Necro's TDS spell focus AA's...

Discussion in 'Casters' started by Necromonious, Feb 23, 2015.

  1. Necromonious Augur

    ...completely suck. It's like the devs went way out of their way to pick the spells that do the least damage and probably aren't being regularly used by anyone in the group setting. 2% more damage on grasping darkness? Are you kidding me?

    Mage gets more damage to lev 100+ bolt AND spear? Necros get sh*t
  2. Necromonious Augur

    Seriously, is anyone using these spells? Has anyone used these spell lines at all in the last 20 levels? a 1.4min DoT that does crap damage? Glad that was the choice to get an AA focus instead of any of our 30s dots. Good use of your completely random spell selecting process
  3. Brohg Augur

    You're coming at this the wrong way, man. The spells that have focus AAs start out gimped, they just barely come out ahead after the 30 AA spent. Magician spells in particular have focus problems due to line of sight target type spells interacting poorly with the focus SPA.
  4. Necromonious Augur

    I just sad. My excitement at noticing these AA's was immediately tempered by the realization I'm almost never going to use any of them. As the AA ceiling looms ominously overhead...
  5. Naugrin Augur

    This.

    Winning in this scenario is having the spells you NEVER use as the ones with the aa focus lol.
  6. Vivamort Augur

    There AAs are a nerf to slow down spell power for all casters. Instead of getting the spell and boom you are done, some of the spells now require you to spend 30 AA to get them up to par, almost (since the added damage isn't actually treated as base damage). They don't make the spells better then they should have been, they make the spells almost what they would have been, had this idea never been thought of. As has been said above, the fewer useful spells with these AA focus things is a win.
  7. Sancus Augur

    Others already commented on this, but the fact you chose the two that really don't work is really ironic. Most spells received a ~15% boost over their RoF versions this expansion. Spells that received spell focus AAs got 10% boosts, with an additional 6% from Spell Focus AAs. All of the non-Spear/Bolt Focus AAs (for damaging spells) use SPA 413, which is focused and crits. Unfortunately, that SPA has no affect on Line of Sight nukes, and they therefore use SPA 286. This is the effect:

    Bolt of Molten Shieldstone Rk I (No Focus AAs, No Focus, Destructive Fury Rk 29/30):
    Non-Crit: 16795
    Crit: 61301

    The difference between these numbers and the base damage of the spell are my 873 worn spell damage (1122 damage addition).

    Bolt of Molten Shieldstone Rk I (Spell Focus AA Rk I, No Worn Focus, Destructive Fury 29/30):
    Non-Crit: 17140 Difference: 17140-16795=345
    Crit: 61646 Difference: 61646-61301=345

    Having this damage not focused and, especially, not critting means these spells are missing anywhere from ~2% of their damage on a non-crit to almost 5% during a full burn (which equates to the loss of about 1/3 of the upgrade from RoF versions)

    If we take a look at Spear of Molten Shieldstone Rk III how it should of been and how it is on a burn (just looking at crit dmg mod and focuses):
    If the AAs functioned properly:
    ((29731*1.06)*2.8)+((29731*1.06)*6.2)=252,112 damage
    How the AAs currently function:
    (29731*2.8)+(29731*6.2)+1782=239,629 damage

    This is a difference of 12,483 damage per hit, which would be further amplified by affects such as Skin to Seedlings.

    In essence, focus AAs suck.
    Iila likes this.
  8. Ferry-Tunare Augur

    Yes, none of the wizard focus AA are needed as none of those spells are usable, even after the upgrade.
  9. Vlerg Augur

    cloudburst stormstrike!

    I also can't grasp my mind around the ''caster just buy a spell, while melee have to go out and look for weapons'' arguments...

    melee get all their rk1 disc same way caster get their rk1 spell, we all have to go out and find brinys to get our rk2, both melee and caster have to replace their old focii...

    didn't pay much attention to the drop rate of weapons in group content, but as fair as raid content goes, melee weapon started to rot months ago, while we likely won't have enough RKIII spell by the next expansion (unless we buy hem all...)
  10. Ferry-Tunare Augur

    Touche! I did that one long ago and forgot about it. Working on the others now.
  11. guado Augur

    Focus AAs were a good idea, on paper.
    Melee Player complained about casters only needing spells to "get all of their power"
    Whereas the melee have to wait to get a weapon to "get all of their power"

    Soo........ it was a good idea on paper until some casters were like ...

    "Ummmmm you know we have Focus Effects on GEAR right?"
    Badum tssssssssssssssssssssssss
    Ferry-Tunare likes this.
  12. Iila Augur

    They were sold as a TDS feature, but were really just a caster nerf. At best they meant the focused spells were -1 from their stated rank and would be focused back to normal power once you buy the AAs. But then there's fun stuff like the above, where the bonus from the AAs doesn't work like base spell damage, so the spells are still weaker than they should be once the AAs are bought.

    The fact that in raids, weapons are more common than the visible armor with focus upgrades just adds to the WTF factor.
    Ferry-Tunare, Marton and Sancus like this.
  13. segap Augur


    My rogue had one of my T3 weapons within an hour of having access to Dino island. I got the second within about 3 hours of being in Arx. That was a few months ago. Still working on getting glowing and minor briny for my casters.
  14. Apoc Augur

    Melee arnt handicapped by Focii
  15. Iila Augur

    To be honest, our wizards and necros were doing pretty well just using L100 spells and focuses for a couple months after TDS launch.
    Zentara likes this.
  16. Apoc Augur

    I assumed so i did pretty well myself without focus. I still havnt bought gloves or upgraded to the cold ethereal as it will not be any better then level 100 fire ethereal until i get rk 3. Level 103 focus covers quite a few spells up to 104ish. You put me in the same support group i guarentee i compete with anyone at the top. I was just stating that melee focus doesnt degrade so it's not going to boost them as much as a caster focus. You go to the group game and a well played melee still does really well. It's sad there are so many anti melee raid mechanics in the TDS raids along with the ac increase And the shortage of headshot decap assas mobs outside of raid 2. It really lets the casters shine.
    Iila likes this.
  17. Silv Augur

    It doesn't just end at the fact weapons are more common in raids (easily evidenced by the million melee alts in the guild hall with Arx particles already :rolleyes:).

    Many melee DPS don't want to give up 18/19 delay weapons from a previous expansion (with a lower level cap to boot!). NOT getting a weapon in TDS can wind up better DPS in some cases. The whole melee argument that 'they have to upgrade weapons & discs so punish casters' falls out the window when you consider the above. Sure, there are a few classes who were not given access to 18 delay weapons and only can get 22 delay - upgrading in TDS will of course improve their DPS since delay remains the same but damage increases... those classes still have to get spell runes though, too!

    After buying my major 2 DD spell focus AA on release I completely forgot there was a new AA tab due to how senseless the concept was. So, OP- don't feel bad, all pure casters were thrown under the bus. I hope their "experiment" - which is 100% what this was and they even said that - failed and the foci AA die with TDS.
    Marton and Iila like this.
  18. Loratex The Ridiculous Necro

    all necros use Less then cap increase spells. The Devs leav us no choice by producing crappy spells every expansion.

    To the OP, I use Pyre of the lost frequently but i do agree with you almost 100 percent. Vivamort said it best though. They dont add to the BASE damage so in reality you are getting crap in return. Id love for a dev to post where this 6 percent ACTUALLY goes and not where we "THINK" it goes.