Class: Mage

[Silverking]

I have a thought or two about mages, so I decided to start a thread.

1. Spell Idea: Group Waterwalk. Nuff said.


Ok, it's late, and I could only remember this.

More later.

[RNBL Charis]

Of course, this could sort of apply to sohei a bit, as well, I may cross-post this over in that forum too...

Ditch all nuclear spells from the standard skillset. They never really fit into the whole 'fantasy' theme that the mud tries to aim towards anyway.

Or, at least, make the nuke spells require components somehow in order to cast them. Maybe some sort of assembly wand with one charge?

Granted, I'm curious as to which mob would be loading a batch of radioactive material ;-) The poor git.

Just an idea...

[pixie]

idea on inner gateway
1 lower cost to 75 mana per end, still cast 2x, lasts same ammount of time, 1 use only, whenever mage passes through an end, that end dissolves....

Just an idea

[Arizhel]

If only one end dissolves, then the other end is no longer linked either. These 'hanging gateways' would most likely become problematic, as the next person to cast a gate would have theirs all messed up.

The gate is a device. One gate teleports you to the other gate in the 'set'. Once one side is gone, the other side has no real meaning, and is just sort of a decoration.

[umi]

Actually, Im not sure how true that is. When a lizardman eats a gate, the other side is still useable and it doesn't affect gating after that.

[Arizhel]

Interesting.

IMO when a 'set' of gates is broken like this (after linking up and etc), the 2nd half should just disappear.

But hey, that's just me.

[Silverking]

I think Pixie's idea for one use gates is great, but why just have one end collapse? Just have both ends collapse and be done with it.

I was also thinking about the gate spell in general, and I was wondering if volitale gates have ever be considered. You would cast the gate spells like normally, but when you enter, there's always a 5% chance that the gate will collapse with you in it, and randomly teleport you somewhere.

[pixie]

ooh volitile gates! even better, what if something totally evil, like Orcus could come thru sa 1%

[Silverking]

Ooooh! I like! Hrm, maybe a 1% chance of the gate collapsing and it becoming a DT...

[pixie]

no hust makes a gate to a bad place and something pops thru, maybe horrors?

[Silverking]

Yeah, those pesky mages deserve horrors... or death vipers...

[Griffon]

Ok... here's my thoughts on the gate...

1) It should work most of the time... however...

2) 5% of the time, it will spit out a pet/mob of some kind (maybe make a specific one called Gate Daemon) that will range from moderately to extremely powerful. No gold on him, but he'll block the gate till you kill him.

3) 1% of the time, DT...

4) 4% of the time, it malfunctions and teleports you to a random spot in the mud.

5) Groups cannot be taken through gates. I see this way too often... some mage sets up a gate, forms a group, then instead of walking their sorry ass back, they just step through the gate. This seems lazy to me... explore and walk to your destinations.

6) Again, as stated in earlier posts, both gates will disappear after being used once.

Just my thoughts.

Nic

[Silverking]

That's the point of the inner gateway spell. So you CAN form a group and take out a mob without having to walk.

[pixie]

Group Detect invis!

[Drowloft]

as far as i see the gate spell is fine the way is it is. but if you really wanna add all the to it go for it, but here's my suggestion. make it so every runs off the mages int, if it's low you have a better chance of a bad gate and high better chance of a good gate. as just another thought, maybe we could incorperate some kind of a knock spell, i mean thiefs are the only ones the get to lsleeves load, if you ask me that kinda unfair, if you give mages knock it would even it out and again posibly help make mages more group friendly. and on another note maybe make it so W/A/P have a percent chance with a skill to break doors, i've waned to do that so many times:P i'm an avid D&D player i love the game and would like to incorporate some of the stuff from it into the mud make it more of an rpg posibly. but those are jsut my thoughts on things, maybe not the greatest but like i said my thoughts:)
Thanks for listening to me babble:)
Drowloft

[Dank]

yeah, what drow said... base the functionality of the gate on the int/wis of the mage...

if gate creation goes horribly awry, i like the idea of warping the gate to a DT. but allow the creator the chance to inspect his or her gate and detect that it's gone bad.

[Nando]

I myself do see a problem with gate, and its Mage Squads. People say they want to encourage grouping...welp, if two guys can take out one tough mob by themselves (one to guard gate, another to squad the mob) then whats the point? So I would agree with the idea of a collapsable gate...so if you want to squad, you better have enough mana to make enough gates.

