Is there anyway that a wand auto attack could change from hitting them with your tiny stick, to shooting a basic arcane bolt?
Does sound like something that could have been balanced rather than removed though, if it was very low damage, slow in attack speed, sounds like it would be fair enough. This would give mages "some" damage while charging, as I don't believe charging existed when this was removed. If this was done, I would also take the wands out of the bludgeon tree so they couldn't do the active bludgeon skills at range, maybe add a single skill in focus the same way pugilism works for wand attack attack DPS. Regards Spung
OOooooorrr How about an emote for throwing your stick and running away when you run outta focus or something lol
I had once thought of a whole weapons tree for wands and staves, with an actual way to "charge" or "imbue" your wands for x amount of bolts shot out, linking to magic trees to have different sorts of bolts with effects and what not, topic was ready to be posted when I realized that the chances of it actually being added was close to null (just look at our bard tree, how relatively basic it is but how broken it is, and how long it's taking, or how long it has been since I heard 2 new skills per tree, with no actual progress). I would love this, 100%, it would be great, but lately I've fallen into a state of "let's just hope something fun is going to be in the next release". I envy your optimism for these suggestions!
It always seemed ironic that I GM'd bludgeon using wands without ever intending that. I agree that wand auto-attack shooting a very-low-powered arcane bolt would be more interesting and make more sense.
I wonder if there should be a standard attack spell selected for the wand or staff to be auto-attack. For a non-elemental staff or wand it should be whatever of the applicable fields of magic the avatar has the most Attunement to. If there is a gem affixed to the wand or staff it should be based on that gem unless the gem is Life, Chaos or Moon which has no applicable attacks. It would normally be an attack run at low rate (as not to deplete focus or the spell) This would typically be your "basic" attack and the attack rate would be slow. A list of basic attacks: Fire: Fire Arrow Air: Discharge Water: Ice Arrow Earth: Stone Arrow Death: Death Touch Sun: Searing ray Possibly it should do a lesser version of these attacks with higher frequency.
Chaos Bolt fails the requirement. It uses reagant. (Even if it's reagant use chance is small.) However, yes a lesser version of Chaos Bolt that doesn't need Obsidian Chips might be warranted for this. Maybe "Chaos Arch"?
"Chaos Arch" sounds good Alternatively, we could flip it around and require all wands to have a limited amount of charges. That would be a balancing factor by itself.
I think just having it consume focus to be using your wand or staff for magical attack should be enough of a balance. While we are not talking about more focus than would normally regenerate in battle, this is still focus that could otherwise be spent on bigger and more powerful attacks. Edit: more detail for clarity
My thought is that the auto-attack for magical implements (wand and staff) should consume nearly all of the base focus regen. There should be basically two attacks as well: Short range (which is closer on wands): A magic field, flairs arching or sphere (depending on magic type) surrounds the weapon and strikes the foe. Attack utilizes a combination of STR and INT. Medium Range: A magic bolt or sphere (depending on magic type.) Attack solely uses INT but has more range. They should be heavy on focus, but utilize Intelligence as a key skill. This would make them ideal for fighting trivial foes, while being useless in large battles where wizards would normally go free attack only.
Maybe a magical sling wand - or sling staff? Imagine a wand or staff that someone rigged a bow string to, or something.
This is a pic of a Roman army slinger in the latter days of the empire. Didn't know that the staff was that long. Other pics were of a much shorter staff. Lead balls were used as ammo.
I've been thinking about this too, lately. What if a staff or wand could have a default auto-attack spell that is related to the gem that has been set on it? So, for instance, flame fist for a wand or staff with an imbued Fire gem, Healing touch for Life, Shooting Star for Moon. When the wand or staff is an artifact one, or doesn't have a gem on it, normal bludgeon.
I miss the Magic Arrow spell from UO. I like the idea of having it as a passive skill in the Focus Tree and be used as the auto attack for wands. And obviously another innate for attack speed. Base damage and crit scale like other magic skills. For me it should be counted as physical damage.
