Offering of Armament

[BlackW]

<DIV>When one examines the Offering of Armament spell, it says that it increases the mitigation of both the caster and the castee.   However, when I inspect my character after using it, I show that my mitigation has decreased.    Which is it, up or down or is it bugged?</DIV>

[SanJ]

<P>The description is wrong.  It decreases your mitigation and increases your  buddies <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>The concept is to lower your AC while increasing or "giving (i.e. the Gift/Grant/etc.) AC" to another player usually the MT when OT'ing.</P>

[Titali]

<DIV>confirming sanjun, thats exactly it. a few another tidbits: you give up more than they recieve. and if they leave group/die/zone you dont get your mit back automatically, so make sure to cancel it off.</DIV>

[Caslav]

<DIV>Cancel the effect....thats a good point.  I can't tell you how many times I have been running around with that "on" for no reason.  I wonder if that's a bug?</DIV>

[Titali]

<DIV>unwaivering faith works the same way, except no negative for you. instead you get an extra 10 tower shield, so if its a bug, i dont mind it.</DIV>

[SanJ]

<P>In all honesty, I rarely use our armament line.  As a matter of fact, I don't recall using it sans once or twice since my upper 30's.  Most of the time a full group will have so many buffs on the MT and a decent healer it's just not necessary in full group play.  It could be more advantageous in a raid scene, but in full party grouping I enjoy keeping my mit/avoid capped out in case I need to gain aggro intentionally or unintentionally.</P> <P>Most of the time when I'm OT'ing I use our Call to Glory and Prayer as group buffs, cast our Aegis line on the weaker party member that gets hit a lot and keep up all my concentraion slots on myself.  I need to experiment more using our armament line, but I'm often responsible for picking up adds since so many have trouble with a Main Assist concept.  If you are picking up adds because you don't have a mezzer, it's a good idea to have your AC at its best!</P> <P>Likewise, when I have only one healer in the group and I'm OT'ing, I tend to assist the healer when needed to keep the MT in the green and if multiple party members become injured, I tend to heal everyone but the tank so the healer can focus exclusively on the tank.  I will rez in combat anyone that falls so the healer doesn't have to deal with that, but with so many play styles, group choices, etc. we have to remain adaptable.  I've been in groups with healers that play so well (know their class and it's abilities inside out) that I couldn't heal someone if I wanted too--they are ON THE JOB!  However, I tend to get in some groups where I feel like the main healer because someone either is slacking or doesn't know what to cast when.  I've questioned several healers in a few recent groups as recent eBay purchases--no kidding!  I'm sure we all experience the same things from time-to-time.</P> <P>This is the exact reason I picked the Paladin class because of so many robust abilities we have with tank, OT, heal, ward, dps, etc.  I can step up to the plate to deal with a variety of situations.  I would like to echo the "leave our class alone with a slight twist of lower mana for aggro management on the raid front", but change is coming and like many others I don't want us to end up as pure plate tanks that just taunt, taunt, taunt.  Whatever changes our profession undergoes we'll have to adapt, but hopefully we'll have a voice in the process that will make it work out to an acceptable level for us all.</P> <P>Thanks,<BR>Kalen</P>