Adding something missing to magic, and more?

[darkpoet837]

Jagex have told us that they are planning and working on a new skill for both f2p and p2p, but what could it be? They have also said that this skill will change the way combat works, and how we play the game. Finally, they have talked about balancing combat in this game. How could they do all of this with one skill?

 

The new skill: Arcana. I think this could be the new skill that magic users are looking for. Range and melee both have scaling effects on damage as they improve, so why not magic? Why must each spell have its own max hit that never moves, with only increased accuracy?

 

Arcanum: mysterious or specialized knowledge, language, or information accessible or possessed only by the initiate usually used in plural, Arcana.

 

The way I would see this working would be if each spell had a strength modifier to it, kind of like current ranged ammo and melee weapons have. This modifier would combine with Arcana to give you the spells max damage. While this would make a lot of the current things for increasing magic damage obsolete, a quick change of "increase magic" to "increase Arcana" would fix most of those already. Also, items such as the staffs that increase magic damage could be changed to increase Arcana. While some may call this "overpowered", remember, the spell itself would need a decent modifier. Air strike is not going to hit higher than it should, after all.

 

Not only would Arcana be for magic damage, it would also be used in an archaeological way as well, identifying magical items as you dig them up or find them otherwise. Imagine finding new weapons or bows with magical enchants via the Arcana skill! In this way, this could also be a skill that updates melee and ranged. What about a magically made amulet that protects your crops while farming? Boots that can help with your agility training? The possibilities for skilling updates are quite endless as well. This skill would also fit the f2p bit, because if they changed magic with it, it would have to be f2p as well.

 

Do you think this could be the new and combat changing/balancing skill that Jagex have said is coming this year? Why or why not?

[12pure34]

Jagex have told us that they are planning and working on a new skill for both f2p and p2p, but what could it be? They have also said that this skill will change the way combat works, and how we play the game. Finally, they have talked about balancing combat in this game. How could they do all of this with one skill?

 

The new skill: Arcana. I think this could be the new skill that magic users are looking for. Range and melee both have scaling effects on damage as they improve, so why not magic? Why must each spell have its own max hit that never moves, with only increased accuracy?

 

Arcanum: mysterious or specialized knowledge, language, or information accessible or possessed only by the initiate usually used in plural, Arcana.

 

The way I would see this working would be if each spell had a strength modifier to it, kind of like current ranged ammo and melee weapons have. This modifier would combine with Arcana to give you the spells max damage. While this would make a lot of the current things for increasing magic damage obsolete, a quick change of "increase magic" to "increase Arcana" would fix most of those already. Also, items such as the staffs that increase magic damage could be changed to increase Arcana. While some may call this "overpowered", remember, the spell itself would need a decent modifier. Air strike is not going to hit higher than it should, after all.

 

Not only would Arcana be for magic damage, it would also be used in an archaeological way as well, identifying magical items as you dig them up or find them otherwise. Imagine finding new weapons or bows with magical enchants via the Arcana skill! In this way, this could also be a skill that updates melee and ranged. What about a magically made amulet that protects your crops while farming? Boots that can help with your agility training? The possibilities for skilling updates are quite endless as well. This skill would also fit the f2p bit, because if they changed magic with it, it would have to be f2p as well.

 

Do you think this could be the new and combat changing/balancing skill that Jagex have said is coming this year? Why or why not?

 

With all do respect, I highly doubt it. This has no chance on earth do be a seperate skill. It would be an addition to magic perhaps but even that would be highly unlikely. A background update on magic. Gaining extra damage on levels, just like slayer dart? Even if this would indeed balance, how would you train it? Like archeology, nahh.. Then it would be just archeology...

 

Also a bit of trolling but don't we all know (hide tags) [hide] P2P & F2P -> entire runescape -> runescape has water -> water has boats -> OMG SAILING !! PZOMG LOLZORBBQ![/hide]

[C110]

Jagex have told us that they are planning and working on a new skill for both f2p and p2p, but what could it be? They have also said that this skill will change the way combat works, and how we play the game.

 

Sounds like the things they said about summoning (excluding the ftp part). But I serious have no idea what the new skill could me, not that I do realy care about it. I got enough goals to complete with the current skills.

[darkpoet837]

 

With all do respect, I highly doubt it. This has no chance on earth do be a seperate skill. It would be an addition to magic perhaps but even that would be highly unlikely. A background update on magic. Gaining extra damage on levels, just like slayer dart? Even if this would indeed balance, how would you train it? Like archeology, nahh.. Then it would be just archeology...

 

Also a bit of trolling but don't we all know (hide tags) [hide] P2P & F2P -> entire runescape -> runescape has water -> water has boats -> OMG SAILING !! PZOMG LOLZORBBQ![/hide]

 

I would say that this would be trained like strength is vs attack right now. You would select it in your styles while using magic. While it would not be all that great at first, as high level magic users would have to train it up to be decent, in the end it would be a major improvement.

 

In the end, the archeology part of it would just be a bonus to the skill, as that would not be what the skill was mostly about. Kind of like barbarian fishing for strength. Just there as a side note, with damage increase as its main use.

[meister14]

If anything.. They need to redo the whole smithing skill. Woohoo .. i got 99 smithing! I can make rune platebodies.. oh wait.. Ill lose money, since people can buy them cheaper from Ozark... and cheaper on the ge..

[magzar]

yehhhhh, no.

 

if this were implemented it would destroy the balance. Magic users would suddenly hit terribly until they trained the new skill. it would be months before it began to level out. even if in the long run it might prove decent, in the short term it would be disastrous.

[J35u5_M4]

They could add something to Magic, but not create a whole new skill just to hit higher...

 

I highly doubt this would ever happen

[chuckangie]

Theres already a magic damage modifier and its based on equipment. And mage equipment has a lot left for development.

[Wizz]

This would go here, no? :mellow:

[Obtaurian]

I would like to see this and a ranged counterpart made into skills. It doesn't really make sense for them not to exist. Would it hurt a lot of players for a little while? Yes, but they can get over it.

[Sir_Kurity]

That would be good, magic would be downright useless for the first few days/weeks because everyone has 1 strength, but sooner or later, it will even out and magic will be a better skill.

 

On the other hand, why not just make higher magic level make magic hit more?

[darkpoet837]

I know that in the short term, this would suck a bit for all the current high level mages. But in the long term, this would really benefit mages. And if it is made to be trained like strength is now, it would really not take that long to get high enough in it to get to where magic is right now. I would say level 60-65 would be enough to be hitting our spell's current maxes. And those levels would not take long with some base damage added from the spells themselves helping along the way. And after that, things would only get better.

 

As for adding it to magic itself...why should they? Heck, they could just change melee and make strength attack and defense all one skill, but they don't. They are three separate skills. For magic, attack and defense are already combined. And damage? It is stuck in a non-scalable plot of base spell and equipment damage bonus from certain staffs (none of them f2p, go figure). Except with magic potions, there is no change in the bonus as you level up. And those don't really even count, as they can be used at any level for nearly the same effect.

 

As someone said above this post, the same could be done for range. It is currently accuracy and damage in one stat. Who knows? Jagex can do anything they want, as it is their game.

[i_D_r]

I've always thought this; it was fine in rsc when mage and range were support stats, but when they created the "triangle" it just made no sense melee had an extra stat, and in some senses, 2 (as defense will always be integral part of melee, mages and rangers have an ability to farcast)

 

I thought it again when extreme magic got nerfed. It just makes no sense for a 86/83 mage to hit higher than a 86 base mage, let alone base 99. Mages also get the shaft with its prayer boosters which are pretty much useless besides some pvp. At least ranged skill incorporates both accuracy and damage.

[Romy]

Well also be casting a critical eye over our existing skills, searching for holes, and filling them with new training activities and rewards. Thats before we even mention the new skill that is coming in 2010! And yes, there will be new combat equipment as well, and also a new Grandmaster quest but more on that closer to release.

 

I can see how you figured the new skill will bring new armor, but you can't say that as a fact.

 

It is faily possible that they meant there will be a new skill in 2010, and without any connection to that, also new armor and a Grandmaster quest.

 

 

I'm not saying you're wrong to conclude this, only that you can't gurantee that and thus shouldn't discuss it as a fact.

