[Video] Vizier's Modular Pulling Technique

Hail Enchanters!



Here is my next EQ Tutorial video which will teach enchanters of any skill level how to pull efficiently and effectively.

*Disclaimer* This is not the ONLY way to pull. There are as many ways to pull as there are enchanters who pull. This system is just the way I personally do it. Feel free to use some or all of this technique. You can adapt it to suit you needs and build upon it as you see fit.

I'd like to here any feedback you have as long as its respectful. Enoy!

More than 20 mins and still no video. How about making sure it's there first next time? You worried Dandin's gonna post first and claim it's his?

Umm... I don't know what kind of a group you typically play with, but a couple of obvious question, since you mention a monk and that you'd rather be pulling while the monk dps'es:

1. What kind of a group kills slower than you are pulling in this video? No dps at all? I mean, this may work when you have standalone mobs close enough in all directions around the camp, but soon enough there won't be anything left nearby, and then the group will be waiting on you.
2. This only works for groups that have no casters in them? I would be rather unhappy if my enchanter ran away with his auras all the time while I'm nuking.
3. Why exactly this is better than pulling a group of mobs and then using the enchanter to mez them all the moment they reach the group? That requires no pulling technique from the enchanter and saves a whole lot of time: you don't need to pull them 1 by 1.

1) Well I had to stop and explain what I was doing / thinking. I specifically said the goal is to have a debuffed mob waiting in camp ready to be killed at all times with a minimum amount of time spent in the field pulling.
2.) Casters get over it, you are only gone a few secs.
3.) That method is unreliable because of resists, but you can use beam first then aoe tash then aoe mez if you like. I said there are other ways to do things, this is just my way.

If you don't have Selo (otherwise not letting the bard pull would be crazy) then you will be gone quite a lot more than a few sec after all mobs in the immediate vicinity are dead. As a caster, I would much rather tell the enchanter to get over his urge to pull.

The simple "pull a bunch and Beam/Stare them on incoming" method is reliable enough. The chance of any mobs resisting AE mez, then Ward of the Mastermind AND then also AE stun (Poly rune goes off) is... zero? Let alone resisting repeatedly and persistently to eat through your runes. I haven't seen any mobs with such high magic resistance in recent group content. And your group has a tank, right? Who should be able to grab that one super lucky mob off you quickly enough.

I don't want to pick on your pulling techniques, but I simply cannot imagine a real group in which enchanter pulling would be the best idea. Can you give me an example of such a group? Any group I can think of would be better off with somebody else pulling while the enchanter doing things he's better at.

Well for example the group I am in now, me, wifey druid, wizard, mage, merc tank, merc cleric. Im pulling for this group with no down time. Also dont forget you can use your Ward Auras and targetted mana recursion buffs if you really care that much.

issuance of MR aura. stays in place while your chanter goes out and plays. Then you would just miss that 11% twincast...

The 11% TC is a huge boost fortunately/unfortunately (depending how you look at the situation).

I've wanted to lobby for an "issuance" of Twincast for a while now... there are quite a few auras that could use upgrades - either in their power or the ability to plant them at a static site.

In regards to pulling, I'm more in line with what Axx posted. I usually don't aim to get single pulls unless it's a named in a large group or something that could be risky (remember I use a tank merc so no crazy shenanigans for me ). With real tank/cleric things are a bit more freeform. I usually will pull indiscriminately and deal with it when it's in camp at the group using whatever tools are appropriate- mainly PBAE / defensive procs, etc.

Good video for a nice basic pull technique. But

1. you are gone from camp far too long. By pulling multiples into camp you are able to assist your party in killing 3-4 mobs, therefore increasing your overall DPS output of your group, and increasing kill speed and mobs per minute

2. Blurring mobs off your Extended target can prove confusing for tanks, and some will assume you faded it off. Keep them on, and they know. Okay. Next one is here

3. You failed to mention how to pull no mezz mobs

4. Social agro isnt so cut and dry

5, You don't mention using droppable auras to leave behind with your party. This is clutch for an enchanter, as any caster in your group is going to notice your gone from camp and your auras went with you.

