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I really don't see any simple way to deal with balance issues with spells. As of right now, attack spells are nearly useless in a PvP situation. You also have to factor in that this is a text based game. Unlike the MMORPGs where you can factor in distance, objects in the way and all the bells and whistles, we have to compensate using other means necessary.
If we just lengthen the casting time so that it spans over one round and you lose 4 or 5 potential hits, rarely will someone use it. If we shorten the time for casting, people will begin spamming the shizzy out of the spell and it'll probably end up with the damage nerfed to hell making it useless again.
The words of Thoreau: simplify, simplify, simplify. I recall when they catorgorized all things on this earth as (correct me if I'm wrong) Animal, Innanimate and Green. Nice and simple eh? But what about the insects shaped like leaves? What about the plants that eat insects?
What I'm trying to get at is simplicity isn't always the best solution.
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What I don't understand is why do Warlords get almost as many spells as the remort mage and cleric classes. They're a fighter class. They shouldn't get spells!!
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A few people have suggested to me an idea i like concerning skills. I've talked with Inimical a little bit about this : have skill and spell proficiency groups which boost your proficiency in the skills and spells in that group. so for exampel there would be 6 groups per class, and out of those you could choose 2 of them.
This would encourage diversity amongst characters a great deal I think, as people could choose to specialize in certain skills and spells. There is also a lot of opporotunity to screw things up, so we are going to think about really damn well before we actually implement anything. Just thought I'd give you a sneak peek at the future. We're also going to remove skills and spells from people who shouldn't have them, probably not next game update but the update after that; also, the dispel magic and sanctuary issue will also be resolved, possibly next reboot.
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~~@Syn:~~
> A few people have suggested to me an idea i like concerning skills. I've talked with Inimical a little bit about this : have skill and spell proficiency groups which boost your proficiency in the skills and spells in that group. so for exampel there would be 6 groups per class, and out of those you could choose 2 of them.
>
> This would encourage diversity amongst characters a great deal I think, as people could choose to specialize in certain skills and spells. There is also a lot of opporotunity to screw things up, so we are going to think about really damn well before we actually implement anything. Just thought I'd give you a sneak peek at the future. We're also going to remove skills and spells from people who shouldn't have them, probably not next game update but the update after that; also, the dispel magic and sanctuary issue will also be resolved, possibly next reboot.
Its not so much the dispel magic and sanc thing its just the problem with sanc that makes dispel magic good so ppl cast it so if u change dispel magic to not dispel all the time in pvp then i dont thin sanc needs to be changed, or the other way around… change so sanc doesnt matter as much then dispel magic doesnt really need to changed
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With titans able to wield two-handed weapons in one hand, do they really need titanic attack?
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As a non-titan, I am partial to titannic attack. It is a defining skill similar to minotaur's charge or slayer's shift.
I also like the fact that they can dual wield a 2-handed weapon.
If you're looking for something to balance titans (I'm not sure if we are or not… Inimical?) can I suggest maybe making dual wielding 2-handed weapons hurt dex or str? I believe we need to make it so not everyone has every stat maxed out. This will make people really decide what is important to them and possibly diversify the game. However, this may be hell to balance;I haven't really thought it through.
eRT
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Syn, you said that there was something in place for checking to see if people had skills they were not supposed to have. Is there anything to check to see if they are missing skills they should have?
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Here is my 2 cents with a focus on PK. I am cutting out most of the skills you can get from other classes/ones you get from eq just to point out the usefull skills/spell imbalances:
None of the mage classes have counterspell.