[KISS]

Na, magics perfect the way it is.

[Zepheras]

I would like to see this and a ranged counterpart made into skills. It doesn't really make sense for them not to exist. Would it hurt a lot of players for a little while? Yes, but they can get over it.

 

The last time I questioned the existence of the Attack skill for melee, people on Tipit were telling me that Melee, Ranged and Magic are 'unique' on their own, so there's no need to remove Attack and make melee similar to ranged, or add a counterpart to Ranged for 'accuracy'. Likewise, they believed that Magic is 'unique' because the maximum hit is spell dependant.

 

Well, a few months after that, Jagex finally released the 'ranged strength' of ranging ammo. And now Magic have a damage boost (based on % though). Guess the 3 skills aren't that unique.

 

 

Jagex is seriously underusing the game mechanics, especially for magic. Elemental runes but no elemental system. Every spell animation is just a projectile flying at the enemy. No AoE spells, and I'm not talking about ice barrage's 3x3 area spells, I'm talking about casting on any area I like regardless of whether I'm actually targeting something, or simply having the spell hitting a circular area around me. Spell effects for ancient are great, but because of the way you access the spells, and the fact that the best effect happens to be the strongest hitting, no one remembers the smoke and shadow spells. You can never be a master air elemental mage, nor a user of shadow spells.

 

When I was more knowledgeable of the game thanks to this fansite, I also realised from the magic guide that staves, battlestaves and mystic staves all give the same magic attack bonus. After reading a thread on the RSOF about how magic rules did I found out that all spells have a casting time of 3 seconds. And the 5 second, 10 second, 20 second binds/freezes always seem too short, probably because the time starts from the moment you do that spell casting animation, and is independant of the distance from your target.

 

The best and the worst update was the damage boost with staves. Best being mages are no longer restricted by the max damage of the spells.Worst being Jagex merely choose a few random staves to give the 10% damage boost. Did you know that you can wield the Ancient staff and cast normal spells, and they'll hit the extra damage too? :thumbsup:

 

I can understand if there's a limit on the game mechanics, or if Jagex wants magic un RuneScape to be unique. But right now, we are using a 'magic' system that no other MMORPG will ever want to use, and I think the current game mechanics can make the skill so much better. If Jagex could update agility, runecraft, and even mining fundamentally, I hope that the same can be done to Magic.

 

That being said, obviously I hope that this new skill has NOTHING to do with magic, since it doesn't help to cover the flaws of one skill with another skill.

[i_D_r]

Well, there is ONE npc that is weak to fire spells: mummy. I found it out one day just playing around. They're very susceptible to it, and start on fire. Kinda cool.

 

It's too late to incorporate it into player items, unless they can figure out a way to balance it, which i doubt.

 

But they definitely need more NPCs with elemental weaknesses. I greatly enjoyed exploring crush/slash/stab before it was widely known whihc npcs were weak to what, which was pretty recently in general, and there are still some which aren't widely known. Although, obviously slash wins 49/50 times.

[chuckangie]

The best and the worst update was the damage boost with staves. Best being mages are no longer restricted by the max damage of the spells.Worst being Jagex merely choose a few random staves to give the 10% damage boost. Did you know that you can wield the Ancient staff and cast normal spells, and they'll hit the extra damage too? :thumbsup:

 

They may just add new staves with varying magic damage % boosts instead of modifying older existing ones. But it is annoying that some staves have never to be used melee attack stats that are better than their magic attack stats.

 

It might also be the reason why they nerfed the extreme mage pot. As in they don't want the bulk of magic damaging power to come from pots alone. They want some equipment involved too.

[Obtaurian]

The best and the worst update was the damage boost with staves. Best being mages are no longer restricted by the max damage of the spells.Worst being Jagex merely choose a few random staves to give the 10% damage boost. Did you know that you can wield the Ancient staff and cast normal spells, and they'll hit the extra damage too? :thumbsup:

 

They may just add new staves with varying magic damage % boosts instead of modifying older existing ones. But it is annoying that some staves have never to be used melee attack stats that are better than their magic attack stats.

 

It might also be the reason why they nerfed the extreme mage pot. As in they don't want the bulk of magic damaging power to come from pots alone. They want some equipment involved too.

