Jeff, I gotta be honest. It's just not fair.

[God Stomper]

I'm sure this has been ranted about over and over again, but I can't take it any more. I finally got rank 6 direct damage gems on my caster... only to find I do the same damage with rank 4's. I'm guessing my Int isn't high enough to make good use of the maximum damage of the 6's (with flare up). I really wouldn't know if that's the case, because if I redist to make my Int higher, I have no mana. So, yeah I might be able to do 25% more damage, but I can also only cast 25% as much as I used to be able to before my mana runs out. The math just doesn't even out.

I think it's EXTREMELY unfair to casters-especially low-level casters-to have to choose between power or longevity. Power works for mobs, but it doesn't work for bosses. My caster can solo pink mobs but can't solo white bosses. How is that even right?

Yeah, there are skills that boost mana and energy, but they boost a percentage, meaning you have to have more to get more. 5% of nothing is still nothing, so I can't even rely on boost stats to help out.

DoT casting isn't a viable option for the fact that you have to wait on gem haste. Recastable direct damage is the best way for a caster to go... if he can afford the mana to cast them. I have about 40% mana discount, and it still gets eaten up too quickly.

Let's not forget the mana-replenish gems, which always seem to either be the first 4 gems I draw or the gems I never see during battle. It's odd, but boss battles tend to scare away all my mana-replenish gems until I'm about 30% health and 0 mana.

So now I'm at a point where I have to use my staff for a large portion of damage. Great idea, except I get a -13% penalty to melee experience and God forbid I should use a gem that needs energy. Besides, if I wanted to rely on my staff for the majority of damage, I would have gone melee instead. At least I can hold off a large portion of damage with my shield, right? Oh wait...

Apparently, it's quite feasible for a person to wield a bow, arrow, and two weapons or a bow, arrow, and a shield, but it's not feasible for a person to hold a staff in one hand and hold a shield. I'm pretty sure I can hold a staff and shield with one hand while I pull gems out of a pouch. I would like to see any person that can accurately fire a bow and arrow while holding a shield or two giant hammers.

Thinking logically (sorry to do such a thing), but why can't I decided how many gems I want in my pouch? I don't want 25 damned gems in my pouch. In real life, I would just not put them in there, and that would be that. But apparently, there's some cosmic force in the land of Nodiatis that causes people to HAVE to have a certain number of gems.

My melee char is now too weak to break skin when he wants to cut his own wrists from the current pvp nerf, so the least you could do is stop making my caster suck so damned much to make up for it.

[zenga]

Well your rant is actually based towards the basic nodiatis concept: you have to make choices, you can't have it all. At lvl 19 my DD caster could easy beat my melee fighter, at lvl 25 it was the other way around. At level 40 it changed again. But once > 45 my caster had no chance. At lvl 70 i'm pretty sure my melee fighter will have no chance. Why? Cause it's related to the epic level of the staff.

My view is actually that a caster offers the best of the best, but it takes way more time and effort to get him there. Cause there are so much skills. Basically if you want to level a 'simple' caster, you will always end up in trouble one way or another.

About solo'ing bosses: just group ...

[God Stomper]

I completely agree with you, Zenga. Up to level 15, my caster could destroy almost any melee fighter. Some fights were close, but I won 90% of them. It is very difficult to level a DD caster, and I knew that going into it, but I just wish it had one little tweak to make it perfect, whether that be a separate skill set for mana/energy or just the ability to carry a shield. I mean, I can only parry every so often.

Oh yeah... and grouping for bosses cuts into my xp. I hate that. I'm greedy.

[Sporky]

agree with zenga...

all classes have tough spots. the epics, skills, and general power is staggered so each class has levels where they own and levels where they suck and need help. this is why im raising 2 characters...

at level 40 you get some skills that can boost your energy and mana so you can dedicate more to intelligence and cnc.

also, learn to fish and enchant your stuff with + int just like warriors use dye for + str or leather for + Dex. +40 of your classes stat of choice can make a difference in power at a low level if you enchant an entire set.

[Hopilus]

= lvl sixty seven caster. i have over five hundred energy, four hundred mana. epic sixty nine staff. and the lvl thirteen, fourteen and fifteen DDs (white) and fourteen and fifteen DoTs (white) and i do just dandy when it comes to casting and doing high damage.

[God Stomper]

Originally Posted by Sporky

agree with zenga...

all classes have tough spots. the epics, skills, and general power is staggered so each class has levels where they own and levels where they suck and need help. this is why im raising 2 characters...

at level 40 you get some skills that can boost your energy and mana so you can dedicate more to intelligence and cnc.

also, learn to fish and enchant your stuff with + int just like warriors use dye for + str or leather for + Dex. +40 of your classes stat of choice can make a difference in power at a low level if you enchant an entire set.

It seems to me that you didn't read everything I wrote. I know about the boost skills, but they boost via percentage. To quote what I said originally, "5% of nothing is still nothing." My point is that I have to choose between power or longevity. Power works in mob fights but not boss fights, hence my ability to solo pink mobs (my melee char can solo black) but not be able to solo white bosses (my melee char can solo red bosses).

And I'm not retarded. I know about enchant stones. I have all +int stones on, and my rank 4's and 5's still do as much damage as rank 6's.

Originally Posted by Hopilus

= lvl sixty seven caster. i have over five hundred energy, four hundred mana. epic sixty nine staff. and the lvl thirteen, fourteen and fifteen DDs (white) and fourteen and fifteen DoTs (white) and i do just dandy when it comes to casting and doing high damage.

Oh, I totally agree that casters are better at higher levels. That doesn't help me now though, especially in pvp. I'm tired of being annihilated by zombie claws.

I mean, the fix is as easy as letting casters wear a shield. Sure, it won't fix the fact that I can't cast as high, but it does fix the fact that I'm not getting raped while I wait for my gems.... that only cast moderately high.