Spell Pass Preview - Chaaannggeee!

[Calebro]

err... no. he's referring to the AP costs for elemental damage lines. it will cost 19 for one element under the new update, whereas it costs 22 AP for two elements right now.

Well it still isn't true.
With the enhancements being more front loaded now, it's much easier to get a balanced run across all elements. Sure, if you want to max an element then it'll cost more, and rightly so. But that also includes a damage enhancement to +50%, which never existed before.
So to put it in more equal terms, you have to say that it will cost 17ap to get the equivalent in one element for what you have now. That leaves 5ap left from your 22, which is enough to add +30% damage, and 4% x1.75 crit on the second.
If you wanted to be more well rounded, it is now MUCH easier to do so.

But more well rounded is the purview of Wizards. Sorcs were made to specialize.
These changes not only make sense, but allow a caster to specialize even more then before, and that's not even counting the PrE at all.

[Aashrym]

I'm not sure what this post is based on but spell damage dice is not changing.

Traditionally in DDO Direct damage or "instant" damage spells use "loaded" dice, where we give you half the value and then roll the second half.

Example: Lightning bolt does a d6 per level, but actually roll 3+1d3 per die. So the average tends to be 5. This prevents you from rolling a ton of 1s and getting a crappy lightning bolt.

Now Dots typically roll true dice: 1d4 will really be a range of 1 - 4.

But anyhow, the base method of how we do spell damage dice isn't changing Been that way awhile.

I bet it took some time to catch up on this thread.

Any more tidbits coming?

[Elucidus]

I am loving the changes. Especially firewall. This isn't WoW and there shouldn't be one end all be all spell.

I can't wait to see these and the other changes in action.

[Aaxeyu]

Epic mobs will have their HP cut in half and are no longer immune to instakill effects.

Neg rep for helping out? Very mature.

[Calebro]

Longer cooldowns on death effects are not fun. Wail was a TON of fun. It used to be the one spell I really looked forward to getting on my caster just so I could go "wheeeee!" in vale and shroud. The sound effect and visual effect made it more fun than any other spell. Once every 30 seconds now? You're kidding right? Right?

This is the part that I find funny.
Everyone cries that they want less easy buttons.
Then everyone cries when their easy buttons are taken away.

Which is it? Do you want easy buttons or not? Because WoB on a practically non-existent cooldown is an easy button.
And we all know it.

[Greeka]

Not sure if this posted somewhere else, but I got tired of the gloom and doom posts. My main is a wizard and I have always loved the arcane spell casting class. As such my only hope is that all the spells descriptor files will be properly updated with the new changes to any of the spells facing changes and have all damage dice, duration, saves, spell resistance checks all properly indicated within the spell descriptors and tool tips on the spells.

As long as this is in place we will adapt.

[Thrudh]

Rebalancing Said Variant System Even If It Pulls You Out Of The 4-spell Comfort System Is Fine By Me.

+1

[DelverRootnose]

I'm not sure what this post is based on but spell damage dice is not changing.

Traditionally in DDO Direct damage or "instant" damage spells use "loaded" dice, where we give you half the value and then roll the second half.

Example: Lightning bolt does a d6 per level, but actually roll 3+1d3 per die. So the average tends to be 5. This prevents you from rolling a ton of 1s and getting a crappy lightning bolt.

Now Dots typically roll true dice: 1d4 will really be a range of 1 - 4.

But anyhow, the base method of how we do spell damage dice isn't changing Been that way awhile.

oh don't get me started on how you roll dice since 2d6 is not the same as 2-12 damage.

[gone430]

caster are the best crowd control in the game. no other class really has the same ability to damage or disable a mob. so why do they have to make it so they favor single target spells now?

[Lifespawn]

This is the part that I find funny.
Everyone cries that they want less easy buttons.
Then everyone cries when their easy buttons are taken away.

Which is it? Do you want easy buttons or not? Because WoB on a practically non-existent cooldown is an easy button.
And we all know it.

I personally don't want an easy but what i do want is more useful spells the overuse of firewall was not because it was the easiest it's because it was the only spell that was efficient for high hp mobs that were not immune to fire.

With this change to firewall can we get energy substitution please?

[Renegade66]

• HD/HP caps we’re removed from most effects (yeah, I guess I should talk about death effects now, but oh, sleep works now!)

Does this hold for Symbol of Death and Undeath to Death, where it affects a maximum number of HD/HP? If so, 20 seconds of kiting mobs through a Symbol of Death sounds pretty uber.

