Okay. I know next to nothing about WoW. So please read this little post with a grain of salt.
It really sounds like Mages need a way to take the heat off. Plain and simple. Sounds like the old problem I had on Duris, where mobs/players would just "bash" the mages, knocking them off their feet and interrupting their spells. With a good set of warrior tanks, the opposing mages would be on the floor in seconds, and have no chance in battle at all.
This Minor Phantasm thing sounds like a good idea, sort of as a fragile tank while the mage blasts away. If it had a very high aggro for monsters, but was very weak, it would do the job to an extent.. drawing attention, while not actually "tanking" in any way that compares to a real party member.
The problem is how do you stop a class that, if unchallenged, will basically own monsters, but if challenged, will be so penalized as to die?
Energy Shield (from Diablo 2 Sorceress) might be another idea to consider. If it can absorb some of the damage dealt to the mage, essentially saving the mage at the cost of their mana pool, it could go a ways to rectifying the problem. Of course then you need even more downtime between fights.
Concentration (from Diablo 2 Paladin's Concentration aura) is another idea - a passive skill that decreases the chance of interruptability. Do Mages in WoW already have this? If not, why the heck not?
Warmth (from Diablo 2 Sorceress) is my third suggestion - a passive skill that allows the caster to regenerate mana without the need to sit down. I mean, think about it!! If you blow a lot of your mana per fight, it stands to reason that you should be able to regen it back faster! Apparently warriors regenerate "rage" by scoring hits. Mages have no such option. Perhaps they should?
The thing is, Mages spells get more damaging over time. So the less "chains" you hamper them with early on, the further they "break out" when their spells mature at high level. This results in the common formula of ridiculously weak mages at low levels, because they are so "chained" in order to balance the very high levels to some semblance of fairness. What's needed is a way of balancing the mages in a manner that changes as the mage grows in power. Perhaps base the chance of interruption on the mana cost of the spell - the more magic you need to summon to cast it, the more vulnerable you should be to interruption. This would mean that the lower level, cheaper spells would remain more useful for longer as they would be harder to interrupt because of their simplicity! Alternatively, you could base it on how long the player has had the spell in their repertoire - spells they JUST gained would be more of a fumbling affair than spells that they've known for 5 levels, for example.
From what I understand, interruption when hit is almost a sure thing. It needs to be a flexibile chance, probably based on the mana of the ability being used or how "long" the spellcaster has "known" the ability. One of the features of Duris/Sojourn was that if you just entered the specific circle (level grouping) to learn a spell, there was a chance you would fail to cast it. Once you moved to the circle above (level grouping for the new set of spells), all the old stuff was a sure-fire affair.
This naieve post brought to you by the association of frenzied bovines.
It really sounds like Mages need a way to take the heat off. Plain and simple. Sounds like the old problem I had on Duris, where mobs/players would just "bash" the mages, knocking them off their feet and interrupting their spells. With a good set of warrior tanks, the opposing mages would be on the floor in seconds, and have no chance in battle at all.
This Minor Phantasm thing sounds like a good idea, sort of as a fragile tank while the mage blasts away. If it had a very high aggro for monsters, but was very weak, it would do the job to an extent.. drawing attention, while not actually "tanking" in any way that compares to a real party member.
The problem is how do you stop a class that, if unchallenged, will basically own monsters, but if challenged, will be so penalized as to die?
Energy Shield (from Diablo 2 Sorceress) might be another idea to consider. If it can absorb some of the damage dealt to the mage, essentially saving the mage at the cost of their mana pool, it could go a ways to rectifying the problem. Of course then you need even more downtime between fights.
Concentration (from Diablo 2 Paladin's Concentration aura) is another idea - a passive skill that decreases the chance of interruptability. Do Mages in WoW already have this? If not, why the heck not?
Warmth (from Diablo 2 Sorceress) is my third suggestion - a passive skill that allows the caster to regenerate mana without the need to sit down. I mean, think about it!! If you blow a lot of your mana per fight, it stands to reason that you should be able to regen it back faster! Apparently warriors regenerate "rage" by scoring hits. Mages have no such option. Perhaps they should?
The thing is, Mages spells get more damaging over time. So the less "chains" you hamper them with early on, the further they "break out" when their spells mature at high level. This results in the common formula of ridiculously weak mages at low levels, because they are so "chained" in order to balance the very high levels to some semblance of fairness. What's needed is a way of balancing the mages in a manner that changes as the mage grows in power. Perhaps base the chance of interruption on the mana cost of the spell - the more magic you need to summon to cast it, the more vulnerable you should be to interruption. This would mean that the lower level, cheaper spells would remain more useful for longer as they would be harder to interrupt because of their simplicity! Alternatively, you could base it on how long the player has had the spell in their repertoire - spells they JUST gained would be more of a fumbling affair than spells that they've known for 5 levels, for example.
From what I understand, interruption when hit is almost a sure thing. It needs to be a flexibile chance, probably based on the mana of the ability being used or how "long" the spellcaster has "known" the ability. One of the features of Duris/Sojourn was that if you just entered the specific circle (level grouping) to learn a spell, there was a chance you would fail to cast it. Once you moved to the circle above (level grouping for the new set of spells), all the old stuff was a sure-fire affair.
This naieve post brought to you by the association of frenzied bovines.