Volkier
Dalayan Beginner
Just got 64 today. Got the spell. Knew (or thought) it was a frustrating 10 minute wait for the recast, only to find out it has been changed to two hours. (at least I'm sure it was 10 minute when I first checked wiki a few months ago when deciding on what class to play. And from what I've been told from mages in game)
Now really, is there any reason for the insane recast timer? It seriously just does not make sense, that to be able to use a spell which is supposed to make the mage class unique (ie. summon equipment for your pet) is - in fact - un-usable. In order to play in the evening, I have to wake up in the morning, log on, summon a sword for my pet, log off, come back at lunch time, log on again, summon another sword, log off, and come back in the evening to summon a third sword in CASE my pet dies - simply because I wanted to try something a bit more challenging / go explore a bit. Yeah, I can get the spear of power too (which has the crappy graphic, but let's assume we can put up with that) - but that only means that I would STILL be screwed if I actually go and try to adventure about and loose my pet. And I'm not even going to go into what happens if I join a group and am required to produce a dps pet over the solo / tank pet - yes, not all of us have relics, and having four different kinds of elementals at the mages disposal, is after all, what makes the whole point of the class (again before the relic obviously).
The ONLY con to this - is yeah, some mages could possibly *gasp* give the level 64 summon to a lowbie pet. As much of a horror as that is, if I where to power level a level ten necromancer / beastlord with my mage, I could STILL summon the blade of power and the spear for the said character, because hey - I'm playing the toon I'm trying to power level - not the mage - so it doesn't matter if his pet isn't equipped. AND the low level necro's pet is actually a heck lot less likely to die with those swords than the mage's at lvl 64 / 65. So in other words, the mage's own spell benefits the said twink more than the mage himself - which is basically the primary - and the ONLY reason that I can see why the insane recharge timer - since giving it to a player is fairly useless due to the required level.
NOT to mention the fact that I could get claw weaponry for the lowbie pet which gives a heck lot more hp boost / damage / stats / everything (bar the rune effect that has a required level to proc by the way)
NOT to mention the fact that a level 64 mage could farm level 20 nameds, and outfit the said pet with a heck lot more AC / HP gear from the said lvl 20 named drops in under half an hour than those swords combined.
NOT to mention the fact that it is a LOT more frustrating not being able to use your own spells than seeing very few lowbies running around with geared pets. I would say that the horror in the former case is significantly worse than in the later.
I don't know how the mages in higher end Raids cope - I'm not there yet. Either they simply have to avoid dying or loosing their pet at all costs, to be able to make use of their own spells fully. Or they may have simply given up on the summons that are summoned items that are the mage class, and rely on stuff like claw pet weaponry instead.
I am not sure as to who thought it was a good idea, what caused the change, but I plead and impore you - PLEASE allow the mages to use their own spells. Please at least leave us SOME unbroken "mage" utility. It already takes nearly an hour to get a group together via CoH, and it was already extremely frustrating (albeit bearable) with the old 10 minute recast timer on these summons (as you could at least dedicate a gem slot to the spell and hope you remember to cast it enough times before your pet dies). What would be so bad about having a normal recast timer - or heck, even something like 5 minutes on them? Most mages are not going to keep it memorised if the timer is somewhere around there (as that is roughly how long it takes for recovery and rezzes if things go sour anyway), and most are not going to wait 5-10 minutes sitting in town to randomly give it out to newbie pets. And if that is such a HUGE problem (I really don't see why or how, but let's assume it is) - surely there are other ways to prevent it than crippling an end-game class-defining spell?
Why not have the required level for the sword at 55, and have pets abide the required level rules of stats / proc?
If that is too difficult, add a proc to it that will "banish" (kill) any player below 45 who owns the pet wielding it (giving that proc one charge only would make sure that it does not affect the runic proc later on - or am I wrong on this?) and making sure that anyone above 45 is un-affected. Or if possible, even better - to have it triggered by zone / refresh only, and separate from the overall proc calculation - again so as not to screw with the runic proc itself.
Make it cost 50% of the mages mana pool, so they would have to med for the 10 minutes - which less people would want to do (rather than casting it, clicking it off, and not noticing a thing).
Have it place a buff on the pet, which would create the sword upon expiring after 2 or 3 minutes, and only if the caster / recipient are in the same zone. That would make sure that both the player and the mage would have to remain at that location, meaning once again, fewer newbies would want it.
Heck, even if you could only use it once after every time you zone (seeing as how you can only refresh every 15 minutes) - albeit being highly annoying and still feeling like a broken spell - it is still more manageable and more sensible use of the spell.
