Magic Rebalancing on EZPC

[jorrit]

Hi all,

Recently I worked on rebalancing magic to make it a bit more useful. Some spells were completely too weak and there was also a problem with cast time getting down to zero (and below if that was possible). So basically on EZPC we implemented the first attempt to bring some magic into magic again  

• The bug with near zero/negative cast times for very high levels has been fixed.
• Overal power of spells has been increased.
• The range of some of the more powerful spells has been reduced slightly.
• The K-factor (slider from 0 to 100 on the status window) actually is useful now. More K means more powerful spell but also longer cast time, more mana, and more chance of failure.
• The associated mental stat (e.g. Charisma with Crystal Way) does now actually contribute to the power of the spell as well in a tiny way.
  

Currently this is only on EZPC as we need to test this first. This is where you come in. If you are interested and you have (or want to create) an EZPC account then help us test if these changes seem fair to you and how you do against all types of creatures. Report problems on this thread.

Edit: forgot to mention that in the future there might still be other changes. Like increasing the chance to miss if the target is far away from you and other things like that to balance the fact that magic users can do damage from a long distance away.

Thanks!

[bilbous]

Sounds really good, I'll have to try to get on there tomorrow.

[Bonifarzia]

Edit: forgot to mention that in the future there might still be other changes. Like increasing the chance to miss if the target is far away from you and other things like that to balance the fact that magic users can do damage from a long distance away.

Very nice, I am looking forward to seeing those (and future) changes and hope you will have reasonable feedback with the testing period on EZPC (although there is probably a lack of sufficiently trained characters). Also, I hope there will be more focus on using magic for other things than inflicting damage over range (diversity and usefulness of buffs, item identification, crafting, manipulation of mob behavior, synergies with other skills ...).

[Rigwyn]

This is terrific news. Thank you!

[Vilthis Trayus]

Thanks for the work dev team! I'll look forward to trying it after the patching.

[Earowo]

i have an act on ezpc its just another earowo, but i never go on it, so the only glyph i have is the buyable one and energy...
XD
but i can try and help out i guess

[bilbous]

low level spells seem to have more range now, hard to say what kind of damage is being done as it is not specified in status. Hard to report the effectiveness without discussing relative strength of mobs which may be seen as spoiler material.

[jorrit]

low level spells seem to have more range now, hard to say what kind of damage is being done as it is not specified in status. Hard to report the effectiveness without discussing relative strength of mobs which may be seen as spoiler material.

Yes, the range is directly related to the power so it is possible that there is a slight increase.

Greetings,

[bilbous]

I imagine that power is also somewhat affected by skill level in the particular way, my ways are all pretty low, 10-27 range.

[Bonifarzia]

I am not sure  whether the changes to be discussed here are the same as those observed on Laanx today.
In short, I like most of the new rules much, such as the elimination of very short casting times. Still, the problem I already stated about the NPC refactor, mobs being much simpler to defeat with offensive spells rather than in close combat, persists and got significantly worse with the even stronger attack spells. I notice some buffs have become stronger, especially with raised spell power, but still I am missing strong synergies between combat and magic. Maybe i just did not look for that hard enough.

[Earowo]

im not the brightest person ever, so i dont know weather she said killing npcs' quik with magic is a good thing or bad thing, but it should be a good thing, for higher levels at least..
you shouldnt have to be able to rely on weapons...
and you shouldnt have to sit there and cast at a trepor until half your mana is gone...
so more power makes things more balanced yay

[jorrit]

The changes are now indeed on laanx. However three spells have been reduced in power a bit since I made them a bit too strong. This change will take effect after the next reboot of the server. These spells that I reduced again (but still higher then before) are: Taste of Death, Flying Stones, and Psychic Blow.

Greetings,

[Rigwyn]

Not sure if this is just perception or not, but I played with this on laanx a little.

I tried out taste of death on Laanx - it does seem much more powerful.
The slider does not seem to make any observable difference. ( this lack of observable difference might be a testing error on my part - will retry )
I can cast weakness again ( thank gods )
I tested necrotouch but am not sure about it. it seemed to do very little damage .. then again I suspect I may have had dakkru's curst at the moment so I need to retest this.

The change is greatly appreciated.

[jorrit]

Not sure if this is just perception or not, but I played with this on laanx a little.

I tried out taste of death on Laanx - it does seem much more powerful.
The slider does not seem to make any observable difference. ( this lack of observable difference might be a testing error on my part - will retry )
I can cast weakness again ( thank gods )
I tested necrotouch but am not sure about it. it seemed to do very little damage .. then again I suspect I may have had dakkru's curst at the moment so I need to retest this.

The change is greatly appreciated.

You suspect you have the dakkru's curse? You can easily see that in the active buffs/debuffs window.

Anyway, Taste of Death will be made somewhat less powerful next reboot.

The slider most certainly does make a difference but it is subtle and you get more benefit if you are higher level.

Greetings,

[Shoraal]

also - if you cast magic, you don't have the curse... as a matter of fact, you can't cast when cursed... or am I worng?