Meteor Swarm useless?

[winsom]

Phoenix Outfit-buffed Meteor Swarms is the new elemental-killer in the Reaver Raid

Get the mana-recharge buff then throw the rocks, over and over. The elementals in front of you are gone in a few seconds ! It didn't take my wizard long.

[Seliana]

The spell worked reliably in Reaver's Fate raid tonight as well, though I only noted 2 Meteors per casting

Can we get word from the Dev's if this is going to be fixed anytime soon? Its a very nice spell and if it wasn't for this bug I would use it instead of swap it for something less useful on my sorc.

Please please fix this spell Dev's! It has so much potential if it would only work correctly.

[Monkey_Archer]

While the spell is tricky to aim, if used correctly it is much more damage then DBF, and still more damage on average if you understand the basics of how to aim it...

DBF = 20D6 damage
Meteor Swarm = 32D6 when used properly, 24D6 reliably, or 16D6 if you cant aim

Targeting Tips:
-Due to how the meteors arc, larger targets are easier to hit with more meteors
-Targets with fire resistance are bad choices as it applies to each meteor

Aiming Tips:
Each meteor tends to arc semi-randomly...
-If you just aim straight, one or two meteors will usually arc low and hit the ground before reaching the target resulting in only 2 or 3 meteors hitting
-Perch locations or jump casting and aiming down will usually give you 3 hits, depending on how close you are to your target.
-Getting all 4 to hit takes either luck, or careful target selection and aiming.
One example:
Stand on the ground at about 1/2 of the max range of the meteor swarm and aim at the head of a large target (giants, etc)... This will result in the low arcing meteors to hit the giant's feet instead of the ground in front and almost always results in 4 hits.


Side note...
Perhaps there is a difference between sorcs and wizards cooldown with this spell... I have dont have it on my sorc so i cant try it there.... but the cooldown on my wizard is much shorter for meteor swarm then it is for DBF

[ninjaeli]

[QUOTE=Angelus_dead;2575059]Meteors has over triple the range of a Fireball... I can't think of a place where that's truly useful, but it's a possibility.

meteor swarm does shoots 4 meteors+ does fire and bludgeon dmg triple the range... a beholder will not last long

[Samadhi]

As far as the DBF vs. Meteor Swarm aspect of this conversation, I'm tending to go with Monkey Archer in that, typically, I hit with 3 meteors and, therefore, reliably more damage then DBF. Please note I rarely do any kind of special aiming with this spell but - to go along with the casting character's size theory - my wizard that uses this spell is a dwarf. Either way, after using this even more since this thread first popped up, I would say my flat-footed casting statistics are circa: 90% 3 meteors, 5% 2, 5% 4. Whether you consider this "yay for dwarf stubbiness" or something else; I've found the spell effective.

[Battleworm]

No matter how you wanna spin it, it's utter **** versus DBF.

In any realistic combat scenario, due to major issues with the spells hit detection. 99% of casts will only do 3 hits in BEST CASE scenerio. A realistic average would be 2.5 hits. As many hits while mving only ever do 2, and vs very fast moving targets your lucky to get 1 hit.

Add in the minor fire resist x3.. Versus 1 big shot.

Add in the limited duration of the regalia clicky. Versus ease of use of a super comb VII weapon/

Add in the slower cast and higher cost of the spell.

Add in the redicules arcing effect that NEVER actaully helps you and only hinders you.

Then the higher mana cost.. The longer cooldown.

And no, the range sucks. It's about equal to delayed blast fireball. The graphic will appear to go further, but it will never register a hit at maximum range - tho the game will let u cast it and waste your mana, unlike dbf.

Meh. Garbage spell.

Just wanted to say i disagree.Meteor swarm is absolutely great.I use it on DQ,Abbott and mostly anywhere really.I do have the Regalia and seriously this is a spell that will never go away.oh and I don't know what caster you play but 3 3 minute clickies are more than enough to be out of spell points.Way more.And meteor swarm has such a range (more than any other spell i have) It looks like i'm using enlarge...

If you prefer DBF,I surely don't.

[BurningDownTheHouse]

Actually, if your dc is good, there's -no character- on DDO that does more damage than a sorceror rotating between dbf, disintegrate and meteor swarm as fast as they can on the Black Abbot. 500ish (1350 crits 18%) + 880ish (+1320 crits 9%) + 80 + 80 + 80 + 40 + 40 + 40, each of which has an 18% chance to crit as well (around 260ish for the 80s and 100ish for the 40s) every 3 seconds.

