Shattered Kingdoms

Sit and hold tight boys and girls, here's another whining for buffs topic by yours truly. I'll start off by saying I suck at PK. I'm not good at it, yadda yadda all that balogna. Here's the thing though. Warlocks are still in a sore spot. They're a one trick pony that relies too heavily on magma.

Magma Spray

Magma is in a good spot. It ignores MR, you need RE to resist it and does some alright damage. It does double damage on the cling and the dot attached to it makes it very dangerous unless the person has heal vials.

The problem occurs when a warlock runs into someone buffed. Casted spells are supposed to be stronger than magical devices, but when the following happens.

[HP:100%] [ME:100%] [PE: 92%]
>
A stocky male sprite utters the words, 'diesilla barh'.
Your wounds blossom on xxx's body as they absorb your pain.
Your body twitches in shock as a bolt of lightning from a stocky male sprite hit
s you!

[HP: 96%] [ME:100%] [PE: 92%

Then what is a warlock supposed to do against an opponent like that? Now, yes there's a lot of factors in play. They were buffed out the wazoo with probably protection, devotion and shield and lots of MP and such. Regardless, if that's all it takes to nullify a warlock, then how are they supposed to be competitive in any aspect?

Lightning is a giant's weakness. This is a full hit from a GM warlock casting it. It does a whopping 4%. So what then? You're forced to run for as long as they have the spells held on them because you can't do any damage to them.

"But Kin, you can use staves and wands!"

Alright, I can. Sure. I can use acid blast wands and sleep staves and whatever else. So I put the Giant in the log above asleep. What then? Acid blast wands aren't going to fare much better against that setup, not to mention casts from a GM are supposed to be stronger than a magical device. It's why they have cast times. Sure, I could put sanctuary, protection and all that good stuff on my elemental but how is he supposed to live long enough for me to throw roughly 25 lightning bolts on that person? That's roughly 25 rounds. Not even the best buffed mercs are going to last that long, and as beefy as elementals are, they aren't going to last that long either.

"But you can use pets to be third row noob!"

Yeah, you can. Guess what. Unless you specifically use a certain pet that is 100% magically immune, you run into the following. You can't use fireball, earthquake, chain lightning or any AoE spells that hit the room because that turns your pet against you, effectively putting you second row.

elp warlock
Warlocks are the most untraditional of the wizardly professions, for in the
truest sense they are not wizards at all. A warlock receives his powers
from Yed, the great lord of the elemental planes and all warlocks must
pledge their powers to his service. Warlocks wield great destructive
power, but are often as great a danger to their friends as they are to
their enemies.

So that great destructive power can now be nullified to be equivalent to tickling someone with a feather duster. Warlocks aren't like sorcs. Without scrolls, they don't have access to petrification and their elementals are mercenaries, not barbs. Against a well prepared opponent they can do nothing solo, and even in a group their spells at most tickle. Now not everyone has access to the spells above nor probably the same enchantments, but the fact is, what is a warlock supposed to do when faced against an opponent like that?

I may be remembering wrong, but I remember at one point it was said that casted spells are supposed to be stronger than those from magical devices such as wands, staves and scrolls. What's the point in playing a caster class though if spells can be reduced to that magnitude that they're essentially ineffective? Let's not even go there if they have heal vials because it remains that you'll never kill a person.

Everyone keeps telling me how great warlocks are. They're great at killing people with poor enchantments and those that are slow to respond. I want to see one of the power players on here pick up a warlock and tell me their thoughts on it afterwards. As it stands now, a solo warlock is merely a punching bag to a well prepared opponent with shield and or protection. While magma is great, the other spells are straight up garbage. There is no reason whatsoever to cast anything else other than magma because you don't get reliable damage. Ever. Elementals aren't supposed to do the damage, the warlocks are. It needs to be changed so warlocks can actually do some damage and be the destructive force they're meant to be. Not necro strong, but if I'm going to cast a fireball or chain lightning, I'd like to see the target actually take substantially more damage than myself.

/end rant.

No class is going to win many fights 1 vs 2 - might need to adjust your expectations to be more reasonable. Warlock vs mercenary/priest combo is stacked heavily against the warlock.

If you can't avoid being in the same room as your target, you should lead with faerie fire. However, most of your spells have a two room range and you should do everything in your power to stay at range. You seem to be under the misguided notion that casting fireball or chain lightning in the same room as you target is a good strategy - it is not. In the words of Charles Barkely, that is a terrible idea.

Your spells have range - abuse that advantage. Or you will get abused, like in this log vs mercenary/priest.

Alert the media: an unprepared, unfactioned warlock with the worst kit in the history of SK is unable to best a well-prepared, factioned mercenary with an obsessively polished kit and a priest to buff him.

