Does Mana Shield make the Protection stat useless?

• D33Z33 wrote on 2014-08-04 19:48

  Quote from ironwoman;1236873:

  Mana shield was meant to be a skill that was to be used situationally, not all the time. The nerf effectively did that.

  
  
  Allow me to respectfully disagree with you on that. I believe the reason why mana shield exists, is so that it can be used all the time. But only by certain people (mages).
  
  The feeling that I'm getting is that mana shield was used by everyone, and was universally good, and that was why it was nerfed. This is reasonable, because DevCat/Nexon have been moving towards incentivizing specialization in skillsets, so that people would actually invest in skillsets more heavily (due to more stat scaling) rather than just going a hybrid build and dipping into each skillset for their best skill.
  
  However, what I also see is people saying that mana shield just isn't good enough, and that protection and defense are the stats which are the most important. The entire point was not to nerf mana shield for mages, but nerf it for everyone else, so that mages could take advantage of their stats from specializing in magic.
  
  The point of mana shield is to cover up for the squishiness of a mage (low str and low hp), with their strengths (mana and matk). Now instead, mana shield munches up all the mana of a mage and leaves them helpless, but STILL requires significant investment in the skillset to even get to the point where it can be arguably be considered effective.
  
  What I think would benefit mana shield the most is for it to be completely reworked. Instead of draining mana over time, it should drain stamina to disincentivize other skillsets from using it, and to use the strengths of the mage to cover up its squishiness, bonus protection and defense should be given, which scales with matk. Just my opinion.
• Darkboy132 wrote on 2014-08-04 20:04

  Quote from D33Z33;1237274:

  What I think would benefit mana shield the most is for it to be completely reworked. Instead of draining mana over time, it should drain stamina to disincentivize other skillsets from using it, and to use the strengths of the mage to cover up its squishiness, bonus protection and defense should be given, which scales with matk. Just my opinion.

  
  
  What, the skill's called MANA Shield, not STAMINA shield. I'd rather it not drain anything, on use and over time.
• Tyskiyomy wrote on 2014-08-04 20:21

  Quote from D33Z33;1237274:

  Allow me to respectfully disagree with you on that. I believe the reason why mana shield exists, is so that it can be used all the time. But only by certain people (mages).
  
  The feeling that I'm getting is that mana shield was used by everyone, and was universally good, and that was why it was nerfed. This is reasonable, because DevCat/Nexon have been moving towards incentivizing specialization in skillsets, so that people would actually invest in skillsets more heavily (due to more stat scaling) rather than just going a hybrid build and dipping into each skillset for their best skill.
  
  However, what I also see is people saying that mana shield just isn't good enough, and that protection and defense are the stats which are the most important. The entire point was not to nerf mana shield for mages, but nerf it for everyone else, so that mages could take advantage of their stats from specializing in magic.
  
  The point of mana shield is to cover up for the squishiness of a mage (low str and low hp), with their strengths (mana and matk). Now instead, mana shield munches up all the mana of a mage and leaves them helpless, but STILL requires significant investment in the skillset to even get to the point where it can be arguably be considered effective.
  
  What I think would benefit mana shield the most is for it to be completely reworked. Instead of draining mana over time, it should drain stamina to disincentivize other skillsets from using it, and to use the strengths of the mage to cover up its squishiness, bonus protection and defense should be given, which scales with matk. Just my opinion.

  
  
  Or they can go the Wings of Eclipse route where Mana Shield has a damage threshold say 2k~, maybe it raises/starts lower and gets bigger with more Matk iunno, and instead of draining mana from the hit it is a skill that is charged(Like costs 100mp at r1 or so), say 1 second charge, and lasts until you get hit for beyond its damage/change map. Just an idea don't eat me alive :<
• Cookiebunny wrote on 2014-08-04 20:36

  Quote from D33Z33;1237274:

  
  What I think would benefit mana shield the most is for it to be completely reworked. Instead of draining mana over time, it should drain stamina to disincentivize other skillsets from using it, and to use the strengths of the mage to cover up its squishiness, bonus protection and defense should be given, which scales with matk. Just my opinion.

  
  
  

  Quote from Darkboy132;1237276:

  What, the skill's called MANA Shield, not STAMINA shield. I'd rather it not drain anything, on use and over time.

