Enchanters.

[Obsidus]

Hi all, I haven't joined the server yet as I'm waiting for my EQ discs to arrive from Amazon. But I'm excited and want to get some info beforehand.

I haven't played EQlive in around 4 1/2 years, and even then my main was a Wizard. But this time I'm looking to make an Enchanter and I was just wondering a few things. I know the game is different than live, so I don't want to make any assumptions.

Here we go:

1.) How common are Enchanters?

2.) Is their role still well appreciated and at times needed? Or has the game gotten easier so that CCing mobs is not usually needed and is often a waste of time that slows things down?

3.) What are they like compared to Bards? I remember at the time I played on live, Bards were quickly eclipsing Enchanters in mezzing while providing comparable buffs, and also pushing Monks out of the pulling game, and could outsolo anyone but Nercomancers....Err......yeah didn't need to go that far ( I used to hate Bards back then). I just want to play a CCer/Buffer and don't want to be inferior to another class.

4.) What is the condition of charm in SoD? On live it seemed to shift between LOLOP and a very risky toy at best.

Can't think of anything else atm. Looking forward to responses! :dance:

 

[Dinadass]

Mained enchanters are not very common, but there are a lot of buff-bots that are just used for JB (clarity) and Empower (long duration haste).

For the most part, bards are preferred over enchanters for exp groups and the hardest 6-man content. If you have an exp group with mostly melee DPS an enchanter can be awesome though. You'll be able to use GoE (17% more haste than empower) and GoG (3-tick buff that grants almost 1000 atk) while still being there to mezz when required. If the enchanter is up to the task of keeping a charmed pet around and knows how to handle it, it's even better.

Every raid wants to have an enchanter, although more than 1 is generally a waste. There are plenty of classes that raids can do without entirely though, so it could be worse.

It's tough to really pin down the status of charm. Often, it's more trouble than it's worth, so I don't really see it being done a whole lot. Then again I also don't really group with enchanters outside of raids so who knows. There are several good enchanters that are active on the forums so I'm sure they'll be able to give you a better feel for it.

 

[booster]

enchanters are awesome if u like making people giants and turning yourself into thaz golems and shit. ok bye


and charm rules.

 

[Obsidus]

Mained enchanters are not very common, but there are a lot of buff-bots that are just used for JB (clarity) and Empower (long duration haste).

For the most part, bards are preferred over enchanters for exp groups and the hardest 6-man content. If you have an exp group with mostly melee DPS an enchanter can be awesome though. You'll be able to use GoE (17% more haste than empower) and GoG (3-tick buff that grants almost 1000 atk) while still being there to mezz when required. If the enchanter is up to the task of keeping a charmed pet around and knows how to handle it, it's even better.

Every raid wants to have an enchanter, although more than 1 is generally a waste. There are plenty of classes that raids can do without entirely though, so it could be worse.

It's tough to really pin down the status of charm. Often, it's more trouble than it's worth, so I don't really see it being done a whole lot. Then again I also don't really group with enchanters outside of raids so who knows. There are several good enchanters that are active on the forums so I'm sure they'll be able to give you a better feel for it.

Ahh. That's a bit disheartening. Nice to see Bards are still overpowered though haha.

I guess I'm mostly concerned with the value of mez and CC in general. I remember back on live, just how amazing a good Enchanter always seemed, and how useful they were. I really hate how in every other mmo I've ever played , crowd control is meaningless, either by design, or because the game had progressed to the point where the tank just pulls large groups of mobs and it becomes an AoE dps face roll where any CC is not needed and slows down the exp flow.

If Bards do it better, fine. I just want to really know if getting it done is a valued thing, or not. I really hope this server doesn't have the game set up so that mobs are sissies and don't require CC. After four years of WoW, I really can't stand no CC, pulling lots of mobs and AoEing them down, all the time with no danger whatsoever of tank death and DPS hardly have to worry about aggro or being on target.

Thanks for the answers so far!

 

[Thade]

Ahh. That's a bit disheartening. Nice to see Bards are still overpowered though haha.

