Post by lizzieborden on Nov 23, 2008 12:34:38 GMT -8
With the addition of the SoD expansion, you, Enchanter, now have a new bunch of AAs to choose from. While a list of each and every new AA would be exhaustive (and unnecessary, as that would include improvements on the old AAs, such as avoidance, mitigation, and mana and health regeneration, the effects of which need no explanation as well as some class specific ones, such as an increased level cap on Nightmare Stasis).
While there are some new and exciting AAs this time around, the name of this game, Enchanter is convenience. Many of the old spells are now AAs which is a time saver. As it can now be kept on your hotbar, instead of medding and waiting for the spell to recover.
Speaking for myself, I very seldom keep these spells up, and even though I now have ten spell gems, it's never enough. But now, I don't ever need to give these items a spell gem, as the AAs are at least as good, and usually better. So, here's what you can have.
Gate. How nice is that? I never keep Gate on my spell set. And now I don't have to. Gate is never a good idea as an escape plan. Not only does this one-time use spell (for escaping purposes) take up an entire slot that should be used for other spells, but it's slow-casting (5 seconds, and what mob that you need to escape from is going to give you that?) and it's also subject to the occasional "collapse."
This one takes 2.5 seconds to cast, and I've never seen mine collapse. It is now a viable escape plan.
Summon Companion. Who the heck keeps that up? But it's nice to have for those occasions when you're running around in tight areas and the pet gets hooked on something.
With the new Pet AAs, I now have a hotbar reserved just for my Pet AAs: Companion's relocation, Companion's Blessing, Pet Hold, Fortify Companion and Summon Companion.
(Incidentally, I did find a nice use for my Companion's Relocation. When I'm charm kiting gators and I have a charmed pet ready to send into battle, I click the attack button and then give him a swift kick in the tail with Companion's Relocation to get him to the targeted mob sooner.)
The last expansion saw a nice convenient AA called "Perfected Invisibility," this no fail invis takes half a second to cast and is self only. Well, now, we have the group version. And I say wonderful. Have you ever noticed that there's always one group member who forgets his invis potions or doesn't have a timed invis, and expects me to mem Cloud of Indifference, cast on him. And of course, the second you do, he takes off running but YOU have to reinvis yourself, and put your spell set back the way you had it. (And the person you invised complains that you're not ready at the mob when he is.) This way, someone doesn't have their invis pot, click, and half a second later, done.
Not quite as good as the Ranger Shared Camo, but still excellent. Ranger Shared Camo is an instant cast and can be cast while moving. You still have a half-second cast time and must stand still to do it.
Perfected Levitation. Like Perfected Invisibility, it has no timer and is self-only.
Fog of Memories. This is an AA blur. I used to use Beguiler's for the blur aspect of it, although I didn't necessarily want the mob moved, it proceed the blur, but now, at level 81, you have an AA blur, that only blurs. No moving the mob, no rooting. Just a simply convenient always-ready blur. Well, not ALWAYS ready. It does have a 12-second recovery time.
Bite of Tashani. An AA Tash, much like your own Tash line. This would be convenient, as it would free up a spell slot, but I see nothing in the description that says that it, like regular Tash, increases the damage done by Chromatic spells. If it doesn't do that, then I wouldn't consider it worth having, unless you're raiding and consequently not using your damage spells. Enchanter nukes and DoTs are both too sluggish in their cast times and too weak in damage to consider using.
Focus of Arcanum. Technically, this doesn't duplicate any spell, but for those of you who have had an Anguish robe or a Katta robe, you'll recognize this as duplicating (and probably improving upon) the clicky available with these two pieces: a short-lived buff that increases the chances of your detrimental spells landing.
Now for some of the new stuff.
Self-stasis. My favorite from this expansion, this is an instant clicky that allows you to mezz yourself. What's good about that? Instant aggro breaking! The mobs will stop right then and there. You might liken this to Feign Death, even think it's better because of the instant aggro break, however, unlike those who use Feign Death, you cannot do this at will. It comes with a ten-minute reuse timer. Also, unlike FD, you cannot come out of it as you want. The duration of this effect is 30 seconds, and you will stay in stasis until it's run its course. It will appear in your buff window as a "detrimental effect" and as such, you can't click it off. So, this will not make you a split puller. Although you do have other AAs that can help with that.
I don't know if AoEs cast in your area will break this effect, but I have not encountered a mob that will attack me with this on.
Also, if one of the mobs beating on you is DoTed, it will also likely stay where it is until your DoT or self-stasis wears off. But the others wander off. I have come out of self-stasis to find an angry DoTed mob still waiting for me. But the benefit of that is that others have wandered off, leaving me to deal with just one mob. Also, if it's DoTed, then it's slowed, making it easier to deal with. Even at 20% health, I was still able to punt a mob away from me after coming out of Self-stasis.
A more interesting aspect of this instant-cast instant aggro breaker is that you may not want to be in the process of turning around as you click it on. Otherwise, you'll keep right on spinning until the 30-second timer for this AA has run its course. I've done this several times and I've gotten very dizzy watching my screen.
Despite the limitations, I love this AA. If you don't have enough time to punt, this one will save your neck. I would consider this one a must have.
Auroria Mastery. Nice one to have. Allows you to maintain two auras at once.
Twincast. Confers a tiny chance (1% per level of AA) of your direct damage spells landing twice. If you have mana recursion cast on you when you do this, in theory (although EXTREMELY unlikely), you could land two direct damage hits, plus ten procs with one cast.
Phantasmal Opponent. More impressive than truly useful, this one conjures up a duplicate of your targeted mob which will attack the mob. Its DPS is weak and it is more useful as a distraction.
Forceful Rejuvenation. Very nice one! Resets all the recast timers, so you can cast your timed out ones right away. Unfortunately, it does not reset its OWN timer, so you have to wait one hour between uses.
In addition, we have the return of some old friends. I was surprised and pleased to see that these old AAs got some much needed tweaks.
Edict of Command. This was a six minute timed charm that came out when the level cap was seventy. And it hasn't been improved upon since...until now. You can bring this up to level 85 and it will charm up to level 85. For six minutes. Think of it as a Dire Charm without unlimited use. While this recovers in 1 hour and 12 minutes, this can be shortened with Hastened Edict of Command to 1 hour and six minutes. (That's not terribly exciting to me.)
Eldritch Rune. They apparently stopped building on this with the coming of Veil of Mindshadow, which is on the same timer. But now, it's back, and three new levels to be had. So, get busy. I'd rather they were on different timers, because I don't want one or the other. I prefer both. But VoM lasts for a while, and only takes ten minutes to recover (with three levels of Hastened Veil of Mindshadow, this can be recovered in 8 minutes, 30 seconds), so, technically, you CAN have both.
Some of the more successful AA experiments have seen upgrades, including Azure Crystal (which creates a Crystal of Stored Mana, which you can keep and access on the potion belt, and harvest later to recover some mana), and Sanguine Crystal (which creates a crystal allowing you to recover some health).
Last expansion saw some very nice improvements in our pet AAs. And this one is continuing the tradition.
We now have a Hastened Fortify Companion, which will cut the reuse timer of Fortify Companion to up to six minutes, from 30 minutes to 24. Fortify companion is an AA pet/charmed mob buff which adds mitigation and avoidance to your pet or charmed mob and reduces the damage taken from a Damage Shield when striking with the off hand. I find that the improvement is at least noticeable. My alligator now survives his encounters with Shadowmane Champion, without me getting summoned and having to doppelganger and unpocket the summoned pet to let me finish the job.
And let me reiterate, because I made this mistake myself, this is an activated ability, not a passive ability. It's a short-term buff that you can cast on your summoned pet or your charmed mob. Your Fortify Companion AA now has new levels with this expansion.
Manadraw, which duplicates the effects of Gather Mana and grants hyper mana regeneration for a full minute afterward (buff extensions apply).
The nicest improvement is the addition of flurries. This AA is called Companion's Alacrity. Your summoned pet will now occasionally flurry, which I think is terrific. I don't believe this works on the charmed mobs -- I didn't have any Flurry-gators in Loping Plains, but possibly it does let them flurry and I didn't see it.
Companion's Fury. Another nice AA, allows your pet to get an occasional critical hit. I don't know at the time of this writing if it effects charmed mobs or just the summoned pet.
Sturdy Companion. Grants your pets additional mitigation. Unlike Fortify Companion, this ability is passive.
Extended Swarm. It's unclear to me why an Enchanter, which has no swarm pet, would need an AA that allows us to extend the duration of our swarm pets. Doppelganger has gotten new levels with this expansion. Perhaps the Phantasmal Opponent AA and the Doppelgangers (which gave us two since last expansion) are considered our swarm pets.
This list is not comprehensive, nor was it intended to be. I wished only to give the newest highlights of what is a great class to be. I hope you, my old friends, found this interesting and informative.
