Already underpowered magic has become even weaker

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried to use an energy arrow spell today... and it wouldn't work. At first I thought the server had just crashed again. I mean, it had been up for a good 10 minutes and was due. But then I moved a few paces closer, and then the spell worked. It appears that the previously long-range, higher level Energy Arrow spell now must be fired from a very close range. What used to be one of the few useful spells is now moved to the pile of useless ones.

Advice to those new to Planeshift: don't waste your time training magic. Just power-level your sword and armor skill if you want to be a good fighter. Also, if you want to be a miner or craftsperson, train sword and armor too, because you'll need to kill lots and lots of monsters to get better at mining or crafting.

--< AC >--

[Xordan]

Trying raising the power slider. You'll find that the spells' range and power increases.

[ThomPhoenix]

I must say that magic is freakin' expensive though. The PP requirements are very high.

[RayvenD]

Trying raising the power slider. You'll find that the spells' range and power increases.

oh cool, that works now?

[ThomPhoenix]

Yes, it works. Though how further you slide it to the right, the bigger the chance your spell fails.

[Nurahk]

Xordan, I'm going to kill you for that sig

Magic will be awesome soon.  And yes, I also heard rumors of it hurting you if it fails, not to sure about what's going on with that.

And remember, in soviet Planeshift Empire hates you <.<

[Xordan]

Xordan, I'm going to kill you for that sig

Bring it on nub!

Also, the higher your rank, the greater the range and strength of spells, until you reach the rank at which you've 'mastered' the spell (this means you'll always get the best out of it at 0 on the slider). Not all spells can be 'mastered' though.

[Feline Prince]

Man my timing to make a character interested in magic was awesome then. I've noticed there is no animation though. Might just be a local issue.

[Caarrie]

Still not all races have all animations so it might not be a local issue.

[Feline Prince]

I don't get an arrow shooting towards the target. Surely that is wrong? But at the same time I can see that spell with the big ball of light.

[Anonymous Coward]

Trying raising the power slider. You'll find that the spells' range and power increases.

Raising magical power from 0 to 50 increased range by 5 to 10 percent, however 14 out of 21 castings failed (66.7% failure rate). Damage increased only 15%.

Also, the higher your rank, the greater the range and strength of spells, until you reach the rank at which you've 'mastered' the spell (this means you'll always get the best out of it at 0 on the slider).

I'm at 40 in Crystal Way. Last I checked, 30 was the point where Energy Arrow is "mastered," ie. going from 30 to 40 Crystal Way did not increase damage inflicted with this spell.

Raising the magical power slider above 0 significantly lowers the overall damage you inflict when factoring in the horrible spell failure even when "mastered." By my calculations, raising power to 50 will actually lower your overall damage to only 38% of what you would do at power 0 because of spell failures.

Magic will be awesome soon.

This is what people were saying two years ago.

--< AC >--

[Caarrie]

I don't get an arrow shooting towards the target. Surely that is wrong? But at the same time I can see that spell with the big ball of light.

That is how the effect works for now but has been changed for the next release.

[Xordan]

Raising magical power from 0 to 50 increased range by 5 to 10 percent, however 14 out of 21 castings failed (66.7% failure rate). Damage increased only 15%.

Should increase both range and damage by 50% (in fact, it does).

I'm at 40 in Crystal Way. Last I checked, 30 was the point where Energy Arrow is "mastered," ie. going from 30 to 40 Crystal Way did not increase damage inflicted with this spell.

You checked wrong, or too long ago to know how it is now. Energy Arrow is mastered at ~150 Crystal Way skill now.

As for chance of casting... your stats contribute to it so I can't say what yours would be. Your skill also contributes to failure rate (the higher it is the higher chance of success). Btw, summon missile might get you better results. Just because a spell is at a higher realm, doesn't mean it's automatically better than what you have right now. It really depends on all your stats and skills.

[ThomPhoenix]

But what about the cost?
Training sword to level 80 costs about 11000 PP. Training Crystal Way to level 80 costs about 38000 PP. The money cost for sword to level 80 is about 450000 trias. The cost for Crystal Way is about 1.6 million. And that's only one Way we're talking about, what if you want to train multiple ones to decent levels?

Why is it so expensive?

[Xordan]

Because I need to make progression better (020 I hope).

If you wanted a technical reason, it's because magic requires more 'book learning' and less 'practise learning' than sword.