Something to think about the Ice DD before you pick it.

[Sumat]

<DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>The Ice DD is clearly supposed to replace Ball of Flames and will certainly be moved to the same timer. The fact that it is currently on a different timer is ironic because I have been saying for weeks that what wizards need to compete at higher levels is another high damage nuke on a different timer.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The Ice DD will be a complete and utterly gimpy choice in a very short time for a simple reason. The timer will be changed to be the same as Ball of Fire/Flames and there is no accounting (that I am aware of) for the skill level of the spell it is replacing. For example I have a Ball of Fire (Adept 3) that is still dealing considerably more damage than the new Ice DD. Why would I ever use the Ice DD if it is dealing less damage despite being higher level. Even if these spells can be upgraded by sages, the new ice DD is a 30th level spell and would require a Ruthenium rather than a Palladium to upgrade, and with Ball of Flames right around the corner why would you ever do that?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There is absolutely no purpose for the Ice dd unless it automatically comes at the same tier (app3/Adept1/Adept 3 etc) of the spell it is replacing. Either that or it needs to be on a different timer, and in that case it should not be a Training spell, it should be moved to the main spell list. I think SOE has their heads firmly up their [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] on this one.</DIV></DIV>

[Wurm]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Sumatte wrote:<BR> <DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>The Ice DD is clearly supposed to replace Ball of Flames and will certainly be moved to the same timer. The fact that it is currently on a different timer is ironic because I have been saying for weeks that what wizards need to compete at higher levels is another high damage nuke on a different timer.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The Ice DD will be a complete and utterly gimpy choice in a very short time for a simple reason. The timer will be changed to be the same as Ball of Fire/Flames and there is no accounting (that I am aware of) for the skill level of the spell it is replacing. For example I have a Ball of Fire (Adept 3) that is still dealing considerably more damage than the new Ice DD. Why would I ever use the Ice DD if it is dealing less damage despite being higher level. Even if these spells can be upgraded by sages, the new ice DD is a 30th level spell and would require a Ruthenium rather than a Palladium to upgrade, and with Ball of Flames right around the corner why would you ever do that?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There is absolutely no purpose for the Ice dd unless it automatically comes at the same tier (app3/Adept1/Adept 3 etc) of the spell it is replacing. Either that or it needs to be on a different timer, and in that case it should not be a Training spell, it should be moved to the main spell list. I think SOE has their heads firmly up their [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] on this one.</DIV></DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <P>You have a very good point... however, its still better than all the other choices given so what should we do?</P> <P>And I think (hope) it will be given a different timer than BoF according to the info Moorguard posted earlier.</P>

[Kend]

<DIV>You are correct.  Moorguard said it himself in the news section near the top of the forums:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>"In addition to the issues I posted a little while ago, many players are reporting that spells and arts that were usable independently of one another before today are now using the same recast timer. I wanted to take a moment to clarify this situation.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The Training options are intended to act as a higher-powered replacement for abilities you are already using. Training is not meant to give you an additional ability; rather, it is meant to act as a significant upgrade to an existing spell or combat art. Since these are free upgrades that are much more potent than the Apprentice I spells you ordinarily receive, they need to share a recast timer in order to maintain game balance.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>However, a number of other spells and arts that had been separate are now tied together as well. For instance, certain heal or damage-over-time spells that were independent of one another now prevent similar spells from being used. We are working at this very moment to reverse this change so that the affected spells and arts will work the same way they did before this update.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>To sum up: Training options are intended to replace existing abilities and thus will share the same timer. The recast timers of standard spells and arts that were affected by today's update will be reverted to function the way they have since launch.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Unfortunately, this change will require some additional testing, so we will probably not be able to apply it along with the fixes for the four key issues mentioned in my first post. We will push the spell linking change to the live servers just as soon as we can, but it will not happen until Friday or Saturday.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We're sorry for the confusion this has caused, and I hope this post clarifies how the Training and recast timers are meant to work."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So if you think you missed out on a huge ice DD, no need to worry because you will basically loose ball of fire.</DIV></DIV>

[Sumat]

<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>Also, and most importantly, the Ice spell not only shares the same timer as Ball of Fire, but depending on the tier of your BoF spell you may already be outdamaging it. I would like to see some system in place for determining the tier of the ice spell based off your existing BoF tier or something like that.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I do honestly believe that at higher levels (read 35+) Wizards need a high damage nuke on a different timer, but 30 is too early for such a nuke, and it shouldn't be a Training spell, it should be a basic spell line. I no longer have any great hopes for any of that however. SOE has proven to me with this patch that they are incapable of maintaining game balance in any form.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The nerf to Lightning Flash was completely unnecessary, and the only thing that made it palatable to -some- wizards was the 30th level Training BUGGED spell that offered them signifigant single target DPS to make up for it. Now (unsurprisingly) that bug is being removed leaving us with useless AoE, horrible armor, bad hps, a single canni spell, and one poorly scaling nuke line.</DIV>

[Wurm]

<DIV>Well it is nice to have a harder hitting ice damage spell for fire resistant mobs... but dont mind me I'm TRYING to look on the bright side of things. I used to like being a wizard in this game.</DIV>

[Sumat]

<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>*sigh* Yeah, I used to like it too. I'm just about done with this game though.</FONT></DIV>

[Sumat]

<DIV><FONT color=#ffffff>I don't understand how people are posting about how Wizards rock this patch because of this freaking ice DD. I honestly think that a new high damage ice spell on a different timer is EXACTLY what the Wizard class needs in the first place. I have been saying that for weeks now. However, if this were intended as a fix for Wizard dps problems then it should come as one of the main spell lines not as a Training spell. The way things are set right now, a Wizard is completely gimped if they do not choose the Ice DD for a Training spell.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Moor himself already said that the spells were intended to upgrade existing spells. Yes the Ice Spear is currently on the same timer as our root, but can you honestly expect it will stay that way? The casting time, icon, power cost, and level are all consistent with an upgrade for Ball of Fire. Even that wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that the Ball of Fire line is already very poorly scaling. Ice spear currently doesn't deal as much damage as my Adept 3 Ball of Fire, and Ball of Flames not scaling to even match the damage of Ball of Fire is a known issue. The whole spell line either needs some serious tweaking post Ball of Fire, or we need a new spell line (preferably a cold line) to cast simultaneously with.</DIV>