Mage spells in 3.3.2

[Starhawk]

Originally Posted by Derakon

More specifically to keep people from abusing Wands of Clone Monster; Wonder just happens to use the same effect.

IMO the Wonder spell as cast by a mage should have no chance of negative effects, since the range of positive effects it can invoke is so wide anyway. Wonder in general (spell and wand) needs an overhaul though. It's a really complicated system with a bunch of effects that only a level-50 mage getting really lucky while casting the spell could ever see.

I just wish there was a message that told you what spell effect had just happened. Too often I zap a Wand of Wonder and get "The -foo- grunts in pain." Um... oh. Multiple messages? Must have been a ball of something.

[Derakon]

Turn up the delay factor in the options and you can see the animation of the spell, including whether it's a bolt, beam, or ball as well as which color it is (from which you can generally infer the element).

The delay factor really, really needs to not default to 0. I've had friends who played for years without ever realizing that the game included animations. 10ms should be a decent default -- fast enough to not make the game lag but slow enough that you can see that something happened.

[debo]

Vanilla has animations?!?! Whoa!!

[Arphod]

Originally Posted by Estie

I sometimes use (wands of) wonder as a Smeagol/Wormtongue killer early on, though I wouldnt keep the wands around just for that purpose; with no selling option on, those 2 uniques would live a bit longer.

A couple speed potions, scrolls of phase door, and a short bow is all I need for Wormtongue. Wonder? Blech.

[Djabanete]

I also use Wands of Wonder for softening up various early uniques, especially Wormtongue. They can sometimes give you the edge you need. Potions of Speed are too precious IMO --- I only use them to save my life.

[Derakon]

Potions of Speed are certainly more valuable than Wands of Wonder. It can be worth trying the wand a few times; if you get a powerful effect like a fireball then the fight's basically over right there. But you need to have an escape lined up in case your target gets hasted...or cloned.

[Timo Pietilä]

Originally Posted by Derakon

Potions of Speed are certainly more valuable than Wands of Wonder. It can be worth trying the wand a few times; if you get a powerful effect like a fireball then the fight's basically over right there. But you need to have an escape lined up in case your target gets hasted...or cloned.

Uniques cannot be cloned, so only really bad effect against uniques from Wonder is haste.

Usually though just the inventory slot for carrying wand of wonder is more valuable than it even early into game, so good bow and couple of phase door usually works better.

[EDIT] cloning doesn't work, but cloning side-effect does, IE. unique gets hasted. So two bad effects.

[Philip]

Actually, there's heal monster, and cloning monsters speeds up and fully heals the monster being cloned, so clone monster can really screw up your day.