Revamping the MOST USELESS skill EVAR...

[seekeronos]

Befriend seems to be fairly broken, and utterly a waste of skill points for a TT.

Seven levels, or 28 potentially wasted skill points.

As I understand it, the skill is supposed to temporarily charm a mob and/or reset hate.

Let's have another look at it:

Befriend should function like a lightweight "charm" that either de-aggros an attacking MOB, or convinces a (normally aggro) MOB to ignore you. If you are lucky, it might even fight for you or buff you... (under its own AI).

Basic Mechanics: The objective is not to turn the TT into a "Beastmaster" class; charmed mobs wouldn't be under the direct control of the player. Essentially, there are two states that the higher tier Befriend skills would roll for:

"Pacify" -- If successful, it will turn a MOB that normally appears red to a player to yellow (non-aggro) AND cause the MOB to disengage the player if it has attacked. As a one-to-one ability, it will not guarantee that social aggro mobs (linking aggro) will not attack the charmed MOB, or the player that charmed it (of course, that would make it a good get-away ability). The pacified MOB will roam about within its patrol lane, ignoring the player that charmed it (until the ability wears off...!)

"Enthrall" -- If successful, it will turn a MOB that normally appears red to a player, or a MOB that has aggroed to become green (friendly). The MOB will then follow the player until either the MOB reaches its tether, or the Enthrall affect wears off. While enthralled, the MOB will attack any nearby MOBs that aggro the player. Beware that when the Enthrall affect wears off, the MOB might aggro the player.

Once the enthralled MOB reaches its tether, it will flee back to its original spawn point and revert to its normal un-enthralled state.

Limitations: At higher levels, the ability should take a considerable amount of reactor power to use; chances of success are linked to player's CL vs. the MOB level; certain near-endgame MOBs will be immune (such as Ten-Gu in Cooper, or Bogeril in Der Todesengel or Mordana in Kitara's Veil due to their extreme fanaticism).

Named Bosses of any level would be totally immune to this ability.

Aggro MOBs that un-charm (effect wears off) will keep aggro on the TT that charmed it while that TT is still in the sector; otherwise, the MOB will clear all aggro and ignore aggro coding and be immune to damage for 120sec after the charm wears off (to prevent monster player kill - MPK) against miners or players in the area.

L1 - Confuse Enemy (Range 1.75km, Recharge 30sec) vs. any single MOB. VERY SHORT duration, less than 30sec.

----- 5~10% chance to cause aggro'ed MOB to break off its attack. Will not change the aggro state of the MOB (i.e. the colour of its icon) other than for it to pause its attack, and look at you stupidly. It will still follow you... and vs. higher level mobs will be quite ineffective.

L2 - Pacify Enemy (Range 2.5km, Recharge timer: 60sec) vs. single hulled/non-organic MOBs. Shorter duration vs. higher level MOBs.

----- 35~50% chance to temporarily pacify for an aggro'ed MOB of a lower CL than player.

----- 15~25% chance to pacify an aggro'ed MOB of a CL higher than the player.

L3 - Tame Monster (Range 2.5km, Recharge timer: 60sec)vs. single organic MOBs. Shorter duration vs. higher level MOBs.

----- 35~50% chance to temporarily pacify for an aggro'ed MOB of a lower CL than player.

----- 15~25% chance to pacify an aggro'ed MOB of a CL higher than the player.

L4 - Propose Alliance (Minimum TL 25, AOE to 3.5km from targeted MOB, Recharge 75sec) vs. hulled MOBs. Moderately long duration, decreasing vs. higher level MOBs.

----- 35~50% chance to temporarily enthrall or 60~75% to pacify for an aggro'ed MOB of a lower CL than player.

----- 15~25% chance to enthrall and 30~40% chance to pacify an aggro'ed MOB of a CL higher than the player.

L5 - Enthrall Monster (Minimum TL 30, Range 3.5km, Recharge 90sec) vs organic mobs. Moderately long duration, decreasing vs. higher level MOBs.

----- 35~50% chance to temporarily enthrall or 60~75% to pacify for an aggro'ed MOB of a lower CL than player.

----- 15-25% chance to enthrall and 35-45% chance to pacify an aggro'ed MOB of a CL higher than the player.

L6 - Area Propose Alliance (Minimum TL 35, Range 4km, AOE to 3.5km from targeted MOB, Recharge 75sec) vs. hulled MOBs.

----- 45% chance to temporarily enthrall or 90% to pacify for aggro'ed MOBs of a lower CL than player.

----- 5~15% chance to enthrall and 30~40% chance to pacify aggro'ed MOBs of a CL higher than the player.

L7 - Enthrall Area (Minimum TL 45, Range 4km, AOE to 4km from targeted MOB, Recharge 90sec) vs organic mobs.

----- 45% chance to temporarily enthrall or 90% to pacify for aggro'ed MOBs of a lower CL than player.

----- 15~25% chance to enthrall and 40~50% chance to pacify aggro'ed MOBs of a CL higher than the player.

Edited June 22, 2010 by -Seeker-

[bondct]

the biggest problem that I had with befriend is that even though it does work, as soon as you start shooting again the mob insta hates you... unlike menace or other skills that somehow prevent a mob from shooting you while you get in some cheap shots...

now if befriend reset hate... that would OMG totally rock... except for the fact that odds are like 9999999999999999999999999999999999 to 1 that the devs would make the raid mobs that you really want to reset hate on immune or have such a high resist that they might as well be immune...

[Klyde]

In "live" I was an advocate of this skill.

It didn't always work, but, if you were in a group doing your TT thang, it would temp turn a red mob to a green one. The very best results I had were with the Mordana during raids.

It rarely ever worked on Ten'Gu, and never ever worked on Bogerils in DT. I died there alot!

The skill only needed it's success % raised so that it would befriend the mob more often. In a raid you never had the time to retry, you were too busy trying to keep the group alive.

This skill was always meant to stop the agro from a mob while you were buffing groupmates, IE recharging shields, hull patch, etc.

During live buffing a group drew agro instantly, which brought the wrath of the mobs down on your TT head.

In Mordana raids, for whatever reason, I could be repping shields and casting area soothe and keep lots of the agro away from me.

The skill did work during live, and did work during ST3, although not very well, needed constant retries. Not sure if it works in ST4 as I have only put 1SP into it this time around.

[Jamosite]

the biggest problem that I had with befriend is that even though it does work, as soon as you start shooting again the mob insta hates you... unlike menace or other skills that somehow prevent a mob from shooting you while you get in some cheap shots...

now if befriend reset hate... that would OMG totally rock... except for the fact that odds are like 9999999999999999999999999999999999 to 1 that the devs would make the raid mobs that you really want to reset hate on immune or have such a high resist that they might as well be immune...

Well lets say i punch you , but say i'm sorry and YOU forgive me for that moment, when I throw my next punch you'll be pissed at me again. so I think the skill works as intended

[C Del[IS]]

Well lets say i punch you , but say i'm sorry and YOU forgive me for that moment, when I throw my next punch you'll be pissed at me again. so I think the skill works as intended

We could change the skill to "Sedate Mob" or "Drug Enemy", in which case it could just sit there and let you beat it up.