Spells/abilities used up on cast

[Cthulchulain]

Some of the GamesCom videos seem to show inconsistent behaviour in when spells/skills are used up, i.e. the counter for # of uses remaining decrements. In the Paradox demo, it's quite apparent in the first beetle fight at 9.40:

http://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive/b/558125934

When the rogue uses crippling strike, the counter goes from 3 to 2 when the target is selected. Ditto for the wizard casting Jolting Touch. The game is paused the whole time. In contrast, the priest casting Blessing only loses a spell slot once the spell goes off -- not even while spending a couple of seconds in the "hadouken" stance.

 

In the IE games, lost a spell/skill use until the character actually began casting (except in IWD 2 when spontaneously converting cleric/druid spells). This was nice because you could change your mind, sometimes while a character was walking into range to start casting. So I'd prefer if PoE handled things this way as well. Also, you lost the use immediately when you started casting, so being interrupted by an attack or walking away made you lose the spell too.

 

Is the behaviour in the video as intended? Are there supposed to be differences across classes or across spell types (single target vs area target etc)?

[Silent Winter]

I didn't notice it when I watched - but it's an important point.

You shouldn't lose a spell/ability just on select (what if you mis-click?) - it should be when it's actually used.

[Lephys]

Honestly, I think unless you actually finish "using" it, you shouldn't lose it. I mean, if I'm going to summon a fireball, and it takes me 5 seconds, and I'm 1-second in, I don't understand what I've lost if I get interrupted at that point. In D&D lore, it was the mental preparation of the spell. But, in PoE lore, there's nothing that says "Oh no, you lost your place in the middle of a spell! NOW IT'S GONE!" No, it's in your spellbook. You just can only cast so many times per day because of what the book can handle, and what I guess your body can handle, etc.

 

So, *Shrug*. I dunno. You already get, what, a 2-second delay, then have to restart the spell cast? I think that's plenty. Unless the spell is actually at the end of its casting, I don't think you should lose it just because you "began" casting it, and took an arrow to the knee.

 

Also, if there aren't currently many channeled spells, this would be a good factor for them. If you have a spell that does something each second for 6 seconds, well, if THAT gets interrupted, you've lost the spell and had its effectiveness cut off. Stuff like that, I think, would make Resolve vs. interrupts a lot more important. *Shrug*