Illusionist Interview for EQ2 Podcast

[Rotacidare]

<DIV> <DIV>Hello Illusionists! We have a weekly feature on the various classes for our podcast at <A href="http://www.eq2-daily.com/" target=_blank><FONT color=#c8c1b5>www.eq2-daily.com</FONT></A> . I am looking for some input from you all about your class to use in our discussion, in the form of this forum "interview." I'll post some questions for you all to answer, and then we'll talk about your thoughts. Please try to be somewhat brief in your answers, and please try to be objective. Thank you all.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>1. What do you like about your class?</DIV> <DIV>     a.</DIV> <DIV>     b.</DIV> <DIV>     c.</DIV> <DIV>2. What do you not like?</DIV> <DIV>     a.</DIV> <DIV>     b.</DIV> <DIV>     c.</DIV> <DIV>3. What kind of play style is best suited to your class?<BR>4. In general is it easy to find a group?</DIV> <DIV>5. How would you compare your class to your good/evil counterparts (Coercer's)?</DIV> <DIV>6. How do you feel your class does soloing? What is the highest lvl mob you can solo (i.e. yellow ^ or blue v)?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>*This is my personal main character's class. However I would love some feedback from some other Illusionists, particuarly on differences between Coercer's and us. </DIV></DIV></DIV>

[Kurai_Mitsukai]

<DIV>1. a. Ability to mez.  Despite how it can seem unnecessary at times, it really can help in many situations.  ( There are several raids where removing all the adds from combat can make a significant difference)  It has also saved my life on many occasions.  </DIV> <DIV>    b. Somewhat unique abilities.  ie. mez, long stifles, stuns, spellshield (stunning Cazel with his own stun is fun), spell proc, haste, power regen</DIV> <DIV>    c. Not many people play enchanters.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. a. Post revamp, our main abilites are lacking greatly compared to other classes that share the same ability.  Bards are the worst offender of this.  They have better power regen, an arguably better reflect spell, equal spell proc, group haste.</DIV> <DIV>    b. Roots.... they really should have left our root alone from after LU 13.  They had it perfect, but is very iffy now.  We don't have the dps to back up a "break on damage" root.  We got such great roots to make up for our very low dps.  They took them away because some people were taking advantage of it to do things the devs didn't want anyone to do.  Though there are other classes that can still do the same thing we were doing, but really on enchanters got the kick in the teeth for it.</DIV> <DIV>    c. Lacking in dps, greatly.  I never played an enchanter to have dps, but since they don't want to make us uber at buffing, I would expect them to give us dps in place of limited buffing ability.</DIV> <DIV>    d. Limited buffing ability.  Our concentration requirements are hefty.  Very hefty.  In a group, you can only cast 3 single target buffs (spell proc or haste) If you want to keep your group buffs up.  Bards can buff entire group with all of their songs.  They can haste group and spell proc the group, for only two conc..  You can't even buff yourself or pet if you wish to use a pet while soloing.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3. We can solo.  But it is more efficient to have a group to make up in the areas that you lack.  I personally prefer to solo.  But we really are best suited to have a group, that we can do damage through.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4. I never have had much of a problem finding a group.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>5. As far as I know, on the major points of an illusionist, a Coercer is about equal.  Mezzing, haste, power regen. However,  I would say our dps is well below a Coercers.  They have an out of encounter aoe that does 1k, their single target dd are stronger.  I think their dots are bigger as well.  Unfortunatly I can't comment all that much on actual numbers, as I have only once been in a group with a Coercer, as an illusionist.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>6. We are decent at soloing.  We are not stellar, in any way.  At least with our roots the way they are.  Seems like a 15-20% chance on equal level solo mobs for root to break every time it takes damage.  Ticking off those uber 100 damage dots, breaks the roots too often.  Though with the right tactics, and time, you can kill almost anything.  If I wanted, I could go spend an hour mez blasting a high level heroic to death.  The highest level mob I have soloed is the 62 heroic ring event for completion of the Sword of Ro amulet.  </DIV> <P><SPAN class=time_text>Oopajuu - 60 Froglok Illusionist<BR>Cogglesprok - 50 Gnome Monk</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN class=time_text>Leader of solo patron guild - Level 16<BR>Lavastorm</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Kurai_Mitsukai on <span class=date_text>11-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:42 AM</span>

[Kurai_Mitsukai]

<DIV>Double post, sorry</DIV><p>Message Edited by Kurai_Mitsukai on <span class=date_text>11-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:15 AM</span>

[Jaxidi]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV>1. What do you like about your class?</DIV> <DIV>     a.</DIV> <DIV>     b.</DIV> <DIV>     c.</DIV> <DIV>2. What do you not like?</DIV> <DIV>     a.</DIV> <DIV>     b.</DIV> <DIV>     c.</DIV> <DIV>3. What kind of play style is best suited to your class?<BR>4. In general is it easy to find a group?</DIV> <DIV>5. How would you compare your class to your good/evil counterparts (Coercer's)?</DIV> <DIV>6. How do you feel your class does soloing? What is the highest lvl mob you can solo (i.e. yellow ^ or blue v)?<BR> <HR> </DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>1.</DIV> <DIV>     a.  I am very happy with my DPS in NON-RAID situations.  This change to us from the expansion has made us much more enjoyable to play when farming or leveling up.</DIV> <DIV>     b.  I WAS very happy with our changes to mez.  They were just recently heavily nerfed and it is now quite difficult to keep encounters mezzed but I'm still much happier with our ability to mez now than pre-expansion.</DIV> <DIV>     c.   Illusory Allies and Spellshield are 2 new utility skills we obtained with the expansion.  These are both situational spells but in the right situation they are of tremendous value!  Illusory Allies isn't so useful in raids but is a very fun spell and very useful when in normal 1-group environments.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2.</DIV> <DIV>     a.  We are often not much more than a bot in raid situations.  Our DPS is not significant because our damage is much less power efficient than any other DPS class.  Additionally, none of our stuns, stifles, mezzes, roots, or power drains are of any use against a raid mob.  That puts us as a buffbot for power regen, haste, procs, and spellshield.</DIV> <DIV>     b.  SOE does not properly test most of the changes they make with our class and because we don't have big numbers, we see very little of their attention to get things fixed when they break them.  For example, when they accidentally nerfed stuns and stifles, they came back with a hotfix to fix them all.  However, only one of ours was fixed.  Additionally, that patch that broke those also nerfed several of our other spells without mention and we have not yet heard ANY SOE person respond to these issues though we have clearly and repeatedly made them known in these and the Abilities forums.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3.</DIV> <DIV>     a.  NON-RAID:  To play an Illusionist, one must always know of everything going around them.  They must mez mobs before they walk up to and step on a wizard.  They must be dealing significant DPS now that we are a DPS class.  We also have a lot of buffs to cast at strategic times.</DIV> <DIV>     b.  RAID:  To play an illusionist, you can get your 6-year-old nephew to come over and push buttons at random.  As long as he doesn't cancel buffs, the raid won't lose much, if anything, from this serious inattentive play.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4.  It is generally easy for me to find a group.  There have been a few times that /LFG has lasted for 2-3 hours but there have been many more times that I've already been in a group when others have asked if I would join them.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>5.  I would say that I think we have a slight upper hand on Coercers at the moment due to our DPS.  At the moment their pet is very situationally useful and at many times very risky to use but our pet isn't terribly useful in any situation.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>6.  This is a hard question to answer at the moment.  Had you asked a week ago then we were the best solo'ers in the game, pretty much.  As a lvl58 illusionist I was able to solo a lvl59 named ^^^ mob due to our overpowered root.  However, that is no longer the case and I have not really tried to see what I could solo and what I can't.  Though I have died to a level 60 no-arrow mob while I was level 59.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><BR>Hope this helps!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Jax</DIV>

[eland]

<DIV> <DIV> <DIV>1. What do you like about your class?</DIV> <DIV>     a.  The ability to bring order to an out of control situation.  While many argue that mez has limited use in EQ2, there's nothing more exhilerating than the times when our CC ability is stretched to the fullest to prevent disaster.</DIV> <DIV>     b.  Our grouping flexibility.  We're great at taking unorthodox group combos and turning them into a fun, successful experience.</DIV> <DIV>     c.  Our playstyle.  Skills that provide indirect or subtle benefit as opposed to pure DPS.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. What do you not like?</DIV> <DIV>     a.  Many of our defining skills are useless on Epics.  It would be nice to be able to fulfill the same basic role on Epics, albeit in a weaker form.</DIV> <DIV>     b.  I think the current state of our root leaves something to be desired.  I do agree it was a bit overpowered before LU16, but now I don't find it reliable enough for regular use.</DIV> <DIV>     c.  Fluff spells could be fluffier!  It would be nice to have at least one illusion that is truly unique</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3. What kind of play style is best suited to your class?</DIV> <DIV>  We're best suited to players who enjoy creative tactics over optimal efficiency.  We aren't one of the fastest classes to level in general; for players who look to grind out levels quickly in perfectly balanced groups, we may not be the ideal class.  For players who like to group with friends or guildmates most often, we make a great class, as we can round out just about any group, regardless of size or makeup.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4. In general is it easy to find a group?</DIV> <DIV>  Generally I haven't had any difficulties finding groups.  There's often a scarcity of classes with power regen, so it's not uncommon to get invites for that, even by those who don't fully know our class.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>5. How would you compare your class to your good/evil counterparts (Coercer's)?</DIV> <DIV>  I don't know all that much about coercers, but I'd give say we have an edge in pure CC, and they in Power Regen.  We may very well be more effective, or at least less risky in solo, due to the unpredictable nature of charm.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>6. How do you feel your class does soloing? What is the highest lvl mob you can solo (i.e. yellow ^ or blue v)?</DIV> <DIV>  Anything non-Epic we can cast on without being resisted heavilly, we have a chance to kill solo.  For heroics, it's risky and time consuming (and generally not worth the effort, imo) but it can be done.  In terms of reliable soloing, white - yellow no-arrows are not a problem.  Haven't tried a yellow ^ in a while, but I suspect it would be feasable with a bit of caution.  We're probably not the most efficient solo class, but we're not bad.  Much better than pre-revamp, not that that says much <img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV></DIV></DIV>

[Barobra]

<div>1. What do you like about your class?</div> <div>     a. Mez, even after recent changes I can handle many mobs without problems. You just have to know what your doing. </div> <div>     b. DPS, I can average 400-500 dps and have gone as high as 1000dps logged (without the prismatic trick with certain classes) </div> <div>     c. Illusory Allies, lots of fun. Great for groups. </div> <div>2. What do you not like?</div> <div>     a. Could use one good raid ability. This is tough though since we already add buffs and power regen. Hard to balance this one in. </div> <div>     b. Cant cast havoc across raid! </div> <div>     c. Not enough illusions for an illusionist. </div> <div>3. What kind of play style is best suited to your class? Group play in hazardous situations. I will save your group.4. In general is it easy to find a group? Yes </div> <div>5. How would you compare your class to your good/evil counterparts (Coercer's)? Don't know enough about Coercer. </div> <div>6. How do you feel your class does soloing? What is the highest lvl mob you can solo (i.e. yellow ^ or blue v)? Have not even bothered after the root change. When it was unbreakable I could solo a even heroic named. Now.....not so easy... </div> <div></div>

[Kuragi]

<span><blockquote><hr>1. What do you like about your class?<div> <div> <div>     a.</div> <div>     b.</div> <div>     c.</div> <div>2. What do you not like?</div> <div>     a.</div> <div>     b.</div> <div>     c.</div> <div>3. What kind of play style is best suited to your class?4. In general is it easy to find a group?</div> <div>5. How would you compare your class to your good/evil counterparts (Coercer's)?</div> <div>6. How do you feel your class does soloing? What is the highest lvl mob you can solo (i.e. yellow ^ or blue v)?</div> <div> </div></div></div><hr></blockquote> 1 a.  I like the feeling of bringing order out of chaos, of locking down a bad situation. Situations that make other players panic make me smile.  Adds? Oh, goody, I get to fulfill my purpose in life! b.  I like the sense that I have more than one way to kill a mob.  I can use my pet, I can stun-blast, I can mez blast, I can even go toe-to-toe with some blue and green solo rated mobs.  When duoing, the possibilities multiply. Not to mention the kick in the pants that breeze gives the group. c. I like the sense that an illusionist is best when working with other characters.  Prismatic strife is cool, as is dynamism.  2 a. I don't like the fact that many people who are new to EQ don't understand mez, or what enchanters can do.  I don't usually try to force a playstyle on them, some folks like thoughtlessly whaling away at more than one mob at a time.  b. I don't like the fact that my best tricks can't be used on Epic mobs.  Mez, stun, root, stifle.  c. I wish they had called us something besides Illusionists, because our illusions are completely lame compared to the rest of the game.  Frankly, they are so stupid and unfun that it seems as though the devs are taunting us or something.  Did the devs have an axe to grind against illusionists or something?  Sheesh! 3. I like to collaborate with others, and control the situation, not just blast away.  Most enchanters I know are that way.  I like to communicate a lot.  On a multipull, tank picks target, I check it and target another mob for mez, then we pull.  I like to adapt to the situation, so I don't object that sometimes AOE and no mez is the right solution; figuring out which to do is part of the fun. I would describe this style of play as pretty cerebral. 4. I mostly group within my guild, but I don't have too hard a time finding groups when I LFG in pickups. 5. Don't know enough about Coercer's.  They get to do charm fighting, which is fine by me, I don't really like it that much. 6. I have soloed blue heroic +++ before LU16 toned down root.  Without that I can still manage to take out any mob that I can reliably stick a mez on by alternating nuke and mez.  But it takes a LONG time, which is why it isn't a big problem.   So I don't do that.  More conventionally, I've done solo yellow+ mobs, though I stick to blue these days because it goes faster. </span><div></div>

