Soloing?

[Alexia_Wheaton]

Just curious to know how well a Coercer can solo? How would they compare to a Warlock? These are the only two classes I am considering for a Mage alt. I am leaning towards Coercer but I like to solo in addition to grouping so am wondering how effective a Coercer can be at it. Thanks for any info <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[xev]

<DIV>Lvl 23 Coercer here, I can solo , solo based mobs only. Green is fairly easy, blue not that bad. White starts getting hard, and yellows I can end w/ about 2 bubs of life left, hehe (yellows break root freqeuntly it seems)</DIV>

[SilentFu]

<DIV>Lvl 24 coercer here and I can attest to the same thing. I can usually take a Green ^^, and a blue ^. Anything without an error I can take up to a Yellow with little problem. Overwhelming Silence + Stupefy + Dazzing Gaze + Simple Minds helps with casters. Try bears, trees, and skellies near the entrance to Nek sometime. Great security and good quests in that area.</DIV>

[Tanatus]

<DIV>Cannt solo anything that more then 7 lvl above me <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> at lvl 30 ... lvl 36 mobs drops like a flys but lvl 37 give me good run for my money</DIV>

[ReCur]

<DIV>Similar to above post,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>im lvl 28.6 (Got second spell) and i can solo Solo mobs at 35 Easily. It all came into play when i got Dispotic Mind at lvl 28, awesome damage.   Tho i do get a few unlucky streaks when roots decide to break all the time, get interupted when casting Stuns etc.   Stll theres no point cus the XP is very low even tho they are con Red/dark orange.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>ReCurve</DIV> <DIV>28 Coerer</DIV> <DIV>23 Jeweler</DIV>

[KBB]

<DIV>OK ok i know i know this is a dumb question but im curious</DIV> <DIV>which solos better beserkers or coercer subclass?</DIV> <DIV>I honestly dont know think it might be beserker cause there ability to take damage but coercers have the cool mind effects and stuff. So whats yalls damage on average?</DIV>

[Tanatus]

<DIV>KBB17 DPS of coercer just slightly below wizard and far above zerk</DIV>

[skeet]

Coercer by far. Using stuns instead of roots and dotting/HO nuking .... our DPS is just ridiculously sickening.

[Kylaia]

I feel like I must be doing something horribly wrong when trying to solo. For example, if I'm scrying at a fairy light & I disturb a corpse that is ^^ grey to me (lvl 26 to me at 31), I'm unable to even get off one stun spell before it pounds me into a dead puddle on the ground. One of these things hit me for an average of 254 dmg per hit, and interrupted every spell I tried to cast. Now this was something grey to me, which makes me unwilling to try my luck with stuff that will actually give xp. My gear is mostly yellow/orange to me, except for a few remaining blue pieces. What oh what is a coercer to do?Kylaia

[Nicomed]

<DIV>Kylaia,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We are one of the best soloing classes in the game, but to be so we have a very specific style that we should adhere to. When I first made EL and Zek (very young), I could solo all of the red yard trash without much difficulty. I know of very few other classes that can solo reds like this. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First off, make sure all your armor is no lower than yellow con, preferbly orange con. I can take a pretty good beating now from just about any solo mob. Pull with your DD/root then fire off all of your DoTs. This root is the best one I've seen as I can usually pull off all of my DoTs (4 atm, though the casting time on Anguish makes it less useful solo and cuts into your DD time) and sometimes some DDs before it breaks. My other mage friends often break their roots in 1 to 2 hits. If the mob does break early, fire off your long lasting stun. Procede to hammer mob with DDs until stun/root breaks or DoTs wear off. Hit with DD/Root, recast DoTs, wash, repeat. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Do everything you can to keep the mob from hitting you, even with exceptional gear, they can still take me down if I'm not paying attention. Make sure the mob is either stunned/rooted or your currently casting your DD/Root or a stun. Back up, and continue to pound away. Keep yourself breezed/refreshed etc. Make sure ALL of your buffs are up (I took the low level trait one, so I have 5 up) as they make a huge difference in your stats, especially power.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Use food and drink. With appropriate tier food/drink running your downtime will be vastly reduced.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Always keep DoTs on the mob. These also arcane debuff the heck out of the mob so your spells will hit significantly harder.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Keep your long stun for times when roots keep breaking, you know you'll take a pile of hits before you can get off another root, or the mob breaks and you've let most/all of your DoTs slip.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Follow these simple rules, arrange your hotkeys for easy access, and get yourself in a pattern of casting. Remember, soloing is extremely different from good grouping, you must tailor your style to accentuate your strengths (stuns, great DoTs and DDs, incredible DD/Root). </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Nico</DIV>

[Tanatus]