Is all of the above not even worth looking at for the sake of having a spell which actually works? Please, do consider it, as right now, stuff like this is really just ruining the whole experience.
Sincerely,
-------
V. N.
Now really, is there any reason for the insane recast timer? It seriously just does not make sense, that to be able to use a spell which is supposed to make the mage class unique (ie. summon equipment for your pet) is - in fact - un-usable. In order to play in the evening, I have to wake up in the morning, log on, summon a sword for my pet, log off, come back at lunch time, log on again, summon another sword, log off, and come back in the evening to summon a third sword in CASE my pet dies - simply because I wanted to try something a bit more challenging / go explore a bit. Yeah, I can get the spear of power too (which has the crappy graphic, but let's assume we can put up with that) - but that only means that I would STILL be screwed if I actually go and try to adventure about and loose my pet. And I'm not even going to go into what happens if I join a group and am required to produce a dps pet over the solo / tank pet - yes, not all of us have relics, and having four different kinds of elementals at the mages disposal, is after all, what makes the whole point of the class (again before the relic obviously).
The ONLY con to this - is yeah, some mages could possibly *gasp* give the level 64 summon to a lowbie pet. As much of a horror as that is, if I where to power level a level ten necromancer / beastlord with my mage, I could STILL summon the blade of power and the spear for the said character, because hey - I'm playing the toon I'm trying to power level - not the mage - so it doesn't matter if his pet isn't equipped. AND the low level necro's pet is actually a heck lot less likely to die with those swords than the mage's at lvl 64 / 65. So in other words, the mage's own spell benefits the said twink more than the mage himself - which is basically the primary - and the ONLY reason that I can see why the insane recharge timer - since giving it to a player is fairly useless due to the required level.
NOT to mention the fact that I could get claw weaponry for the lowbie pet which gives a heck lot more hp boost / damage / stats / everything (bar the rune effect that has a required level to proc by the way)
NOT to mention the fact that a level 64 mage could farm level 20 nameds, and outfit the said pet with a heck lot more AC / HP gear from the said lvl 20 named drops in under half an hour than those swords combined.
NOT to mention the fact that it is a LOT more frustrating not being able to use your own spells than seeing very few lowbies running around with geared pets. I would say that the horror in the former case is significantly worse than in the later.
I don't know how the mages in higher end Raids cope - I'm not there yet. Either they simply have to avoid dying or loosing their pet at all costs, to be able to make use of their own spells fully. Or they may have simply given up on the summons that are summoned items that are the mage class, and rely on stuff like claw pet weaponry instead.
I am not sure as to who thought it was a good idea, what caused the change, but I plead and impore you - PLEASE allow the mages to use their own spells. Please at least leave us SOME unbroken "mage" utility. It already takes nearly an hour to get a group together via CoH, and it was already extremely frustrating (albeit bearable) with the old 10 minute recast timer on these summons (as you could at least dedicate a gem slot to the spell and hope you remember to cast it enough times before your pet dies). What would be so bad about having a normal recast timer - or heck, even something like 5 minutes on them? Most mages are not going to keep it memorised if the timer is somewhere around there (as that is roughly how long it takes for recovery and rezzes if things go sour anyway), and most are not going to wait 5-10 minutes sitting in town to randomly give it out to newbie pets. And if that is such a HUGE problem (I really don't see why or how, but let's assume it is) - surely there are other ways to prevent it than crippling an end-game class-defining spell?
Why not have the required level for the sword at 55, and have pets abide the required level rules of stats / proc?
If that is too difficult, add a proc to it that will "banish" (kill) any player below 45 who owns the pet wielding it (giving that proc one charge only would make sure that it does not affect the runic proc later on - or am I wrong on this?) and making sure that anyone above 45 is un-affected. Or if possible, even better - to have it triggered by zone / refresh only, and separate from the overall proc calculation - again so as not to screw with the runic proc itself.
Make it cost 50% of the mages mana pool, so they would have to med for the 10 minutes - which less people would want to do (rather than casting it, clicking it off, and not noticing a thing).
Have it place a buff on the pet, which would create the sword upon expiring after 2 or 3 minutes, and only if the caster / recipient are in the same zone. That would make sure that both the player and the mage would have to remain at that location, meaning once again, fewer newbies would want it.
Heck, even if you could only use it once after every time you zone (seeing as how you can only refresh every 15 minutes) - albeit being highly annoying and still feeling like a broken spell - it is still more manageable and more sensible use of the spell.
Is all of the above not even worth looking at for the sake of having a spell which actually works? Please, do consider it, as right now, stuff like this is really just ruining the whole experience.
Sincerely,
-------
V. N.
Last edited: