Classes: The Enchanter

Enchanter - the game's traffic cop. When the enchanter yells stop, creatures cease what they are doing and just wait to die. A complex class, enchanters get a variety of spells as well as a pet, and can be played in a number of different ways.

What is the best way to develop and play an enchanter? What spells are most and least important? Can an enchanter be soloed, and if so how? What skills are the most important for an enchanter? How should an enchanter be played in a group?

Post your strategies on how to best play and develop the Enchanter and read, rate and comment on what others have to say.

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Get yourself timersFollow

Get yourself timers
#1 May 19 2006 at 10:47 AM Rating: Good
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98 posts
With the advent of custom User Interfaces you can now make custom in-game timers for your mez and slow spells. Almost all high end mezzes have a base of 54 seconds or so. I found a site where I could make a digital timer tailored to what time I wanted to set it for. The bar simply counts down on a 54 second timer, so I don't have to remember where I cast the spell on a clock.

In the old days I got razzed by my friends for having a three in one kitchen baking timer at my desk. That got laborious, but it taught me the time after about a year of what a normal mezz should stick on a mob.

In pinch situations or when you need to keep a mob mezz LOCKED, you need a timer to tell you when to recast a mezz (before) it breaks.

My timer is in place of my /gems game so I can just pull it up when I want.

GL all
Get yourself timers
#2 May 20 2006 at 5:49 PM Rating: Decent
That sounds Great..any kind of link to that site or an Addy maybe :)If so i'd like to make me one too.
Get yourself timers
#3 May 26 2006 at 3:42 PM Rating: Decent
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421 posts
I use a UI from www.eqinterface.com

It is my MP3 window

It has a didgital timer but I ignore that part.

The part I use is a TICK hand. The "clock" has 10 number on it like a clock but only 10 not 12

Each number represents a TICK or 6 sec. The han does not sweep, it jumps from 1 number to the next each tick.

Mezzes are based off ticks, 54 sec mezz is 9 ticks.

If I land a mezz while the tick hand is on the 5, I know I have to refresh it before it gets to the 4.

Since you can get a resist that throws off the timing I would actually restart when the hand got to the 3. Untill I bough Mezz mastery that is. Then I started remezzing at the 4 as I really had untill the 5 with the extra Tick.

Recently I got a Focus effect that increases the duration of detrimental spells. That adds another tick (randomly MAYBE a 2nd but never rely on that.)

Now my mezzes last at LEAST 66 sec. So if I mezz on the 5 It wont break until the 6, so I remezz at 5.

If I have multiple mezzed I rember the order and just time the 1st one. The rest simply fall in order.

When in doubt.... remezz at the start of the line and work your way back. Better to refresh 30 sec early than 2 sec too late. With multipules that can castcade on you in a hurry.
Get yourself timers
#4 Jun 09 2006 at 2:12 PM Rating: Decent
I tried this mod, and though I found it useful, I actually found that a regular analog watch was more useful to me. I just take a glance at the watch when I cast a mez, knowing that unless someone breaks it, it will last 60 seconds. (Yes, I have the Mez Mastery AA.)

I usually start recasting the mez at 50 in order to have enough time to double-cast if by some fluke the tashed mob still resists.
Get yourself timers
#5 Jun 16 2006 at 1:46 AM Rating: Decent
Any skilled chanter that has been playing/raiding for a long time knows instinctively when a mez is going to break. Having timers around is a crutch. You can't rely on that when you are handling high pressure situations in the end game. You need to know how much time you have in your head. Setting/watching timers isn't needed at all.

Edited, Jun 16th 2006 at 3:19am EDT by Larsbein
Get yourself timers
#6 Jun 27 2006 at 3:02 PM Rating: Good
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98 posts
I disagree it is a crutch. For the people who aren't naturally clairvoyant or some sort of savant the "crutch" is a great tool. Many things can happen within 1 minute to force your timer to be off even by a tick in your head. Raiding exemplifies this. Within that minute you may get rebuffing tells from rezzed guildies, while at the same time having to keep 1-4 mobs locked while a raid rezzes and rebuffs to keep from it wiping.