6. You spend too much time picking apart the camp for the "Point of origin: Pull. bring it back, and deal with it

7. Wave mezz is bad // You can mezz yourself with it

8. You failed to mention the limits of Scintilating Beam, It only works up to level 98. So Darkblue mobs or lower.

9. You failed to mention Compliant lurch

10. Pull with tash. pull everything around it. Use AE tash if you have to.. pull it all back to camp. Beam mezz. Stare mezz it so it stays down. assist your tank, Slow and apply DPS.

11. Dots are bad.

12. Nice trick with the gorilla wranglers staff + Belt. took a page from my book I see.

13. Nightmare Stasis is bad. In your last segment there you single target mezzed everything, Why? You could have used your wave mezz (Bad) and used your gorilla stick trick to wake it and pull it back.

14. Relying on mezz can be dangerous. Some mobs are flagged no mezz, and pulling a large number of these can result in death "Ah but i can punt" negative. some mobs are immune to run speed changes and Mezz.. at the same time.. How does one deal with this? AE punt anyways. even if they are immune to runspeed change, the blur portion will still land. So. What you do. AE punt and book it, the ywill fade off you and give you time to double back and pick up what you want

15. You didnt mention Fades. Self Stasis and Friendly Stasis.

All and all.. Solid technique. but it too has its weaknesses. I'll see if i can throw something together here, I'll show pulling to a real group.give me a few days

I only go for single pulls on nameds. I don't think Vizier was indicating that this is how he pulls, but showing different techniques for people to learn how to get singles when they need them. I could upload a video of me pulling for a group if you'd like, I assure you you don't need selos to keep the group swarming in mobs.

Selos, Nah. No Runspeed required!

Um... can we please stop using this word? In this post you referenced it to DoTs and Wave. This is simply NOT accurate information. Given other posts you've made, you contradict yourself on DoTs at least. In regards to Wave, there are legitimate uses for it, you just refuse to recognize them.

If you go by the numbers and wish to maintain an objective standpoint 'in the interest of helping Enchanters everywhere' then comments like those are counterproductive.

For runspeed- I also agree nothing is "required" but purchasing the AA and bumming a FOE when you get the chance is NEVER a bad idea (if you can, get spell FOE as it's faster than the AA version).

Also, could we come up with some unofficial rule that all Enchanter videos are =<5-10 minutes in length? I don't want to feel like I'm sitting through a horrible 2 hour Keanu Reeves movie or poor Star Wars ?-quel in order to understand the class. (No offense to anyone who has posted videos- I truly respect your effort).

Dots have one use. Debuffing.

Wave mezz is bad.

I would prefer to not mezz myself, thanks, or my merc for that matter.

Use it until you get the stare line, then forget it exsists. Stare > Wave All day every day

Here it is again.. that word. You see Wave Mezz is not bad.. it's just not as useful in most situations as Stare is. there are certain raids where stare just won't hit the mobs even if they are sitting on top of each other, but wave mezz works like a charm. You also won't mezz yourself if you don't stand in the AE. Wave is awesome for when the tank has all the mobs on him instead of you.

Difference of opinion, You go ahead and use Wave. I have never encountered a spot Stare wont work. I have encounter multitudes of occasions where wave doesnt suit my style of play.

Im in the thick of the battle, DPSing, offtanking smashing down adds with my mouse bound stare, Chaotic mezzing for TC. Adding ADPS and pulling.

Here is just an example of pulling as a chanter. This is in Valley (I'm working on that stupid tear, thing takes forever to evolve). The merc tank makes it a little bit more interesting to pull, once I get a microphone I'm going to get my friend Kraelic to tank for me while I do this. In this one I'm boxing.

@Axxius:

For most group situations an Enchanter is the right puller. It's only when dealing with exceptionally resistant or immune mobs that monk, SK, etc shine.

Yes, a bard can move faster, but a bard will spend more time away from the group because of their limitations while an enchanter can pull large groups at once if that's what's best.

As a "high-DPS" enchanter, I'm rather shocked you don't find Mind Squall useful. I use it to keep from running OOM when constantly DPSing for long periods. Also, I find when I have a really strong group that chews mobs super-fast, I can spend the entire time working on just pulls. In that case, I don't have time to stay and nuke, but I might have time to DoT.

