Possible mage skills (in General)

DD specific:

All maxed at 1/4 DD level.

For FB: Contain. At 1.0 friendly minions take 0 damage in melee. At less they take a proportional amount. IE at .33 they take 67% of the damage they normally would

For MM: Penetrate. At 1.0 defenses including the MgS gets lowered by 1/2. At lower amounts defense get greater. IE at .33 they get 16.7% less defense

For CoC: Freeze. At 1.0 there is a 25% chance that the enemy will be so frozen his attacks will be at 50% effect. That is 50% of the damage they would normally do that round. IE at .33 they get 16.7% less damage per attack. This effect is applied before any damage reduction factors such as AS, but after AMF.

For SG: Chain. At 1.0 there is a 50% chance for an extra attack doing up to 25% damage to the next minion in line. IE at .33 there is a 16.7% chance for the extra chain attack

For decay: I got nothing.

So thoughts? Ideas?

mage skills of some type would be a welcome addition to the game in my humble opinion.

for decay maybe a percantage vampiric type aura? i have always wanted a mage with a life drain/tap sort of ability.

Decay=AMF reduction stacking with NCSs?

You never see a decay mage team anymore.... just base or small decays....

This is not a serious idea XD

Wild Magic: Generate a random number between -.5 and 2. The damage of your spell is multiple by this number. If the number is negative, you take that damage instead of the enemy. Training starts at -.5 and increases based on the level of your DD spell.

as i said before :) give us ELEMENTAL damage :) muahaha!

I like FB and MM's, but the 'chance' on attack thing for SG and CoC is... not as appealing imho. For CoC, perhaps make the chance 100%, but only lowers damage by maybe 10%? It is a big enough damage drop but its not based on chance. Likewise with SG. Imo, make SG hit all minions in the "chain" but lower damage on that significantly, similar to an explosive shot I suppose.

how about combat casting if your not being attacked you do more...............................

lots of chance effects. I dunno. I thought we didn't like those D:

Ya and the chance seems low imo. I mean whenever I get hit by a bow, it seems to always be triple hits (esp. from Halidons). How much chance is involved with Bows?

Hals have insane PTH, so that's not really the same thing.

And average Hal will have maybe:

350% chance of hitting you once

250% chance of hitting you a 2nd time

150% chance of hitting you a 3rd time

50% chance of hitting you a 4th time.

This is purely hypothetical, but you get the idea. With around 200 - 300 PTH that could be the ballpark.

I think (a) mage skill(s) could potentially be (a) good idea(s) but before we give mages skills lets make sure tanks get some more options too. It's just that in my opinion the game is still skewed towards mages and I don't want to see that encouraged any more than it already is.

I have to do more looking but I thought someone said mages hardly even comprise the top spots... am I mistaken?

The top spots are a horrid representation of CB as a whole. Although I would argue that yes, there are many mages present in the higher ranks, there may not be as many because the top spots basically imply that you spend USD. And if you spend USD, you can actually make a decent tank.

Actually, i'm going to take that back. I underestimated how many people used (and still use, i supposed) familiars as their main damage dealers.
Not too many tanks present in the top spots, either.

I think FB splash should be abolished.

3/4th.

I think the % chance of stuff is not acceptable on something that is essential to a lot of strategies. Such as the new AoJ.

However I have no problem with chances on "bonus" type things, such as what skills for mages can be.

That is my own opinion though.

However, if one wants to change the SG one to a 100% chance for a 2nd minion hit doing x% damage. That is fine with me.

However, the CoC one would have to be changed since 50% attack automatically is too powerful.

And for decay:

I dislike any skills for it due to the low xp needs to compliment a base decay.

Ranger, no offense, but you talk about mages like a circumvent around your own strat. come on.

Kevlar,

What the heck are you typing about?

A circumvent around my own strat?

Care to explain.

And FYI, the character I am running right now will not be what I finally get to.

Are you really trying to be a troll yet again?

I am typing up some ideas for mage strategies. Nothing so insidious to give me an advantage.

I see what you're coming at, Ranger.

I definitely think mages could use a new skill.

This is not because I think mages are severely underpowered. I just think at a level they are all the same.

Much of the complains about mages is that all they need to do is invest in one stat: the DD. I'm not sure if that's a fair statement for OP-ness but it definitely pretty fair in boring-ness.

After a while when you squint your eyes, mages look fairly similar. Tanks, have evasion. They have BL. They even have archery (though isn't quite a bonus). Mages need an opportunity to make more choices. In general.

I vouche for a new mage skill, even a cost of a slight damage nerf.

Ranger, take the backseat, relax and re-read the post. You are so defensive about anything that goes against your own strat, period.
There is nothing 'trolly' about it. That seems to be your ez excuse out of anything that contests your stance. Man up, please. I've already given you props about the petition, but anything posted that goes against your strat and you contest it doesn't mean everyone has to feel the same way, relax, please. Let others put their 2 cents in. That's all I am asking.

Again,

What about this goes against my strat?

I am offering up mage skills.

Some can even do much harm to my strategy.

I have no idea what your typing about.

Perhaps you should define what you mean by a circumvent around my strat.

In one thread you are anti a mage tat, in another thread you are pro a chance to hit mage skill.... it's confusing!

