Underfoot Spells

[Enocha]

If I am reading this correctly, Arcanne Dissillect is the only spell that is worth memming at all.

Is there any other spell in the current state that is relevant (not complaining, just won't rush out first day expansion is out and start looking for them)?

By the way, do we know how spells will be obtained in UF?

[Baramos]

You are correct. AD is the only one worth mem'ing. It wasn't for lack of trying.

There are real communication issues, leadership issues, and management issues.

Your boosts will come in the form of Foci mins going higher and your AAs in the main.

Wire's the resident analyst of those particulars.

Necros remain poker-faced and dominant. That stance serves them well during negotiation and tuning. My guild's Necros were not shy about posting their parses, much to the amazement of we Mages watching in jaw-dropped awe. It really is incredible.

If you have one in Storage you may consider dusting him off. Lots of HP on these guys in UF, and Necros have the Mana Regen to deal with it. They are going to, percentage-wise, pull out even farther. If you're into numbers, that's the ticket.

Bara

[Elentarri]

So what your sayibg bara, is we should re roll as necros?

[Voragath]

While Wire's culled spell data is likely not to change much, if at all, the devs have stated that some things were changed so that we could test functionality (this was stated about all classes' abilities) and may not reflect their live counterparts. That being said, even in their current incarnation, as Wire and others pointed out, these are still not where we want them to be and any negative change at live will be very, very bad.

Spells weren't put in to really increase our dmg which is why we see alot of these (useless to some but I'm sure we'll eventually figure something out) utility spells. Also, we pretty much only cared about the regen from the beginning and we barely made a baby step imo.

Don't worry, we weren't the only one's hosed on the spells. It seems to be systemwide and many classes got much less feedback on their spells than us. It seemed to me that they just gave up on spells after 2 weeks into beta. Wire was 10x more active and suggestive than any person and rarely was there a response. Hell, Wire did all but make the code changes himself. He made it easy on the devs and nothing. This is a very bad omen in the spell department. Insult to injury, Ngreth explicitly told the wizards that "mana regen is not their thing" yet they won't put our regen anywhere near that

[Baramos]

So what your sayibg bara, is we should re roll as necros?

Hmm no.

As I said, IF you have one in Storage, you may want to dust him off. IF you are not glued to your Mage. IF you like the numbers game.

As for me, I would never "go Necro". It's a matter of RP as well as a matter of principle. I despise Necromancers' disgusting feeding and affiliation with the Dead as well as everything else they stand for.

Ultimately, I don't care. I'm just making observations at this point. I putter occasionally in Beta, but I have seen enough. My subscription expires by end December or early January timeframe.

Bara

[Baramos]

Don't worry, we weren't the only one's hosed on the spells. It seems to be systemwide and many classes got much less feedback on their spells than us. It seemed to me that they just gave up on spells after 2 weeks into beta. Wire was 10x more active and suggestive than any person and rarely was there a response. Hell, Wire did all but make the code changes himself. He made it easy on the devs and nothing. This is a very bad omen in the spell department. Insult to injury, Ngreth explicitly told the wizards that "mana regen is not their thing" yet they won't put our regen anywhere near that

Yeah. All this is very true.

Surge could have been quite promising. It started off too strong, but could have been tuned by mana cost, duration, and damage output. All this was ignored by not only the very Green spell developer but by our own class correspondent, who admittedly did not like the idea of a DS, and presented a case in some rarefied stratum, where it was then nerfed to oblivion, without any regard or attention to the potential down-tuning possibilities.

A fixed "Surge Damage" stacking DS unlimited by hits, with a fixed duration and appropriate mana cost and damage is a win for Raid, Group, and Solo play.

It won't even land on our own pet, now. That in itself is absurd. It is another DS debacle ala Hungry Flames and Pyr Skin. Our CC clearly presented the options poorly and unilaterally.

And there is more.

But have hope. Wire's presentations were very compelling and are getting notice. His scientific approach, hard data, and coding/scripting brought him quickly to the fore.

He may pull some of this out of the trash dump, yet.

Stay tuned.

Bara

[Voragath]

WTF?!! It doesn't land on our pets? I missed that change somehow and I agree that "debacle" is the only thing to be said about this DS atm. Raramor did mention today that he made some (all?) of the suggestions Wire had in his last post on the spell forum. I'd like to see what those changes were. I'm hoping for some additional consideration on spells once they go live and more people can see for themselves and give feedback.

[Xalmat]

It seems to be systemwide and many classes got much less feedback on their spells than us. It seemed to me that they just gave up on spells after 2 weeks into beta. Wire was 10x more active and suggestive than any person and rarely was there a response. Hell, Wire did all but make the code changes himself. He made it easy on the devs and nothing. This is a very bad omen in the spell department. Insult to injury, Ngreth explicitly told the wizards that "mana regen is not their thing" yet they won't put our regen anywhere near that

Sounds like deja vu all over again.

[Baramos]

WTF?!! It doesn't land on our pets?

Yeah. I don't know how long that has been the case. I logged in 2 days ago and it was in my "beta" spell line up and I'd heard of the nerfs but since it was up I popped it on pet anyway.

I should say I tried to pop it on my pet and got the message (of sorts) "That spell only works on PCs". Just like hungry flames.

So:

It has a hit limit, like the Pyr Skin line.
It can only act on PCs like the Hungry line.

The worst of both lines.

And do not forget the bonus.

The hit limit has been changed to a swing limit. So all the NPC has to do is try to hit your pet - hit or miss it counts.

So now double-suck = triple suck.

I will log in today and check (whatever) the changes are and post here if Wire's not already done it.

I saw Calebe the other day in there. He said "Heck Bara, just give us a 5 min duration 100 point Surge DS and I'd be happy." Off the top of his head.

Good idea, in principle.

- Fixed, limited duration
- Actively strikes for the duration (not Hit limited, or Swing limited /boggle)
- Lands on PCs and Pet
- Appropriate Mana Cost
- Appropriate Recast
- Appropriate "Surge" Damage
- Crosses all lines - Group, Raid, Solo

Bara

[Calebe]

Can't really discuss what was said on the boards in Beta, but the unlimited hits for a set duration was deemed to powerful for the values supplied. So instead of just dropping the amount of damage the DS will do they nurfed it into oblivion. This makes no sense at all.

We already have a fixed duration unlimited hit damage shield. So why not a 2nd one that stacks that does more damage but with a potential for max damage the devs can agree with. Some just don't want it and made it clear they had a hand in getting the unlimited hit one changed instead of just working the numbers to make it agreeable to all.

End result is what we have, it won't land on pets, won't be of use on a tank as a swing counts not just a hit, so be a lot of mana for potentially minimal or no damage. In other words unless I loot the rank 2 from a mob I won't buy rank 1 of it. If I do loot it I will mem it, but be on page 100, and never used. It is a waste of space in the spell book. Only reason I may mem it is in the hope they change it, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

We need a CC who posts here and can relay information on what the devs are thinking and doing, and to pass on our wants and desires as a community instead of being in a vacuum. That is no longer the case as of now. We need a CC who will communicate not only with the devs but with the only active mage message board in use. This one.

Calebe