I wouldn't turn down longer-lasting aspects.

That aside, I can help you with one particular detail of your complaint.

>just seems so fast that if I am not constantly rotating aspects (pulling me out of shadows most often when ambushing)

You do not need to PREP the spell every time you want to take on a different aspect. After casting the spell, you can just ASSUME (w/o prepping 650) each aspect for the remainder of the spell's duration. While PREP does pull you out of hiding, ASSUME does not.

You might already know this, but I see you prepping every time you take on an aspect (maybe it's a script).

~Brian, Sepher's player

As an archer I use AA a lot when I'm hunting either warcamps or during invasions. I swap between wolf and hawk. I find I have no mana problems and the duration is just fine for me. I don't think it is a spell that is meant to be kept up indefinitely, but for all intents and purposes I can keep mine running for as long as I need it, as long as I don't use too much mana for other spells or sending to others.

General Radeek Andoran
Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer's Landing
Black Raider of the Mir'Sheq

Empires exist through conquest, they live on by exercising total control of the conquered.

Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato

'but for all intents and purposes I can keep mine running for as long as I need it, as long as I don't use too much mana for other spells'


That is the point

Reply to Radeek's post...

I do agree there needs to be a balance for a 50 lvl spell. That said, unlike Radeek's build, Pup is built as a sword and board and a pretty balanced character between spells and weapons. Its kind of telling that in the years I've had that spell that I have not once found a good way to work it into my circle of spells. Maybe its because I built pup a bit antique instead of using a bow but this build is a mix of mechanics and RP for the character. And with this built at least to me the use of vine/bugs/sounds/unbalance and being a source of mana for those hunting partners that can accept that type of mana makes more sense. To me its a shame though that a 50th spell that is suppose to be such a high level spell finds its use by only some of the rangers I've talked to while most dont even use it.

Pup's Player

Apparently my original post referencing a gentle nudge to the spell versus turning it into some uber spell was lost.

This spell is hardly 140 wall of force at 90 seconds and ten mana less. I choose not to even have wall of force to run it. So not trying to run both.

I even referenced several ideas with using lore perhaps. I did not ask for a unlimited duration. I do not think any read 'Gentle nudge' as, make spell uber. I even mentioned perhaps lengthening the cool down time between choices.

Just because the build your referencing as an archer is not mana intensive. Does not mean others do not see the usefulness of 650 of very limited use.

John

I think I failed to make my point as well, sometimes I tend to ramble a bit or be blunt, blame it on old age and being cantankerous. What I mean with 650 is could it be tweaked a bit? Sure it could. Should it be tweaked? Maybe. Very few use it like I do, but I am fortunate enough to have figured out how to make it best suit my character, in terms of both mana and training, and to be of such a build (pure sniping archer (who rarely hides in combat actually), no lores, no cmans's, and no secondary physical attack mode since I dropped brawling in favor of a major overhaul to PT and dodge) and it works very well for me. Would I like to see it work better? Uh huh, of course I would, I'm all for being bigger, better, and badder.


My choice for a change to 650 would center around duration and would be in the mana control realm rather than the lore area, since lores already affect all aspects of 650. The more mana control you have, the longer the duration of the aspect, however, then you should also have a longer cool-down between aspects, but those times should match. This would perhaps alleviate "some" mana issues that some rangers seem to have but would also require an adjustment to training paths. Would it be worth it? Maybe, but I doubt my own training plan would change much right away though.

Another idea would be to leave 650 as is when cast and using the ASSUME verb for taking on an aspect. This would be at the current mana costs, cooldowns, and duration. But what if you only need 650 for a "quickie", to get out of a bind or to perform some task? Perhaps we could add another verb such as GARNER *aspect name*. This would be of half duration for the aspect, at the cost of say, 10-15 mana, but with the same cool-down period as ASSUME now has. This could perhaps make the spell more "utilitarian" and maybe a bit more useful.

I don't know though, these are just early morning coffee drinking thoughts... I really don't know what other players do with 650 since I figured out what works for my character and I don't mess with what works for me.

General Radeek Andoran
Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer's Landing
Black Raider of the Mir'Sheq

Empires exist through conquest, they live on by exercising total control of the conquered.

Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato