I was reading the manuals in the eq folder. In the Darkhollow manual this was listed as one of the new AAs. So whatever happened to it? Did they take this out? Channeling Mastery Classes: Enchanter, Paladin, Shadowknight Level Needed: 70 Reduces the chance of being interrupted when casting spells.
From the patch that removed it: - Refunded all AAs that increased your chance to channel through damage. Channeling is currently set to 100% for all classes due to a long standing issue in how it is calculated, so the abilities weren't doing anything. This includes Channeling Focus, Channeling Mastery, and Internal Metronome. Item Channeling abilities, such as Concentration, are not affected. Essentially, what happened is once your channeling was maxed, your channeling check (which applies to taking damage) was 100%, so the AA was not doing anything to improve that. Worse still, the Channeling Mastery AA and those similar were actually reducing your chance to channel. Channeling was then "fixed" to have a cap of 90%, and Channeling Mastery then worked. The net effect, though, was that players got a WHOLE lot more interrupts based on damage, and that it would only get worse, as mobs hit harder and more often through expansions. They returned Channeling to the way it was working, 100% chance at max ranks, and disabled the mastery type AAs. Since they weren't working at all, eventually, they were removed and refunded. For some points of reference, threads on the topic at The Runes, Samanna, EQ Outrider, and Necrotalk. EDIT: Just for random information, Channeling is for continuing to cast when being hit (taking damage), not stuns, bash, push, other movement, "interrupt casting" abilities (similar to the paladin Force of Disruption AA), et cetera.
Thanks Mykalla. I thought, "Wow what a wonderful idea for an AA". I guess the dev team thought the same. But, we're at 100% anyway so who cares lol. I have a hard time channeling through multiple greens for instance. Are you saying that I have a 100% chance to channel through the damage but the interrupts that i get are probably due to being pushed?
Correct, push is generally what is going to cause interrupts more than anything with stuns you don't shake off being a close second. At least at one time, push was calculated by comparing where you were when you started casting and where you are when you finished casting and the greater the difference the more likely an interrupt. We tested this way back in the day by getting in a tight corner, casting a spell with a long cast time, running around and getting back to our corner before it finished. Not sure if they ever changed how that works, this was a really long time ago, but I still try to move in the opposite direction whenever I get pushed.
To go along with this- way back, when servers and internet connections were shaky, if you were running and wanted to stop and cast a spell, you would stop moving and do a quick rotate left or right. This pushed info to the server that your character had actually stopped in that one position. It was more important for quick casting spells partly due to what Fil posted above. I honestly don't know if it matters anymore given stability and high speed connections but I still have the habit when I'm pulling. Deckerd if you're trying to pull a lot of mobs (grey, green, whatever) try and wedge yourself into a corner and you can combat the push. Just make sure you are facing the mobs. Zone design doesn't always allow for this though and it can be frustrating.
Having recently tried not turning like I always did, I can tell you that it is still somewhat of an issue. I always turn when I kite/etc. And it still makes a difference.
~Nods~ I play on 3G across the Pacific, so I have a fair amount of latency. I still turn and count in my head, especially with things like fading (on my cleric, who's not instant. My paladin isn't instant either, but she can leap ahead first).
I've noticed that every once in a while, not very often, I'll get hit and my spell will immediately stop casting. It won't wait until the end of the spell cast, like push interrupt does, to say that the spell is interrupted. It's not a stun because I can immediately recast the spell and it doesn't say that I've been stunned. I wonder if that is an interrupt from damage.
