Are caster mobs OP here?

[Wizardling]

All my melee toons have to avoid casters tougher than blue con, as they'll root me, blast away and remove most of my HPs even before closing to melee range, then if I get out of root, they keep up with me as I strafe run.

I don't recall casters like blue con druids in Western Karana being so grossly no-win-situation OP in classic... but it has been a long time *shrug*

[Buriedpast]

From memory the caster shit wasnt revamped for a while, maybe even into velious.

When they started casting proper level spells.

Casters on live in the earlier days were a joke as a melee. Would just sit there casting stuns and shit, never an ice comet.

[kaev]

Per other threads on this topic, caster mobs are more OP here than they were on live because player resists are currently scaled based on a max of 500 rather than a max of 255. This means mobs close to your level will land more spells and will do more damage on average when you get a partial resist.

[Wizardling]

So what's to be done? Searching on my own, I see the overpowered caster mobs on 1999 has been an issue for a long time.

[kaev]

Hope that Haynar (or another dev) has the time and the inclination to revamp PvE resists. Not certain, but I think that resist revamp is one of their goals for Velious release. Meanwhile, don't fight casters unless you have the means to mitigate their casting or the strength to crush them regardless.

[mostbitter]

i thnk a lot of the mobs here cast innapropriate spells also. I never heard anyone talk about getting ice cometted by frogs in guk or even in seb, I feel like mob spells where capped at level 39 but alas, dat proof

[Tuffpuppy]

The last time I played my Druid a few years ago, I entered Chardok got 1shot by a nice comet by the first mob in the zone. Caster mobs, even through Velious NEVER casted level appropriate spells, and even tho it has been posted on the bugs forum with proof in the past nothing has changed.

[Wizardling]

Well, with any luck something will eventually be done. It seemed unlikely this could be as it was in classic. I mean I died a LOT in classic, don't get me wrong, heh :-D But fights with single blue con casters I attack at full health wasn't something I remember going so consistently badly.

Pity my caster characters don't seem to have the power the caster mobs do ;-)

[quido]

caster mobs are way weaker than they used to be - for a long time they had 10x the mana

hiero would chain cold nukes on you for like 12 minutes before he ran out of mana as it used to be

[Wizardling]

caster mobs are way weaker than they used to be - for a long time they had 10x the mana

hiero would chain cold nukes on you for like 12 minutes before he ran out of mana as it used to be

Ouch! Well, I suppose I ought to be thankful I started playing past that awfulness, ha! :-D

[Rais]

Should have seen it when the wizards in seb could cast ice comet in 2 seconds. That was a fun time period.

[Potus]

NPC monsters shouldn't be casting the highest possible spells for their level, with a few exceptions (boss mobs, named mobs).

[Wizardling]

*sigh* Just had a green con druid bandit in WK take me down to 40% HPs before even closing to melee range. Luckily it didn't root me, so I was able to strafe run away to zone. Unless I can close to melee and open with a backstab, I just don't stand a chance. Which I cannot do if it's a group I need to split.

Just insanity. What do people do to get around this? Aside from twinking - I've only been here for a month.

[gildor]

LOL how about the slowing lifetapping harmtouching shaman/sk hybrid from hell in kurns..those badgers are bad ass

[Wizardling]

SK mobs with death touch have always been dicey fights :-) I always piss off the corrupt guards in Qeynos on my good toons, and Lieutenant Dagarok blasts me into a fine cloud of ash, if I'm not careful around the rogue's tavern and monk guild house *grins* But that was the case on Fippy Darkpaw progression, live and here too. Goodness knows what earlier level SK mobs are like for me solo. I've been lucky and only run across one so far, and was in a group that defeated him. I'm scared of Kurns now you've brought that up. Was thinking of an Iksar for my next alt...

[Lojik]

Howcome player HT against NPC is resisted regularly, however I don't think I've ever resisted a HT against any NPC (even the baby SK in befallen's HT lands on me at 60 with 150ish MR)...seems like an inconsistency there.

[Whirled]

LOL how about the slowing lifetapping harmtouching shaman/sk hybrid from hell in kurns..those badgers are bad ass

iirc, most start dubious to the burynai legion.

[baalzy]

iirc, most start dubious to the burynai legion.

Burynai in FoB/FM ect.. will be dubious to an iksar necro (can't imagine it's different for monk, war or sk)

I think the kurns Burynai will always be KoS (and lower faction against the others, so you then become KoS to FoB/FM).

[Byrjun]

Burynai inside and outside of Kurns are dubious to my Iksar Monk. Used to run around the basement fighting skeletons and the Burynai left me alone.

[Zliz]

Here is some relevant info. I remember when playing back in 2002 that with a patch, all of a sudden caster mobs went from being a joke to being something to be careful of. I do however rememeber that at lower levels, caster mobs were nasty, everyone knew that.

Patch on June 5th 2002 - http://www.tski.co.jp/baldio/patch/20020605a.html
NPC casters should be a little bit smarter now. They will choose their spells a little more carefully.

Safehouse discussion - http://www.thesafehouse.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6188
Yep, some wizard npcs that used to cast Force Strike were casting stuff like Tishans Discord, Ice Comet, Draught of Jiva, and Thunderbold.

I also clearly remember going to Sebilis and have frogs near the entrance cast Ice Comet all of a sudden.

