[impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

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tangar
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[impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by tangar »

I got 'sorcerer' char. It means - loads of different spells and magic.

Some time ago we had new magic systems with different tiers of magic _bound_ to spell scrolls. It sounds good and necessory in some cases - for example players may use more 'weak', previous Tier of some spells in addition to more powerful ones sometimes ('Toxic Moisture' spell - to prevent crushing potions on the floor) but...

...Previous system was very much easier in terms of spells managment. Currently there are a some of problems in terms of usability:

1) When you 'order' spells you never know how much skill do you need for certain tier of spell. Example: I got 25 sorcery and got 'Manathrust I' spell in my spellbook. I've no idea - do I need 'Manathrust II' or 'Manathrust III'. So I have to order it just ot check - do I have enough skill for it or now. And now imagine, that one of your books was destroyed and now you need to 'test' which tier you need to buy _again_.

2) You need to order loads of different tiers for the same spells... Its kinda VERY boring stuff to do - managing loads of spells with different tiers. Its like having 3 OS at your desktop - Windows, Linux and OSX - and trying to work at them all at the same moment. Not fun.

3) It just very confusing to have so much different tiers and watch for them to be up-to-date...

Conclusion of my impressions:
Istar - its very fun class to play... has to be. But currently managing of this class makes it worse for me. Previous system (without tiers bound to books) was much more comfortable to play.

Possible solution:
1) I suppose _in most cases_ it would be fun to make spells tiers bound to magic skill, not to spell scrolls (except Toxic Moisture and some other different effect spells).

For example:
You buy spell scroll of Manathrust. At skill 20 it starts to work as Manathrust II. At skill 40 it become Manathrust III & etc...

This post sponsored by Occam's razor:
entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity


Occam also said:
We just don't need a tiers for a lot of spells. Why do we need different tiers of 'Manathrust'? Ok, 'Toxic moisture' has different effects with different tiers, but most of spells - don't. Why to make more complex what could be simple?
:)
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tokariew
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Re: [impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by tokariew »

higher tier spell cost more mana than lower tier spell, so it possible that player, want to cast lower version of spell to have more mana for longer fights.

Look at runie, who can change tier (minimized, normal, maximized modifiers) on the fly of its spell, i often stick with min or normal lvl spell even if i can cast safely maxed version (backslash can be problematic :D), but it cost too much in some cases. So Istar can cast lower tier of spell to preserve its mana for future.
Some druid spells cost so much so if you don't have item which increase mana, you are able to cast spell once or twice, and lower version like ten or even more.
About some razor, if we stick with it, we will still travel by horse or in simple wagon…


[comment]
Ockham it's good for hypothesis. More probably is hypothesis with less assumption. But in other aspect i don't think so…
[/comment]
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tangar
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Re: [impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by tangar »

Good point about mana. Although I don't think much players using low lvl tiers if they could use higher. I'm speaking about istars, not runies :)

In any case, at least we need to add information which spells has different tiers and add min. skills reqs. for different tiers in the guide - http://www.tomenet.eu/guide.php?chapter=6.8
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tokariew
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Re: [impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by tokariew »

i mention runies only because i play most with them, but you have rangers and adventures, who can cast istar spells too, and they can lack in mana pool.
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tangar
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Re: [impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by tangar »

Still its pretty rare. If there would be skill based tiers - most of rangers & adventures would use spell which based at their skill, thats it. Rangers rarely got very high magic skills, so actually they even can't use high tiers spells cause of it in most cases.
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tangar
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Re: [impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by tangar »

Damm. Current 'spell scroll systems' is so uncomfortable. It's pain to buy-order-manage spell scrolls after each YASD and then after each certain lvls (when old tier of spells become useless).

IT'S BORING AND ANNOYING.

// just wanna express my feelings somewhere. It hurts to have them inside.

I hope one day it could be converted from spell scrolls to 'm' (like combat techn.) :E~~~~~~~

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tangar
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Re: [impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by tangar »

Another solution - add more additinal spellbooks for low-mid lvl bracet (1-45). For example: Standard Book of Spells for each element (fire, water & etc). Currently a lot of spells mixed in different spellbooks, what making them not really usable at low-mid lvls. I got all spellbooks in my shop, but I do not use them cause they got too high tiers of spells and mixed in really uncomfortable way.

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tangar
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Re: [impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by tangar »

I came back to my istari and it's hell to 'o'rder all spell scrolls again... So, yeah.. It's very uncomfortable system in compare to other online RPGs. I like to play istar, but spell scrolls just killing me.

I see there this ways:

1) add interface which show you all magic spells which you could use and show you with + and - what you have at yourself right now and what you do not have. It would help in spell scrolls managment.. Also reduce time to wait in shop for ordered spell scroll.

2) Easy way: add standart books of spells.

Currently the most effective and easiest way to solve problem - add more 'fixed' spell books for chars 10-40 lvls (cause currently there are only books with endgame spells)..

Standard Book of Spells tier I (10-20 lvls)

Standard Book of Spells tier II (20-30 lvls)

Standard Book of Spells tier III (30-40 lvls)

3) put spells to 'm'

Hardest feature to implement. Make it like this: you need to buy spell scrolls only once and then when you read it, it dissapears and you kinda 'learn' it (like in 'Moria' roguelike game?).

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hootless
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Re: [impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by hootless »

Not knowing what level spells are at each tier is somewhat fixed as of 4.7.1a. Levels required for every tier of every spell are now listed in the guide.
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tangar
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Re: [impression] Magic tier system (bound to spell scrolls)

Post by tangar »

Yep, it's better for a very small bit. But it doesn't really help in terms of usability and ergonomics of gameplay.. It's what I'm talking about. Thats why I played mainly melee chars.. But now I'm bored to play melee, I wanna go istar, but it's hellish HUGE amount of time which you have to spend at spell scrolls managment. It's not fun to 'work' in the game so much. I wanna have fun, not screw my fingers every certain lvls in fear that I need to change _certain_ spells (you have to check every time which onces). It's just awful not comfortable in compare to other online RPGs. PLaying mage has to be hard and harsh, but it has to be hard in the way of gameplay, not managment of spell scrolls...

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