[ahpook]

I've decided to test this out in real-life.

I ran into the hallway wall 100 times now, and not once did I think I took less damage than normal (each subsequent wall-run felt just as painful as the previous). So either I didn't roll a 20 any of the 100 times (if the wall's DC is that high), or whoever thought up the idea of giving WoF a reflex save needs to re-reflect on this.

So you are saying it should be a will save? Boost your wisdom and you might have made a save much, much earlier.

Reflex save seems reasonable to me. I notice that a flaming wall just popped up in front of me and I change my course in time to avoid it. This is hardly the worst case of reflex being a bit of a stretch in this game.

[Calebro]

I personally don't want an easy but what i do want is more useful spells the overuse of firewall was not because it was the easiest it's because it was the only spell that was efficient for high hp mobs that were not immune to fire.

With this change to firewall can we get energy substitution please?

The various PrE's SLAs have rectified that. Fully meta'd and/or scaling spells at an extremely low cost. There's your efficiency.

Previously I was under the "Energy Substitution would be overpowered, specifically because of WoF" group.
Now, with these changes to WoF, I'm no longer of the same mind.
Energy Substitution would have been a horribly broken feat before. But now I think it's time to rethink that.
Now it wouldn't be so broken.

That ALONE means that these changes, while seemingly harsh, are indeed good for the game.

[Zachski]

Um.

Sorry, but that just cries "Being taken out of my comfort zone."

It's an insta-kill spell. As in, you cast it, enemies DIE. It can have a reasonably high success rate. And now reasonably high damage even if the enemy saves against it.

It SHOULD be a spell that you can't cast rapidly or even all that frequently.

I'm not saying you shouldn't use it, but I don't think it was a spell that was meant to be relied on. You can still use it, mind you, but now you have to insert other spells into your rotation.

[DelverRootnose]

Um.

Sorry, but that just cries "Being taken out of my comfort zone."

It's an insta-kill spell. As in, you cast it, enemies DIE. It can have a reasonably high success rate. And now reasonably high damage even if the enemy saves against it.

It SHOULD be a spell that you can't cast rapidly or even all that frequently.

I'm not saying you shouldn't use it, but I don't think it was a spell that was meant to be relied on. You can still use it, mind you, but now you have to insert other spells into your rotation.

so we have to insert new spells into a rotation now do we. Well I say melees can only swing the same weapon 10 times between shrines before they have to use another weapon to increase thier damage rotation.

[Zachski]

so we have to insert new spells into a rotation now do we. Well I say melees can only swing the same weapon 10 times between shrines before they have to use another weapon to increase thier damage rotation.

That doesn't even make sense. Besides, Melees DO have to change weapons to maximize damage against certain enemy types.

[Calebro]

so we have to insert new spells into a rotation now do we. Well I say melees can only swing the same weapon 10 times between shrines before they have to use another weapon to increase thier damage rotation.

A better comparison would be taking an instant death weapon like a vorpal and changing it somehow so it wasn't quite so powerful and couldn't be used in every circumstance.

....oh, wait.... they did that too.

edit:
And before you tell me that vorpals now do 100 damage if the target has more than 1k hp.... they added more damage to insta-death spells on a successful save.
So it's still the same thing.

[DelverRootnose]

This is the part that I find funny.
Everyone cries that they want less easy buttons.
Then everyone cries when their easy buttons are taken away.

Which is it? Do you want easy buttons or not? Because WoB on a practically non-existent cooldown is an easy button.
And we all know it.

people only cry about OTHER people's easy button not thier own. I mean can you imagine the fits people would be having if they changed barbarian rage to have a 2 minute exhaustion effect after a 20 second rage that would lower the barb strength by 6 and could not be removed.

[KreepyKritter]

so we have to insert new spells into a rotation now do we. Well I say melees can only swing the same weapon 10 times between shrines before they have to use another weapon to increase thier damage rotation.

You show me a melee who isn't swapping weaponsets at LEAST ten times per shrine and I'll show you a melee who hasn't got his hot-bars arranged properly, or doesn't have the plat to gear his toon properly.

[DelverRootnose]

That doesn't even make sense. Besides, Melees DO have to change weapons to maximize damage against certain enemy types.

no it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for the caster or the melee. And you don't think casters don't already have to mix it up for different mobs. When was the last time you saw a firewall on harry without laughing.