Mage or Enchanter - Selo Server - OOW through End Game - Which one to play?

Discussion in 'Casters' started by Midnitewolf, Sep 5, 2019.

  1. Midnitewolf Augur

    I need help deciding between a Chanter or Mage for a main. I have played a Chanter to 53 on another server and after the double XP weekend, have a newly minted 65 Mage on Selo so I have some experience with both but I really don’t know how either class hold up over the long run. Since Selo is a fast progression server, level 100+ will be here in no time so I really want to make sure I am making the right choice for the long run.

    Chanter likes and dislikes: I really enjoyed the control, low down time, active playstyle and powerful charmed pets on the chanter. I also liked how you always had the power to sway a bad situation into a good one. On the other hand, disliked the fact that you always had to be hyper-vigilant when playing a chanter with no ability to ever afk, take a break or anything due to the nature of how charm worked. I also hate that your non-charmed pet was useless due to being unable to attack with it. I also disliked that your entire DPS was in the toilet unless you used a charmed pet.

    From the future perspective I had heard that in the near future, charm gets a massive nerf effectively removing your access to a super powerful pet which is the only thing that makes the hassle of charming a pet worth it. However, I have heard they get exceptionally powerful again, only to finally get severely nerfed toward the very late game around level 100+. Honestly the reports of how powerful/fun chanters are in the future are all over the place so it is hard to judge if they will be good or bad in the long run.

    Mage likes and dislikes: I really enjoyed the powerful and safe pet. I also like the power of its nukes. I also times really like the fact that it has a rather chill playstyle were you only really have to worry about monitoring your pets health and your mana. This makes it fun for those times when your tired and just want to relax, something you could never due with the Chanter. As for dislikes, well I hated that you had no option to dial it up a notch and have a very active playstyle like the chanter. I also dislike the fact that it has no control options or other ability to sway a fight other than nuking down a mob a bit faster. I also am a bit disappointed that at 65 my mage finds it challenging to solo dark blue mobs as I kind of expected it to retain is soloing power much more consistently based on its reputation.

    From the future perspective it seems like nothing much changes with the Mage except its pets scale less and less as the content progresses. Mercs seem to fix this issue once the come out though and from its reputation, the Mage should be near the top soloing once they come out, something I am not sure can be said about the Chanter due to the Charm nerfs.

    So what are your perspectives. Which should I main from OOW onward on the Selo Server?
  2. RPoo Augur

    Any chance of playing both? They're both pretty fun it seems.
  3. Brohg Augur

    on Selo, probably not enough hours in the day to advance both before next expansion releases? :p

    Depending on one's playtime I suppose
  4. Midnitewolf Augur

    Unfortunately no. I just joined a guild that only allows one Raider Toon so I have to pick a main for that. Also I probably don't have the time to play more than one toon and keep him leveled on Selo.
  5. Cragzop Cranky Wizard

    Your guild would benefit from you deciding to play a class that you enjoy (which we cannot tell you) and focusing your energy at becoming the best player you can be on that class. Most guilds would rather have exceptional people playing any class, not average people playing an exceptional class.

    It's also hard to gauge the relative strengths of classes through the various TLPs because so much has changed in the aa construction tree since the first time through all the expansions. I have no idea when pets become OP and fall behind in the general expansion progression now … because all the pet aas are now different.

    That said, you've pretty much given your own answer about the future. Enchanters are going to be OP one expansion and crap the next while mages tend to be more even keeled. Most enchanter mains I know that don't bother having a box crew are crazy folks and can handling dying 10-20 times a night to get a strategy down or to get through a mission/named without help. Does that sound like you? If not, pick a mage.

    You'd also be much better off posing a TLP specific request in the TLP forum. It would probably even make a welcome change from the normal complaining.
    RPoo likes this.
  6. Midnitewolf Augur


    Honestly the issue with EQ is that the classes change so much as you level them so it is hard to tell if what you enjoy about a class today is still going to be enjoyable tomorrow. That only way I would have a clue is if players will share their experiences and impressions with me which is what I guess I was asking. I mean I know that no one can tell me if I would enjoy a class or not but it seems if someone had played a chanter from 1-110, throughout the years, they would at least be able to say, "At this point they were good because of this, at this point bad because this happened, but got good again around this time and have been pretty decent though level 110. Overall I had X impression of them". I know I can absolutely do that for any of the classes I have played in EQ, at least through the levels/expansions I have played them in.
  7. Lannin Elder

    I have both , I enjoy the enchanter much more.
  8. Cicelee Augur

    A magician excels at killing one mob efficiently and easily.

    An enchanter excels at handling and controlling a large amount of mobs at once.

    On a stress meter, playing an enchanter is more involved and more stressful.

    On raids, a magician really doesn't do much- we follow assist, hit /pet attack, hit a burn hotkey, and cast the same spell rotation over and over and over.

    On raids, an enchanter could be a magician on certain events. On others it will have to do CC stuff, handle adds, be more involved and more important to raid success. Which, of course, brings more stress- you fail at CC, raid could wipe. A magician fails to DPS hard, o well- the slack could be picked up elsewhere.