How the heck did you manage to get 880 base damage on a disintigrate?
Using superior potency + empower + maximize + capstone my sorc get only around 720.

[Samadhi]

How the heck did you manage to get 880 base damage on a disintigrate?
Using superior potency + empower + maximize + capstone my sorc get only around 720.

He is averaging to 880 based on a 9% chance to crit for over 1300 (hence the part in parenthesis in what you quoted).

[BurningDownTheHouse]

He is averaging to 880 based on a 9% chance to crit for over 1300 (hence the part in parenthesis in what you quoted).

Oh, that makes sence.
Thanks bro.

[Shade]

While the spell is tricky to aim, if used correctly it is much more damage then DBF, and still more damage on average if you understand the basics of how to aim it...

DBF = 20D6 damage
Meteor Swarm = 32D6 when used properly, 24D6 reliably, or 16D6 if you cant aim

Targeting Tips:
-Due to how the meteors arc, larger targets are easier to hit with more meteors
-Targets with fire resistance are bad choices as it applies to each meteor

It's way less damage. Because the where nuking really shine isn't single taget.. And trying to land meteor swarm against multiple targets is a joke. You can never aim it so it hits everything, unlike delayed blast which is very easy to hit everything. Delayed blast does 40,60,80,100 or 200+ D6 in cases where you put it to the best use. Meteor swarm you try to aim in the middle of a pack of mobs and it shoots off into the freaking ground right by your feet doing nothing.

Also your numbers are plain wrong. Meteor Swarm does at best 18D6 base damage for most sorcs (realisticlty even less as the average sorc sucks at manual targetting, I think less then 10% even know how to use mouselook, except seposedly the rare halfling sorc who uses hacks to make it work correctly) .. And 6d6 Bludgeoning damage..

You can't just add them together and say thats more then DBF, it doesn't work that way. First off your fire enhancements and fire items don't apply to the bludgeoning dmg, so it does almost nothing in comparison to the real fire dmg.

Then there's the triple fire resist, which almost every target people say it's seposedly worth using against has.

DQ2 epic - lol she has mega fire resist and insane reflex saves. Your not doing **** with that spell. I dare you to go into the raid with an entire group of casters using the spell with the regalia, tell me how badly you whipe. Melee and Ranged do the real damage in this raid like it or not.
Abbot - Pfft. It's less DPS then delayed blast fireball with it's much longer cooldown, and either way it's not huge DPS - the abbot has a very solid reflex save so he is saving against allot of those meteors (he gets 3-4 saves per cast). A caster with an average ecovation DC can do as much if not more dmg with tossing rocks.
Even then, like most raids no one cares how much damage you do to the abbot as a caster as long as you handle your primary roles - handling the ice platform, killing trash and breaking encasements, handle all of those roles very well and you are contributing a million times more then the stupid caster spamming his whole bar on meteor swarm and not helping with the important tasks.

[Samadhi]

Abbot - Pfft. It's less DPS then delayed blast fireball with it's much longer cooldown, and either way it's not huge DPS - the abbot has a very solid reflex save so he is saving against allot of those meteors (he gets 3-4 saves per cast). A caster with an average ecovation DC can do as much if not more dmg with tossing rocks.
Even then, like most raids no one cares how much damage you do to the abbot as a caster as long as you handle your primary roles - handling the ice platform, killing trash and breaking encasements, handle all of those roles very well and you are contributing a million times more then the stupid caster spamming his whole bar on meteor swarm and not helping with the important tasks.

Wait huh??

1) DBF has a reflex save too - not sure what you are getting at with that comment.
2) Much longer cooldown is missing the point. At least in the groups I typically run abbot with, it is a struggle to have an empty manapool before he is dead. Spam every spell that is going to do any damage (as Junts said, alternating DBF, meteors, disintegrate is the way to go). The cooldown timer is no more than maybe what 2 seconds longer anyhow.
3) What are these "roles" you are talking about? The abbot has virtually no HP. If you have four competent casters in there, he is dead so quick that you probably won't even see an Inferno. Wasting mana spamming your whole bar? Give me a break - just make him dead and move on to the next run.

[Battleworm]

It's way less damage. Because the where nuking really shine isn't single taget.. And trying to land meteor swarm against multiple targets is a joke. You can never aim it so it hits everything, unlike delayed blast which is very easy to hit everything. Delayed blast does 40,60,80,100 or 200+ D6 in cases where you put it to the best use. Meteor swarm you try to aim in the middle of a pack of mobs and it shoots off into the freaking ground right by your feet doing nothing.

