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Suggestions Post any suggestions for new Wyvern content here that is too complicated to explain in the idea log or that you want to first get feedback on from other players.

 
 
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  #1  
Old 12-27-2010, 06:50 AM
Odolf's Avatar
Odolf Odolf is offline
 

Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Ohio
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Default The shield spells, reagents, and air magic.

Alright, so i've recently started a new Fire/Air mage and to get straight to the point, it bothers me how few evocations air has compared to fire. I'd like to start by talking about the "shield" spells which create a field of their element all around the caster.

"flame shield 6 This Conjuration of Fire creates a ring of flames around the caster. sulfur, pixie dust"

Flame shield is a 6 lore spell, same as fire spray, and it uses the reagents sulfur and pixie dust. Those reagents cost 1 gp per unit each. That's 2 GP total expenditure per casting.

"frost ward 6 This Conjuration of Water creates a shield of bitter cold around the caster. salt, pixie dust"

Once again, frost ward is 6 lore and the reagents cost 1 GP each, for an identical cost of 2 GP per cast. Firespray and Icestorm also use 1 GP reagents, although only one per casting.

"lightning shield 6 This Conjuration of Air creates a shield of crackling electricity around the caster. pixie dust, sparkweed"

Alright, here's what i wanted to talk about. Lightning shield is 6 lore, same as the other two, and uses 2 reagents, same as the other two. It has the same effect as the others, probably costs the same amount of mana as the others, and doubtless the damage scales in the same way as the others.

The big difference here is that is costs THIRTY EIGHT TIMES as much GP per casting. That means i could cast 38 flame shields or frost wards for the gold cost of a single casting of lightning shield. The reason for this is the insane pricing of sparkweed (75 gp each!) for reference, the reagent for thunderstorm (lightning stone) costs 100 GP per unit. Thunderstorm is a 13 lore spell, lightning shield is 6.

I just wonder why lightning shield should be so much more expensive than the other shield spells when the effect is exactly the same, it's unfair and totally unbalanced. This is the kind of small change that would make a big difference to some people, namely myself! I propose that sparkweed be dropped in price to match the other shield spell reagents, or that a different, cheaper reagent be chosen for the second component of the spell.

Alright, that was my first point, now onto my second. You may not be aware of a spell called frost wave.

"frost wave 4 This Evocation of Water throws out a wave of freezing cold in all directions. none"

Basically, it throws a wave of cold identical to the "blizzard" spell outward in all directions. I was thinking about the lack of air attack spells and wondering what would make sense as one, and this is what i came up with. An air-based version of frost wave. It should (in my opinion) have a higher lore cost, and a higher damage potential. I'd say maybe 6 or 7 lore with damage scaling in the same way as the cone spells for fire and water. Oh, i totally forgot to come up with a name for this spell... let's go with "Static Field".

Thanks for reading my long, rambling post and let me know what you think, though i'm guessing most of you have little experience with air magic, i'd still value any input!

Just an air magic fan trying to make it,

Mizraith.

Last edited by Odolf : 12-27-2010 at 07:03 AM.
  #2  
Old 12-27-2010, 09:43 AM
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Teshuvah Teshuvah is offline
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Default

Just general info for you.
There are never planned, nor going to be the same amt of "evocations" or any other type spell for all spell types.
Air, while it has a few, has many other support spells that fire and water don't have, Earth as well.
Air is generally stronger because monsters are not as immune to it as fire and air hence the increased cost.
So there are no plans to make more air evocations that are like the other elements.
  #3  
Old 12-27-2010, 08:19 PM
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Odolf Odolf is offline
 

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Alright, that's a good point, air does have some truly awesome support spells. However, is lightning shield really thirty eight times better than flame shield or frost ward? I don't think the fact that some monsters are a little less resistant to it justifies the massive increase in price.

Last edited by Odolf : 12-27-2010 at 08:53 PM.
  #4  
Old 12-27-2010, 10:09 PM
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Arilou Arilou is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Odolf View Post
Alright, that's a good point, air does have some truly awesome support spells. However, is lightning shield really thirty eight times better than flame shield or frost ward? I don't think the fact that some monsters are a little less resistant to it justifies the massive increase in price.
From the perspective of <insert random mage instructor>: The rarity of the reagent is the only thing that justifies the increase in price. Nothing can be done about that as it is a necessary component in casting the spell and, despite our power, we cannot make those pretty little flowers grow on trees. Hence, air mages may not necessarily be able to cast their shield spell as much as fire mages cast fire shield, but a mage may find themselves in a battle situation where their enemies are highly immune to fire/cold and quite numerous. Thus making it worthwhile to evoke the spell despite the extra cost.

Such is life, young one - You will often find that there are very similar products that greatly differ in price because one product is made of rarer ingredients or comes from a far away place. So you will have to make the decision if you want the more expensive product or you would rather make do with something cheaper. Maybe the more expensive product is slightly better overall or better in certain situations, but it's not worth the difference in value. These things happen all the time. In the case of magical reagents, you may find that there are fire spells which cost significantly more than their air magic counterpart to cast because their reagents are harder to find. Right now that isn't specifically the case, but who knows what will be as more spells are written by the great wizards and long forgotten spellbooks come into the hands of the common mage. In that way, things have a way of balancing out, but your search for perfect balance between individual items and individual spells is highly unrealistic.
  #5  
Old 12-27-2010, 10:52 PM
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Odolf Odolf is offline
 

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So what i'm hearing is that all of the wyvern magical community is slave to those cursed sparkweed plantation owners. Oh well, rome wasn't built in a day, thanks for the replies.

Plus.. mages don't (shouldn't) get close enough to need a shield spell of that strength very often. For pilfering off the random orc, or other small annoyances that might get close enough to you, the other inexpensive shield spells are sufficient.
For the rare occurance that you may need something that strong the cost isn't prohibitive, if you live that long.
 


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