Right now I find that 920 (Call Familiar) is a pretty weak and mostly RP feature. Most other professions that have summoning powers have much more useful "pets".

What does this ability bring to the class that is not simply an RP gimmick?

Sorcerers can summon a demon (725) that can:
1. Carry coins
2. Hold mana
3. Hold items (of significant size, mind you)
4. Break sanctuaries
5. Take control of a web
5. Guard your pockets from thieves
6. Deliver messages
7. Find players for you
8. Even eat junk you want to trash!

On top of those abilities, it also contributes damage when using 713 and can carry a floating eye (707) for the Sorcerer making some of their spells work better.

The demon is significantly harder to summon than a Familiar, and not all of them do all of the listed utility, but a sorcerer can control which demon they summon with proper training and runes.

Animal Companion (630) is also a lot more useful! Specifically in combat.
Animate Dead (730) also more useful! It just lasts less time, and requires you to find a target to animate - but once you animate something it has a great deal more it can do like attack and cast magic spells!

Then you have Spirit Servant (218). While this little guy has a lot less functional / RP value it does one essential and awesome service. It automatically retrieves a disarmed weapon for you! How great is that. I'll tell you - pretty great! It can also preserve you if you die!


Now, what does 920 do by itself?

1. Lets you look through it's eyes (707 does this too)
2. Lets you send it to town when you die so it can ask for help for you?
3. You can leave it to lurk in a room for you and watch that room...
4. Find other players! Just like demons!
5. Read stuff!
6. And fun emote/rp things.

It does combine with 930 giving you the ability to travel within the same realm, and that's awesome - but still requires a second spell to actually have a practical use for the pet. The only other noticeable value that I have ever heard about is that having your familiar summoned and in the same room can increase the success of Enchanting (925).

My suggestion is not to make 920 an uber amazing creature that destroys everything, but it should have some additional utility added and control! I think that Wizards should be able to summon a specific type of familiar to suit a specific utility it can bring (like 725 and demons).

That utility, in my opinion, needs to suit the class. Right now, the Wizard class seems particularly weak while disabled. What if you had a variety of creatures that could be summoned with Call Familiar which were specialized in breaking specific disabling effects (Web, Bind, Stun, Silence or Rage) a certain number of times per day. The number of times would be based on your training of specific skills (i.e. EMC or HP). Then Wizards could actually have a familiar that does not 1) help them fight with damage (725, 730, 630) or 2) help them protect their possessions (725, 218), but it would 3) protect them by removing status effects (limited to a number of times per day)! A unique, but specifically useful for Wizards, effect.

I think this ability would go a long way to addressing some of the new concerns raised by removal of spell potency / power from other spells (506 particularly) by providing the Wizard with a new mechanic that can save their life!

>>Has there ever been any talk about allowing a mage to cast invisibility on their familiar? I for one would find it fun, useful, and eye appealing in that there would be less of a menagerie outside tables or merchant shops that restrict pets.

I don't have the necessary Air Lore to check, but I wonder if that should be part of the Evoke change to allow you to make your group invisible, as most summoned creatures gain the benefit of group spells.

the ANCHOR ability could also stand to just be baseline. It's purely a QoL improvement 99% of the time, as it's not hard to find someone in town center anyway which is where you'd anchor it more often than not as is. Locking it behind a FIFTY lore investment doesn't seem like a good perk for water lore.

Make ANCHOR baseline, make the EL:W investment be bonus mana regen if your familiar is at your ANCHOR point. Gives everyone the helpful but not not at all game changing quality of life benefit, keeps the lore benefit for water mages tied to the spell.

<Familiar Gate is a great spell once you have enough training to only cause a small stun when you fail the cast - and there will be not uncommon failures even well beyond cap.

I would say familiar gate is potentially a great spell, but it suffers from the limitations of the familiar mechanics and those ridiculous failure penalties for insufficient training. This is just another instance where wizards have fallen behind due to lack of development.

~Taverkin

I think you have forgotten the most important feature of 725:

0. YEARS OF TRYING TO MASTER ILLUSIONS

For a lot of people, it kind of negates those other 8 you listed.

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>Daid: Pretty sure you have a whole big bucket as your penny jar. You never have only two cents. :p

How is OTF not a capped hunting ground? Many capped characters have hunted there for years.