KOS Int Line Niche [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

Force Weaver

07-01-2007, 05:51 PM

With the new changes to the INT line the general consensus seems to be that more anti-aggro is nice but it does not directly increase your dps and therefore has reason not to be chosen by Wizards. So what type of playstyles/players is this line aimed at? PvP, PvE hard core raiders, New chars under 50 and on the way up, etc.? PvP: Obviously a wrong fit. Sta/dps line seems to be recommended. All of the other descriptors below are in PvE context. PvE hard core raiders: Obviously a wrong fit. Don't need deaggro when you're at the cap in your raid group and you've got most of your items with proper procs to help you out. You're looking not to be booted from your raid spot because your DPS is too much lower than the scouts, necros, etc. so you want max dps EOF/KOS. Mostly mastered and a good deal of fabled equipment (which generally has higher mitigation on it) makes it easy to take Heroic zones that someone specced the same AA without the gear,procs, etc. would not be able to do with such ease. For this crowd the best defense is a maximum offense. New Chars under 50: Well alot of the "neat" spells you get after 50 so before 50 many of the mobs/instances are simpler than later ones. Aggro radius on mobs is usually more generous in lower zones, trash mobs don't hit so hard or stun so much you can't train out of zones, etc. Since you're lower level and still learning how to play the class so there's more "squish" in the encounters. If you grab aggro from most non-epic names under 50 there's many times you won't die if your group healer is awake. You will find immediate use of increased mitigation, root/DD "to hit", etc. from the Sta line. Deaggro? Mmmm some players don't even know / care what concussive or cease do (or the lower lvl ones) until after they hit 70. Often pickup groups will vary in composition placing less emphasis on your skill to not grab aggro and more emphasis on how well rounded your character can be (wizzy off tank for ex). Int wouldn't necessarily be too appealing to this group of players. 50-"fresh" 70: Again these players are upgrading spells, gears, getting more aa, etc. On the way up there's a lot of solo and heroic content that does not benefit from the use of the Int line. More DPS or survivability will be important in the varied situations (solo, makeshift group, pickup group, "perfect group", etc.) than increasing your ability to not grab aggro. "Long time" 70: Many players at this stage have geared up full legendary/mastercrafted, full Adept III (maybe a few masters here and there), and generally are good at playing their class and know how to play solo and heroic content in a variety of solo and group situations. They're probably pushing 70-90 AA and out here reading the boards seeing what combinations are best. They may/may not be in a guild that either casually raids Labs T7 or T6 and lower content. They've seen that zones vary in difficulty/strategy [Unrest vs OOB, MMC vs MMCC, etc.] and their AA setup much more than the non-raiding gear they have access to affects their ability to function in a variety of pickup and perfect group setups. There is a niche for this group of players for taking advantage of the KOS Int line.The niche: Unrest and Mistmoore Castle are examples of how much of heroic T8 content in ROK may be implemented. With the new nerfs to other class' aggro transfer/reducing abilities the gulf between Wizard DPS and "group" aggro management has become even wider. "Long time" 70's that are between poorly outfitted new 70's and full time raiders stand to benefit greatly from use of the KOS Int line. Max DPS AA combinations aren't useable unless the player slows how fast they push their spell buttons because they grab aggro much faster (as is the case in these two zones). I personally detest not keeping the que full as it is less fun for me to delay filling my que. Even specced a defensive Sta/[Wis or Str or Agi] and EOF magi's shielding 10pts and shielding proc items with warding healers in a group these zones will chew this group of wizards up. Going from cloth to chain mitigation is still irrelevant on these mobs since a healer will still have a hard time keeping you up. This is not the case in COV/OOB/MMCC/etc. You can effectively tank trash mobs 1/2 their hps before their DPS gets ahead of your single healer's ability to heal you specced defensively so you can give a crappy geared tank some rest by grabbing aggro when the mob is 1/2 down ( or heck just manaburn if you're specced for it). If the tank is geared fine and you don't feel like slowing your spell order there is less consequences for doing so. There are serious consequences in Unrest and MMC if you play the same way. These two zones are examples of how your DPS AA setup is less relevant becasue your groupmates who are usually just as uber (Adept III+, know how to play, etc.) add to your already high heroic DPS and make you constantly get