Can't get charm kite to work >_<

[Seredoc]

Adding this in here first as I almost forgot, lvl 15 druid(still,yes I know -_-)

Ok, so I am sure people have read about my issues with me personally not having charm work.

I sat down last time I was on(which was sometime earlier this week I think, work schedule changes are making me insane, stick with me here for a second lol) and timed it out, longest stick of charm I could get on a LB mob was 2m41s, on a db was 2m10s, even con 53s, yellow con 1m50s(lol) and red con, when it finally stuck, a whopping 15 seconds.

Now I know this is also a luck/rng thing, but I obviously have bad luck. Being a druid and having heals/buffs/DS, my bro has a similarly leveled Dwarf pally and we have been playing together.

Being the healer is extremely slow for killing as I am saving my mana and he is not doing as much DPS as even I could snare kiting(we are killing faster so far however and grouping is fun).

My question is, based off of this info, is a classic tank/spank going to work for us or should we go somewhere that I can fear animals while they are snared/dotted and he swings at their backside while they run away? OR would we be good in a place like Befallen where his anti undead spells can shine and I just play healer?

Thanks guys, I know I have a lot of dumb questions and dumber problems on here but any info is helpful.

[pharmakos]

I sat down last time I was on(which was sometime earlier this week I think, work schedule changes are making me insane, stick with me here for a second lol) and timed it out, longest stick of charm I could get on a LB mob was 2m41s, on a db was 2m10s, even con 53s, yellow con 1m50s(lol) and red con, when it finally stuck, a whopping 15 seconds.

that actually sounds about right

and re: grouping with a paladin... don't be afraid to cast some DPS spells. paladins can heal themselves well between fights, and semi-well during fights.

charm an animal if there is one around and use them as DPS. dealing with charm breaks isn't as bad when you've got some backup around.

[Tann]

also charmed ____ early on aren't meant to last long, 2min should be plenty for pet vs. mob fight to be over

[Seredoc]

Ok thanks guys. Was more used to live when I played and could commonly get 2-3 kills out of a charm before killing pet and starting over.

Going to try throwing swarm and maybe a few other spells in while still being the emergency healbot and see if that doesn't speed things up a bit too. Any tips on how best to dps and remain efficient enough to not go oom? Only have ~400mana at lvl 15 so it does go pretty fast lol

[pharmakos]

i haven't personally played druid a lot, so idk exactly. but you should be able to feel it out.... your current strategy is already working, so start with small changes to that and go from there. you said swarm, that's a good start since DOTs are of course more mana efficient than nukes. i think throwing in a charm pet as well will help. if you do use a charmed pet for DPS, snare the pet before you charm it so that its easier to deal with when charm breaks.

oh, and make sure you're casting Shield of Thistles on your tank.

[Seredoc]

Yeah, the snare is pretty much Standard Operating Procedure at this point in my charm career lol

Thinking about attempting to deepen my mana pool to allow for more leeway when it comes to mistakes, is wisdom always the better choice or should I go +mana?

[pharmakos]

raw mana is probably better at your level. equip/unequip a piece of gear with wisdom on it and see how much your max mana changes.

[Seredoc]

D'OH!!

I had a really nice and well explained edit to my last post...and it took me so long to type it out the forums logged me out and I lost it T_T

SO here goes again, did a bit of research and on The Druid's Grove (http://thedruidsgrove.org/archive/eq/t-3817.html) archive I found the formula for wisdom to mana conversion per level. Using the formula for the <=200 wis I calculated it out to be the equivalent of an increase of .21 mana per wisdom per level, or more simply: 2.1 mana per wisdom(now calling it MpW)@ lvl 10, 4.2 MpW @ 20, 6.3 MpW @ 30, 8.4 MpW @ 40, 10.5 MpW @ 50, 12.6 MpW @ 60.

Of course that is only at the levels in 10's, I could take my calculator and flesh it out for a full table(which I am probably going to do for the wiki now lol) and this is only at or less than 200 wisdom.

Essentially for my current level and for the next 5-10 levels + mana is going to be more effective for the price but around 25 it reverses and the scaling factor of wisdom will kick in and my mana will increase much faster by stacking wisdom then.

Glad I could bounce some ideas off you and find this info, really helpful

Edit: just did quick math, basically if you minus .04 from the MpW for each point above 200 wisdom @ lvl 60 that is about the easiest way to have a "rule of thumb" for calculating mana simply...it does get a bit mucky around the 223-225 mark on that .04 reduction, dropping more to a .035 deduction but at that point it is almost moot, all in all it is safe to assume that at lvl 60 going from 200 to 255 wisdom with give you >550 mana so really that is the point where theory ends and someone with excel or a calculator begins lol

[DrKvothe]

I really like 5/55 rings until 30 or so even on casters. 6 wis is just 36 mana at 30, and only 24 at 20. 110 hp gives you a lot of survivability, and death is the bane of leveling speed.

[Seredoc]

I really like 5/55 rings until 30 or so even on casters. 6 wis is just 36 mana at 30, and only 24 at 20. 110 hp gives you a lot of survivability, and death is the bane of leveling speed.

I would love to get my hands on some, the problem is this is pretty much my main(only higher lvl toon I have is a warrior and he has little to no money making skills).

I have no way, at this time, of being able to afford 500pp worth of rings AND be able to buy spells, I have been picking and choosing on spells just to make sure I had enough for the next round as it is anyway.

Pretty much all my gear has been trades, things like selling loot from the wall guards in Misty for people so they can keep going after those halflings lol. I didn't keep any of the money(sometimes they told me I could loot/keep the shields) and in exchange they would give me a few items. I have had no ability to buy anything big for this toon so I am pretty much stuck questing a prayer cloth of tunare and then raising tailoring to 122(I think) and taking a trip to FV hoping to find brute hides for cultural at this point.

The main reason I brought up the mana vs. wisdom is that there are a few items that are +mana and are often times vendored/sold for extremely cheap prices cause of no/few other supporting stats.

So far I have been lucky in that people have seen that this is my main and poorly geared and given me deals, someone gave me a necklace and sold me a hammer for cheap, but otherwise I am just trying to get a deep enough mana pool to be able to keep going on my levels so I can then farm and start getting money to gear up truly.

If I do it, looking at loot tables for what is available to halfling druids then it appears that my cultural is going to last me to the point of having to drop 1-3k on pieces of gear so I need to be able to farm some cash for that lol.