Wizards are overpowered. Necros need the most help, but sorcerors need it too. Don't just look at number of spells, look at how many are usefull and can be duplicated by other effects.
sorc gets silence and slow as unique (channel also but nobody ever uses it because they don't run out of mana)
wizards on the other hand get afterburn, roomshield, starflare, dispel room, nexus, gate, locate object, entrap, and light shroud
necro gets feign, kill, and energy drain
For clerics:
witch and monk both get counterspell
druid: cosmic blast (offensive spells suck), enchant armor and weapon were nerfed, and brew/scribe were greatly reduced in effectiveness also…so basically nothing
witch doctor: no clue, never been one
monk: frenzy, dirt kick, reverie
For thiefs:
assassin: slit, crossbow, envenom
rogue: circle
bard: never been one
Fighters:
Marauder: 4th attack, dirt kick, intimidate
Gladiator: circle
Paladin: smite
Not familiar with remort classes besides my own, only remorted once.
Alchemist - with potions/scrolls weakened really nothing for this class
Sage
Judge: all remorts can naturally detect evil/good now, so skill is useless
Mob lore: not very useful
Deception: %chance to evade backstab, circle, etc... (rarely seen it work)
Class perm detect hidden (often found on eq)
All the remort thieves classes need work
Crusder - holy sword and shield are nice, but can't compare to the other classes skills. Increased quest rewards are helpful, but longterm everyone maxes anyways. +25% damage with exotic, not many exotic weapons that deal decent damage even with bonus
That is my little spiel (sp) about what is wrong with the classes I took. When I took them they were awesome classes, but with tweaks to skills/spells, shuffling around who had what, and adding in new skills/spells they are quite lacking.
Not sure if it is just the specific combo of classes that I took that collectively cause me problems, or if they are just individually crappy. Would like to hear from anyone else who went druid/sorc/rogue/gladiator/sage/alchemist/crusader. (either that same combo just individual classes)
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Sages are supposed to be the wisest characters around. We can use mob lore to examine creatures and see there strengths and weaknesses. So here is my idea for a new skill.
Once you have used mob lore on a creature, from that point forward you get some type of bonus while fighting that creature such as +dr, +hr, +ac, etc…
It could be a small bonus and last forever (keeping track in pfile of which mobs you have used mob lore on), or a larger bonus and last just till the end of the fight.
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I just gotta add that in my opinion, hitroll and damroll are the leading causes of unbalanced gameplay EVER in this game. A few players have their dr and hr in the 100s and that basically allows them to do 3-4x damage with the weapon they're using. They can freaking forsake a weapon, go hand to hand and still do more damage than the poor people who don't have connections to acquire OS eq from when enchant equpiment wasn't limited.
It's grossly unbalancing and it's cock blocking all the other skills in a person's set since they have to dedicate the entire fight to "c heal, c heal, c heal"
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Since it is based off of mob lore, it would only give bonuses when fighting mobs, not for PK purposes. And it doesn't just have to be either hr or dr, those were just the first things that came to mind.
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My damage roll only goes to 154, of course I'm not trying to get it raised. Pretty sure I can add at least another 20 to that.
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goddamn ithi. I have 30 damroll
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On the whole I agree with Laje's post on some things [such as wizard being overpowered], but I feel I have to put in my two cents on a couple others.
If it's of any importance or interest, I went sorceress/paladin/rogue/druid … warlady/ranger/arch-mage/sage.
~~@Laje:~~
> For clerics:
>
> witch and monk both get counterspell
>
> druid: cosmic blast (offensive spells suck), enchant armor and weapon were nerfed, and brew/scribe were greatly reduced in effectiveness also…so basically nothing
>
> witch doctor: no clue, never been one
>
> monk: frenzy, dirt kick, reverie
If anything, witch and monk need MORE advantages. Druid's are still vastly overpowered, in my opinion, even with reductions in the power of brew and enchanting. The way the system is now, I would not choose any other cleric class on any character I made. Simple as that.
(Pre-reverienerfage, I wouldn't have necessarily said that. But since reverie changed, it's faster to sleep on a buckskin anyway, so what's the point?)
~~@Laje:~~
> Sage
>
> Judge: all remorts can naturally detect evil/good now, so skill is useless
>
> Mob lore: not very useful
>
> Deception: %chance to evade backstab, circle, etc… (rarely seen it work)
>
> Class perm detect hidden (often found on eq)
I also disagree with this. Deception, once raised to a higher level can be extremely effective. In PK fighting with sages that have it pracced/bettered way up (i.e. Xavvy), I can hardly land a circle (which, in the current state of PK is quite an important aspect, apparently **mutter**), and it often saves from a blackjack without the need of the hr/dr reduction of calm.