<DIV>Things changes dramatically in mid 40s....</DIV> <DIV>First our DPS drops under the floor compare to every other class but wizards (we almost even at burn DPS and much much better at susteined). We cannt solo anymore even green ++ (thanks to agi and resistance nerfs in resent patch). Best sololist is guardian (those can solo all way to 50 blue ++ mobs), Monks/Bruisers also decent sololist .... Coercer? - nah not really... Yes before I was able kill white conned ++ mob (its other question that it would take forether) doing stun-kiting. I have probably best caster gear on sever or one of the best - but best I can pull of my [Removed for Content] is solo 2 lowest con group green +</DIV>

[Nicomed]

<DIV>Perhaps I was not clear enough Tan. I do not solo ^^'s as I honestly don't think it's very efficient and raises the chance of a mistake getting you killed. While the exp is certainly higher per kill, the length of fight and downtime makes these fights too long for a solo IMHO. Like I said, I stick to mostly orange/red yard trash solo mobs. I can burn through these very quickly and earn a very respectable amount of XP, especially since the patch (though I still generally prefer quality guild groups as it is certainly the best XP). Also, you must remember that not everyone solo's because they want the most efficient xp. Many folks solo to finish easy quests to clean out quest log and not waste your friend's time doing it, they play at weird hours so not many folks are on, harvest constantly while fighting (not popular with most groups), or they just enjoy the self reliance and feeling of accomplishment in taking down mobs on their own.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So, are we the BEST class for soloing? Of course not, I never claimed to be so. Are we very good at it if done correctly? Yer [FaarNerfed!] straight we are. Are there reasons people would want to do so, even if it isn't the absolute most efficient use of time? Hell yeah. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Tan, I know you are a very prolific poster, especially in this forum, and one of the highest level coercers, but please don't confuse your ability to gain levels in EQ2 as your right to dictate people's game experience based on your own opinion. Levels in EQ2 are extremely easy to get and I know many high level (45-50) folks whose play styles and knowledge of the game are considerably poorer than nearly anyone in my guild. I am certainly not accusing you of such, but please keep this in mind when you put down the play choices and experience of others. Remember, this is a game and played for fun (at least for me and my friends it is) and certain styles, while perhaps not the most efficient or Uber as some would define it, are a hell of a lot of fun and make the game more worth playing. Soloing (and turning all of my friends into rats) is one of these and you should perhaps think before you discourage other players, especially our younger ones, from doing so.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Nico</DIV>

[Tanatus]

<DIV>Nic I buy your point yes there is a line between be able solo and be able solo for living. Yes coercer can solo per se and no coercer cannt solo for living that's my point specially after 2 last patch.</DIV> <DIV>First and foremost there is a cap for gained exp and you dont need or want push self to solo orange/red conned solo mobs they wont net you more exp then solo yellow or even white cons. Exp gain start drop dramatically once you drop below white cons ... true. Also true fact that "group exp bonus" so huge that killing even lowest green group will net you substentially more exp then killing highest red conned solo. Again per se you can stick with solo yellow/white cons as long as you can find such area how much you can get per hour? I dont know. Freind of mine assasin lvl 49 claim he can get about 4% per hour solo - how much you can get in group? well at mid 40s I'd say "normal" exp gain me at very least 10% per hour (not counting quests) - can it be faster? ... I guess so but once I have group with 10% per hour I consider I am in good group. I simply dont see any benifit of solo right now - it worst in every single aspect of game - exp per hour, risk, loot. Now look on tanks - every single of em capable of solo high green ++, 2 blue +, or 3-4 no arrow high blue mobs - w/o any substetial downtime (providing robe of invoker, tier 5 drink and manastone). Tank capable do solo exp compareable with group exp, tank capable of getting chest drops compare to group .... now tell me who better sololist coercer or any tank?</DIV> <DIV>Again no offence but saying that coercer good sololist is kinda of missleading</DIV><p>Message Edited by Tanatus on <span class=date_text>02-03-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:42 PM</span>

[Kylaia]

Hmm, I think my root is where I really fail here, at lvl 31 my most up-to-date root is Binding Light & I haven't been able to find anything higher than App2, which is what I have. At this level my App2 Binding Light barely holds a grey mob for 5 seconds, let alone anything that will give me xp. Usually the mob just resists it and pounds on me mercilessly. I also know I need a new robe, arms & legs, but have been unable to aquire these as of yet. I have 2 quests that will reward me with new robes, but cannot get anywhere close to finishing them solo as the creatures in my path would make jelly out of me unless I have at least a tank with me, and preferable a healer as well. Once I hit 32, some of my yellow gear will go white and I'll have to start all over again re-equipping, sigh.

