the REAL resason for spell nerfs

[Barazon]

I felt dirty doing it, but I finally succeeded in thinking like a marketing person, which allowed me to figure out the real reason for spells being nerfed so badly. After update 9, they want casters to have to nuke continuously to contribute to the group like they used to, run out of mana, and go shopping in the DDO store for a stack of 100 majors. 1500 turbine points, darn, I don't have that much, guess I better spend another $20 this week to buy them, then do the same again next week!

The way things are now, I'm glad that we got the change that everyone had the equivalent of a rest shrine after leaving a completed quest; I doubt that would make it in these days.

[Elucidus]

I don't think that has anything to do with it, personally. But then again I don't consider it a spell nerf. Sure some spells got nerfed, some became more effective. I guess it all depends on your perspective.

[Seventh]

Would you like to borrow my tinfoil hat, Barazon?

[Barazon]

Would you like to borrow my tinfoil hat, Barazon?

I'm sure those have been nerfed too and the orbital mind lasers would still get me.

[Zirun]

...But Doom is having its SP cost reduced!

[shagath]

Spells I like got cheaper and more powerful. I like this kind of "nerf"

[Ravoc-DDO]

Some spells got nerfed hard because there's more to casters than playing one trick ponies.

[Thar]

If anything it's a marketing trick to make everyone change feats and lesser reincarnate and spend tp to accomplish that.

No doubt it's all about money.

I do applaud them for making some spells useful. That should have been thought out better from implementation, but better late than never. There was no need to change hypno, heal, firewall, aoe fogs if they made stuff better.

I do criticize them for making changes and not giving a free one time only reincarnation to characters impacted by changes. Did Hypnotism need a nerf? Did Heal need to cost more spell points? (bet most people didn't see that one in the notes).

Making extend and enlarge useless to most of the people that took it.

Yes, you can switch out with shards in game if you collected 1,000,000's of them to change out a few feats on a few characters.

my 2 cp

[Elucidus]

I don't doubt that it is about money, but I don't believe it is about making people respec or buying anything from the store, enough of that goes on as it is. It is about making the game better all around, trying to make other builds viable trying to make spells that while in PnP should have the same cost, don't work out to be equal in an MMO environment. The better the game, the more people will want to play it.

They are trying to improve the versatility of spellcasting. One-trick ponies aren't what it is all about, you have a lot more spell slots than that. Even Sorcs and FvS.

[Asketes]

the logical theory would suggest they are prepping to allow for levels beyond 20.

[Memnir]

No.

SPELL POINT REGEN – Echoes of Power:

We’ll be introducing a limited form of spell point regen for players who have “magical training” (as in the feat). This is to avoid a true “out of gas” situation for our casters. The concept is that when a caster drops below a certain spell point threshold a spell point regen effect known as “echoes of power” applies itself until the caster reaches that threshold again. The goal is to allow low level players continue to cast level 1 spells at a diminished rate when their “out of gas” while high level players will be able to continue to use their PRE-s with the meta magics they normally require for high level play.

[Elucidus]

No.

Care to elaborate? As long as it stays at such a low level, I think it will add the survivability to 1st or second level characters, but maybe I am missing something.

[EustaceTrevelyan]

...But Doom is having its SP cost reduced!

I started thinking about that statement, at which point my head exploded

[transtemporal]

Some spells got nerfed hard because there's more to casters than playing one trick ponies.

I agree in the case of firewall, but theres always a twisted Turbine take on it...

Example: Power Word Kill. Remove the silly hd cap and make it more usable - fantastic! Put a 4 minute cooldown on it ensuring no one will ever take it anyway - complete and utter fail!

[DarkSpectre]

the logical theory would suggest they are prepping to allow for levels beyond 20.

So would epic levels mean more high level content to support those levels?

[Memnir]

Care to elaborate?

The game is simply not changing that much. Sure, you'll have to throw a few more Firewalls then you used to - but other spells are getting cheaper and will mitigate the expense of recasting FW from time to time. Not to mention - most things I've seen killed/have personally killed have been dead before an extended Firewall fades out.

This change will be painful for many to adjust to, but it's not as bad as people are saying they think it will be. I say this from my time on the test server.


And, the Echoes of Power is just the icing on the cake. You will now never be totally out of spellpoints to contribute - even if you never buy a potion.





If you need to buy any Store pots due to these changes - perhaps you should rethink how you play a caster.

[Nodia]

They are running a bussiness, to us a game, to them a way to make money. So it is about the bottom line.

[NorthwindFusilier]

Some spells got nerfed hard because there's more to casters than playing one trick ponies.

Ummmm.... They made the enchantment spells I specced my wizard for less useful, and made it so the necro spells I also specced for can be used less often, leaving me the nuking that I also specced for as the only one useful all the time, and this makes me no longer a one-trick pony? Error. Does not compute.

[Zachski]

Care to elaborate? As long as it stays at such a low level, I think it will add the survivability to 1st or second level characters, but maybe I am missing something.

Spell Like Abilities

[Pehtis]

Although I don't quite agree with all the proposed changes to spells (Blade Barrier, Heal, Wail of Banshee), but I do understand why they decidied to rebalance.

As it stands at the moment melee characters NEED casters to Mass Hold and other crowd control spells while frantically beating down on them collectively. Epic monsters HIT HARD and often if left unattended resulting in many melee toons struggling past the first handful of fights (assuming limited heals). Meanwhile mages throw masses of Firewalls (that crit) that slowly reduce epic monster hit points.

Halving the monster hitpoints whilst increasing their saves, will result in two immediate things:

1. Mages will feel more useful because their nuker spells (even firewall) will have a more immediate effect in defeating epic monsters in quicker time than is current.

2. Melees will find themselves taking down an epic monster a little more easier with sheer dps solo, rather than always needing a 2nd (& even a 3rd dps character) to kill just the one epic monster without mage CC support.

All epic content varies but the gist of it is that epic monster having half hitpoints, the make up of parties will be even more dynamic and dare I say it more forgiving. They HAD to make DoT spells more expensive in light of this otherwise epic monsters (even with better saves) will be a no contest.

It does mean that Crowd Control (CC) build will become less viable in epics. I haven't read anything to say they intend to increase existing monster saves in regular level 18-20 quests too. If that happens it will be a killer blow to CC builds in general (spellsinger bards will be immediately deleted).

It will become more common to find duo teams of just the 1 mage and 1 melee defeating the enemy (that will now have higher saves) more quickly via traditional means.

This in my opinion is the real reason to the proposed changes. It is a case of watch this space to see how everything pans out.

Just my 2 cents worth.