Enchanter for a casual player

[kabouter]

I'm planning to play a bit of P1999 again once the green server launches.

I used to play a bard on live, but right now I can only do short sessions and have to constantly go AFK. Back in the day I was charm kiting and I simply can't go AFK for a minute and come back with the bard.
Besides that my ping on P1999 is pretty bad (300ms) and I'd rather not get carpal tunnel from the twisting.

A Necromancer would be good, but I assume the Iksar race won't be available yet when it launches and from what I read Iksar is by far the best option for a necro.

Now the enchanter is something I think I'd really enjoy playing and can solo pretty well. However I'm not so sure how "casual" friendly it is. Let's say the door bell rings is it easy to just camp and exit? Because this was impossible with the Bard back in the day. And is it a good class for short (30min) solo sessions or will the preparation for charming take up too much time?

Or would a necro be a better choice even without the iksar natural regeneration?

[snyder43]

If the doorbell rings and your charmed pet breaks while camping, you're gonna be in trouble. That being said, I leveled my enchanter by playing fairly casually, so it is doable. There are plenty of times I'd log in, clear a camp (20-30 min), and log out. The charming set up is easy and doesn't require a ton of mana or time. If you envision yourself having to instantly camp every session though, I might suggest necro since you can FD. Or, just bind in the next zone over and gate/unplug.

[Legidias]

Bard charm kiting is way more lenient to afk sessions than enchanter charm kiting if thats your thing.

If you want the panic AFK, just roll monk.

[Sacer]

I never understood why people think enchanters are not afk friendly, just bind in a safe spot near your killing spot but far enough so the mobs leash, that way if you have to afk you press gate then /q it doesn't take long at all and it's 100% safe.

If you absolutely want to stay in that area you can also break charm and use a long mez duration so you have time to safely camp. (Enthrall at lvl 16 is already a 48 seconds mez)

At high level you can also use blanket it's amazing.

Sure it's not as convenient as feign death but it's really not that bad.

[kabouter]

If the doorbell rings and your charmed pet breaks while camping, you're gonna be in trouble. That being said, I leveled my enchanter by playing fairly casually, so it is doable. There are plenty of times I'd log in, clear a camp (20-30 min), and log out. The charming set up is easy and doesn't require a ton of mana or time. If you envision yourself having to instantly camp every session though, I might suggest necro since you can FD. Or, just bind in the next zone over and gate/unplug.

It wouldn't be every session I hope :). But I still estimate once every 5 sessions, probably the gate/unplug method would be best then.

Bard charm kiting is way more lenient to afk sessions than enchanter charm kiting if thats your thing.

If you want the panic AFK, just roll monk.
I haven't played in a long time, but the way I used to do it back in the day was I'd round up a bunch of mobs. Charm 1, let the others almost kill him and then break charm and kill him myself.
The only way for me to survive that train of mobs would be with selo and autorun. /quit and hope I'm still alive after that :D.
But either way with my ping as high as it is I don't think a bard would be good, besides I'm no fan of swarm kiting, I'd rather do some dungeon charming (which I'm pretty sure is disastrous if I have to AFK/camp with my bard, due to the low charm duration).
And I don't like playing a monk.

I never understood why people think enchanters are not afk friendly, just bind in a safe spot near your killing spot but far enough so the mobs leash, that way if you have to afk you press gate then /q it doesn't take long at all and it's 100% safe.

If you absolutely want to stay in that area you can also break charm and use a long mez duration so you have time to safely camp. (Enthrall at lvl 16 is already a 48 seconds mez)

At high level you can also use blanket it's amazing.

Sure it's not as convenient as feign death but it's really not that bad.
Thanks sounds I'll just give the Enchanter a shot when Green launches, unless for some reason iksars are available at the start and then I'll pick a necro.

[Canelek]

Not sure what you mean by kiting, but if you are charming a mob and not paying attention, then go AFK for a moment, chances are you will be at your bind point when you return.