[Tanatus]

<DIV>Binding light Adep 1 is common book at Fence Broker usually sells for 10-15sp...</DIV> <DIV>Try use Stun-HO-Mez-HO-Stun-HO tactic</DIV>

[Gnus]

One nice tactic, if you know you are gonna get hit, is to use your stifle on the critter. They will do far less damage and won't be able to STUN or STIFLE you. I like to stick this on an orc just before he gets to me. Then, he can only hit me with his basic attacks.

[neble]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Tanatus wrote:<BR> <DIV>Binding light Adep 1 is common book at Fence Broker usually sells for 10-15sp...</DIV> <DIV>Try use Stun-HO-Mez-HO-Stun-HO tactic</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> Man the market is inflated on Mistmoore.  Adept 1s?  Standard price is 1 gold at the lowest.  :smileysad:

[Tanatus]

<DIV>That's a prices on Nektulos ...</DIV> <DIV>2 aspects here - binding light and few other spells drops like a durt (some in antonica some in CL) second aspect there no coercers - sure you can see army templars. inquisitors, guardians, monks but enchanters? .... not really.. </DIV> <DIV>A lot of coercers books worth 1sp4cp on NPC vendor so ... you have not much choice but either destroy em or sell durt cheap. Heck some illusionist spells lvl 50 on Nektulos sells for 1gp (heh for exact same reason - book worth on NPC merchant 1sp4cp)</DIV> <DIV>Generally from what I have seen</DIV> <DIV>Common tier 2 books = 20-50sp</DIV> <DIV>Rare tier 2 books = 50sp-1gp</DIV> <DIV>Most tier 1 adepts = 2gp+</DIV> <DIV>Tier 3 common = 1gp</DIV> <DIV>Tier 3 rare adepts = 1.5gp-2gp</DIV> <DIV>Tier 4 adepts = mostly 2-5gp</DIV> <DIV>Tier 5 adept = depends on spell rarity seen as long as 1 gp up to 24-30gp (not that anyone would buy for such price lol)</DIV>

[jthece]

<DIV>How are Guardians the best soloers in the game?  i've been trying to find a good solo class, right now i'm a bard and it's not bad, but i'm sure it can be better</DIV>

[Nevergone]

Guardians really aren't the best soloer's at all. Sure they can take a ton of damage before dying, but often times they find themselves out of power and desperately hoping that their basic melee attacks will manage to kill their enemy. If they chose to go after dangerous enemies such as the ones Tan described, they lock themselves into a long tedious battle of attrition - who can run out of power first, them or the enemy?Both enchanter subclasses, in my opinion, have it significantly easier. When it comes to efficient soloing, we have very little downtime. The entire time we deal damage we're also regenerating power. I can go for a very long time without ever needing to rest other then to find my next target. Adds are also not usually a problem.

[Nerj]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Nevergone wrote:<BR>Guardians really aren't the best soloer's at all. Sure they can take a ton of damage before dying, but often times they find themselves out of power and desperately hoping that their basic melee attacks will manage to kill their enemy. If they chose to go after dangerous enemies such as the ones Tan described, they lock themselves into a long tedious battle of attrition - who can run out of power first, them or the enemy?<BR><BR>Both enchanter subclasses, in my opinion, have it significantly easier. When it comes to efficient soloing, we have very little downtime. The entire time we deal damage we're also regenerating power. I can go for a very long time without ever needing to rest other then to find my next target. Adds are also not usually a problem.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Funny?  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Why is it that I see Guardians taking groups of 3 to 4 on consistently? I have a hard time having enough power to do two and usually will die pretty quick. </DIV>

[Nevergone]

Perhaps you need to examine your tacics. I personally find groups of 3 mobs to be some of the easiest group encounters to take down, certainly easier the double arrows, especially in the 20's when every enchanter has two mezzes. If you're having trouble with power, your equipment could be to blame, it's amazing how much power you can gain from upgrading just a few pieces of armor - it can honestly make a huge difference. If all else fails, there is no shame in grinding out solo encounters, don't force yourself into a competition with other classes, if they're currently overpowered, they will undoubtably get an unadjustment in the future.(I'm not saying guardians or any class for that matter is overpowered, just "if" they were)

[Nerj]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Nevergone wrote:<BR>Perhaps you need to examine your tacics. I personally find groups of 3 mobs to be some of the easiest group encounters to take down, certainly easier the double arrows, especially in the 20's when every enchanter has two mezzes. If you're having trouble with power, your equipment could be to blame, it's amazing how much power you can gain from upgrading just a few pieces of armor - it can honestly make a huge difference. If all else fails, there is no shame in grinding out solo encounters, don't force yourself into a competition with other classes, if they're currently overpowered, they will undoubtably get an unadjustment in the future.<BR><BR>(I'm not saying guardians or any class for that matter is overpowered, just "if" they were)<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>Most of my equipment is orange. I just run out of power on groups of 3 or more (ps - all spells ay adept 1).<BR>

[Nevergone]

The only thing I can suggest then is possibly examining your tactics. With breeze you should be able to take down three mob encounters pretty easily. If you do happen to run out of power, it isn't difficult to keep a target locked down while regenerating and cannabalizing if neccesary. One thing I've found however is that the class is much more suited to dotting a target to death rather than using nukes to blast opponents away, couple this with the fact that you can keep two targets fully dotted and immobolized at the same time and you have a pretty lethal combination. Yes, you will expend a lot of power killing the first two enemies, but you can rest up as much as you need to when dealing with the third.

[Tanatus]

<DIV>Nevergone you missing point ...</DIV> <DIV>By lvl 40 damage mitingation and avoidance for tanks in conjuction with lower power cost DPS of tanks that linked to high damaging weapons easily availible to everyone in game make tanks ultimate solo mashines</DIV> <DIV>So see here is a problem...</DIV> <DIV>I cannt take on any group with less then 5-7 lvl difference. In other words at lvl 47 I can take my chances and attack green group 42 + (2 mob) or 41 regular group (3-4 mob). Atttempt to take out lvl 43 + (2mob) or lvl 42 (3-4 regulars) will lead me nowhere. Lvl 47 tank can safely afford take out lvl 44-45 groups</DIV> <DIV>I have significantly lower DPS then any tank thus killing any group for me take longer time</DIV> <DIV>ALL of my attacks are consuming power and due to fact that I am more frigile I have significantly longer downtime compare to tanks (no power is not issue - life is)</DIV> <DIV>Last but not least important thing - resistance. Once upon time valuable tactic root-cooking or Stun-kiting - not work anymore. Nevergone once you level up past lvl 30 you will notice that your root upgrade have casting time 4.0s (binding light much much faster) and your stun arent gona land in 100% cases anymore either so more often then not you will have to brake out of combat by yell to escape</DIV> <DIV>Now lets see how we can deal damage at lvl 47</DIV> <DIV>Torment clock 103 damage per tic (adept 3) - note: master 1 Anguish will do 110</DIV> <DIV>Depair clock around 101 max per tic (adept 3)</DIV> <DIV>Gloom clock ~50/tic (adept 3)</DIV> <DIV>Mind Gorge ~55-60/tic </DIV> <DIV>Compare to damage you can deal with just Arcane Fury</DIV> <DIV>Ravage Psyche will somethat take care about resistance, toss despair if you really want...</DIV> <DIV>Tyrranical Mind itself 500+ a pop (adept 3)</DIV> <DIV>Muddled Thinking (chain starter) ~210+ a pop (master 1) note: Master 1 Muddled Thinking at lvl 47 still superior over Adept 1 Seizure)</DIV> <DIV>With new patch damage part of HO itself been boosted a lot - not uncommon to see +350-430 damage per HO</DIV> <DIV>Anyway circling AF you doing at very least 1000 damage per HO (take about 6-7s to execute) ... this is triple damage you can squeeze from dots</DIV>

[Sekhau]

<DIV>Level 26 Coercer, and been in only one group so far, in Fallen Gate, at level 19.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Soloing as a Coercer is fun imo, Orange solo cons are insanely fun and an actual challenge.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I watched a comparable level Warlock try to solo and I was kinda upset, he had to finish the fight with a couple bubbles of life left.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>A Coercer can start and end a fight, solo /con, without getting scratched. To me, <FONT size=4><EM>my </EM></FONT>most important spells in order of importance are...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Daunting Gaze</DIV> <DIV>Binding Light</DIV> <DIV>Stupefy</DIV> <DIV>Overwhelming Silence</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Root, DoT, DoT, Open HO, Nuke, Nuke....the best part is since our stuns are either Lighting or Star symbols, the HO is advanced no matter what happens. (I.e. root breaks)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Green 2up mobs are soloable for sure, just take a bit longer. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>For me, I've found the safest way considering the speed at which mobs can run once root breaks, to be...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Mez, Open HO, Daunting Gaze, Nuke, Open HO, Nuke, Nuke, Mez, wait for Daunting Gaze to refresh.....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Blub]

Soloing becomes a pain at lvl > 38, when your binding light doesnt works anymore. The 4 seconds root is nearly useless since it takes way too long to cast to keep a mob away and breaks nearly after each DD pop. The only thing you can do is stupid mezz kiting, and thats just no fun and takes forever. Your fast stun (stupify) is on a 4 seconds timer too, so can't be used either.Additional everytime when your long stun or mezz gets resisted you have to run arround untill the timer is ready again (or stand and die) since you have no other spell with a fast cast time to immobilize a mob in any way.So up to about 38 soloing is fun as coercer, but then you better only group for exp.I hope soe changes the casttime on our fast (haha) stun and root to make them actually useful.