16
League / Tournament Play / Re: LFP: Where do you live
« on: October 15, 2012, 02:45:28 PM »
Sure am, Cowbell. You aren't from Saskatchewan, by chance?
May 06, 2024, 11:59:33 PM
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17
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: Damage over Time
« on: October 14, 2012, 11:43:22 PM »
I assume this is a Wizard book, given the many different schools?
18
Strategy and Tactics / Re: Good Priestess Combo
« on: October 14, 2012, 04:58:06 PM »
The only thing I've ever seen that boosted Effect rolls is Samandriel's bonus vs. Dark & Unliving creatures.
19
Strategy and Tactics / Re: Harassing the Mana Crystal - Why?
« on: October 14, 2012, 10:56:25 AM »
I agree, piousflea. I'm not going to be trying to kill my opponent's Crystals very often.
I think the main reason that mana denial through attacking Crystals and Flowers is not that effective is that it's only 1 extra mana/turn, compared to Mages' innate 10 mana/turn. If you really depended on your Crystals/Flowers for your economy, and thus there was a large payoff for the "zergling rush" of crippling your opponent's economy, then the strategy might be risky but potentially profitable - but as things stand, it seems that your resources will usually be better used in other ways.
I think the main reason that mana denial through attacking Crystals and Flowers is not that effective is that it's only 1 extra mana/turn, compared to Mages' innate 10 mana/turn. If you really depended on your Crystals/Flowers for your economy, and thus there was a large payoff for the "zergling rush" of crippling your opponent's economy, then the strategy might be risky but potentially profitable - but as things stand, it seems that your resources will usually be better used in other ways.
20
Spells / Re: Most efficient creature
« on: October 06, 2012, 02:09:16 AM »
Arcanus, this is why I love Mage Wars. The dedication to your craft, the sheer amount of effort that has been put into this game; it's just incredible.
21
Spells / Re: Is it just me, or is Bear Strength kind of busted?
« on: October 05, 2012, 03:07:26 AM »
piousflea:
Yes, Ghoul Rot is also really, really good. But you're missing multiple aspects of Bear Strength.
Consider the melee Beastmaster. He's still able to cast a single spell per turn, and a 2nd if he really has to, but what he wants to do is rush in and start punchin'. He casts Bear Strength on himself, maybe follows it with a Nullify on himself as well, and goes to town. He can do 6 damage dice every round in melee, for the low price of 0 mana. His large attack pool means that he has a good chance to KO creatures before they get to do anything, and his attacks are also unpredictable: they could do 12 damage in one hit! Given the way that Armour works, his attacks are much more threatening now to high-Armour creatures. And he's saving a lot of Mana every turn, so he can easily afford Dispels and Dissolves and other things that keep him on the offensive. Maybe he'll also bust out some Gauntlets and go up to 7 damage dice.
This doesn't even touch how scary (or appropriate) a Steelclaw Grizzly with Bear Strength is.
Now contrast the Flameblasting Warlock. Instead of casting Bear Strength, he got out an Elemental Wand and stuck his Flameblast on it. He's only doing 4 unavoidable dice of damage per round (though yes, with the possibility of burning), for the considerable cost of 5 mana/round. He has a range of 1, but because of Hindering, switching of Initiative, and the small size of the Arena, he will find it very difficult to kite the Beastmaster. If the Beastmaster puts on a Dragonscale Hauberk and the Warlock can't punch through enough Nullifies and Reverse Magics to make it Explode, he will become a very sad panda indeed.
Now contrast Ghoul Rot. For 1 more mana than Bear Strength, it does direct damage (so on average much more than from an equal-die melee attack), can also be Dispel-ed, but does not enhance a natural ability in any way. It is also a very predictable source of damage, so both Mages can plan around it.
And what do you do with your copious quantities of Beastmaster Mana? Summon more huge beaters from your Lair, of course!
Yes, Ghoul Rot is also really, really good. But you're missing multiple aspects of Bear Strength.
