Wizard Epic

[Mirander_1]

Since half the other classes have one of these threads, I figured I'd start one up for Wizzies <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. So, what would you guys like in our epic in RoK?  Taking into account things like weapon-type, stats, procs, stuff like that. In terms of weapon type, I personally like the aesthetics of a two-handed staff.  I'd usually be reluctant to suggest a two-hander for something like this, since I know so many Wizzies rely on Freehand, but from Scott's thread on RoK, it sounds like AA weapon-requirements are going to be slackened somewhat in time for RoK, so that hopefully shouldn't be a huge issue.

[TheGReddy]

Gandalf's Staff <img src="/smilies/ed515dbff23a0ee3241dcc0a601c9ed6.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[JohnDoe058]

<p>I also think that 2-handers are "kewl".  I'll be very, very glad if/when they do away with weapon requirements in AA's.</p><p>As far as stats and effects...well, procs and spell dmg +'s are great, but they don't help us as much as some other classes that *cough* get much better spell haste than we do.  So what I'm hoping for is a nice % increase in base spell damage, like the Wand of Crystalized Plasma.  That would be best for us, I feel.</p><p>Also, maybe a clicky effect that restores some power.  Always a plus.  Wouldn't complain about something like an AoE stun/root/snare clicky effect, either.</p><p>As far as cosmetics, would be kewl if it was all glowy like the Somborn 2-hander.  You know, that crystal at the top that radiates intense light.</p>

[Mirander_1]

<cite>TheGReddy wrote:</cite><blockquote>Gandalf's Staff <img src="/smilies/ed515dbff23a0ee3241dcc0a601c9ed6.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></blockquote>Heheh, if it had some of the effects from the movies, that'd actually be really cool.  Ranged auto-attack with knockback on every hit, anyone? (from the Gandalf vs. Saruman in the first movie :mrgreen<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Or how about the Staff of Magius from Dragonlance? Clicky lightsource, clicky slowfall, increased spellpower, and whatever else it had that I've forgotten <img src="/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.

[JohnDoe058]

<p>On second thought, I'd like to have a clicky effect that lowered the pants of female characters within a 20m radius.</p><p>But maybe that's too much to ask.</p>

[Boniface]

Does anyone remember what the stats and special ability was for the EQ1 wizard epic? I know the epic wouldn't be compatible to the EQ2 wizard, but I'm curious.

[Mirander_1]

<cite>Boniface wrote:</cite><blockquote>Does anyone remember what the stats and special ability was for the EQ1 wizard epic? I know the epic wouldn't be compatible to the EQ2 wizard, but I'm curious. </blockquote>I had to go look it up on Alla, but the the effect was called Barrier of Force, which was basically a ward and a mana regen effect. The stats for the Staff of the Four were: MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO TRADE Slot: PRIMARY Skill: 1H Blunt Atk Delay: 30 DMG: 20 Dmg Bonus: 16 STR: +10 DEX: +5 STA: +10 INT: +25 MANA: +100 SV FIRE: +10 SV DISEASE: +5 SV COLD: +10 SV MAGIC: +10 SV POISON: +5 Effect: Barrier of Force (Must Equip) at Level 50 WT: 4.0 Size: MEDIUM Class: WIZ Race: HUM ERU HIE DEF GNM FRG DRK Slot 1, Type 4

[Boniface]

Thanks for the info. I know people would hate having something that looked similar to what was in EQ1, but I always thought it was pretty nifty looking.  Although I liked the Mage Epic more.

[D-DevilK]

I'd like it to grant you a new spell "The Tempest", which could only be used in conjunction with that staff, which would cause you to twirl it, launching hundreds of fiery icicles at your foe. Whilst a hailstorm surrounds you, complete with thunder and lightning. The prevailing animation during this time would be the twirlythunderstorm thing, and your uh, ambidextrous casting, I suppose you could call it, would just be launched along with the icicles and fire. Think Ring of fire. Just alot more resource hungry. ALOT MORE. Every spell you cast during the twirling, all spells casting times would be halved, however their recast times would be doubled. Obviously, for balancing reasons, every successful enemy attack has a 10% chance of ending the storm. With a casting time of 1.5 seconds, a duration of 25 seconds, and a recast time of 45 minutes, its base damage (I.E with 0 INT) per tick would be around 1,250. It would also have a knockback, stun, and root effect. On each successful spell you cast during the "Storm". That is worthy of the name epic imho. Give me a moment.. I am going to photoshop a spell description right now. Edit: <img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a15/Cubekid4000/EPIC.png" border="0"> Had to tone it down slightly, otherwise nerf would be cried before it even is implemented.

