Spell System Update


Hello Everyone,


I have recently spent some time reworking the spell systems on UO evolution. I have noticed a lot of deficiencies in terms of scaling PvM & PvP damage. Now that I believe we have a viable parry system I have re-worked some of the spells that are notorious for bringing unbalance or weakness to the game. The end game goal is that we want all facets of play to be viable in both PvP and PvM and we don't want to restrict players to one style of play. Obviously we have a ways to go yet in terms of attaining a "perfect" balance but I think these changes are for the better and should hopefully breathe some new life blood into how you play on UO Evolution.


*Please note that there is a ton of RNG (Random Number Generator) calculations that go into the spells I've listed below so results for spell casting and testing is now always the same.


Magery Spells:


Harm
*Damage (within 2 tile range) has been reduced by 5% -> 40% (down from 45%)
*Damage (outside 2 tile range) has been reduced by 5% -> 20% (down from 25%)


Explosion
*Resistance to the spell will cause 50% reduced damage (down from 40%) Translates to be roughly 5-20 points of damage


resistance on a successful spell resist determined by RNG as per the usual.


Energy Bolt
*Resistance to the spell will cause 50% reduced damage (down from 40%) Translates to be roughly 5-20 points of damage


resistance on a successful spell resist determined by RNG as per the usual.


Fireball
*Base Damage reduction of 5%


Lightning
*Base Damage increase of 10%




Cleric Spells:


Smite
*Cast time reduced from 6.0 seconds to 1.5 seconds.


Touch of Life
*Cast time reduced from 4.0 seconds to 2.0 seconds.




Chivalry Spells:


Holy Light
*Base Damage increased by 15% cast time reduced by .5 seconds. (Now scales with chivalry up to 120.0)


Close Wounds
*Base healing increased by 15%




Bushido Spells:


Evasion
*Increased duration by 1 second. (RNG is still +3 seconds or -3 seconds)


Lightning Strike
*Base Critical chance increased by 10%




Ninjitsu Spells:


Ki Attack
*Base Damage increase of 15%




Necromancy spells:


Corpse Skin
*Now Reduces Poison resist by 20 -> Up from 15.


Strangle
*Increased tick damage by 10% based on total/remaining stamina.




Augments:


Triple Slash
*Damage increased by 25% to -> 50% up from 25%.








** Changes will be active on the next shard restart **

Questions and comments are always welcome, lets try to keep them productive though.

+1

Looks Good!

Thanks

Sounds great to me!

what about flamestrikes doing 80-120 - also - the 0.5 delays on spells like harm magic arrow poison spike - pain spike - my opnion needs to be more delays on the high damageing spells -- or a actual cap for the same ammount of Eval Int & Magery. for every player. then would be equal mage battles also not whom has the higher skill in it. - but alot of the changes look great Kyn looks like alot of options for other pvp class builds. rock on man keep up the great work as allways!!!

"or a actual cap for the same ammount of Eval Int & Magery. for every player"

1.Cap? Everyone can obtain the same amount.
2. 80-120 Flamestrikes? Are you sober when you play?
3. Harm, classified as a high damage spell? If Only that was true.
4. As to your "Equal Mage" Battles? This will never happen, Skill is a Serious factor when pvping. You got it, Or you dont.


5. If you are refering to, Double Curse, Dropping your Armor (Resists), CorpseSkin, More Negative Fire, Evil Omen Dropping your resists to 50.0, Then flamestrikeing, you with High Eval, And your 30 Fire Resist.  Then yes "Flamestrikes" Do 90 damage.

of course i am refureing to debuffing and curse then nukeing - and if harm was not a spell issue here then why do so many run on top of someone in a mage battle and script spam / macro spam or hotkey spam / *Harm* -- what other shard you know of lets you play with a no eval cap or mage cap for mass DPS spells ?. just saying this cant be a mage pvp only shard when there is wild abbilitys to the skill effects. if it was PvM only i could understand. - have a blessed day (KG)

1.You refered to Harm as a "High Damaging Spell". And if you want an Honest opinion. If you are not smart enough to Not stand in a harm spam for 5 seconds, Then you should not be pvping. Also there is a Eval and magery cap, It is Roughly 270.

