What is the general consensus on the value of this AA for Paladins, or any other class that is able to purchase it. How exactly does it work? My understanding is that a bash from a mob will always be an interrupt in a spell cast, hence the value of being an Ogre SK. That any other spell interrupt is based on a change in /loc from the start of the cast, compared to the end of the cast. This is evident if you cast a spell in a corner, run around, and before it finishes you end up in the corner. So does this AA just allow for more flexibility, or more variance, in your change in /loc, assuming it triggers at the 5%, 10%, and 15% chances. Is that how it is implemented here?
Apologies for Necroing this thread up but how effective do most people find Channeling Focus 3 to be after purchasing it? I just recently bought the first rank and am intending on finishing out the line in the near future. The reason I’m posting is I’ve long felt that I get interrupted far more frequently than feels normal. Specifically from pure Melee where I’m allowed to cast the entire spell bar and then it interrupts, rather than getting bashed and having the spell interrupt immediately. It feels like it’s extremely frequent for just 1 or 2 mobs hitting you to have interrupt rates exceeding 50% from pure Melee, not bash interrupts, even for relatively fast casting spells (I’m talking about cast times of 4seconds or less). Some of this may be attributed to the fact that I’m free standing and not braced against a wall, or better yet a corner in most of these cases. However I find it even more odd when I try to powerlevel or farm Tradeskill materials and I’m tank a lot (5-30~) of green mobs in a 90 degree corner in a zone like Unrest, Sol A or Lower Guk. At first my thought was that I was trying to use the Velious 5.5second (3.8 hasted) cast time heal versus the PoP 3.8second (2.7 hasted) cast time Heal I was used to on AK. But when switching to Chloroblast, which casts at a hasted 2.1 seconds I’m still finding myself get chain interrupted 8-9-10 times before I channel a single Chloroblast. I recall having some 3-4-5 interrupts in a row on AK but I feel like those were fairly unusual and often lucky bashes not Melee interrupts. But going 8+ casts without channeling seems excessive when I’m cornered and not moving at all. In summary does anyone else feel they get interrupted an inordinate amount and if so did you purchase Channeling Focus and find it helped? Or am I crazy and this is how it’s always been?
I usually charm caster mobs because I feel that it is a nice compromise between dps and survivability, since the casters don't bash. Immediately after I bought the channeling focus AA I counted charm breaks and interrupts. I don't know how many the final number was, but it was well over 100 and nearing 200 consecutive charm breaks without an interrupt on recharm. Whereas prior to purchasing it is was dicey without using EL. It would appear that regular melee cannot interrupt spellcasting once this AA is trained. This is all anecdotal, but in my opinion, this is a must have AA. I think it is amazing.
It helps a lot imo. I think there was a change to channeling code a while ago so it wasn’t so reliant on /loc. Iirc it was to prevent us from being able to push mobs to interrupt their spells but I think one of the consequences was that because it used to be /loc driven you could stand in a corner to prevent interrupts but now you can’t because hits seem to affect it more than before. Anyways this is just me shooting from the hip on why it is how it is now but I also have a much harder time channeling casts in a corner while DS Pling than I used to. The channeling AA does help the semi recent changes though and when charming dual wielding hasted Rev pets with tola robes I am able to stun on charm break through their attacks without getting interrupted to often since I have the AA level 3
I believe that I notice a difference on less interrupts for the knock back / fling fights in VT, but that's purely anecdotal
I have had it for so long at this point that I can't quite remember what life was like without it. I remember at the time I was impressed with the difference. I know Slouch and Jizmak noticed a difference while tanking which convinced me to purchase it. All anecdote here too.
I know with my druid if there is a mob or two on me I simply assume I will never get a spell off (and I'm frequently right). The interrupt rate does not feel right to me but I have no data to prove it.
PC spell interrupt logic was rewritten to match a decompile taken from the client. That doesn't mean errors aren't possible, but it does mean that it's likely correct. Keep in mind that it does these two things: Every hit on you while casting a spell each has its own interrupt roll, so if you're casting a spell that's easy to interrupt, it's not likely to succeed if you're hit a lot. Spells that are six or more levels under your current level get a significant channeling bonus. This bonus grows the older the spell is.
Older meaning long cast time? Like if it's been channeling for 2 seconds? or Older as in actualy age of spell in comparison to the game?
So basically I should be using Superior Healing instead of Chloroblast or Nature's Touch if I want to channel?
Yah I found that, while PLing with damage shield I could heal more HP over the same period of time with a lower level heal due to fewer interruptions and probably faster cast time. Edit: no parse, ranger not druid, anecdotal at best.
That would be an interesting parse (or formula calc someday). Since Sup Heal has a longer cast time than Chloro. But then if you have good spell haste... does Wind of the Nightcrawler drop Chloro do 2.1 seconds?
super necro i suppose but maybe better than starting a new thread, i wanted to ask if maybe a dev could chime in on the implementation - does the channeling focus AA that reduces interrupts by 5,10,15 percent merely increases the channeling skill by 5,10,15 percent? i.e. with 220 channeling and channel focus AA 3/3, is that simply equivalent to having a channeling skill of 252, the max skill cap? or would an item that increases channeling percentage (boots of concentration for example) still be useful?