[HippyKnight]

Focus: Cease ... cant get enough of that stuff... <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[TheGReddy]

<p>interesting, but it looks more like something a warlock would have without the poison/noxious damage<img src="/smilies/136dd33cba83140c7ce38db096d05aed.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>and the Blinded by the Storm proc has a very low chance of procing specially if it is only a 25 sec duration spell. </p><p>Sorry for getting all technical<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[TheBu]

<p>I want a real wizy hat.</p><p>      /      /      /    </p><p>like the picture for the wizs on the forums.</p><p>   </p>

[iceriven2]

If the Devs do change the AA line so weapons aren't required or slots are no longer required to be empty i want a staff.  If i still need second hand empty after expansion make in one hander. Stats for the staff to be worth it.  At least double what would be on a fabled one hander at 80 and maybe a bit more  Effects typical procs. Damage, damage increase, FT and small heal.  I would like all or just some of them New effects- Spell oriented effect...think casting clickie  Like the idea above make it some really nice Dot with awsome graphic.

[Mirander_1]

If Freehand doesn't get changed in this, I hope we'll get a transforming weapon like the Godking Staff, where you can choose 1h or 2h.  I always use a two-handed staff (it's just my thing <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ), and would want one as our epic, but it would suck for the Freehand-using wizards to get a weapon that they can't use with their AAs.

[Dejah]

