I Have Returned

MaQogh · Post by **MaQogh** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 2:30 pm

Well It's been quite a while since I've Been around (even had to reactivate my forums account) but I'm back. The last time I played on a regular basis NS4 was still in development. But with my return I Hope to try out a few builds i would have never even attempted before. I've been playing for about a week on NS4 reflections and the main and been forum whoring about NS4. 2 things have come to mind about the current state of NS4.

1) Some Love for low lv mages is needed.

Starting out without a familiar for a low lv mage (and no party for support) is a death sentance. To test this I played 2 hrs as a mage and 2 hrs as a Fighter at the end of this test the mage had made 2nd lv (with quite a few deaths) and the fighter well he made 4th almost 5th and without a single death. conclusion LOW LEVEL mages need some love.

2) I've seen quite a lot of complaints about blance between fighter types and mage types. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon on either side yet considering my highest lv charcter so far is 7th lv. But there was a Balance put in by Bioware but Most servers disable this balance measure. Yes I'm talking about Devastating Crit. Now I know I'll get Flamed for bringing it up but lets truly look at it. with the best fighter build pulling 6 attacks a round and a 50% at best crit rate a given fighter can kill in one shot on avarage 3-4 targets a round. Now look at a mage (say weird, or any of the other insta death spells) how many can they kill ? The answer how many can fit in the area of affect 20, 30 , 50 ? now granted with a tweaked server like ns4 that changes but if you go back to basics the balance is built in.
well thats all for now the wife is getting testy have to go more on the 2nd thought later.

MaQogh

P. Fricebottle · Post by **P. Fricebottle** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 3:20 pm

NS4 sought out to balance the world without un-balanced things, like Devestating Crits and Bigsbies. Although Bigsbies are still here, they've been changed to where you don't need ungodly strength to break free of them or monk SR.

Low Level mages have a tough time on purpose. The reward in the end is well worth it, while fighters have a good ol' time at low levels and tough time in PvP and other places.

Post by **Sparky** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 3:31 pm

I've always found low level mage to be pretty easy, you just have to be careful in what you do.

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 3:34 pm

Get used to your death sentence as a mage.

Except for a few levels in the middle, mages need to have their hand held way more than a warrior class.

Dev Crit? Doesn't need to be enabled, I haven't seen Weird cast in FOREVER. Only Wail and a few of the single target death spells are used, even then they are only used up till level 24 or so and no further because everything always makes the save or is immune.

If playing a mage focus in Evocation mainly.
Necro is good but only for boosting your Mummy Dust spell.

Enchantment spells are useless. They have a severely nerfed duration and most things not on the Aetheria mainland have mind immune anyway. Mass Charm is finally working again, but only half, it only hits humans, elves, dwarves, etc. No wolves or giants or ogres or anything else.
Illusion spells: see Enchantment spells above.

Focusing in Transmutation will help with Timestop, gives an extra 1 round duration once you get Greater Focus, other than that it's pointless, it doesn't even boost the Mordenkainen's Sword summon.
Conjuration Focus is probably the next most useful after Evocation. Helps out 1 or 2 of the dmg spells and boosts your Summon I - IX spells as well as Dragon Knight.

Abjuration is very useful in dispelling stuff, not much besides that.
Divination, haven't looked into this much. However, no one every uses anything from this school except for buffs.

Mages are in the category of "nice to have around for a change, but no where near necessary."

Do yourself and everyone else a favour: Make a strong warrior class, bard, or cleric.
And, make sure it uses a SHIELD.
2handed weapons are a nice novelty, but even with their slight amount of extra dmg a shield is still extremely prefferable, if not required. No sense in doing 5000dmg if you can't stop chugging heals at some point, besides you don't see much damage difference between 1handed and 2handed anyway.
Dualwield is better off than 2handed, but still a shield is better.

Post by **Metis** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:20 pm

Considering the amount of spells that have been boosted, almost every week a few more are being tweaked, I dont think that is a fair list. Just to name a few I wonder if anyone is trying them:
Blackstaff - granted only works on quarterstaff or mage staff but great damage boost
prismatic spray
thunderclap
flesh to stone...

Read through the changelog and see how constantly it is being reworked.

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:32 pm

JesterOI wrote:If playing a mage focus in Evocation mainly.

Prism Spray, Thunderclap, both Evocation

FtS I'm assuming still requires a saving throw. Until Spell DC's are improved for Epic Caster Levels anything with a saving throw is immediately expected to fail the VAST majority of the time.

Besides the duration on the spell is too short considering how long battles take.

1round/2casterlvl's extendable would be more useful.
Don't forget that mages have a LIMITED amount of spells per rest.
If a spell only lasts 1 turn at level 40 after investing THREE feats and requires a saving throw that is going to be saved against 90% of the time, NO ONE is going to use the spell.

Slow would be another nice Transmutation spell to fix. Only hit's single targets atm.
1-ac, -1ab, -2 reflex saves, -1 attack as an AoE would be more useful, duration 1round/2casterlvl's, extendable.

Good work though Metis. Thanks for your efforts up to this point, they have been good changes, but more are still needed.

The future looks more friendly, but atm mages still get the shaft.

Lorkar1 · Post by **Lorkar1** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:46 pm

If mages still get the shaft in your eyes then what the hell do rogues get? Beaten like a red headed stepchild?

P. Fricebottle · Post by **P. Fricebottle** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:34 pm

Yes, that is exactly what rogues get.

watchwood · Post by **watchwood** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:43 pm

Yup. The purpose of rogues is to receive. Everyone knows this.

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:10 am

Blame the immunities

Post by **Amoenotep** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:04 am

conjuration helps any and all summons, even dragon knight. it even boosts your bigby hands to do better.

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:48 am

Thought that was Evocation that boosts bigbies, seeing as how bigbies is from the Evocation school?

Post by **Yonwe** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:50 am

We went with the logic of Bigsby being more like a summons than a Fireball, mostly so we could split the spell love into a couple schools rather than just Necro and Evoc. But, being a PnP'er myself, it should be Evocation. *Cough*

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:16 am

That's good to know, could really trick ppl with that switch'er'oo!

Post by **VagaStorm** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:44 am

I've only once played a casting mage, and I've only taken him to lvl 21 as I use him for crafting... And it is by far the easiest char I have ever lvld... lvl 1 and 2 was a bit hard, but onece I got lvl 2 sumon (greater spell focus in sumon spells) it was basicly and stand back, grease, frye and ding :p My sumon seemed to be at all lvls better pvm than most meele chars :p