Enchanter is broken and overpowered on P99

[azxten]

Previously I posted a thread about this which I believe was one of the most popular threads ever on this forum. However, Enchanter remains broken and overpowered. I'm now playing an Enchanter myself to better catalog issues.

The main crux of my argument is that other classes such as Necro and Mage have been nerfed in terms of known classic mechanics like fine steel daggers lowering delay while damage stayed the same. If overpowered mechanics like this need to be nerfed then Enchanter is deserving of the same adjustment regardless of if the issues making Enchanter overpowered are classic or not.

HOWEVER, even considering that argument, Enchanter does not seem to operate in a classic manner.

1. Enchanter summoned pets had low ability to tank. On P99 low level enchanter pets seem about as good as mage/necro pets. Level 4-12 enchanter pet should not be able to tank and solo an even con as they can here. They were extremely weak on taking damage and were almost a short "shield" spell which matches the chosen model used for it. Even up to level 30 I'm seeing my summoned pet solo blue mobs.

http://www.angelfire.com/rpg/whitewi...ChantGuide.htm

"Your first pet spell. Strategy and tactics with pets will be discussed later. Requires 1 Tiny Dagger as a spell component, and your pet is a rogue. Hits for decent damage with low delay, but has weak HP. They don't tank well--and can never be commanded. "

"I don't know the hit points of your pet, but it's never good, so don't rely on your pet to take damage for you very long."

"Summons new animation. 2 Tiny Daggers required, hits harder now, has some more HP's, still no tank. (Little hint... without help, it will never be a tank.)"

"This animation hits for 10 to 14 damage now, and I'm not sure what levels they summon as--anyone want to offer that--and Bashes. Getting to be very good at shelling out fast damage."

2. Tashan is resistable. More evidence exists in the previous thread I posted but it seems to have been deleted so I can't reference the other thread's evidence.

https://fernworks.net/~dyeomans/Down...ll.asp%3FId=20

"Posted: Sunday, August 19, 2001 Psianne is a remake of my last enchanter Vayan. This spell was almost always resisted on everything that I cast it on. "

3. Mesmerized mobs should not retain their low health if aggro list is cleared.

No evidence to support but when has any mob in EQ not instantly regenned health once it's aggro list is cleared? On P99 you can mez a mob with the small mem blur component and it will retain low health while you avoid any aggro until spell breaks. This allows you to escape bad situations and then return to kill a low health mob that had no aggro.

4. Mesmerize did not mem wipe mobs so often. On P99 I'm mem wiping mobs something like 50% of the time it seems. Where did this rate rate of memory blur from mez come from?

https://www.project1999.com/forums/a...hp/t-9712.html

"Also mez would make them forget you but only like 1/10."

5. Channeling is still way too successful at lower levels. Starting at level 1 on P99 you can regularly cast through melee without interruption. This was a MAJOR part of making casters weaker early game that is missing from P99 and impacts Enchanter much more than other classes by allowing them to easily charm with 2-3 mobs hitting them which was often a death sentence on live.

http://www.zlizeq.com/Game_Mechanics-Spell_Casting

"Starting out at skill level 1, a new spell caster will have an incredibly difficult time getting any spell off when being hit by melee, but this gradually gets better as their Channeling skill is raised."

The combination of an overpowered tanky low level pet which allows easy leveling to 12, and charm, which used to be very difficult to do alone, with broken channeling that results in living through charm breaks much more often than live, and various questionable mechanics relating to tashan resists, mem blue from mez, and other minor quirks creates an extremely overpowered class that was never this way in classic.

Personally I think the channeling skill is the key to why Enchanter is so overpowered on P99. You seem to start at level 1 with the channeling ability of a max level character. While this makes all casters overpowered compared to classic it is even more impactful to charming Enchanters who can recharm with multiple mobs attacking them. Something that just didn't work on classic. I would really appreciate any help looking into channeling rates on P99 and historical evidence of actual channeling rates in classic.

Does anyone else remember when mez or charm broke and an Enchanter got aggro only for them to struggle and run in circles due to repeated interrupts from melee when trying to mez again? Groups often needed to help Enchanters in this situation but on P99 Enchanters lock down multiple mobs with very little difficulty as they cast through melee in almost all cases with ease and without using their stun spells.

[Noselacri]

I would be very leery of taking any of the really old guides and discussions at face value. I remember reading some hilariously incorrect stuff on Castersrealm back in the day. We're talking about a period of time where people widely believed Harmony was a mana regen buff, and that sitting too close to a mob's spawn location would make it respawn slower.