<p>Rather than start a new thread on this.  I figured I'll revive the discussion in this thread.</p><p>Ever since the announcement of RoK epics, I've been kicking ideas around in my head as to what would make a good epic weapon.  The following post is a result of my thoughts.  It is basically a recipe for how to create one.  As I mention throughout the post, the most difficult part about coming up with Epic Weapon ideas is that we don't know what SOE is aiming for in terms of uberness.  With out another Epic Weapon to compare to, its hard to gauge whether a given design is underpowered or overpowered.  That said, I think a lot of my own internal analysis will be interesting to some, so I share it here.  Skip to the end to see my specific epic weapon ideas.</p><p>------------------------------------ Basic Goals for Wizard Epic Weapons ------------------------------------</p><p>Legendary Reward 1. Has to be better than Wand of Crystalized Plasma (from Unrest).</p><p>Fabled Reward 1. Has to be better than Legendary Reward. 2. Has to be better than Staff of Light (from Avatar of Flame).</p><p>It's not going to be easy to meet these goals, as both the Wand of Crystalized Plasma and the Staff of Light have effects that enhance the users spells as opposed to a straight forward benefit.  A level 70 with all Master 1s will see a larger benefit from these weapons than a level 70 with all Apprentice 1s; and likewise, a level 80 will see a larger benefit from these weapons than any level 70 would.  The stats will be low for a T8 item, but a little bit of power, and a little bit of INT won't be enough to dissuade people from using the old weapon over a new one that doesn't have as good of an effect.  This makes it particularly challenging in coming up with a new good design, because you want people to want to upgrade, but they already have a pretty good item that scales with them.</p><p>One option, which I'm pretty sure most won't like, is to simply take the old wands and simply boost the stats to T8 numbers, thus making it marginally better than the T7 version.  This should be a last resort in my humble opinion, as I feel most players will accept the fact that it is an upgrade and pursue it as such, but some players who already have the T7 weapons will be disappointed by how much they were able to grow their character.</p><p>So how does one design an item that is meant to be better than items that scale with the player?  One could devise a baseline player for both the Legendary reward and Fabled reward, and balance it to those numbers.  But if that is done then the very best of the best might not use the item, because they may be far enough above the baseline such that the scaling of the old weapons are better than the new weapons.  The only option that can possibly win over every player is for the new items to have an effect that scales itself, but is better than the old weapons.  This is a dangerous approach to item design, because when the time comes that they want to create a weapon that is better than the this Epic one, they'll have to add an even more powerful scaling effect.  With that said, a scaling effect that is at least as good as the scaling effects on the Wand of Crystalized Plasma and the Staff of Light is needed in order for this weapon to compete; additional non-scaling effects can also be added to ensure that it is a very desired upgrade.</p><p>------------------ Scaling Effects ------------------</p><p>The Wand of Crystalized Plasma has the following Effect:</p><p>Plasma Boost * When Equipped:   * When target casts a spell this spell has a     chance to cast Plasma Boost on caster.      Lasts for 12.0 seconds.  This effect will     trigger an average of 1.8 times per     minute.     * Increases the base damage of hostile       spells cast by 8%.</p><p>If the effect triggers 1.8 times per minute, then the buff will be up (1.8 * 12sec) 21.6 seconds out of every minute on average (assuming the player is chain casting).  In reality, the average will be less than 21.6 seconds, as that simple calculation doesn't account for the fact that the proc could go off while the effect is already up.  To keep this discussion simple, I'll reduce that number to 18 seconds.  If the proc is up 18 seconds out of every minute, then the proc is up (18/60) 30% of the time.  So 30% of the time the user receives the 8% increase in base damage of hostile spells, which on average is (0.08 * 0.3) 2.4% increase in base damage on average.</p><p>To throw a wrench into the problem, some players have buffs that increase the chance that items will proc.  With one such buff, that 1.8 times per minute could become 2.25 times per minute, and after running the same calculations you get roughly a 2.8% increase in base damage on average.  </p><p>To summarize the Wand of Crystalized Plasma analysis, the epic legendary reward must have a scaling effect that adds at least a 2.4% increase in damage on average, or it won't be better.</p><p>The Staff of Light has the following Effect:</p><p>Fiery Countenance * When Equipped:   * Reduces casting time by 5 percent.   * On a successful hostile spell this spell     has a chance to cast Flaming Justice on     target of spell.  This effect will trigger an     average of 1.4 times per minute.     * Throws target back     * Inflicts 299-555 heat damage on target (damage numbers differ depending on INT, got these from a screenshot online) * When Equipped:   * Increase damage done by spells by up     to 100.</p><p>There is only one particular part of the Effect that scales which is the "Reduces casting time by 5 percent" effect.  Calculating the increase in damage on average for this effect is rather tricky.  