Theres something you people don't seem to understand. You can't stay at range because spells have this thing called a "Casting time." You see now, kiddies, this "casting time" makes it so you can't move. This in turn gives the person who is being hit by the spell with this "casting time", time to actually run into the same room as you. Now, bear with me as I know this is a difficult concept to grasp, but I'll try to simplify it for you.

It has nothing to do with the fact my character died. I don't care about that. What I do care about is the fact that my character's spells, a GM warlock which is supposed to, according to the help file, have some of the most damaging spells in the game (read destructive force), is entirely nullified to the point that, even if I was fully spelled up, my character would still have no chance. The priest was a non factor in this. The only thing is probably the aludra religious spell which makes a huge difference in damage mitigation.

The fact that you can mitigate spell damage from a GM warlock to where it's cast at you and does so little damage that you can't die, period, is stupid. Casted spells are supposed to be the strongest form of magic in the game. Warlocks are supposed to have the strongest, most damaging spells in the game. Naked or not, this is a GM level lightning bolt against a GIANT of all things. 4% damage is ridiculous. Period. It doesn't matter that the priest was there because she didn't even land a healing spell until after my character was already dead. THe priest was a non factor. It's the fact that the damage my character shelled out, and remember now that spell damage can't be increased like melee damage can via frenzy, gstr and haste and such, is nullified to near 0. It'd take 20 lightning bolts at least to kill them. That's 20 rounds of combat. Combat doesn't last that long.

So no, my kit have nothing to do with spell damage. At all. The fact that you have a class utilizing a race's weakness against it and still unable to do -anything- at all, is what is messed up. There is 0 % chance to win this engagement. Period. If I try to lightning bolt from range, in one cast they're on top of me in the same room. That strategy doesn't work, so give advice that's actually usable. Scouts can skirmish and move while firing. Warlocks cannot.

Now I know all you people will disagree with me, but spell mitigation of this magnitude should -not- be possible. It nullifies an -entire- class that is built ENTIRELY around spell damage. That's stupid.

Edit: Here's a great idea. How about giving warlocks dispel, that way they actually have some way to deal with people who are over buffed to insane levels. THen they can actually, you know, have a fighting chance instead of dealing 4% dmg with a GM magma or lightning bolt.

No, allow me to simplify it for you: this is an L2P problem, not a warlock problem.

I played a centaur warlock (probably the worst combo possible) for 1500+ hours and killed many, many people from range. You don't stand there and turret spells - cast and move. If someone makes it in the room with your character, use faerie fire/magma combo or the strongest wand you have. If that doesn't work - quaff recall. You won't score a kill every fight, but there is very little reason you should ever die in the third rank.

If you do manage to die in the third rank, it is not because the warlock class is weak - that is a "you" issue. Likely because you failed to properly assess and/or react to the unfolding events of the battle or due to poorly enchanted gear (i.e. you get petrified by a recited scroll).

Just sayin'.

Okay I'm super noob when it comes to pvp but even I can see this. First, your bolts were doing more than 4%. You have to include the damage the Aludran priest was taking also. Secondly, that was a giant ( read: lots of hp) merc ( read: even more hp). Third, he probably was mega kitted. So as Styles suggested, the fact that Meph lost is a no-brainer. And I assume it would be as bad as a scout going up against the same pair, in the room, with only a tamed, and not using ambush.

And you really should have faerie fired. It's an amateur level skill for a reason and jacks with Reflex which ALL your attack spells rely on.

And I agree with Finney. Warlocks best option is blasting from the next or 2 rooms away. Hit and fade.

Want to prove a point, please share. But bring a way better example, than "how come I lost to overwhelming odds? This class must be broken"

First off, your warlock only killed noobs. You didn't actually fight anyone that has a bit of skill, so don't act like everything is hunky dory. Go play a warlock class and fight ardith or someone who can actually PK.

Secondly, I was 2nd rank. Due to the fact that everyone seems to take delight in killing my character without any reprieve it's a bit difficult to gather coin and or armor when you're constantly dying. Yes, that part IS whining. Whatever.

Thirdly, speed run > casting. You can't fade in and out because everyone but MR barbs has detect so casting invis won't grant you time to change locations. Again, speed run > casting. You can't cast from range because they will home in on your [REDACTED] unless you're in territory to where they have guards slowing them down. Warlocks have absolutely 0 way to deal with a person with buffs. They have to rely on devices for dispel, which mots of the ones that will actually land are hoarded. If you have to quaff word because someone has enchanted armor and a few buffs, then guess what einstein. The CLASS IS FUNDAMENTALLY BROKEN. You cannot have a pure spell caster that relies on spell casting for damage, remember now, elementals are tanks, not barbs, and expect them to hold their own against anyone with enchantments and buffs. The problem here isn't a "l2p" issue as you put it, its the fact that there is no conceivable way the warlock can deal with someone that's uberbuffed like that, which, surprisingly is easy to do.