For instance, when someone says "[Tash] was almost always resisted on everything that I cast it on," you can pretty much dismiss that statement out of hand. Even if we pretend that tash actually had no negative resist modifier or anything, there's no such thing as a spell almost always getting resisted unless you cast it exclusively on raid bosses or something. No spell will ever get resisted almost always unless you're casting it on high reds. I personally remember tash being unresistable back then, but even if that memory should turn out to be inaccurate, the fact that your reference is a post of such questionable legitimacy really invalidates its citation. The way he describes it, tash would have to have had a +50 resist modifier or something, which we know it never did. The guy was probably 15 years old at the time and had no clue what he was talking about.

Unfortunately, since Everquest's inner workings were so poorly documented and the genre was so new back then, posts from random anonymous players of that day are largely worthless.

Channeling does feel off on P99, though. Even at very low levels you can just chain-cast spells through a mob meleeing you and probably not get interrupted at all except from bash. As I recall, channeling through hits didn't really become common until level 20+ when the skill passed the 100 point mark that tends to be the threshold for dependable success with most binary skills (same as hide, feign death, mend, forage, etc.)

Enchanters used to be even more overpowered here back when troll illusion gave full troll regen and Whirl was always a 12 second stun. Those were the days.

[Izmael]

Has the OP played an enc past level 12 ?

[Tunabros]

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

Has the OP played an enc past level 12 ?

[Videri]

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

3. Mesmerized mobs should not retain their low health if aggro list is cleared.

No evidence to support but when has any mob in EQ not instantly regenned health once it's aggro list is cleared? On P99 you can mez a mob with the small mem blur component and it will retain low health while you avoid any aggro until spell breaks. This allows you to escape bad situations and then return to kill a low health mob that had no aggro.

If you're in line of sight and within aggro range, it will instantly reaggro. Only if you pacify and then mez/blur will the mob begin to regen 5% per tick. They do! People use that to heal their pet up.

I can't weigh in regarding classic enchanting, though. Good luck in your ClassicQuest.

[Wutaan]

This always makes me crack up. Ench is a very strong class but it is only as good as the effort you put into it.

In order to be that apex Enchanter you will NEVER be able to afk, unless in a premade and even then. You want to solo those le epic chanter only mobs, good luck they are tough and you have to be attentive.

It is hard work being a good enchanter.

[azxten]

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

This always makes me crack up. Ench is a very strong class but it is only as good as the effort you put into it.

In order to be that apex Enchanter you will NEVER be able to afk, unless in a premade and even then. You want to solo those le epic chanter only mobs, good luck they are tough and you have to be attentive.

It is hard work being a good enchanter.

Not lining up with my experience so far. I'm soloing rooms full of mobs including named camps and it's pretty easy. Like I've said, it seems easiest because I channel through ridiculous amounts of melee damage. I don't even use my AE stun I just eat the damage.

I'm also pretty suspicious about the Gate spell on P99. Even before I played Enchanter it just seems to have some kind of bonus success rate or something. Cast Gate with 5 mobs on you? It seems to mysteriously channel much more than it ever did on live and the "gate collapse" is way more common.

[Vaarsuvius]

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

Not lining up with my experience so far. I'm soloing rooms full of mobs including named camps and it's pretty easy. Like I've said, it seems easiest because I channel through ridiculous amounts of melee damage. I don't even use my AE stun I just eat the damage.

I'm also pretty suspicious about the Gate spell on P99. Even before I played Enchanter it just seems to have some kind of bonus success rate or something. Cast Gate with 5 mobs on you? It seems to mysteriously channel much more than it ever did on live and the "gate collapse" is way more common.

Curious what private server with fancy rules you're playing on.

Last couple of times I tried casting anything as a caster (mag | shm) with maxed Channeling (and higher AC & dex in the case the shaman) with a handflul of mobs trying to kick my teeth in, it resulted in a "Loading please wait.."screen without Gating.
I'm not even talking about mobs that con blue+, even a pack of green mobs can ruin your attempts at casting

[cd288]

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

Curious what private server with fancy rules you're playing on.

Last couple of times I tried casting anything as a caster (mag | shm) with maxed Channeling (and higher AC & dex in the case the shaman) with a handflul of mobs trying to kick my teeth in, it resulted in a "Loading please wait.."screen without Gating.
I'm not even talking about mobs that con blue+, even a pack of green mobs can ruin your attempts at casting

Yeah see this is when OP proved to us that he's talking out his you know what. Multiple mobs you will absolutely get interrupted a lot if they are all hitting you at once.

As far as soloing multiple mobs, multiple classes can do that. That doesn't make a class OP, that's just classic EQ. Are Druids or Wizards OP because they can quad kite? Are Necros OP because they can split with FD, fear kite, etc.?

[Googi]

cries enchanters are overpowered

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