The benefit that each spell receives is sort of skewed by the fact that recovery times aren't affected, so slower casting spells will see a larger benefit than quicker casting spells because of the ratio of casting time to recovery time is better.  That said, it shouldn't be too hard to ball park it.</p><p>We know that a player would do 5% more damage per second if A) casting time was reduced by 5 percent, B) recovery time was reduced by 5 percent, and C) recast time was reduced by 5 percent.  If all three of those were true, then a player's casting order wouldn't change at all and they would be able to do exactly what they were doing before, only 5% faster.</p><p>Taking a conservative look at the impact of recovery time, lets assume that the average casting time is 2 seconds with a 0.5 second recovery time.  Then the benefit from the 5% casting time reduction then becomes (1-(2*0.95+0.5)/2.5) 4%.</p><p>Analyzing the impact that the lack of recast reduction would yield isn't as easy, but it basically boils down to: how often does the player end up casting a weaker spell instead of a stronger spell because the stronger spell is down but is 0.05*[recast time] away from coming back up.  If the spell's recast is long, such as 30 seconds, then you only lose dps if you are ready to cast that spell in that (30*0.05) 1.5 second period prior to the spell refreshing; you lose dps because instead of casting the higher damage spell you opt to cast a lower damage spell.</p><p>Since we took a conservative look at the impact of recovery time, let's just use 4% increase in damage on average for the effect "reduces casting time by 5 percent".</p><p>To summarize this analysis of scaling effects: The legendary epic weapon reward should have a scaling effect that at least increases average damage by roughly 2.8%, and the fabled epic weapon reward should have a scaling effect that at least increase average damage by roughly 4%.</p><p>Next let us take a look at what sort of scaling effects an item could have that would increase DPS.  Any of these could be straight up permanent bonuses (ala the Staff of Light) or could be tied to a proc'd buff with a short duration (ala the Wand of Crystalized Plasma).</p><p>1. Increases the base damage of hostile spells cast by x%.     * We've seen a few items that proc a buff with this effect, but no items that have this effect as a permanent bonus.</p><p>2. Reduces casting time by x%.     * Another standard way of increasing DPS.  This one has the slight downside that casting more means running out of power faster, but that does little to reduce the desirability of such effects.</p><p>3. Reduces recovery time by x.     * While a reduction in recovery time can increase DPS by allowing the player to chain cast spells faster, a reduction in casting times can accomplish the same thing.  </p><p>4. Reduces recast time by x%.     * It is hard to measure the benefit of this type of effect, as the gain in DPS comes from being able to cast higher DPS spells more often and low DPS spells less often.  This difficulty also can result in uncertainty on the player's part, and could be perceived as less desirable even though the net increase in DPS is the same.  </p><p>5. Increases spell crit chance by x%.     * Increases DPS in a similar way to #1, except this one is subject to the random number generator.</p><p>------------------ Focus Effects ------------------</p><p>Since the epic weapon is wizard class specific, they can do something with the weapon that they haven't been able to do with weapons before: add a focus effect.  Let's start by taking a look at the current four wizard class equipment focus effects.</p><p>1. Lunarspun Vest Focus: Ice Nova Effect: Reduces reuse time of Ice Nova by 3 seconds.</p><p>2. Lunarspun Pantaloons Focus: Ball of Lava Effect: Increase damage amount of Ball of Lava by 50.</p><p>3. Robe of Temporal Foresight Focus: Cease Effect: Increases the effectiveness of Cease by 300 hate decrease.</p><p>4. Pantaloons of Temporal Foresight Focus: Ice Nova Effect: Reduces recast time of Ice Nova by 12 seconds.</p><p>We basically have two types of focus effect here; a straight decrease in recast time and an increase in damage/dehate.  The focus effect on 4 is above average, 1 and 2 are average, and 3 is below average.</p><p>Here are a few random ideas for focus effects:</p><p>Focus: Anomalism Effect: Increases the amount of hate transferred by X%.</p><p>Focus: Iceshield Effect: Increases number of procs by N (2 maybe 3 extra procs would make this pretty appealing).</p><p>Focus: Fiery Convulsions Effect: Increases number of ticks by N (double the number of ticks and it would make this pretty good, though, most people have the perception that this spell isn't very good).</p><p>Focus: Inferno Surge Effect: Increases duration by N seconds (honestly, would have to be in the 15-30 second range for this to be appealing to most players)</p><p>Focus: Rending Icicles Effect: Increases damage per tick by X (a damage increase of 100 per tick while definitely beneficial, still wouldn't be that appealing to most players.</p><p>Focus: Fusion Effect: Reduces recast of Fusion by N seconds (30 seconds to 60 seconds would be viewed as appealing to most players)</p><p>Focus: Heat Resistibility Effect: Reduces the chance that heat spells will be resisted by x% (7-12% range would be viewed as appealing, though not as appealing as something that had more obvious damage benefit).</p><p>-------------------------------------- Non-scaling Procs and other effects --------------------------------------</p><p>The final option for enhancing the epic weapon comes from non-scaling procs and other effects.  Since this is a wizard class item, I think the effect should fit with what the wizard class does.  Here are a few examples of what not to do:</p><p>1. Power drain.  