I've played rift for a little bit and they had some very similar ideas for the mage classes in which you can build up stacks on enemies or yourself, and while those stacks active, then you get some bonus to damage or otherwise some boon.
The same thing I can see is going on here: If I have arcane mastery stacks built up, I can increase damages or effects of other spells. Likewise, if characters have 'chill' then they could take more damage, slowed, etc...
The problem is either I'm super ****, to used to how rift had displayed them, or the stacks are incredibly short lived. I see specific things like when I shoot a mob with a chilling spell, they get a snow flake. That flake completely disappears within a second. I still haven't figured out the mastery yet, but from what I can fathom, if I have circles floating my hand while fighting, then those are arcane mastery? How long do those last? How many can I build and how do I tell how many I have at any given point? I see no cool down timers and assume these stacks are incredibly short lived. Then it seems like there is no reason to have powers that do not do chill that increase damage on chilled targets, etc... By the time I switch, I may be able to cast one spell before the stacks disappear making it very hard to build rotations that use everything effectively. It is also possible I am super **** but I can't find any information on the durations of chill and arcane mastery.
The problem is either I'm super ****, to used to how rift had displayed them, or the stacks are incredibly short lived.
Yes, their duration are incredibly short. Once you stop stacking them, Chill or Arcane Mastery, they basically last as long as it takes you to cast one spell, so if you built up 5 stacks of Arcane Mastery for your Steal Time stun to be more effective those stacks will dissipate right after you've cast Steal Time. I think that sucks because of how long it takes to stack Mastery or Chill, but I suppose it's that way for balance purposes. The only things that I assume would make Chill stacks last longer is to have a high Wisdom score and to use Orb of Imposition, because Chill slows targets and is considered a control, which is why it doesn't stack on bosses.
Chill will freeze an effected target in place once it builds up to 6 stacks, having Conduit of Ice on spell mastery greatly helps in stacking chill, (^ also yes, chill won't work on bosses at all)
Arcane Mastery is indeed the light blue magical dots that appear on your orb as you fight, it stacks up to 5, 4 dots and then a square that connects them.
Honestly at 60 I see my arcane mastery maxed so much without trying I stop paying attention to it.
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violated87Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited May 2013
They are not lengthy durations. Chill only last about 3 seconds or so. I know if I cast Chill Strike, then I have enough time to cast RoE and Steal Time, but I cannot get a CoI off before the Chill falls off. Chill has obvious visual affects (ice at the feet that build up to the waist as stacks increase), and is also indicated by the snow flake icon with the stack number indicated.
Arcane Mastery seems to last a bit longer (maybe 5 seconds?). I've never paid attention to the visual indications, but your buffs are located in the top left under your portrait.
2 things to note though: First, any time you drop out of combat your AM stacks will almost instantly drop. You cannot carry them with you from fight to fight, unless you continuously pull so you don't drop the in combat status. Second, Chill will either not even show up and/or disappear nearly instantly from bosses (except in the early levels). This is one of the major reasons why cold builds are less utilized right now.
Oh I see. Well I'll take another look at spells then. I notice certain encounter (daily too) powers do add chill and mastery and I'm only level 30, so I can imagine there is a lot to go on how my character turns out. Maybe it's awkward because I am just now converting over to the storm mage. It's quite annoying it costs zen to rebuild. I don't have time for all those surveys and if I'm going to pay to test the build options in free beta, I might as well just go play a game that isn't free but not in beta.
Comments
Yes, their duration are incredibly short. Once you stop stacking them, Chill or Arcane Mastery, they basically last as long as it takes you to cast one spell, so if you built up 5 stacks of Arcane Mastery for your Steal Time stun to be more effective those stacks will dissipate right after you've cast Steal Time. I think that sucks because of how long it takes to stack Mastery or Chill, but I suppose it's that way for balance purposes. The only things that I assume would make Chill stacks last longer is to have a high Wisdom score and to use Orb of Imposition, because Chill slows targets and is considered a control, which is why it doesn't stack on bosses.
Arcane Mastery is indeed the light blue magical dots that appear on your orb as you fight, it stacks up to 5, 4 dots and then a square that connects them.
Honestly at 60 I see my arcane mastery maxed so much without trying I stop paying attention to it.
Arcane Mastery seems to last a bit longer (maybe 5 seconds?). I've never paid attention to the visual indications, but your buffs are located in the top left under your portrait.
2 things to note though: First, any time you drop out of combat your AM stacks will almost instantly drop. You cannot carry them with you from fight to fight, unless you continuously pull so you don't drop the in combat status. Second, Chill will either not even show up and/or disappear nearly instantly from bosses (except in the early levels). This is one of the major reasons why cold builds are less utilized right now.