[ScamprinSlippy]

<P>1.mezzes, illusory allies (temporary tank), regen skills</P> <P>2. reduced options for raid mobs... drains are useless, stuns and stifles are useless (as they should be) but we didn't get anything to compensate... we could use some interrupts for some epic mobs. and prismatic havoc should be castable on a raid member, not just group</P> <P>3. awesome to the max</P> <P>4. depends... people don't think of us as true dps, but chain pulling groups will often invite me</P> <P>5. essentially the same, our pet is better than their charm, and illusory allies and spellshield are really great for us... but for the most part we are balanced... i think. they got an agro buff, what I wouldn't give to have that spell.</P> <P>6. i dont know, before the root nerf we were great, now its all about the roots holding long enough.</P> <p>Message Edited by ScamprinSlippy on <span class=date_text>11-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>06:08 PM</span>

[Rotacidare]

<P>Thanks everyone for your great comments here. Just to let you know our podcast went live a few days ago where we talk about Enchanters if you'd like to give it a listen - you can download the show on the page linked below. Also on the page linked below there is a link to our forums where you can post comments on our podcast <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P> </P> <P><A href="http://www.eq2-daily.com/Show11Notes.aspx" target=_blank>http://www.eq2-daily.com/Show11Notes.aspx</A></P>

[trenor]

<P>After listening to the interview of an illusionist on pd cast i was struck with just how utterly bad of a choice they had made for a represenative for the illusionist class.  They chose a member who was in the mid 40's to start off with.   Listen to this and tell me he has any clue about the scales of the mobs hp and mana etc as level increase.  No clue about soloing post 50.  Absolutely o clue about rading.  I really enjoy some pod casts but that crappola you guys put out there was flat out bad information and not true of the illusionist role in general.  </P> <P> </P> <P>Fiz</P>

[Jaxidi]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> trenor wrote:<BR> <P>After listening to the interview of an illusionist on pd cast i was struck with just how utterly bad of a choice they had made for a represenative for the illusionist class.  They chose a member who was in the mid 40's to start off with.   Listen to this and tell me he has any clue about the scales of the mobs hp and mana etc as level increase.  No clue about soloing post 50.  Absolutely o clue about rading.  I really enjoy some pod casts but that crappola you guys put out there was flat out bad information and not true of the illusionist role in general. </P> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>Yeah, I noticed the same thing.  Guess I'm convinced that EQ2-Daily is yet another worthless site.  I would love for the Rotacidare to come back and discuss this as well as ensure EQ2-Daily gives a <EM>representative</EM> report of Illusionists.  I would be more than happy to volunteer some of my time to make sure he gets his info right but I'm guessing Calaglin would be even better than I.</DIV>

[SunT]

<P>Why would anyone run an interview with disgruntled and disillusionied Illusionists?  They would keep talking about how they need to be fixed rather than what makes them desirable and fun to play.</P> <P>This is a PR site not a Dev round table.</P>

[Rotacidare]

Haha, the podcast wasn't done for an interview of an illusionist. It's my podcast and I am an illusionist. I used my own knowledge of the class as well as everyone's comments I received here in this thread to discuss the class.  We briefly discuss 2 classes each week in an attempt to let others know what's good, bad, and give some general comments on each class. As for covering more high end issues our podcast is not aimed at the hardcore player (though many like it), we are casual players discussing the game for the majority. I'm sorry that some of you didn't enjoy it, but I did my best to represent the comments I received from this thread.

[Jaxidi]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Rotacidare wrote:<BR> As for covering more high end issues our podcast is not aimed at the hardcore player (though many like it), we are casual players discussing the game for the majority.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>I'm not one to argue with your audience.  If you want to target people who do not raid then the class was probably well-represented for non-raiding circumstances.</DIV>