I put a spell on you (that no one else has)
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Jan 10th 2007 at 2:00PM
Casters have often complained that their itemization is worse than melee itemization, especially in new dungeons. It took casters a long time to get a legendary of their own, and for that they have to complete Naxxramas and be "chosen" to get forty pieces of the staff above every other caster in their guild, while warriors and rogues just have to get lucky in MC.
To fight this perceived imbalance, Lower of Equilibrium (Mannoroth) suggests that legendary or epic spells should be available as drops in Burning Crusade. He notes that these don't have to be entirely new spells, but could be current spells with an added component -- perhaps an shadow bolt volley with a cooldown for warlocks, or a chance for all your frostbolt spells to frost nova around the area of the target.
Other classes also argue for their own epic dropped abilities (my favorites being the rogue's "Epic Pickpocket," which would give you a random non-soulbound item from the opponent's inventory, as well as the self-explanatory "Facestab.") Priests and druids want AOE mindflays with fear and moonfire, respectively. A mage even suggests a legendary drop of the Meteor spell from AQ40 trash mobs. Meteor basically does a fixed amount of damage divided by the number of targets in a certain area, which brings to mind the hilarious mental picture of an entire AV piling on top of each other to avoid getting killed by the spell.
Is Lower dreaming an impossible dream, or can you see a way for this to work out?
(Image from Final Fantasy VI, copyright Squaresoft. Old school epic spell FTW!)
Filed under: Druid, Mage, Priest, Warlock, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jager Jan 10th 2007 2:20PM
OMFG. Setzer & FF6 FTW!!!!
Rezza Jan 10th 2007 2:34PM
Its fine if legendary or epic spells occur as random drops as long as they are accessible to casual and normal players. Blizzard has made some major effort to make the game competitive for everyone and I doubt they want to reverse this effort.
One option of course, is to make such spells available in dungeons but also as PvP awards. A balance must be maintained, the balance Blizzard promised way back in the original WoW beta before the game was released.
Seper Jan 10th 2007 2:45PM
Well... I think it would have to be a balanced thing. But I think that would be too hard to do. As it is right now people complain about other classes over stupid things. My guild chat after yesterdays patch had everyone complaining about how their class got nerfed (not druids though cause druids got better from what i read *Druid ftw*). But no one seemed happy about the changes for watever reason.
Giving a class an ability that could change a battle would not make anyone happy at all. Ive always seen the classes as having their own unique attributes that people take for granted. EG Pallys and Warlocks (i believe its those 2) get free mounts, where as druids get every class rolled into one and travel forms. etc etc.
I dont think this is needed or will work.
Chuck Jan 10th 2007 2:53PM
Polymorph turtle FTW?
rogue Jan 10th 2007 2:57PM
I don't think it'd be much different from the books in AQ20, UBRS, etc. (Of course those are all now available at trainers... but still.) Sounds pretty sweet. There should be a few different avenues to get them, though, not just random drops... but regardless, it'd be cool, and it seems feasible.
Unkle Jan 10th 2007 3:25PM
Where's my legendary (Read: Hunter Only) Bow/gun/crossbow?!
Christian Holton Jan 10th 2007 3:50PM
If they bring back the pre-Indalamar-ruined-everything Mortal Strike for warriors as a drop, then scale it to level 70, then I'll be a happy camper.
read: a multiple of weapon damage plus 50% negation of healing effects, rather than blanket weapon dmg + extra static dmg.
Druid dude Jan 10th 2007 4:52PM
I thought it was Slam that got nerfed beyond usefulness as a result of Indalmar's pwnage video.