I'm also looking up stuff on wayback and most people are talking about how charm is viable in a group in 1999:
Everlore discussion on page 1 from 1999:
https://web.archive.org/web/20000510...ils&type=races
They don't mention charm being dangerous or useless to use, and someone even suggests it as a solo tactic on orcs at level 19. I don't think it was 'common knowledge' no one used it.
--Submited by: Viscar On: 06/08/1999 10:14:43 PM '
Ever been in a spot where its pretty much free for all but the one high powered group or individual there is killing everything? No problem charm the monster that you want to kill and grab your group and run to a spot where no one is at. When charm wears off you and your group and finish off that monster with ease! Best of all since charmed monsters are considered pets, anyone else who is trying to blast a charmed monster is wasting ALOT of thier mana trying to kill something they cannot.
And another post by someone else further down:
--Submited by: Anatsia On: 07/08/1999 10:51:37 AM
I am what one would call a newbie? Nahh... level 19 ehchanter
charm is a great spell fighting orcs anywhere in Norrath.
For example go to a camp where there are three orcs or even two.
Charm the orc that is the closet to you and run to the orc and let him
hit you just once. Since you can not control your pet the pet or charmed
enemy is just there to protect you. He will have no choice but to help you fight.
Make sure you tell your party your charming because if you at charm and your party does not know
they will try to kill him and he wont die. The enemy is now your pet you can not have two pets so whatch out
do not charm when you have a pet already.
Then sit back and watch eachother fight until he is dead from the other enemy or when he breaks the spell
this is the so cool when ur are in a train or have more than u can handle
Just based on those two posts alone, I'd say you're wrong about it 'always breaking in 10 seconds' and and never used in groups, etc. Sorry. Obviously people were already using as a tactic (and in groups) it in 1999. No one talks about it breaking in 10 seconds. They don't even mention it being especially dangerous.
And yeah, I remember charming being risky back in the day, but I don't think people viewed charming as super viable until they understood it better. Early guides I've found on enchanters seem rare and they were a pretty misunderstood and under-utilized class back then. I found someone saying that Enchanters weren't very useful even, so... I think that bad enchanters may have somewhat clouded your judgment of charm. I remember there being a stigma about charming in general until people got good at it... a good charm isn't as memorable as the one time the ENC killed everyone with his dumb pet.
And guess what? 20 years later people are very good at it now, so I think that explains the idea that it 'seems' OP. I don't think it is.
Also, I have been trawling casters realm and such and even in 2000 (RoK) era under the 'guides' area there are tons of posts about charming... I can't read them as the wayback didn't archive the actual content, but from the myriad of 'charming' guides, I would say that by RoK, charming was seen as viable. Again, I can't read the actual content of the guides, but from the titles, I don't think they are all saying, 'charming is awful, don't do it,'
https://web.archive.org/web/20010727...ter&Category=6
That is from RoK era-- of note is the "Charming Tactics" guide on there. This is way before PoP and AAs and all that, just FYI.
EDIT: My bad the second link is 2001, I read it wrong, so Velious not RoK, but its still pre-Luclin.