Just dinged 80 and /sadpants

[Brightspring]

<p>I had already read about our disappointing fabled epic weapon, so I was prepared for that one.  But I feel completely let down by our level 80 special spell.  If profession other than Illusionist?  gah!  I solo most of the time.  I realize I'm just a speed bump in PvP when I do that, but can't we get a little love?  This spell is unusable unless we're in a group.</p><p>Oh, and for the record, making us and our pets do damage rather than power drain in PvP makes us even less useful in my opinion.  My only chance in most fights is to run them out of power.  I understand that it's going to really help in raids so I'm all for changing it that way for PvE.  But I really hope we retain our power drains in PvP or get a huge boost in damage, since with the 2X immunities I can't keep someone locked down long enough to kill them.  And once that scout gets loose, it's all over but the paperwork.</p>

[Jeger_Wulf]

<p>> This spell is unusable unless we're in a group.</p><p>The first Illy Master I've seen dropped for me the other day, and it was Doppleganger. At Master level, how much damage does this absorp? Is it worth casting in Raids?</p>

[-Aonein-]

<cite>Rhiannon@Venekor wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I had already read about our disappointing fabled epic weapon, so I was prepared for that one.  But I feel completely let down by our level 80 special spell.  If profession other than Illusionist?  gah!  I solo most of the time.  I realize I'm just a speed bump in PvP when I do that, but can't we get a little love?  This spell is unusable unless we're in a group.</p><p>Oh, and for the record, making us and our pets do damage rather than power drain in PvP makes us even less useful in my opinion.  My only chance in most fights is to run them out of power.  I understand that it's going to really help in raids so I'm all for changing it that way for PvE.  But I really hope we retain our power drains in PvP or get a huge boost in damage, since with the 2X immunities I can't keep someone locked down long enough to kill them.  And once that scout gets loose, it's all over but the paperwork.</p></blockquote><p> Well, I disagree. I think its a great weapon, but only atm because of mana proc allows me to constantly hover under 30% mana with no issues and rarely have to cast Extract on myself. The 4% crit chance out weighs any proc you can put on a primary weap and the high INT is always good for soloers or groupies that can't max out thier INT.</p><p> Can't relate about the power drain in PvP but I can see how it would cause or pose a problem but in saying that, seems to me that the dev's are removing it from PvP for the same reason they removed it from PvE, they don't want people being drained of power.....kind of dumb having the skill like that for 4 years.</p><p> Doppleganger? Is awesome, well worth the M1, I use it on every boss fight in raids and saves my tank from laggy healers, sucky healers alot in groups.</p>

[Mihos]

Doppleganger is mostly crap.  It last on average two hits (most the time only 1) in T3 zones and has an insanely long cast/recast The range is way too small, so you have to joust in to use it.  I put it down there with Illusory Allies in terms of usefulness.  It does have a novelty appeal at least.

[Brightspring]

<p>I guess I'm just spoiled by the warden 80 spell & epic weapon.  My faerie ally is great whether I'm solo, in a group, or raiding.  And since I got the epic weapon I have yet to even dip into the yellow on power in raids on her.</p><p>As to removing power drains in PvP, I don't think it was ridiculous to have them in the first place.  Mental Breach can wreak havoc on even a well-geared healer or mage.  Why should a scout be able to take all my power while keeping me rooted (or so weak that I can't move) & out of range to do anything to him but it's overpowered for us illusionists to be able to stun & stifle & drain his on those rare occasions when we're able to get the drop on them?</p><p>As I said, I like the change for raiding.  But nearly all spells function differently in PvP than they do for PvE.  I'd love to see the power drain retained for PvP.</p>

[Nembutal]

