Suggestion Magic orbs

[Bradlee1995]

Yesterday there was some chat going on for a basic projectile weapon for the caster classes (Wands) As we all know there's a limited number of Minecraft items and the ones that are vaguely wand shaped (Blaze rods) are already in use by other classes. My suggestion is the implementation of magic orbs instead of said wands. My suggestions are as follows:

-Glass orb (Glass block): The casters equivalent of the wooden sword. Incredibly weak yet easy to obtain.

-Red orb (Redstone block): The equivalent of iron weaponry (Orbs would skip the stone branch entirely.)

-Blue orb (Lapis lazuli block): Another equivalent of iron weaponry, my suggestion would be to make the red and blue orbs scale off of different stats for instance, the red orb may scale off of intelligence while the blue could scale off of either wisdom or charisma.

-Crystal orb (Diamond block): Obviously the equivalent of diamond weaponry, these orbs are very strong.

-Emerald orb (emerald block): Another equivalent of diamond like the red and blue orbs these would also scale off of different stats.

Now in order to make these basic projectile weapons balanced I have a few suggestions:
-A basic attack (The launching of a magic projectile) is still weaker than a hit of a sword of their equivalents.

-Each basic attack costs mana (At a low cost, like 2 or 3)

-Only enchanters can construct high level orbs (Crystal and Emerald) and sell said orbs.

-Only alchemists can deconstruct said high level orbs back into their original materials (This is to give enchanters a reason to sell orbs and other players a reason to buy them, as they can be deconstructed back into diamonds for building other tools).


I realise this suggestion is a hopeful endeavor, but it does meet the need for basic projectile weaponry using rarely used objects (well, except for glass blocks) and adds a new dynamic of play for caster classes. Also to keep in mind is that the scaling for stats would be very minimal as casters are already quite high in DPS, and giving them a powerful ranged weapon on top of their powerful ranged skills would be quite unwise.

So without further ado, discuss.

 

[HeroGuy426]

I'm all for not having wands. +1 Winner
Also, the fact that the stronger orbs would require better materials to make would justify the lack of durability loss.
Gotta be careful with giving casters ranged projectiles though, if it's too fast and weak, people can come and break your PvP reward armor by beating you to near death with their projectiles, and they'd be relatively safe if they have a bit of kiting skills. If they're too powerful, then it'd be overpowered.
TBH though, IMO casters don't need a ranged projectile, they have ranged skills.

 

[Dakinara]

i like the idea in concept but for balance purposes would need some combination of high mana costs, low damage and no damage knockback or these would make kiting insanely easy. With two out of three of those included, maybe these could function OK in game.

 

[Bradlee1995]

I believe another good way to balance it is to make the projectiles wildly inaccurate (Like the way arrows are when fired from a dispenser) this mean that rogues with bows will still reign supreme at long distance combat and make the mages that choose the orb over the hoe (Or staff as I view it) a squishy medium range glass canon, however wether or not said projectile accuracy can be coded is something i'm not versed in.

 

[MariusAbyssal]

What about the addition of knockback resistance items wouldn't that mitigate kiting potential?

 

[Dsawemd]

Basic Attack Projectile attacks for all mages seem a bit heavy to implement, since to-date the Caster class has been balanced around having none or very little of its damage come from Basic attacks.

Here's an idea:
Shaman Gets Orbs. Then we see how effective they are as a ranged basic attack tool, and we can have a better idea of whether the other casters should get them too.

Justification: Shaman is stuck in limbo since being hotfixed. Shaman is a master of Area-control based combat, meaning that limited kiting is part of its intended playstyle. Hopefully the Orb basic damage will not be strong enough to allow Shamans to do anything other than poke a bit with it.

@Balance Team