Im a recent returnee to the game. I have a couple questions. What happened to being able to stack DoT's? ie swarming death etc etc What happened to KEI? Some advice on your spell setups... What buff spells should I have ready to go? What spells should i have ready to go when leveling? Thanks!
1. DOTS for druids and shamans have been changed. They were changed to be worth casting - which significantly upped both their damage and mana cost. Since dots became several times more powerful, EQ no longer allows you to stack older versions of the same dot line. This works out better for you in the end, cause less casting/dots for more damage. ** This is only for classes who have had their dots changed (druids, shamans, enchanters, rangers, and beastlords) 2. KEI is still a buff like any other. There has been 2 buffing changes: a. Buffs have a level limit now - so a lvl 10 cannot have KEI and an infinite mana pool. b. KEI was shortened in duration so that when extended it wouldn't last 5-6 hours (now KEI and it's upgrades last ~2-3hr) I don't play a druid, so I cannot help with the druid specific stuff however
Adding to what fransisco said, most classes with DoTs have experienced the consolidation. Necros and SKs are notable exceptions (I'm not sure about bards). The stated goal of the dot consolidation was that you could now cast one dot that would do a similar amount of damage as the pre-consolidation dot plus the previous two levels in the same line with an increase in mana cost. I don't think that really panned out at lower levels, though. So while you can't stack multiple DoTs in the same line, you can stack DoTs from separate lines. So this should be an overall increase in dps. I'm not sure what you're referring to when you ask what happened to KEI. It's still there and still does the same thing it always have. I'm pretty sure that the last time I cast KEI, it did not have the reduced duration that fransisco mentioned, and the spell data supports this. But he's right about the higher levels of clarity; they've always had a shorter duration than KEI. The only change with KEI happened more than 10 years ago when high level buffs could no longer land on lower level characters, even if they are in the group. I think the minimum required level to receive KEI is in the 40s.
You'll dot things and also use nukes to kill things. You will have to adjust how many dots you use, based on how quickly your mana goes down and how fast you can regenerate it. As you get higher in level, most of your nukes (and heals) are almost free as their net mana consumption is small. At high levels, your dots are quite mana intensive, meaning you'll have to med to recover mana. Just get out there and do it.
Bard dots are still not worthwhile. Best to pretend they don't exist and not spend resources on them.
