Downtime Notice: 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) Monday, November 2nd

[cdbd3rd]

....

The practical upshot is that these spells may now sometimes be blocked from dealing damage (& other affects) due to "intervening terrain" where they would not have before (for both players and monsters), but are now doing only a fraction of the LOS checks (raycasts) that they did before. Those LOS checks are both computationally expensive and happen quite a lot in those cases.

I just ran some tests with Wall of Fire and I do not like the new LoS check system if what I'm reporting is WAI. My wizards throw up a Wall of Fire at a door, then pull the lever to open the door. However it seems that the LoS check happens only when the Wall of Fire is first put up, standing in the fire as the door is opened absolutely no monsters took any damage while they attacked me (waited long enough there would have been several ticks of fire damage before this update); it seems the closed door being opened is not registering with the reduced check system.....

Thinking of my Arty's Blade Barriers - which I haven't tested myself yet:

So theoretically = I throw it down at a door, then open the door - it's sounding from Varg's description & Tev's test of Firewall, that if a mob can't see the center of the spell when it's cast, then that mob will be immune from damage if it runs into the spell through the now-open door?

[Kompera_Oberon]

Daylight Savings Time in the US ended yesterday (after the announcement, but before the downtime). Just a posting mixup due to the time shift.

It's 8:09AM here at the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4EUTMPuvHo

From the video: "It's Daylight Saving. IT'S NOT PLURAL!!!"

Yeah, I didn't know (or care) either, but I still thought it was hilarious.

[Tevasama]

Thinking of my Arty's Blade Barriers - which I haven't tested myself yet:

So theoretically = I throw it down at a door, then open the door - it's sounding from Varg's description & Tev's test of Firewall, that if a mob can't see the center of the spell when it's cast, then that mob will be immune from damage if it runs into the spell through the now-open door?

That would be my guess/concern based on what I saw with Wall of Fire. Like I said, for several of the spells they identified it wouldn't matter. But for enduring spells casters previously used defensively at a narrow spot like a doorway, this is a potentially major change/issue.

I have now also seen that if Blade Barrier is cast with a closed door, the door is opened, and monsters enter it and they stand around for roughly 10 seconds without being hurt, then suddenly they take damage. So it is more than once and done check with blade barrier, but its usefulness is significantly decreased.

I can see reducing the LoS checks to the center of the spell rather than multiple points. I could even see reducing the overall number of checks. But the time gap seems way too large to make such defensive use of spells a worthwhile tactic any longer.

If the blade barrier or wall of fire are cast after the door is open and then they enter, they take damage instantly. Why is that first check so heavily weighted in this new system so it can't recheck once the door is opened and/or when they enter it's area of effect?

[Tevasama]

P.S. At this time (who knows for how long), flame turret seems to work the same as always... but blade barrier and other options are far less effective.

[PsychoBlonde]

If the blade barrier or wall of fire are cast after the door is open and then they enter, they take damage instantly. Why is that first check so heavily weighted in this new system so it can't recheck once the door is opened and/or when they enter it's area of effect?

It does check when they *enter* the area of effect. What you're asking is why doesn't it check when they move around IN the area of effect, and the answer is that the game isn't designed to be constantly executing checks of that kind because it'd create a big wad of information packets and eat up processor cycles and bandwidth.

The casting object isn't built to "see" doors and walls in this way. They would have to enable the door software "module" to talk to the spell software "module" in order for something like this to work. Which would be slow, and potentially create a lot of bugs, some of which would probably be negligible and some of which might NOT be.

Basically, they're trading a tiny bit of spell functionality in highly constrained circumstances for reduction in strain on the servers and network. Give it a couple weeks and you'll be used to the new way and you'll know how to position your spells effectively again. And some of the lag will be less bad.

[Faltout]

It does check when they *enter* the area of effect.

Apparently with Tevasama's tests it doesn't. Test was (if accurate):
- place a fire wall outside of door.
- open door.
- monsters enter the area of firewall and stay in it without taking any damage.

- open door
- place a fire wall in the same place as before.
- monsters take damage normally.

I haven't tested this personally but that's what I understood from the post. And seems like a bug rather than new functionality.

[Tevasama]

It does check when they *enter* the area of effect.

Not after today's patch, at least not if the spell is cast on the other side of a closed door that is then opened and they enter it.

What you're asking is why doesn't it check when they move around IN the area of effect, and the answer is that the game isn't designed to be constantly executing checks of that kind because it'd create a big wad of information packets and eat up processor cycles and bandwidth.

Absolutely a mistatement of my concerns.

[Tevasama]

Apparently with Tevasama's tests it doesn't. Test was (if accurate):
- place a fire wall outside of door.
- open door.
- monsters enter the area of firewall and stay in it without taking any damage.

- open door
- place a fire wall in the same place as before.
- monsters take damage normally.

I haven't tested this personally but that's what I understood from the post. And seems like a bug rather than new functionality.

This is indeed how my tests went down. And I'm hoping a dev will state it is a bug and not what they did by design in the first post's description of changes to the spells.

[Nonesuch2008]

This is indeed how my tests went down. And I'm hoping a dev will state it is a bug and not what they did by design in the first post's description of changes to the spells.

I felt myself wince when I read the last part of your statement. It reminds me of revisionist history, when someone changes the story to suit their needs.

[Tevasama]

I felt myself wince when I read the last part of your statement. It reminds me of revisionist history, when someone changes the story to suit their needs.

Was in response to the poster I replied to who stated it seemed more like a bug than new functionality... I'm not as sure based on the vague description given for the way the spells were changed, but only a dev can say for certain.

[Nonesuch2008]

Was in response to the poster I replied to who stated it seemed more like a bug than new functionality... I'm not as sure based on the vague description given for the way the spells were changed, but only a dev can say for certain.

I'm with you I'm hoping that this is an unwanted side effect of the change, as I too like to set AoE spells prior to opening doors & losing that initial damage really negates the whole strategy of doing so.

Finding a footnote later on that says this is now WAI would be...irksome.