I watched with interest the controversy about the Necromancer epic. I'm a Mage. This year hasn't been pleasant as we've watched our power sapped in a nickel-and-dime fashion. The pet nerf. The pet focus nerf. Our Aegis line. Malosinete (it really does make a difference, even in the group game.. and it is just another small tweak that adds to the pile.) Spell rolls on our largest bolt weighted heavily to the low side. (I have months of parses.) The salvo nerf. I'm sure I'm missing some. And I'll bet a dime that there are nerfs that we don't know about hidden under the rug. Look, I'm not a crybaby. And I know that in general, the developers are doing what they feel is in the best interest of balance of the game. By and large, I don't mind this kind of thing, since it's all relative anyway. I have to admit, though, that when yet another nerf is announced I'm starting to cringe. The Mage epic pet had me grinning so much I got a thrill every time I played, just due to the pet. Really. Its usefulness lasted a very long time. Two of my favorite things about this pet were the *~hot~* damage shield, and the proc stun. Our epic quests were Epic. The best of the best for each class, was the idea. (I know epics are not all made equal.) Last expansion's class weapon was a very good idea. How about giving us a quest option to upgrade our epic effect to the proper level each expansion. The class weapon quests were a good start. Tack it on to that. You could "pay back" the nerfs with this idea, make the Necromancers happier, with all their letdowns this year, and give us back the idea of reaching the pinnacle of our class. The Epic Mage. The Epic Necromancer. /flex Sounds awesome.
would love it..won't happen. they've said repeatedly they are not doing epics again. currently the monk epic is..for all intents and purposes useless. temporary hp boost? whoopy.
Upgrading Epics has been asked for for 10 years, and they've said no for 10 years. And Mages are still one of the most powerful classes in EQ, even with all of the nerfs.
Don't think of it as just an HP boost. Think of it as a 10K heal with a boost to your next 2 uses of Mend.
Ahhhh.. The epic discussion. I'll never get tired of beating the dead horse of the chasm of imbalance between the druids' 3-weeks of slight epic usefulness (before the stacking nerfs and hyper-fast obsolesence) compared to the eternity of game-changing usefulness for clerics.
You have to admit though the speed of which and violence of which the druid's epics became useless was as epic as the quest itself and people do hold grudges! heh! Everytime I hear in raid chat "Hold your epic's for the burn" I get a little bit of that Ugh feeling in my gut. heh! While other classes Epics are still class defining. Am I over it? Yes. I have forgiven, but have not forgotten. muhaha!
Agreed it's odd that some epics were/are epic forever while others crumbled to dust in an instant. Things like the mage epic could have been changed to summon some unique pet gear. A small focus item say that boosts some stat not obtainable via other routes. I'm sure there are options. I don't feel they need to be balanced so they all gain exactly the same amount of power, but it would be nice if epics still had at least a *small* boost for each and every class. Not large enough to be a burden and a requirement for everyone, but a little bit of help to those that put in the extra mile.
I ended up just using my epic as a pulling tool for the longest. Fast casting no damage ability. I am not even sure I have forgiven..just accepted.
