Mage Tweaks

Talk about guilds and classes.

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blaze
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Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 23:29 pm

Post by blaze »

That is a great set up, Only wish that the person in the front isn't another person, NPC and they'll help you as long as your online. You have to find other players, which isn't easy if more than half of the is double your level or idling of somewhere. Get mercenaries please, or allow mages to summon elementals to help them...
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solarin
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Post by solarin »

I am a lvl 36 army and I have the same problem most of the players on are double my lvl and above or half my lvl and below so (and not being mean here I love to party with newbies just to teach them some of the things I know) it can be a pain to party with newbies all the time. :|
I won't get mad at you today, it's be kind to animals week.
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klarh
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Post by klarh »

My biggest solo rates have been as mage; they can solo just fine... Maybe just not for you.

As neato as summoning elementals would be, I don't see that happening... too earth-priest-like... Of course, we could remove earth_priest guild and make a fork between seers and this elemental sub or so, and have the elementals use the skills/spells from the elemental subs!

But then that still wouldn't help you... Ah well.
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goderic
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Post by goderic »

Some time ago I pitched the idea of mage familiars on the 'ideas' section. Elementals are'nt too far removed from that, and there's the upside of Icesus already having a well developed element system in place already. Presumably these elements would be sensitive to the current phase, and the mage could only summone elementals of the element he / she follows? I'm guessing earth elementals would be deftanks, fire offtanks, air some sorta healer and water a caster / buffer?
Perhaps, so as not to steal too much from the earth priests, a mage should have to complete both Misc magic users and war mages to be able to join this sub, meaning the player has to be about level 40 realistically to be able to summon even the weakest helpers?
eysenc
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Post by eysenc »

I agree with Klarh. Mages already have 3 defensive spells that are all good and they can solo efficiently with them. And elementalist's armour works against physical damage too. Mages can already summon minion to tank them if they have over 50 levels and pick earth priest sub.
blaze
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Post by blaze »

Sound like a good idea. Though summoning weak elementals at low levels seems more inclusive for new players. And the elementals become more powerful (and more successful), as they progress though the sub guilds etc.

There is a war mage sub-guild? Or is it just a name for the seers guild?
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suron
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Post by suron »

The idea of minions, especially weak ones doesn't really sound all that nice to me. While it can be fun rp-wise, I get the feeling that I would spend most of my time, summoning, healing, repairing, buffing and cursing about my weakest link and quickly realizing that the time spent herding the minion is not worth it's gain.

Simply put, if they implement any kind of minions, they should be powerful enough to actually be worthwhile but this would result in a downtune in the near future. If the minion is adequately powerful, you'll see that the exp spent to learning it and time spent to upkeeping would be better used instead by getting more levels, stats, powerful spells, thus resulting in more efficient character. Finally, if the minion is weak, your character would actually be better off without it.

Just an opinion.
blaze
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Post by blaze »

Came up with a decent idea before sleep, similar to minions, mages can summon orbs that would attack the enemy once in a while. And sometime depending on the element defend the player. One could also consider it as an upgrade to elementalist's armor.
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klarh
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Post by klarh »

Get more levels, then 'help spell ball' :twisted:
blaze
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Post by blaze »

that would take a couple months.. cause i have to train missile up close to max to advance even though i have bolt already, 7 more guild level before i can even get close. what does ball do does anyone know?
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goderic
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Post by goderic »

Ball is the next one up from missile and bolt. IMHO, only arrow and ball are worth training, they're the only ones I ever use.
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suron
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Post by suron »

It is the most powerful singletarget spell form type mages have. Comes after Bolt component. Uses waaaay too much sp so nobody uses it while in exp parties. This brings us to the other thing I've always hated in this game, the sp cost / damage ratio does not scale up properly that the highend spells are worthwhile using.

I understand that lowering the sp cost for bolt, ball spells would drastically increase the solo rates for mages but so what, the mages were originally designed to be the ultimate damagedealers guild which no other guild would ever surpass in that area, simply because mages have no other use, they just deal damage. If some other guild surpasses mages in that area then why are mages still in the game? Well...as who guild mage says, 1 high lvl masochist and rest are low level scum. The guild needs a real pick-me-up tune. Do it.