Also your numbers are plain wrong. Meteor Swarm does at best 18D6 base damage for most sorcs (realisticlty even less as the average sorc sucks at manual targetting, I think less then 10% even know how to use mouselook, except seposedly the rare halfling sorc who uses hacks to make it work correctly) .. And 6d6 Bludgeoning damage..

You can't just add them together and say thats more then DBF, it doesn't work that way. First off your fire enhancements and fire items don't apply to the bludgeoning dmg, so it does almost nothing in comparison to the real fire dmg.

Then there's the triple fire resist, which almost every target people say it's seposedly worth using against has.

DQ2 epic - lol she has mega fire resist and insane reflex saves. Your not doing **** with that spell. I dare you to go into the raid with an entire group of casters using the spell with the regalia, tell me how badly you whipe. Melee and Ranged do the real damage in this raid like it or not.
Abbot - Pfft. It's less DPS then delayed blast fireball with it's much longer cooldown, and either way it's not huge DPS - the abbot has a very solid reflex save so he is saving against allot of those meteors (he gets 3-4 saves per cast). A caster with an average ecovation DC can do as much if not more dmg with tossing rocks.
Even then, like most raids no one cares how much damage you do to the abbot as a caster as long as you handle your primary roles - handling the ice platform, killing trash and breaking encasements, handle all of those roles very well and you are contributing a million times more then the stupid caster spamming his whole bar on meteor swarm and not helping with the important tasks.

You're right geez what am i thinking?Obviously the bestest method is to not even bring a caster,One barb with 11 clerics should be the way to go...

[maddmatt70]

I am in agreement that meteor swarm is useless. Regardless of its technical issues, it just has so little use at the end game due to fire resistance on all the major bosses. The only real exception is the abbot raid, but even there it has questionable use with all the other alternatives available.

One of the three other spells that a sorceror would give up to have meteor swarm really cinches the deal for me: energy drain, wail of the banshee, and mass hold monster. For some reason alot of sorcerors think its o.k. to not have mass hold monster which is a specific type of spell that only wiz/sorcs have. There is no other mass monster debilitating spell which leads to insta criticals in DDO. This spell works great on alot of the epic quests. Wail of the banshees is the wiz/sorc insta mass kill spell of choice although alot of mobs are immune to it in epic it is still useful in alot of end game content and for running in non end game content. Energy drain is twice as effective as enervate which is handy although for me this is the third spell of choice for sorcerors because clerics get this spell and sorcerors could just have enervate. Meteor Swarm is number four for me.

[Sirea]

It's way less damage. Because the where nuking really shine isn't single taget.. And trying to land meteor swarm against multiple targets is a joke. You can never aim it so it hits everything, unlike delayed blast which is very easy to hit everything. Delayed blast does 40,60,80,100 or 200+ D6 in cases where you put it to the best use. Meteor swarm you try to aim in the middle of a pack of mobs and it shoots off into the freaking ground right by your feet doing nothing.

Also your numbers are plain wrong. Meteor Swarm does at best 18D6 base damage for most sorcs (realisticlty even less as the average sorc sucks at manual targetting, I think less then 10% even know how to use mouselook, except seposedly the rare halfling sorc who uses hacks to make it work correctly) .. And 6d6 Bludgeoning damage..

You can't just add them together and say thats more then DBF, it doesn't work that way. First off your fire enhancements and fire items don't apply to the bludgeoning dmg, so it does almost nothing in comparison to the real fire dmg.

Then there's the triple fire resist, which almost every target people say it's seposedly worth using against has.

DQ2 epic - lol she has mega fire resist and insane reflex saves. Your not doing **** with that spell. I dare you to go into the raid with an entire group of casters using the spell with the regalia, tell me how badly you whipe. Melee and Ranged do the real damage in this raid like it or not.
Abbot - Pfft. It's less DPS then delayed blast fireball with it's much longer cooldown, and either way it's not huge DPS - the abbot has a very solid reflex save so he is saving against allot of those meteors (he gets 3-4 saves per cast). A caster with an average ecovation DC can do as much if not more dmg with tossing rocks.
Even then, like most raids no one cares how much damage you do to the abbot as a caster as long as you handle your primary roles - handling the ice platform, killing trash and breaking encasements, handle all of those roles very well and you are contributing a million times more then the stupid caster spamming his whole bar on meteor swarm and not helping with the important tasks.

You should really stick to talking about barbarians.

