Ok, so I've been on this server for two weeks now. Every player has their niche, enjoys playing in there own way. The way i enjoy playing is PvP/Dueling. I've been playing this way in depth since 1998. You could say i'm an expert at magery mechanics having spent many hours a day, for years practing and mastering. I've played on many different shards, UOR era always being my favorite. I quickly realized that the standard 90str 35 dex and 100 int for Mages was easy prey for the vicious fifth circle spell, Mindblast. What I witnessed that a quick, low mana spell did more damage than the supposed highest damage circle 7 spell Flamestrike. Flamestrike takes significantly more mana and time to cast, yet does less dmg than a mindblast with a player with "universal" standard mage stats. Let me point out mindblast is a fifth circle spell. With that being said, i immediately changed my stats to this shard's standard 90 45 90. I go back to 5x dueling( mage dueling) to find that if a poison is resisted and you recast it, high probability you won't have enough mana to finish of another competent player. Intelligence is the bread and butter of mage dueling. Take a chunk of that away and it's like two knights jousting in wheelchairs. What I don't understand for the life of me, having played OSI in this era I don't remember mindblast being this imbalanced. There's no way this is era accurate. Minblast was designed for players who went 100 - 25- 100 . It should do ebolt damage TOPS for being a 5th circle spell on someone with a terrible build. I've adapted to the server by changing my stats to fit the status quo but i strongly think this is not era accurate and balanced.
It is era accurate. The formula for expected damage as it was on osi in this era: assuming the caster's eval int is equal to or higher than the victim's resist Victim's : ((Highest Stat-Lowest Stat)/2) =< 40 That is to say the difference in the highest and lowest stat divided by two, never to exceed forty. This could be resisted for half damage It's also reduced if the victim's resist is higher than the caster's eval int I think you've really exaggerated the damage when you compared it to FS. It does not do FS damage imo. I do agree that it feels unforgiving in a dueling/no potion situation - especially in consideration to wanting to have high int. I remember that when I got to this server I felt that mana regen was a bit slow - now it's what I'm accustomed to but it could be that this is adding to the issue. Either way, I'd just recommend balanced stats on a dueling character. Even higher than 45 dex. You will get used to it - and if Pax, Sandro, and Roman are any indication - 40-60 mana is enough to kill someone. If some change ever did happen to this formula I think it would be safest if only the coefficient was changed. That is to say if mindblast is (.5(A-B) =<40) that the .5 be the only thing tweaked. I don't think there is any good reason to change this however.
If I am not mistaken, to have really effective mind blast results, the caster must also have high to gm inscription, with gm inscription causing the most damage. Hope this helps. Marjo Governess of Wispfelt Westra on IRC
For the record, inscription doesn't effect any spell except protection, reactive armor and magic reflection, all of which are doubled with gm magery and gm inscription
The sad thing is that it isn't exaggerated. Lets just assume i'm not exaggerating. Does this catch your attention now? 40-60 Mana MIGHT be enough to kill someone. If everything goes perfectly... the poisons aren't resisted, they don't poison block, they miss a chance or two to heal. Anyways, this thread isn't about 5x or 5x dynamics. It has to do with a 5th level spell being more powerful damage wise than 6th and 7th level spells. I don't know if OSI tweaked the formula or what they did. I never remembered mindblast being such a monstrosity of a spell. It seems like a LOT of things on this server aren't "era accurate". I don't remember dueling pits, reward systems, and custom houses in UOR. Point: Mindblast is imbalanced. Its damage should be scaled to its spell circle.
Well it's true that because something is era accurate does not mean it is set in stone here. And Telamon has considered the Mindblast formula at times in the past, although there has never been a good discussion about it. If we're going to talk about mindblast I want to first convince you that it serves a good purpose in this era. If we didn't need a spell that did damage based on difference in stats then it might as well just be a 5th circle spell that does 23-25 damage. So why do we need it? Because it encourages template variety. If we didn't have this kind of spell, then all players would have 100/25/100 style stats. It would always be better to max your hit points and whatever your primary stat is. (int for players with evalint, dex for players with healing). Why is that not okay? Because it hurts hybrid classes and dexers. Dexers need Magery and Int in this era to heal and use utility spells - because there is no alternative for Magery in this era. Later eras introduce chivalry and focus and mana regen/Int on equipment to help non-mages do things. Without mindblast pure mages would be even more dominant. Because of it, most templates have to pick up an undesirable stat and lower their health to the range of the classes that only need int to get around. Not to mention that hybrid classes like tank mages, med warriors, and eval warriors can benefit from all three stats and the variety of these templates makes pvp more interesting/fun on the server. If a server has one meta template and all pvpers use it -this can get boring more quickly. So if I've convinced you that a spell of this style is a 'good' thing - let's talk about how much damage it should do You described it as more than FS and I disagree. It caps out at 40 damage in the most extreme case. Even with 100/25/100 stats you could only take 37 damage from mindblast before someone manipulated your stats. As a 90/45/90 'standard' setup you aren't likely to see more than 33 damage (if your opponent cast's cunning on you and clumsy's you.) 33 also just happens to be around the maximum range for Energy Bolt - which is why it became the standard stat setup. Ebolt damage is how much the average pvper is willing to take from mindblast - considering it requires stat manipulation and is more likely to be resisted for half damage than Ebolt. The problem with making changes to the potential damage (which is capped only 5-7 points above potential Ebolt damage) is there is a fine line between what damage players will find acceptable and go back to 100str and what damage players will actually keep balanced stats. In field pvp in the last year, mindblast has rarely been casted. Because of blue/white potions you often don't know what damage your opponent will take and most players aren't willing to risk their cast on what could be a 12-15 damage mindblast. It's effect is most felt in 5x or no pot duels/tournaments. And unfortunately it wouldn't make sense to balance pvp around what happens in a limited mechanic scenario. My suggestion to you is to balance your stats beyond what is expected among duelists- if 90/45/90 is the standard, you might consider lowering your int a couple more points to lessen MB damage and then learn to get by with less int than you are accustomed to. EDIT: If some change was ever made to the cap I hope that it would not reduce possible damage past 37 - because then I believe all players would return to 100/25/100 stats If some change were to ease the feel of spell in duels - it would need to be a change to this coefficient x in the formula: X(high-low) <=40 where X is currently .5 But this is a slippery slope where it would quickly feel more forgiving in duels and at the same rate would cause a return to 100/25/100 stats in pvp.
I wonder if you're remembering post AoS mind blast mechanics, chill. In AoS it was a cold damage spell and was easily resisted that way.
Mes, you talk about variation of templates yet mindblast forces someone to manipulate their stats to fit the shard's stat "mold". You say people very rarely cast Mindblast in the field <<<so if this is true where is the power in a rarely used spell to make people adjust their stats? You contradict yourself. If it isn't widely used in the field, and the only persons it affects are mages then put in a fix. I've played MANY shards with 100 25 100 and it's not boring. There are plenty of other stimuli other than stat differential. It's beneficial for certain players to be able control their dex. If they want to swing/punch less, than by all means let them lower their dex. They suffer because a better player with higher dex will come along and beat them. That's what should control stats. Free will, people don't like and play Ultima Online because they like being forced into doing something. People love this game because they can really do whatever they want. If people want to set their stats 100 25 100 let them. Their choice. How many dexxers do you see Mindblasting mages? None. So really, this is about Mages vs Mages. Overpowered mindblast just causes lower intelligence which in turn causes stalemates and in game waiting. Waiting for already slow mana regeneration. Mindblast isn't promoting variation, it's killing it.
I'm not contradicting myself - people are rarely casting mindblast because the people they are casting it on have balanced stats and they know it. I don't cast MB on amfekk because I know he's 90/45/90 and he drinks a white and blue pot in combat. If the average pvper had unbalanced stats it would become more popular again. In my opinion - without mindblast mechanics, 100/25/100 becomes the only stat template that anyone runs. Right now there are many players that are 90/35/100, 90/45/90, 86/39/100, 100/25/100, 80/45/100, etc. Let's say mindblast mechanics are removed or altered significantly. The first thing that would happen is all pure mages would go to 100/25/100. Then tank mage templates will realize they aren't benefiting from their swing speed and adjust to 100/25/100 stats as well. Dexers and med-warriors will still need more than 25 into to cast recall, teleport, greater heal, magic reflect and so on - but they'll have to sacrifice a stat they need in order to have mana for that. Not to mention I think this removes some depth that altering stats and using mindblast adds in this era. I don't think it would break pvp to change mindblast - but I don't think it would improve it either.
use a B L U E P O T I O N You don't understand. In a world with no mindblast, every mage goes 100/25/100. Even tank mages don't need dex, because tank mages don't stand toe to toe. However, even in this world without mindblast, dexers are forced to run hybrid stats because 25 int doesn't cut it for gheal, and dexers without magery to heal don't last long. What does this mean? A world where dexers have less total hp than mages. Mindblast makes the ecosystem much more viable for dexers, because it forces mages to hybridize their stats - something pvp dexers are forced to do by their nature.
1. Balance your stats. 2. Learn to time/execute your poison locks when dueling so as to conserve mana, while still making the kill (yes, it's easily possible). 3. When on the field, always drink an agile pot when your opponent casts MB. 4. Learn to combo block and mini heal to avoid near death, or big damage spells (i.e. Use timed punches, or debuff spells to interrupt an obvious big spell follow up while playing defense). combo block, mini heal..it works extremely well. All top tier mages know how to do these things, and they do it proficiently well. I have made countless kills with ~70 mana in duels, and I damn sure don't worry about MB in the field because of the agil pot counter. Ifso facto - balance your damn stats and adapt.
When I first started here, the recommended house security measures and guide from the compendium really threw me off. If you'd like a sample of my ability to win friends and influence people, check out this gem. http://uorforum.com/threads/small-house-security.11005/ I was very vocal in my disagreement. So, I properly put myself on an island and announced myself to this server by starting a thread outlining what I thought was very valid reasons for my disagreements. I really love the way I continue to stir the pot after it's well boiled over. Really redeeming quality, isn't it? The thread went on for awhile. People explained, some very eloquently... others, not so much. I stood firm though. Why? Well because I was right damn it! Don't you see how wrong you all are!? You're all nuts! I can't believe you're all behind something so crazy! I even gave away my first house that someone else took upon themselves to give me. Guess where that house was. Occlo... new player with a house on Occlo and I threw it away. *sigh* Sometimes we mock what we don't understand. Sometimes we're blinded by our own belief. Perception is reality, right? Today I deal in ... well, things... volume of which don't fit in bank boxes. I have many houses going at any given time with product within at a value the likes of which people actually don't believe. Do I use house security measures/walls/trash barrels/floating keys/etc... Of course I do! Are you crazy?!? Chin up mate. Love your earlier activity seeking duels and the like. I'd encourage more of that behavior.
Ok... so this is all as simple as using a blue potion. I sure am surprised at the simplicity of that overly intellectual answer. Nice, I wonder why they all get removed when i enter a 5x duel? Followed by an all or nothing statement. When you google all or nothing statements(every, all, none, etc) the first thing that comes up is cognitive distortion. Don't believe me? Try it yourself. When i play a 7x character, swords tank mage. My stats are 90 35 100 and my primary weapon is katana. I clean up on the guys who have low dex(25)because i have higher swing speed and they spend much more time and mana healing. For the record, not EVERYONE goes 100 25 100. Borderline idiotic to even suggest such a thing.
Ever heard the saying "the bottom line is" I do believe this was the bottom line of my original post had you actually read it or gave it any of your very limited thinking ability. Recap: I adjusted to my stats within the first 24 hours of PvPing on this shard because of mindblast. It's working well, anyone who posed a challenge beforehand now gets rolled over. Quality of PvP goes down. Not as fun, more repititive with mindblast, more waiting time. and less mana.
Rolled over.. I'm so lost. Just conserve your mana. Use it wisely and if you fail your combo/cycle just conserve. Mindblast is very powerful but it is era accurate and most 5x duelers run the 90/45/90 stats. I don't recommend running 75/75/75 cause then you'll just get weakened feebleminded and then you'll have no mana within first few spells. I ran 90/35/100 on my dueler when I first started here and began dueling and mindblast just rekted me.
I've adjusted and I think running 90/45/90 has made me a stronger Mage than just blowing through mana with 100 int.
My bad. So basically your whole point is you had to sacrifice 10 mana to negate mindblast damage, but in return you're now unable to kill someone because you can't poison lock and instead run out of mana? Oh, and lol. Save your PMs. If I ever decide to log on again I'll be happy to "school" you as you ask.