(ok, I don't know what I'm usually talking about, forgive me)
blaze
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Post by blaze »

give them some more physical protection spells (or enhance the current elementalist's armor), so the mages could get better solo rates. Or is that too much to ask?
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goderic
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Post by goderic »

Ball is useful to the solo mage because it deals most damage in one shot. It's true it burns sp ridiculously fast, but solo mages have to deal out damage as fast as they can, then run and regen if they don't kill their foe in a couple of shots.
Arrow is the way to go in parties - less damage per shot, but fast casting, and very low sp. Parties don't like being slowed down by mages who keep running out of sp!
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solar
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wwsd

Post by solar »

What is wrong with mages, AKA What would Superman do? (Now here's a provocative title, eh?)

Currently, mages are mindless blasters with lots of spmax and fast output of damage, they take ages to regen and burn out fast, like a penis!

Melee tanks outgun and outlast them. They are superior.

Now while I understand that the suggestions below are barely even read with thought put into it, let alone into their implementation, I have this urge to spill it out. Maybe they will, in some way, influence what is to be done about the mages.

Magical residue:
When magic is used, spells cast, it is not very efficient (rp-wise), and it leaves behind residues. The residue clings to the mages' hands/fingers and also leaks into the air around him.
When there is enough residue, it will start to affect spells of the same type: Casting lots of acid spells will fairly quickly charge the room with acid enhancing atmosphere.
Talented residue manipulators can draw spcost lessening/damage increasing/damagetypespecial influencing/swarm projectile count increasing benefits from these residues - which is nice, but not perhaps unique.
Extract magic could have some function with the residues as well.
While this may appear similar to that channelstuff below, this could be more passive in effect. It would also make mages more appealing when trying to kill stationary eqmobs, as there will be more time for a thicker residue to accumulate.

Code: Select all

You are done with the spell.
The bolt of acid hits Megatron in the upper torso!
Megatron cries out in pain!
As you finish the spell, you gather some of the OMG-residue from the air for good measure, form an orb AND HURL it at Megatron!
Megatron gets hit in the head by the orb of acid!
Megatron writhes in pain!
Essence of true ritual:
Makes the mages burn out faster, as they can cast spells more rapidly. What if true ritual is made a channel-like ability that can be manually used while casting a spell to make it happen faster?

To what end, you wonder?

What could be done is to implement alternative spellcasting channelingstuffs that can be manually used to affect other aspects of spells: Damage, casting speed, spcost, target focusing, critical chance, projectile count, damage type special, resistance piercing, double feature, channel features to another mage's spell etc.

This would make the current small/large/delayed system more manual: Gets rid of preset enhancements and gives more room to customization. Which is always welcome, and gets rid of 'mindless'-tag of 'cast arrow of X/large ball of X & repeat'

And when mages can cast spells specifically with lowered spcost, they can last longer! Women love it!

And if the nasty eqmob tears papertanks into shreds, the mage might want to fully concentrate on casting speed, or critical chance.

The mage can change his channelstuff in the middle of spellcasting process, dividing his attention between any number of different modes, the more on a single feature, the more potent that feature's impact gets. For example, lower spcost and let's say... acid special, ending up with a cheaper spell that is more likely to stun - a good exping formula, is it not?

Implement a few skills that affect these features, and a residue and a manipulation mastery.

This will reward active spellcasters, as they can optimize if they know anything about the game. It might be better to improve bodypart targetting than damage itself when blasting a beholder, due to bodypart multiplier. If the mage has front row full of expmonkeys, he might choose to go for more durable performance than being a regular sädetikku(tm)

While this may be up water_priestly alley, a system like this should have been done a long time ago.



The library:
The Mage guild in Vaerlon has a library. It does essentially nothing. What it could do, is to allow 'research' work by the mages. It would very slowly raise their masteries if they find themselves with lots of time to spare and no parties in which to blast. Idlemastery, so to speak, maybe something like 'shadowdancer training room'.[/u]

Ack, fck, ran out of time, have to continue some other time.
Internet tough guy

Icesus is not just my life - it's the lack of it.
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