first of all I want to make clear, that I (and the guys at Nevrax too) am perfectly aware that a revamp of the area of effect spells is something for the really long term (if ever) and so don´t tell me that there are more important things at the moment. I know.
Nevertheless after the current Q&As on the mainpage, and after I was shure that the current state of the effects is not a mistake I decided to sugest a possible alternative (which I had in mind for a long time now) to Xavier and he told me it would be good to discuss this issue on the boards, to make shure that when the time for a revamp comes (if ever) we might have a solution that pleases all.
Ok. Here is my sugestion:
The first thing is to separate defensive aoe-spells from offensive ones.
Idea for offensive spells:
Bomb: Change it back, to how it was in Beta. All enemies in the radius of the Bomb are hit with damage accourding to their distance from the center. The damage is reduced gradually by a factor of x where x in the center is 1 and at the outer rim of the radius 0. The initial radius for the Bom Effect 1 should be 4 maybe 5 meters. The only thing that changes with a higher bomb effect is the radius wich is increased by one meter each step. To justify this effect the cost of the bomb schould be ballanced in a way, that a full power maximum bomb spell (Double missile + bomb; all in maximum stregth) can only be financed by using all credits (HP, Sap, Range, Time), wich are available at the moment you get a new bomb effect, in full strength. For it then truly is the most powerfull spell in the Game. Another thing I want to mention here is, that by increasing the radius of the spell you will also increase the chance that another non agro mob is in the range and agros on you. So Bombs should be used wisely
Ricochet: This effect should just give kind of more targets for the spell. Ricochet effect (RE) 1 should jump to the nearest legal target within a range of 4 or 5 meters of the original target. The RE 2 then should jump on to the next nearest Target within the same Range from the second target, and so on. It might also be possible that it jumps back to the original target. Every jump decreases the damage by a factor of 0.7, the initial damage to the first target should be full damage. Price for this spell should be slightly lower than the equivalent bomb, but not much, because although it does not so much damage, it gives you a lot more controll in choosing your target. This is just a minor change, becaus as I see it, all that must be done at the moment is to remove the factor which divides the total damage through the number of possible targets.
Spray: This should use the same mechanism as the Bomb effect. Only changes should be, that you are always the center (you don't need a target to cast this spell) and that the area of effect is not a full circle but just an angle of 45° in front of you. Also the Radius should be fixed at 4 meters, but with increasing lvl you should increase the angle of the effect. At the maximum level the angle should reach 360°, making it the ultimate close combat weapon for a mage attaked by more than one creature. The cost of this spell should be proportional to the area of effect compared to the bomb. So the initial cost for Spray effect 1 should be 0.125 times the cost of bomb effect 1.
Idea for the defensive spells:
I don´t think that there is need for more than one aoe-spells in the defensive area. Correct me if you have other ideas.
My idea for a defensive aoe-spell should be something similar to the ricochet effect. But it should be changed so that it doesn't jup to one target after the other, but to all secondary targets at the same time. The range of this spell should be around 5 meters from the first target, the costs for this should be the same as for the ricochet effect. Nice name for this spell would be "celestrial multi target spell".
One thing, that imho must be done along with this change is to reduce the HP healing power to match the SAP and Stam heals, and on the other hand increase the protection given to melees by Heavy Armor. Otherwise it would be way to powerfull since I don´t want to see any lvl 100 Healer raising two lvl 160 melees from zero HP to full at the same time.
One bad thing about this sugestion:
The big disadvantage is, that you would have to do a refund of SP to those players who have bought the current aoe-spells, and take the current spells away for a reskill. (Not a complete reskill, but in the aoe-parts)
OK. And now throw your stones at me.
Or just say what you think.
Cheers,
Isdiran
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Guild: Rising Phoenix
Server: Leanon
