WIZARDS - feedback at first sight

[dam]

OK I'm very happy spells have been made per-encounter as opposed to per-rest.

It definitely felt unfair that enemies would be able to unload their whole contingent of spells, while I had to be stingy with mine.

 

 

However, not being able to learn spells from Grimoires anymore feels like I've been denied something, somehow.

In BG, BG2 and POE, it was actually an inside mini-game to hunt for the most complete spellbook possible.

Llengrath was hard to kill ? Who cares, you could actually learn exclusive spells after the battle !

 

This feeling of achievement, of having completed your spellbook and become a true spellcaster is now gone.

Why would you do that to me Obsidian ?

 

 

The same goes for passive abilities and talents.

In IWD2 you could pick Aqua Mortis to increase your acid damage.

In POE you could pick Scion of Flame to increase your fire damage.

 

Where's all that gone in POE2 ?

Now getting a level as a Wizard (or a priest) is merely a matter of picking your one new spell.

It feels very underwhelming.

 

 

What feeling one has gained by being able to cast spells every encounter, one has lost by getting a generic spellcaster that won't be different from any other out there.

 

 

Give us specialization options.

 

I want to be able to pick a talent which increases the duration of my debuffs by 20%, or the area of effect of my damaging spells by 20%, or the damage of my fire/frost/unicorn spells by 20%.

 

Pick something, tune the numbers, but do give us some degree of specialization.

Wizards (and priests) feel way too generic.

 

 

 

TLDR :

+ able to cast spells per encounter

- no more learning

- no specializations (as in, passive talents)

 

 

 

To my fellow beta-testers, you're welcome to comment and debate, do please keep in mind that we may agree to disagree, as long as we do it in a civil manner.

[Frog Man]

On the topic of wizard feedback, I've been running with a Fighter/Conjurer and it's really fun. Being able to cast Parasitic staff and Arcane Veil every fight makes for a pretty unique warrior mage. Looking forward to expanding his spellbook a bit but for now it's really fun. Disciplined barrage is a nice bonus too! once buffed, this guy is demolishing people. 

[Skaddix]

On the topic of wizard feedback, I've been running with a Fighter/Conjurer and it's really fun. Being able to cast Parasitic staff and Arcane Veil every fight makes for a pretty unique warrior mage. Looking forward to expanding his spellbook a bit but for now it's really fun. Disciplined barrage is a nice bonus too! once buffed, this guy is demolishing people. 

 

 

I like the sound of that was interesting it trying that myself trying to figure out if Barbarian, Fighter or Paladin is the best option for Eldritch Knight type....

 

Are Parasitic Staffs still universal weapons? 

[DozingDragon]

I agree. Single-class wizards and other traditional spell casters have only three ways their builds can be differentiated: (1) choosing a specialization at character creation, (2) selecting spells when leveling up, and (3) selecting weapon profiencies. The lack of any passive abilities outside of multiclassibg is pretty disappointing, as the only major build choice, specialization, occurs at character creation.

 

Now, I imagine there is some design concern about making it impossible to make a terrible wizard by only selecting passive abilities, or selecting a passive ability at character creation. This could be solved by requiring players to choose a spell during character creation, and also by limiting the total number of available passive abilities. Additionally, a character could be limited to one elemental specific passive ability such as spirit of decay.

[Breckmoney]

Has anyone found any grimoires in the beta? One of the original ideas was that individual grimoires would have properties associated with them that helped specialize your wizard. Like one might have + fire damage or whatnot. If that's still the case then it could just be that some wizard specialization will be offloaded to itemization choices than abilities and talents.

[dam]

I agree. Single-class wizards and other traditional spell casters have only three ways their builds can be differentiated: (1) choosing a specialization at character creation, (2) selecting spells when leveling up, and (3) selecting weapon profiencies. The lack of any passive abilities outside of multiclassibg is pretty disappointing, as the only major build choice, specialization, occurs at character creation.

 

Now, I imagine there is some design concern about making it impossible to make a terrible wizard by only selecting passive abilities, or selecting a passive ability at character creation. This could be solved by requiring players to choose a spell during character creation, and also by limiting the total number of available passive abilities. Additionally, a character could be limited to one elemental specific passive ability such as spirit of decay.

 

Oh to be fair, one would realize quite early on that their passive-only wizard is kind of... passive...

I do not think such stringent checks would be necessary.

