I agree with this besides weapon/wand swapping. I feel as if it adds another dimension of difficulty to the game cycling hotkeys while under fire.
Yeah, I didn't really like the idea as I typed it but I'm trying to just get everything out there.
3/3 people will invest in magic, its the primary source to regain stamina.
I think we need to take a close look at buffs in general. The way they're used in V2 is just .. bad. Using buffs to get your casting higher so you can use better buffs so you can get your casting higher.. it shouldn't work like that.
I wouldn't mind seeing the complete removal of all direct skill/attribute-boosting buffs. "Hero" shouldn't be a thing. From here, I think we should take a more creative approach to how buffs work and re-add them in a better way. I don't know what this way is though.
Magic skills are typically int/wis. A character specialized in magic and int/wis would climb much faster to higher level spells and thus have an advantage on fighters early on. Don't cap all of the spells like a typical RPGWO server at 300ish to cast and mages will have their advantage.
That's true. We should push this. Rather than having magic to a certain skill level then having a wand be equipable at that level then having the spell power be based on the wand's power, have the spell's power be directly based on the skill level. Balance it so it's more impactful on non-casters. Someone who invests primarily in int/wis magic shouldn't be expected to be able to wield medium/high level swords. Likewise, a str/dex warrior shouldn't be expected to be able to cast medium/high level spells.
On Black Magic, the idea of this skill really relies on whether or not it is given the ability to auto-attack in v6. Typically BM should be the fastest lvling skill, gives you the highest boosts sooner, and does great damage all because it requires a lot more work to use.
Again, I dislike the idea of a "This magic is for damage" skill. I think all magics should be able to do damage in their own way. One magic could deal more direct damage, another focuses on damage over time, another does heavier damage at a short range, another could focus on longer range, faster spells, cheaper costs, damage VIA summons or spawning environmental hazards, stealing life, etc etc. Just like how all weapon skills deal damage but function in different ways with range, speed, stamina damage, etc.
In v1-v2 mages are always the best out of the gate, but die off later in the game due to the lack of guard / afkish playing.
The defenses .. I think are another place that needs attention. Though I have no idea what could be done about them. They are the primary source of damage prevention granted to the player automatically by .. taking damage. I think something's gotta change.
Um, you got me confused.
Let me count the current main effects in V2...
- heal/harm
- revive/drain stam
- mana infuse/drain
- conversion (stamina to mana)
- damage flame/blackhole(magic)/lightning/frost/blade/bash/thrust
- renewal mana/life/stamina
- denial mana/life/stamina
- armor/penalty
- hero/nova
- magic torch
- firestorm
- cure/poison
- warmth/ice
- improve item
- sight/blind
- strength/dexterity/quickness/intel/wisdom boost/penalty
- create/destroy item (lifestone, warp stone, magic wall, molten pit)
- memorize location
- warp
- animate (golem)
- lock/unlock
- essence steal (don't remember what that is?!?)
- repair item (fix warp stone)
- bond (share main attributes)
- reveal ore
That is a lot of main effects. Looking at magic.ini I can see holes that players could fill with their own combos. Plus combining main effects in a spell, like Flame and Life Denial and Fire Armor Penalty/debuff. Awesome.
That's true. I guess I was trying to come at this without referencing V2's stuff so much. The way I'd tackle it is to create categories for different effects and sort spells into appropriate categories. Seems like some of these were more uhh .. rather than creating a dynamic system to handle the spell, the spell was just hardcoded. Like Firestorm and Magic Torch. Both of them deal with spawning items, so I'd have them both under a "Summon" effect with the modifier changing what gets summoned.
It seems we could fit pretty much everything into the following effects
Vital Manipulation - Direct damage or recovery (instant or over time) of health/mana/stamina (Covers heal/harm, revive/drain stamina, infuse/drain mana, renewals and denials, conversion, essence steal, maybe bond)
Transformation - Turning one item into another. (Covers animate golems, lifestone, molten pit, repair item, possibly improve?)
Summon - Creating something from nothing. (Covers Magic Torch, magic wall)
Damaging Spells - Can't think of a good name for this category. Creating raw magic effects and hurling them at an enemy (Covers damage flame/blackhole/lightning/frost/blade/bash/thrust, poison)
Buff/Debuff - Improve or weaken stats/attributes. (Covers armor/penalty, hero/nova, possibly improve?, str/dex/quick/intel/wis boost/penalty)
Manipulation - Don't like this category very much (Covers sight/blind, warmth/ice, warp, memorize, lock/unlock, reveal ore)
Now, for the most part these categories fit pretty well into White/Black/Red/Blue magics. But I don't think they should be looked at like that. I'd say, for each of these categories, find a Fire/Earth/Air/Water/Spirit magic effect that makes sense.
So like..
Vital Manipulation- Fire - Health Regeneration (Renewal/Denial)
- Earth - Stamina Regeneration (Renewal/Denial)
- Air - Stamina Recovery/Removal
- Water - Health Recovery/Removal
- Spirit - Stamina Regeneration (Renewal/Denial)
Transformation- Fire - Molten Pit, Lifestone
- Earth - Improve Armor
- Air - Improve Weapon
- Water - Repair Item?
- Spirit - Golem
Summon- Fire - Magic Torch
- Earth - Not sure
- Air - Not sure
- Water - Create water?
- Spirit - Magic Wall
Damaging Spells- Fire - Fire Bolt
- Earth - Boulder
- Air - Wind Bolt
- Water - Water .. uh .. bolt
- Spirit - Spirit bolt
Buff/Debuff- Fire - Str/Dex Boost/Penalty
- Earth - Armor/Penalty
- Air - Quick Boost/Penalty
- Water - Int/Wis Boost/Penalty
- Spirit - Not sure
Manipulation- Fire - Warmth
- Earth - Reveal Ore, Blind
- Air - Warp, Memorize
- Water - Sight, Ice
- Spirit - Lock/Unlock
So this is just a crude list I threw together. It's not very clean since I tried to fit the V2 spells in here, a way I wouldn't have normally gone about this. The idea is to compile a base list of effects. It might also be possible to have additional "base/main" effects by combining two ore more of these. For example, Transformation - Spirit is the main effect for golems, so I could see it being used in conjunction with others to create different kinds of golems.
I keep trying to make this work because the logical part of my brain wants this to all be neatly organized into categories with each type of magic having a logical function within them. I like when things are neat and structured so in the future when a new spell needs to be added, we can logically look at the base list of effects and decide "Oh, ok. This new Mass Unearthed Grave spell should be a combination of Tranformation - Spirit and Summon - Earth.
Overall, I think this is too many categories. I think I could get this down to 3-4 categories and many of the spells would be pushed to combinations of two base effects rather than using the base effects themselves for spells. But if everyone disagrees with this method I won't spend the time on it.
Good lord that was a long post.