ahead of everyone in aggro. If you spec offensively you become even more uber in short term DPS as applicable to Heroic zones (fast casting Agi from KOS and the bard casting speed buff = uber casting speed, extra crit from Str KOS, equip, and crit bonus from bard-type class = uber crit). Unfortunately the mobs in these two zones have enough HP's not to be commonly one or two shotted by wizards even max DPS combos. Specced Offense/Defense in KOS and EOF is still too offensive and will grab aggro in these two zones. After LU 36 this has now become even more of an issue. I had the distinct opportunity to "test" this Int line with the same group of players in Unrest recently. While moving through the yard trash outside the mansion I found that KOS Sta/Agi, EOF [Magi's Shielding & the DD Cold Line] with a Fury, Defiler, Gaurdian, Assassin, and Monk I kept grabbing Aggro (multimember mobs) about 1/3 the way into an encounter's HP and would manage just cycling through the Iceshield, Rending Icicles, Frigid Gift, Inferno Surge, Lightning.., FOR, Concussive, Glacial..., Firestorm, then the DD's with some more encounter-wide ones as they refresh and boom I got aggro somewhere along the way. I got tired getting slammed so I used the free "respec" included with LU 36 for both EOF and KOS. I went Agi 4/4/6/8/2 and Int 4/4/7/8/2 (with 4% hate gain reducing pet to get 20% passive hate gain reduction). In EOF I changed from avoiding the Cease and Concussive Points on Sheilding by going down the Cold DD, to instead going down and maxing out the Cease (-5s recast), Concussive (-10 sec recast), 10pts Magi's, 5 in Rending Icicles, and the remainder in the emergency ward and spell reach. The clouds opened up and the sun came out. I not only no longer grabbed aggro but was able to change my spell que to include Fusion. That's right, I cycled Fusion early in the encounters (not waiting till they're almost dead to finish them) and the mobs did NOT turn. I tried my hardest to get ahead and burn out the DPS and although if I hit a crit on fusion and then a subequent high hit on Ice Nova a member of the mob turned on me I just hit the "lower by 2 threat" and they turned right around to the tank and I kept on trucking the DPS. I had one time where I got ahead (too many sequential encounter-wide crits) and all 3 members of the mob turned and I hit the button "lower by 2 threat" and they just turned right back to the Gaurdian who previously was unable to taunt them off of me once I had turned them on the previous spec even though I wasn't using fusion then! Now I wouldn't recommend that Int makes for a better soloer or dual boxer but Int is great for many grouping situations at end game. Matter of fact in pick up raids my biggest gripe was that I kept getting aggro (never experienced the deaggro cap) and although on some T7 content manashield did give the tank enough time to grab aggro back before I went down its effectiveness varied by zone and tank. This "lower 2 threat positions" is absolutely a godsend for being in challenging T7/T8 content and non-ideal/random raiding groups. You can use your "big" spells that you otherwise would avoid or "wait" to use. As an added bonus when you go through other content other than MMC/Unrest you won't be the Wizard stealing the Monk's Job of being a tank or irritating the healer who would like to mash a button and watch tv at the same time. As an added bonus there is a reason to "uber up" your gear since now your DPS aggro grabbing threshold is higher so you can combine gear and spell usage to get more DPS than someone being careful specced full offensive AA without getting the gear. Your life as a wizard is much easier if you up your Aggro Cap, understand you can use big spells now (your dps just went up), and look at the sum of all your gear as a DPS boost greater than an AA combination. AA used to be >>> gear & groupmates. I think now AA can up your DPS cap allowing you to use some AA and gear to do greater DPS than just AA and gear with a lower cap and you can now take adavantage of "rounder" groups that give you some uber dps upping buffs. I'm sure there are players who could max dps AA and gear and be skilled enough and familiar enough with all the game's mobs to know the optimal spell order and cadence for all the zones, but..... the Int line is like and automatic transmission where you get 90% of your max performance 100% of the time vs a manual where you use 100% of your performance 60% of the time. I'm quite curious what new spells we might be getting in T8 that would be like fusion, highly desirable to cycle in a spell que, but awkward to do so because of aggro concerns. After all, everyone here is crossing their fingers that there's some new uber replacements for Ice Nova etc. I assume we might be getting some nasty encounter-wide or AOE damage spells instead of DD replacements which would "encourage" more of the wizard community to use the Int Line since T8 mobs would follow the trend that aggro sensitivity increases with teir.