If you carefully read my post about the mage tattoo, you will see why I am against it.

However skills I posted to augment some of the spell are different.

At least I see the difference.

But now I understand your confusion.

I see the reason against it becasue DD hits 100%. But it seems that Hals AND bows both have a chance to tripple hit... so how is that off? A Hal that hits and a Bow that hits can be 6 times max right? Compared to a DD spell which hits max once. I'm just not seeing how that compares.

DBs can counter the PTH.

No item can counter DD spell autohitting.

Weapons need NW in PTH, DD does not.

Some of the reasons a DD boosting tattoo is not a great or good idea.

Doesn't a Mage Shield compensate for the autohit? (I haven't been in a situation that utilized one in such a degree...but remember certain posts about it) Just seems there is so much out there against mages, AMF, EH, etc. For bow masters and hals, etc, it's Ex bows and Ethreal chains.

I don't understand the point of that statement.

So what DDs always hit. They only hit once.

You imply that tanks have trouble hitting in general, this is no longer the case. It is possible to reduce hits to misses, but it requires a large exp investment (dex/evasion).

Tanks are designed to cater to the USD users. It is to allow the sinking of money to gain an edge, and it has. It is apparent that they can outdamage mages especially in ranged. Therefore it isn't really a detriment if they require money to improve (money in general, arguing the steepness of the upgrade curve is another argument altogether). Note the tanks versatility. In recent changes, you don't even need to emphasize multiple hits anymore. BL with a large X investment is a very sure-fire way to hit and deal high amounts of damage.

DDs have a different purpose altogether. They are a form of damage that isn't half as versatile as tanks (must retrain). But they do consistent damage. And they are cheap. They don't attempt to do double hits or anything fancy.

In other words. Tanks are risky buisness and mages are not. Besides, I don't see how a DD boosting tattoo would have any more DD/HP than a familiar, so I don't see the issue there. And when I mean mage tattoo, I'm not implying solely boosting DD. I'm looking at GA or MgS/AC penetration, or some sort of series of strange abilities like the RoBF.

When I type about the NW needed, the steepness of the upgrade curve is implied.

And aside from the SoD, FB and CoC are the only damage types that hit all minions. Quite a nice versitility there.

And SG does the most damage of any spell/item in the game.

But my thing against a DD boosting familiar is AMF. AMF vs a DD and DD familiar is different from AMF vs 1 super large DD spell.

That would really skew the balance of the game.

And as I stated, this is my opinion.

"I'm not implying solely boosting DD. I'm looking at GA or MgS/AC penetration, or some sort of series of strange abilities like the RoBF. "

I never stated an objection to that type of tattoo.

A direct DD boosting one is my principle problem.

And? The ToA is the solution to EC. Why in the world shouldn't mages have a tattoo that allows them to compete with large AMF?

OK,

Give me an item like the DBs for magic that lets me evade a FB and I will happily give you a DD boosting tattoo.

Or boost the MgS back up to where it was and I will happily give one to you.

Or make all AC count towards magic defense, not just the +.

Or make AMF potentially do more then 40% max backlash.

Or make the TOA guarantee at least 1 hit per round. NO matter your opponents dex or DB, even if your weapon is +0.

dbs are a sad joke at this point, especially for mages
You already have auto hit, with both the ELB and Hal, you want TWO guaranteed hits now?

But is something was free and MPR based, how would it be balanced to have them dodge it?

Magic and physical damage are apples and oranges, but as far as I can tell are pretty darn balanced.

Why should mages have their spells miss? Should they have double hits as well?

Why should tanks guarantee one hit, should they be limited to tri hits? Double hits? Perhaps they should hit only once.

A CB, I DO NOT (caps imply importance) want to play is one that has everyone doing one hit. Where tank damage looks alot like mage damage. NW is taken out of weapons, and they become one and the same. Now that's boring.

3/4ths

I agree things are fairly balanced.

A DD boosting familiar will unbalance them.

And novice, there are quite a few characters with DBs on that I hit 1 time or 0 times with the HF and my archer.

Granted my ELB is "just" a rented 30M NW one.

Seems archers need 100M weapons near the top to hit and do damage. But that seems inconsequencial to some.

"And novice, there are quite a few characters with DBs on that I hit 1 time or 0 times with the HF and my archer."

is that throughout the whole battle or in ranged? remember the ranged penalties still exist and are the only thing that reduce the elb and hf down below 100 cth.

from my experience with the new evasion, igot had one of the highest at the time, all that you could hope for with the new evasion was getting elbs & hf's down to the one hit, except during ranged with those penalties.

That is throughout the ranged rounds.

In melee I use a MoD, my HF whiffs, but is long dead almost all the time before that rounds.

Do not get me wrong. I think the balance in the game is very good.

I am just against 1 thing and 1 thing only. A dd boosting familiar.

I would love to see mage skills in the game. I would like to see a familiar that compliments but does not boost the DD level of the mage.

For the love of all that is holy, that is the only thing I am very much against.

i wasn't getting into that argument at all, i was mainly curious as to the hit ratio as that is what i have experience with.

i do remember that when i had the big evasion the hits were much more sporadic in ranged than i would have believed them to be from all the data we had about how things worked. that is mainly why i was asking.