Mage spell disruptions by mobs

[fellgrim]

I played a Fyros mage for about 3 hours last night before I decided to take a break due to frustration. Are the slow wind-up times normal for spells? It seemed like every other casting attempt was getting disrupted by mobs. Some fights I wouldn't even get off one successful cast against a weanling yubo, for instance. Sometime casting would get disrupted for no apparent reason at all, as the mob was still 25 m away on radar. I had plenty of sap, so no problems there. With the super-slow windups for spells. these casting disruptions are LETHAL.

So, am I missing something? Is Focus required to be a successful mage? I wasn't raising focus, just intelligence and wisdom. The manual says that Focus is only required for harvesting and crafting, not casting.

Help a non-Beta noob out here.

[Virgil]

I played a Fyros mage for about 3 hours last night before I decided to take a break due to frustration. Are the slow wind-up times normal for spells? It seemed like every other casting attempt was getting disrupted by mobs. Some fights I wouldn't even get off one successful cast against a weanling yubo, for instance. Sometime casting would get disrupted for no apparent reason at all, as the mob was still 25 m away on radar. I had plenty of sap, so no problems there. With the super-slow windups for spells. these casting disruptions are LETHAL.

So, am I missing something? Is Focus required to be a successful mage? I wasn't raising focus, just intelligence and wisdom. The manual says that Focus is only required for harvesting and crafting, not casting.

Help a non-Beta noob out here.

The casting time for spells will depend on several factors.

The first and biggest one is whether or not the spell has a casting delay stanza as part of its cost. These can have a large effect on casting times. You can right-click on any action in your toolbar and choose Edit Action to get more info on their composition.

If you're wearing armor heavier than Light, you'll also have an additional penalty on top of the cost of the action. Not only will it cast slower, it'll also cost you more sap than it would without the penalty.

Finally, make sure you have a mage staff equipped if you're acting as a primary caster - it will greatly reduce the casting time of any spells that are its level or lower.

Focus won't have any effect on your magic abilities - it's strictly for Harvesting.

[fellgrim]

Thanks for the quick response, Virgil.

I was wearing only light armor and using my L10 spell focus. Casting still way slow. Even moreso when I got my Acid2 spell.

The biggest problem was the casting disruptions, some of which seemed to defy logic. I mean, my mage is winding up, the little bar is filling, filling, filling...stops halfway across and the mage restarts his windup again. Mob is still in transit from 40m away in some cases when this happens. Nothing else within 25 meters of me. No missile mobs around or anything.

I can understand (but dislike) the fact that a caster is going to get disrupted when a mob is right in his/her face. But what about the non-contact disruptions? Those are really out of line.

[usinuk]

Thanks for the quick response, Virgil.

I was wearing only light armor and using my L10 spell focus. Casting still way slow. Even moreso when I got my Acid2 spell.

The biggest problem was the casting disruptions, some of which seemed to defy logic. I mean, my mage is winding up, the little bar is filling, filling, filling...stops halfway across and the mage restarts his windup again. Mob is still in transit from 40m away in some cases when this happens. Nothing else within 25 meters of me. No missile mobs around or anything.

I can understand (but dislike) the fact that a caster is going to get disrupted when a mob is right in his/her face. But what about the non-contact disruptions? Those are really out of line.

Couple of solutions.

1. Buy the HP Credit 1 stanza for 10 SPs.
2. Create a new spell with a. Acid 2 (+15 or whatever it is) b. Sap drain 2 (-10) c. HP Credit 2 (-10) - which doesn't have a spell delay on it. This will save like 2 seconds off of each spell cast.
3. Make or buy a ql 20 mage amplifier. Acid 2 doesn't work with your newbie one. That will save another second or two.

And if you think that's bad, just wait until you start dealing with some of the defensive linked spells...

[ickpuh]

I can understand (but dislike) the fact that a caster is going to get disrupted when a mob is right in his/her face. But what about the non-contact disruptions? Those are really out of line.

I've grown accustomed to the delay for combat. It affects melee combat as well as magic. You start swinging for a few seconds with hits and then all of a sudden the mob is behind you and you start getting the "too far/not facing" messages. Truth is even if mob is not at you on the client side, he could be swinging away at you causing the disruptions.

[tashunka]

Couple of solutions.

1. Buy the HP Credit 1 stanza for 10 SPs.
2. Create a new spell with a. Acid 2 (+15 or whatever it is) b. Sap drain 2 (-10) c. HP Credit 2 (-10) - which doesn't have a spell delay on it. This will save like 2 seconds off of each spell cast.

I don't recall seeing this for mages (at least not as far as my level 12) - isn't it a Fight stanza? And if so can it work with spells too?

[fellgrim]

I've grown accustomed to the delay for combat. It affects melee combat as well as magic. You start swinging for a few seconds with hits and then all of a sudden the mob is behind you and you start getting the "too far/not facing" messages. Truth is even if mob is not at you on the client side, he could be swinging away at you causing the disruptions.

The unforced disruptions have a different message under the sys.info tab. The message is 'your incantation has failed' or something of that nature. Totally different than mob-related disruptions, which say 'your casting has been disrupted', if I remember correctly...

[fitzrpg]

I don't recall seeing this for mages (at least not as far as my level 12) - isn't it a Fight stanza? And if so can it work with spells too?

Its there, not sure what level you get it though.