Garfoly Gemuser on Enchanters

[fischsemmel]

Found this yeaarrrss ago and got such a kick out of it, having played an enchanter from Kunark up through the end of my experiences on live. I added some emphasis for my favorite parts.

"Congratulations.

You have invited an Enchanter to your group.

I'm not a bot, as evidenced by the fact that I left the safe confines of PoK. None of my hotkeys advertise the fact that my buffs are indeed extended. I didn't ask you to initiate a group invite via trade window.

Just because my class is superior to your own, doesn't mean that I'm unwilling to adapt to the classes, play-style or comfort level of your group. I'm really very adept at increasing the efficiency of your group in a multitude of ways.

Some of you will need to review some of the basics of group dynamics and tactics. I mastered most of these at Orc 1 in East Commonlands. Some took me awhile longer, but I got them down on Orc Highway in Oasis. I no longer have the patience or desire to reinforce these at go-time. The group is trying to kill stuff right now. And if I gently reminded you about these constants of life inside the game, you'd only explode defensively--"Don't tell me how to play my class!"

Assist. GDI, Assist! It's not hard. Make a hotkey. Love it. Use it. That mob that is drooling on itself while you smash his buddy is standing there senseless for a reason. I put him in timeout. He's not tying his shoes. He'll still be there after the one that the MA is wailing on is dead. It is not a testament to how sneaky you are that you can get a free shot on him while he's not looking. In fact, he will run straight at me after you whack him, and I have more important things to do right now than stun him off and put him back into timeout.

Assist is not an optional rule. Yes, he's beating on the cleric. That's my job. The cleric will be ready to heal you in a few seconds. Just keep helping the MA.

MA? This refers to the Main Assist. This is the ONE PERSON with the authority to pick something to whack on. All other mobs in the world BELONG TO ME. I own them until the MA has bludgeoned his to death. This is imporatant: ALL JOO MOBS ARE BELONG TO ME!

That means that the mob hovering dangerously close to the group is MINE. That means the one beating on me is MINE. That means anything pulled into the camp is MINE. As a group we have designated the one individual who can chose one of my many mobs to play with.

Let's talk about this MA again. He's special. Whatever he is hitting is the RIGHT MOB. Are you not sure which mob you should hit? It's the one that he is swinging at. Did I mez the mob he was hitting? Then I was wrong. I'll be retargeting and mezzing something else. It happens.

MA, yes you with the plate mail, don't switch targets. Once you've locked in on a victim, stick with it. I'll deal with whatever chaos ensues afterward.

Okay, I know it's against tank instincts to let the cleric take a beating. Okay, you trust me to deal with it myself. Let's cover another, even more likely scenario. I will get beaten on. Mobs don't like me. You may have seen the Wanted Poster we looted off the last mob. Yes, that was my picture. Mobs hate enchanters. When they beat on me, DON'T SAVE ME. I can take care of all of you, and I can take care of me. You will surely kill me if you try to hack up a mob I'm locking down. I don't want your help. I have a panic button that I'll hit if I really want your help. I think I've used it twice in the last couple of years.

Mr. Cleric. Guess what. I am going to need a heal. Don't sneer at me from behind that plate armor you're wearing and bitch about wasting mana on an enchanter. I do take into consideration your mana. My mana and your mana are group assets now. If I need a fast heal after locking down four or five mobs, so be it. Mana to throw me an occasional heal is far less than the mana you will expend healing our tanks with five unslowed mobs running rampant through the camp.

Oh, where is my Virtue? Don't want to waste a peridot? Click off C5. How much to do you pay for a group cast of C3 from my **POIT** brethren? Are they here to haste your group so mobs don't last as long--to keep those precious red lines from dropping as far? Suck it up. I'm not a wizard with no idea how to control aggro. I'm going to get it sometimes. Often on purpose.

Tell me again what I can't do? I can't pull? Let me bag my BCB and give the warrior a chance then. He's an excellent puller. He can single or double everytime. It's a good idea to have your tank or a DPS class out of the party on a consistent basis. I enjoy the time we spend together, even if it is at less than optimal experience.

My bad, did I imply that enchanter wasn't DPS class? Sorry, that hasted, dual-wielding monstrosity that outdamages the party as a whole doesn't count, right? But you don't like it when I charm anyway. I need a couple of heals when it breaks. He tends to break charm at inopportune times. Um...stun...and let's get this thing back under control so we can continue raping this dungeon or camp.

Hey all you dotting classes: Stop dotting the incoming pulls. The six-second mezzes don't make me happy. Especially if I've started debuffing. Find the one that belongs to the MA and dot to your hearts' content. Leave my mobs alone. Oh, but it's snared? Great, but I'm not a bard. I can't cast while running.

For you combat innate junkies...I only have eight slots for spells. That's about ten shy of what I need to do everything I'm expected to. I admit that I lack permanant illusion. So NDT / Boon is a dedicated slot. Unlike other casters, I don't have to select from 'little nuke', 'big nuke', 'ungodly nuke', 'malo' and 'snare' and scrounge the spell book for three more spells to make everything look nice in my UI. If others in your group (surely not you) are making my job difficult then I'm loading root instead of your werewolf form. Sorry for that. But suck it up.