 

As for limiting one to, for example, just the one elemental upgrade, do keep in mind that if such passives were available, one would eschew a spell to get the passive so, that'd be a trade-off.

 

Want +fire and +frost damage ? Good on you, you're not taking these 2 spells though then.

[DCParry]

Woohoo!

 

We're back!

 

OT: The new wizarding seems fun, but apparently, like POE original flavour, all wizards are made of tasty florescent material that automatically draws all attention from every creature in a 2 mile radius. 

 

Seriously, in the first encounter the mercenary wizard died as soon as she lifted her book. If only I could master that level of focus fire.  

[DozingDragon]

 

I agree. Single-class wizards and other traditional spell casters have only three ways their builds can be differentiated: (1) choosing a specialization at character creation, (2) selecting spells when leveling up, and (3) selecting weapon profiencies. The lack of any passive abilities outside of multiclassibg is pretty disappointing, as the only major build choice, specialization, occurs at character creation.

Now, I imagine there is some design concern about making it impossible to make a terrible wizard by only selecting passive abilities, or selecting a passive ability at character creation. This could be solved by requiring players to choose a spell during character creation, and also by limiting the total number of available passive abilities. Additionally, a character could be limited to one elemental specific passive ability such as spirit of decay.

 

 

Oh to be fair, one would realize quite early on that their passive-only wizard is kind of... passive...

I do not think such stringent checks would be necessary.

 

As for limiting one to, for example, just the one elemental upgrade, do keep in mind that if such passives were available, one would eschew a spell to get the passive so, that'd be a trade-off.

 

Want +fire and +frost damage ? Good on you, you're not taking these 2 spells though then.

You might realize that, and I might realize that, but for someone who may have never played a crpg or even a pc game in general might not necessarily realize that. Plus, go ahead and make a first-level fighter in the beta now. You have to pick one active ability, or at least I did when I made a multi class character. The game forces you to. It’s all about preventing the hapless from making terrible characters no one would want to play.

 

And as far as limiting elemental specializations, I was assuming the designers want to limit the stacking of bonuses like that. I could be wrong, but that’s what I gleaned from the abundance of modals.

[DozingDragon]

Has anyone found any grimoires in the beta? One of the original ideas was that individual grimoires would have properties associated with them that helped specialize your wizard. Like one might have + fire damage or whatnot. If that's still the case then it could just be that some wizard specialization will be offloaded to itemization choices than abilities and talents.

The spore north of the village drops a grimoire, but only if you choose to fight it in the scripted interaction. I do not believe that grimoire had any special properties, just additional spells.

[morhilane]

 

Has anyone found any grimoires in the beta? One of the original ideas was that individual grimoires would have properties associated with them that helped specialize your wizard. Like one might have + fire damage or whatnot. If that's still the case then it could just be that some wizard specialization will be offloaded to itemization choices than abilities and talents.

The spore north of the village drops a grimoire, but only if you choose to fight it in the scripted interaction. I do not believe that grimoire had any special properties, just additional spells.

 

You don't need to select attack in the interaction, if they spot it will trigger the fight as well and you get the grimoire.

 

I don't remember it having special properties, but I found a wurm pet (one Poka something ruins map) that did grant a bonus (+5% to something).

[Jalix]

I was also very disappointed to see that most spellcasters don't get any kind of passive bonuses as they level up. Power level doesn't directly affect the damage of most spells at all. I would really like to be able to take further steps to customize and specialize my caster, aside from the subclass that you choose at level 1.

[LampStaple]

I was also very disappointed to see that most spellcasters don't get any kind of passive bonuses as they level up. Power level doesn't directly affect the damage of most spells at all. I would really like to be able to take further steps to customize and specialize my caster, aside from the subclass that you choose at level 1.

I'm pretty sure power level affects the penetration of the spells and not the damage. You'll notice it if you try to mc and cast a spell. I was hitting for 50 damage with fan of flames on a single classed character, and a multiclassed character simply can't hit over 17 because you won't have enough penetration. I really don't like the penetration system, especially since there are no means of boosting your penetration, it means multiclassed character simply CAN NOT cast offensive spells.

[ghostwriter]

Hey guys, couple of questions for people playing the beta:

 

Is the Shadowflame spell in the game? Can you learn it on level up?

 

Is Arcane Veil a spell now? If so, what level?

 

Since wizards take longer to cast now, does dex become the 2nd most imp stat for most builds after intelligence?

[dam]

Hey guys, couple of questions for people playing the beta:

 

Is the Shadowflame spell in the game? Can you learn it on level up?