Also like the idea of a mob stopping you entering the gate. This would also discourage mage squads, and would not REALLY block groups, since a group can definitely take out a called pet. DT? Welp, most mage squads have no gear anyways... and that could be achieved by just teleporting randomly, so no need for a specific proc on percentage fail for a DT. Just do the same thing as teleport or recall in battle...

Aside from that, I do find that mages are really hard to level when low levs. Not sure if adding more +hp or regen gear thats mage specific and low lev would help this (kinda like coveralls), that helps them a bit through midlevs. or a special skill that makes groups want them as well. Clerics have this same problem until level 16, when EVERYONE wants them in the group. Mages get it easier once they hit M26, and have a ranger, by which time they only solo. Group waterwalk? maybe, but it reduces movement drop...specially if the mage is in the group (coding nightmare). Some kind of group shield? like paladins defend clerics, Mages can defend group spells with a shield if they make the save throw, at a 50 mana cost, to reduce the spells effectiveness...?

Just throwing it out there...rip them to shreads

[Dank]

"Never in the passing of the Third Age has the world seen such a gathering darkness..."

-- Gandalf The White, SR 1402



So, what is a mage, exactly? Tolkien seems to have been thinking somewhat along the lines of an uber battle mage in Gandalf, who saw action at the Lonely Mountain, in Moria, Helm's Deep and of course the final destruction of the Enemy's army near Minas Tirith.

JediMUD's interpretation falls a bit short of this brilliant but brawny persona, giving us a bunch of naked ass-wipes that throw a bunch of wods and split. Talk about nerf herding.

In order to better define what a mage is, let's ask ourselves, "What would Gandalf do?"

1. Faced with ten thousand orc footman, Gandalf might:

a. Leap onto the back of a horse named Shadowfax and charge down a cliff to meet them with staff, sorcery, and 500 mana.

b. Cast a wod and split. Rinse, repeat.

You might think the correct answer is (a), but unfortunately you've read too many Middle Earth fantasy novels, and, let's face it, you'll never make it past tater here at jediMoo.

[more later]

[Cosmo]

Just had to reply to that

When I watched that scene that you describe above in a), my RPG friends and I (who saw it together, naturally) said afterwards - "Who knew a light spell was so powerful?"

And, frankly, the Orcs had ONE GUY who could take more than one hit from Legolas' long bow, and what do they do? They blow him up. No wonder they lost.

;D

And now back to your regular magical discussion....

[farbekrieg]

Not that anyone asked me, but when I opened my 150k manifesto of the rpg and copy and paste we get

Mages are characters gifted with an innate ability to manipulate the magical and elemental world about them, the magical potential of each is based on their intelligence and inate ability with the magical properties that exist within the game, be it so simple as mana or as complex as divine cold fire poison disease magic luck force etc.

Mage spells are often the result of research, and several differant variations of the same spell float about, so spell quality should be considered when granting new spells to the caster, additional research could result in upgrading a 75% skill to over 100 or above based on the re-agents and money spent in research.

To off set the astronomical cost of research many mages align themselves into guilds or 'orders' which are dedicated to devotion of a particular line of spells.

Bonuses to research can be claimed not only from the order that the mage belongs to but also the quality of their personal tower or library. *(Note mages are often very jealous of their own library sharing with few if any other close friends let alone a member of a forgien order)*

A Mage is the parent class of the int based spell casting tree line, while frail of body, the mage wields enormous power, including holy and all elementals. A mage is single and area damage dealer who dabbles in arms and armor (although usually in collaberation with a smith of great skill). A mage does not use the majority of these weapons and armor he creates, rather awards them to his henchman for services rendered or quests required. Instead the mage possesses powerful magical wards against physical and magical attack, however when these wards are dispelled or destroyed by force the mages fraility is exposed and can be dispatched of quickly. Rather then wield a sword the mage often prefers to use a weapon which focuses his magical power or a particular line of spells, and increases its potency, (flaming staves, ice staves, crystalline daggers etc).


The subclasses of the mage class are too many to mention, but the ones of note are alchemist, sorceror, wizard, necromancer, enchanter, elementalist, and channeler.

I knew I shoulda spell checked that thing.

What gandalf would do most likely is load up his 25 int or depending on the max hp either firestore/icestorm/nuke, then login gandalfii and repeat.

Personally I prefer to think he loads up 25 int, edrains a time or 2, then blasts the fashizzle out em, watch his gold looting trigger disconnect him as he tries to loot the last corpse 10,000x.

