Keeping your pre-u9 AP setting?

[Rdonaccount]

I have a couple wizards, one is a standard drow PM with 2x enchant focus, and full fire/ice damage lines. Functions great in epics, and variable damage types when I need it. AP was a bit tight, but I fit in basically everything I wanted. But with the u9 enhancement line changes, I don't think I could come close to the amount of flexibility that I currently have. I'm starting to think that it might be best to just save my AP as it is now, rather than sacrificing either fire or ice damage. Is anyone else thinking along the same lines?

[Quarterling]

On Lammania, all "old" enhancements disappear as that is what happened to my wizard when I copied him over. You also don't get AP refunded and I do not think that the old enhancements help you anymore (as far as I know, I didn't do a whole bunch of testing so there is a chance I can be wrong here). So basically, you are forced to reset your action points.

[Rdonaccount]

so it's not like the old crit rage barbs then? guess i just have to suck it up and face the brave new world. thanks.

[Jaid314]

so it's not like the old crit rage barbs then? guess i just have to suck it up and face the brave new world. thanks.

if you focus primarily in kinetic, you should get a fairly 'universal' damage type that will work on almost anything. about the only thing you miss out on is a polar ray equivalent, really.

so my advice? 7 points into force damage, 1 into each force crit chain, then divide up your other stuff between cold and lightning so you can throw nasty eladar's electric surge and niac's biting cold SLAs (and of course, polar ray has no kinetic analogue, so a slightly higher emphasis on cold for that might be a good idea).

so, for example, i would go 9 points in kinetic, 9 in cold, and 4 in electric if you want to spend the same amount of points you did before (or you could cut back a little more even and spend some AP elsewhere too). but that's just one possible way to spend your AP.

[Cartheron]

Maybe I am missing something, but what is so cool about force now?

Missiles serie - nothing has changed, still very situational (Tomb of the Tormented)

Disintegrate - if I excpect mob to fail his fort save, Ill throw FoD. If FoD is not working (undead, golem, DW) disintegrate may be a better choice but in most cases some kind of AoE spell would be better (especialy with that outrageous nerf to golems now). For raid bosses - only 1 I excpect to fail fort save every single time is Abbot. Red names - well, again, only 1 I ever feel compeled to use disintegrate on is Wiz King.

Horrid wilting - it has a save (tested it few times, both on live and Lamannia), bad targeting and only thing that boost it's damage is superior efficacy VIII clickie.

Cyclonic blast - spell in "why bother" category for most of the time, especialy now, when lev 5 became crowded.

Ice storm - you want polar ray anyway, so it will be boosted.

To the OP - for a drow PM it is easy and possible to have PMIII+4 elemental lines+metamagic cost reduction+spell penetration II+racial toughness II+few spare points. Tested. Max damage lines, 1 AP into crit chance and multiplier. You will end with 5% less damage overall, but spellpass will easily make up for that

[Montegue]

Is it in any way viable to continue on as an Evocation Archmage? no, I'm not playing a Warforged. However, I really don't like the aesthetics of playing a pale master. I don't care to run around with an undead pet and a big green aura. I'd rather burn stuff up and provide utility.

Right now, I'm enjoying tossing out the Evocation SLAs and having spell points to spare in case I need to CC or toss out a fire wall. Is that just not feasible next patch?

[Jaid314]

regarding PM:

1) you don't need to take the PM pets (they aren't worth the points anyways).

2) death aura will no longer be a big green watermelon. sound isn't changing though, unfortunately.