Stare can get caught on the terrain, and can take longer to target and cast than Wave. I think mezzing myself proved problematic once several months ago, so I prefer Wave. I do pull out Stare on occasion when it's obviously better, but mostly I run Wave. I think part of the reason you prefer Stare is that you don't have most everything hotkeyed like you should, so your mouse pointer spends a lot of time moving around so Stare is a bit quicker for you than it would be for me.

Deep water. For example, Sarith.

Are you trying to say that enchanter is a better puller than bard now?

What limitations are you talking about that would prevent a bard from pulling a large group of mobs faster than an enchanter and controlling it?

A bard's AE mez does not refresh fast enough to keep them locked down. He has a good full tick between mezzes that all 6 mobs will be beating on the group. Fine in grey/light blue content. In current content that means a group geared group is dead. Sure he could kite them around, or he could single target mez them, but then his ADPS is gone completely.

Is a chanter better than a bard? Yes in many situations. A bard is the king of 'single' pulling. A chanter doesn't need to, but can single pull as well as a bard (better in many instances.) Our ability to flash mez, mem blur, AE mem blur, etc lends very well to the pulling slot.

Now there are things a bard gets that a chanter doesn't. Selos for instance. Higher immunity to snare, etc. 'Pulling' specific AA. But a chanter gets a ton of runes, mem blurs, etc. It's been a long time since bard was king of pulling. (I think the fact that pulling is so very easy in most current content lends it to be a level ground for three or four classes.)

What it boils down to is: If you're a melee heavy group, you want a bard. If you're a wizard/caster heavy group you want a chanter. Either pulls exceptionally well.

Okay, I really wasn't going to respond to the post about something being flat out "bad" but there is just too much misinformation and faulty information not to address it.

I don't think anyone will argue DoTs are an ideal DPS tool, at least not for Enchanters. It's been parsed - it could probably use a look-over again but in general, you'll be hard pressed to justify consistent and/or multiple Ench DoTs as a DPS tool. Now, that said, there are multiple applications for DoTs other than the simple "debuff only".

If you setup an AT for Gracious or GOM procs, using Mind Squall will net you free mana, add some DPS, and indirectly- improve your ability to sustain DPS (via heightened mana regen). You will gain 2k+ mana in 30 seconds, and potentially do a large amount of damage as MSquall can crit/TC for ~60k+ a tic with appropriate AA and Foci. If you assume NO crits or extra boosts, you'll hit about 60k damage in ~40 seconds for a 2.0s cast time. This is comparable damage to some nukes, has a faster cast, and sustains mana over drawn out battles. Constriction is great for the debuff, moreso on raids or group named than general play though IMO. I think the value of Stifle is debatable but sometimes you want to ensure mobs stay awake, so a DoT will help remedy that (although I'd probably use one of the other DoTs for the reasons described above.

Now, about Wave (targeted AE Mez)- specifically to you Dandin- it doesn't appear your guild has even completed ROF or COTF yet (if so, your people should really update their website and get on EQ rankings as well). Therefore, you haven't come across the raids in which Wave offers a superior advantage. Previously you said you were "up there" in the action with Knights, etc. for raids. First off, this is completely unnecessary and could significantly decreases survival. Obviously if you're planning to use Wave you should have enough common sense to move to an appropriate distance OR know if you can get away with being mezzed for a minute. Again, have you seen the push, punting, and flat out screwball maneuvers of tanks on adds? Yes, I appreciate them snatching aggro on incoming, however, the likelihood of calculating Stare cast times on mobs flying in space is a roll of the dice at best. In conjunction with the Xtarget window, I can pick out my mobs, target them, and spam wave as they come in range. I'm guaranteed a hit, perhaps multiple. Wave removes human error, geometry conflicts, and increases the speed in which you can mez.

Most veteran Ench will likely favor Wave over Stare (or at least appreciate it's usefulness) given the amount of time they have had to learn only using a targeted AE. Mouse linked or not, you won't be able to effectively mez with Stare as quickly as Wave. If you're a gnome hiding in the EQ servers or a robot, it may be possible though!