Dimension Door : What's with it?

[Jackal912]

I keep on seeing over and over that dimension door is supposedly such an amazing spell, to the point where even /sorcerers/ - who have very few spells to choose from, consider it irreplaceable - What's with it? it saves you the few seconds you need to recall out, at the cost of a spell slot, sp, and reagents - or the short time it'd take to get back to the entrance - as an escape spell, it seems highly iffy, due to aforementioned cost, and it's really rather difficult to imagine getting most groups organized to use it as a method to avoid a wipe with any reliability whatsoever. What's with it's popularity?

[DemonMage]

Recalling out costs you experience, costs you buffs, costs you time. It can also destroy quest items (looking at you Twilight Forge).
And I've used it plenty of times as an anti-death mechanism. If the rest of your group is too dumb to take the giant glowing door during a clear wipe, who cares.

It's generally a time saver for a minor SP cost. It's also great for letting you solo some quests that trap you at points.

[sirgog]

Partly there's also not many other 4th level spells you'd want at endgame.

Wall of Fire, Stoneskin and perhaps Fear (Phantasmal Killer just doesn't land often enough to bother with once you leave Gianthold).

The only other spell at 4th level I'd consider is Fire Shield, and that's very situational (i.e. you only really need it against the Abbot, and who runs that these days? It is useful against Arrietrikos, but you can scroll it)

[~Jules921]

I keep on seeing over and over that dimension door is supposedly such an amazing spell, to the point where even /sorcerers/ - who have very few spells to choose from, consider it irreplaceable - What's with it? it saves you the few seconds you need to recall out, at the cost of a spell slot, sp, and reagents - or the short time it'd take to get back to the entrance - as an escape spell, it seems highly iffy, due to aforementioned cost, and it's really rather difficult to imagine getting most groups organized to use it as a method to avoid a wipe with any reliability whatsoever. What's with it's popularity?

Also consider the bug for the Meridia - you dd back to entrance then exit quest when you recall back to town you're in meridia. If you don't dd before leaving you recall back to the twelve and have to bop your way back to meridia or commit suicide in a tavern to get back

Jules

[Mr._Dna]

I agree that it's VERY situational. I'm keeping it 'til I can build up at least 20 scrolls or so (this will take a while). Then I'll drop it for a bit prolly and get it back when I'm out of scrolls again. By the way, why DID they drop these scrolls from the vendors? A nice little F.U. to all the sorcerers out there.

[ShadowFox1978]

I agree that it's VERY situational. I'm keeping it 'til I can build up at least 20 scrolls or so (this will take a while). Then I'll drop it for a bit prolly and get it back when I'm out of scrolls again. By the way, why DID they drop these scrolls from the vendors? A nice little F.U. to all the sorcerers out there.

It was dropped from vendors, because you could kite a whole dungeon to a far corner of the map, dd and the monsters would stay at the DD or atleast take forever to path back. By then the quest was over.

[Hadrian]

Partly there's also not many other 4th level spells you'd want at endgame.

Wall of Fire, Stoneskin and perhaps Fear (Phantasmal Killer just doesn't land often enough to bother with once you leave Gianthold).

The only other spell at 4th level I'd consider is Fire Shield, and that's very situational (i.e. you only really need it against the Abbot, and who runs that these days? It is useful against Arrietrikos, but you can scroll it)

Wow, really? I'd have thought this was one of the hardest spell levels to decide on.

Enervation is excellent for bringing something that is difficult to insta-kill down to a much easier level. 2 enervations can be as few as 2 or as many as 8 negative levels.

PK is not worth keeping unless you have heighten spell. If you do have Heighten, then it will land pretty often.

In fact there is a thread going right now talking about all of the great spells at level 4 and which ones to take titled The Level 4 Puzzle.

[Mr._Dna]

So, you're saying they don't mind if you use it to exploit a quest, as long as you have to burn a spell slot to do it?

[Hadrian]

It was dropped from vendors to make spell casters more useful. Given how many builds were working in UMD, casters were not needed for their utility so much. Anyone who could use the scrolls could replace them, so several scrolls that were the biggest problems were removed.

[Mhykke]

It was dropped from vendors to make spell casters more useful.

If that's the reason why they were removed then the devs can go ahead and put them back in. I don't think anyone's going to want to replace casters in the party just b/c someone can UMD dimension door.

[Mr._Dna]

If that's the reason why they were removed then the devs can go ahead and put them back in. I don't think anyone's going to want to replace casters in the party just b/c someone can UMD dimension door.

QFT.

Maybe it was just a little nod to Wizards. A stick in the eye to Sorcs, Bards and Rogues, though... Honestly, the only scroll that was a problem was Cloudkill, but they fixed that by changing the duration and the fact that it causes aggro, so, really, they could put that one back in as well and it wouldn't become an issue like it was before. Please, give us our scrolls back!!!

[Hadrian]

A lot has changed for arcanes since then. Back when those scrolls were removed, they were still getting invites because the melees wanted buffs. Haste plz!

[KaKa]

The scrolls were taken out with a lot of other scrolls at the same time. A lot of scrolls were removed because people were using scrolls instead of taking spells. I mean it was pointless to take SF and CK and DD and others because they were just as effective from a spell as they were from a scroll.

But even with all that DD seemed to be the odd one out. So ever wonder why DD scrolls were taken out on the same patch that added Dragon marks?

[Hadrian]

Why is DD the odd one out? Any rogue with a scroll was casting a DD just as useful as one from a spell caster's spell slot.

[Tanka]

DD allows quick travel in many quests. It's quite situational, I'll agree, but it works well.

Titan, Green puzzle can be solo'd with DD. (I do it all the time.)
VoN4 can be duoed easily with DD and someone to stand at the lever to let you in/out a few times. Or go with a full group and only send one person to one side to pull the lever and DD out.
VoN5, DDing from either side after finishing a puzzle or getting Otto's ring.

Realistically now, it's just a timesaver. I'm sure people have come up with entertaining ways to exploit it, but at its core it's just a huge timesaver for those of us who are trying to finish things fast.

[Mr._Dna]

So ever wonder why DD scrolls were taken out on the same patch that added Dragon marks?

Never made that connection, but it's probably the most accurate explanation. It all just seems so arbitrary - for example, no Deathward scrolls? They just want us to farm Tangleroot a bunch I guess? I would like to hear a developer explanation scroll by scroll for the reasoning why we are able to purchase some, but not others.

[Mr._Dna]

Realistically now, it's just a timesaver. I'm sure people have come up with entertaining ways to exploit it, but at its core it's just a huge timesaver for those of us who are trying to finish things fast.

This is absolutely true - I haven't seen it used as an "exploit" since people were using to loot run the last chapter of CO6. This is when the level cap was still 10. That doesn't mean people aren't doing it sometimes, but it's not widespread by any means.

[lostinjapan]

Phantasmal Killer just doesn't land often enough to bother with once you leave Gianthold

While I agree with everything said so far about dim door, just had to comment on this one thing.

I don't know anything about you or your build but personally have had no trouble getting PK to land outside GH (new elite content anyone?).

[Oreg]

I agree that PK is still useful. I also carry Dim Door, Firewall and Stoneskin being the other three. I have considered dropping PK for fear but probably wouldn't consider dropping any of the other 3.

[Aspenor]

I'm dropping PK and Charm Monster for Enervation and Dimension Door....

Because FOD > PK at all times, and I have no problems between FoD and Banishment killing everything I need to.

Spells that require 2 saves are extremely unappealing, at this current point in time.