yeah i still dont get how ppl dont understand fireball

i did a deadly quest with packs of figures with 100+ hp and high defense/resist and normal casts would cut 1 figure top with fireball nearly wiped the whole stack

if fireball is not to use it is cause of its OPnes...

I agree with the sentiments above.  Its not fireball that is overpowered nor is it underpowered.  Used by a non initiaitive boosted character in the right circumstances, can be very useful, but not the only choice.

I agree that the +10 (50% bonus on base initiative) is way too high

yeah tehre has to be a way to increas initiative a lot

whatever of the above is ok but if the caster REALLY need to wait 3 turns while getting 2 attacks from opponents archer THEN fireball would be useless

also now there is a not fotm imo: pandemonium

its very very good spell right now, ofc it doesnt wipe an army but it half locks it, that cause it spam slow and debuffs to everyone and is instant

quite good after the last patch even if ofc instant fireball>pand i think normal fireball< 2 pand

Furthermore,

I think there should be no restriction on hitting one's own dudes with fireball.  I can think of lots of situations where I care about killing the enemy more than not killing my meat-shields.

-tid242

@ Aerion I don't really see this as an issue. You can choose to make a pure caster if you wish and I have done so in several playthroughs.

I certainly do not like that initiative determines casting speed, but that is mostly due to being forced to equip items that make no sense (such as a dagger) to improve my overall damage. I especially dislike that fireball and blizzard were nerfed purely due to a trait that was already indicated as being the problem, instead of removing that trait from spellcasters. Which ironically did not even fix the spell! You can still cast it on the first turn with this trait >.>

To be a good at spell casting, I shouldn't need to focus my caster on getting high initiative! That's not an intuitive game mechanic.

I agree with this.

I have played games with high initiative and  impulsive spell casters and in these games the area effect spells ruled and would finish most battles at the start.

But when I decided to play without impulsive and using the mage equipment fights would finish before fireball was cast or very few targets left.  I have lost a fight or two this way because I clicked to fireball instead of firebolt and could not cancel.

In a game where my sovereign didn't get fire II I tried the Incineration staff to give him a ranged attack when he didn't want to waste mana.  I found the initiative penalty not worth the minor damage it would do.  Scaling it my int or fire shards would be good but only for heroes, groups of mages already do enough damage with them.   

I think the current character progression hurts mages, because without being able to select evoker at level 1 and the path of the mage at level 2 the damage is too low at level 1 - 3 and suddenly at level 4 the mage works. It would be better to replace the professions with the paths to give heroes useful damage spells at level 1 - 3 and access to path specific talents.

Is Contagion Death III + Air I?

ah k

A round is different than a turn. Currently the UI does not make this clear to the user. A round is a set amount of time. A unit can have many turns in one round. Let's take advantage of this.

I am starting to agree about need a new mechanic for spells. An arcane stat could be used to determine how long it takes to cast a spell. This would be a simple addition. 0 point of arcane means that all spells take a default of 2 rounds to cast. 1 points halves the casting time, rounded to your disadvantage. 2 points cuts casting times by one third and so on. The first point would be in the common pool. The second would be part of the Path of the Mage and the rest would be unlocked every 3 levels from level 4, where you get Path of the Mage.

Spells like Fireball would start at 3 rounds to cast. Better spells would follow suit.

Level 1 heroes need 2 rounds to cast any normal spell. This would prevent noob mages from stopping Fireball at a whim.

Level 2-3 heroes need only 1 round to cast any normal spell.

Level 4-7 heroes can cast any normal spell instantly.

Level 7-10 heroes can cast Fireball instantly.

In this system Initiative is useless because no matter how many turn a mage gets in a round, he would have to wait until the next round to cast the spell. Mage are greatly rewarded for specializing in magic and mundane heroes will not be able to compete. It allows for cross-class units to be able to use magic, but not overpower devoted mages. It would also open up the possibility for mid level and high level units to cast a fire spell that allowed them to shoot a series of 4 fire darts on the next 4 turns.

Perhaps you should make a new thread proposing the above idea?