  
  
  I do agree that mana shield should be reworked. I have mixed feelings about how they should go about doing that, though. I agree it makes sense for mages to be the ones who use it more often than those of other skillsets. However, many high-leveled players have mastered many, meaning there's a lot more hybrids now. It can't be helped.
  
  I think draining should still occur, because even if the skill shouldn't discourage you from using it, it shouldn't be a given. If there wasn't a side effect, they may as well just do away with Mana Shield and make it a thing where MP counts as part of your health. Therefore, instead of lack of draining, maybe a slightly slower rate at which your MP drains.
  
  [S]Of course, I don't know what I'm saying.[/S]
  
  

  Quote from Tyskiyomy;1237278:

  Or they can go the Wings of Eclipse route where Mana Shield has a damage threshold say 2k~, maybe it raises/starts lower and gets bigger with more Matk iunno, and instead of draining mana from the hit it is a skill that is charged, say 1 second charge, and lasts until you get hit for beyond its damage/change map. Just an idea don't eat me alive :<

  
  
  I actually like that idea.
• Osayidan wrote on 2014-08-04 20:45
  The draining should stay since that's what discourages non-mages from using it. With mana shield up and meditation active the draining is cancelled out, and at night it'll even regenrate mana, just a lot slower. Unless they want to just walk really slow with their non-magic weapons.
• Kelvas wrote on 2014-08-04 21:13
  [UB]

  Quote from Osayidan;1237284:

  The draining should stay since that's what discourages non-mages from using it. With mana shield up and meditation active the draining is cancelled out, and at night it'll even regenrate mana, just a lot slower. Unless they want to just walk really slow with their non-magic weapons.

  
  
  I agree with this. Removing the drain defeats the purpose of making this skill mages-only, which was probably the intent of devcat when they nerfed it. Only problem with the drain as mages is that we'll have no stamina left when we keep spellwalk up for too long, but we can just use pots.
  
  Anyhow, if they do rework Mana Sheild, which I highly doubt, they should add a variable that reduces damage as a constant in addition to the efficiency ratio, so that I won't be taking more than 1 damage from rats and foxes.
  
  They should also remove the skill cap so the efficiency ratio is high enough to be used constantly without the need of reforges.
  
  
  [/UB]
• Kaeporo wrote on 2014-08-04 21:47

  Quote from Kelvas;1237287:

  [UB]They should also remove the skill cap so the efficiency ratio is high enough to be used constantly without the need of reforges. [/UB]

  
  
  This is the only action that DevCat should take in regard to Mana Shield. There is no reason post regeneration for Mana Shield to remain capped.
• Rydian wrote on 2014-08-05 00:40
  Factor in magic defense and uncap it at least 2 more ranks or something and it'll be better than it is now at least.
• ironwoman wrote on 2014-08-05 02:05

  Quote from Kaeporo;1237294:

  This is the only action that DevCat should take in regard to Mana Shield. There is no reason post regeneration for Mana Shield to remain capped.

  
  
  One thing they have to keep in mind is that they shouldn't turn it back to a skill that people will abuse. This skill was meant for mages or people with later end stats. Perhaps they're thinking of how to do this while uncapping, I don't know.
• Yuuki Asuna wrote on 2014-08-05 20:51
  Add an elf efficiency boost with the uncap, plz & ty.
• Darkboy132 wrote on 2014-08-05 20:58

  Quote from Yuuki Asuna;1237535:

  Add an elf efficiency boost with the uncap, plz & ty.

  
  
  Effing elves D:
• Kaeporo wrote on 2014-08-06 12:02

  Quote from ironwoman;1237339:

  One thing they have to keep in mind is that they shouldn't turn it back to a skill that people will abuse. This skill was meant for mages or people with later end stats. Perhaps they're thinking of how to do this while uncapping, I don't know.

  
  
  I wouldn't be opposed (alongside an uncap) if DevCat changed Mana Shield so that magic defense/protection still factored in.
• SUNFLARE wrote on 2014-08-06 12:20
  I think mana shield deserves to be uncap to atleast R4
• revdb wrote on 2014-08-06 17:54
  Well it is a shield made of mana, I'd say it would make more sense if it factored your magic defense and protection.