Idea Changes to Mage

I was busy writing a reply to @YouAreBestBae's mage suggestion when I realized that it might be better off as its own thread.

Here are my three main problems with mage: Its damage spell, its heal spell and its lightning spell.

The damage spell is geared toward massive single-target damage. Single-target damage, on a team game. Sure, archer, assassin, dwarf, and about half the other classes are able to deal large amounts of damage to one enemy, too, though there's something with mage that causes the whole thing to go wrong. With most strong melee classes, you have to get close. With archer, you have to go afar and aim well...But mage? Keep on backing up while holding right click.

Lately, I've seen multiple mentions of the lightning spell, and how it could be nerfed. The issue with this spell is the absurd amounts of knockback it deals, which, while being an interesting concept, is often used to drive the one single enemy target away for - wait for it - more damage spam.

I like the healing spell. It allows for an infinite health pool. What's wrong with it, then? During that small moment when regeneration is active, the mage is nearly invincible. It almost takes the damage output from the damage spell itself to break through the insane regen. It's not as much of a problem as the above two issues, but it's still an issue nonetheless.

So, I've explained my main issues with mage, but no solutions...yet. And here they are:

Damage Spell: First off, reduce the range, damage and knockback. The range is 16 blocks, right? I suggest it's changed to 12. And reduce the damage from 4 hearts (or was it 5?) ~3-3.5 for a direct hit, not to mention lower the knockback by 30% or so. Yes, this sounds like a nerf so far. However, the firework becomes a burst firework, and every enemy player within the burst range takes 2 or 2.5 hearts (2-2.5 less than direct) damage, thus turning the damage spell into a little more of an area weapon. And no, it cannot go through blocks, just entities.
What does this do? It makes the damage spell more focused on area damage rather than single-target. It won't completely fix the issue, but it can help. Since the damage is reduced, it also makes mage less OP in 1v1s.

Lightning Spell: Lower the knockback and damage, but increase its area of effect. The knockback should go down by about 40%, since the current value is far too much, and the damage goes down by half a heart. In contrast, the area of effect is now much larger, being approximately 30-40% wider.
What does this do? Just like the damage spell, it's now leaning more towards more targets rather than higher damage (or, in this case, knockback).

Healing Spell: I'm mostly okay with the way the spell works (especially with the lightning spell adjustments mentioned above), although I'm still going to suggest a few changes. First off, increase the cooldown from 8 seconds to 10, and lower the regeneration by a couple levels - just one or two. Then increase the duration from 4.5 seconds to 6.
What does this do? The healing spell no longer makes you nigh-invulnerable during the duration of its effects, but it's still as useful in general as before.

Overall, I wouldn't call this a nerf, just a tweak, a semi-rework, whatever fits. Given that I've been fascinated with game design lately, some constructive criticism helps. And no, "I don't like this", "-1", "This would make it bad against ninja", etc. aren't constructive criticism in my book. Give proper feedback, explaining why it might make it bad against ninja, for example. If you find something I need to expand on, let me know. Thanks for taking the time to read this suggestion.

 

Thanks

Since the damage spell is its main source of damage, it definitely is fairly radical. The skill required to master the damage spell would be reduced, but...as you mentioned, the freeze and flame spells still require aiming.

I can attest to this, since I main mage (see my avatar). At least currently, the lightning spell provides a bit of area damage. That doesn't really count, though, does it?

I lowered the damage by another ~1 heart. I may lower the range by a little bit, but I'm not sure by how much. I'm thinking an 8-block range at the very lowest, though I would prefer closer to 10 or 11.

 

I just added a sentence stating that the damage spell won't be able to go through blocks.

The damage spell still has to hit something to create the AoE effect, so dodging would still be effective. If the mage shoots toward the ground, though and lets the AoE do damage from there...My solution is to increase direct hit damage, but lower blast damage, so a direct hit would be stronger than missing, but it still wouldn't completely lose the AoE effect I'm suggesting. Tell me if I should change or undo this.