By starting your post off with "Any skilled chanter" I take that to mean that you think me and every other enc that frequent the forums are not skilled. I take offense to that in a big way. This forum for enchanters is a tool to help our class flourish and become proficient on every server. Though your reply may not have been intended in that way, I read it as such.

The clear fact is that any visual or audio reminder for this game and in real life has its place. High stress situations as you mentioned Larsbein are great examples when reminders are key, since one mistake on our parts may be the difference between success and failure.

Ultimately, any situation "high stress" can be analogis to our timer discussion. Military aircraft warning systems come to mind as one such analogy. Saying that our warning system should be in our head when applied to a wartime pilot in a high stress situation would be unheard of and also disasterous. I can just see some general in a theater of war speaking to some pilots and using an example of a pilot who 'should' have known his aircraft was too low while banking and jinking away from a surface to air missile, subsequently crashing into the ground. This same general tells his new pilots that the audio ******** beddy that squawks TOO LOW! PULL UP! is a crutch and should not have to be used if you were all skilled pilots.

By using these tools newer players can build that instinct and develop their own internal clock. Don't take that away from them by your rhetoric about skilled versus non-skilled.
Get yourself timers
#8 Jul 01 2006 at 10:15 PM Rating: Default
Quote:
Though your reply may not have been intended in that way


No its not intended to imply people that frequent these boards aren't skilled. All I'm saying is that I don't know of any high end chanters that use timers, and I've only encountered one instance in EQ when I needed such a thing. That was during the Rathe Council and mostly due to the fact I was holding 2-3 council members for almost 2 hours straight. Without a timer in that situation I would have fallen asleep lol.

There really aren't any other situations that I feel its a necessary tool on a day to day basis. It might be valuable for teaching along the way, but at some point you know how long you got before a break /shrug.

Also a person with a timer in this thread says.
Quote:
When in doubt.... remezz at the start of the line and work your way back. Better to refresh 30 sec early than 2 sec too late. With multipules that can castcade on you in a hurry


If they are using a timer why are they in doubt? Isn't that the point of the timer... to erase doubt? Its all a personal preference, but I know none of my chanters use them, and don't know of any others that do either.
Get yourself timers
#9 Jul 02 2006 at 6:31 AM Rating: Decent
I use eqwatcher evolution.

It works off the log file and it's very customizable, you can set up timers for anything (including mez). It speaks to you "A valorian guard is slowed" for example, i find it useful raids as i can duck out of cast if the mob i was about to slow as alrdy been slowed. other uses are gating mobs/etc, tho EQ audio triggers for that works fine also.

daisy.


Edited, Jul 2nd 2006 at 7:34am EDT by kobble
Get yourself timers
#10 Sep 19 2006 at 2:12 PM Rating: Decent
18 posts
I wouldnt pay to much attention to Larsbiens claim that high level chanters never use timer, i know many who does and with that attitude, i can see why chanters in Larsbeins surrounding wouldn't admit it.

Being clairvoyant and automatically knowing the duration of a minute down to a second, is not a skill a good chanter "must" have. Remaining calm in extremely stressed situations IS and if a timer helps you with that, then use it!

My first 60 something levels was spent without a timer and even if it doesnt really "make or break" my gaming experience as a chanter, there are situations where relying on it make me act much calmer, thus staying on top of the situation ... and face it, a nervous chanter is not a very good asset.

I usually rely on it when i have 3+ mobs to lock down, or other situation where mana might become a factor. Having a timer allows me to re-mez mobs close to before they break and focus on other things inbetween, like getting my mana back.

I've used the same timer for the last 3 years and i warmly recommend it http://www.timermod.com/
It's very configurable and can be used for more than just mez. I used to have all my buffs on timer in this mod, but that was before they got viewable in the bufflist.

Im not sure i understand the above post in this thread. I used EQWatcher also, but its not really useful as a timer and kinda misplaced in a thread called "Get yourself timers" ... It's biggest use was the way the built in "audio triggers" work today, giving audio signals when certain things happen.

