Has anybody here had any experince with a Shield/Plated character with Cast Damage spell focus.

I just wanted to know if the gameplay works out for playing a Shield&Plate fighter with Magic attacks, without being gimped over pure Melee and Pure Range toons like in other games.

 Even with armored casting maxxed out, you are going to be casting 2 to 3 times slower than a robed caster if you are wearing something as heavy as plate... 

So as a damage caster, I dunno.  I think you would be impairing your DPS too much if you wore Banded armor or anything heavier.  If you are a utility/buff caster, you should be fine, since DPS isn't really a concern.  Still, heavy armor will dampen the effects of your buffs and whatnot.  

You could probably go melee damage caster with studded armor.  Studded isn't too shabby and it wouldnt encumber your magic nearly as much as plate.

Thx, so paladins and shadow knights are out of the question?

I think healing and heavy armor are still a viable combo. Just not the damage spells

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Originally posted by APEist
 Even with armored casting maxxed out, you are going to be casting 2 to 3 times slower than a robed caster if you are wearing something as heavy as plate... 

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For the OP: Everyone casts or shoots their bow at range, and melee's up front. Unless some awesome spells are discovered later on that changes this dynamic, doing otherwise is most assuredly doing it wrong.

To that end, gimping yourself, armor-wise, for the benefit of what will likely prove to be the least important part of the engagement isn't a good choice.

I do not want to make another thread about it, so I will ask the question here:

Are there no other offensive spells then this blue bobble I can see on every DF video? I guess it is called Mana Missle. Seriously why every one is casting this one spell only?

There are more spells that that. But MM is the first one you get, and (along with self-heal) are the only 2 spells that don't require a reagent.

Most people don't see it as important enough to spend a reagent casting a spell. I personally don't feel comfortable bringing reagents into combat just yet.

Originally posted by Ashrik

There are more spells that that. But MM is the first one you get, and (along with self-heal) are the only 2 spells that don't require a reagent.

Most people don't see it as important enough to spend a reagent casting a spell. I personally don't feel comfortable bringing reagents into combat just yet.

It's the biggest flaw in the game.  The benefits of 'real' weapons and 'real' spells isn't higher than the newbie weapons and newbie (no regeant) spells.

Very few people use their real weapons, or use 'real' spells.  In the battles you see videos of.. almost everyone is using their no-drop weapon.  Even players that have 10 of the 'next' higher weapon, won't use that weapon because they don't want to give their killer the satisfaction of looting anything.

" Gratz on looting my empty corpse".  <<< most common thing you hear.

Originally posted by steven1966

Originally posted by Ashrik

There are more spells that that. But MM is the first one you get, and (along with self-heal) are the only 2 spells that don't require a reagent.

Most people don't see it as important enough to spend a reagent casting a spell. I personally don't feel comfortable bringing reagents into combat just yet.

 

It's the biggest flaw in the game.  The benefits of 'real' weapons and 'real' spells isn't higher than the newbie weapons and newbie (no regeant) spells.

Very few people use their real weapons, or use 'real' spells.  In the battles you see videos of.. almost everyone is using their no-drop weapon.  Even players that have 10 of the 'next' higher weapon, won't use that weapon because they don't want to give their killer the satisfaction of looting anything.

" Gratz on looting my empty corpse".  <<< most common thing you hear.

I have a few people in my guild and clan alliance who are going very deep into magic so far.  I can say that there are spells that definitely do a lot of damage.   The road to get these spells is long and expensive, which is one main reason why you do not see a lot of people throwing fire magic at this point.  There are a lot of people who fight with their starter weapons, but that doesn't translate to them being the person standing at the end of a fight. 

Originally posted by Ashrik

 

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Originally posted by APEist
 Even with armored casting maxxed out, you are going to be casting 2 to 3 times slower than a robed caster if you are wearing something as heavy as plate... 

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I'm pretty sure that's not even close to correct

 

For the OP: Everyone casts or shoots their bow at range, and melee's up front. Unless some awesome spells are discovered later on that changes this dynamic, doing otherwise is most assuredly doing it wrong.

To that end, gimping yourself, armor-wise, for the benefit of what will likely prove to be the least important part of the engagement isn't a good choice.

Have you tried casting heal self, mana to stam, or MM while naked, and then again when fully decked in plate armor?

It seriously takes over twice as long.

Originally posted by Paragus1

Originally posted by steven1966

Originally posted by Ashrik

There are more spells that that. But MM is the first one you get, and (along with self-heal) are the only 2 spells that don't require a reagent.

Most people don't see it as important enough to spend a reagent casting a spell. I personally don't feel comfortable bringing reagents into combat just yet.

 

It's the biggest flaw in the game.  The benefits of 'real' weapons and 'real' spells isn't higher than the newbie weapons and newbie (no regeant) spells.

Very few people use their real weapons, or use 'real' spells.  In the battles you see videos of.. almost everyone is using their no-drop weapon.  Even players that have 10 of the 'next' higher weapon, won't use that weapon because they don't want to give their killer the satisfaction of looting anything.

" Gratz on looting my empty corpse".  <<< most common thing you hear.

 

I have a few people in my guild and clan alliance who are going very deep into magic so far.  I can say that there are spells that definitely do a lot of damage.   The road to get these spells is long and expensive, which is one main reason why you do not see a lot of people throwing fire magic at this point.  There are a lot of people who fight with their starter weapons, but that doesn't translate to them being the person standing at the end of a fight. 

And tedious as all hell.

Seriously, magic progression needs tweaking, big time.  It's the one avenue in the game that REALLY diversifies characters combat-wise, and you can't even begin to spec in it for months, if you don't macro... leaving you in the mean time to be a carbon copy of everyone else who actually wants to play the game.

I love the game, but damn... AV needs to fix that crap.

Sadly magic currently is the only area that heavy armor penalizes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but heavy armor does not affect run speed, weapon speed, regeneration or even archery (not sure about this one). So I think it's a bit unfair towards "mage" type of characters. There's absolutely no reason not to wear heavy plate instead of leather, except your magic casting time and damage.

There definitely should be advantages in wearing lighter armor, such as attack speed, move speed, etc. so we would see a diversity of different builds, such as light "rogue" type of warrior, ranger, and so on.

 I agree that heavy armors should incur more penalties for archery and regeneration, but I'm skeptical towards melee attack speed and I'm staunchly against a movement speed penalty.  

Movement is everything in Darkfall.  If you can't move you are nigh useless.