Stop the Grind-to-the-Endgame madness!

[Shurrikhan]

Seeming the basis of your argument hinges on this assumption that all classes level at the speed of Thamaturge, which could be considered a class balance issue, not a leveling speed issue. I'm going to have a much tougher time respecting the full of your statements. I will, however, go back and still break your reply down into the bullet points I wish to respond to.

Every Thaumaturge I've seen grinding for about the same number of hours has always leveled faster than other classes, especially before those classes get their AoE's. On top of that their spells hit harder than most abilities. Duoing Thaumaturges can be unbelievably fast -- in a 3-Fire to kill situation in a mob-dense area, you can tag up to 6 enemies with the lower damage caster going first; threat switches to second caster, and then back to third, playing ping-pong with the whole group of mobs. Many of these areas will even respawn a third to two thirds their population at once as soon as the last mob is slain. They get AoE-fest strategy of grinding from level 10 on.

If that were all my leveling experience was based on, I'd find it to have gone ridiculously fast. (If. This is not related to Jynx's opinion specifically seeing as I have no idea what other classes he has leveled.)

[Hyrist]

Every Thaumaturge I've seen grinding for about the same number of hours has always leveled faster than other classes, especially before they get their AoE's. On top of that their spells hit harder than most abilities. Duoing Thaumaturges can be unbelievably fast -- in a 3-Fire to kill situation in a mob-dense area, you can tag up to 6 enemies with the lower damage caster going first; threat switches to second caster, and then back to third, playing ping-pong with the whole group of mobs. Many of these areas will even respawn a third to two thirds their population at once as soon as the last mob is slain. They get AoE-fest strategy of grinding from level 10 on.

If that were all my leveling experience was based on, I'd find it to have gone ridiculously fast. (If. This is not related to Jynx's opinion specifically seeing as I have no idea what other classes he has leveled.)

That would then be a balance issue with Thaumaturges - which isn't uprising. I've been toting around the opinion that their AoE spread damage should get toned down a bit or have a greater expense for a while now. (Or even maybe an XP penalty if we're concerned with impact on raid performance.) It's the primary reason why grind parties and leveling is considered too fast, and if its broken down to more reasonable levels then we'll see a bit more balance.

There just does not seem to be enough magical resistance in this game. Tough mobs, or pinpoint enemies that are highly physically resitant, yeah, I can see a merit for having such a quick weakness to magic. But cannon fodder? I just feel like those should be able to reduce magical damage when they're in large groups, like how Garuda's Plumes are.

But that's just one idea and one opinion. I'm sure there are other solutions.


Elexia, your Hyperbole is showing, better tuck that in before someone actually believes you.

[Shurrikhan]

That would then be a balance issue with Thaumaturges - which isn't uprising. I've been toting around the opinion that their AoE spread damage should get toned down a bit or have a greater expense for a while now. (Or even maybe an XP penalty if we're concerned with impact on raid performance.) It's the primary reason why grind parties and leveling is considered too fast, and if its broken down to more reasonable levels then we'll see a bit more balance.

But that's just one idea and one opinion. I'm sure there are other solutions.

Well, it's a really simple solution that goes a long way. Just adding some spread-damage mechanics instead of duplicating it for all AoEs would go a long way in reducing the huge advantage of AoE attacks. Keep them strong, just not let them act like some manner of a industrial size woodchipper where mobs are brought it on conveyor belts.

That said, the next obvious connection becomes "what other purpose can AoE serve other than damage?", which then turns to the creation of more interesting mechanics, and upon seeing the large possibilities for more fun and tactical gameplay but also the work involved, SE may refuse to touch the subject at all.

[ShivenCasull]

That said, the next obvious connection becomes "what other purpose can AoE serve other than damage?", which then turns to the creation of more interesting mechanics, and upon seeing the large possibilities for more fun and tactical gameplay but also the work involved, SE may refuse to touch the subject at all.

I've always been a fan of AOE attacks having a secondary effect (frozen/burning ground) or even an area denial (firewall, stonewall, etc..)

[Shurrikhan]

I've always been a fan of AOE attacks having a secondary effect (frozen/burning ground) or even an area denial (firewall, stonewall, etc..)

Same. More advanced uses of different types of attacks (linear, conical, circular, self, etc) having different, though more or less obvious when you think about it as if the fight were more real, uses within threat mechanics would be cool too.

Heck, if you just add armor penetration similarly to block value (chance and amount), where things like a linear strike from the same placement and side would be more likely to hit the penetrated area (higher 'chance') since they have the same trajectory, that already makes for quite a few more options.

Take the secondary effects of elemental holding (your frozen/burning ground having an actual amount of Ice or Fire magic attached), and allow it to be transferred, you could end up with something like a Mor Dhona boss (very physically resistant and only vulnerable to de-elementized magic, or all types of elements at once) surrounded by 6 mobs each with a different vulnerability -- hit each with a different type, then linearly drive the element mass on those into the boss, dealing magic damage to which he's vulnerable. Granted, that's just a tailored example. I wouldn't want anything that gimmicky, personally.