Direct damage spells

[Vhailor]

Delayed blast fireball average damage is 49 and takes 6.5 seconds (rounds) to cast also it can be resisted for half damage so 75% of that is 36.75 divided by rounds (6.5) gives an average damage per round of 5.65 and if modified by enhancements and items to +90% it can go as high as 10.74

A level 14 fighter with comparable strength (to a mages Intelligence) gets +10 hit and damage. If using a normal longsword and attacking three times per round and hitting only half the time without considering enhancements or feats they would average 21.75 damage per round. (4.5 damage average + 10 for strength (14.5) times 1.5 (hitting half the time) =21.75)

While it is true that wizards can kill certain monsters weak to certain effects easily by maximizing + empowering and blasting, in general they cannot kill normal monsters with normal damage spells except for a few select instant cast ones and even then they require more than 10% of their Mana to kill them

Currently casters prefer persistant or effect spells but not direct damage unless using both maximise and empower. This is because they cause low damage and are very slow. Killing a creature of the same cr level as the caster takes a huge chunk of mana (20% or more) and causes intense aggro which most casters cannot handle because of current long cast times. In pnp all spells can be cast within a single round (1 segment per level or .1 seconds per level ddo time) which allows for only a few concentration checks. casting a spell like acid fog would allow at least 5 attack on a low armor class character with low hit points usually resulting in at least one concentration failure even with stoneskin on (at uper levels).

Is this what DDO wants for wizards and sorceres? are they just buffers/debuffers/persistant and instant death casters? can fireball/lightning bolt and delayed blast fireball be made the prefered spell of casters again? I would love to be able to cast these at a creature and have it go off before the fighters with thier massive dps destroy the thing. Of course my mage can power up and take out up to four fire reavers at higher levels but then thats all he has left and a fighter with protect fire can do much better. Wizards in dungeons and dragons were made to be able to do high damage for a limited time and in DDO that doesn't happen, Devs please take a look at actuall DPS and see if you can put mages on a higher level by shortening cast times to a single round or less (even if recharge is a bit longer) and upping enhancement boost to a level that exceds that of fighter types making our direct damage spells something impressive.

[oronisi]

There is nothing wrong with the game's handling of spellcasters. You can do high burst damage if you want. You can also completely control the quest if you want. Spellcasters give you a large toolbox, and it's up to you to use that toolbox well or poorly.

Maximized direct damage spells have saved my parties countless times when used in the right situation. So have instant death spells, so have crowd controls spells....

Use the right spell for the right situation. Direct damage isn't always the best solution for any given situation.

[Ithrani]

Could disprove this easily, he kills the 14th level sorc who is killing every tank and rogue and ranger and cleric that walks into the tavern brawl, because my scorching rays do immense amounts of damage even without empower/maxed. Enhancements allow casters to do much more then 49 damage on average with a delayed blast fireball. Again only 9th level and my 3rd level fireball with no metamagics on can crit for well over 100 and averages about 70 damage. Casters are godly, no need to fix direct damage spells. And in PnP arcane casters do become debuffers and use instant kills and even spare room for direct damage spells which at lower levels can be devastating, but at high levels the damage dealing is done by the warrior classes more often then casters. Are we forgetting casters cast less in PnP.