Heavy scarring

[Aull]

<p>Well do any of you brusiers use the heavy scarring line of arts? I have been trying this and maybe I just do not know how to use it, but  if things are going bad I use it to try and allow the healer(s) to catch me up on health then it stuns me I try to taunt but I always loose aggro and need to cancel it just so I can regain aggro again. I am not having any success with this at all. So can any of you give me some insight on what I am doing wrong?</p><p>Thanks</p>

[Taldier]

<p>It is occasionally useful.  The key to using this line is that your group needs to know to tune down on their dps so that you can maintain agro.</p><p>If youre about to die, burning the mob as fast as possible is not a good strategy unless the mob is nearly dead.  Despite this, its exactly what some players will do and they will yank the agro right off you.</p><p>I dont know how useable this ability would be in a pug, but in a group that knows how to work together it is sometimes useful.</p>

[Morwein]

I'm under the impression that this isn't a very useful skill.  I'd use it in self sacrificing situations where you need to buy some time while friends run away (And then FD).   Beside that, it's kind of meh unless you have super aggro on something and just need to hold it a bit longer (Rescue for example).On another note I'd love it if they changed the stun effect to a root effect and a longer recast to compensate, 5 mins or so.

[Aull]

Nice idea! I just cannot really justify this ability either. It is difficult to keep aggro once it is used and if group members are running away it usually means disaster anyway hehe.

[Beldin_]

Hm .. only situation where it can imagine it to be usefull is if you have to tank mobs like Drusella where everyone has to stop damage and the tank has only to taunt and take the hits for a while ?

[Dravendar]

<p>What is this ability that everyone is referring to?  Wait, let me check my hotbars....nope don't see it at all.</p>

[Beldin_]

Hehe .. the good thing is .. you never have pay for a loam to upgrade that spell <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/ed515dbff23a0ee3241dcc0a601c9ed6.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Aull]

<cite>Dravendar wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>What is this ability that everyone is referring to?  Wait, let me check my hotbars....nope don't see it at all.</p></blockquote><p>LOL good one. Yeah I have taken the fear off my hotbar too. No sense in having it up if the mezz is longer but both being on the same refresh timer to me is just a waste of a combat art.</p><p>Anyways just been trying to make heavy scarring work for me but it too will be removed from the hotbar.</p><p>Nothing like having a macro "/g Everyone run NOW!!! I am about to trigger heavy scarring! I will be stunned, so I can't fight or move but I will have the ability to do absolutely nothing but loose aggro."</p><p>Thanks</p>

[Beldin_]

<cite>Aull wrote:</cite><blockquote>LOL good one. Yeah I have taken the fear off my hotbar too. No sense in having it up if the mezz is longer but both being on the same refresh timer to me is just a waste of a combat art.</blockquote><p>*Sigh* ..  if i only knew why i still can't bring myself to remove the leve 50 app 1 !! fear from my hotbar, even if i have never used it and never will.</p><p>Btw.: How usefull is Sonic Fists for you ? Personally i really seldom use it and after the irritation after the warp back i always know again why i don't pull with it. </p>

[Aull]

<p>I like sonic fists but for the most part it is situational. I have drag as well and when I am fighting drakes in skyfire or any mob that just sits there and casts at me I just pop sonic fists which teleports me does damage and interupts the mob, pop drag and telelport back with the mob right there with me. </p><p>It is very cool to have in combination with drag. If you do not have drag I would advise getting it.</p><p>It is your choice to keep fear on your hot bar, but I find that 12.3 sec mezz is better than a 8 or 9 second fear and with aa's I could possibly get mezz to 16 seconds. It was cool back in the day when a bruiser could use both fear and mezz together, but again they both share the same timer...what a bummer. Fear does have a back side as it can potentially get an add if it wears off close to another mob where mezz just keeps the mob close to you.</p><p>I would personally like to see the fear combat art removed and replaced with a self buff like +50 dps mod (master lvl combat art) until canceled for a lvl 80 bruiser.</p><p>Also take heavy scarring and turn that into a 15 second duration/90 sec reuse group knockout combo version that adds 100-250 additional damage to group mate combat arts and this will not apply to the bruiser since we already have our own knockout  combat art. That way it wouldn't be to overpowering.</p><p>Anyways that is just my personal thoughts.</p><p>Thanks</p>

[Beldin_]

<cite>Aull wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I like sonic fists but for the most part it is situational. I have drag as well and when I am fighting drakes in skyfire or any mob that just sits there and casts at me I just pop sonic fists which teleports me does damage and interupts the mob, pop drag and telelport back with the mob right there with me. </p><p>It is very cool to have in combination with drag. If you do not have drag I would advise getting it.</p></blockquote>Ah ... i never knew that you could use other CAs before you are teleported back, thanks for that insight <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Gestalt79]

I don't have drag, but I do like sonic fist sometimes.  I'll usually string in the kick DoT art and maybe one more CA before being teleported back.  With some good hits and little luck with crit/procs, you can have done a nice bit of damage and agro before the mob touches you.  At least in my experience, the mobs rarely hit me during this warp time.  I don't know if that's avoidance at work, or luck.

[Tanino]

<p>I use Rock Skin / Heavy Scarring very rarely and usually it requires that I be tanking in the first place.  It's more of an emergency mode in order to give the healer time to catch up, but after that you just turn it off.  Usually my procedure for it is Divide & Conquer, War's Aftermath, Rock Skin, Boil, Boil, Boil, turn off Rock Skin.  That usually gives me a good 20 seconds of good aggro but getting the full 30 seconds out of Rock Skin is very unlikely.  It's one of the many abilities that needs to be changed, but in order to make it really useful they would have to remove the stun portion from Rock Skin.  For the sake of balance which SOE supposedly tries to accomplish..... I would say keep the stats, refresh and duration the same, remove stun, root caster, allow all taunts, prevent CA's.  So the Bruiser will have their damage output greatly reduced, but atleast it has the ability to generate some aggro through auto attack.  Allowing auto attack would also allow bruisers with the fabled or mythical epic to get in their taunting proc.</p><p>For Sonic Fists the usual routine that I use is Sonic Fists, Heroic Opportunity, Hammer, Teleport Back, Boil (while target is running to your location).  You do have to be quick to get it all in but I do get that combination off 90% of the time that I do it.  The other suggestions offered where really good though.. never thought the Drag one would work like that.</p>

[Aull]

Drag is nice ability to have. It is a good ability to have that allows you to grab a mob and literally drag them to a desired area/position. It is very nice to have when a healer is getting pounded to run over and drag the mob off and back to the main tain or if you are tanking you have 4 secs to try and regain aggro.

[ganjookie]

When do you use most of these abilities while harvesting?  I have got my Harvester up to 80 and the only skill I have is a Fake Death.  Are the nodes that bad some times that you need to get a sonic fist to port to them?

[Pnaxx]

<p>I agree with hitting mob with 2 Dot/Debuf Hits aftre Sonic Fists before tele back. The Sonic Fists hits for quite alot, aroung 2000, plus the 2 CA's landing, by the time they come for you they are in major trouble. I then use my long range Iksar poison CA to knock it down another 1000'ish and bam, mob way down in health before fight starts. Not too shabby. Not a bad idea to stun it as it approaches so you may take no damage before it dies.</p><p>I also use Sonic fists in groups once in a while. I will target the mob, stay back just far enough for Sonic to work, as tank (if not me  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  ) gets taunt, I pop Sonic to get in the extra dps, close in and do my regular damage. But really, I only do that once in a while as I hate staying back at any point...I am usually right next to tank.</p><p>Heavy Scarring and Rock skin are 2 things I need to use more. I just always forget about them and don't have them in my hot key memory yet. They sit there basically unused, though sometimes I do rememebr to use Rock Skin...thats my "OH CHIT" button, I just need to remember to use it more...lol.</p><p>I have my fear and mezz ad3 or master1 and I will use them sometimes. When we take a nasty add, and I know we don't have a group member who can fear or mezz, I will do either one. I think the mezz is 12 seconds so I usually use the Fear as that won't break if there is aoe damage. It does get resisted a bunch though so I am always pleasantly suprised when it works.</p>

[Greavous]

<p>I do enjoy using Sonic Punch and Devastation Fist as a combo on non arrowed mobs. Port out DF port back. </p><p>It [Removed for Content]'s the mages up no end. Also if your in a fast instance group that is burning the place down, when the last mob your about to kill is almost dead switching to a mob at range and sonic punching his [Removed for Content] means that instead of an ranged attack the mob will stay on you right from the start. How many times have u switched to a mob to range pull it and some crazy Wizard lets loose with world war 3</p><p>Rock Skin is our Oh Sh.t spell in raids. Lets say the MT goes down (again because Altuism has already has been used) your in VP where the mobs hit like a train and you havent got your mythical yet. Switch to defensive, throw up rescue and Divide and Conquer then Rock Skin and spam your single taunt like a wood pecker. By the time your close to losing agro your MT should be back up and ready to take em back. I've found the 10 second superman buff from my mythical is alot better so Stone skin will very rarely be used.</p><p>We have a fear and a mez?</p><p>Hehe sorry they should give those to the monks. </p><p>I dont want my prey to be running off. And mezzing a mob instead of hitting it just isnt in my play book</p>

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Greavous wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I do enjoy using Sonic Punch and Devastation Fist as a combo on non arrowed mobs. Port out DF port back. </p><p>It [Removed for Content]'s the mages up no end. Also if your in a fast instance group that is burning the place down, when the last mob your about to kill is almost dead switching to a mob at range and sonic punching his [I cannot control my vocabulary] means that instead of an ranged attack the mob will stay on you right from the start. How many times have u switched to a mob to range pull it and some crazy Wizard lets loose with world war 3</p><p>Rock Skin is our Oh Sh.t spell in raids. Lets say the MT goes down (again because Altuism has already has been used) your in VP where the mobs hit like a train and you havent got your mythical yet. Switch to defensive, throw up rescue and Divide and Conquer then Rock Skin and spam your single taunt like a wood pecker. By the time your close to losing agro your MT should be back up and ready to take em back. I've found the 10 second superman buff from my mythical is alot better so Stone skin will very rarely be used.</p><p>We have a fear and a mez?</p><p>Hehe sorry they should give those to the monks. </p><p><b><u>I dont want my prey to be running off. And mezzing a mob instead of hitting it just isnt in my play book</u></b></p></blockquote>Dang....you ARE a badarse! Or dumb...not really sure. Playing/Fighting SMART is what survival is all about, weather in the octagon or the virtual fluffy nice world of EQ2. Hehe. I do like that fighter in your sig...even though he is more of a wrestler, not a Bruiser...but he looks tough. By the way...do you FD...or is that too much like a wussy too? Just wondering.

[Greavous]

<p>Thank you for your lameass response Pnaxx. Your opinion has been noted and laughed at.</p><p>I can't remember the last time I got to solo stuff so maybe your little girl comments are based on being so precious that finding a group that u can rely on to do their job is just a fantasy for you.</p><p>I have mezz on my hotbar. I've used it twice in the last 3 months. </p><p>Fighting smart is all about winning. You can be as smart as you want but if in the end you're still a little girl then go betray dude.</p><p>Fear is so situational that I can't remember ever being in a place that was challenging, that fear wasn't going to cause more problems than it solves. </p><p>I tell you what. You play your SMART game of survival and ill play my hard game of being good enough to beat the head in of any mob put in front of me. </p><p>I live how I play. You may not like it, you may scoff at it, but dude they would never write a book about you!</p>I'm sick of all the pansy men ( I presume you count yourself as male) always trying to put down or ridicule anyone that displays the lest bit of spunk. Not only does that give me a glimpse into your obviously limp personality but produces in me the loathing of the smug individual you are. I rate character in a person as the level of respect I will show them. You sir have found yourself very low in my esteem.

