Power Drain?

[Te Ko]

I read that power draining for active spells is up again and I figured that’s for pet buffs and DoT’s…..but yesterday I noticed my power going down during the end of a fight while there was no pet and no DoT left. I got resurrected, so there was no drink active but I managed to call the buffs Favor of the Fallen, Mark of the Miasmic, Gift of Magi and I guess my very useful Erudite Aura Vision. They all together were able to drain more power than I regenerated? Someone else enjoyed the similar feature?

[Chandigar]

All the racial visions drain mana AFAIK. Moderately significant amounts. I don't remember how huge a penalty ress effect was... maybe it dropped your pool so low that the drink couldn't fill it faster than you were draining? I dunno.

[thisMoriMo]

Do DoTs actually drain power while active? And is there actually a useful racial vision thing?

[Rhug]

The only mana consumption  when a dot is active is taken at the beginning when applied.

[Chandigar]

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thisMoriMori wrote:
Do DoTs actually drain power while active?

And is there actually a useful racial vision thing?

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Don't think so.

And yea, I've used sonic vision now and again when I'm in a dungeon. In some of the big caverns in FG I still found it easier to toggle on sonic vision to take a look at the entire room... you can see amazingly far with it.

[thisMoriMo]

I didn't think DoTs used power when pulsing, but I've seen some mentions of it lately and I've certainly missed some really obvious stuff in the past... My racial sight (forgot which) doesn't seem to include dead (undead?) critters and is not nearly as useful as the ability "gamma".  Naturally, I had no idea it had a power drain.

[Chandigar]

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thisMoriMori wrote:
I didn't think DoTs used power when pulsing, but I've seen some mentions of it lately and I've certainly missed some really obvious stuff in the past...

My racial sight (forgot which) doesn't seem to include dead (undead?) critters and is not nearly as useful as the ability "gamma".  Naturally, I had no idea it had a power drain.

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Yea, I don't like using the magical gamma ability... call me a nerd but it seems to ruin the immersiveness when everything is washed out grey heh heh

[Qrgauth]

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And is there actually a useful racial vision thing?

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Well, if you have your monitor set up properly, Ultravision is a big improvement in dark areas.AFAIK, most people just turn up the brightness/play with the gamma and whine about how racial vision sucks.

[gitkik]

Infravision isn't half bad if you have a lightsource with you to see the ground.  It was the best way to find faries in Nek - just look out for the undead that don't show up!

[Lescoe Bos]

Okay, just to setup this post, I'm a casual gamer, and this post is just MO. I'm a 31 Necro with just my own buffs 99 INT and 66 STA.

I've noticed that since this patch came through, every other class is spamming their way through every HO while I'm casting maybe 6 skills. The power pool comparison is disgusting. They are all running just as many buffs as I am, and in some cases are 4 to 5 levels lower. Their power is barely past the 1/4 mark and they are burning through skills. I however, have casted my 4-6 skills and I'm staring down the business end of half a bar? How does that work? I'm not running any class vision skills, I have maybe one or two dots going, everything else I cast is debuffing when grouping. I've eaten and drank superior 3 hour food. The problem is, the necromancer didn't used to drain this fast and I was actually able to contribute more per encounter, especially encounters against ^^ yellows and oranges that don't go down in less than 30 seconds. Since then, each grouped encounter, I've had to call out OOP. And with the damage that my pet has taken, I basically would tap it dead before I regained 1/4 bar.

So in the end, I have started a scout class and a priest class. I'm disappointed because I like Necromancers, I have been playing this one since launch. But I'm going to try brigand and templar because my 31 necromancer is just too much work to cast maybe 10 times during an encounter where any number of them could be resisted and the power is lost.

If it ain't broken...

LES

[Te Ko]

Same here, necro 31 struggling with leaking mana.  

The drain is so sometimes so massive that my mana bar goes down for like a third or a forth of a bubble without me doing anything, not even fighting or having DoTs active.