I guess I'm mostly concerned with the value of mez and CC in general. I remember back on live, just how amazing a good Enchanter always seemed, and how useful they were. I really hate how in every other mmo I've ever played , crowd control is meaningless, either by design, or because the game had progressed to the point where the tank just pulls large groups of mobs and it becomes an AoE dps face roll where any CC is not needed and slows down the exp flow.

If Bards do it better, fine. I just want to really know if getting it done is a valued thing, or not. I really hope this server doesn't have the game set up so that mobs are sissies and don't require CC. After four years of WoW, I really can't stand no CC, pulling lots of mobs and AoEing them down, all the time with no danger whatsoever of tank death and DPS hardly have to worry about aggro or being on target.

Thanks for the answers so far!

When you are fighting thing son tier (appropriate gear for the fights, you aren't just exping on level 52 blue cons with high tier raid gear) cc is really important. HOwever usually you don't experience that until the highest tiers of the game because of the age of the server really. You may experience some (especially while leveling) but much less at 65 until high tiers. But at high tiers, and even sometimes on raid, it's cc or die.

 

[Raralith]

It counts on how far you want to get in the game, and how much you are going to raid. If you want to progress far in the game, it's going to be pretty tough. Too many bots, too many people not knowing the potentials of an Enchanter, too many people choosing other classes other than Enchanters. As far as raiding, there is a lot of utility of running 2 Enchanters; having two sets of curses is pretty much insane DPS in itself than factor in group Shared Mind and GoG. That being said, it's a rarity, most raids will choose to only have one which makes advancement very hard.

Answering your questions though as someone that plays an Enchanter:
1.) Overall, pretty rare for groups, bards are much more common. Starting at lower teirs, bards are probably better for groups, just so much more utility. In the middle teir, you'd still probably want a bard, still more utility. For the high end, it doesn't matter which one you get because you are going to steamroll everything reguardless.

2.) From my experience, I do not think Enchanters are well appreciated or even feel needed at times. Pretty much every other class can press a button and see an amazing number (damage, heal) with the exception of tanks and Enchanters. Tanks though, they are busy doing tank related things and screaming for heals. Enchanters do a lot of things, even more so now, but what we do is strictly there to help other classes. I really sometimes think that there are only 20 people on the server that really knows what an Enchanter fully does, knows how to fully maximize their potential, and I think only 5 of those 20 are probably Enchanters too. As for CC's, lower teir groups need CC pretty badly. Middle to high teir, rarely will you CC because it's a waste of time. You are much better off just buffing other characters.

The second guild I was in, Fusion, ran without an Enchanter for a good 3-4 teirs (sorry Chron). I joined around ValorB so they did a lot of content with no Enchanter. Would an Enchanter made their lives easier? Sure, curses do an amaing amoung of damage for other classes, GoG can add a tremedous amount of damage, Runes can save lives. BUT, they still progressed through some of the hardest content in the game relative to the gear you have without an Enchanter, and that really says a lot to me.

3.) Until the very high end where you have a ton more mana, and can chain cast your spells, you are normally inferior to a bard. Simply put, Enchanters will more than likely run out of mana if they push too hard, but a bard can just keep going non-stop.

4.) As of right now, pretty good. My gripe with charm is that some Enchanters give it a bad rap by 1) slowing down groups by trying to release, stun, and recharm their pets every few minutes, 2) lack the hit points when their charm gets resisted 3 times in a row and gets killed. It slows the group down, and pretty much anything that slows the gorup down is bad.

 

[Udeni]

I really hate how in every other mmo I've ever played , crowd control is meaningless, either by design, or because the game had progressed to the point where the tank just pulls large groups of mobs and it becomes an AoE dps face roll where any CC is not needed and slows down the exp flow.

Exp groups tend to need some CC, especially if you don't have a monk pulling and splitting pulls at higher tiers. Without CC, I've been in plenty of groups that have wiped because of a giant pull that CC would have done wonders for. But theres also the groups that have uber tanks and healers (See: Drukal and Dymon in a group, with another healer) that can last through giant pulls without much harm.

I generally love having an enchanter in a group/raid cuz its quite useful (i also hate rolling with shitty shammy haste)