[smee] Sending Ent to Charm School

Well, I finally got my PoJ trials done... all of them.  Yow!  Happened on 
a small group that was wanting to do the Seventh Hammer, and they took me 
in for a round about the room.

SMEE is very very close to being ready to try the trials, but I'm not sure 
we're there yet.  HOWEVER, it is possible to work the trials and shoot for 
named mobs.  For example, in the Trial of Flame, it's possible to for a 
mob to pop on the first wave that drops a mask, I think all/all, with 
Flowing Thought 1; any small group of SMEE could handle him.

The big defining factor in success with PoJ trials is simply DPS.  We are 
doing well in that department, but for burst damage there's one thing we 
haven't really taken advantage of: Ent and charm.

The guy running the trials was a 65 chanter, and would have the druid 
snare a pet, he would charm it, and then buff the thing.  And I can say 
that having a chanter-hasted High Guardian of Justice in your group is a 
MAJOR increase in dps.  Sure, it would break and go straight for the 
chanter periodically, but since it was snared, evading it for the recharm 
wasn't TOO bad...

So sometime when Ent and a ranger/druid is on, I'd like to screw around 
with it starting with midlevel mobs and increasing.  I don't want to make 
it a regular part of SMEE (we'll save that for Dire Charm, which will 
never break--much easier to keep track of) but for the trials or serious 
named mobs, it's a big deal.

The new expansion is nigh on us.  Rumors seem to go back and forth about 
whether the level cap will be raised.  I *have* seen many of the new AAs, 
and they seem... tepid (things like further extensions of old AAs, etc).  
However, one of the more interesting is that all caster classes will now 
have an AA which will allow their groupwide spells to affect pets.  
Including bards.  Woot!  So now Ent could get us a buffed/hasted uberpet 
which could also have overhaste, high resists, and a wicked damage shield.  
The possibilities for total destruction once charm wears off have never 
been higher!

Seriously, though, the possibilities are interesting; I'm curious to see 
what we do with them.  I don't know when I'll get the pet AA; it's 20 
points (OW!) and there are other choices I should probably go for first (I 
could get instrument mastery 3, singing mastery 2, and one level of 
lightning reflexes for that).

Many thanks again for the romp through HS.  I don't know how easy it will 
be to repetitively check and see if Drusella is up, but I will want to do 
that on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, only rangers can track her from 
ZI, and a druid would have to port in with them to get them out, so this 
may be pretty painful.

Not sure who we'll have Sunday, but see everyone then!

-->VPutz

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