Arcane Bolt and Blast

[~STERLIN1]

These abilities are very nearly worthless and certainly not on par with other inherent caster abilities. At high end most mobs have evasion and will take no damage from either. Single target reflex save spells are not typical either. A simple reasonable fix is to allow metas to work on these abilities as they currently do not.

[Enoach]

Bolt - 2 Spell points for 1d6 per Caster Level single target Evocation DC reflex for 1/2
Blast - 6 Spell points for 1d6 per Caster Level multi-target Evocation DC reflex for 1/2

No metas:

Bolt you have the ability to cast 6 times when you are at 12 SP
Blast you have the ability to cast 2 time when you are at 12 SP

Assuming Bolt is considered a level 5 spell (As that is the highest spell level available at level 9) and Blast is considered a level 8 spell (as that is the highest spell level available at level 15) these spells would only fall 4 and 1 DC short of their highten counterparts (memorized spells).

I do believe they are enhanced by the force line as well as impact and potency. As well as any Spell focus item that improves the Evocation School of magic including Level enhancers.

If memory serves, these spells are also not protected from by Shield and Nightshield.

Maybe my point is while they are not the most powerful tool, but they are the most consistent tool an Archmage has at their disposal.

So no I don't see a reason why this would be needed
/not signed

[InsanityIsYourFriend]

or make it like all other "force" spells, no save at all
ofc this would likely empower force casters to such a high end
i can see it now spell book includes:
Magic Missile
Inherent Magic Missile
Chain Missile
Inherent Chain Missile
Force Missile
Arcane Bolt
Arcane Blast
Disintigrate
Cyclonic Blast
Ice Storm
Phantasmal Killer (does untyped dmg on failed save)
Horrid Wilting (untyped dmg necro spell school)
Meteor Swarm
Prismatic Ray
Prismatic Spray
CC spells
~dont forget your dots~
get a superior efficency IX
get a Superior impact IV (unless arcane blast is a higher lvl spell)
OH and Dispel Magic type spells (shield/nightshield would hurt 5 of your spells)

[LOOON375]

Having leveled up 2 different force spec'd Wizzy's, I got way more use out of the bolt. After much playing around with it, blast didn't seem worth the cost in the end.

When you are out of spell points, that bolt comes in real handy.

I just TR'd my second Wiz and he is going to force spec'd again.

It took some time, but I was able to figure out which type of mobs the use the bolt against. Casters and armored types it's almost no fail.

[woodchuckslayer]

First point is this, opportunity cost..You have x and its handy..yaay...you coulda had y and its 10billion times better..hmm..x isnt so good after all

Second point is this, If Arcane blast is ok as is how come the medusa in the game cast the same spell but it bursts at least 4 times in a single cast? If it is ok why would the mobs of all things get a better, indeed vastly better version?

Answer ?

Let them eat cake.

[btolson]

Assuming Bolt is considered a level 5 spell (As that is the highest spell level available at level 9) and Blast is considered a level 8 spell (as that is the highest spell level available at level 15) these spells would only fall 4 and 1 DC short of their highten counterparts (memorized spells).

Bolt is level 2, Blast is level 4. So, DCs are -7 and -5 compared to heightened counterparts. It's very noticeable in level-appropriate content.

I do believe they are enhanced by the force line as well as impact and potency.

They are affected, at 50% efficiency (just like Heal). Thus, if Maximize was enabled for them it would essentially grant +75% base damage and if Empower was enabled it would essentially grant +37.5% base damage.


Since the devs have recently proven that they can easily enable specific metas for abilities and that it is not just an all-or-none toggle, they should definitely consider allowing heighten to work on these abilities (and Palemaster corollaries as well). Alternatively the save should be removed (Insanity was right in his post, no save is the hallmark of force spells).


I don't see why Quicken shouldn't be allowed for these abilities either.


Other metas should not be enabled, at least not for free. With any luck, when the enhancement pass comes along you will be able to optionally increase your investment into these abilities to unlock maximize/empower/enlarge for them. I would likely spend an extra 8 AP to do this. DDO is supposed to promote build diversity after all, hopefully they will give us the tools to upgrade these abilities if we choose to focus heavily into them at the expense of other stuff.

And now for a possible (and terrible) mockup in the vein of destinies....



Same deal for Arcane Blast.



Alternatively, if unlocking individual metamagics "on the fly" is not easily coded, then they may opt for a more simplistic approach by creating two completely separate versions of the ability: one version of Arcane Bolt that cannot have empower/maximize/enlarge applied to it, and one version that can have them all applied. The first version would be granted when you buy the basic ability, the second version would be granted when you buy an Unlock Metamagics upgrade. You could probably then have both versions on your hotbars at the same time (just as paladins can have regular Smite and Exalted Smite on their hotbars at the same time), although of course both abilities would share the same cooldown so there would be no practical benefit to this.

The second, metamagicable version of these abilities could potentially be renamed to something else, to highlight the difference vs the basic versions... Arcane Spear (metamagicable Arcane Bolt) and Arcane Detonation (metamagicable Arcane Blast) are two fairly terrible options that come right off the top of my head but hopefully get the point across.

Another (terrible) mockup...

[Kinerd]

Additionally, Evocation DC against Reflex is in general a weak point for wizards, and the cooldowns make them mediocre to poor DPS: you're only looking at about Fireball/Acid Blast from Arcane Bolt and Burning Hands/Acid Spray from Arcane Blast. It's cheap per use, but like everything else in AM it has an up-front cost (50 SP for Bolt, an additional 100(!) for Blast) so you have to be Echoes fighting pretty often to net profit.

It could stand to be better, but 1) wizards are pretty good as is and 2) so could a million other enhancements.

[soulaeon]

Yes to Empower and Maximize, but no to the other feats. Arcane Prodigy is the same way, so it is fair to allow Arcane Bolt and Arcane Blast to also be affected by the same feats.

These two spells are crappy, and are not better for much but to help level. If you want to conserve SP, just use spells like Acid Rain, Force Missle and Ice Storm.
Alternatively, if you are going to be an evocation archmage, dont bother with Arcane Bolt and Blast, and get Magic Missile and Chain Missile.

[Vellrad]

2 easy fixes:
1. Change save to will (it will be quite unique effect).
2. Allow heighten.
3. <most important> GET RID OF THAT BS IDEA WITH 50% SPELL POWER FOR WIZARD SPELL LIKE ABILITIES

But of course, we can only dream... we don't deserve to get nice things, we're only consumer's after all...

[Kinerd]

2 easy fixes:
1. Change save to will (it will be quite unique effect).
2. Allow heighten.
3. <most important> GET RID OF THAT BS IDEA WITH 50% SPELL POWER FOR WIZARD SPELL LIKE ABILITIES

But of course, we can only dream... we don't deserve to get nice things, we're only consumer's after all...

#1 is even thematically preceded by the Nightmares enchantment: mental-based force damage with Will save.

[Rawrargh]

I wanna post in a 9 month old thread too!