Consider the melee Beastmaster. He's still able to cast a single spell per turn, and a 2nd if he really has to, but what he wants to do is rush in and start punchin'. He casts Bear Strength on himself, maybe follows it with a Nullify on himself as well, and goes to town. He can do 6 damage dice every round in melee, for the low price of 0 mana. His large attack pool means that he has a good chance to KO creatures before they get to do anything, and his attacks are also unpredictable: they could do 12 damage in one hit! Given the way that Armour works, his attacks are much more threatening now to high-Armour creatures. And he's saving a lot of Mana every turn, so he can easily afford Dispels and Dissolves and other things that keep him on the offensive. Maybe he'll also bust out some Gauntlets and go up to 7 damage dice.
This doesn't even touch how scary (or appropriate) a Steelclaw Grizzly with Bear Strength is.
Now contrast the Flameblasting Warlock. Instead of casting Bear Strength, he got out an Elemental Wand and stuck his Flameblast on it. He's only doing 4 unavoidable dice of damage per round (though yes, with the possibility of burning), for the considerable cost of 5 mana/round. He has a range of 1, but because of Hindering, switching of Initiative, and the small size of the Arena, he will find it very difficult to kite the Beastmaster. If the Beastmaster puts on a Dragonscale Hauberk and the Warlock can't punch through enough Nullifies and Reverse Magics to make it Explode, he will become a very sad panda indeed.
Now contrast Ghoul Rot. For 1 more mana than Bear Strength, it does direct damage (so on average much more than from an equal-die melee attack), can also be Dispel-ed, but does not enhance a natural ability in any way. It is also a very predictable source of damage, so both Mages can plan around it.
And what do you do with your copious quantities of Beastmaster Mana? Summon more huge beaters from your Lair, of course!
22
Spells / Re: Most efficient creature
« on: October 05, 2012, 02:49:54 AM »
Fascinating.
I agree, piousflea, there are some obvious methodological issues here, but this such a good idea that I'm willing to overlook them and see where I get to. I disagree that the most efficient creature is the creature that synergizes best with your deck - you also need to consider your opponent, and what kind of strategy you should choose in the first place. This kind of analysis lets you decide so many things: how many Bitterwood Foxes you should summon for each Steelclaw Grizzly, say, or whether you'd be better off leaving that Angel out of your deck. You need to take the analysis with a grain of salt, but, it's still valuable.
fas723:
I think you meant "divided", to determine the index value.
You left "Triplestrike" off the list of Traits.
If you look closely at Pest, it's not a bonus at all, it's just a penalty.
I have a large problem with the way you have calculated the coefficient for Armour. I can't do the math for it, I'm afraid, but I think if you examine how Armour works you will realize that it is much more valuable at first and then declines in value as you get more and more of it. The coefficient for Armour thus likewise needs to be nonlinear.
I have no idea how you would then calculate the value of Piercing. It's obviously more valuable as it becomes closer and closer to reducing your opponent's armour to 0. But it should probably be weighted per point of Piercing.
I don't believe your weighting of Max Attack either - there is no way it can be that low. This seems like a similar problem to Armour, but much worse - the usefulness of your attack is dependent on how much Armour your opponent has, how hard you can be hit back, and how much Health they have left (as killing a creature before it can act is Awesome).
I'm also uncertain exactly how you are calculating these sums (maybe the commas are confusing me, but I'm sure that's not all of it). Let me do a full example of Huginn, Raven Familiar to show you what I mean:
cost_calc = 3.26 x Max Attack (1) + 6.90 x Armor (0) + 4.28 x Health (5) +
+14.80 x Major Trait (3) + 9.41 x Mid Trait (2) + 3.78 x Minor Trait (1) - 3.28 x Negative Trait (0)
= 3.26 + 21.4 + 44.4 + 18.82 + 3.28
= 91.16.
Just looking at the chart seems to show other errors. Bitterwood Fox vs. Feral Bobcat, for example - if the Bobcat's extra Minor Trait of Charge +2 is worth 3.78, but the Fox's extra point of Max Attack is worth 3.26 and it's extra point of Health is worth 4.28, how exactly is the Fox ranked lower? Is Health supposed to be worth 0.428? That seems a bit low.