Actually sometimes it seemed better to chain nuke until I’m empty instead of fighting slow and lose my power to some obscure mana drain. I really would like to know which spells and buffs drain how much mana. I won’t be playing for a couple days but if someone else is testing it, please post it here.

Btw I still love my necro and I will keep on playing it. I just strongly hope this is just temporary and the promised “looking into necros” will make our lives easier…one day.

[prince_sd]

The mana draining spells are the petbuffs, so basically Agitation, Boon of lifeless series. I have tried with and without these buffs and am pretty confident about it. Also the drain is 2% of your total power pool every 10seconds.

[Rhug]

I am beggining to realise that using 2 pet buffs while solo or in groups is not worth the mana drain.  The increase in pet damage/regeneration doesnt justify the mana cost.  After extensive testing, I have decided to only use aggitation at level 32.  Mobs die at the same rate, I end up with more mana, and my UA doesnt seem to be damaged any more then with the buffs.  This may change at higher levels but I just cant see it at level 32.

 

PS:  I am Level 32 Ogre necro with 135 int

[Lescoe Bos]

I 100% agree that dual pet buffs active is a huge drain, but my biggest issue at this point is having certain skills of mine cost 1/10 my total power. Seems a bit steep to me. I'm heading out now to tabulate actual numbers as best I can. Wish I knew this patch BS was coming so i could have recorded pre-patch numbers to compare.

LES

[Lescoe Bos]

31.5 Necro 99 INT, 60 STA (1174 total power) with buffs active, no food/drink. Fallen Rook active, no pet buffs:

Grisley Mark App2: 56 power
Seism Adept1: 106
Blugeoning Eart App3: 46
Grasping Bones App1: 92
Blight App3: 106
Breath of the Unearthed App1: 51
Withering Affliction App1: 39
Pestilential Blast App1: 51
Grisley Brace App4: 100

Average power cost pet spell: 71.8889 power. With a single pet buff active and one or two DoT's running, this puts MY necro in the range of being able to cast only 13-14 skills per total power pool. 1174/71.88889 = 16.33 Power cost from buffing will most likely drop it over time to 13 skills since 2% of 1174 is 23.48 power over the duration of the pet buff.

Now, factor in resisted casts (because I play in Zek and EL and my skills get resisted noticably enough), and maybe an add from time to time, and where does that leave the necromancer in combat? Screwed.

LES

[thisMoriMo]

I don't really have power issues but maybe I'm just in the habit of tapping my pet alot. It seems odd that some players have issues and others don't. I just don't think I can cast enough to go OOP in a regular encounter unless I'm just duoing with a priest or forget to pay attention to it before a fight (this actually happens alot more than I should admit. "Are you drinking, necro?" "Um lemme check. Yeah. Keep pulling." ). I really don't have to monitor my power bar much at all. I sort of keep half an eye on it and may tap pet proactively while waiting for something to refresh but I actually have absolutely NO concept of how much power any of my spells require (alright, I know the pet taps don't take any...). So why do some players have such a hard time? Is it a level thing? It's not a power thing. I'm a stoopit race and my gear isn't fabulous or even OK. I haven't camped the Rock (tm) or huuptics for the bathrobe of the invoker. I run 2 pet buffs all the time, even in groups where I should only use the one because I forget which one I should have up and am too lazy to look every time. Maybe it really is the excessive pet tapping.  I dunno. Just seems weird that there is such a wide range of power issues. I do drink half the time. At least half!

[thisMoriMo]

We ARE convinced that DoTs do NOT drain power after the initial cast, correct? It seems to keep popping up. I do not believe that DoTs drain power.

