28 and had tremendous success with it. I can still tank flashpoints easily (might help that we have good healers though) and AoE through stuff while leveling. Single target is pretty good with Unearthed Knowledge + DoT. Burst might not be so strong but Assassinate helps when you get it. I just finished Chapter 1 and I am still enjoying it as hell.