It's not impossible to make timers in EQWatcher (even tho the post doesnt mention that), you can make triggers that give a custom audio message after a certain time, making it useful maybe for necromancers of such, for knowing when certain effects are about to expire ... im thinking snare =P But as a mez timer for more than 1 mob it simply wont work, since it cant keep track of more than 1 timer with the same trigger.

=) Vild

70 chantress yada yada .. to lazy to make a sig =)

Edited, Sep 19th 2006 at 7:56pm EDT by Zebraman
Get yourself timers
#11 Nov 15 2006 at 8:04 AM Rating: Decent
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421 posts
Not exactly true, but I grant you are correct in essence.

I use EQWatcher to time my mana flares.

My manaflare wears off after 102 sec.

30 sec recast time, 1.5 sec cast time 3 casts takes me 94.5 sec leaving 7.5 sec to not be perfect and have 100% coverage.

Because it allows you to use variables, My mana flare says "Mana Flare on X"
95 sec later I set a timer to say "Mana flare is wearing off X". So I effectively have timers for X, Y, and Z by using the variables in it.

I set it so refreshing Mana Flare on a target resets that timer if I buff early.

The problem with mezz is you will evntually (often really) have mobs with the same name. THAT is when it won't work for you. Basically rendering it useless for timing mezzes.

Still a great program.
Get yourself timers
#12 Nov 27 2006 at 8:13 PM Rating: Decent
I think the clock idea is great for newer enchanters getting the hang of their mez timers, but a skilled enchanter is like a good quarterback in the nfl who has that clock in their head telling them to move out of the pocket or throw the ball, sometime the clock is off and they make a mistake. comparatively skilled enchanters cast their mez and the internal clock starts ticking and occassionally u misjudge time. it just comes down to your level of familiarity with the enchanter class.

Eflawn
Level 71 Enchanter
Prexus(Terris-Thule)
Get yourself timers
#13 Jan 02 2007 at 6:43 AM Rating: Decent
Just thought id toss my 2 cents in.

I personally think timers are a fine idea. i dont really see them as a bad thing to use. However, I tried using a timer in my early days and I just couldnt get the rythm of it.
Im not savant, nor can i predict my mezs down to the second, but i do have a feel for how long my mez last, usually within a few seconds.
I used to test my self timing by not remezing the next mob to kill when it was going to break about when the current mob went down.

As to being a claming thing, I guess i never had a problem with dying, and I loved the rush of a bad pull hehe. Makes life interesting and gave me a chance to really shine. After all, it does take pretty hot fire to forge steel.

As a last note, Ill just add that all my experiences are quite dated. As I stopped playing just after Lost dungeons of norrath. Im looking at starting up again, hence my presence in the boards.

Timer or not, its your flow that matters in the end. If you can keep them all locked when you need to, who cares how you did it.
We are the icecream men ( or women) of EQ. You want something, we got it frozen and waiting for you. Whatever you use, keep mobs iced, and everyone is happy.
Get yourself timers
#14 Jan 02 2007 at 7:20 AM Rating: Decent
Look, the way I see it, if it isn't hurting anyone to have a timer, then what is the point of arguing? If you can naturally time it, good for you! You are doing a fantastic job and your abilities of time keeping are impecable. If you need a timer, thats good too, because that ensures your mezzes will never be coming late! Personally, I am somewhere in between, like I am sure most chanters are. Now, since the timers aren't threatening any of your lives, or worse, your EQ CAREERS (oh NOES!) then leave it alone and go post on a thread that actually helps people in some way. Thats just my 2 cp though.

P.S. Thanks for the timer sites

Pixil
70 Enchanter
Get yourself timers
#15 Jan 14 2007 at 4:13 AM Rating: Decent
I have been wanting to find some sort of a timer for mezzes. I usually am not only doing crowd control and slowing but also pulling and taunting main tanking on my Paladin at the same time.

This can really throw your internal clock off.

I intend to check out the solutions above. I have never played gems or the music player so I am not sure how I would use those windows..

How do you substitite an in game window to a clock.

I guess the answer will be on the Timer UI websites.
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