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Greavous wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Thank you for your lameass response Pnaxx. Your opinion has been noted and laughed at.</p><p>I can't remember the last time I got to solo stuff so maybe your little girl comments are based on being so precious that finding a group that u can rely on to do their job is just a fantasy for you.</p><p>I have mezz on my hotbar. I've used it twice in the last 3 months. </p><p>Fighting smart is all about winning. You can be as smart as you want but if in the end you're still a little girl then go betray dude.</p><p>Fear is so situational that I can't remember ever being in a place that was challenging, that fear wasn't going to cause more problems than it solves. </p><p>I tell you what. You play your SMART game of survival and ill play my hard game of being good enough to beat the head in of any mob put in front of me. </p><p><b><u>I live how I play. You may not like it, you may scoff at it, but dude they would never write a book about you!</u></b></p>I'm sick of all the pansy men ( I presume you count yourself as male) always trying to put down or ridicule anyone that displays the lest bit of spunk. Not only does that give me a glimpse into your obviously limp personality but produces in me the loathing of the smug individual you are. I rate character in a person as the level of respect I will show them. You sir have found yourself very low in my esteem.</blockquote><p>Oooooh, another armchair Ranger! Hoowahh. </p><p>Someone is writing a book on you? Give me the details. Or is that just a line form Archilles? Not sure.</p><p>Take it easy toughguy, I'm bustin your balls a little bit. I don't take any of this chit seriously, it's a freaken game. But the fact is, you can't beat the head in of every mob you face, nor can your group. The Fear/Mez deal is for a tough situation where your group is taking all it can, barely surviving, then an add makes an untimely entrance. Unless you want to wipe the group, it's a good idea to get rid of the thing. Thats what I am talking about. Playing smart.</p><p>As real life goes.....I am an old army G.R.U.N.T. and was known in my unit as the guy not to F. with, so I can assure you my man, while those days are well behind me, your not dealing with a pansy on this end of the line. But hey, thats just pride talking and at the end of the day, none of this means anything. But it is interesting how our real life personalities will affect how we play the game.</p><p>In RL, I grew up fighting alot, but I became a student of the fight game. Even today, when I hit the heavy bag in my basement for my morning PT, I am not blindly hitting it, I am working on things. Thats the way I feel about the game. I am not a tech head, but I troll these forums in search of knowledge to make myself the best I can be. I use every tool at my disposal to achieve victory. Fear/MEz/FD are all apart of the whole package.</p><p>Heck, if I had that in RL, I could of avoided some hits from adds in bars, if you know what I mean. That has happened to me more times than I can remember....seems everyone's got a buddy in the bar....lol. Luckly, they usually don't hit that hard as an add for some reason...but I am digressing.</p><p>End-</p><p>Edit.....but actually, I am sorry for calling you dumb. I almost edited that out. Not sure why I used that term, it seemed more likely you were using a RP approach, and thats why I felt like an [Removed for Content] using that term. So, please accept my appology mate. </p><p>/sticks out hand</p>

[ganjookie]

Pnaxx did he get under your skin there?

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Ganjookie@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>Pnaxx did he get under your skin there?</blockquote><p>I think I got under his.<img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>But then I got bored earlier so I pontificated a bit.</p>

[Greavous]

<p>Pnaxx you surprised me. I think my opinion that I concocted was based on a deviation of your true nature. I don't care weather your right or wrong, the ability to step back from a situation and deal with it unemotionally and mutually has indeed given me a much better glimpse at the man behind the name. </p><p>Like you, my younger day's has seen its fair share of violence and confrontation. Eventually I found I could still express my self physically through sport instead of through fists (I still train Mutai) Unfortunately because of my past I will also react in a aggressive manner when I'm attacked and in this case I believe rightly so. What wasn't right was my opinion of you. </p><p>We will agree to disagree on tactics I'm sure. I still see no reason for the fear art and a very seldom opportunity for the mezz. </p><p>I generally like to allow the right person for the job to do their thing and not try and be a jack of all trades. </p><p>I desire to be the Master of one.</p><p>/shakes</p>

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Greavous wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Pnaxx you surprised me. I think my opinion that I concocted was based on a deviation of your true nature. I don't care weather your right or wrong, the ability to step back from a situation and deal with it unemotionally and mutually has indeed given me a much better glimpse at the man behind the name. </p><p>Like you, my younger day's has seen its fair share of violence and confrontation. Eventually I found I could still express my self physically through sport instead of through fists (I still train Mutai) Unfortunately because of my past I will also react in a aggressive manner when I'm attacked and in this case I believe rightly so. What wasn't right was my opinion of you. </p><p>We will agree to disagree on tactics I'm sure. I still see no reason for the fear art and a very seldom opportunity for the mezz. </p><p>I generally like to allow the right person for the job to do their thing and not try and be a jack of all trades. </p><p>I desire to be the Master of one.</p><p>/shakes</p></blockquote><p>Thanks for your reply and seeing through the chaff. I have seen other posts of yours and know you are a good player. I liked your stuff about raiding. But anyway, in regards to the Fear/Mezz thing.....you touched on a good point, which I meant to put in my piece before, which is.......I ONLY USE IT IN A GROUP WHEN NO ONE ELSE CAN DO THE JOB. So yea, I am in total agreement with you on that. I hardly ever group with my guildies due to the time I log on they are well into their next adventure, so I am usually in P.U.G's, which have been fine for the most part.... though we don't always have the right mix of players who can do the things that may need to be done. Thats when I spring into action with the Mezz/Fear if need be.</p><p>I analyze like this....will this add wipe us? Thats pretty much it. If I think it's even close I just am swingin away to burn the targeted mobs down as fast as possible and not worrying about it. But even then, there will come a time where I am seeing the writing on the wall and realize this add is doing too much damage and has got to go bye-bye fer a bit...so I do my best to show it the door. </p><p>So there it is. But like you, I am there to pound the chit outa stuff. Speaking of which, if you are an MMA fan ( I have been since watchin UFC 1 live on PPV), there is good one comin up this month, hope you are psyched. I used to watch Pride too for many years and like having the fighters over in the UFC for some long awaited matches. </p><p>Cheers.</p>

[Buttcliffe]

<cite>Aull wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite><p> Yeah I have taken the fear off my hotbar too. No sense in having it up if the mezz is longer but both being on the same refresh timer to me is just a waste of a combat art</p></blockquote>It's on a different timer now shhhh

[Buttcliffe]

Heavy scarring was horrible, now if combo'd with divide and conquer, it's useful for about 11 seconds.

