wand/satff damage type change seems to have trashed autoattack and TP attacks

[Alhanelem]

Other than how much they seemed to miss before, the THM/CON TP attacks had at least some function prior to this patch.
As you know, prior to this patch, wands had a damage type composed of three elements. Now, all the elements are gone and it's just blunt damage. It seems all of these attacks- phantom dart and shadowfall(whose damage type are tied to the damage type of your weapon), and all THM/CON TP attacks have been nerfed into oblivion because of this change. I'm rank 33 and it still takes multiple hits to kill a level 1 rat where before, any attack be it phantom dart, a spell or flashfreeze or anything would one-shot them. Now all these attacks seem to be the equivalent of Stone Throw.

Was this intentional or an unintended side effect of the patch changes? as it is now all these attacks may as well be removed as they are beyond useless. Though I'd rather them be restored to their previous funcitonality.

[Polaritie]

Oh jeez, that's really bad. Spirit/Phantom dart should not be hitting for trivial damage at least. Make em hit for the last element cast? That should help...

And the TP attacks... they were bad enough before (in that they had awful accuracy and poor mana return), so if they do no damage, you're looking at what, 1 MP per use? No reason to spend the 3 points on equipping them for that. Better to use Featherfoot, because it now gives MP on triggering, and has a decent chance of negating an attack.

[Alhanelem]

The damage is beyond bad. I mean, yes, we should be using our spells most of the time, but there were times when some of our TP attacks came in handy. I often used the basic attacks in between spell cooldowns, and some of our TP attacks have useful additional effects. But consider that the first WS we learn is meant as a way to recover some MP in combat- but the MP recovery is based on the damage dealt. If the WS does 20 damage...

Some people are probably going to post and say 'good, you shouldn't be using that stuff anyway." But none of the actions should be totally without purpose, especially all of a sudden when we were used to them being handy before.

(edit) In short, this change seems way too drastic to be intentional. Our basic attacks and weaponskills alike are now no better than stone throw.

[Dreadnought]

The damage is beyond bad. I mean, yes, we should be using our spells most of the time, but there were times when some of our TP attacks came in handy. I often used the basic attacks in between spell cooldowns, and some of our TP attacks have useful additional effects. But consider that the first WS we learn is meant as a way to recover some MP in combat- but the MP recovery is based on the damage dealt. If the WS does 20 damage...

Some people are probably going to post and say 'good, you shouldn't be using that stuff anyway." But none of the actions should be totally without purpose, especially all of a sudden when we were used to them being handy before.

(edit) In short, this change seems way too drastic to be intentional. Our basic attacks and weaponskills alike are now no better than stone throw.

i have to agree, why even give us an ability if it doesnt serve a purpose? stone throw damage does not constitute any real purpose.

[Alhanelem]

I'd really like to get some feed back as to whether these changes were intended or are a bug.

[Denmo]

everything's been nerfed so don't feel bad.

I think it was intentional. They're removing features that made it difficult to balance battles, stripping it down to basics so they can work up from there. If you ask me, your AoE still more than makes up for your loss in attacks, but that's just my opinion.

It's also the stat difference in your character. Your stats aren't customizable, and the effect of having lower STR is more profound than it was before (just ask any GLA).

The point of having auto-attack and Spirit Dart for a mage can only be for TP generation at this point. Consider investing in a useful TP move?