Enchanter Research: The OOC kind

[Adso]

Hey guys, I could use a little help getting up to speed playing an enchanter. Played EQ back when it first came out through Kunark and Vellious, but melees only so I'm just looking for a little boost.

I've already googled every version of enchanter guide strategy tactics etc. and keep coming up with super basic not very helpful overviews of the class. I have a general handle on what they do and how they do it, but I want to make sure I get everything figured out asap, play as efficently as possible and keep everyone safe. This game has been out since the Battle of Hastings, why is this stuff hard to find?

What I'm looking for:

Grouping Tactics
UI Setup Tips
Hotbutton Suggestions
Key Quests
Equipment
Soloing Suggestions (not a big deal, but nice if available)
Etc.

Any and all assistance and or humor welcome. Would appreciate any general knowledge resources too, though if you have posted it in the first 10 pages of this forum I probably found it already.

Thanks in advance!

- Adso

[snifs]

Rod of Insidious Glamour
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=702

Incandescent Mask
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=700

Find a crude stein...cheap easy to get, prolly free if you ask around

Just some simple quests that i remember

[guineapig]

Just some things I use off the top of my head since I'm about to leave work:

Tash hotkey (useful if you have other casters in group)
Make it so you:
/cast x,
/pause 8 (or whatever)
"%t is tashed" or whatever

mez hotekey
Make it sort of like this:

/cast c
"mezzing %t"
No sense in putting a pause of any kind in there as you are not guaranteed to have the mez land every time. It's just to keep the group from touching that mob.

Animations in classic suck! They break mez among other things. You can solo with it till like 30 or so but after that you're better off with charm or groups.

Make a druid friend and do stein of mogguk..... often. There were many being sold in the first few months of the server but they are getting less common now.


I'lll think of more stuff later.

[Omnimorph]

Originally Posted by guineapig [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

mez hotekey
Make it sort of like this:

/cast c
"mezzing %t"
No sense in putting a pause of any kind in there as you are not guaranteed to have the mez land every time. It's just to keep the group from touching that mob.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] your mezzing hotkey stops people in your groups beating on it? it must be alot better than mine. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Another good tactic for targetting is to have an assist hotkey for the main tank, and then make sure you bind the cycle NPC key bound to something easy (i use the delete key). Tank targets a mob, other mobs are there, you assist him and then cycle from that mob. Proceed to mez etc. Groups are pretty easy for enchanters, dps, buff etc after mezzing.

Animations like mentioned are okay up till about 30, only if you're soloing. They're more hassle than they're worth in a group.

Once you can get your cha over 200 then charm becomes a viable option, Soloing techniques that work are hasting your pet, slowing whatever it's fighting so that your pet lasts about 3 mobs, then breaking charm and killing your weakened pet.

Can get some decent gear that you'll use till 50 for pretty damn cheap. +7Cha bracelets for about 15-20p each, +5cha earrings for like 50p, plat star ruby veil (+9cha 350p?), +25cha crude stein 25p, electrum star ruby ring +7cha about 100p each.

Rest of the gear you can fill in as you go.

[calaxa]

I think AE Mez is a valuable tool to use but needs to be practiced so that you don't accidentally mez yourself. In Kunark era, I often used it to keep a chain pull going, holding 6-8 mezzed mobs as the group plowed their way thru.

Your color stuns are also valuable tools to get aggro off yourself and stun caster mobs from casting. As I got more familiar with the chanter's abilities, I often would pull for groups with tash, stunning the mob, and letting MT take aggro off of me (this needs a fast aggro generating MT though).

I think the most important thing in playing a group enchanter is seeing everything that is happening around you. Seeing what the MA is targetting and cycling to the other mobs for crowd control. I toggle between using cycle next npc or I reposition myself and hit target nearest mob. It depends on the situation and is something you just need to learn for yourself.

I also advise that you try to stagger your buffs so you are not out of mana at any given point. Most chanters are lazy and try to buff everyone at same time, therefore keeping the same buff timer, but I think it's much more efficient to have them spread out and just let people ask for rebuffs. You never know when you might need that mana for a bad pull.

As for specialization, I did go for conjuration as this is the primary skill for mezzing. Somewhere around velious I switched this to alteration as I became more of a buffbot than crowd control and being an enchanter became a lot less fun.

[Omnimorph]

Originally Posted by calaxa [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

As for specialization, I did go for conjuration as this is the primary skill for mezzing. Somewhere around velious I switched this to alteration as I became more of a buffbot than crowd control and being an enchanter became a lot less fun.

Interesting, I went with alteration due to the general versatility of it. Majority of our spells fall under it, but i remember in classic having to research thoroughly which was the most advantageous to do [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Conj is a good shout in that mez is one of our most used spells, but alteration suits my style of play alot better.

I'm determined to convince someone to specialise divination though... ILLUSIONS!!!!

[Tallenn]

Originally Posted by Omnimorph [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] your mezzing hotkey stops people in your groups beating on it? it must be alot better than mine. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Heh, you're not kidding. Please stop hitting my mezzed mobs!

I'm used to getting beat on- that's part of being a chanter (cloth tank, np), but I imagine the clerics get tired of having to heal me all the time. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Adso]

Thanks a lot guys, great suggestions. Really like the hotbuttons and /assist + cycle ideas. Keying those in and starting to use them tonight for sure.

Any ideas about enchanter specific leveling ideas and quests? Still pretty low right now (8), but before long will be joining up with some mates for a regular group.

How do you guys gauge when mez is wearing off? And isn't there diminishing returns for followup mezzes?

Anyone have screenshots of a particularly effective UI setup?

Great stuff guys, thanks.

- Adso

[Tallenn]

At 8, you can still solo effectively, but grouping will be more fun (plus you have to go all the way to Highpass to get your pet). If in FP area, orc camps in EC, if in GFay, go to Crushbone.

For quests, once you hit 12, you can do Stein of Moggok (DE illusion to do the final turn-in to Clurg), unless you are a DE, in which case you can do it at 8. It's a LOT of running, but it's the best off-hand you will get for many, many levels, and it still sells quite well.

I haven't really done much to time mezzes- hopefully group is killing fast enough to get to them before it does in most cases. Otherwise, I usually find out mez is of when I start getting hit, lol.

There are no diminishing returns. I think other games started adding stuff like that because they felt EQ enchanters were too powerful at CC, making it tough to build challenging content via multiple mobs.

[Adso]

Thanks Tallen, good stuff.

Anyone else?

- Adso