Survival Bonus Blues

[imortus]

Ugh.

I managed to get through Silver, Gold and a good chunk of Platinum without dying, boosting my survival bonus to 89%+. I was facing 110 level enemies at character level 95, and all was going swimmingly with my dryad until I decided to take on that red dragon in the south of Chapter II. One blast and I was toast, which really surprised me since I weathered numerous other bosses without any real problem, including the ice dragon at the end of the Christmas quest just an hour earlier.

So now I've lost that sweet survival bonus, and consequently lost the urge to play. All my gear is level 105-120 and it will be at least 24 more hours of playing before I can expect to see similarly leveled loot drop again. The mobs are naturally inconsequential and it just takes too damn long to level up at this point to make up the lost ground.

I remember thinking that the survival bonus was a nifty mechanic in the game, but now I have to wonder if it could/should have been handled differently. I was also unclear just what the bonus included. I understood it was supposed to increase the level of mobs, and subsequently the level of their drops, but it also seems to have greatly been boosting my primary attributes. The loss of the bonus points means my HP took a hit (which is a minor nuisance) but also means that my regen rate has taken a massive hit.

Combat Arts I relied on having low regen times now take a good half-second longer to reset per use, which is a critical loss and breaks the flow of combat.

In case I actually decide to pick this back up, what else does the Survival Bonus influence so I can adjust my point-spending to compensate for potential losses?

[Heinrich6745]

Don't worry about it bud, it happens and that is the downside of dying, you lose it and have to get it back, unless you're playing hardcore mode.

There is gear that helps to gain it faster and they stack, it does help but i don't bother with it much, you could go to bronze and let your character sit in a fight all night/day assuming you regenerate fast enough, but as you are a Dryad i assume you have Ancient Bark? that should be good enough. Many players over the years have done this when they lost their SB, i never have though, i just gained it back normally.

Survival Bonus effects many things, as for stats here is an example,

It also increases your attributes(STR-STA-VIT-DEX-INT-WIL).
Having a 30% SB would increase all your attributes by 10%.
Having a 60% SB would increase all your attributes by 20%.
Having a 90% SB would increase all your attributes by 30%
Having a 100% SB would increase all your attributes by 33.33...%
Basically 1/3 of your SB is the % your attributes increase by.
An example is the SW who wants cap STR by Lv.200.
His base STR is 27 so he gains naturally 2.7 STR every level and to reach 200 you level 199 times.
So 27 + (2.7 x 199) = 564.3 (0%SB & no points put into STR)
If the SW pools 185 points into STR and has a 100%SB would cap his STR, and leave 216 points to spend.
Mind you it also does other things

If you need gear i could possibly look through what i have around your level and levels you are able to wield. Just stick with it man, it's not the end of the world lol ( that already passed many times and here we are still!)

My lvl 131 got her first death at the end of the campaign in Niob by some fen fires ( by some i mean a pack of 20 insta killed me ). i don't mind and it has actually increased quite fast since it reset. I haven't went back to play her much recently as i haven't felt like playing much due to me doing other things irl, but i am also leveling up another character atm which is 33 currently.

[imortus]

Hey, thanks for the suggestion about leaving the toon in bronze to get wailed on. That seems a plenty reasonable way to get back to a comfortable SB. She's already gained 10% just letting some trash mob chip away harmlessly.

I have a shield with a SB bonus, but as far as I can tell, it applies the bonus on-top of the current survival bonus, not that it increases the rate at which the SB is gained. For instance, if I have a 100% SB and equipped a shield with +18% To Survival Bonus, my stat sheet would then say I was rolling with 118% SB. Does it actually increase the rate gained as well?

Also, does the SB apply the same bonus to skills as it does to attributes?