Again, the priest is insignificant here. Even if she wasn't in the same room there IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO. 0 chance to actually win, period. You can't. Cast. At. Range. Again, 4% lightning bolt (No, Yuar, it didn't do more than 4% because 100 - 96 is 4. Despite the "true" damage it done, the HP is only 4% damage therefore it did in fact do 4% damage) means that it takes 25 casts of lightning bolt to kill someone that enchanted and buffed. That is an impossible goal. You cannot kite ANYONE that for that length of time with a cast spell. If you have to rely on wands and spells, then what the hell is the point of even giving spells to cast in the first place if the wands and staves are just SO superior? Finally, if you'ree in the wilderness lightning bolt has a 1 league range. It's longer in cities, sure, but again, speed run beats out the cast time. The moment they hit your elemental you're in combat and can no longer kite, you're forced to fight. Again, 4% lightning bolts make it -impossible- read as in -NOT POSSIBLE- to kill someone, nevermind the fact that they have heal vials or not.

In this instance, it wouldn't matter if YOU had my character and the best kit in the game. If your spells are doing only 4 damage to them, you cannot win. Period. You are forced to flee which is stupid given the fact that it's a GIANT being HIT WITH A WEAKNESS. I'm not asking for them to be unstoppable, I'm asking for them to be given a way to deal with someone that's buffed instead of "OMG I CANT DO DAMAGE RUN AWAY!" Warlocks have other spells besides magma.

I'm going to reiterate this in a calmer post.

Melee damage can be buffed by Giant strength, frenzy, haste and other spells. Spell damage is front loaded. The only thing that boosts spell damage is faerie fire and that's because it reduces MP. Warlocks are primarily the warrior equivalent of the casting world. They have few defensive spells (They don't even get shield) and have primarily damage dealing spells, Chain lightning, lightning bolt, cone of cold, magma, etc. Their entire spell set revolves around doing damage. The problem is that it is easy to mitigate spell damage with shield, RE if you can find it and generally good enchants. The only means of dispel warlocks have are through wands and staves, generally hoarded because a moderately powered wand isn't going to land that often.

The problem with this is that magma is only good for the cling. It's cast time is too long to really make it a viable spell to use after it clings and having a pet that isn't MR makes using fireball or chain lightning in the same room impossible because it turns your pet against you. You cannot effectively cast from a distance because of the casting time. Sure you can get a fireball but the moment they catch up to you, which with speed run is easy to do, then you're toast with the recent changes. Warlocks can't walk out with their 2nd row pet leaving them to fight their elemental anymore. Not that, in this case it matters because again the damage from casted spells isn't enough to pose any threat whatsoever to this melee.

Finally, when you can reduce spell damage to that level, it makes it impossible for a warlock to kill you. If lightning bolt, which is a giant's weakness, is doing that little damage, fireball, cone of cold or anything else a warlock could throw out wouldn't do any more damage. Magma would if it clings, yes, but only on that cling. The situation is still an impossible one to win. You can't kite them for 25 spells. You can't dispel them, the only option left is flight. I'm sorry, when I chose the class that has the, according to the help file, "most destructive power" in the game, then yes I'd like that destructive power to have at least a fighting chance. In this instance, it wouldn't matter if I had a full kit of fully enchanted stuff and all the wands and such in the game. The spell damage will never kill the person in question because it's nullified to the point that he doesn't even need heal vials. Again, cast spells are supposed to be the strongest in the game, not magical devices, otherwise whats the point of even giving classes spells? Situations like this shouldn't happen. You can't have ways to reduce spell damage so much and expect a class that fully relies on spell damage to be competitive.

They have elementals so they can 1v1 and have a way to actually get spells off. That becomes moot when it takes 25 spells to kill something. You can't use healing rays because it heals 4% of my elemental's HP and, even buffed, it loses a good 6-8% at least per round so you get caught in a healing loop and forced to flee regardless. None of you, regardless of how skilled you are, can do anything in a situation to where your only source of damage is reduced to nothingness.

The only reason you wouldn't want this changed is because you're capable of buffing to that extent and people may actually be able to harm you. If you're going to have a class that deals spell damage, they need to have a way to actually deal damage. Give them dispel so they can actually strip defensive buffs and deal damage besides magma.

oh god i've missed these threads
that is all