Charm Macro.

I've got both a coercer and a troub in my hydra that can charm, but I've let the abilities languish because I'm not sure how to set it up and not get them killed every time the charm breaks.

I'm not used to playing charm classes. Anyone have any suggestions for a macro setup to retarget/charm pet?

I’ve got a troubadour and haven’t messed with charm either. I did try it with my warden one time – he has the charm animal AA line (completely worthless but required to get the ability that procs a group heal on melee attacks). Every animal I found that I thought might actually be useful was not charmable – like those panthers in Cazel’s Mesa – so I gave up.

I’m assuming you’re playing your tank as your main, and are focused primarily on what’s happening via that character. This suggestion is based on that assumption.

I would create a macro on your charm class (troubadour or coercer) with 2 abilities – either a stun or mez and then a charm. Personally, I like targeting (assisting in this case) to be in a dedicated macro tied to a single key rather than as the first step in a macro that casts a spell.

When you notice charm breaking, I would immediately target the mob with your tank and use an emergency agro ability (like Rescue if you have a guardian), hit your assist key to target the mob with your other class, and then that re-charm macro. I would only map that key to your charm class to avoid conflict with other abilities from other classes – but maybe it wouldn’t be necessary.

This is probably obvious, but that’s honestly the only way I can imagine doing it. Unlike WoW, which has those nifty targeting options, I don’t know of a way in EQ2 to “mark” a mob for later reference. If you can be quick in your response to a charm break, you should be able to pull agro onto your tank and re-charm without too much trouble.

Good luck.

I've got the basics going. The critical piece that's keeping the macro from being useful (assuming I plan to use it while another toon is on the main screen) is a way of retargeting the charm-broken pet.

If there's a / command to target a creature attacking you I don't know what it is. I tried assisting myself, but that doesn't work because you're not actually targeting the creature to begin with. Similarly you can't target yourself and cast through.

*shrug*

The best alternative I can come up with (haven't tried this yet), is to figure out what the break message is when a pet breaks charm and use ACT to set of a warning noise. At least then I'd have a way of knowing the charm was broken (other than my coercer being dead).

I believe that unless you have targeting locked, if you hit ESC to untarget your current target, if you get hit by a mob, it will automatically target the mob hitting you.

Theoretically, this could allow you to at least Mes the uncharmed mob with relative ease. Playing EQ1 with an Enchanter in the group, I died too many times messing around with charmed mobs so I just gave it up.

It's not like the Coercer NEEDS much more power. My group is nearing L50, and with a tank to land her proc buffs on she puts out the most insane DPS. Glad I have one, but GOD is this class overpowered.