Power drain is more of a coercer type ability. 2. Damage proc and self heal, i.e. life tap is more of a necromancer type ability. 3. Any proc that procs off a beneficial spell obviously isn't a fit. 4. Debuffs, such as the STR debuff on the Godking weapon, doesn't really fit with the wizard class, as we have no debuff abilities in our spell book. 5. Non-epic effects such as stuns, stifles, or mezzes.</p><p>The effect for the fabled epic weapon should strive to satisfy the following goals:</p><p>1. Is a desired effect. 2. Is an effect that will help in epic fights 3. Is an effect that fits lore-wise with what wizard are, i.e. masters of the elements.  </p><p>Those are my three high level goals.  But it also helps to take a look at the types of problems the wizard class has in epic fights.</p><p>1. Aggro - Pulling aggro is a problem.  An effect could be added that would help prevent this. 2. Dieing - More specifically, getting one-shot by epic mobs.  An effect could be added that would help prevent said one-shotting. 3. Power - Running out of Power can be an issue. </p><p>An effect designed to make it harder to pull aggro gives the wizard more freedom to focus on their DPS roll.  By no means do we want to make it impossible for the wizard to pull aggro, as that would be boring, so the effect can't be too powerful.  There are already many items out there that do just this.  Some proc a certain amount of threat reduction, others have a passive dehate percent, and there is one--the mage claymore reward--that decreases hate priority by 1 when it procs.  </p><p>There are also already many items out there designed to address the issue of running out of power.  Power procs are quite common now. </p><p>What I find very interesting is the idea of an effect designed to address the issue of getting one-shot by epic mobs.  This idea is inspired by the effect on the Flowing Robe of Immortality, which drops from Varsoon in the Chamber of Immortality.  The effect that inspired this idea is as follows: "(when equipped) When the target dies this spell has a 3% chance to cast Salvation on caster.  Heals caster for 50% of max health."  It is basically a death save proc.  The problem of getting one-shot by epic mobs is an interesting problem that only raiding wizards (versus non-raiding wizards) have experienced the frustration of.  In a blink of an eye, a raiding wizard can pull aggro and die before they have even realized that they have pulled aggro: it can happen that fast.  To be a worth while effect though, it would have to help more than a mere 3% of the time, which means the effect has to be specific enough to only be beneficial in a raid type of environment, so as to not overpower the wizard class in solo-pve, grouping-pve, or pvp.</p><p>* On a successful hostile spell this spell has a chance to cast Portentous Premonition on caster.  Lasts for 30.0 seconds.  This effect will trigger an average of 1.8 times per minute.     * Prevents caster from taking direct damage if the damage exceeds the max health of the caster.  Effect cancels after preventing damage.</p><p>This effect would give wizards the dignity of at least dieing in two shots, as opposed to being the one shot wonders we are now.  Please note that it won't save you from an AE unless the mob has you targeted; it will only prevent the damage if it is direct, i.e. the mob is targeting you.  The scenario is this: The wizard is throwing their arsenal at an Epic Mob, and the proc Portentous Premonition goes off.  If the wizard pulls aggro the mob won't be able to one shot them.  The first hit that would have done more health than the wizard has would be prevented.  Basically, the proc is the wizard seeing a vision of his own death, and is thus able to delay it, even if only as long as it takes the mob to swing a second time.</p><p>------------------------ The Wizard Epic Weapons ------------------------</p><p>I've talked long enough about the different design problems that come when designing the wizard epic weapon.  I felt it was necessary though because there is one thing I don't know: I don't know how good the weapon is supposed to be.  The only thing I know is how good it has to be in order for it to be better than what we have currently.  I hope that by outlining my thought process, a combination of desirable effects can be created into a weapon that meets the desired balance.  Also, I hope that people who disagree with my thoughts on different areas can still use some of this information as a basis for a recipe for a desirable and balanced weapon.  With that said, here are my Legendary and Fabled Wizard Epic designs.  Note that the design is actually for a T7 weapon, stats can be scaled up for the final T8 version.</p><p>------------------------ LEGENDARY WIZARD EPIC ------------------------</p><p>Staff one-Handed Crushing Damage 33-78 (69.6 Rating) Delay 1.6 seconds +30 sta +30 int +100 health +100 power +4 disruption</p><p>Brainstorm * Increases the base damage of hostile spells by 3%.</p><p>Focus: Anomalism * Increases the amount of hate Anomalism transfers by 2%.</p><p>------------------------ FABLED WIZARD EPIC ------------------------</p><p>Staff one-Handed Crushing Damage 27-153 (71.8 Rating) Delay 2.5 seconds +44 sta +44 int +250 health +250 power +8 disruption</p><p>Brainstorm * Increases the base damage of hostile spells by 5%.</p><p>Focus: Anomalism * Increases the amount of hate Anomalism transfers by 4%.</p><p>Portentous Premonition * On a successful hostile spell this spell has a chance to cast Portentous Premonition on caster.  Lasts for 30.0 seconds.  This effect will trigger an average of 1.8 times per minute.     * Prevents caster from taking direct damage if the damage exceeds the max health of the caster.  Effect cancels after preventing damage.</p>