However, I also read that there was a follow-up patch on June 12th:
http://www.tski.co.jp/baldio/patch/20020612.html

NPCs are now bound by spell casting distance rules, meaning that an NPC's spell will no longer connect from halfway across the zone.
NPCs now have a chance to be interrupted by normal combat when casting newer spells.
NPCs that are much lower level than their target have had their potential casting damage reduced using a similar mechanic to the one that player characters' level differences use.
NPC Wizards no longer have an inherent bonus to their fire and cold based spells.
Most NPCs that had previously had their spellcasting level inflated to make up for poor spell selection have been brought back into line with their actual level.
NPCs no longer automatically get free access to rarely dropped spells, such as Garrison's Superior Sundering and Funeral Pyre of Kelador.

Since this was all patched in 2002 (Luclin era), maybe it can give some info on how things should and should not be on P99, if something is amiss?

[ctre]

Caster mos here have smaller mana pools. and yes froglocks in live lguk did cast ice comets then back then. no difference to here.

[ctre]

Oops I ment Seb.. not lguk

[Zliz]

Oops I ment Seb.. not lguk
It's my argument against yours, but I will bet money saying they did not - until the 2002 patch.

[Buellen]

In Old Sebelis Illis froglock wizards cast ice comet circa 2000.


http://web.archive.org/web/20010522082709/http://www.everlore.com/bestiary/beastdetails.asp?mode=show&BID=142944


Submited by: Yurimaru On: 7/11/2000 2:47:06 AM Rank: worst 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 best
This is usually the place holder for "Gruplinort", the frog with the bonecaster robe. Illis wizard is lvl 53 from my experience and has about 14325 hps. He's quite a handful for one group to kill and even gives trouble to two groups. He does cast Ice comet and Gravity flux. He also hits for 149ish

---

Froglok Krup wizard

http://web.archive.org/web/20010522083139/http://www.everlore.com/bestiary/beastdetails.asp?mode=show&BID=134981

Submited by: Important Man On: 5/22/2000 4:35:35 PM Rank: worst 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 best
Betcha didn't ever think a frog could cast Ice Comet? Ha! I knew you didn't! That's why I'm important. ...Anyway, this things cast lvl 1-8 evoc spells and often escapes his zone and charms mobs of Fire Beetles to attack the newbies at newbie zones. This happend before, until a lvl 35 Mage came over and talked to him about his insecurities. Then he went home. But whenever he respawns, it happens agian, and they gotta call in another Mage and...What was my point agian? Oh yeah. I hope this helps people

----
Hope that helps

[Grimjaw]

I do however rememeber that at lower levels, caster mobs were nasty, everyone knew that.

^ This. One does not simply cross the path of a desert madman.

[Daldaen]

^ This. One does not simply cross the path of a desert madman.

Or festering hag.

Though I don't really recall hags casting AOEs. Nothing is quite as awesome as when a hag AOEs a person soloing in the basement and it hits a low level pet in main room who then suicides down into the basement and trains the group...

[Nirgon]

Things here have force struck the SHIT out of me with 150mr.

Conflag from NPCs gets fully resisted regularly for me with 80 fire, shaman cold nukes hit for a ton with 150 cold.

Need 255 as cap first then we can get down to brass tacks. Praise the High Priest.

[WolfsongReborn]

I've noticed this on occasion as well.

I'm a mage, and was using my fire pet.

Perfect example: I figured I'd camp a Ghoulbane for the heck of it. I was lvl 48 at the time with a max lvl 44 pet summoned and buffed. I was able to clear the entire area around the ghoulbane npc with little effort and my pet was fine. Medded to FM and pulled the 2 shammy frogs (one with wolf pet) My pet died in literally a few seconds. There was no time to recast, heal or even get halfway through a nuke before the pet was at 15% hp and then dropped dead.

I'm not sure what spells they were casting but once my pet was dead they flipped to me and their nukes were hurting quite bad before my gate finally got off.

I was lvl 48. At the most, they were lvl 34 and more likely around lvl 30. At 14-18 levels higher than them I should have been resisting a lot if not all of their spells, and my pet being something like 5 or 6 lvls higher should have had a bit more of a fighting chance.

Something seems odd.

[Velerin]

Yeah shaman mobs are just plain nasty here. I don't remember casters (when much lower level than you) being near this bad on live. They nuke you like a wizard, dot you up to all hell, slow you, and then heal themselves up easily. If you do manage to survive and drain them oom they just chain blind you. I definitely don't remember shaman mobs using blind (worst spell ever) as much as they do here.

also, for future reference, fire pet is awesome for most instances but if fighting multiples(esp casters that can unleash a lot of damage) go with earth pet for more hp and better buffer to resummons.

[kaev]

I've noticed this on occasion as well.

I'm a mage, and was using my fire pet.

Perfect example: I figured I'd camp a Ghoulbane for the heck of it. I was lvl 48 at the time with a max lvl 44 pet summoned and buffed. I was able to clear the entire area around the ghoulbane npc with little effort and my pet was fine. Medded to FM and pulled the 2 shammy frogs (one with wolf pet) My pet died in literally a few seconds. There was no time to recast, heal or even get halfway through a nuke before the pet was at 15% hp and then dropped dead.

I'm not sure what spells they were casting but once my pet was dead they flipped to me and their nukes were hurting quite bad before my gate finally got off.

I was lvl 48. At the most, they were lvl 34 and more likely around lvl 30. At 14-18 levels higher than them I should have been resisting a lot if not all of their spells, and my pet being something like 5 or 6 lvls higher should have had a bit more of a fighting chance.

Something seems odd.

WTF? Frog shaman with pet in LowerGuk?????????????????????? :NotClassic: :NotEvenTrippingOnBadAcidClassic:

[Nirgon]

Sounds like you might not have any resist gear on

But still most spells should be resisted from greens even at around 70ish resist level?

I resist conflagaration on seb frogs with barely any fire pretty regularly but even with 130-140 cold I still take full shaman nukes.