    So you have boring and relaxing VS exciting and stressful. Take your pick.
    RPoo likes this.
  9. Midnitewolf Augur


    This is great information. I decided to roll both and my Mage is at 66 and my Enchanter is at 60. I like my mage but my issue is it is dull as hell to play. In a group I send in the pet, wait until the Mob is about at 60% health nuke, sit and med for a bit, then nuke one more time then sit and med....OVER AND OVER AND OVER. My Chanter can get like this but even if CC isn't necessary, I am still spending alot of time, actively managing my Charmed pet, making sure buffs are upkept, tashing, applying other Debuffs and dropping in some nukes, DoTs here and there. Seems a much more active playstyle.

    The question that has been on my mind though was how does a mage play once it gets its AA's? Does it get more active? Are there more thing to actually do as far as active skills granted by AA's or is it like it is now, send in pet, nuke, med, nuke, med, repeat. I think you might have answered this when you describe the Mage on a raid as not doing much. Seems like it never gets more active so I guess Enchanter is going to be the way to go for me.
  10. Fian Augur

    FYI - If you are 60, I think you now have the ability to send your enc pet in to attack.

    I don't have a 110 mage, but I do have a 110 enchanter. First off, your playstyle is very different than mine. I hate charmed pets, because they introduce risk, and I like to keep risk low, especially in a group situation. But I understand your preference is to solo. From a 110 perspective on the latest expansion, you can solo mobs with your summoned pet, however you will occasionally need to stun the mob to help cleric merc catch up on healing it. So unstunnable mobs you wouldn't want to solo. This also assumes max aa. If you don't have max pet aa, you probably don't want to try and solo current content with your pet.

    The main playstyle of an enchanter is being the conductor of your group orchestra. You keep everything going smoothly. While you certainly dps, mainly by dots, it is the crowd control aspect that makes the class shine. I don't see you talking about that much, so I wonder if you truly would enjoy being a group enchanter.
  11. Midnitewolf Augur


    To order your animation to attack you have to be 61 and invest like 7 AA to do so. It is one of the first things I got when I hit 61 mostly because at 60-63 there isn't much if anything at the proper, level 53 or 57, max charm-able level during these levels. It isn't until 64 where you again get a charm that allows you to possibly pick up a charmed pet in the areas you find yourself XPing though it still is limited on only level 63 mobs and under and I still haven't be XPing on any mobs that are level 63 and under. This is one of the frustrating thing about charms at this level, especially considering how poor chanter DPS is without a charmed pet.

    As far as soloing, I like to be able to solo but that doesn't mean I prefer to solo. Instead I would rather be in a group, conducting the orchestra as you put it, all that while managing a big, nasty charmed pet that is putting out massive DPS. That is what I find exciting about the Chanter, the control for sure, but also the risk associated with charming a pet in order to get the payout of a massive dps boost for your party. I have to admit, knowing that risk vs reward is now becoming very unbalanced with there being way to much risk associated with having a charmed pet than can kill you in the blink of an eye but soon loses a majority of its DPS when charmed is a real downer.

    As far as grouping without a Charmed pet. Yeah I do enjoy it, as long as my party is keeping my busy with CC activities, but I am finding that there seems to be less and less need to CC and without the Charmed pet putting out massive DPS, I find myself feeling like a very weak mage with a very weak pet with the only key difference is that I have plenty of mana where the mage never seems to have enough. Further, even though I have plenty of mana, I can't nuke very well because even a chanters pathetic nukes are massively aggro inducing. If I spam my low damage nuke, usually by the 2nd cast, there is a good possibility I will pull aggro from the tank and absolutely will if I had previously Tashed, Slowed and/or otherwise debuffed the mob in any way. It just seems, in a solid party with a good puller, the Chanter brings very little to the table aside from mana regen at least when it isn't bringing a charmed pet along to make up for its lack of DPS otherwise. The charmed pet just seemed such a vital part of being an Enchanter, that it just seems odd not to be charming a pet in a group.

    Overall, despite my misgivings, I am finding I enjoy the Chanter much more than I do my Mage and now have him leveled to 65 but I really do miss the feeling of being able to dramatically contribute to the party by using a charmed pet to dramatically increase the parties DPS. I also miss the excitement and challenge of managing a charmed pet. Finally I miss the feeling of being more important than just a few buffs and a emergency button to be pushed if their is a bad pull.
  12. Fian Augur

    Not all enc would agree with me, but my advice to you is to not charm a pet while in a group. Your job is to reduce risk to the group, and a charmed pet is the reverse - it increases risk. And it isn't always you that pays the price on a charm break, someone else may end up dying instead.

    As for useful dps, I can't say for sure at level 60, but usually your dots will do more damage than your nukes. I usually cast my best two dots on a mob and then switch to nuking. This is in addition to your haste and mana regen buffs that everyone loves.

    Not all expansions are equal from a CC perspective. PoP/LDON/GoD/OOW expansions need single pulls, so cc is needed if you get more than one (LDON doesn't require a single pull, but getting massive adds is common, so an enc is highly desired). The super hard hitting mob expansions also require a slower, which is one of the enc key duties in those expansions.