You mention charming a mob and letting a group of mobs almost kill, then breaking charm to finish it off. Yes, that is one of the best ways to go about things on an enchanter. But, even if you have everything rooted nicely with PE, odds are that once you leave your chair, something bad will happen to you. Such is enchantering. :)

Fun class, but not an AFK class. If idle and a DE, you can always use Hide, and con a mob to check to see if Hide worked. You just don't want to mess around with leaving a charmed pet alone for any period of time.

[kabouter]

Not sure what you mean by kiting, but if you are charming a mob and not paying attention, then go AFK for a moment, chances are you will be at your bind point when you return.

Sorry I meant playing as a bard in outdoor zones. There was definitely no way I could go afk until I finished my kiting.


You mention charming a mob and letting a group of mobs almost kill, then breaking charm to finish it off. Yes, that is one of the best ways to go about things on an enchanter. But, even if you have everything rooted nicely with PE, odds are that once you leave your chair, something bad will happen to you. Such is enchantering. :)

Fun class, but not an AFK class. If idle and a DE, you can always use Hide, and con a mob to check to see if Hide worked. You just don't want to mess around with leaving a charmed pet alone for any period of time.
I see in my initial post I put down going afk for a minute. But actually what I was more interested in is if I can have enough time to camp or gate in the middle of a fight. So in case the doorbell rings, wife calls, etc.. I can leave the game without dying every time (which would have been the case back in the day with the bard).

p.s. I was planning on playing the DE enchanter (or a gnome necro)

[Canelek]

Sorry I meant playing as a bard in outdoor zones. There was definitely no way I could go afk until I finished my kiting.


I see in my initial post I put down going afk for a minute. But actually what I was more interested in is if I can have enough time to camp or gate in the middle of a fight. So in case the doorbell rings, wife calls, etc.. I can leave the game without dying every time (which would have been the case back in the day with the bard).

p.s. I was planning on playing the DE enchanter (or a gnome necro)

Ohhhh I see. Yeah, mezz or AoE mezz then gate away yup.

[commongood]

Even without being able to pick iksar I'd still roll a necro. The FD and solo power is exactly what you're after when you need to afk at the drop of a hat. Gnomes, Dark Elves etc still get the same spell book as iksars :D

[Jimjam]

You can always die and CR LATER?

[Benanov]

If you can slog until 30, SHD gets pretty casual friendly, especially with the Circlet of Shadow/Circlet of Shadows.

29 is horrible though.

[Lojik]

If you can slog until 30, SHD gets pretty casual friendly, especially with the Circlet of Shadow/Circlet of Shadows.

29 is horrible though.

If this is for green, it'll probably be a while until cos is available. But shd at 30 is probably friendly for afk.

Really I think any caster class isn't too bad as you can just gate if you need. Surprisingly wizard is ok as you probably won't be in a group and it's usually afk 10 minutes and then 30 seconds of quadding, you'll probably be afk anyway.

[kjs86z]

You'd be fine on an enchanter.

Like people have said....just bind somewhere close to your XP spot (pref at a ZL).

Emergency AFK? Gate, zone, /q.

[Izmael]

Enchanter isn't the worst class for a casual player, but surely isn't the best one. You need to be pretty involved with the game mechanics to make any use of an enchanter.

Necro probably best, close second would be druid or SK.

[Wallicker]

Any class that can gate or FD should be fine...

[kabouter]

Even without being able to pick iksar I'd still roll a necro. The FD and solo power is exactly what you're after when you need to afk at the drop of a hat. Gnomes, Dark Elves etc still get the same spell book as iksars :D
I also prefer an enchanter so I'm not limited to undead dungeons to be able to charm.

Enchanter isn't the worst class for a casual player, but surely isn't the best one. You need to be pretty involved with the game mechanics to make any use of an enchanter.

Necro probably best, close second would be druid or SK.
Ah we'll see how it goes, at least it will be a challenge :). Hope I can solo some dungeons, the time zone where I am in it is hard to find a group.

Thanks everyone for the advice, see you on the green server hopefully.

[Neric]

The idea of looking for AFK-friendly classes sounds somewhat weird.