2. Did you hear us "Mages" Complaining about people with +Parry Augments before the patch? I knew people with 300 Parry. Way Above the Eval cap. You for one were using this aswell.

3. Debuffing, And Cursing? Are you suggesting Mages are not to use these spells? That's like saying Dexxers can not use special abilities. Why would you Not Utalize every method, To win in a pvp Fight?

4. Everything you see here. High Eval. High Magery. High Swords. Etc. Can be obtained by Everyone. There are Servere Downfalls to doing this. Such as, Being hit by every physical attack. And essentially Being a "Glass Cannon".

5. Your input is invalid.

 *Did you hear us "Mages" Complaining about people with +Parry Augments before the patch? I knew people with 300 Parry. Way Above the Eval cap. You for one were using this aswell.*

Honestly Crimson yes. how long have you played this shard and how hard was it to become a full blown mage - and be able to takeout Vet Players?

2. i did a test with the new changes -- and still 29-32 harm on myself with debuffs with 0.5 casting delay. / 80 Flamestrike / also some E Bolts (RGN) for 51 48 41 -- and a fireball with 0.5 second delay 32 dps. this is with *223* Eval Intel.  these are spells with low to none mana cost mind you.

3. for melee and dexing fighters we have to take the loss of stats such as HP Stamina Mana - for useing things like Spike Shield / Triple Slash.

4.if there where things like +5 resisting spells augments and your spells did barely nothing to a player would you still PvP? - there is many ways to block parry and prevent wepon attacks -- only way to block spells is evaison. which has a fairly high cooldown timer.  --- yet a meleeing guy loses half his mana pool doing one triple slash VS a mage useing 0.5 spells with good dmg ammount. and a 60-65 *mana regen* pool.

Point is Mages can actulay regen mana as they cast. with the right ammount of mana pool. /// and useing triple slash and spike shield will more so hurt you then help you in a fight with a mage dueliest. --- and if we both had the same cap of eval and magery *all players* then we could record the same DPS and Healing effects. am i wrong or right?. then would be a whos got the better macros scripts hotkeys -- raw overall skill. --- not whom has the highiest Eval Or Magery -- cause at this point whom does have the highest will do the most DPS will, kill quicker in 1 on 1 duels.

Everyone is subject to the same effective eval int cap, it's just a matter of how many gear slots your want to dedicate to it. Going all eval int will come at a cost elsewhere. If every combat skill's cap is set to reasonably low levels, then it becomes easier for someone to cap them all out and we're back where we started -- no deviation from that one "perfect" build. The trick has been trying to find an approach that encourages many types of specialists without giving the advantage to one type.

I don't see how stacking this is any different than stacking any of the melee skills that was so prevalent before magery took off several months ago. You want to see something uneven? Put someone with 140 swords up against someone with 250 or so in a pure dexxer duel.

how long have you played this shard and how hard was it to become a full blown mage - and be able to takeout Vet Players?

if we both had the same cap of eval and magery *all players* then we could record the same DPS and Healing effects

you make some valid points Minos - but boils down too why should the melee and dexing be the same /// when the mageing and there actual spell damage is not the same?.. so your saying i should keep trying to get 250 Eval Intel Cause a apponinent has it. when our true spells dmg is both the same at 45% but his spells will do more in a mage battle (PvP) cause he has the higher Eval Int. Bonus then me. i call that explioting the mage system pvping to the fulliest of Evolution. --- let mages battle with the same DPS and dmg ammount *with the same spells* its only common cents. on a PvP shard you would want your mages to have balance more so then your melee toons. cause they are faster at killing and DPSing. -- i belive alot of you misconstrew - that there is no other PvP shards out there that will let you have higher skill caps on *certin skills* over another said PvP player. ---- give me 200 Eval Intel also you Minos with 200 --- wouldnt you think it would be more of a fair mage fight then?. then persay a player with more then you and doing more actual dmg then you. ((( if im harm spaming for 29 and another is spaming *the same spell* for 33 of course they would win everytime because its not actual spell dmg cap" its overceiding the cap from exploiting actual skills. - have a great day (KG)

