magic shields

lev 35 pure mage in leather using ice shield and death shield takes almost 0 damage from level 60 melee XD

PVP is going to be even more dominated by mages this release. I have the best gear and stand no chance at all vs a good mage. Even if you stun and knockdown the shields save them, and any amount of damage that you manage to deal instantly is regained by a deathtouch. Melee has more sustainability for PVE but PVP belongs to mages.

 

Combat balancing is one of the last things addressed in a game development cycle. All base systems must be in place prior to a balancing pass for it to be valid, and doing balancing prior to that time is wasted effort.

 

I am aware of this which is why i post feedback and not throw my mouse at the wall.

 

So long as I can last more than 5 seconds at the Bear Tavern Brawl, I'll consider it a win for Melee fighters everywhere!

 

In a combat system based entirely on DPS, spells and skills that do damage AND heal (like death magic) are easily going to be the most powerful in the game. As someone reaches level 30 and above, they can get more starting hit points. So now it's just a matter of replacing those hit points faster than your opponent can. If you're a melee character you need to cast another spell Healing Ray to get back your hit points while the "mage" is only casting one spell Death Fist (or whatever it's called) that does both.

So this is what happens in a combat system like this. The moment you make one side more powerful, the other side HAS TO BE WEAKER. I've been saying this for months.

The rest of magic doesn't translate like that because the other spells don't also heal you at the same time they are damaging your opponent. But the same rules apply. If we make mages more powerful, it effectively makes melee characters less powerful. That's why this system is stupid at it's core.

Thankfully, I believe the devs know this and will eventually create more counters (like douse) to change the game. What melee characters need is a way to resist and counter death magic (as well as everything else in the game).

 

Replace Death spells with heals to make them DOTS and HOTS. They last longer but lack burst. YAY BALANCE

 

DoTs are very dangerous from a balance perspective. CHANNELED DoTs can be made to use up the exact same amounts of focus, time, and activity from the caster as thrown spells, while dealing the same damage. But who wants to channel every spell? It's the "fire and forget" stuff that's nasty, because what can happen is

A) the caster throws his DoT on to each of seventeen enemies in turn, or worse yet, has two or three "fire and forget" DoTs, which get thrown out in sets. This results in vastly increased damage potential from the DoT user. Who cares if it isn't bursty, he just has to be part of a team and he's set.

B) low burst output WILL affect solo play, and most of that will be PvE. At which point the devs will have to adjust the mechanics so that the DoT is sustainable for solo gameplay, and that means more damage.

These two axioms will saw back and forth till DoTs are THE only way to go, with everyone throwing them around. This will then have effectively nerfed fireballs, sword thrusts, and arrows (that aren't poisoned), forcing all of those to be rebalanced, and the whole thing starts again. I've watched the process go round and round in several games, and it's always the same old tune. "Fire and forget" DoTs are a mistake.

I am generally against powerful DoTs. Death Magick is no more required to use gradual damage effects than any other school, and I believe the meat of ANY damage source should be in it's primary application, so that the best DPS is always gained by continuing to press the attack, rather than tossing a mystic grenade and running away.

To a much lesser extent, HoTs are also problematic. Usually there aren't multiple competing ways to get healing magick, in SotA it will be mostly from the Life School. This contains the problem and allows easier balancing between effects. HoTs only get mulit-target effect multiplication when you are healing large groups, such as PvP teams or Raids, and large groups have an increased ability to guarantee someone in the team with HoTs on every run. It DOES pose the risk of them becoming required methodology, and anyone who's ever been a Raid healer can tell you that being told not only what to do, but how, when, and in what sequence makes healing VERY boring.

But boredom isn't nearly as great a threat to game balance as OP damage production.

 

Fire DoTs are already quite powerful, a few of the fire spells are one hit kills of your target does not have douse or purify XD

 

Magic shields? The first thing I tried to do was enchant my shield (it's homemade) and it wouldn't give me the 'craft' option. I assumed since the gems were 'weapon cut' that they wouldn't work in shields after that first fail. Figured shields were classified as apparel or something. What am I missing?


Oh, I also a agree melee needs work. My play-style/character build is way too 'tanky' to be viable in PvP as it stands now. PvE all day long though.

 

I meant the ice shield and death shield spells ^.^

 

Anyone tried crafting shields? I made one with 2str and 2int......but haven't experimented further.

 

Would love a magic shield that would have the occasional ability to reflect a casted spell back on the caster, so it becomes a weapon.

 

I made a few, can only make metal ones though. I want to make a wooden one for mages XD

 

Made a few triangle shields w/copper, bronze and meteoric iron. Haven't done a round one yet, mainly because of aesthetics. Just not my bag. Current shield is +2dmg +2avoidance, but I don't remember which metal this is. When looking at the item it should tell you what it's made of bronze, iron etc. It would help a lot.

 

+2 ? or + 0.2 ?

 

Says Plus 2 for each if I hover over the shield itself. Haven't checked the stats under the V key. The item window might be mislabeled.

 

Yep if I take my shield off dmg avoidance goes down by 2. From 10 to 8.

 

oh right.. the base bonus for shields XD

 

Yup, I blew that whole statement. It's +2dmg avaoidance and +2strngth. Not +2dmg.

 

I just have to butt in and say that nothing brings back the old UO memories like people complaining about PvP balance issues.

Carry on.