Am I the only one who finds ice bolt, fire bolt and ice shared s to be underpowered compared to shadow lightning/bolt?
Shadow lightning is arguably the best spell in the game for consistent dps. +Shadow gear dovetails very well with shadow bolt. Even without the +shadow gear though, the dmg output for ice shards, ice/fire bolt seem really low in comparison.

After lvl 40, I hardly see any mages who do anything but shadow, and that speaks volume about elemental balance in the mage repertoire. Fire mage still makes some sense due to the long range combined with ring of fire getting +fire benefit.

Ice really gets the shaft though. Shards can hardly be considered AoE, it's more like a better ice bolt for short range. If there were a good ice AoE spell, it would make ice a decent option for high level mage builds. I would love to see a hailstorm spell which works somewhat like Abaddon's, albeit less powerful and using ice instead of fire.

i agree with you on ice as its the least powerful but then again bolt snares so which makes it usefull. I also agree there really isnt any good ice rbws but all in due time.

Right now there is only a rbw amulet called phat bling that gives ice % that is worthy of wearing.

As far as firebolt is concearned, firebolt is our best single dps spell and with all the fire rbws out there i hardly think its underpowered.

I would like to see a fireball though. either as a new skill or as a passive upgrade like improved shadow lightning. That way you could do some splash damage with firebolt :}

i would like to see mages get abbys fire rain dance. Now that would be a kick [censored] thing. No way we will ever have it but its wishful thinking kinda like wishing for brad pitt in a g string cleaning my kitchen.

hey, level 100 skills would be kewl!

Ice shards does more dmg than shadowbolt I dunno what your talking about, it just doesn't track.

No it doesn't, not on average. The average damage of Shadow Bolt is higher than the average damage of Ice Shards. Also, Shadow Bolt tracks enemies, and Ice Shards uses more mana. Therefore, under general circumstances, Shadow Bolt > Ice Shards.

ice shards can do more damage to one opponent if you hit it with more than one bolt.

also gear plays a big factor too. As there are better rbws for shadow then for ice is why mana mages play a shadow mage.

Again, that is not true. The average damage of three Shadow Bolts > the average damage of three Ice Shards > the average damage of Fire Bolt > the average damage of Ice Bolt. Ice Shards has a higher MAXIMUM damage, but its MINIMUM damage is very low. Shadow Bolt may have a low MAXIMUM damage, but it has a very high MINIMUM damage, and ON AVERAGE it does MORE damage than any other bolt skill.

Edited by Necrophilius (12/15/07 10:54 PM)

I said can, not will do more damage. I have had all three ice bolts hit the same target and crit at the same time doing well over 3k damage in one hit :} I was only level 23 or so at the time. Yes shadow bolt will on average do more damage than ice shards though that is true, however one should not over look the potential of being able to decimate a mob from a distance with ice shards when combined with monster bait :} the damage from the 3 bolts will all hit different targets at range and a much faster firing rate than shadow lightning. It's the only ranged "aoe" spell that has a chance of working like that :}

The same thing applies also to Fire Bolt and Ice Bolt. Almost any skill can do more damage than another, just as Shadow Bolt "can" do more damage than Ice Shards in any random shot. So that makes that statement rather excessive, doesn't it... IMO Ice Shards isn't a very good spell unless the opponent resists both fire and shadow. It has a short range, slow speed (as in bolt moving speed), and high mana cost. Even if you use it as an AOE, it only deals inferior damage to three opponents at maximum. I'd say Shadow Lightning with Improvement is better as a fast AOE, it has higher damage (especially if Improved Shadow Lightning rebounds on a already hit monster)and affects far more targets. It's cooldown is nearly negligible.

the things also to keep n mind is that shadow damage seems to be the damage that is resisted the most, with ice spells ressited the least.that is all subjective but it seems that way to me

also shadow lightning has a cool down which is what I meant about "fast" as ice shards doesn't. of course your talking to someone who actualy like stomp too so I just seem to go against the grain all over the place.

Yes, I am aware that Shadow tends to be resisted a lot, hence why I said "under normal circumstances": but in situations like those, I still use Fire Bolt over Ice Shards for its superior range and much lower mana cost.

And the cool down of Shadow Lightning is very fast: I have already addressed this in my previous post. 1.5 seconds is about, say, one Shadow Lightning to three Ice Shards? It's fast enough so that the disadvantage compared to Ice Shards as an AOE is negligible compared to its benefits, ie. much higher damage and affecting much more targets.

Why are we even having this discussion? O_o

Each to their own taste, I think.

oh sure, but I think were having this discussion because some asked?

I'm with you on the fireball idea. let me do the equivalent of a Ring of Fire at a range. If you want to nerf it, make it damage Friend and Foe alike, or reduce the diameter. Damaging Friend and Foe alike, would make those of us who want to use, more careful with Fireball placement.

While we're at it, let us make Gaseous Blast and Ring of Fire damage friend and foe alike too. Heck, why not Shadow Lightning as well? Ah, just make ALL AOE skills hit friend as well as foe...

If there are skills capable of damaging people outside of PvP, people WILL use it for purposes that it is not designed to.

aoe hitten friend and foe??? are serious?? Thats the worst idea i have heard then puttin money on the tampa bay devil rays to win the 2008 world series.

Stupidest idea ever, who in their right mind would want their spells to hurt their teammate while trying to kill a monster?