Fireball

[Krag]

My fireball does not hit anything. It flies towards its target, *puff* but nothing happens. No damage, no save, no immunity message pops up. Fireball disappears without hurting anyone.

Is it possible to make this spell work? How?

[KingOfCheese]

Make sure you have your target targeted (selected and lit up) (probably a left or right click on your mouse). If you are aiming in the direction of the target, but not actually targeting it, there is a decent chance you will miss.

[Newtons_Apple]

My fireball does not hit anything. It flies towards its target, *puff* but nothing happens. No damage, no save, no immunity message pops up. Fireball disappears without hurting anyone.

Is it possible to make this spell work? How?

Also you may have to be closer to the target - the FB will not fly forever. Eventually it will dissipate into nothing.

[Krag]

Make sure you have your target targeted (selected and lit up) (probably a left or right click on your mouse). If you are aiming in the direction of the target, but not actually targeting it, there is a decent chance you will miss.

Whay do you mean by "miss"? Can't I use fireball like rocket launcher in some shooters to hit the ground and damage everything around it?

And even when I do select target instead of mouse-looking there is no guarantee that fireball will land.

[KingOfCheese]

You can target the ground near a bad guy and potentially hit it. But the area of effect for fire ball isn't huge--so you'll need to target very close to them. If there are obstructions in the way (other players, physical barriers, etc.) it can also cause a mistargeting.

If you have the enemy targeted and nothing is obstructing your shot, it should land every time--short of an occasion rare bug effect (which can happen).

A "miss" happens where the fireball lands too far away from any target. If you shoot over or to the side of someone, this can happen. The fireball will not make contact and will dissipate when it hits is max distance.

[Krag]

This "rare bug" causes half of my fireballs to fade into nothingness. It does not matter if I stay close to the target, or go a few steps away. It doesn't matter if the fireball directly hits the monster or the ground under his feet. It doesn't matter if autotargetting is on or off.

No idea what am I doing wrong :(

[wamjratl1]

Are you hard-targetting your target (either Tab or click on a target to slect)?

Also, the "rocket launcher" effect will usually only work if you are very close to your target and pretty much blast at your own feet. Otherwise, your fireball just dissipates as it flies off. It's best to have a target and let the fireball hit everything around your target.

[Ataxias]

Yes, I have the exact same problem myself. It happens even if I am standing right next to the target and regardless of wether it's selected as a target or not. I think it's almost certainly a bug and the sad thing is that it happens quite often. Recently I cast 3 maximized fireballs in a row, none of which dealt any damage, although they either hit the target directly or the ground right next to it. So 3*(20+25)=135 SP "magically" disappeared... But I guess that's why he's called a wizard after all :)

[gavagai]

Make sure your aren't falling victim to the "soft targeting bandit."

"Soft Targeting" is when you run your mouse over a creature, or are close to it and face it. The cursor shows the name of the bad guy in your viewer box, and a soft circle appears around his feat. Just moving the mouse or turning away will make the soft-target box disappear.

Hard targeting is when you left-click the target, or press "tab" until you see the BOLD white circle appear beneath them. Even if you turn away or move the mouse, you will keep that creature's name and info in your targeting box. In cheesy jet fighter movie lingo, you've got "system locked on target."

Many of these AoE spells don't respond well to soft targeting. Many casters start their lives by going to the options screen, clicking the "UI," and click "Disable Soft Targetting." It's irritating to lose spells like that.