Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cryptos" data-source="post: 4592305" data-attributes="member: 58439">My initial impression, pre-release, of what they meant by controller was probably colored by the EQ / EQ2 Enchanter - Stuns, Mesmerize, Debuffs, Buffs, Aggro Control (directing monsters to attack different targets instead of the one p***ing them off) and Damage over Time.  The EQ enchanter, for a player on the ball, was the traffic cop of combat: Stop, Go, Go faster, Go slower, Yield, Spin around and fall on your ass, etc.I was a little surprised then to see what the Wizard became in the 1st PHB.I was a little more surprised with the durations nerf (there aren't any durations, really, just a duration roll that has a 50-50 chance of ending an effect every six seconds.)  Which is going to have an impact on any attempt to control anything.I'm a lot more surprised that, more than 10 years after millions upon millions of gamers identified what a 'controller' should do in combat, Wizards of the Coast was toying with the idea that it meant "do damage to several targets at once."  Aggro, or AI aggression, was the MMO's way of simulating what a DM would do if something kept wailing on a monster: have the monster prioritize targets according to who it sees as the biggest threat.  Doing area damage when you're controlling is often a big no-no... you don't want to make combat harder to control by having everything p***ed off at the controller.  Objectively, if you're a goblin, who do you want to hit:  the heavily armored, hard to hit guy that took a swipe at your friend with a sword or the guy in a bathrobe that just hit you and five of your friends by making fire shoot up out of the ground?  The existence of the Defender, to get targets off of people in bathrobes, suggested to me even more that controllers would be more "controlling" and less damaging.I feel a little bit better that they acknowledge that their first attempt at the Controller role wasn't really very... controlling... although shockingly, controllers still don't seem to have as broad a range of effects as even the ancient (by today's standards) Enchanter in an early MMO from 10 years ago.  Sure, there are lots of powers out there... doing very similar things.I hope that they provide updated versions of the old At-Wills in Arcane Power (and the Wands that boost/emulate them.)  It seems only fair that if they're going to change things up, it should be published in something a Wizard player is likely to own.</blockquote>

Verification