Do we need more powerful magic? How about more magic?

I think the magic is either overpowered or underpowered. A lot of spells are very mediocre, while many others are gamebreaking. For instance right now a lot of people are focusing on the more obvious OP spells that utilize initiative (a concept thats OP atm anyways) or large amounts of damage. There are also a lot of overpowered less direct spells especially on the strategic map, for example there  are some that would allow you to destroy ANY npc or player army easily such as Tornado which splits an army of units and divides them around nearby tiles.

My only gripe with magic right now is that we need an autoplay (no magic) button for tactical battles.  I hate watching my mana getting used up for a battle that I could win without it... and no I don't want to have to play the battle just to ensure my mana isn't used.

I think as far as tactical combat goes we need more spells per tier, but each champion/sov should be limited to one school, maybe two in very special cases. The tactical spell bar just doesn't work well with 4 schools of spells cluttering it up.

More strategic spells unlocked by talents would be nice too. There's apparently enough spells in the game, but most of them take a while to get or are rare, but that leaves the early-mid game feeling like there's no variety. I think some (not all) of the later game spells and rare spells should be moved into the talent unlock spell list just so there's a few more toys to play with early on.

And ya, many of the spells suck ass right now.

I agree. Some of the "magic" of "Magic" is lost in this.

And more variety would certainly be good. I would also love more Metamagic spells - or more Global spells in general (I loved buff-ing heroes "permanently" in MoM, when I had enough mana to afford it!! It felt majestic).

This is a common suggestion, I think we'll get it sooner or later.  I think Brad wants it for the AI, as he's complained about the AI being wasteful with magic.

This would be a fantastic addition.

One magic school per hero would suck donkey balls. Both because certain spells require two schools at a certain level and it is rare enough to get the correct combination that I wouldn't want to increase it further, and also because currently certain schools do not benefit from the path of the mage talents (earth and life) making choosing path of the mage a very poor option unless those mages also obtain another random school.

Besides more variety does not necessarily mean more power, and is almost always better!

Magic definitely needs some tweaking.  I know alot of people have been talking about how powerful the AOE spells are, but in my experience all my direct damage spells hit for pitiful damage even with multiple shards boosting the output.  I have very rarely had a fire ball hit for more than 10-12 damage even with several fire shards.  Often it is less than that.  Howver i find that the beff spells are amazingly ueful.  Obscuring Fog gets cast almost every battle. 

This could be implemented if it is impossible to learn the opposite element (air <-> earth and fire <-> water).

Imo the spells currently in game are quite strong, some more than others of course. I would still like to see much, much more summons available.

Bump: because, after all, this game is about magic, and there needs to be more conversation about it.

I think more summons would be a great idea. Also magical crafting of items. Also ritual type spells (multi-turn cast on strategic map and is interrupted if you engage the caster in battle and do any damage to them). Resource fabrication from mana (earth spell that turns mana into metal). There are so many possibilities.

I definitely agree with having a much bigger variety of summons, which has been a big part of the charm of the game's thematic predecessors. Multi-turn rituals is another really good idea for a type of spell i'd like to see in the game. It would, I think, add a lot of gravity to potent high-end spells.

More spells more variety: yes

Balance of existing spells: yes

More researchable spells: yes

The OP hit the nail on the head.  

Sure, but so does a screen length string of tiny icons that takes forever to find anything in. The suggestion is based off the current UI and mechanics, which I don't feel work well with a large variety of tactical spells on one hero, so in order to get more spells overall we'd need less per character. Alternatively they could totally redesign the tactical spell interface and for example give each character 12 or so slots they can fill with tactical spells outside of battle and just use those equipped spells in battles. They can't just throw in more tactical spells though without doing something about how they are displayed and chosen in combat, at least IMO.

There are lots of spells... just check the HyperGameNuts or whatever is it called.  You just have to recruit the right heroes and play the game many times.  Some of the magic spells you get will be different every time.

They probably need to tweak the fire spells or everyone will just do direct damage every time.  For example, Burning Hands should burn the caster too.  Fiery Dart should randomly bounce and hit a second target (maybe one your own armies).  Fireballs should have a chance to add +6 fire damage to the opponents weapons, etc.

I'm not sure I agree with any of those examples, but the utility of spells like fireball probably needs to be toned down.

I don't think Fireball should automatically work better the more units in a stack there are.  Warfare had to work hard to get 9-unit armies, why should Fireball automatically get 9x damage for no extra research or levels-up?

So odd, just this last game my Cersea was getting 180+ damage outta blizzards, can throw firebolts for 55-80 damage. I 3 shotted Torax with the spell based off fire and death shards. And he only had 280 hp. Obviously I was pretty high level at this point in the game. Sitting on about 3 fire shards, 1 earth, 1 air, 2 death, and 5 waters.  (large map normal shard count option) I was untouchable pretty much. I could have my soveriegn take out whole armies by herself in probably 2 spells.

Obviously this kind of damage is possible only through path of the mage, and multiple damage boost talent choices.

So are beta players just not bothering to read anything the developers have posted before they speak, or what?

Why has no one posted the following link yet?

https://forums.elementalgame.com/410595

This is not a DEMO, as the OP called it. THIS IS A BETA.

BETA MEANS NOT ALL FEATURES, SPELLS, ETC. ARE IMPLEMENTED.

MORE MAGIC IS GOING TO BE ADDED.

CAPSISCE?

You're right, sir. 

We really shouldn't be discussing things we'd like to see in a game on that game's discussion forum.

Pardon us.

While I feel magic should be powerful, I still feel the end-game ought to be somewhat of a challenge.  It looks like they've increased the level of several mobs in the game so far in .76.

You are aware you just linked something from 6 months ago right?

6 months old, and alot of its in the game in different forms then in that original ideas.

I hope they redesign then. It's a bit stupid to be restricted by something like UI if it makes the game less fun.