Rantings of a madman

[Lothar]

This post is with regards to my noob alt Dilwirt. He has become increasingly more confused as to why people can't seem to "get it on". I started this toon for one reason, of course the pbaoe. I saw how awesome it works on the fins, and how petty my elds ranged aoe works, while drawing excessive agro.

So where am I now? Constantly explaining to people that they really dont need to mez/root the second pull. It gets so old. I told this druid at least 3 times, and every time his comment after his root was "isn't that root great?". I humbly responded by sending my pet to the mob, and pulling him in the blast zone.

This was with a really good party, with 3 tanks, warden, druid and myself the 25 manchanter. Pulling orange con mobs in twos maybe threes. So besides rooting the adds, and under utilizing resources, what's wrong with this picture? I think its safe to say that the xp SUCKS. What's worse is we still had people getting killed.

It's just sad that people can't figure out how to use aoe until they hit the fin tree. They whine about how long it takes to level, but keep root/mez pulling their camps. The canned response, from "why are you rooting?" Because it's safer....Safer my friend is soloing greens. Make sure you range, stun/debuff, and yell for help before pulling(just in case you go LD).

[Boom]

I hear ya brother.

In the 20s I definitely went through the same thing. The concept of pboae's "shared aggro" doesn't immediately make sense to people. I know the first time someone explained it to me (I was playing Boomy the Druid), I didn't understand what was so cool about it. It wasn't until I saw it in action that I really got it.

So I had to just kinda deal with slower than necessary exp in the 20s. You can't force it on people or they just think you being bossy. And if you try the gentle "Hey guys, lets try this thingy." approach they may just say "Naw, that won't work." Sometimes you can get people to try it "just for one pull." If two or three people in the group see what's going on and understand that you are killing the mobs 3 times as fast this way, they will convince the others. Sometimes you will be in a group and someone else will know all about the pbaoe and will push the issue for you. It's really cool hearing a tank or healer explain that no root or mezz is needed because you are there. :)

But a lot of times I wound up being in regular old mezz/root groups. Hell, I still helped take down mobs super fast and got faster exp than I ever did with my Druid. Be careful using your pet to pull, the shared agro trick doesn't work with him like it does with a person.

I think I did a fair amount of soloing in the 20s. Killing oranges or 2 yellows at a time was faster exp than a lot of groups. When that sweet pbaoe group did happen it would all be worth it. Everyone is loving you and your exp bar is moving at the sweetest pace.

In the thirties I spent a lot of time in TC, then in CM, and wound up doing single pull mobs like Abbys anyway. I still got faster exp than I ever did with my druid. A group with a pbaoer in it kills abbys faster than any other kind of group. Pbaoe does more damage than eld bolts, and you can't bolt abbys anyway. You certainly can't bolt abbys over and over again with 2 second casting time.

Think of it this way, any group you are in is going to be super fast exp. If you get a pbaoe group its the fastest exp in the game. If you are in a mezz/root group, it will be the fastest exp of any mezz/root group because nothing drops mobs faster than your pbaoe (even if its one at a time, its the fastest one at a time possible). And even if you can't get a group and solo for a while you will be getting faster exp than a lot of people get in groups.

If you are in a mezz/root group, your mana will be a lot more of a problem. I know that you know not to let your mana get below half, but its sooooo tempting in that kind of a group. You pbaoe the first one and it dies in 6 seconds. Then you sit while the tanks beat on the second one for 45 seconds and you are thinking about how it would have been dead already if that dork druid wouldn't have rooted it. Its very hard not to stand up and just blast it 3 or 4 times and kill it already. But in the long run you get sooo much more blasts per hour if you hold off, its worth it. Besides, if it keeps happening maybe once in a while you can say "Hmmm, this guy is taking a while to drop, if we had him up here while I was pbaoe the first guy we coulda got them both at once. Yall wanna try that next pull?

Just don't let it get to you. :) Yeah its frustrating when you know it could be better, but any group you are in is still a fast killin group. WAnk is almost 40 and I think he just soloed 90% of the time!