No, you don't know which spells I should have loaded. Talk to the cleric who is chaining Celestial Heal on the tank and complains that he is OOM from CHealing.

When I miss a timer for a rebuff, wmp is not really neccessary. I do understand my role. Mana ALWAYS permits for haste. If I have to click off Rune and chew a mod rod to get it back up, there is always mana for haste. Even more so than mana regen in most cases. Don't be shy. "Haste, bitch!" works just as well.

Rangers and Necros - Aggro kiting, fear kiting, snare kiting, bow kiting...these are all excellent methods of crowd control. I am not arguing the utility of these techniques. I wish I had snare. But these are great ideas IF we have decided that this is how we're gonna operate BEFORE I have locked down, tashed and slowed mobs. Bad news for me. My aggro > Your aggro. If you insist on running dotted mobs all over the zone, please do solo. Don't let them run free in circles around camp, triggering my response of locking them down. Not nice to tease the chanter. Especially when I let you get eaten because I thought you were still just "bored" and "playing with the mob".

btw, Wake the Dead makes me smile.

IF you have explained to me that my job will be to just slow everything and nuke when I have mana, don't bitch when your technique of TRAIN-ROOT-KILL gets you killed. I said I could adapt. Yes, I'll be mezzing the rooted casters, but it's your ballgame and I'm gonna play by the rules. This method is kinda fun, but big boy rules, big boy hammer.

Lastly, I put away those "MEZZING %T." and "%T is MEZZED" hotkeys around level 45. I don't appreciate macro spam in group, so I try not to add to it. I don't care what nuke the wizard is using. I don't care what god the cleric invokes for healing.

If you see many mobs coming to camp, the MA will whack something and I'll take the rest. I don't feel the need to walk you through crowd control, mob by mob. Don't just whack whatever is closest to you. Don't whine that I didn't SAY I was mezzing it. How do you know I'm gonna mez something? Because it's running around in my camp. And it's not the designated target. (See MA above) I do have a set of macros saved to put these hotkeys back in for the benefit of the group. But c'mon. How different are the basics when pulling Orc 1 from Level 65 LDoN Hard? Just different models.

If you can't do the simple things, I am going to let you die. None of that fancy, "You break it, you buy it~" nonsense. You will see your bind point if you can't play well with the chanter. Being relentlessly tell-spammed for C3 has made me a bitter, nasty toon to deal with.

Good Hunting."

[Hobby]

I love enchanters =)

[quenyar]

Basically sums up why I always loved playing as an enchanter. The ability to create a sustained high dps group with C and hastes while at the same time being able to turn an almost impossible potentially lethal situation into a mezz-fest ensuring group survival always did the trick for me.

And yes, /assist and MA should be kindergarden stuff for all players! Always did stand next to the MA when mezz was about to be broken [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[fischsemmel]

Glad a few people actually read the whole thing, haha. It's a monster of a quote, but it really captures the fun of being an enchanter in classic (even though it apparently was written in PoP or later).

I went back and bolded my favorite parts [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[falkun]

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

And yes, /assist and MA should be kindergarden stuff for all players! Always did stand next to the MA when mezz was about to be broken [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Sadly, I was in a group at 19 and had 2 DPS (another bard that didn't know how to twist/use instruments and a warrior DPS) that didn't know how to assist. I kept locking down an add only to watch the warrior break it a second later and have it start wailing on me. Shortly thereafter I told the shaman healer and SK tank that I couldn't put up with the newbs anymore.

[knottyb0y]

When I miss a timer for a rebuff, wmp is not really neccessary. I do understand my role. Mana ALWAYS permits for haste. If I have to click off Rune and chew a mod rod to get it back up, there is always mana for haste. Even more so than mana regen in most cases. Don't be shy. "Haste, bitch!" works just as well.

This post is definitely out of era for this server but I think there are still a lot of truths held in it for enchanters. It made me laugh to hear from the viewpoint of a bitter old enchanter, but as a whole valid points to gameplay.

and if you don't have a /assist hotkey make one now!

[Extunarian]

I think these two points stand out the most. Even when I'm playing my enchanter with people who are used to enchanters, I think its hard for them to watch me or the cleric getting hit. If you must do something...root it!

Okay, I know it's against tank instincts to let the cleric take a beating. Okay, you trust me to deal with it myself. Let's cover another, even more likely scenario. I will get beaten on. Mobs don't like me. You may have seen the Wanted Poster we looted off the last mob. Yes, that was my picture. Mobs hate enchanters. When they beat on me, DON'T SAVE ME. I can take care of all of you, and I can take care of me.

This too...I don't use a macro but anytime you are grouping with an enchanter you should expect they they will mez everything except the MA's target. If they aren't doing this you should probably find a different chanter.

Lastly, I put away those "MEZZING %T." and "%T is MEZZED" hotkeys around level 45. I don't appreciate macro spam in group, so I try not to add to it. I don't care what nuke the wizard is using. I don't care what god the cleric invokes for healing.

If you see many mobs coming to camp, the MA will whack something and I'll take the rest

[guineapig]

Enchanters have been serious business since 1975.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

No other class I would rather have as my main.

[Sulfurian]

Makes me want to play a chanter again =(

[Wisemantobes]

/long slow clap

This needs to be the MOTD!