How to fix Spirit Idol

[Veril]

There are a number of problems with Spirit Idol as it stands.

1) It's not an aura where most people "similar" to us get aura's that affect the group

2) It has a duration of 2 mins, and a mana cost of 200. Other people auras last 30 mins and cost 300 mana. Our spell therefore costs 3000 mana to maintain over the same period, that is ten times the cost of aura's. Sure we have mana, but that 10 times cost is eating away at our mana advantage. To maintain the Idol costs us 3 of our CanniV's over that period, that's about one third of our CanniV's. That's a heck of a lot.

3) It generates instant aggro - so many times I get all the adds that pop on me and they kill me in 2-3 seconds. The benefit of having the Idol is so that everything can be resist debuffed asap. When adds spawn, by generating aggro, they jump me and I die, the Idol despawns and so nothing is debuffed.

5) The Idol's debuff effect ignores lines of sight, everything within it's aura comes charging in. Wanderers, roamers, anyone around the corner, they all charge in from every direction with NO WARNING.

6) The Idol affects all NPC's in the area, you cannot use it where there are any non-hostile NPC's

7) The Idol does not stack with similar abilities. Chanters get extra Mana replenishment, druids get extra healing, clerics get extra damage mitigateion, warriors get extra damage mitigatation, paladins get extra healing, wizards/rogues get extra damage from their traps. Every single class except shaman gets to have their ability do extra. Shaman get something that is weaker than our normal debuffs.

8.) The Idol is targetable, it gets in the way all the time, it makes it harder for everyone else (and me) to target mobs using hotkeys, and even sometimes the moust

9) The Idol costs us something that none of the similar classes (buffers, debuffers, priests) have to pay for, because of the 2 mins duration, it costs us the single most limited resource in the game, it costs us a spell slot. All the other classes cast their thing every 30 mins and then can reuse that spell slot. we cannot. Costing me a spell slot is a massive cost that is simply unsurportable. I have incredible pressure on my spell slots throughout a raid/group.

Here is how to fix the spell.
Change it to an aura that affects the group, and it gives everyone in the group an effect similar to . The base effect of reducing resists already exists, it should be simple to take the Prophet's Guide spell data and make something that is level appropriate.

Compared to every other classes Aura/Trap the shaman one is very sub-standard. The only reason shaman haven't cried out about this is that even as a very sub-standard ability, it was so much better than the crap given out in DoD, that is was seen as a good thing. That's a measure of how low our expectations have been set.

[Beafly]

Interesting analysis. I was raiding the other night and watching all the neat little icons from enchanters, warriors and clerics in my group pop up in my song box. Our shaman team has thus far refused to use our idol on raids, just to many unknown factors and we don't want to be the ones to whipe us on a trivial event.

I sure do like the idea of having a prophet's guide type effect for the whole group. Even a small % effectiveness would be welcome.

[Samanna]

That's a great proposal, Veril.

[Veril]

I think it's an item for the top 10 list Sam

[Scowls]

i feel the same way. as a shaman, and the single largest buffer in the game, i got a nifty little agro toy that gets in the way of targeting. personally i would have prefed a buff, or atleast a stackable debuff...so for now ive used it 2 tiems to play with it (1 time with greenies, another at raids where i died in 4 seconds because of agro)

[Jaraman]

Good idea making it similar to Prophet's guide. As long as the effect remains continous and does not poof after 2 spell casts, like Prophet's Guide. Otherwise a good solution that addresses most issues. Taking up a valuable spell gem and having to recast it every 2 min are my biggest beefs. The unintended aggro around walls, etc. is also a pain making use situational. The hassles of Idol just about cancel its limited benefit.

[Unmei]

My perspective here is a little odd, of course.

Point #2 doesn't really stand in my mind; Let's do a comparison of mana costs for effects before you complain too much:

Illusionist's Aura. 6 mana per tick for 30 minutes. (Doesn't seem to extend via AA or foci at this time.) -500- mana. Group Clarity (Boon of the Clear Mind); 6-9 mana per tick (Depending on level), for 27 minutes... 175 mana. And it doesn't go away if your group members stand too far apart.

Idol of Malos. Debuff various resists by 40. 200 mana. Malo; Debuff the same resists by 45. 350 mana. Malos, 55 resists, 400 mana.

Now you can definitely make a point about stacking, but in terms of mana efficiency, you guys have us beat. Your debuff effect is significantly cheaper than the spell it's based on. Indeed, the application I see this spell working best in is actually being dropped in combat in place of casting Malos (Which it incidentally casts faster than, as well), unless the content is really resisty.

That said, there are definitely a bunch of issues with the idol that need fixing, like line of sight and getting the dang thing by pushing F8, but I don't think repurposing this spell into an aura is the way to go. If it were my spell, I'd lobby to have the LoS/Targetting issues cleaned up and the debuff brought up to be in line with Malos. (Idol of Malo can probably stay the same, since it rolls in 5 levels earlier than Malo does.)

Just an alternate point of view.

[Scowls]

ill trade you for Illusionist's Aura, if you like it so much. bear in mind while your comparing your numbers, thas 6 mana a tick per group member, and it stacks with C6 and clickies. mean while spirit idol would use a spell slot, doesnt last long, and generates initial agro on spawning mobs that are UNSLOWED and want to kill ME...

[Maccuul]

[Unmei]

[Giac]

[Veril]

[Veril]

[HuacaWuaca]

[Unmei]

[Scowls]

[Maccuul]

[Unmei]

[Spaced_Shaman_]

[Galelor]

[Vando]

[Unmei]

[Unmei]

[Brohg]

[Unmei]

[Spiritblood]

[Samanna]

Hi.

I think you may be confusing a couple of minor complaints with being unsatisfied.

I complain that my F-150 doesn't turn as tightly as my wife's VW; that doesn't mean that I am unsatisfied with it.

[Brohg]

[Wudoman]

[Jaraman]

[Tharkis]

[Zaviax]

[Samanna]

[Jaraman]

[Tharkis]

[Chukara]

[Samanna]

[Giac]

[Unmei]

[Moradin]