 

I think the extreme mage pot changes were actually pretty beneficial in the sense that they gave Wolpertingers a huge boost in usability, plus they made the magic boosting aspect of overload potions much more effective.

[gremmy]

I don't think this'll happen. Besides, I'm happy with the staves and potions giving higher magic max hit.

[Zepheras]

The best and the worst update was the damage boost with staves. Best being mages are no longer restricted by the max damage of the spells.Worst being Jagex merely choose a few random staves to give the 10% damage boost. Did you know that you can wield the Ancient staff and cast normal spells, and they'll hit the extra damage too? :thumbsup:

 

They may just add new staves with varying magic damage % boosts instead of modifying older existing ones. But it is annoying that some staves have never to be used melee attack stats that are better than their magic attack stats.

 

It might also be the reason why they nerfed the extreme mage pot. As in they don't want the bulk of magic damaging power to come from pots alone. They want some equipment involved too.

 

I can understand the reason for the extreme magic potion nerf, that was the same thing thing that I was telling players on this forum. But then again, there's A LOT that can be done with magic with the technology that Jagex have now. I'm hoping that when bloom effects arrive there might be an overhaul of the skill as well, just like how they sprang a HD surprise on us.

 

If magic have these...

-graphical update, along with bloom effects, to make earth spells look like earth and fire spells look hot!

-elmental system: Earth>Water>Fire>Air>Earth, and alignment. +10% and -10% damage respectively for each end.

-same max hit for all four elemental type, within each spell category (eg. 6 for all strike spells, 9 for all bolt spells)

-increasing max hit by 1 damage with the battlestaff, 2 for mystic stave, 3 for a higher level staff

-spells to cast on oneself and provide certain deflective aura against meleers' damage

-AOE spells that doesn't need a target to cast.

-robes with certain elemental defence and/or weakness

-an Ahrim-only spell for Ahrim

-other shapes for AOE spells besides 3x3 square. There's the 5 square '+' sign, 13-square diamond sign as well you know...

-2% per magic level boost, and changing the magic potion to adding 8 levels, instead of 3% per level for 5 levels. Did mages realise that their potion is the shortest lasting of all the combat type?

 

 

I don't mind trading the new skill for this! But we'll probably (and almost definitely) get the graphical change at the most. Plus like someone mentioned, certain skills is in DIRE need of an update. Please don't let the new skill be Magic Strength or something along that line... <_<

[darkpoet837]

Well, there is ONE npc that is weak to fire spells: mummy. I found it out one day just playing around. They're very susceptible to it, and start on fire. Kinda cool.

 

It's too late to incorporate it into player items, unless they can figure out a way to balance it, which i doubt.

 

But they definitely need more NPCs with elemental weaknesses. I greatly enjoyed exploring crush/slash/stab before it was widely known whihc npcs were weak to what, which was pretty recently in general, and there are still some which aren't widely known. Although, obviously slash wins 49/50 times.

 

Don't know if anyone cares any more, but I found out a long time ago that PC portals are weak against earth spells. I always had people asking me why I was using earth blast, but also suprised by how accurate it was vs the portal.

[demby123]

I can think of plenty of things missing from the magic skill. Mainly the ability to actually cast spells (any spells) without sliding into the poor house. A lot of existing content can open up to the average player if spellcasting was practical gp wise. Other than the price thing, magic just needs a few tweeks and new, usefull content such as bosses, training monsters,ect. Elemental spell effects would be nice as well.

[Rageman192]

I can think of plenty of things missing from the magic skill. Mainly the ability to actually cast spells (any spells) without sliding into the poor house. A lot of existing content can open up to the average player if spellcasting was practical gp wise. Other than the price thing, magic just needs a few tweeks and new, usefull content such as bosses, training monsters,ect. Elemental spell effects would be nice as well.

 

Yeah,the first problem of mages currently is the price of spellcasting imo.Then comes the usefulness of magic against normal monsters and bosses.The last thing in need of improvement is that we need more spells and the already existing ones could be graphically updated too.

[Emmentail]

"You cast Wind Surge"

 

"You Blow Dry your opponents hair"..? Spell effects like that yeh.