[Quitar]

Hi all, 37 Ogre Necro with approx. 1700 power pool (130 Int). I do notice a drain in my power all the time, I dual buff my pet. However I rarely have power issues, Necros are power batteries we should never really run out of power as long as our pet is alive. I have on several occasions supplied the healers with both types of power regen items (splinters and dark hearts) to help keep the tank alive. I think people forget or just don't know how useful Necros are in a group besides our dps.Anyway.... After a normal solo fight I cast Essence Shift (Adept I) and Bloody Ritual (Adept I) on my pet and then I immediately cast Mend Bones (Adept III). After several tests (every fight for the past 9 levels) The power you get from the two power regen spells is more than the power cost for the heal and the pet's health goes up also. So I can continually cast these during a (grouped) battle in combination with Breadth of the Unearthed (Adept I) and I never run out of power and my pets life never drops unless it is tanking. At the end of the battle I summon a dark heart (Adept I) and I cast the dark heart plus the routine I described above and I have gone from less than 25% power to over 90% in almost no time. Several times I have had people comment about how fast I regen (as I am sure all you necros have) I drink/eat the normal junk you buy off the docks in EL. Here is a common solo fight right now, in Feerott on the beach I take on a solo 35 Huuptic I send pet, cat Swarm of bats (App IV), ghastly stench (adept I), bludgening earth (Adept III) (hey its grey bud still does damamge for almost no power) and Blight (Adept III). Then I sit there for a few second and watch the mob die. I only used less than 25% of my power. I regen as I explained and do it again. I NEVER run dry.....ever. Its alot of maintenance casting but I have gotten into a habit and now its second nature. I know there is a problem with power drain and I would like it fixed (as we all do) but it is no reason to stop playing a necro by any stretch of the imagnation. Just my 2 cents...

[Te Ko]

Actually I can't leech my pet all the time since it's tanking a lot but I'm doing it whenever possible and I'm definitly going to try your routine.

I do have power issues especially when I run out of power and wait to go up again, that's normally when I can't leech my pet or I would kill it. My power bar just moves up a bit only to go down again.

Maybe it's getting better with 1. the black heart 2. changing to another pet 3. hold back with casting 4 try to use only one pet buff.

The thing that was mentioned above irritates me too a bit. I cast some 3 spells and I'm already getting near to half of my power, having a Int 135 and some power ups too. I guess the list of mana cost per spell/ DPP is becoming more and more important.

[thisMoriMo]

Are you using a caster pet by any chance? I did have issues with that guy being a little too delicate for my tapping habits. I should mention that I don't solo much, and soloing is really a whole different game in terms of attentiveness.

[Chandigar]

Once again,  if your pet isn't tanking you may be better served using a warlock pet since you can save mana since the buffs don't do anything for them while they still have a decently high dps (ok, high depending on which one you use) which then means you need to tap for less which means it doesn't matter as much that it has less hps.

[Te Ko]

Yes, I'm mainly using my caster pet at the moment and he is a bit delicate but still seemed like the best pet I can use atm. Rarely I rely on the Fallen Hero and never on the UA. Actually I group a lot without a tank since good tanks are rare in my range but combined with my healers the quickest and most efficient way to kill mobs is my caster and not my tank pet.

I had similar experience when grouped with a tank because I had to deal the damage but I guess if the new patch goes live I’ll be fine. Anyway it’s always a question about how much I leech my pet so my healers have to heal it again. I always check my healers mana to keep it at a reasonable rate.

Thanks for the input and the hint with the buffs for caster pets.

 

Btw could you tell me if it’s worth buying a adept I of the hearts spell?

 

Message Edited by Te Kore on 04-01-2005 10:11 AM

[Lescoe Bos]

This is sound soloing advice but realize that my initial post is for the more difficult mob encounters, ie: orange grouped mobs with hats, that you take out with a group. These encounters, plus adds, plus resists will drain you at a rate 2 to 3 times faster than any other class. In combat situations when your casting at that rate and your pet is being hit with taps and aoe dmg from mobs, you may get one or two taps and it may provide a max of couple hundred power points; a few extra spells.

 

Ditched my necro three days ago, started a cleric>templar. Hopefully it wont be as borked. I'm really disappointed with the way this class turned out. Necros are gods, or at least they used to be.

 

LES

[Handleba]

Mine still is...