Spells: Sentinel - Enchanter Spell

[TheLieka]

As always, I preface this by saying Thank you for all that you do, I truly appreciate it. It is with that appreciation that I bring this nugget that I have found.

The enchanter spell "Sentinel" does not function as it should. It is only a level 8 enchanter spell, but is extremely powerful (for folks that have never needed hacks to know which mobs have spawned), and is used throughout the game as an excellent utility.

• High Priority: The spell triggers aggro. I found this out when I was playing with it in North Freeport... note to self... don't test spells in cities. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Sentinel is a non-combat spell that is used by an enchanter to report on activity in an area; it never has and never should trigger aggro. Back in the "stare at your book to med" days, it was great because you could cast it on the area in front of you, and it would warn you when mobs were nearby (or when mobs spawned); it should not trigger any aggro.
  
  
• Normal Priority: Each tick, the spell should trigger a sentinel report for each player and NPC in the sentinel area; currently, it just reports just NPCs and the caster. When an enchanter casts sentinel in an area, any player or NPC present in that area should trigger the sentinel, and be reported to the enchanter.
  
  
• Normal Priority: Currently, only one sentinel appears to be active at a time, after casting the spell again, the first sentinel area is deactivated. A sentinel area should be present until it (or its caster) expires (I am not sure about the duration; multiple sentinel areas are possible at the same time. I know that multiple sentinels were active at the same time, and that they did have an expiration timer (something like 5 or 10 minutes), as I remember casting it over and over and over under the spires, then watching people LD when they ported into Toxx forest. At the very least, triggering several sentinels was like a flashbang to any players that had spell graphics enabled.
  
  
• Low Priority: The spell is self only, but it requires a target. It was like this in live as well, so I do not know that you would want to address this, but clearly it should have either been been 1) a self only, yellow gem spell or 2) a targetted spell with a range (I believe the current range is 0.0). Again, this is probably not something you will do, but it was something SOE never addressed.

Sentinel Example 1:
An enchanter is camping several areas. He clear one camp, then cast sentinel there. The enchanter moves to the next camp (perhaps on the other side of the zone). If any players or mobs pass through the area or mobs spawn in the area where sentinel has been cast, the enchanter receives the message "%t has triggered your sentinel." If the triggering actor is a player, then the player will receive the message "You feel that you are being watched."

Sentinel Example 2:
Before an enchanter begins meditating with his book in his face (as was the fashion of the day), he first casts sentinel and is notified of any approaching players or monsters before getting thumped by them.

Sentinel Example 3 (PvP):
An enchanter casts sentinel under the Toxx spires and runs south toward Paineel. When the opposing force ports into the Toxx spires, he receives an early warning.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spell.html?spell=299