For those who asked me about my health, I am off the chemotherapy (which is topical only, as this is skin cancer), and for the time being, my neck is red, raw and very sore, but it looks like I got quite a bit of it off. I will be going in for surgery in two and a half weeks. Hopefully I got all of it, and surgery will prove unnecessary.
While there are some new and exciting AAs this time around, the name of this game, Enchanter is convenience. Many of the old spells are now AAs which is a time saver. As it can now be kept on your hotbar, instead of medding and waiting for the spell to recover.
Speaking for myself, I very seldom keep these spells up, and even though I now have ten spell gems, it's never enough. But now, I don't ever need to give these items a spell gem, as the AAs are at least as good, and usually better. So, here's what you can have.
Gate. How nice is that? I never keep Gate on my spell set. And now I don't have to. Gate is never a good idea as an escape plan. Not only does this one-time use spell (for escaping purposes) take up an entire slot that should be used for other spells, but it's slow-casting (5 seconds, and what mob that you need to escape from is going to give you that?) and it's also subject to the occasional "collapse."
This one takes 2.5 seconds to cast, and I've never seen mine collapse. It is now a viable escape plan.
Summon Companion. Who the heck keeps that up? But it's nice to have for those occasions when you're running around in tight areas and the pet gets hooked on something.
With the new Pet AAs, I now have a hotbar reserved just for my Pet AAs: Companion's relocation, Companion's Blessing, Pet Hold, Fortify Companion and Summon Companion.
(Incidentally, I did find a nice use for my Companion's Relocation. When I'm charm kiting gators and I have a charmed pet ready to send into battle, I click the attack button and then give him a swift kick in the tail with Companion's Relocation to get him to the targeted mob sooner.)
The last expansion saw a nice convenient AA called "Perfected Invisibility," this no fail invis takes half a second to cast and is self only. Well, now, we have the group version. And I say wonderful. Have you ever noticed that there's always one group member who forgets his invis potions or doesn't have a timed invis, and expects me to mem Cloud of Indifference, cast on him. And of course, the second you do, he takes off running but YOU have to reinvis yourself, and put your spell set back the way you had it. (And the person you invised complains that you're not ready at the mob when he is.) This way, someone doesn't have their invis pot, click, and half a second later, done.
Not quite as good as the Ranger Shared Camo, but still excellent. Ranger Shared Camo is an instant cast and can be cast while moving. You still have a half-second cast time and must stand still to do it.
Perfected Levitation. Like Perfected Invisibility, it has no timer and is self-only.
Fog of Memories. This is an AA blur. I used to use Beguiler's for the blur aspect of it, although I didn't necessarily want the mob moved, it proceed the blur, but now, at level 81, you have an AA blur, that only blurs. No moving the mob, no rooting. Just a simply convenient always-ready blur. Well, not ALWAYS ready. It does have a 12-second recovery time.
Bite of Tashani. An AA Tash, much like your own Tash line. This would be convenient, as it would free up a spell slot, but I see nothing in the description that says that it, like regular Tash, increases the damage done by Chromatic spells. If it doesn't do that, then I wouldn't consider it worth having, unless you're raiding and consequently not using your damage spells. Enchanter nukes and DoTs are both too sluggish in their cast times and too weak in damage to consider using.
Focus of Arcanum. Technically, this doesn't duplicate any spell, but for those of you who have had an Anguish robe or a Katta robe, you'll recognize this as duplicating (and probably improving upon) the clicky available with these two pieces: a short-lived buff that increases the chances of your detrimental spells landing.
Now for some of the new stuff.
Self-stasis. My favorite from this expansion, this is an instant clicky that allows you to mezz yourself. What's good about that? Instant aggro breaking! The mobs will stop right then and there. You might liken this to Feign Death, even think it's better because of the instant aggro break, however, unlike those who use Feign Death, you cannot do this at will. It comes with a ten-minute reuse timer. Also, unlike FD, you cannot come out of it as you want. The duration of this effect is 30 seconds, and you will stay in stasis until it's run its course. It will appear in your buff window as a "detrimental effect" and as such, you can't click it off. So, this will not make you a split puller. Although you do have other AAs that can help with that.
I don't know if AoEs cast in your area will break this effect, but I have not encountered a mob that will attack me with this on.
Also, if one of the mobs beating on you is DoTed, it will also likely stay where it is until your DoT or self-stasis wears off. But the others wander off. I have come out of self-stasis to find an angry DoTed mob still waiting for me. But the benefit of that is that others have wandered off, leaving me to deal with just one mob. Also, if it's DoTed, then it's slowed, making it easier to deal with. Even at 20% health, I was still able to punt a mob away from me after coming out of Self-stasis.