I agree, piousflea, there are some obvious methodological issues here, but this such a good idea that I'm willing to overlook them and see where I get to. I disagree that the most efficient creature is the creature that synergizes best with your deck - you also need to consider your opponent, and what kind of strategy you should choose in the first place. This kind of analysis lets you decide so many things: how many Bitterwood Foxes you should summon for each Steelclaw Grizzly, say, or whether you'd be better off leaving that Angel out of your deck. You need to take the analysis with a grain of salt, but, it's still valuable.
fas723:
I think you meant "divided", to determine the index value.
You left "Triplestrike" off the list of Traits.
If you look closely at Pest, it's not a bonus at all, it's just a penalty.
I have a large problem with the way you have calculated the coefficient for Armour. I can't do the math for it, I'm afraid, but I think if you examine how Armour works you will realize that it is much more valuable at first and then declines in value as you get more and more of it. The coefficient for Armour thus likewise needs to be nonlinear.
I have no idea how you would then calculate the value of Piercing. It's obviously more valuable as it becomes closer and closer to reducing your opponent's armour to 0. But it should probably be weighted per point of Piercing.
I don't believe your weighting of Max Attack either - there is no way it can be that low. This seems like a similar problem to Armour, but much worse - the usefulness of your attack is dependent on how much Armour your opponent has, how hard you can be hit back, and how much Health they have left (as killing a creature before it can act is Awesome).
I'm also uncertain exactly how you are calculating these sums (maybe the commas are confusing me, but I'm sure that's not all of it). Let me do a full example of Huginn, Raven Familiar to show you what I mean:
cost_calc = 3.26 x Max Attack (1) + 6.90 x Armor (0) + 4.28 x Health (5) +
+14.80 x Major Trait (3) + 9.41 x Mid Trait (2) + 3.78 x Minor Trait (1) - 3.28 x Negative Trait (0)
= 3.26 + 21.4 + 44.4 + 18.82 + 3.28
= 91.16.
Just looking at the chart seems to show other errors. Bitterwood Fox vs. Feral Bobcat, for example - if the Bobcat's extra Minor Trait of Charge +2 is worth 3.78, but the Fox's extra point of Max Attack is worth 3.26 and it's extra point of Health is worth 4.28, how exactly is the Fox ranked lower? Is Health supposed to be worth 0.428? That seems a bit low.
23
Rules Discussion / The Bloodreaper and loss of life
« on: October 05, 2012, 01:35:54 AM »
If you're anything like me, you were using the Warlock's Bloodreaper wrong!
If you look really closely in the Rulebook under "Life +/- X" it is explained that "loss of life" is different from taking damage: loss of life modifies your maximum life total! But the Warlock card doesn't say "Life - X" from the Bloodreaper ability, it just says "loses life equal to Level +1". And thus (If you're like me) you wouldn't even think to look under "Life +/- X", without that handy little note on the Warlock page:
http://www.magewars.com/jsite/detailed-overview/mages/the-warlock
TIL. And perhaps so did you.
If you look really closely in the Rulebook under "Life +/- X" it is explained that "loss of life" is different from taking damage: loss of life modifies your maximum life total! But the Warlock card doesn't say "Life - X" from the Bloodreaper ability, it just says "loses life equal to Level +1". And thus (If you're like me) you wouldn't even think to look under "Life +/- X", without that handy little note on the Warlock page:
http://www.magewars.com/jsite/detailed-overview/mages/the-warlock
TIL. And perhaps so did you.
24
Rules Discussion / Re: How does Voltaric Shield work with Armour?
« on: October 05, 2012, 01:28:32 AM »Quote from: "piousflea" post=1763
Quote from: "the_iron_troll" post=1704So the Shield is basically... UNDER the armour. Okay.
Hey, it works for Discipline Priests! Don't question the logic of armor making shields more effective!
:silly:
Discipline priests? I assume you're referring to WoW, piousflea?
This brings up a larger issue. Sooner or later, we really need to have all of the rules in one place. I never would have imagined that the website would have a page on the Wizard that would have more information than the main rules set. Something like Gatherer would be awesome (for people that are familiar with Magic; the Gathering), so that we can see all of the cards online, with their abilities explained if they are odd like Voltaric Shield.
25
Rules Discussion / Re: How does Voltaric Shield work with Armour?
