Final Change Suggestions

front and center like any real Marine. Is that a Problem?

No. I don't know who would I stand behind?

The trouble with dispel is not that it is not working, its that your timing it wrong. I promise, I have seen powerful folks flee from my cabal guard, and even give up and go away. You want to kill the opponent, so are not satisfied with the smaller victory, and claim its not balanced. On the other hand, I won, survived being out numbered and found myself extremely pleased with the Dispel spell.

I've played my fair share of mages. Dispel isn't a "OH GOT YOU YOU SHOULD NOW EAT SIX OF MY SPELLS UNSANCED". You have to land it at the right time. Wait for a dirt kick, a missed bash, a missed other skill - wait for them to GETS lagged (pets, etc), THEN try the dispel. Otherwise, use other spells that don't require a dispel to be affective: ice storm, call lightning, flash fire, ray of truth, curse, plague.. whatever, etc.

There are also other 'half round' spells you can open with, and try to catch them with poor reaction skills, getting the dispel in before they dirt kick.

I am not saying anything is wrong with dispel guys.  Dispel works great.  I use it quite successfully.  I agree with everything you are saying.

2 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I am not saying anything is wrong with dispel guys.  Dispel works great.  I use it quite successfully.  I agree with everything you are saying.

Uh????

Just now, Ulmusdorn said:

Uh????

This post had to do with smoking in combat.  Thats it.  Lets not get confused and make it.....this is how to play a mage.  Dispel works great.

One question, just one. Can you smoke and use another skill in the same opening? If so then THAT needs looked into. But I thought smoking took my turn last melee I played. I may have a faulty memory.

10 minutes ago, Izzy said:

This post had to do with smoking in combat.  Thats it.  Lets not get confused and make it.....this is how to play a mage.  Dispel works great.

You compared smoking immediately after a dispel, and that's why smoking is bad in combat.

Your words.

We just showed you how to combat that, specifically, so that smoking in combat literally doesn't affect you or your play style.

8 minutes ago, Fool_Hardy said:

One question, just one. Can you smoke and use another skill in the same opening? If so then THAT needs looked into. But I thought smoking took my turn last melee I played. I may have a faulty memory.

Unlikely. Smoking already has a 1/2 round lag along with it. This usually rounds up to a round depending on how quickly you smoke the herb and if you have commands stacked. You can't actually put commands in the middle of a round, so essentially, 1/2 round lag is attributed only to skills which can fire automatically, like wimpy.

Dispel isn't a "win" button.

If you dispel someone without proper timing, he will just flee and put sanc back again, even if smoking in combat is disabled.

If you dispel and someone puts sanc right back on, this only means your timing sucks.

What is funny is that instead of trying to improve your timing, people try to change a game mechanic (smoking in combat) to compensate for their lack of skill (timing).

I am not sure most people even understand the concept of timing....

1 hour ago, f0xx said:

Dispel isn't a "win" button.

If you dispel someone without proper timing, he will just flee and put sanc back again, even if smoking in combat is disabled.

If you dispel and someone puts sanc right back on, this only means your timing sucks.

What is funny is that instead of trying to improve your timing, people try to change a game mechanic (smoking in combat) to compensate for their lack of skill (timing).

I am not sure most people even understand the concept of timing....

What blows my mind is they think this will HELP them...

Listen, the better players of this game are STILL going to be better. Changing this, or any aspect really, won't improve your success against those players. What it will do is make players that can already time their dispels that much stronger. These changes are proposed with, what seems to be, the mentality that top-tier players won't adjust for them accordingly. 

I rarely put sanctuary back up in combat. In fact, I don't remember the last time I even did it. First of all, I HATE collecting consumables so you won't see me with black herbs. I'll have a glimmering staff. 100% of my characters will flee and put sanctuary back up. I told f0xx the reasoning behind this and the strategy involved. There is a VERY solid strategy behind doing it my way. 

If you're putting sanctuary back up IN combat, you're doing it wrong - in my opinion.

57 minutes ago, Trick said:

What blows my mind is they think this will HELP them...

If you think people only suggest changes for their own personal benefit, you're deluded.

47 minutes ago, Wade said:

If you think people only suggest changes for their own personal benefit, you're deluded.

I think that the majority of the people that suggest changes are suggesting them out of their own experience. Which is fine. 

Rarely ever does someone suggest a change because it worked TOO well for them. A very select few will say that something is TOO effective. Who is gonna say dispel doesn't land at all and I know this because Wade has tried 50 times and never landed it. I have -5 mental svs btw.  Maybe Celerity? Maybe f0xx?( He suggested the majority of the blademasters nerfs WHILE playing a blade master, IIRC)

Most of the changes are derived from people bitching. If you don't believe this, then you're deluded. He isn't suggesting the change to herbs because he is smoking them in combat. He is suggesting it because he is the one dispelling. The change will be, what he thinks, to his own personal benefit.

11 minutes ago, Wade said:

If you think people only suggest changes for their own personal benefit, you're deluded.

I'm also for the change and hardly any of the classes I play even have dispel magic. Heavy melee classes used to be more susceptible to mistakes and lack of preparation. It was the downside to playing a class that had such a high power ceiling once geared. Now gear is easy and consumables are easy. The skill necessary to play these classes have lowered tremendously over the years.

I feel its not so much about timing as much anymore rather than struggling to get certain spells to land at all.

On another note my subsequent Raynald vs Yaliza battles, I fell back to having the command 'smoke leave' ready while not entering any commands at all, and hope he spams a spell when he sees my sanc drop, and it becomes an easy win. Becomes even easier with triggers. Very difficult for even skilled players to take advantage of.

What's funny to me is the game tells us this while training. Example, dirt kick and other skills increase most often when timed perfectly. Same for spells. Until it becomes better to fail.

1 hour ago, tassinvegeta said:

I feel its not so much about timing as much anymore rather than struggling to get certain spells to land at all.

Anecdotal evidence but out of the 30 or so times I've cast dispel magic since returning its only landed once and that was against a giant.

Someone smarter than me will probably have to chime in here, but my experience has been my int > enemy = probable success. If my int < enemy = probable failure. Now throw in the amazing saves and it gets difficult. So a human mage or worse (dark knight) has an uphill battle, a dwarven, Halfling, or giant cleric, same issue.

Edit: I know this is an inaccurate assessment, but this my process on dispel. At 75%, I consider myself to have a 50/50 shot to dispel someone of equal intelligence, a 25% chance of success if they are more intelligent, and a 75% chance if I have superior intelligence. If I master dispel I change the numbers 50/75/100 accordingly. Then I subtract the probable saves I calculate on their equipment and ask myself can it land.

Consider your match up, and avoid frustration, use what you need to use against THAT opponent. Anything else is just Fool_Hardy.

From my experience over the last couple of months, don't bother using dispel unless you're fighting an ogre