Charming!

[Turric]

If anyone has ever played Dark Age of Camelot, the Sorcerer there (Albion) had the ability to charm any enemy found in the world and use it as their pet. The mob con colors were the same as COH (blue, yellow, orange, red, purple etc). So, without bonuses a sorcerer could charm even con monsters (yellow) but with bonuses could do orange reliably and reds less reliably. Obviously some mobs were better pets than others, but it was a lot of fun seeing high level people drag giants and exotic monsters from the high end zones to Camelot and such.

 

Anyway, I was thinking about this and the Mind Control set for controllers and doms. While I think there is value to every set not having a pet, I believe this would be an interesting option, even if it appeared lower than a T9 power. It is essentially like a permanent Confuse, but one that brings the target under your control just like any other pet. I think part of the mechanics are already established. However, PvP would be a no-go though, so that presents an issue. Or just make it work like Confuse anyway in PVP.

 

So, essentially, at lower level you could nab your first Hellion or Skull to be a pet. At level 50, you have a plethora of options, like a Sapper, a Mek Man or a CoT Behemoth!

 

Zoning would be an issue. Also, I think it should be relegated to minions or lieutenants maybe. That would present an obstacle also. Obviously not a fully thought out idea, but I thought it might bear some discussion from better minds than mine.

[MTeague]

I mained an Enchanter in many years of EverQuest. Part of me wants something like this.  Charming a critter that would rip your FACE off and playing the dangerous game of Hasting it and sending it to kill things for you and being ready with your PBAE stuns to re-establish control?  Good times, man. 

 

OTOH, that's... sort of... what Confuse is?

 

I don't know DAoC. I know of it, but I never played it. But in EverQuest, there was no Perma-Charm until for the first five expansions or so.  ALL Charms in EQ invovled the risk that your charm pet could break from of your control at any time, and when it did, it was going to Hate Your Guts. It would beeline straight for you unless a Warrior/SK/Paladin taunted it off you. And might STILL come at you, if you'd charmed it a few times in a row.  Later on in EQ, a permanent Charm was added as an "AA" (alternate xp) ability.... sorta like incarnates?  But it was lvl capped, and even at lvl 65, you couldn't permanently enslave any critter higher than lvl 45.  

 

So permanent charms.... while tempting from several RP angles.... well, they'd probably be massively OP.  Limiting it to "the duration of this map / does not zone with you" would allow some containment of unintended consequences.

 

Would also have some issues with "Defeat All" maps.  Can you release it to kill it?  Would enslaving it count as Defeating it?

 

All in all, I think I'm.... probably happier with Mind exactly as it is now. Lots of Confuse, but no permanent mental enslavement of a foe. 

Though I would like to see Mass Confusion's recharge dropped by about 50%. 

[Turric]

3 hours ago, MTeague said:

I don't know DAoC. I know of it, but I never played it. But in EverQuest, there was no Perma-Charm until for the first five expansions or so.  ALL Charms in EQ invovled the risk that your charm pet could break from of your control at any time, and when it did, it was going to Hate Your Guts. It would beeline straight for you unless a Warrior/SK/Paladin taunted it off you. And might STILL come at you, if you'd charmed it a few times in a row.  Later on in EQ, a permanent Charm was added as an "AA" (alternate xp) ability.... sorta like incarnates?  But it was lvl capped, and even at lvl 65, you couldn't permanently enslave any critter higher than lvl 45.  

 

 

 

So DaoC was pretty much the same thing. The charm was not necessarily permanent. Mobs had a chance to resist the charm or break it every few seconds. It was dependent on your Mind Control level (so if you're level 50 but only had 35 mind control because you invested your other points elsewhere, than 35 level mobs was your best). Functionally though, as long as you stayed to even con mobs, the charm wouldn't break. But when you tried to charm more than you could muster, they would do the exact same thing, beeline for you. DAOC was heavily based on Everquest.

[Mezmera]

5 hours ago, MTeague said:

but no permanent mental enslavement of a foe. 

Though I would like to see Mass Confusion's recharge dropped by about 50%. 

 

Um that's exactly what you'll get then.  Seeds of Confusion has spoiled people.