Ouch. if true, that's brutal.

It's not that big of a deal to be honest. AoN and Shroud of Undeath are WAY overpriced for what they give you. SK's get Shroud of Death, which is the same spell, but without the illusion, for like 100pp.

You really only need Skeleton Illusion for fashion and faction adjustment. There is no benefit to fighting in it (except for looking cool). Skeleton Illusion does give you some shrink. However, Shrink Potions are much cheaper, they shrink you more, they don't take up a buff slot, and they also work both indoors and outdoors.

There is no real need to be in skeleton form for either Shamans or Shadowknights. The exception is obviously https://wiki.project1999.com/Soul_Defiler for Shadowknights, because it actually gives you mana regeneration. That is more than just a Skeleton Illusion, unlike AoN and Shroud of Undeath.

in my experience as an ogre shaman, i *have* noticed getting stunned while in bear form, which never happens when not in bear form.

I never owned an AoN. Does it work indoor/dungeons?

You can still get stunned from behind, regardless of what form you are in. FSI only triggers when the mob is in front of you. If you are side stepping, for example, the mob could be considered to be behind you. Also, FSI only applies to melee stuns. Other stuns like spell stuns are not resisted by FSI.

As far as I know it works in all zones. It just doesn't really do much, other than make you look cool, give you a bit of a shrink if you are a big race, and take up a buff slot:)

EDIT: Skele form also gives faction, which is certainly the best part of AoN, especially if you are something like an Iksar warrior.

I can’t remember is it the only unlimited use junk buff item that doesn’t have to be equipped and you don’t have to target yourself to click and instantly use that can be used indoors?

It probably has slightly more advantages on a PVP server as well.

It's an exceptionally powerful pvp item as it hides your name tag, making you more difficult to see in general, but also harder to find you in a group fight unless someone made a /target you key already. Shrinks your hit box, if you're a big race etc too.

On blue, its a handy little fun toy IMO :o

People in norrath be like "I'd rather have this dead skeleton standing next to me than this lizard I've never seen before."

AoN also gives small races an indoor and outdoor grow, something you can’t do with pots in this era. Ever been a gnome trying to climb steps in plate house or make the jumps in ToV to FTE? And because I know someone is gonna scream about AoN on FTE, you can’t get yellow text in skellie form, but there is no rule preventing you from overcoming a racial height disadvantage for the jump then clicking it off on your way up before yellow text. The rule was instated to force visible names in fraps and clicking off the buff after the jump still ensures their name is visible in your fraps so that you can petition everyone who beats you to FTE. You know who you are.

Also, AoN makes you apprehensive in the OT outpost, so you can stockpile 16 10-slot bags worth of braids, minus one or two slots and borrow an AoN from a friend or guildee, then do enough turn ins to make you apprehensive without it, so that you can work up that VS faction.

The AoN is incredibly useful for overcoming size issues, faction, and honestly I just prefer the extra screen real estate provided when someone passes their AoN around and everyone is nearly invisible while sitting. You other PCs are screen clutter!

Is it worth 6 figures to gain all that from one item? Well I suppose that’s an entirely individual valuation.

yes anyone downplaying AoN even on Blue probably just hasn't had one. Incredibly useful and fun clicky.

Nah, AoN is quite over hyped and over priced for what it does for you.

Most races are roughly human size or taller. This means the unshrinking benefit is already only affecting a minority of characters. On top of that, many small race classes have other means to unshrink. Rogues get illusion masks, Enchanters get illusions, Necros get Lich (Skeleton), etc.

Not a lot of gnomes/halflings/dwarfs are going to be FTE racing in ToV. Most pullers are going to be human sized or taller. This is Monks, Necros, SKs, etc. In the rare occasions where this does occur, AoN may be a justified DKP/Plat expense if there aren't people to consistently borrow an AoN from.

Gnome mages in raids may have a bit of trouble due to their size, but in a raid guild there will be people willing to let the COTH mage borrow an AoN for a click. Or they will just COTH the COTH mage to be lazy and safe lol.

As I said earlier, the faction adjustment is the best part about AoN. However, for MOST players, it is easier/faster to fix their faction, as opposed to grind 300k for an AoN, or spend a considerable amount of DKP for it. This is also assuming their class does not have an existing illusion clickie/spell they can use. I think most players would agree that 300k is not worth the ability to buy/bank in OT. You can easily get a port to another city and hammer back to Kunark. That is much cheaper, even over a long period of time.

AoN would be most useful for someone like an Iksar warrior, since they have limited travel spell options, and no alternate abilities that allow them to bank or buy/sell at merchants. Even then, however, 300k is quite a steep price, and fixing faction usually isn't hard.