KG man, you're focused on your perception of DPS, which on paper is correct, but does not pan out that way in a duel. Lets use your example of player A with a 29 damage harm spam and B with 33. For this illustration, they have the same casting speed, same HP, and same resistances. If it was ready, set, go and the only thing that took place was pure damage, yes, B with 33 would win. Except player B got fizzled, because he didn't hit his macro first. Now if he just stands there holding down his spam button, he dies, because in real mage duels people get fizzled and cannot do their maximum DPS. Since nobody is limited to pure melee, it would be wise to have a fast spell like harm or one of the debuffs ready to spam in order to fizzle your opponent and make him or her change what they're doing.

On a side note, none of my combat skills are at or over 200. When I cared to PvP and duel, my eval int was either 155 or 170 (often equal or lower than that of my opponent), depending on my jewelry. This was more than adequate to hang with the best players at that time. You know why? Because it didn't matter my harm only did 29 and his did 33. I made full use of that godly, socketed level 100 weapon in addition to spells timed to disrupt. Y'know, using the right tool at the right time sort of thing.

let mages battle with the same DPS and dmg ammount *with the same spells* its only common cents

Minos, I tip my hat to you. I hope to see you on the field someday.

lol you guys act like i am not a smart PvPer and dont know these things... that being said i belive a proper soultion to this would be to cap the Eval and Magery to lets say 200+220 & or a bigger delay on *Harm* that away it still gives even the best of the best mage dueliest - the same DPS *fizzling or not* that away there is no more feeling *out matched* when both useing the same spells with the same skill ability. i know and understand PvP is a touchy subject. which is why i try to talk about it and get others inputs i have faught players here for over a year + everyday. and have seen and learned alot. but when a player is nukeing 300 HP in less then 1 second (full caps fully geared).. then there is defnitly something wrong with the PvP here.

god i hate harm spam!! lol. glad it got nerfed a bit.

Kyn! Glad to see some focus on on spells and PVP for this publish. looks to be a promising direction your taking us in. 

I havent been able to play much lately but everytime i check in there is some exciting changes taking place. Im proud to call Evo my UO home.

god i hate harm spam!! lol. glad it got nerfed a bit.

Kyn! Glad to see some focus on on spells and PVP for this publish. looks to be a promising direction your taking us in. 

I havent been able to play much lately but everytime i check in there is some exciting changes taking place. Im proud to call Evo my UO home.

  Yikes!

 (rereads Krazy G's, Crimson, and Minos verbal Pvp with astonishment)

 +1 to Minos very well said arguments.
 
 Crimson, you could be more respectful in your posts towards KrazyG. Be like Minos whom choose to speak to KrazyG rather then antagonize him.
 
 And KrazyG if you focus to hard on one thing when there are many to focus on, you will always loose in the end.


Some Pvp Ideas:

 ~Bolas = Take away opponents mount and he will have to run on foot to get near you to cast Harm.

 ~Poison = can usually disrupt spells --- apply it to weapons and infect the Mage with it.

 ~Paralyze Spell --- may not hold ppl for long due to resist spells, but interrupts spell casting for sure!

 ~Shadow Strike --- if you apply a band aid --- then shadow strike --- you are hidden and healing

 ~Scripting is fine and dandy for those who want to use it, but it lacks true tactics, Battles should never be over in 30 seconds, if both opponents are veteran PvP'ists. Try to 'Lull' the your opponent into a wrong move or a fit of rage and take advantage of that anger.  (Note: being vulgar or disrespectful towards an opponent is not what I meant by my latter point)

 ~Most importantly you must have a clear mind to even have focus in PvP, that focus should be on you and what you know how to do best, PVP.

~ Finally, remember that loosing is only the days lesson; for tomorrow is another day to pass the test, by winning.

    Thanks for reading, and as usual, be well.

Love the idea of diminishing returns..