Reagents should be removed, they are a double penalty.

What could be REALLY nice about this, is that one good haul of, say, nightshade, could yield a lot more "doses" of nightshade powder than it contained berries, if the reagent costs for spells were made small.

Then it would be more possible to gather and carry enough reagents to cast regularly, instead of using up three whole mandrakes every time we summon a zombie, a single small mandrake could have 5-15 doses of "powdered mandrake". This would naturally ameliorate the stress of reagent hunting and shopping.

 

so mid level gets the unrefined (lower tier) reagents, and high level spells gets refined.. that sounds really nice...you can even mix it up in the mortar and pestle, and possibly use that to "stack" some spells... hm. interesting.

 

Same thing if you just gave reagents potencies/charges that could be expended even without a refining process.

Personally I don't know about whether they should need refinement -- I kind of like the idea of allowing a mage to use a reagent as soon as he finds it. Although, if mortar and pestles were usable on their own, you could refine them in the field also, and it would be no trouble at all.

 

or have a rough refinement in the field that lets you use it, but taking it back to a crafting station lets you properly refine it for a more potent usage. half the battle for a proper mage is preperation..

 

I'd like reagents to stay. They're used for alchemy, they will be used in enchantment, they're used in magic, and they offer some interesting possibilities.
Also, thumbs up for the process of raw reagents. One of the things that bugs me is that reagents (stuff with magical properties) is supposed to be rare, and at the moment there are more nightshades than daisies. If i recall correctly, in Ultima 7 Manual it was stated that only 1 of every 10000 pearls was black. Well, anybody saw a white pearl? allowing multiple casts from a single raw reagent may low the price of casting while keeping the reagent as something rare (and raising its price).

 

I just made a full post about the idea I posted earlier about enchanting staves and wands, if anybody's interested,
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/enchantments-weapons-vs-wands.19004/

 

Reagents aren't going anywhere, bank on it.

The issue at the moment is a single reagent is 20gp. That's crazy. During alpha they shouldn't be more than 1gp, and no more than about 9gp when the game is released.

 

add the ability to concentrate them with a mortar and pestle, at a crafting station, gets you 10 uses out of one, but you "spend" 5 of the raw reagents to concentrate it. - make THAT cost 25 gold, and i'm sold. - because you then could process the raw reagents into other schools, like cooking potions, and brewing, for different effects too.

the processing, i woudln't mind, if there is a ratio of 2 raw for one processed, while the processed have more functionality and uses out of it.

 

Reagents are right now very good. You only need it from Level 3+ Spells and these Spells are a bit more special.

Right now a Spell LVL3 cost me 60gp. If i doesn't have all three..doesn't matter just more Focus.

And for 10 Leather i can make 2000gp with ease... So 60gp are nothing...

Don't think: oh it's cost gp..thats sucks.

Think about that are could be a other way to interact with reg collector... This is kind of economy... Get money out of the system...hold gp stable...

@VirtueAvatar: Too soon to say how much could they cost...that doesn't make sense right now.

 

Some reagents are still so rare/expensive I haven't found a single one.
Makes respeccing as a mage hard...

 

which ones haven't you found yet?

 

That would be a lot nicer, but it does go right back to the point I've been trying to make about how systems that are comfortable to the point of irrelevant really have no reason to exist at all. As far as I'm concerned, if something is being counted then managing that resource should be a real part of the challenge of the game. Once you acknowledge that farming for bulk-ammo isn't a fun and interesting challenge and start to reduce the need for it, why not just take it all the way?

We should be looking for systems that make combat and magic exciting, that give players of many stripes a means to pit their skills against dangerous foes and deadly adventures. Spending however much or little time beforehand getting magic ammo isn't part of that. Preparation is only an interesting challenge if it includes choices.

 

I agree, reagent usage and requirements are not going anywhere. Also, the pricing of the reagents is currently way off. Almost as if is purposely done to hurt the idea that all spells should require reagents. There should be very easy to find or cheap reagents for lesser spells along with those tougher/rare reagents for high level spells. Once this is corrected, reagent use will make a lot more sense.

 

LB has said the prices ingame reflect that they want players to run them out of business with player vendors. I agree though that regs are too hard to obtain. Needing 10 to make 1 potion that doesn't heal completely is crazy. The entire crafting system is needing too many ingredients.

 

reagents must stay. balancing magery is a must. When it comes down to reagents - it should be bottom dollar and availability. None of that going to scavenge in the forest like a broke ass pauper nonsence. I am a lord, i will buy my stuff.... at bottom dollar.

 

I don't know what the problems are. Magery works with harder conditions (you MUST have Regs) and now Regs just a helper and not even necessary! So if you don't buy Regs...don't do it.

 

I played everquest for 10 years and when it came out and for a very long time spells had regents and i was very suprised to say the least that they had them here.

 

Keep in mind also that currently all gear gets worn, and requires replacing and or repairing. Repairing Mage gear cost the same as plate. I submit that there is not a cost difference to using a tank vs Mage in terms of gear. Reagent cost is simply added. I'm not sure if there is a death penalty to item wear, if so that's additional penalty to magery, cuz mages die, a lot starting off. (And expectedly so)

 

Right now gear wear seems to be based on how much your gear is used rather than on deaths. I'd rather see the gear wear be based on deaths, because it's much easier to balance that way. The average number of deaths characters of different types suffer should be just about the same in a game where combat is well balanced, while the number of hits a character takes is of course hugely different depending on their fighting style. So in order to have gear degradation to be relatively consistent between characters it makes sense to base it on death. Also in general it's simply more satisfying to play a game where failing to defeat an enemy is costly, not trying to defeat an enemy.

 

...aside from falling one foot and taking a million damage.