Buff Blocking Options

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by I_Love_My_Bandwidth, May 25, 2019.

  1. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    Everyone knows there are certain buffs certain classes prefer. Currently the only option to ENSURE you get the buffs you really want are to block the blocker buffs.

    Assurance vs [Arcronite Blessing + Ward of the Merciful + Symbol of Emra]

    The latter combination provides the most benefit. Yet if any rank of Assurance is on, Arcronite Blessing will not land.

    This is one example of many. Can we get a more robust buff blocking system please? Or simply give us a pop up when a buff is blocked, which then "builds" our preferences. The idea that I have to completely block a buff in order to get the preferred equivalent is nonsense design. Either design better buffs, or give us the tools to customize the blocked ones in a way that doesn't force us to choose or lose.

    Assurance Rk. I, II, III < Arcronite Blessing Rk. I, II, III
    Assurance Rk. I, II, III < Ward of the Merciful + Symbol of Emra Rk. I, II, III

    This would allow some nuance. Assurance doesn't need to be blocked, it just needs to allow overwriting if one of the spells I choose attempts to land on me.

    I would love to see an IF/THEN, YES/NO sort of flowchart. This would also be handy for lower ranked buffs being blocked by higher ranking buffs that only have a few minutes left before they expire.

    IF CurrentBuff.Timer.Hastening of Millyex Rk. III <= 20m,
    THEN BuffOverWrite.Allow.Hastening of Millyex Rk. I, II
    Thoxsel likes this.
  2. Thoxsel Djess' Pet Warrior

    Would definitely be great to have more options, and also increase the cap of how many blocked buffs you can have.
  3. Shaantara Made of Moonlight

    I would just really love to know how to block my healer merc's complete heal from being cast on my box's tank merc. Blocking pet buffs doesn't block mercs from getting other mercs' buffs or heals. Both toons have it blocked in their own buffs and their pet buffs but the merc keeps casting it on the other merc.
  4. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    You can set your healer merc to Balanced, Efficient, Passive, or Reactive.
    • Balanced: Merc tries to balance mana savings and healing. Since it is rare that healers run out of mana, use this only if you somehow have a mana problem, or you are using two healer mercs for tough mobs; place one on Reactive and one on Balanced so they don't both cast the same spells at the same time, possibly wasting heals.
    • Efficient: Merc tries to save mana. This is where they will cast Complete Heal. I recommend never using this.
    • Passive: Merc does nothing. If merc is passive for an entire round (15 minutes), they will stop charging you after that until you make them active.
    • Reactive: Merc does all they can to keep your party alive, not worrying about mana. Recommended 99% of the time.
    On Efficient, and maybe Balanced, they will cast Complete Heal. Use Reactive.

    Post here and tell us if this fixes your issue.

    P.S. I've now added this to my Mercenaries article. Thanks for inspiring me to do so.
    Mintalie likes this.
  5. Metanis Bad Company

    Actually things work pretty well just like they are now.
  6. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer


    Not saying it's broken. Saying it could be better.
  7. Leigo You come here often?

    I've been asking for spell haste to override the other(lower) ranks for years... no such luck yet
  8. MysticOne Augur

    Blocking on the mercs would be very helpful.
  9. Mintalie Augur

    Yeah, this is such an odd inconsistency.
  10. Leigo You come here often?

    i know.. makes no sense.. if you have the highest rank possible on then it should effect all spells you would cast within the lvl cap.. why would you ever need blessing of faith to stick!! the horror!
  11. Angahran Augur

    Some 'group' block options would be great.
    1. Block all wolf illusions.
    2. Block all illusions but mine.

    Or even a 'whitelist' for illusions.
    Fanra likes this.
  12. Shaantara Made of Moonlight

    Thank you so much for this. I'm sorry it's taken me a while to get back on this but I was very sick over the holiday weekend and didn't get to play. I did manage to try it out today and it worked beautifully.
    Fanra likes this.