[IllusiveThoughts]

<p>once again dehah your post is spot on.</p><p>I love the idea.</p>

[Kaycerzan]

While I understand that the alotted space for "epic" items is limited (i.e. we would not want a character to be wearing all "epic" items given anough expansions)  I just hope it's not something that cancels out all the work we just did. I tire of wading through content just to have all my work replaced in 3 months. Praise be to the people who put in range/secondary for the Kingdom of Sky reward.  It probably is time to replace the godking scepter, but didn't we just do that with the Sword of Destiny?  

[Rigormortises]

I have an idea for the proc or item effect, lets face it thats the most important part. Elemental storage: Every succesfull Elemental damage done by the wizard 1% of that damage will be stored into the wand. Elemental burn: Click effect : When the wand is clicked the Power saved up in the wand is realeased damaging a single target enemy. No more than 50% of the mobs healths. Applies buff, can only be done once every 3 minutes. Elemental Leak: Leaks elemental power saved out of the wand, realeasing 2% of the wands total power, damaging a single target mob 1.8 times per min. I think this would be a good effect of an epic weapon. You can scale it by adjusting the total amount of damage the wand can hold. Its also scaleable to what type of game you play. If you solo, the wand will fill with power much slower because the mobs do not have that many hp. If you raid it will fill much faster... and so on. Say the wand can hold up to 100,000 damage, this can be adjustable with the quality of wand you have, so procs will be bigger down the line and amount of damage "realeased" from it. %'s can be changed as well to what ever is balanced enough. But I think its a great idea because it would fit anyones game, soloer-grouper-raider. And you can add other stuff to it as well, I would just like to see that proc and clickie. Dehah, no offense but that seems too defensive of a proc and realy? How much use would you get out of it?

[KennyG]

Dehah@Permafrost wrote: <blockquote><p>------------------------ FABLED WIZARD EPIC ------------------------</p><p>Staff one-Handed Crushing Damage 27-153 (71.8 Rating) Delay 2.5 seconds +44 sta +44 int +250 health +250 power +8 disruption</p><p>Brainstorm * Increases the base damage of hostile spells by 5%.</p><p>Focus: Anomalism * Increases the amount of hate Anomalism transfers by 4%.</p><p>Portentous Premonition * On a successful hostile spell this spell has a chance to cast Portentous Premonition on caster.  Lasts for 30.0 seconds.  This effect will trigger an average of 1.8 times per minute.     * Prevents caster from taking direct damage if the damage exceeds the max health of the caster.  Effect cancels after preventing damage.</p></blockquote>I think it's absolutely fair to only forcast T7 epics because we don't know how they are scaling the content to T8 - I mean who has farmed T6 for the truely UBER t6 stuff?  However, I really like this design.  It's highly scaleable - amazingly powerful but not unbalanced given the concept of the epic.  I would like to see it be something a bit more "wizzie " in nature though.  Just more buffs to Int and pow than than  health and sta.  So maybe something like +45 int, +30 wis +30 sta and +250 pow and +150 health or something to that effect. One more thing, I think a lot of people want to see a clicky.  I would love to see these items as proc's but would like to also see something like: *On activation applies Magical Aim     Caster will critical 95% of attacks for 30 seconds     recast of 6 hours This would allow a major attack to happen on the boss of a zone late fight.  Something like manaburn or otherwise but without being fully linked to your power pool.