 

Is Arcane Veil a spell now? If so, what level?

 

Since wizards take longer to cast now, does dex become the 2nd most imp stat for most builds after intelligence?

 

DEX only affects your recovery AFAIK, not the actual action time.

A spell that takes long to cast, will still take long.

 

Correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

 

Edit: turns out I'm mistaken :

'kay tested just now, DEX does affect both cast time, and recovery time.

MIG affects damage for some spells only.

INT affects duration + area for some spells only.

PER affects your accuracy, but does not grant additional Pen whatsoever.

Edited November 16, 2017 by dam

[brankel]

Maybe i'm forgetting how to play PoE but how do i copy spells from the spore grimoire to my mercenary wizard's spell book? I feel like it was pretty intuitive in PoE and now i'm at a loss. 

Edited November 16, 2017 by brankel

[draego]

Maybe i'm forgetting how to play PoE but how do i copy spells from the spore grimoire to my mercenary wizard's spell book? I feel like it was pretty intuitive in PoE and now i'm at a loss. 

 

There is no learning spells from grimoire and grimoire are not changeable. You get the spells you learn at level up + the spells in a grimoire. After that you can equip other grimoires in your items and switch out the books to get access to other ones during fight.

Edited November 16, 2017 by draego

[Breckmoney]

Maybe i'm forgetting how to play PoE but how do i copy spells from the spore grimoire to my mercenary wizard's spell book? I feel like it was pretty intuitive in PoE and now i'm at a loss.

There is no spell copying in Deadfire. You have to switch tomes around for the additional spells.

[brankel]

I'm not crazy though, right? That was a thing in PoE 1?

Edited November 16, 2017 by brankel

[draego]

I'm not crazy though, right? That was a thin in PoE 1?

 

Yes POE1 you can learn all spells and access them in one grimiore but only 4 at a time per level.

[smjjames]

Do they all show up automatically in the grimoire? I assume you still have to choose which ones you want active.

[DozingDragon]

Hey guys, couple of questions for people playing the beta:

 

Is the Shadowflame spell in the game? Can you learn it on level up?

 

Is Arcane Veil a spell now? If so, what level?

 

Since wizards take longer to cast now, does dex become the 2nd most imp stat for most builds after intelligence?

Shadowflame was shown in a stream, but it is not available to learn at level-up. I assume it’s a grimoire only spell.

 

Arcane veil is available at spell level 3 I think. I don’t recall precisely at the moment.

Edited November 16, 2017 by DozingDragon

[demeisen]

​​

 

There is no learning spells from grimoire and grimoire are not changeable. You get the spells you learn at level up + the spells in a grimoire. After that you can equip other grimoires in your items and switch out the books to get access to other ones during fight.

 

 

​Hmm, that's unfortunate.  It'll remove a lot of flexibility and tactical variety for mixing and matching to create interesting spell combinations, especially since grimoires are not changeable.  One of the interesting things about casters was always the variety.

​

​Not a fan of that choice.

​

[dam]

​​

 

There is no learning spells from grimoire and grimoire are not changeable. You get the spells you learn at level up + the spells in a grimoire. After that you can equip other grimoires in your items and switch out the books to get access to other ones during fight.

 

 

​Hmm, that's unfortunate.  It'll remove a lot of flexibility and tactical variety for mixing and matching to create interesting spell combinations, especially since grimoires are not changeable.  One of the interesting things about casters was always the variety.

​

​Not a fan of that choice.

​

 

Actually, you can swap grimoires.

 

You can just not learn the spells from one grimoire, and input them in another.

 

(which was a great way to get your multiple wizards to learn every spell by the way, if expensive).

[demeisen]

​

 

 

Actually, you can swap grimoires.

 

You can just not learn the spells from one grimoire, and input them in another.

 

Nod - that's certainly better than nothing, but still means you can't easily select a custom spell loadout to make your own interesting tactical combinations.  You're restricted to what the game gives you, plus the most essential things you learn at level up.

​

[cheesevillain]

The per-encounter spells work, but more importantly, they feel great. There were some good design reasons for the per-rest spells, but I alway felt like crap whenever I played one, even if I knew I would rest after the fight.

 

I initially wasn't to keen on losing the ability to scribe spells, but this makes finding new Grimoires a lot more cool. Btw, there's a really great Grimoire in the Dank Spore encounter, presumably from some wizard that it previously ate.