Judge is pretty useless though :P
~~@Laje:~~
> Crusder - holy sword and shield are nice, but can't compare to the other classes skills. Increased quest rewards are helpful, but longterm everyone maxes anyways. +25% damage with exotic, not many exotic weapons that deal decent damage even with bonus
Every day I wish I had gone Crusader instead of Warlady. The quest bonus rocks, the mount help in battle rocks, and the holy sword/shield, when used consistantly, can be quite powerful and are nice for fighting against races for which there are few weapons with their vulnerability. The only thing I can think of that I got from Warlady and actually use was pursuit (although that is kinda cool >D) (and btw, when the heck is "bind" supposed to work?). I have not noticed any special difference when using the three spells that I recieved (energy field, spell shield, and healing aura… if anyone else that's a warlord/lady has noticed a difference, please clue me in), and I'm not even sure how leadership works, but I keep getting betters in it. x)
Destroyer seems decent, and those people that I know went destroyer are happy with the skills they got, but that was not an option for me with remort. I still think Crusader is overpowered, and Warlord/lady is the worst choice for warrior class in remorting.
Not meaning to call you out or anything, Laje, I think your opinion is just as valid as mine. I just happen to think differently based on my own personal experiences.
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One last item that I forgot to put in my previous post: remort cleric classes. I'm not sure how alchemists have been affected by the 1 spell to a potion rule… if there were more changes to combine or whatever, but it's also quite obvious that rangers are the best choice for remort cleric class as well. Alchemists get the brewing/scribing stuff... which, like I said, I don't know the degree of nerfage to that, and... recharge?! you tell me the last time you used a wand, because I'll tell you I've never used one when I haven't been goofing around :P And I've been told that adept is awful as well, although I'm not sure... in helpfiles, light shroud, glorious bolt, and avatar shield all seem pretty nifty. (unless they don't work as they appear to...)
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Adept is as useless as tits on a bull. Glorious bolt takes forever to cast and ONLY works on a vampire and doesn't even that that much damage. In the time it takes to cast, you can cast two fireballs and do much more damage.
I have no idea what Avatar Shield is supposed to do. It's obvious that it doesn't act like a shield so you don't have to wear one. It adds 3k some points to 'unknown', so that explains alot.
Light Shroud? Eh. What's the point. Sanctuary does the same exact thing except it has a reduced damage affect.
Turn undead. Hahaha, you just made me laugh. Lets just say that going Adept was an enourmous mistake.
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Ok, on Adept.. I'm afraid I don't have Glorious Bolt yet, but I'm told it has crappy damage for all that it takes (casting time, mana, etc..). Light shroud I think does work.. but I don't ever fight much undead… is there a way to find out if something is? Oh yeah, and Light Shroud lasts for a grand total of 3 hours and can't be cast in combat. Whoop-dee-friggen-doo. Avatar Shield I don't think works... unless it's supposed to show "modifies (unknown) by -10440" And I'm still completely clueless as to what Exorcism and Turn Undead do.
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oh yea, and back to Warlords, Bind is the tit on a bull and leadership is the pimple on that tit.
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Well, thanks to some indirect advice from someone who never says her opinion **eyes her**, I'm not going to let myself get all uptight and rage-ful, whatever happens, happens…
If I had my choice though, I would make no improvements to either druid nor crusader. Those are the two classes that I see to be most powerful and unbalanced at the moment, __especially__ druid.
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For most of what I said i was basing it on the help files for what the skills were supposed to do. Apparently thought, alot of them don't do that. When using combine I can't combine potions of the same spell. If i try to combine 2 heal potions, one of them just dissapears and the other is still a regular heal potion. Havent tried 2 diff spells recently, so not sure about that.