[Antessima]

My personal feeling about what changes would make mages better involves their frailty. I think it could be said that part of the reason mage squads exist is because they really have no options spell-wise that would protect them from physical damage. So if you've got powerful offensive spells but no way to stop your own quick death, why bother with eq? Just make several level 30 mages and use those spells over and over again on a mob. But if they had some spell that would give them control over physical damage (which they *should* have), then I think you'd see more people playing them beyond the newbie zones. One of the hardest things to do as a mage is stay alive until you get the really powerful spells. I personally have never gotten a mage beyond level 20 for that reason, because just to kill one mob, I have to expend most of my mana on powerful spells to kill him as fast as possible, and then wait for all that mana to regen. And if I don't get to shoot off all those spells fast enough, I get to regen my meager hps too, plus venture back in there to retrieve my corpse and eq. It sucks!

So I think that if you gave all those skinny little mages a spell or two besides that joke that is the mage armor spell, the class would be more legit in the lower levels. And I could get past level 20

Just my .02

[farbekrieg]

Let me just give you the reason my mages existed.

0. Old gate made things too easy
1. Didnt have to worry about item limits due to equipment
2. Lessens the number of people required to load equipment, hence winning more often
3. 7 mages naked deal approx 630% more damage then 1 7x remorted mage in gear, as well as taking FAR FAR FAR less time to make
4. No worries about dts running to destination
5. no worries about game crashing while running equipment
6. Mobs die faster
7. If you die with a light in a dark room the room magically becomes 'light'
8. enchants

During my stay at jedi numbers 0,2,6 were changed with the increase of mobs that were magic resistant, as well as the decrease of natural mana regen, meaning being able to squad a mob multiple times became much more difficult and in most cases better served to get kick ass cleric warrior ninja group (were the warrior or ninja has access to ranger and bard), and should be able to clear anything short of doom/fire dragon/maybe jupes.

The changes in effect removed the uses of a mage squad, and placing the mage in a very niche role (onivel/firedragon/upper universe). In other games mages have access to runes, damage shields, wards, mana shields, resistance spells, mana regen spells, recalls, wizard gates, summonable items, familiars etc. In this game they have minimal to contribute to a group that isnt already available to another class.

The solo ability of the mage class is second only to the cleric class at the moment, and if you cant level a mage (particularly after level 17 hint hint) you should try using the spells in a differant fashion, but in ALL my time at jedi I have not once seen, "Equipment group seeking mage, please send tells". Perhaps the 'mage' solution took too much away without giving anything back to the class to compensate for their leper status in groups.

[Mal]

Dec 4, 2004 2:00:27 GMT -5 Antessima said:

My personal feeling about what changes would make mages better involves their frailty. I think it could be said that part of the reason mage squads exist is because they really have no options spell-wise that would protect them from physical damage. So if you've got powerful offensive spells but no way to stop your own quick death, why bother with eq? Just make several level 30 mages and use those spells over and over again on a mob. But if they had some spell that would give them control over physical damage (which they *should* have), then I think you'd see more people playing them beyond the newbie zones. One of the hardest things to do as a mage is stay alive until you get the really powerful spells. I personally have never gotten a mage beyond level 20 for that reason, because just to kill one mob, I have to expend most of my mana on powerful spells to kill him as fast as possible, and then wait for all that mana to regen. And if I don't get to shoot off all those spells fast enough, I get to regen my meager hps too, plus venture back in there to retrieve my corpse and eq. It sucks!

So I think that if you gave all those skinny little mages a spell or two besides that joke that is the mage armor spell, the class would be more legit in the lower levels. And I could get past level 20

Just my .02

I agree with you. You can solve two problems with one change.

Strip clerics of stoneskin (someone missed that one, stoneskin is a mage spell not a cleric spell)

Add stoneskin to mages.

Aaron

[Simba]

No mage squads exist because lots of my friends were quitting and I saw a bunch of people nuke a mob to kill it quickly and I thought "hey, you don't need a bunch of people to do that, all you need is just 1 to run equip."

And btw mages do have a physical buff or at least they used to but it's been severely nerfed...it's called energy drain. Since all pets are now !drain how about making the bots that are now everywhere produce more hps when drained to help them out? Oh and mages have armor spell as well.

And thank you guys for the idea I'm about to post on the sohei thread!

[Simba]

It would be nice if mages did have cone of cone for a single mob like fireball and some sort of area lightning. so builders could become a little more creative with resists and weaknesses.