Back in the day the primary strat for many raids was to drain the mobs of power.. enchanters and troubs would crank out only power drains... and when the mob was out of power they were a push over.After a few LU's SOE made it so epic mobs has so much power regen that on almost every single fight there was no point to power drain... yet our spells still had power drain abilities (I was a troub back then) these abilities were then deemed useless in PvE because the casting times and DPS associated with them as well as the power cost made them pretty much useless... this was back in the original release... right around DoF.So after tons of complaining that these spells are pretty much useless... that by the time you can drain the power of a mob so they can't cast it's already dead... DEAD MOBS ALSO CAN'T CAST... so if you switch from power drains to DPS the mob stops casting sooner because it's DEAD... SOE finally changed it.PvP I am sure it had a ton of use... I know on my zerker my favorite tactic against casters is stun/stifle/knock down... but against mobs it doesn't really have nearly the same impact.  So I can see the value of power taps in PvP.So while I don't want to say "too bad.. don't play PvP" I will say you need to look at the number of PvP servers vs PvE servers and how many people are logged on... you are a PvP guy in a PvE game... so while it was handy to you I am sure SOE was looking at the majority of the players out there... sucks... but it's true.Illusionist is still a solid class regardless of epic... not sure where they stand compared to corecer after the next LU.. but I can think of many other characters I would leave behind to have an Illu in my group or raid... so cheer up ;-p

[Brightspring]

<cite>Skoshi@Guk wrote:</cite><blockquote>Back in the day the primary strat for many raids was to drain the mobs of power.. enchanters and troubs would crank out only power drains... and when the mob was out of power they were a push over.After a few LU's SOE made it so epic mobs has so much power regen that on almost every single fight there was no point to power drain... yet our spells still had power drain abilities (I was a troub back then) these abilities were then deemed useless in PvE because the casting times and DPS associated with them as well as the power cost made them pretty much useless... this was back in the original release... right around DoF.So after tons of complaining that these spells are pretty much useless... that by the time you can drain the power of a mob so they can't cast it's already dead... DEAD MOBS ALSO CAN'T CAST... so if you switch from power drains to DPS the mob stops casting sooner because it's DEAD... SOE finally changed it.PvP I am sure it had a ton of use... I know on my zerker my favorite tactic against casters is stun/stifle/knock down... but against mobs it doesn't really have nearly the same impact.  So I can see the value of power taps in PvP.So while I don't want to say "too bad.. don't play PvP" I will say you need to look at the number of PvP servers vs PvE servers and how many people are logged on... you are a PvP guy in a PvE game... so while it was handy to you I am sure SOE was looking at the majority of the players out there... sucks... but it's true.Illusionist is still a solid class regardless of epic... not sure where they stand compared to corecer after the next LU.. but I can think of many other characters I would leave behind to have an Illu in my group or raid... so cheer up ;-p</blockquote><p>First, not a guy at all.  <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>Second, I'm suggesting that for PvE they make the change.  Just keep the power drains as they are for PvP.  Lots of spells/CAs work differently in PvP than in PvE.  Damage spells & heals are nerfed for PvP.  Deaggros in PvE usually for the other player to lose target in PvP.  Without the power drains in PvP I fear that enchanters will just become gimped sorcerers.  I guess the other option would be to make our stuns & stifles last longer so we'll have time to whittle down an opponent before taking an Ice Nova to the face.</p><p>Third, ya, I'm used to PvP being an afterthought in this game.  But in this case they don't have to change something (the way power drains work in PvP).  I'm asking that they <u>not</u> change it.</p><p>As to the relative numbers of PvP vs. PvE servers, that's certainly true.  The Euro servers have long blended into the remaining ones.  However, I believe Nagafen is still one of the more heavily populated servers during most hours.  And the population on all 3 servers would probably be higher if PvP were given more consideration.  One of the worst things to happen to PvP was the poorly thought-through writ system.  Before the writs people had every incentive to run around in the smallest groups possible because it increased your chances for winning tokens (players' chests would drop 0 - 3 tokens).  Now the incentive for those who only care about getting their PvP gear is to raid up since everyone gets credit for the kill regardless of the unevenness of the fight.  As a result I know of many people who rolled new characters on PvE servers and others who just left the game altogether and are counting the days until AoC comes out.</p><p>/rant off</p>

[Slips]

Doppleganger is a nice ability, it absorbs a few hits, your tank will not die when this spell is up.  I will throw it in mid-fight when an add pops on Druushk or a similar situation.Our epic weapon isn't bad either, they should have given us a better effect on the fabled version, the mythical pwns with conc. free pet.  Once the 30% power requisite on VM is gone, the weapon will be even better because you won't have to worry about sprinting every two seconds with it on.