Asherons Call: Life Magic Changes and Skill Sellback

Posted by Tim Holman:

After reading the feedback from players, we have isolated a number of problems that life mages are having since the transfer magic changes that we made in July. Some of these problems we have already addressed (as you'll see with the October update), and some are going to require further action. Based on your feedback - and I want to stress here how important your feedback has been in this process - we are planning on implementing the following tweaks to drain spell mechanics. (Note that with two exceptions, we are only talking about offensive drain spells here. Those exceptions will be highlighted below.)

IMPORTANT NOTE: None of these plans are set in stone, either in terms of scope or timing. We're going to try to get them done quic**y, but we may need to change our plans, and we may need to push them back a month or more. Now, keeping that in mind, this is what we are planning:

First, the ranges for all drain spells will be increased to 20 meters, which is the current range of level 7 drain spells. We believe that this will alleviate the problems with the limited range of drain spells. (This change also applies to harm and related spells. This is the first exception mentioned above.)

Secondly, the travel speed of life bolts will be increased to be similar to war magic bolts of the same level. Please note that life bolts are not meant to be the main offensive strategy for life magic, but this change should make them a little more fun to use. We will also be considering some other changes to the dynamics of life bolts, but don't look for those immediately. (This is the second exception mentioned above.)

Third, the percentage that is drained by the lower level spells will be going up slightly, and the absolute maximum cap on how much you can drain will be adjusted at all levels. We present these two together because they are really intertwined, but let's pick them apart so we can see what's happening.

Before the transfer changes, all drain spells drained 25% of the target's health (or mana or stamina). In July, this percentage changed depending on what level of spell you were casting, so that level 1 drains drained 10% and level 7 drains drained 50%. In November, no level will drain less than 25%. This means that the percentage drained by the lower level spells will be increasing, but the percentage drained by the higher level spells will remain unchanged. The following table illustrates these changes. We believe that this will help increase the effectiveness of drain spells at low levels.

Now, in tandem with this change, we will be adjusting the absolute maximum amount that you can drain with each level of spell. Previously, this absolute maximum was 100 for all spell levels. In the future, this maximum will depend on what level of drain you are casting. The following table summarizes this change.

Note that this absolute maximum is still overridden by the amount of health (or mana or stamina) that the caster has space for. In other words, if you are only down by 5 health, you will only be able to drain 5 health from your opponent no matter what level of spell you cast. But if you are down 150 health, then casting a level 7 drain would allow you to drain up to 150 health from your opponent, while casting a level 6 drain would allow you to drain a maximum of 120 health from your opponent.

We believe that these two changes together - an increase in the percent drained at low spell levels and the adjustment of the maximum amount drained - will allow for more effective draining at all levels, without allowing low level drain spells to become as unbalanced as they had been in the past.

So these are the changes to drain spell mechanics that we are planning on implementing in the coming months. There are three other changes which are not specific to drains spells or even to life magic, but which deserve a mention here as they will help alleviate some of the problems that all mages face.

First, in the October update we introduced changes that increase the average effectiveness of mana conversion at high levels. This - plus the mana conversion modifier on magic casters and the ability to increase that modifier through tinkering - should help all mages with the important task of mana management.

Secondly, we will soon be raising both the natural rate at which projectile spells critical, and the effect of using a magic caster imbued with Critical Strike. This will help both war mages and life mages who use life bolts.

Third, we will be introducing a way to 'sell-back' skills that a character no longer wants and to specialize skills after creation. Look for more details about this process soon.

We hope that these tweaks and proposals will improve the experience of playing a life mage, and indeed improve the experience of Asheron's Call all around. As mentioned above, your feedback has always been extremely important to us in identifying the rough spots in the game and in formulating the solutions. We look forward to your continued feedback about these proposals.

--The AC Team