I noticed that there are several classes in the game that are not played mostly cause they are overshadowed by their counterparts; in other words another class just excels better in certain parts of the game. The most obvious of these is the case with ranged magic-dps, Magicians and WL's.

Now I am not proposing that Magician's be buffed to beat every other classes in Noscrubs or so that people would move from WL to mage. The purpose of this post is to consider some departments in which Magicians, their current pro's and cons and the tweaks i believe can make them more interesting to play with.

It is obvious that Warlocks dominates a Magician in the game. The amount of people who play Warlocks vs Magicians is one proof among many. Given both are well equipped and played by equally good players. Warlocks simply lasts way longer in PVP thanks to wind fortification which also works well combined with other in-game equipments, defensive consumables and accessories. Magicians, however, are left with a worthless shield that is, and always will be, unable to cope up with the game thanks to the awesome damage everyone else can attain. To summarize; Magicians are squishier than WL's. But that's OK since the overall concept of playing mages is that they lack HP and def but deals good ranged-damage, which brings me to my next case; DPS


Again, Warlocks show their advantage over Magicians when it comes dps. Pve or PVP. Warlocks along with Sages enjoy Elemental Exposure (-4k magic def) which works wonders against bosses and can be quite helpful in pvp. Its counterpart, Mage's 'Weapon Destruction' (which recently have been buffed) is OK in some situations. But let's face it, it doesn't help a magician in damaging and I doubt if its ever gonna help them in anything else. Reducing their target's damage probably has its effects back in retail but here in Noscrubs (where everyone gets loads of damage from epics) it becomes a waste of skill points.

Here comes the worst part. Warlocks have an ignore-target's-DEF (Explosive Blast 2) skill which needs "noob" level of gameplay to land. While Magicians, in comparison to Warlocks, are stuck with the skill "Electric Current" -- a nuke that needs to be casted, and to wait for an ample amount of time before it can actually damage people --- its mechanics is unreasonably hard making it almost useless in PVP, it is incompetent compared to Explosive Blast 2 (unless of course, you're up against people who never move which is less likely)


All these advantages for Warlocks allows them to be playable even with minimum to average equipments. Magicians will have to be fully-equpped to even survive in this game otherwise they are usually 4-5-hits to death by any ignore-def-fiend. Yet even with top-tier items, their disadvantages will continue to haunt them.


I cannot be anymore clear on how Warlocks are so much better than Magicians at almost everything in the game. But I believe that giving Magicians the obvious buffs isn't the solution too. It's why I devised this little list of suggestion that I think can improve Magicians in a different level of gameplay.


1.) Increase Electric Chains' and Enchanted Shock 2's chance to stun to 100% or something higher than what they are now. These are basically what defines a Magician from other classes, to be able to stun at range. Allowing it to be extra-reliable in my opinion is a good, good thing for a Magician.

2.) Improve Ice Shield or change it into another survival skill. Thoughts of giving Magicians another wind fortification could be nice but honestly lame, advents and SW's have that 15-second +99999 eva thingy already. I suggest increasing the amount of damage Ice Shield can withstand from the puny 6k damage to 20k or more. It becomes reliable but not necessarily overpowered. (FYI an average zerk can land 7-12k with their ITD)

3.) Improve Electric Current mechanics to what can make it less impossible to land with in PVP. I suggest removing the casting time (make it instant) but keep the waiting time. It still remains easy-to-dodge but at least we can take the 1.9 second casting time out of the equation and do something useful instead.


That is all for now. I hope you guys consider this. Thoughts, comments and other suggestions are always welcome.