A more interesting aspect of this instant-cast instant aggro breaker is that you may not want to be in the process of turning around as you click it on. Otherwise, you'll keep right on spinning until the 30-second timer for this AA has run its course. I've done this several times and I've gotten very dizzy watching my screen.
Despite the limitations, I love this AA. If you don't have enough time to punt, this one will save your neck. I would consider this one a must have.
Auroria Mastery. Nice one to have. Allows you to maintain two auras at once.
Twincast. Confers a tiny chance (1% per level of AA) of your direct damage spells landing twice. If you have mana recursion cast on you when you do this, in theory (although EXTREMELY unlikely), you could land two direct damage hits, plus ten procs with one cast.
Phantasmal Opponent. More impressive than truly useful, this one conjures up a duplicate of your targeted mob which will attack the mob. Its DPS is weak and it is more useful as a distraction.
Forceful Rejuvenation. Very nice one! Resets all the recast timers, so you can cast your timed out ones right away. Unfortunately, it does not reset its OWN timer, so you have to wait one hour between uses.
In addition, we have the return of some old friends. I was surprised and pleased to see that these old AAs got some much needed tweaks.
Edict of Command. This was a six minute timed charm that came out when the level cap was seventy. And it hasn't been improved upon since...until now. You can bring this up to level 85 and it will charm up to level 85. For six minutes. Think of it as a Dire Charm without unlimited use. While this recovers in 1 hour and 12 minutes, this can be shortened with Hastened Edict of Command to 1 hour and six minutes. (That's not terribly exciting to me.)
Eldritch Rune. They apparently stopped building on this with the coming of Veil of Mindshadow, which is on the same timer. But now, it's back, and three new levels to be had. So, get busy. I'd rather they were on different timers, because I don't want one or the other. I prefer both. But VoM lasts for a while, and only takes ten minutes to recover (with three levels of Hastened Veil of Mindshadow, this can be recovered in 8 minutes, 30 seconds), so, technically, you CAN have both.
Some of the more successful AA experiments have seen upgrades, including Azure Crystal (which creates a Crystal of Stored Mana, which you can keep and access on the potion belt, and harvest later to recover some mana), and Sanguine Crystal (which creates a crystal allowing you to recover some health).
Last expansion saw some very nice improvements in our pet AAs. And this one is continuing the tradition.
We now have a Hastened Fortify Companion, which will cut the reuse timer of Fortify Companion to up to six minutes, from 30 minutes to 24. Fortify companion is an AA pet/charmed mob buff which adds mitigation and avoidance to your pet or charmed mob and reduces the damage taken from a Damage Shield when striking with the off hand. I find that the improvement is at least noticeable. My alligator now survives his encounters with Shadowmane Champion, without me getting summoned and having to doppelganger and unpocket the summoned pet to let me finish the job.
And let me reiterate, because I made this mistake myself, this is an activated ability, not a passive ability. It's a short-term buff that you can cast on your summoned pet or your charmed mob. Your Fortify Companion AA now has new levels with this expansion.
Manadraw, which duplicates the effects of Gather Mana and grants hyper mana regeneration for a full minute afterward (buff extensions apply).
The nicest improvement is the addition of flurries. This AA is called Companion's Alacrity. Your summoned pet will now occasionally flurry, which I think is terrific. I don't believe this works on the charmed mobs -- I didn't have any Flurry-gators in Loping Plains, but possibly it does let them flurry and I didn't see it.
Companion's Fury. Another nice AA, allows your pet to get an occasional critical hit. I don't know at the time of this writing if it effects charmed mobs or just the summoned pet.
Sturdy Companion. Grants your pets additional mitigation. Unlike Fortify Companion, this ability is passive.
Extended Swarm. It's unclear to me why an Enchanter, which has no swarm pet, would need an AA that allows us to extend the duration of our swarm pets. Doppelganger has gotten new levels with this expansion. Perhaps the Phantasmal Opponent AA and the Doppelgangers (which gave us two since last expansion) are considered our swarm pets.
This list is not comprehensive, nor was it intended to be. I wished only to give the newest highlights of what is a great class to be. I hope you, my old friends, found this interesting and informative.
For those who asked me about my health, I am off the chemotherapy (which is topical only, as this is skin cancer), and for the time being, my neck is red, raw and very sore, but it looks like I got quite a bit of it off. I will be going in for surgery in two and a half weeks. Hopefully I got all of it, and surgery will prove unnecessary.