[Monkey_Archer]

It's way less damage. Because the where nuking really shine isn't single taget.. And trying to land meteor swarm against multiple targets is a joke. You can never aim it so it hits everything, unlike delayed blast which is very easy to hit everything. Delayed blast does 40,60,80,100 or 200+ D6 in cases where you put it to the best use. Meteor swarm you try to aim in the middle of a pack of mobs and it shoots off into the freaking ground right by your feet doing nothing.

Like i said... meteor swarm is much more damage when used correctly. Using it on multiple small targets is not my idea of "correctly"...

Also your numbers are plain wrong. Meteor Swarm does at best 18D6 base damage for most sorcs (realisticlty even less as the average sorc sucks at manual targetting, I think less then 10% even know how to use mouselook, except seposedly the rare halfling sorc who uses hacks to make it work correctly) .. And 6d6 Bludgeoning damage..

Hacks.. lol
My Wizard who uses the spell is human... Anyone who has played a First person shooter with a grenade launcher should know how to aim this spell

As for the size thing... i think shorter characters are having more luck with it because they're already used to looking up at everything

You can't just add them together and say thats more then DBF, it doesn't work that way. First off your fire enhancements and fire items don't apply to the bludgeoning dmg, so it does almost nothing in comparison to the real fire dmg.

If you reliably hit with 3 meteors, thats 18D6 worth of fire damage (2 less then DBF)... That leaves 6d6 (no save) bludgeon damage vs 2D6 fire damage.... Im gonna go with the bludgeon on this one...

Then there's the triple fire resist, which almost every target people say it's seposedly worth using against has.

DQ2 epic - lol she has mega fire resist and insane reflex saves. Your not doing **** with that spell. I dare you to go into the raid with an entire group of casters using the spell with the regalia, tell me how badly you whipe. Melee and Ranged do the real damage in this raid like it or not.

Again the target choice thing... I already said (in concurrence with your earlier post) that targets with fire resist are bad choices...

[Rice]

Ok, so my halfing sorc just hit 18 and I picked up meteor swarm. Right now it is impossible for me to get 4 meteors out. If I stand still on the ground, I can shoot out a maximum of 3 meteors. If I'm in the air and I shoot (with the jump buff on me OR without), I shoot out a maximum of 2 meteors.

It's kind of frustrating. I'm really really disappointed.

[Aspenor]

Even then, like most raids no one cares how much damage you do to the abbot as a caster as long as you handle your primary roles - handling the ice platform, killing trash and breaking encasements

Maybe in your gimp low damage parties. Ice platforms are for noobs. DPS FTW. There's no reason at all that, even on elite, any character not healing should be doing anything other than DPS. Breaking encasement would be the only exception.

[sirgog]

No matter how you wanna spin it, it's utter **** versus DBF.

In any realistic combat scenario, due to major issues with the spells hit detection. 99% of casts will only do 3 hits in BEST CASE scenerio. A realistic average would be 2.5 hits. As many hits while mving only ever do 2, and vs very fast moving targets your lucky to get 1 hit.

Add in the minor fire resist x3.. Versus 1 big shot.

Add in the limited duration of the regalia clicky. Versus ease of use of a super comb VII weapon/

Add in the slower cast and higher cost of the spell.

Add in the redicules arcing effect that NEVER actaully helps you and only hinders you.

Then the higher mana cost.. The longer cooldown.

And no, the range sucks. It's about equal to delayed blast fireball. The graphic will appear to go further, but it will never register a hit at maximum range - tho the game will let u cast it and waste your mana, unlike dbf.

Meh. Garbage spell.

One factor you failed to mention - DBF is a level 7 spell, a level with a lot of spells that are great.

[ddoer]

was there any fix applied in the last update?

Perhaps I because I have read this thread and I used the spell carefully every time from the beginning. The way I do is, select a target, then mouse look and turn to view angle upward and then shoot. i.e. shoot towards the sky. It is easy and an extra 0.1s and always result as 4 meteors.

The spell animation is VERY COOL and it deals great damage even without any potency 9. For sorc with only 3 level 9 spell slots, it's really tough to make a choice. Energy Drain, Mass Hold Monster, and Banshee are all great spells.

[Samiusbot]

For sorc with only 3 level 9 spell slots, it's really a tough to make a choice. Energy Drain, Mass Hold Monster, and Banshee are all great spells.

If i was a sorc i don't think i could take this spell. But all my Wizards that can cast this bad boy switch into it for tons of quest/raids.

And i can use the RoF clickie but i almost never do, as the damage is great with out.

But as one of the the top general use lvl 9 spells? That is painful to swap around. I don't think so.