Poll: How often are you running 617?

[graysun]

How often does your ranger run 617?

[Sean]

Very rarely.

[CrystalTears]

I always have it up as I play an archery ranger. I'm always in hiding so every little bit helps.

[Tea & Strumpets]

Why would you ever not be wearing it?

[SayGoodbye]

Right.. what CT said.

[Celephais]

Haha, love the Sig CT... Get Fuzzy is the best!
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u222/GuinnessKMF/CowLaundry20030623.gif

[Izzy]

Why would you ever not be wearing it?

I don't hide. Hiding sucks. 3 second aimed eye shots from the open work well enough.

[Celephais]

I see no reason to not have the spell on you... even if it's just another spell to get dispelled. If you haven't trained in hiding and are always in the open and don't fight things that disspell then sure, don't bother stacking it up, but when you're resting on a node... I always tend to have spare mana to spend stacking up spell durations on spells that can be stacked. (at least at any decent level)

[Tea & Strumpets]

I don't hide. Hiding sucks. 3 second aimed eye shots from the open work well enough.

It works, but not having the ability to hide as a ranger means you are gimped. (Obviously that's an opinion)

[Nieninque]

My ranger always had it on

[Teavangelical]

Not a hider; never bother. I'm already spending enough mana keeping 101/103/107/602/606/611/613/618/640 in place all the time.

I try to keep them renewed constantly so as not to deplete all my mana right before a hunt and be forced to wait for it to return, but there's always something to renew. Why add to it?

[kgolfer]

always

[Celephais]

Not a hider; never bother. I'm already spending enough mana keeping 101/103/107/602/606/611/613/618/640 in place all the time.

I try to keep them renewed constantly so as not to deplete all my mana right before a hunt and be forced to wait for it to return, but there's always something to renew. Why add to it?
I don't have a ranger high enough level, but my experience with my wizard (1x HP/EMC, not exactly regening much more mana than a ranger like level) who maintains 401,406,414,425,430,503,507,508.509,513,520,540,90 5,913,920 constantly I find myself with gobs of extra mana whenever I rest (even when I'm with a hunting partner and keeping him spelled)... I guess if you're really out hunting for long times w/ only short rests it could be a problem, but from an optimal exp perspective, I find myself w/ lots of time saturated on a node, and more mana than I can stack spells.

[Tea & Strumpets]

I don't have a ranger high enough level, but my experience with my wizard (1x HP/EMC, not exactly regening much more mana than a ranger like level) who maintains 401,406,414,425,430,503,507,508.509,513,520,540,90 5,913,920 constantly I find myself with gobs of extra mana whenever I rest (even when I'm with a hunting partner and keeping him spelled)... I guess if you're really out hunting for long times w/ only short rests it could be a problem, but from an optimal exp perspective, I find myself w/ lots of time saturated on a node, and more mana than I can stack spells.

Yar. Coming back fried from a hunt it's easy to just run a script to stack spells.

Although I was always a bit of a goof and kept every spell I knew on at all times: 603, 604, 605, 104, 105, etc.

[Teavangelical]

I don't have a ranger high enough level, but my experience with my wizard (1x HP/EMC, not exactly regening much more mana than a ranger like level) who maintains 401,406,414,425,430,503,507,508.509,513,520,540,90 5,913,920 constantly I find myself with gobs of extra mana whenever I rest (even when I'm with a hunting partner and keeping him spelled)... I guess if you're really out hunting for long times w/ only short rests it could be a problem, but from an optimal exp perspective, I find myself w/ lots of time saturated on a node, and more mana than I can stack spells.

Well, as a level 49 ranger, I have just a little over 150 mana. I go out with a full head and use a lot of it on spike thorn, which is 16 mana a cast. Also, right now I only have eight ranks in Minor Spirit, which means those spells, even though they don't cost a lot of mana, wear off reasonably quickly.

Really, mana's less of a problem than it used to be, but I don't see the need to maintain yet another spell on the list when it's doing nothing for me.

[Trouble]

I'd vote "usually" if that was a choice, but since it's not, I'll put Always.

Edit: not that I've played my ranger for more than an hour or so in the past 2 years...

[Nieninque]

Yar. Coming back fried from a hunt it's easy to just run a script to stack spells.

Although I was always a bit of a goof and kept every spell I knew on at all times: 603, 604, 605, 104, 105, etc.

Same with me.
Psinet made it all the easier.

[Izzy]

I see no reason to not have the spell on you... even if it's just another spell to get dispelled. If you haven't trained in hiding and are always in the open and don't fight things that disspell then sure, don't bother stacking it up, but when you're resting on a node... I always tend to have spare mana to spend stacking up spell durations on spells that can be stacked. (at least at any decent level)

I don't hunt anything that spirit dispells, so it wouldn't be stripped anyway. Also, I spelltank thanks to a wizard bot, so even elemental dispell isn't really an issue. I could wear it, but the only advantage I'd gain would be moving room to room without being seen by some. Its not worth it to me to add another spell to spellup. Again, thats just how I happen to play, and having outside spells all the time certainly helps. 350-370ish DS in offensive at level 41 ftw, tyvm. (370 when i throw up 102 while fu'ing).

[Hips]

I always used it when I actually hunted with Michiko...

[Taernath]

Only when hunting, otherwise I let it fall.

[Drew]

I've kept it up since level 17, if you hide it's a must use. Plus I like walking around relatively anonymously.

[Stunseed]

From my 60's until OTF, I stopped. Now I've started using it again against the gremlocks/lich/constructs/beings, but being only 1x in hiding it is a minimal chance to begin. I perfer being in the open.

[mgoddess]

Add me to the stack of "rarely"...

Only time my ranger really uses it is when she wants to walk around town quietly. She doesn't hide, she isn't an archer, she doesn't hunt dispelling stuff, etc. Not all that useful, and a waste of mana (currently) for her. :shrug:

[graysun]

I voted for always - one of the posters above made a good point that there should have been another tier between the first and second.

My sword/board ranger always has it up. He's fully trained in hiding and shadow mastery, and to this point has relied heavily on gaining initiative by stealth.

My brawler doesn't always need it, but does ambush with brawling weapons against living, so he keeps it up most of the time anyway as part of his self-spelling routine.

Part of the motivation for asking is that it seems to me that many people don't know what "You hear very soft footsteps" means. I think some folks think a pickpocket might be around and either leave the room or close their containers. Anyone else notice this happening?

[Paradii]

I kept it on my ranger constantly. Mostly for the fact that I didnt want to be seen entering and leaving rooms.

[Kenn]

Yeah, I keep it stacked at 4 hours most of the time. Whenever I'm resting off a mind I would respell myself with a script until everything was maxed.

[thefarmer]

I used to keep it up via script, now I do it with psinet while I unfry. With it set to cast up to 2hrs, along with other spells, I usually get back to full mana before I go back out to saturate again.