3) you can still burn stuff and provide utility just fine on a pale master. or on any caster, for that matter.

evocation archmage is still viable, but not nearly as good. i would recommend you take evocation as one focus, and then put the other into either enchant or conjuration. specifically, evocation should be your secondary... a +2 to evocation DC is not nearly as good as +2 to either enchant or conjuration, and you only need SF and GSF (plus either primary or secondary archmage focus, no need for the second tier) to get the most SP-efficient evocation spell-likes (so long as you aren't aiming for cyclonic blast, which for the most part wasn't ever really all that worthwhile in the first place). conjuration can give you web (lock target down and then start shooting, but don't use arcane blast) and enchant can give you hypno/dance (you'll have to prep stuff before taking it down, still basically no AOE) if you want to focus on the SLA use. and of course, either will give you useful CC options (web or mass hold) for those times when you need it.

as for why force is so good now? well, really it isn't. what force is, is cheap. you can invest into the force line, and you have all your major bases covered (you missed meteor swarm, btw). it isn't the most amazing spell damage out there by any means, but you will pretty much never be stuck unable to contribute. basically, it's a good option for those who don't want to focus on blasting, but want to have a useful blasting option for any situation. if your focus is on nuking instead, then force spec is not for you, except possibly as a secondary fallback option (again, for when you just need something that works).

also, in my (perhaps not quite as extensive) testing of horrid wilting, i've never seen any indication that targets get a save. regardless, at least the save is not a reflex save, so it will still work even on targets with evasion.

the magic missile line isn't so great, but it *is* consistent damage. cyclonic blast is actually pretty decent, and even with the two new powerful DoTs i don't think it's very hard to fit in at all, unless you hate scrolls. disintegrate tends to be very strong against the kind of opponent that death effects don't work on (golems, undead). ice storm is not as strong as wall of fire, but it's a lot closer than it used to be and again, damages *anything* (barring mantle of invulnerability). meteor swarm also gives you some fire damage on the side, and is probably a better all-purpose AOE nuke than even horrid wilting (though i still don't think horrid wilting is a poor choice, tbh).

if you're looking for a catch-all damage option as something you can always fall back on, choose kinetic. if you want to specialise in nuking, well, you should probably use ice/electric at end-game and ice/fire through the early-mid-game, i'd say.

[Montegue]

How badly is the update going to hurt Archmage, though, in practice? Right now I run with max/emp running full time. I mostly use chain missiles, Magic Missile, and Arcane Bolt. I can generally maintain solid spell points for any big fight pre shrine, and then invest those points is a series of nasty AOE spells to help burn down the mobs we're fighting (fire wall, cone of cold, even fireball or DB Fireball).

I keep finding that with Chain missiles, magic missile, and arcane bolts, I put out consistent damage and don't have a lot of my damage output basically made useless by the melee. I see that they are doubling the cost of Magic Missile and Arcane bolt, but that's probably not going to make a huge impact. However, are they adding the cost of Emp/Maximize to them now? If so, I think that will pretty much kill archmage, at least for Evocation.

[Jaid314]

How badly is the update going to hurt Archmage, though, in practice? Right now I run with max/emp running full time. I mostly use chain missiles, Magic Missile, and Arcane Bolt. I can generally maintain solid spell points for any big fight pre shrine, and then invest those points is a series of nasty AOE spells to help burn down the mobs we're fighting (fire wall, cone of cold, even fireball or DB Fireball).

I keep finding that with Chain missiles, magic missile, and arcane bolts, I put out consistent damage and don't have a lot of my damage output basically made useless by the melee. I see that they are doubling the cost of Magic Missile and Arcane bolt, but that's probably not going to make a huge impact. However, are they adding the cost of Emp/Maximize to them now? If so, I think that will pretty much kill archmage, at least for Evocation.

no, metamagics are still free. the real nuisance is gonna be the cooldown increase on chain missiles and arcane blast. it's gonna throw off your standard routine, i suspect.

[Montegue]

no, metamagics are still free. the real nuisance is gonna be the cooldown increase on chain missiles and arcane blast. it's gonna throw off your standard routine, i suspect.

Yeah. I still think there will be a rotation to find with perhaps some gaps for movement, however. It might work out ok. It's gonna be more costly, though. And other spells of a similar cost might be more SP efficient.