RDM and Diversion/AoE

[Rongway]

how, exactly, does Diversion work? I use it whenever I see yellow on my enmity list, but i've never been sure exactly how it functions.

is it an instant decrease in emnity? is it gradual, reducing a set amount of enmity over time? or does it just cause your spells to generate less aggro for the duration?

I use Lucid Dreaming for MP recovery, the enmity decrease I consider a bonus. perhaps I should not use it in this manner.

Diversion is an enmity suppressor. After using it, all your actions generate only 50% of the enmity they would normally generate. Note that you will generate a little bit of enmity just from activating Diversion, 455 points, and this is enough to get something to look at you if the tank hasn't poked it yet. But after that activation, your enmity generation is halved for the duration of the ability.

Lucid Dreaming is an enmity drop. It will instantly reduce your enmity by half, and then give you 455 points.

The 455 extra enmity in both cases is because any ability that applies a self buff will generate about this much enmity.



So Diversion is typically better early in the encounter, when you haven't generated enough enmity yet to make Dreaming worth it, and Dreaming is better later in the encounter when "half" of your enmity is a lot.