Can you please explain "Concentration", and how it works?

[Chondrichtheyia]

I'm afraid I couldn't find any literature on this on eq2i.com, and doing a search here resulted in bits and fragments of conversations. I have, however, managed to pick up that buffs take up certain concentration "slots". This is where I am confused, and I don't know where to look for these "slots" (I'm not sure if they even appear on my UI, as I use ProfitReborn UI). And I'm also not sure of how many slots we get a certain levels. Currently, I'm a level 28 Warden and I have been stacking up pretty much every buff that I have. I even stack on group buffs when I solo. Is this a good thing, or have I surpassed my concentration "slots"? Also, what happens when you fill up all the slots? (i.e. what are the disadvantages of having too many buffs?) Lastly, if I should be more limiting and selective with which buffs I apply, then which of the Warden buffs are good for soloing versus group healing? Thank you.

[SageGaspar]

I don't know about Profit, but on the original UI they're bubbles below your health and power. Every character has five concentration slots, so you can't have more than five concentration worth of buffs up at the same time. It's a way to limit the buffing abilities for certain classes. For example my illusionist has a pet that takes three concentration and a haste spell that takes one concentration. If I put haste on two party members and cast my pet I'd be at full concentration. If I put haste on three party members I would not be able to cast my pet because I only have two concentration slots open, and it takes three. If you don't have enough concentration, it'll simply tell you that you don't have enough concentration.  For some classes you never run into the concentration limit, and for other classes it plays a big role in what buffs they select. I'm not sure which kind of class wardens are, but obviously you haven't run into problems with hitting the limit yet. And yeah, definitely keep your group buffs up if they'll help while you solo <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> EDIT: I should add that using more concentration doesn't have any disadvantages. If you have the concentration for a buff, cast it. It's just there to make you pick which ones you want instead of throwing everything up sometimes.

[DwarvesR]

<p>As a healer when soloing you will always want to have every group and single-target and self-buff up.  This (once you have all your spell lines) will use 4 concentration slots.</p><p>The 1 free slot you have left is good for your "Vigor" spell to be cast on a 2nd person in the group.  Since it's a +WIS/+power buff, if there's a 2nd healer in group, it's good to put on that character.  Otherwise, I'll generally put it on the tank, since tanks tend to burn power fast (and thus need the +power) and can use the bump to their resists from the WIS too.</p><p>Later on when you get into raiding, you might look at perhaps dropping a group buff in favor of another vigor or something.  I don't know, though, since my warden's only 29.</p><p>On my inquisitor, if I'm in a melee heavy group in a raid like I should be, I often drop my group damage proc buff and/or my group +health/+resists buff in favor of my single-target +health/+dps buff.</p><p>On my fury, I'm usually in a mage group and will be dropping group buffs in order to hand out my +INT/+power buff instead.</p><p>On my defiler I find I usually only really have to worry about putting my +health/+power buff on the tank, so it's not been so much of an issue there.</p><p>On my dirge, I'm always picking and choosing which buffs are best for the group that I'm in.  In caster-heavy groups, it's the manaregen, in melee heavy groups it's the dps buff. . . .  I hate having 10 buff that use concentration and onl 5 slots on the bard!!!!!!</p><p>On my coercer I'm usually buffing dps on the melee guys and the de-hate on and mages.  Or I can just have 2 buffs up and then charm something for a 3-slot cost, but in a group I rarely do that.</p><p>On my SK, I use all 5 slots, but don't have anything else that uses concentration, so it's not a problem.</p><p>My necromancer doesn't use all 5 slots yet either, nor does my warlock.</p><p>So. . . as the poster before said -- it's dependent upon your class, and the situation you find yourself in as to if you'll be using all your concentration or not -- and up to you to decide what the best use of that concentration is.</p><p>Be sure to read your skill descritptions so you know which buffs use it and which don't.</p>

[SpritRaja]

The only time you will run into a problem with concentration slots while soloing is if you get charm animal AA. Charming an animal requires 3 concentration slots forcing you to drop 2 buffs to use charm.

[lstead]

In the Profit Reborn, which is an absolutely stunning UI, you'll find concentration as a thin blue bar between your HP and your mana. It has 5 little blocks and if you hover over them, you will actually see what the concentration slot is taken up with.

[Chondrichtheyia]

Thanks everyone! I managed to locate the Concentration bar, and now it all makes sense! <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />