Plane of Storms - Forest frogs
Plane of Nightmare - werewolfs...

I recently got 64 and could scribe my new charm, and I have to say it is maior fun, and rewarding in terms of xp. Where others got 1/2% level xp per mob in groups, I could gain that hunting alone. Hunting alone is a sad fate of seemingly too many Druids on my server, so the only few places where one can charmhunt are like always taken, they are small anyways as well.
Normal root/rott or kite/quadkite isn't very helpfull as one needs too much time to recover even with KEI/VoQ or the like if one hasn't much FT available, besides that I am kinda proud that I do not run to the local Enchanters all the time to bug the buffs out of them.

My little woodsie self would so love to see a few more charmable animals in zones of PoV/S tier or better, or at least I'd love to have the mobs that look like animals actually be animals. For example the spiders and creepers in PoD or the animal style mobs in Valor...

Anyone has any further thoughts on this, ideas, suggestions or corrections?

Charming is already on the gray line of "too powerful."

I doubt there will be any additions or enhancements to the way charm works or the availablility of mobs.

not sure if you can still, but you used to be able to charm solo 56-60ish really well in Necropolis.... those chelaki or whatever kicked much behind as pets.

but i haven't been there since it's been upgraded, so i dunno if it can still be done. perhaps it's viable xp for 60+ now, /shrug.

/cackles.

Yes I know that they consider charm way powerfull, but well, in every zone there are Undead for the Necros and in every zone there are mobs that Enchanters can charm, both classes that either are considered stronger than Druids at soloing already and/or have a wildcard for groups. It should IMHO be balanced for all 3 charm classes, really, at least mobs that look like animals should be flagged animals (if they don't have "summoned..." or "demonic..." or the like in their name)!

Fey

I'm surprised these 2 camps haven't been taken away from us. I guess it will now. You know Druids are forbidden from having animals around greater than level 40. The Level limit on CoT was only there to give us hope we hope we might be able to charm, we were never meant to.

Soon frogs in PoS will be summoned so the mages can have a turn.

Just duo with an enchanter in Tactics who has TD3 and then watch the exp roll in...

The summoning ability needs to be removed from anything that isn't a giant in Plane of Storms. As it is there might be a group killing dillo's and a few desert mobs, then a few people fighting over the frogs in the forest.. and the odd time someone will be going after a BoT / tactics key. Other than that the zone is a wasteland (Seems a popular theme :p

Charm has been nerfed enough to compensate imo. The need for these trash mobs to summon when the stuff in tactics doesn't is beyond me... course that doesn't stop me from killing stuff I usualy just kill a bit till I get summoned and hit exodus .. thinking of getting quick evac so I might be able to use egress.

Tactics has a higher mob density than PoS and I believe most of the mobs run at SoW footspeed (or at least they used to).

What they need to do for PoS is bring back wasp loot. =p~

You think Charming situation is bad in PoP. WTH happened in LDoN. Nearly everything is charm immune. If your lucky enough to find a charmable mob half way through an adventure you have to deal with he fact that it cannot be ensnared. They say that charm is too powerful but, it was them who created the situation that made it too powerful in the first place. Instead of following the linear progress of mobs HP/damage output. SOE decided to make mobs hit for an insane amount of damage. This has caused a cascade of effects through out the game one of wich is making charming classes who can harness this DPS into Gods. This is clearly a situation that cannot be fix easily and, I doubt the desire is there to really deal with it beyond the hamfisted way the developers deal with anything that incoveniences their vision for everquest. Unfortunately Charm has been a casualty of their lack of foresight. It is clear we charming classes are being punished for a mistake the developers made in designing the game. I think everyone agrees that charm was/is slightly pushing the envelope of being overpowered but, why can't they come up with a solution that doesn't steal a ability from our toolkit? I think we all know the answer...

Originally posted by Feyaria
Anyone has any further thoughts on this, ideas, suggestions or corrections?
Yes. Stop asking for charm changes, or charm will be nerfed even further. SoE hates charm, and while their attention is focused elsewhere for the moment, they will happy to whack it some more with the nerf bat if you give them reason. Let this thread silently die and never mention the C words again...

is charming overpowered?

interesting point, i dont think so (at least from a druid's point of view). Yes there are some places at certain times that charming a pet can be very rewarding. Sony, on the other hand, seems to have this particular situation under control, now, by what they have done by making mobs immune to movement changes or by making mobs more resistent or by having a higher lvl zone.

I hunted WW from lvl 54 to 63 (still do on occasion for ice burrowers). I used various methods to hunt but the primary was charming a bronto, mastodon, or hound. They gave good exp through lvl 60 and not so good from that point on till they changed the lvls of mobs in a patch. then the exp got a liddl better again.

When PoP came out a number of us found out the advantages of charming a raven or doggie in Pon...or maybe a rat in Pod or wherever. The experience bar started flying, a liddl too fast, so they nerfed the experience there a bit. No big deal, just created more of a time sink.

Then people started getting into the tier 2 and 3 planes and experimented and died, experimented and died, experime...well you get the point. They found out about forest loroks and pigs and other things. They found many mobs that summoned, they discovered the AA abilities of innate camo, sotw, and exodus. The daring dr00ds of today started pushing the envelope as to how to use all these new abilities to continue to solo.. to succeed.

As i said earlier, charm kiting can be very profitable, experience wise, at certain times and places. Early morning in PoS, for instance, i am the only one in the zone...woohooo! Off i race to the forest giant fort and aggro 5 loroks and run towards relve the mysterious (i found out why he is called that, he cheats when playing gin rummy). I pick up the other 2 loroks about halfway there. there is an open area that I use to run a wide circle in and prepare my mobs for death by snaring each one till they all moving slow. Then i charm one and go from there.

does this technique sound familiar. It should, its how a bard charmkites. could be why i have a lvl 55 bard. I kill all 7 of the loroks in about 15 to 20 minutes and make 3/4 of an AA. Not too bad eh?.

Can i do this all day long?...probably not as others will be entering the zone and i will need to share. But that is alright, it just means i drag a frog up to the giants and kill them. But they summon just like many other mobs do in PoS. This was Sony's measure to control a druids natural tendency to kill, kill, kill. Does it deter us...no, cuz they gave us the ability to instant port, once. Then again in about an hour....ahhhhh limitations.

This is just one zone of the very few where we can have fun...and equitable danger. The main reason i do this is for the risk involved. Do i test myself, along with a charmed pet, in WW hunting dragons...you bet i do! Do I grab 15 or 20 mobs and kite them around while killing one at a time in WW? Have i grabbed more than 1 ice burrower along with tantor and kited them around at the same time...yeppers. Have i had running fights for more than 2 hours straight there...you got it. talk about burn out.

I guess the reason i do this is because Sony gave us the ability to do so. Did they expect the results that they are seeing. Prob not but we cant just go anywhere and do this. This ability is only good in a few zones. Will they nerf it, that is possible, they have already done that by reducing the amount of exp.

but here are my thoughts. It is Sony's job to continue to create a time sink. The longer the time sink the greater the profit in the simplest terms. They do this by creating new content and by sniping away at certain areas..aka nerfs. They do this by slowly changing certain aspects of the game such as increasing incrementally the fizzle rate or the interrupt rate. Small things they are but they do accumulate.

But there comes a point, or a fine line, where they need to be careful about what changes they want to make for their 'vision'. This game is over 4 years old with new mmrpg's on the horizon.
They have lost a number of hard core gamers, the same gamers that would play hour after hour, day after day with a zeal not seen before.

What kind of new gamer are they seeing now....well, let me ask you a question. Why would a company start making it so much easier for a new player? yeah sure would have been nice for us when the majority of us started 3 or 4 years ago. But then we persevered. Failure was the fun...learning was the mystique ..survival was success! But they are not attracting any new hard core gamers. Many of the new gamers they are seeing find frustration and quit at the very earliest of stages. Oops, loss of income!. Well then lets make it easier for the newbs to get started (and hooked) and tougher at the endgame...cept the endgame is really only good for very large guilds...ldon...etc etc
well you know.

there will be a line, that once peeps are forced to cross it, they wont come back. It is not measurable nor quantifiable but it is there. And EQ2 is not the answer, but it is possible that Sigil games will have the answer.

Myself? I dont hide what my druid can do, Sony knows what we can do and what we cant do..dont ever think that we can hide something. What do I expect?. I am an older, agewise, player who uses EQ as an escape from reality and to provide mental stimulus. Do I care about the changes they make?..not so far cuz that is the challenge! Will they ever force me across that imaginary line? It is very possible. Will EQ end? my personal belief is not for some time to come. Many of us have a huge timesink in our characters and have made many friends within the community so we will continue to pay our dollars till they turn off the light as long as they dont push us over that line.

always push the envelope, do not fear change..

dekkon fuzzyfeet
storm warden
innoruuk server

Feyaria...
Your question on charming is easy. Find one of these "EXTRA" druids you like to partner with hunting PoStorm frogs. Better even is finding an Enchanter. Then stop hunting frogs, you both have a pet.

You at this point have a lot of choices...
1) Bee's
2) Forest Giants
3) Desert Trash
4) Frog Cave

Surely ONE of those camps will have plenty of mobs for you. Keep your two pets snared, and in the event both charms break at the same instance keep exodus or gate up. As long as one pet is on the mob, no one gets summoned. Both of you need to keep KR'ing your pets.

For even more fun, you can make it a threesome with a stunning/healing class (Paladin or Cleric) and then a double charm break isn't even lethal. The DPS and the killing really can make the exp flow nicely even with three people.

Iegil

3 people wont work... it breaks the four hatelist limit. Any given mob will only hold aggro on a charmed pet as long as its hatelist is 4 or less. This works with 2 players (druid and chanter is what ive done most) and 2 pets just fine. Add a #@&$* stupid ranger shooting a "stray" arrow at the mob and hello summon, or just loss of pet aggro if ur killing pussy mobs =).

Originally posted by princess0fdiabl0
3 people wont work... it breaks the four hatelist limit. Any given mob will only hold aggro on a charmed pet as long as its hatelist is 4 or less. This works with 2 players (druid and chanter is what ive done most) and 2 pets just fine. Add a #@&$* stupid ranger shooting a "stray" arrow at the mob and hello summon, or just loss of pet aggro if ur killing pussy mobs =).

First, the stun class is for emergencies only. Worth the XP share.

Second, root the NPC. Rooted NPCs still attack charmed pets.

quote:
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Originally posted by princess0fdiabl0
3 people wont work... it breaks the four hatelist limit. Any given mob will only hold aggro on a charmed pet as long as its hatelist is 4 or less. This works with 2 players (druid and chanter is what ive done most) and 2 pets just fine. Add a #@&$* stupid ranger shooting a "stray" arrow at the mob and hello summon, or just loss of pet aggro if ur killing pussy mobs =).
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The three person combo of druid / enchanter / paladin worked just fine for clearing the forest fort of mobs in an hour or two. We could harmo/pacify pull any single mob out and mug it with our two charmed frogs. The paladin could stun and tank the giant a few seconds while we snare/tash and recharmed the frog. The issues you mention about the four deep aggro list didn't seem to affect us for some reason. Keep in mind though you can always have the chanter wipe the hatelist if you wanted to.

/shrug - we had a blast exping that way =)

Originally posted by princess0fdiabl0
3 people wont work... it breaks the four hatelist limit. Any given mob will only hold aggro on a charmed pet as long as its hatelist is 4 or less.
Actually it's 3 or less. Four or more players on the hate list breaks it, and the target ignores the pet's taunt. For that reason, 3 players (or less) is fine.