[WAnk]

an enchanter is a soloists dream. i picked it because i get tired of looking around and dedicating time to finding a group full of noobs who just get me killed anyways.

my thoughts on the whole soloing thing though... either boom is much more ballsy than me, or he just really knows how to play the character a lot better than i do. it is possible for me to kill oranges and two yellows and such, but i don't really like it. soloing oranges is to variable. there is too big a chance they will resist one or more of your blasts. it sucks, i have been killed too many time by grovewoods :p also, 2 yellows, it seemed to be too tedius having the little dude bap both of them down. when you think about it, he is taking twice the damage for twice the amout of time. the actually killing takes like 5 seconds anyways, and the major mana sink is healing the pet afterwards. i enjoy chain pulling high yellows better, and i think it has less down time.

another thing i have been having fun with is experimenting with blues. i've been sitting up at the irewoods near dc pulling groups of them with my pet. they pop in groups of 3, so i've been pulling the groups of three, and sometimes 6, and one time 7 at a time. i tried to pull 8 and got interrupted and died quickly, but still. 3 blues go down really fast because you should be able to kill blues in a little over 2 pbaoes. toss the damage shield on your pet, and it will whittle them down enough so that 2 blasts kills all of them. i wish i had experimented with this more earlier.

around 25, i think i was at mermen over by howth. i think i got 4 levels in about 4 days over there. there are also tons of great drops you can collect and either sell to people, or hand out to group members you like. its also fun running up to the parth farm and yelling PRESENTS!!!! and handing off things to people :D

after that, i went over the mist wraiths. they also had a ton of good drops. i think i got a full set of scale armor from both places i handed down to people in the guild. mist wraiths have 2 easy spots to camp around this one wooded area, so there are usually plenty to find. they have a fairly common necklace drop that bards/wardens/heros etc really like. i think i gave out about 5 of them, and people were happy.

after that it was off to aughiskys out on the frontier next to DC. i have gotten ganked once, by a band of roving trolls, but that was all. they drop some fairly good stuff you can sell. if i could do it over again, i would have camped irewoods the entire time. they drop 30-50 silver a pop, and you don't have to run back all cucumbered. they are right up the hill from augs.

basically, i have a lot of trouble finding the patience to find groups. places like the mines can get you good exp and loot, if you can find a good group. its just really tough because there are a lot of stupid people out there. i group mostly with lions at fin parties these days, and when i get really tired of soloing. it is usually less exp when i do decide to do this, but it is a nice break. usually i am reduced to nuking with my mana sucking baseline, but whatever. lion fin parties rule. no doubt about it. everyone is invited, and we usually meet at dc to ferry everyone up there. great exp, and a lot of fun, even if you are just sitting back chatting :) i think schadd has done tons of crafting while we went out and got him exp :D

things do get better. there have been a few times where i have set up pb groups in the mines killing collared gem getters, and people were just stunned at how fast things went. it does get easier, a little, but soloing is a great way to keep the exp rolling in. like boomy has said, i think i have soloed 80-90% of my levels. 4 levels more or so, and i will be able to get in my own fin groups, instead of only joining in on lion fin groups. i am kind of looking forward to that, because grouping is a lot of fun when you actually play a vital role :)

BLAH BLAH RAMBLE BLAH BLWHASLSDJKF

yeah, time for this baby chanter to go home and fire up the exp train ;)

[spyder913]

grouping is a lot of fun when you actually play a vital role

ahh.. now i know what the problem is! =P

[Lothar]

I guess one of the bigger issues I have, is the fact that you have groups put together haphazard, with no real leader. Then you have uber partys assembled, and you go kill un-uber mobs. I think a lot of this is that people are just too damn afraid of dying.

My explanation of the benefits from a pbaoe party. You have 3 tanks taking a mob each. It's pretty easy to assume that the mob will only attack one target at a time. The tanks establish agro, you begin aoe...8 seconds later, rinse and repeat.

The healers should end up healing the same either way, but your pulls are just at least 3 times as fast. Then what really irks me off...After the fight is over, you have ignorant healers topping everyone off. This pulls him way below half power, and you have to sit and wait 4 times as long for power regen. But hey, who complains about getting healed?

What more can I say? I love this enchanter. I would love to see a party of 4 mana enchanters, an Eld for a ranged aoe, and pull whole herds of mobs through the enchanters. I think 8 blasts from 4 mana enchanters should be enough to take down most any mob.

[spyder913]

I thought the half mana rule only applied to pure casters, not hybrids/healers

[A. Blinken]

I've heard people apply it to healer/hybrids too. I *think* it's true (haven't tested yet) since when I blow all my mana, it does seem to take significantly longer than it should to regen, even when I turn the bubble off. I'll try to test this next time I'm on though, if no one's beat me to it.

But now I have Serenity II. This makes me happy.

[Hammer]

We need tanks. Thank you for your time.