Rays of Disintegration - a view

djwolf · 05-05-2009, 08:32 AM

The last thread on this topic was closed without any understanding on the topic reached.

Rays of Disintegration is a slow casting medium damage spell that impacts on other players in a way that defies the entire basis of Non-PVP server player interference.

My main is not a great wizard and there is much for me yet to learn but I do know that the wizard class is penalized by being given this spell in its current form. Many have commented that it is okay as long as a warning is given to other mages in the group but the bottom line is that it interfere's with other player's game-play and dictates to them what they can and cannot do.

In my guild, the spell is banned in all raids since it causes upset and having some wizard clutter up the Raid channel with a warning that he or she is going to take over the casting and player choices of another player creates disputes from people that have a right to object.

What's more, a considerable amount of bonusing on the Nexus set of gear dropped in VP is wasted on a spell that few wizards are able or willing to use.

It doesn't matter if this spell is justified by those who are too arrogant to see that taking over another player's casting abilities does not belong on a Non-PVP server regardless of what benefits this has been alledged to give them. And, for those who wish to defend this spell, how would you feel if necros gained the ability to temporarily 'possess' other players in the group or Illusionists got to control them. How would that be different?

It is not a case of 'giving warnings' because the entire idea is wrong. Imagaine the chaos if every class had a 'we are going to do what I want to do' spell or ability.

In the end, I am not opposed to the idea of having a spell where the damage is calculated by the number of mages in the group nor am I concerned that the damage may be attributed to them. Regardless of the resulting parses they will not feel that the damage was done by them so it won't please them.

Where I am opposed is that I can interrupt them, cancel the spell by hitting escape, cast again, hit escape, cast again, hit escape and interfere with them in a way that is disruptive and does not fit in with the essence of fairness and player choice.

By all means, reduce the damage but nothing I should do should be able to interrupt another player on a non-PVP server.

Perm · 05-05-2009, 08:40 AM

420 cast rays every day.

Sudden · 05-05-2009, 09:44 AM

Not sure what all mages you have in your group, but tbh alot of times its not a bad thing to cast Rays. I mean if you use your head. If you have a lock in your group and theres a big ae encounter it would be dumb to cast rays and interupt his or anyone elses ae's. But, in all honesty Rays is a high hitting nuke. Say you have wiz, lock, illu, troub, healer, random class- which I'd think is a fairly common group set up. Now, other then the lock who is likely to have a bigger hitting spell up? So, why not cast rays, in this scenario its gonna be anywhere from 15-25K dmg. As long as you aren't busting balls on the locks big stuff, but if you raid often enough with the person you should probably know when his big stuff is used. If a raid leader tells you not to cast this spell, they are just taking dps away from the raid. If the wiz that is casting this is being a retard about it, find a new wiz.

I do agree the implementation of this spell is ass just because it does prevent choices of other players. But, that doesnt mean it shouldn't be cast.

stivan · 05-05-2009, 09:46 AM

Yea rays is a bit of an annoying spell. Maybe when the beta comes around for the next expac we can fight the devs to change this spell finally. The best change to it would be to make it queue up for the other mages in your group, rather than interrupting them imo. I guess once we get closer to beta we can find out how much the devs are willing to help us on that spell. We did get quite the boost last time around.

Jynx84 · 05-05-2009, 12:00 PM

Rays was a great idea in my opinion. All mages in group casting together is a sweet idea of unity. It is a hard hitter with a relatively slow cast time but still for chanters and non wizards it's their biggest single target nuke and I'm sure they would cast it themselves. The problem is that its hard to judge and time every mage in your group to make sure that when you cast Rays its the highest DPS nuke currently available to them. This is the problem RoD suffers from. Not that its bad DPS, but is it better than what they can currently cast. I would suggest either a queue ( which would face the problems of being over written primarily by chanters and all the timing issues that go with it ) or my personal preference is that when rays is cast the wizard casts it there and then whereas all the other mages in the group are given a temp spell much like the fury heal but only has one charge. That is, make it just like shards and hearts but it does DPS and has only 1 charge. If they havent used it by the time we cast another rays they wouldnt get a second. This I think would be the best idea for it. That way it just puts the item in their inventory and they can cast it when they damn well want to! If you agree with me on this please promote this idea because this spell does have potential. Plus the problem of rays currently is that if its interrupted, cancelled or the if the mob is out of range, it will eat your timer and not actually cast the spell. An item in inventory would also negate the need to stand 15m of wizard. If not possible for the wizard to cast the actual spell whilst casting the items for others to use it would suck. I dont want to spend 3 seconds casting a spell to get an item so I can cast another 3 second spell =/ Maybe the cure to this could be make Rays instant cast with the item having the same timer as RoD currently does. /Feedback please =)

Balnazzar · 05-05-2009, 05:10 PM

We don't use it either.

1. The warlock cries
2. The chanters lose Perp5

I've made attempts to argue the merits, and after a short stint buried in group 4, I repented...

Pinski · 05-05-2009, 05:11 PM

Having enchanters argue against Rays means 1 thing. They are dumb.

Balnazzar · 05-05-2009, 05:13 PM

Having other classes argue the case for them is even worse... which was the case I dealt with. Like I said, in the end, I gave up. Wasn't worth the headache

So yeah, that's my advice... not worth the headache.

stivan · 05-05-2009, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinski

Having enchanters argue against Rays means 1 thing. They are dumb.

but but but but.. it messed up their casting speed!

wocto · 05-05-2009, 06:47 PM

ahh yes, the great Rays arguement..... to which someone once said " I'm sorry, what other 20k+ nuke am I interupting...... : )