The Art of Gambling

Ever since I finished relic+2 pants augment, I noticed how I do Phantom Roll changed....slightly.


The process of doing Phantom Roll is all about gambling. And the essence of gambling is to take risks and make decisions.

I have to admit that I'm a very conservative roller and have pretty much 0 courage of taking risk. If I got a No.6, I stop, unless Fold is up.

If I rolled an unlucky No.8, most likely I won't double up, unless snake eye is up.

Although long time ago I mentioned No.8 on Chaos roll should double-up because it's so not effective, that getting DDs better buff is more important than risking losing dmg on COR.

I guess I more or less changed......starting to become more and more selfish and don't want to bust and gimp myself.

Or rather, I don't know if gimping COR's dmg and double up on No.8 chaos is worth it anymore, considering the dmg output of this job has been up a lot these days....I rarely play COR as DD in endgame scene(pink bird merit pt doesn't count) at 75 since I found pure support COR is more useful for endgame, so carrying a bust effect and gimping myself isn't a big deal.

Nowadays COR is one of the main dmg dealer in VW depending on the NM. Carrying  a bust effect for 5 min for a chance to get out of unlucky No.8 doesn't seems worth it IMO. Again, doing support and doing dmg just won't match and so on.

So the process of doing PR is getting less and less of a gamble, and not a lot of decision making, due to my selfish nature of aiming for getting myself buffed too, and don't like take risk of sacrificing my own dmg.

Double-up or not on a No.6 or unlucky No, is pretty much the only decision CORs made at 75 era.

Then SE added No.11 update, allows new decision making. Keep rolling/busting for No.11 after first No.11? Or stop at lucky number? However, due to the intense nature of dyna/VW(pretty much only 2 events I do nowadays) and I'm almost always busy doing dmg + killing stuff, there are not much decision making after rolling a first No.11 also. I almost always just settle with a good or above average number so I have more time to kill stuff.

Then relic+2 pants came.

This pants actually allows a new way of making decision, without sacrificing a lot of dmg output for better number.

This pans has a chance to make Snake eye recast to 0 after using it, I'd say the activation rate is about 1/3 or maybe 1/4, but certainly lower than 1/2.

There are more than once that I rolled an unlucky No.8, used snake-eye(since using snake-eye on an unlucky is almost a must do for every COR) and made it No.9, then pants effect kicked in and now I have another snake eye.

So now I'm facing a decision, should I use snake eye again, or not?

If I don't use snake eye, this roll will stay at No.9, a mediocre number, but not to shabby. However I can keep my snake eye for next roll. But if I use snake eye, it will be a No.10, and if pants effect kick in again(and yes, this pants can activate multiple times in a roll if you're lucky enough), I can snake-eye again to make it a No.11.

So rolled an unlucky number, after a bit of gambling, it ended up being No.11, not bad huh?

Of course there's a risk in it. If I snake-eye on a No.9, but pants didn't activate, I'd just waste a precious snake-eye on it(that means my next roll may be screwed without snake-eye up), since No.9 and No.10 is exactly the same, at least for regain roll that is.

But if it does activate again, then everyone will gain 2 extra tick regain.

I found this decision making and gambling extremely fun to play with and worth the risk. The punishment of failing is really small, at least not as bad as busted and gimping for 5 min....I only lost snake-eye on next roll, and my next roll may not even need it. But if it does work, the reward is pretty great. I found myself kept using snake eye at No.9, just to hope that I can get a free snake eye at No.10 to make it a No.11. It worked a couple of time, and there's a sense of accomplishment of getting a No.11 from a No.8 just by using snake-eye ._.

I guess time to memorized the exact value of most useful roll too, so not just No.8 or 9 can take risk for better number, some average number like No.6 is worth using as well, if using snake-eye on it makes it a bit more potent.....for example, a No.6 evokers gives 2 tick refresh, No.7 also gives 2, so there are no reason to use use snake-eye on 6 without pants.

However with pants on, if lucky enough to get a double snake-eye, the number can be pushed to No.8, that's extra tick of refresh and may* be worth trying.

Also, if rolled a No.7, ppl usually won't spend precious snake-eye on it....at least I didn't. Since I may need snake-eye for next roll ( I followed the golden rule of only use snake-eye on unlucky or lucky -1, or No.10), now that with pants on, even if I use snake-eye on this roll, it may still be up for next roll, so it seems perfectly fine to snake-eye on a No.7 no?

Of course, there's also a chance of losing the gamble...maybe pants won't activate, and next roll happened to  rolled an unlucky or No.10.

Then more decision making kicks in, am I in a situation that may get a huge benefit from a No.11? That saving a snake-eye chance for No.11 on next roll is more important?

In the end, it's all about decision making, and the art of gambling.

This pants, IMO, not just give extra snake-eye for ppl to use for next roll, it also offers entirely new way to do PR and gamble subtly. Before everyone pretty much have to follow certain golden rule to do PR....at least I did. Now I feel I have more freedom to make different decisions.