As a player that normally plays casters, I feel that even tho my spells look flashy with particle effects and whatnot, I would like some more "skill" and combo work to make them look cool and interesting. So this is my suggestion:
I hope that Intrepid can take inspiration from the shock rifle in Unreal Tournament for the magic action combat.
In Unreal Tournament when you are using this weapon, your right mouse click sends out a pretty slow-moving orb and the left click sends out an instant shot. Damage vise (just picking some numbers) the single-shot does 50, the orb does 100, but if you shoot the orb with the single shot, the orb will explode for 300 Damage.
I feel this would be a really interesting mechanic for Ashes, and make action combat more fun for casters. It would also make AoE'ing harder (thinking sieges) but still rewarding if you pull it off.
Throw in what we learned about movement and player agency and it would be even more advanced. The orb could have 2 seconds cast and a heavy movement penalty and the singe-shot could be instant with a very little movement penalty.
PS:
In Unreal Tournament you could shoot the enemy's orbs so it exploded in their face. That's something that would heighten the PVP tension in Ashes. 😀
In the link below you can see the weapon explained and in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o5oUvkpaHg
