I wasn't joking about anything I posted for the record. Charmed mobs for me are about as durable as a wet piece of paper which was not the case at launch. I created the thread to try to get an understanding of why we ended up where we are now, which is a 35 minute charm duration and a charmed mob that will die quickly if it takes aggro. Clearly I was unaware of how much damage these charmed mobs were dealing in high end zones, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm annoyed about charm being changed. What was so bad about a short duration and high risk/reward that existed with charm? The title of the thread expresses the opinion I still feel now, regardless of the DPS the coecers are dishing out. This thread was not meant to be about DPS. I don't like big changes to any class and again this was a root ability of the class that was drastically modified. Classes should resemble their original form and sadly that's not the case for many eq2 classes over the years.
Let me start off by saying that I've never played a coercer (much), but I've played a necro forever. The necro charm never (never for me being 2006 onward) charmed a mob and it kept its original stats. It still stayed DoubleUp (as I still call it), but it was notably weaker. If it stayed original stat'd for the coercer, I can certainly see why coercers were such solo pimps and why a nerf would be needed. But the nerf we're talking about here is tomfoolery. From the above description, it's now nothing more than a backward mezz. Which implies that the originating purpose for the Coercer has been nullified. I know they do other things, but their prime nomenclature denotes Charming. It's just another situation where the devs built a class capable of being heavily exploited and then "fixed" the problem via broad spectrum nerfbatting, affecting other classes (again) and putting little thought into the hypocracy of it. Im a solo artist myself. I knew that the coercer had the greatest potential of any class to fell the largest foes. But the process involved mezzing/nuking/mezzing, etc. It's a protracted engagement since you have small nukes, but you can engage any target, as opposed to sorcerers that can only engage melee targets. One slip and you're dead. But it's not about the dying and repair cost. It's about the time you lost, possibly right at the end, and possibly nullifying the efficiency of even attempting it. I did try this on a coercer for a short time, but I did not have the patience. The necro method is of similar speed, but you have more flexibility during a slip-up. That recovery opportunity moved me into the necro category. I have a more limited spectrum of targets available since my tank has to be able to take the hits (tainted heals or no), but I'm willing to accept that limitation. Point is that it took a tremendous amount of skill, time and effort to be a reliable solo Coercer against named. Enough to limit it to perhaps 1-3% of the server population. Such a small demographic means two things (to me). 1. This fraction is so small that it's not impacting the server economy in any meaningful way. 2. "Fixing" this "exploit" via blanket change punishes a MUCH larger percentage of the population for something that was nothing more than a minor anomaly. That Store Pet thing is useless for me. If a tank pet comes out with zero hate (and it does), I'm just going to die anyway. No amount of instant hate transfer techniques will save me. If I were a raider and my warlock pet died, then it would be useful. Just not as it pertains to this thread's intent.
so the (by sig) #1 brig ww complains that he is getting outparsed by a charmed AE caster on AE heavy fights? i'm really undecided between l2p and cry me a river.. and btw the Necro and Assa i run with outparse the charmed pet usualy, as would my own Wizzi if our other coercer would even bother to charm in there.
I guess I don't see the problem here. There was OP charm (and in EQ1 wayyyy OP charm). Now though you have a good DPS charm that is strong but not overpowered, some mobs are charmable. Play with them, figure out what works. If you want a high hitpoint pet, use possess essence and take the AA to reduce the damage it takes, etc. PE pets have a pretty darn good bit of HP these days. And no risk. Also, if you are wanting a charmed pet that has a TON of hitpoints, there are some in the game. Some you can charm that have wayyyyyy more life than any player ever could. They exist, find them. No, you aren't going to find them in the outdoor or solo zones (as far as I know, and if there are any I wouldn't expect them to last that way--there might be some that I don't know about). Most mobs, even bosses, except (most?) final heroic bosses in ToV, are able to be rooted, mezzed, snared, walk-the-plank'd (I think I just invented a new phrase!) etc. if you really, really, want a super short duration charm, play a troub. Or go play one of those things that emulates an early EQ1 server (which we aren't supposed to talk about here so I won't link them). Honestly the really valid complaint about charm right now is: SOE should put in a few heroics that could be charmed into each raid zone, for coercers who want to use charm and are skilled enough to keep it alive. Just for fun.
