[PVM] Spellcasters needs a buff

Mistico

I cannot do endgame stuff with my necro-mage and mystic-mage as a sampire or a tamer. Are these build underpowered or Im doing something wrong?

Acid_Rain

All games have the "tank". UO's is the sampire (or human warrior as I prefer) and the tamer (pets being the tank).

Mages (all spell casters in general) have never been considered tanks throughout D&D gaming history. In that aspect, I think UO just falls in line with most games in general.

Well rounded teams/groups are needed for most endgame fights in most games. Your not doing anything wrong.

*** That's not saying a buff isn't warranted. One would have to consider pros/cons before consideration.

Mistico

The problem is that almost any template (not spellcaster) can do endgame stuff without a group with the right equip and setup.

Spellcasters cannot do well against with high resist and high hit point regen stuff, we do not have perfection+consacrate+ai+life leech+ mana leech, we do not have a high hp meat shield + consume damage + scrolled pets.

All we can do is heal the party and/or do some little damage or resurect other spellcasters (lol).

In my opinion spellcasters needs more love in pvm.

Lieutenant_Dan

Bring back 4/6 mage casting!

TimSt

Add level 6 and 7 cold spells to what a mage can cast.  For example ice blast on level 6 and hail storm for level 7.

CovenantX

Increase the "Casting Focus" property to spawn in increments of 10-20-30% cap casting focus at 100% for pvm, 0% for pvp.

allow Slayer bonus on talismans should apply to spells as well.

problem solved.

Pawain

CovenantX said:

Increase the "Casting Focus" property to spawn in increments of 10-20-30% cap casting focus at 100% for pvm, 0% for pvp.

allow Slayer bonus on talismans should apply to spells as well.

problem solved.

Yes I would like that to take the place of protection.

Acid_Rain

Mistico said:

The problem is that almost any template (not spellcaster) can do endgame stuff without a group with the right equip and setup.

Spellcasters cannot do well against with high resist and high hit point regen stuff, we do not have perfection+consacrate+ai+life leech+ mana leech, we do not have a high hp meat shield + consume damage + scrolled pets.

All we can do is heal the party and/or do some little damage or resurect other spellcasters (lol).

In my opinion spellcasters needs more love in pvm.

My SDI weaving necro mage absolutely wrecks most anything. ~800 Words of Death combine with slayer spell books for most everything can be beastly. Keep in mind there is no SDI cap for PVM. If your caster has no complement of slayer spell books, I highly suggest working towards that goal.

Maybe consider going the high SDI route. With necro corpse skin and endless mana in wraith form, most bosses will target my character over pets or sampires during battle. With a lvl 6 weaving focus and arcane empowerment, I run around 175 SDI (185 if I put on the new mage cuffs/arms).

Max_Blackoak

Mistico said:

we do not have perfection+consacrate+ai+life leech+ mana leech, we do not have a high hp meat shield + consume damage + scrolled pets.

casters are by definition not warriors or tamers, so most of what you are listing would simply mean to turn casters into one or the other.

You're wrong about not having mana leech, especially since you mentioned you run a necro mage - wraith form will let you have endless mana. If you don't like to use that run 120 meditation.

Who needs life leech when they can cast heals, greater heals and/or gift of renewal?

You do have high hp meat shields, they're called summons (mystic's RC is essentially like a greater dragon).

As mentioned above by others: you have uncapped sdi and slayer books available increasing your damage enormously. Use the right combinations (the old corpse skin and fire spells for example) to increase your damage output and you will absolutely be doing significant damage.

Mistico

Max_Blackoak said:

Mistico said:

we do not have perfection+consacrate+ai+life leech+ mana leech, we do not have a high hp meat shield + consume damage + scrolled pets.

casters are by definition not warriors or tamers, so most of what you are listing would simply mean to turn casters into one or the other.

You're wrong about not having mana leech, especially since you mentioned you run a necro mage - wraith form will let you have endless mana. If you don't like to use that run 120 meditation.

