my current team is WAR, WIZ, SHM, CLR, ROG and we needs mez really badly so I'm weighing the pros and cons of Enchanter vs Bard Who is better at AE mez, who gets it sooner and which one would you suggest with all of their other abilities considered with the above party. Thank you!
Bard boosts melee heavy groups much more. Enchanter wins when it comes to mez hands down. The one concern I do see with the group is that shaman/bard/chanter are all support classes. The shaman + bard will really boost the rogue a great deal. The enchanter will give you chanter haste for the rog and that's about all. Both can boost the wizard though. If CC is what you're getting to toon for though.. chanter is the way to go. Mez lasts over a minute. Can mez 6+ with one cast, then go back to killing one. In our group I usually AE mez, then we fight a mob. We can sometimes kill 2 or 3 before I have to remez (according to where we are.)
Bard gets ae mez at 90 but 30s recast. With single I can probably keep four or five mezzed but then I can't sing anything else or melee. Yes bard is definitely the JOATMON. You can do most things fairly well, but if you want to specialize then pick another class.
At 100, the enchanter also gains a couple of very nice AA's to boost WIZ dps, and at 90+ provides better dps on his own than a bard will.
Enchanters are underrated as boxes IMO. Bards add more adps, but chanters are the kings of crowd control.
My main is a bard and I grouped quite a bit with my buddy who boxed a chanter. My bard could ae mez faster than the chanter, but the chanter's mex lasts a lot longer. So if you can handle the initial bombardment of mobs, the chanter is a lot better for the mez since it lasts so long but if you can remember to switch to the bard to refresh it, then the bard is awesome along with all the perks we bring to groups.
I find there to be absolutely no disadvantage to replacing an enchanter in a group with a bard. Yes a bard's mez has a long recast but they can cast it again before it breaks. Like chanters, they also have an instant cast mez on 10 min CD for emergencies. When AE mez fails it's time to manually sing everything to sleep, in which case you can keep 4-5 occupied as mentioned above. While a proper enchanter nowadays certainly has the tools to erase aggro before mez drops, as a boxer, you're going to find that rotation a bit difficult to keep up with. A bard drops aggro with the click of one button. Furthermore, having the bard in the group REDUCES the chance you'll ever need that AE mez because there is no trash mob, and I do mean NOTHING, that a bard can't pull single. And I have personally split otherwise unsplittable quest mobs many times. That said, the bard is the more difficult of the two to box if you plan on pulling. Bards are melees, so you'll have to manage positioning with him often. Although bards arent as heavily reliant on AAs as other classes (chanters included), they require more camping than the enchanter by FAR. Skipping the illusion masks, you still need to get Rapier of Somber Notes (clicky haste for when your haste song drops), your epic 2.0, and a full set of AC augs (some would see these as optional, I do not). Don't get me wrong, I love Enchanters to death. But I'm speaking personally, as I levelled one up to replace my bard. Enchanters have more tools to save everyone's (banishment, friendly stasis), but bards prevent the need altogether. And the Shaman is really cutting in on the only other benefit the Ench has over a bard (getting slow on quickly over multiple mobs).
Just to clear up an error earlier in thread. Bard get first AE mez at level 85, not level 90. It was introduced with the Underfoot expansion.
While the bard love is warranted. The original question was who AE mezzes better, not even sure how this is a question. I usually use Mesmerizing Stare for my AE mezz needs. Now it says 3 secs cast much like the bard AE mezz but mine is effected by spell haste and hastened mezz AA which brings is down to 1.5 secs. So unless bard songs get the same ordeal, which they could.. I don't really keep track of bard things I think the enchanter wins the AE mezz battle regardless of how awesome bards are in general. I also have AAs like Scint Beam and Beam of Slumber to lock down trains. I actually box a monk which can pull very well and I find it's almost always easier/faster for me to pull more then 1 mob and just AE mezz rather then single pull. Just an enchanters perspective here, I am bias, take it as you will. I think techincally enchanters first AE mezz is at level 30 but that is just point blank 1 tic mezz. The targeted AE mezz is first found at 65.
Yeah, the big difference here the group has to handle the 4 or 5 ae mezzed mobs for a little over a tick every time the bard mez wears off. It hasn't refreshed yet. Where as with a chanter, you can remez very quickly and keep them 'locked down' as long as you want (assuming no resists and mana holds out).