[Tanino]

<cite>Buttcliffe wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aull wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite><p> Yeah I have taken the fear off my hotbar too. No sense in having it up if the mezz is longer but both being on the same refresh timer to me is just a waste of a combat art</p></blockquote>It's on a different timer now shhhh</blockquote>Considering that most people probably didn't realize this including myself; shows just how often we actually use it.  I wouldn't be opposed to getting rid of it all together and giving us something that is actually useful. 

[Aull]

<cite>Tanino wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Buttcliffe wrote:</cite>Considering that most people probably didn't realize this including myself; shows just how often we actually use it.  I wouldn't be opposed to getting rid of it all together and giving us something that is actually useful.  </blockquote>Amen!

[Gilasil]

<p>A little post about heavy scarring.</p><p> I use it when FD fails.  It gives FD time to recycle while an army of heroics are pounding me.  </p><p>That's about it. </p><p>But it's more then I use fear.  I'd like to experiment a bit and see if I can find cases where it's useful, but I don't want to subject groupmates to the consequences of my experiments, and there's only so much experimentation you can do solo.  The last time I tried it it seems like the casting time was too long to be useful.  If the fear were longer or the casting time shorter maybe it would be marginally useful.</p>

[Aull]

<p>I see no need in having fear anymore since both mezz and fear share the same timers. I read where it said that both are on different timers and if they are then I assure you it will be fixed soon. Once it is fixed then fear is just a wasted combat ability that could be replaced with something useful.</p><p>Thanks</p>

[evilgamer]

<cite>Aull wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I see no need in having fear anymore since both mezz and fear share the same timers. I read where it said that both are on different timers and if they are then I assure you it will be fixed soon. Once it is fixed then fear is just a wasted combat ability that could be replaced with something useful.</p><p>Thanks</p></blockquote><p>Fear and mezz are not on the same reuse time, you can cast 1 and then immediately cast the other.</p><p>Quite frankly I like it this way.  On those all to common 3 linked mob pulls, I pull with mezz, cast fear, beat down one and then beat down the others.</p><p>Works great when soloing, but its hardly overpowering, I only use it on easy stuff as its much easier to just burn down 1 mob and FD, regen up, rinse and repeat on the hard stuff.</p><p>I dont think I would want fear to be taken away, as also use it when FD fails, it gives me some time to let the timer cycle so I can try again.</p><p>Just my 2 cp.</p>

[Hospik]

when I solo, if its a close call between finishing a mob or it finishing me, I use heavy scaring. I cancel the HS after a few seconds, and use it mainly to give my CAs a breather, for instance; the eagle spin combo. those few seconds mean im not dead yet, before I can use the CAs.

[Aull]

<cite>evilgamer wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>Fear and mezz are not on the same reuse time, you can cast 1 and then immediately cast the other.</p><p>Quite frankly I like it this way.  On those all to common 3 linked mob pulls, I pull with mezz, cast fear, beat down one and then beat down the others.</p><p>Works great when soloing, but its hardly overpowering, I only use it on easy stuff as its much easier to just burn down 1 mob and FD, regen up, rinse and repeat on the hard stuff.</p><p>I dont think I would want fear to be taken away, as also use it when FD fails, it gives me some time to let the timer cycle so I can try again.</p><p>Just my 2 cp.</p></blockquote><p> About a year ago they were both placed on "the same reuse timer" which made one or the other completely useless. If fear can now be cast immediately after mezz or vise versa then it is currently broken. Once soe make the adjustment the mezz will be the better of the two since with aa's a bruiser can extend the duration of the mezz and cannot do that with fear.</p><p>Once that takes place is why I would like to see fear removed and replaced with something useful.</p><p>Just examine the abilities once you are in game. The description should say "shares the reuse timer with mezz" or again could say fear depending on which one you examine.</p><p>If they wouldn't share the reuse timers then yes it would be great.</p>