EQ enchanter vet here. I’ve spent a lot of time the past few days thinking about how to rework and balance charm. I’ve even lost some sleep over it. It’s that important to me.

My favorite thing about EQ was the wide variety of combat tactics – quad kiting, fear kiting, all variations of charming, swarm kiting, root/rot, Earthshaker procs, etc. So many incredible ways for classes and spells to synergize in different ways.

Far and away, the most fun I ever had was charming. It was hard. It took real skill. I died many, many times. But the payoff was second to none. With careful planning and quick reflexes, I instantly became the best DPS in the game.

Let’s take a deeper look at the enchanter. It has 3 main pillars: Buffs/Slows, Crowd Control, and Charm.

Enchanters are well known for their elite stat buffs, including haste and mana regen. They’re the best at mezzing and crowd control, second only to shamans in slows, and they’re decent pullers with lull and pacify.

But charm is an enchanter’s bread and butter. Not every enchanter is effective at charming. Not every enchanter even wants to mess with the perils of charm. Some are happy to relax and take it easy. Not me. Charming was one of the few times I felt immediately stronger. It kept me on my toes. It made me feel alive.

Charm needs to be viable. It’s class-defining. Charm is how enchanters bring meaningful DPS to the table.

Imagine monks losing feign death. Or removing backstab from rogues. There. Would. Be. Riots!

But, foxroar1, pre-deep dive charm was super OP. Okay, fine. Let’s tune it down a little. Enchanters can’t (or shouldn’t) be the best at buffing, CC, and DPS. Right?

Right. At least, not all at the same time.

Make charming a choice. Either fulfill the buff/CC role, or supply high-risk DPS. Make it difficult to simultaneously fulfill both roles.

Want to chill, support the group, and use shadowkin pet (yawn) for nothing-burger DPS? Fine. Have it. Eat your sandwich.

Want to live on the edge and charm powerful enemies? Great! You’ll now incur a detriment to your mana regen.

What?!

Yes. A temporary debuff to your mana regen. Think of it as a continuous neurological connection between you and the mob to maintain charm.

Example Spells and their Values:

Level 4 Charm, -2 mana regen, 0-4 minutes duration
Level 12 Enthrall, -4 mana regen, 0-6 minutes duration
Level 24 Beguile, -6 mana regen, 0-8 minutes duration
Level 36 Coax, -8 mana regen, 0-10 minutes duration
Level 48 Persuade, -10 mana regen, 0-12 minutes duration

If enchanters gradually become too powerful, tweak these numbers.

The negative mana regen shouldn’t be so oppressive that our mana pool drains while sitting/medding, but it should be enough to make it difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with all the other demands of the class.

Mana Drain will become a permanently scribed spell. Necro mana batteries will be our new best friends. Mana regen items will be at an all-time premium.

Additionally, charm should scale with your level, up to your level minus 4, give or take. You should always be able to charm dark blue cons at a minimum, but never white cons.

You’ll still have to buy new spells every 8 or 12 levels. The main benefit of a higher-level spell is the increased duration of charm, at the cost of additional lost mana regen while charm is active.

Make stats matter
Charisma is the primary stat for charming. It should affect both how long you can hold charm and the mob’s power.

Duration:

For every 1 CHA stat point, increase charm’s minimum duration.

Got 30 CHA? Charm will last a minimum of 30 seconds.

Rocking 180 CHA? Enjoy 3 minutes minimum. Sweet!

If these values prove too high, cut them in half. Either way, every CHA point earned should give you just a tiny bit more breathing room and peace of mind.

Mob Strength:

Scale mob damage based on charisma.

With 0 CHA, charmed mobs will do 50% of their normal damage. Your aura isn’t very convincing. Mobs will hardly lift a finger in your defense.

With max CHA (255) charmed mobs will do 100% damage. You’re highly skilled at beguiling even the hardiest of minds. Mobs will go to war with you.

Roughly every 50 CHA will increase the mobs damage by 10%, or about 0.2% damage per point of CHA.

Intended Outcomes:

Gear matters. Charisma, intelligence (larger mana pool), and mana regen become critical for success.
Achieving leet levels of damage output won’t occur until late game or with super twinked chars. But remember, twinking is fun and encouraged for replayability.
If you charm for DPS, that’ll be your primary role. You’ll be able to toss a mez or buff here and there, but it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain all the other demands of the class, namely slows, debuffs, and CC.

Charming is about living on the edge. Charm needs to be high risk/high reward. It should be something that scales in power with gear and levels. Non-twinked enchanters aren’t effectively charming at low levels. Most won’t even attempt it until the 30s when it becomes more viable. Charm is a late-game mechanic, and it needs to be worth the effort after proper planning and skill.

With all its risks, perils, and upkeep, a charmed pet should be a solid tier above other classes’ single-cast pets.

Whatever you do, please do not remove charm altogether, and definitely don’t make it a short-duration fixed charm. There is no challenge to that. That's just pressing an easy button. Charming. Should. Be. Hard. But worth it!

Should druid and necro charm receive similar treatment? Maybe. Probably. Then again, another class’s success never made me bitter. We’re all on the same team.

I don’t want to be a buff bot.

I want to be the all-powerful genie. (Laughs in Jafar)

I hereby volunteer for all testing purposes.

Love,
foxroar1