« on: October 02, 2012, 11:14:53 PM »
So the Shield is basically... UNDER the armour. Okay.
26
Spells / Re: Your Favorite Creature Spells
« on: October 01, 2012, 12:24:55 AM »
I think my favourite so far is the Mountain Gorilla. You throw a stone wall in front of him, he climbs right over it! You wouldn't like him when he's angry!
27
Rules Discussion / How does dispelling Magebound enchantments work?
« on: September 30, 2012, 11:56:49 PM »
Magebound the cost to bind an enchantment to a Mage.
But does this also increase the cost to Unbind, ie, Dispel it?
But does this also increase the cost to Unbind, ie, Dispel it?
28
Rules Discussion / How does Voltaric Shield work with Armour?
« on: September 30, 2012, 11:16:13 PM »
An example:
Okay, so I have out my Beastmaster, going to town on a Wizard. Wizard has 2 Armour, from the Dragonscale thing. Wizard activates his Voltaric Shield this round.
My Bear Strength-ed Beastmaster clocks the Wizard with a 6 die attack.
I roll 0 0 1 2 **1 **2. (Does that style of writing critical hits make sense to people? Two asterisks in front? Okay.)
SOoooo, how much damage does the Wizard take? Do I get to assign the 3 non-critical damage to the Wizard first, and the Wizard then takes 3 critical damage, bypassing his armour? Or, does the Wizard get to decide which damage his shield blocks, cancelling the 3 critical damage, leaving him taking only a single point of damage?
Okay, so I have out my Beastmaster, going to town on a Wizard. Wizard has 2 Armour, from the Dragonscale thing. Wizard activates his Voltaric Shield this round.
My Bear Strength-ed Beastmaster clocks the Wizard with a 6 die attack.
I roll 0 0 1 2 **1 **2. (Does that style of writing critical hits make sense to people? Two asterisks in front? Okay.)
SOoooo, how much damage does the Wizard take? Do I get to assign the 3 non-critical damage to the Wizard first, and the Wizard then takes 3 critical damage, bypassing his armour? Or, does the Wizard get to decide which damage his shield blocks, cancelling the 3 critical damage, leaving him taking only a single point of damage?
29
Spells / Is it just me, or is Bear Strength kind of busted?
« on: September 30, 2012, 11:08:23 PM »
This is coming from the perspective of someone who has only played a few games, all of them as the Beastmaster.
In every game, I have wanted as many Bear Strengths as possible. +2 Melee is great, and for only 5 mana, it's sick. I realize that it can just get Dispel-ed on you, and you can't stack them on one dude, but, it means that my Beastmaster and Timber Wolves are all doing 6 dice in melee. The Grizzly would do NINE DICE, with his heavy claw. And that's before I drop a totem to give my guys more armour piercing.
So, is this working as intended? Or is this, as my intuition is telling me, kinda busted?
In every game, I have wanted as many Bear Strengths as possible. +2 Melee is great, and for only 5 mana, it's sick. I realize that it can just get Dispel-ed on you, and you can't stack them on one dude, but, it means that my Beastmaster and Timber Wolves are all doing 6 dice in melee. The Grizzly would do NINE DICE, with his heavy claw. And that's before I drop a totem to give my guys more armour piercing.
So, is this working as intended? Or is this, as my intuition is telling me, kinda busted?
30
Strategy and Tactics / Re: Opening moves
« on: September 30, 2012, 10:32:43 PM »
Dapuma, the thing about Mage Wars is that you have limited resources. If you play two pieces of equipment, and your opponent Dissolves both of them... I don't know about you, but I would probably stop playing equipment at that point, and run out my Enchantments or more creatures. And then your other 4 Dissolves sit in your spellbook just taking up space, and (unless you're a Water Wizard) costing you 8 spell points.
Additionally, if you DO end up playing the guy who plays 7 different pieces of equipment, you can put a Dissolve on a Mage Wand, protect your wand with some Reverse Magic or Nullify, and go to town on the guy.
Additionally, if you DO end up playing the guy who plays 7 different pieces of equipment, you can put a Dissolve on a Mage Wand, protect your wand with some Reverse Magic or Nullify, and go to town on the guy.
