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

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.

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

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.


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.

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

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)

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