Issue with the Mage videos

ArchivedUser

I understand the need to have a visual representation of a weapon (ie - spellbook) for the mage animations, but can we get something other than a spell book?  Cause after a while your mage would surely know their spells by heart, and yanking out a book every time seems a little arbitrary and immersion breaking.  It would be much more aesthetically pleasing if the mage made some magical hand symbols, or grabbed some spell components from their belt etc.  I'm also not saying to never use their book, but in the heat of battle it just seems sketch. 

ArchivedUser

Not to seem to much like a jerk, but I'd rather Intrepid focus on stuff that isn't this petty and subjective. 

ArchivedUser

Karthos said:

Not to seem to much like a jerk, but I'd rather Intrepid focus on stuff that isn't this petty and subjective. 

While that may be true, it's the little things that add up over time that can make or break many games by virtue of the players perception of things.  And "Now" is the time to bring light to any sort of ideas, concerns, or issues, while everything is still fluid and able to be impacted.  Because It has been my experience with mmo's that when you preach for them to work on the game rather than taking any time to focus on some concern then that "later" never comes.

ArchivedUser

@Warkov I get the impression that the spellbook is there in some of the pre-alpha videos because the UI hasn't been fully developed as of yet. I've seen other games in early development with the same kind of thing, where the action bar system hasn't been properly developed to persist your spells between logins. On the other hand, if I'm wrong, it will be one of the first things I'll be submitting during alpha testing

ArchivedUser

My guess is that the spellbook, rather than being a source of spells, acts much like a spell amplifier. They've stated that any class can wield pretty much any weapon, so it's not like you can't swap out that spellbook for a giant greatsword, and they still have to make the animations work with each weapon type, or develop different animations for every weapon/subset of weapon. If you think about the spellbook as a sort of amplifying tool (since that weapon type will probably have relevant effects/stats) then it fits much better overall and doesn't lock you into always using a spellbook.

It's probably for the same reason that every time we've seen the Predator, we've seen him with a Longbow, even though it was Rogue primary and Ranger secondary. They probably fleshed out animations for just the one weapon type enough to be shown, while the others are probably largely work in progress.

ArchivedUser

Warkov said:

" I understand the need to have a visual representation of a weapon (ie - spellbook) for the mage animations, but can we get something other than a spell book?  Cause after a while your mage would surely know their spells by heart, and yanking out a book every time seems a little arbitrary and immersion breaking.  It would be much more aesthetically pleasing if the mage made some magical hand symbols, or grabbed some spell components from their belt etc.  I'm also not saying to never use their book, but in the heat of battle it just seems sketch. "

Idk, based on this Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6psJ5pYoncI&index=7&list=PLNsY6gVWDm7_s8V55LRRweo7AaZ1Pug6Z

Its not that bad 

ArchivedUser

@Warkov , Honestly though, i see what you mean - but it would be different than seeing another Scepter / Staff though, right ? 

And for we know, as opposed to being defensive with a Staff, they could make it to where the mage could have Magical Defensive Spells:

 like a Wind Barrier that protects the user from Damage. And reflects 20% of damage back at the target.
or
a Tidal Barricade that'll push opponents back after being attacked.

it depends at this point.

I just hope the Dev Team has an imaginative mind  
Because i can think of plenty tbh > ~ <

ArchivedUser

I'm gonna go all crazy now and suggest:  A wand.

If weapons in some way affect available spells or amplify certain spells, perhaps a staff would be the "defensive" weapon, spellbook the "balanced" weapon and a wand the "offensive" weapon.  That'd be pretty neat.

ArchivedUser

Banditman said:

" If weapons in some way affect available spells or amplify certain spells, perhaps a staff would be the "defensive" weapon, spellbook the "balanced" weapon and a wand the "offensive" weapon.  That'd be pretty neat. "

 like the ideas (: 3)

ArchivedUser

Banditman said:

I'm gonna go all crazy now and suggest:  A wand.

If weapons in some way affect available spells or amplify certain spells, perhaps a staff would be the "defensive" weapon, spellbook the "balanced" weapon and a wand the "offensive" weapon.  That'd be pretty neat.

That would be pretty great.  When I was thinking of mage, I was thinking of a staff or hand gestures, I had totally forgot about wands.  Wands are great in that they are smaller and store easily, so to me would be pretty visually appealing.  

ArchivedUser

SconeOfDoom said:

My guess is that the spellbook, rather than being a source of spells, acts much like a spell amplifier. They've stated that any class can wield pretty much any weapon, so it's not like you can't swap out that spellbook for a giant greatsword, and they still have to make the animations work with each weapon type, or develop different animations for every weapon/subset of weapon. If you think about the spellbook as a sort of amplifying tool (since that weapon type will probably have relevant effects/stats) then it fits much better overall and doesn't lock you into always using a spellbook.

It's probably for the same reason that every time we've seen the Predator, we've seen him with a Longbow, even though it was Rogue primary and Ranger secondary. They probably fleshed out animations for just the one weapon type enough to be shown, while the others are probably largely work in progress.

I hadn't considered that.  Very good observation.  It will be interesting to see some players bucking the system and using sub optimal weapons, ala mage with a broad sword etc.