I don't know how all class alliances work. But I know at least a few classes are like wizard where you have to land the spell on a NPC where it remains until it wears off. If another wizard attempts to land the spell before the previous wears off the spell and its long cool-down are wasted. My co-wizzies have attempted a number of coordinating systems to avoid the overwriting but it's like herding cats. Personally I was happy with emoting in our guildwiz channel when we cast, then we just timed it out and took turns, but that broke down over time. Some of us don't want to open our spell filters to accept casting from ALL which is what is needed for GINA to be able to solve the issue. We have too many wizards to fit in a single group with appropriate ADPS and healing. I shouldn't need a 3rd party program to use a spell imo. Anyway, alliance should be like manaburn. If I attempt to cast manaburn on a NPC that still has a previous manaburn on it that hasn't worn off.... my attempt gets reset. Why can't alliance just be like this? It would make things FAR easier and enjoyable. Just get in when you fit in and it all works out.
1. Open a new chat window 2. Rename chat window NEVER OPEN ME 3. Filter spell casts from everyone to that window 4. Minimize window 5. Hide window on your UI so you can never accidentally click it 6. If you ever get the urge to look at that window and open its contents, read the chat window title and follow the instructions 7. Profit
{S} begins to cast NAMEOFSPELL Voila, never have another wasted alliance. If I hear someone else start casting it before me, I don't cast it. If the timing is too close to tell, you can duck out. Then make another audio trigger for when it fulminates so you know the instant you can cast another. Yes, this requires using GINA. I don't understand people's resistance to GINA. /shrug
Yes. Even more appealing is the ability to overwrite fellow class Alliance to deny them the fulmination damage and reap it for one’s self. Alliance works in a different way. I can only assume it was intended to be able to overwrite one another’s Alliance due to the cooperative nature of the spell/ability. You MUST cooperate to get the most out of it. Personally, I don’t like that Alliance can be overwritten. It should be treated like DoTs. I cast it, I spent the mana or endurance to attempt the alliance - I shouldn’t be denied the fulmination just because another person got trigger happy. I use GINA in just the way Mintalie describes. It helps. But if someone’s chat or GINA or game is lagging (like that EVER happens...) it’s easy to make a mistake and overwrite. Sucky....
For bard alliance I made gina triggers with timer bar (with name of initiator) and another to notify of when we get a successful fulmination.
It's my understanding that it does not overwrite, that the prevailing spell sticks until it wears off or fulminates. Would love for someone smarter than me to clarify.
If I turn on spell casting for everyone... does my client filter or does the server not send them? I am asking because i am wondering if everyone had spellcasting for everyone turned on... wouldnt that like blow up the bandwidth of a typical raid? Or would it not affect the lag ? I have been resistant to doing this but already decided to do it at least weeks raid. Again though, alliance would be great if it was like manaburn instead of having to parse the entire raid to work this spell.
Don't minimize the window but make it very small as there can be issues if you unminimize a window with a lot of chat in it.
Wait, when a NPC goes into certain scripted phases sometimes spellcasting becomes disabled. Like, it wont even let me start casting and i get a red message. I can't remember which events im thinking of atm. But if indeed there was no way to bounce a spell like that, then how about... 1- make alliance an aa instead. 2-add a proc to the spell that 'reflects' a spellcast refresh proc. Like claw has for instance.
Converting Alliances to AA (that casts the highest available rank of the spell, like some of the existing AA do) - that would be a good idea actually.
It will overwrite if they are different ranks just like normal spells. If Wizard 1 casts alliance rank 2, and I cast alliance rank 3, mine will overwrite theirs. If they are the same level they will not be overwritten.
Alliances are the worst thing ever created. Can't stand them and wish they would die a horrible death.
I actually really like the concept. Cooperation is rewarded. Good thing. If two Monks hit alliance at the same time, you only get one fulmination regardless how many Monks are on raid or in group because each Monk only gets one buff at a time. Once it fulminates, the buff fades. So overwriting is the wrong choice of words. I presume same is true for all classes.
I should have titled the thread Blocked, not overwrite. Hope you know what I meant. I kinda didn’t want to see that new covenant with TBS. But if they could fix it to be like manaburn via an AA, I think it’d be great. So that it would reset instead of get blocked and wasted. The point of alliance cooperation was supposed to be classes helping each other to fulminate. Not to also fight over blocking.
If you have more than 4 wizards in a raid, people should be main changing to melee/hybrid dps … you will have better dps. Sad but true. (I assume that you are running 4 wiz, druid and chanter in group … maybe 3 wiz, bard, druid and chanter...in which case that 4th wizard should mc) I also would have thought that if you are going to bring up spell changes, how about having spell twincast not cast if ITC is running... While it might be nice if things worked to make it easier on ourselves, dps covenant casting is a good check to see how well you can execute during a raid. If your class cannot setup a rotation in order to cast and fulminate covenant, then it means there are probably some slacking members in that class and you should look to improve. You only need self filters on with GINA to be responsible for your own covenant casts (honestly, if folks don't want to use GINA during raids, covenant rotations are probably low on the list of things to worry about). I can tell you in MS we use a separate wizard only chat channel and direct tells for covenant cast/fulmination messages. We also never change order so if someone is out for a raid, we easily know who gets skipped and we move on. We're not perfect, but we're pretty good with it. The wizard covenant is weird in that it will fulminate for the highest value … but you can easily do more from a spell cast during a full burn (wiz covenant should be doing at least 1M more in damage per cast). But for us it is generally easier to have the rotation begin at the start and get into a rhythm than trying to figure out when folks burns are ending.
There's no scenario where an Icefloe cast, outside of having chromatic haze, is going to out DPS alliance. Plus it's a way to extend your burn. Unless maybe we're talking a super short burn. So, you should be using it very early and often. Personally, I use audio triggers for casting, landing, and fulmination and it works fine in Valhallah where we often have 6 wizards. It can be a little annoying sure but it's not the end of the world. There really shouldn't be a lag issue if you have an open spam window, only turn on the minimal stuff, and use /clearall when needed.
In my experience, having the GINA trigger to tell you when someone else is casting and then fulminates pretty much eliminates the need for a rotation, particularly because of the delicious refreshes we often get from chaotic. It becomes a matter of who not only has it refreshed but, if multiple do, who is more proactive at getting it cast. With as quickly as it fulminates, everyone is going to get their cast in, even if they have to wait five more seconds. haha thanks for the correction... I did ponder after the fact whether I had the exact wording correct, then (correctly) assumed someone with eagle eyes would correct me. But yes... the gist is there for anyone who cares to investigate.
