Quote from Darkboy132;1275907:
- I don't have to explain how I still despise Mana Recovery. Renaming it to Inspiration sounds really stupid.
- Lightning Rod is extremely broken. At Novice I'm critting a full charge at 17k, now its at r7 and its doing 24k. My rank 1 Hail does 20k fully charged crit, and my rank 1 Meteor's sweetspot does 50k crit, while still being useless for the most part. Good bye Hail Storm, get off my hotkey bar.
- Why the hell did they lower Meteor's MP cost, but not the Mana Necessary variable? That means you still need 200 MP to even be able to cast it, despite only using 80 MP now. That change is pretty worthless, but I still find it absurd how its beating Fireball in terms of MP usage.
- Sanic Fireball, Thunder, and Snap Cast are pretty brokenly fast. Thunder's reduced standby time seems to have crippled it greatly, though I'm not sure if I can make a proper assessment. However, 7 second Fireballs (with only really high Int and Magic Weapon Mastery) is ridiculously too much to where it outdamages Act 7 too greatly, and a one minute instant cast with no mp cost and all charges is absurd; making them all significantly faster to the point where they can outrun bolt spells destroys Magic's drawback of being slow.
- Icebolt, okay, I don't use it still. Making it restore MP seems really unnecessary since it uses less MP at higher charges.
- Lightning Bolt is still useless.
- I still don't use Shockwave because its just a "GET THE FUCK OFF ME" kind of skill with a really high MP cost and sourspots. If it were a "GET THE FUCK OFF ME, I'M CASTING MY MAGIC!", I'd use it a lot more despite the drawbacks.
- I don't use Fusion Bolt.
- Instant cast magic shields are great, I guess? I'm still troubled that I can't move with them.
- Making int magic and meditation easier to learn is pretty ridiculous and insulting to dungeons and pre-Reno people's very hard work.
TL;DR, magic is a pretty broken skillset.
I'm a pretty big fan of Inspiration. They can nerf it only after improving Potion Making and Meditation.
Lightning Rod is basically magic Lance Charge without any of the reforge reliance. High damage, high Magic Attack requirement, and a terrible AOE.
Meteor Strike is still really bad. Lightning Rod hits higher than it nearly every time. Coupled with the heavy cooldown, it's still as unreliable as ever.
Fireball, Thunder, and Magic Shields were often too slow to be of use. This was address with the patch.
Fusion Bolt got an acceptable damage boost, which is exactly what that skill wanted.
Icebolt has its own niche. Lightning Bolt will now see some love from Tribolt users.
Shockwave was always awesome. The cooldown is really helpful but you've definitely got to watch your mana with it now.
Overall: I give the magic renovation a 9/10
1/1 New weapons don't render existing options entirely obsolete (~4 magic attack difference between Hermit and Druid)
3/3 New skills are useful but fail to centralize content
5/6 Skill adjustments are very appropriate, Meditation and Meteor Strike are still lackluster
Compare to the melee update:
0/1 New weapons either outclass existing options (CRKS) or fail to warrant use (all others). Notably expensive repairs for the weapon class.
1/3 Rage Impact is great, Dual Mastery is essentially meaningless, and Bash centralizes content but is offset by its durability use.
2/6 Final Hit is massively overpowered, Axes/Blunt weapons remain unused, adjustments don't make much sense, existing issues remain.