Who needs life leech when they can cast heals, greater heals and/or gift of renewal?

You do have high hp meat shields, they're called summons (mystic's RC is essentially like a greater dragon).

As mentioned above by others: you have uncapped sdi and slayer books available increasing your damage enormously. Use the right combinations (the old corpse skin and fire spells for example) to increase your damage output and you will absolutely be doing significant damage.

What's your problem with additions? Im not saying that mages needs mana leech (lol).

"Who needs life leech when they can cast heals, greater heals and/or gift of renewal?"

- Can you cast damaging spells while healing? No.

"You do have high hp meat shields, they're called summons (mystic's RC is essentially like a greater dragon)."

- You cannot heal it, cant be aggroed by multiple mobs, you cant control it, summons are easy dispelled by any serious stuff

Try solo any peerless with your sdi + slayer, maybe you can post a video showing how you do endgame stuffs?

Petra_Fyde

You may find it surprising, but most of us can't solo peerless - on ANY character type. Many of us consider that you're not supposed to be able to solo them, they're meant to be a group activity.
 
Yes, there are a few uber characters that can do it, and there are a few who claim they can, but what they actually mean is 2 characters logged in at the same time.

Also of course there will be a few who brag that they can, but actually can't.

I, for one, don't consider those to be 'endgame stuff'.  I don't think 'endgame' is a word that belongs in UO at all, but that's just me. I consider those to be 'guild events'.

InLor

There are videos of people soloing group content, but indeed like @Petra_fryde says, these are exceptions. Of course a very finely-tuned (read: expensive) sampire with skills is a strangely tanky DPS, but if you're thinking about soloing the hardest group content, you're clearly not thinking about it right. And casters are the last "class" that should be thinking about that stuff. 

Having said all that, I do feel casters are a bit underpowered, and it would help to give them a basic buff, as in, basically add % SDI (PVM-only) for magery/mysticism/spellweaving/necro... the invasion spellbooks were nice for that, but I think it needs an "under the hood tweak. It may be a significant nudge for casters to be a bit more potent, but otherwise won't threaten balance in any way. Casters will always remain fragile. It's the nature of the beast.

Pinkerton

I think my mage/weaver/mystics are pretty awesome and versatile.

No I cannot solo peerless with them, but they have so much flexibility that they are fun to play solo - or with other players.

I think damage is scaled a little low for some things - but this is more about finding the right way to attack each thing you are fighting and having SDI stacked and a slayer book.  I will say an undergeared mage is atrociously unfun to play though.  They are limited by too many factors.

I think bumping the base damage of spells by 25% at the lower circles (1-5) and by 15% at the upper circles (6-8) would be ideal.

Also add a way for casters to change the elemental damage of their spells.  A Talisman or Spellbook property that alters spell damage type - Frost Strike Talisman that changes the flamestrike to a blue hue and does cold damage.  Etc.

InLor

Pinkerton said:

I think bumping the base damage of spells by 25% at the lower circles (1-5) and by 15% at the upper circles (6-8) would be ideal.

Also add a way for casters to change the elemental damage of their spells.  A Talisman or Spellbook property that alters spell damage type - Frost Strike Talisman that changes the flamestrike to a blue hue and does cold damage.  Etc.

The damage bump seems alright, but I don't like the modifiers. Not because it doesn't sound a little cool, but because I find it tiresome that UO has gotten so many item properties, slayers, modifiers,... I would deftly simplify here rather than tack on more modifiers.

I think SDI should also have affect summons, like Rising Colossus and Energy Vortex. Their damage should also be bumped a bit. Perhaps the 15% mentioned here.

Davo

for pvm, mages are powerful enough. its the samps and tamers that are over powered, a regular fighter can be considered weakest solo template. they need help before mages. in pvp mages rule now. my various mages are great. think there is no need to do anything at this time. let them fix things and improve cc/ec.