Now I'm curious how WD would function against the no-retreat combat application of Soul Bonding...

>>And of course if WD is really bugging you it can always be shut own, hard, by SoD.

Sovereign Destiny? Or Seal of Deflection? I don't think anyone but Moon Mages can cast Sovereign Destiny :/

~ Leilond
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h307/ss1shadow/Leilond_Progression.jpg

There's room to charge in some cases too. Plus, 3.0 fights last about thirty minutes, so an adjustment to the pulse decay and possibly the the pulse rate, based on mana, would be fine--if it is in fact true that it's currently impossible to close the gap (I was successfully charged plenty a few weeks ago testing it).

And after testing it just now, I don't think it needs any further tweaking at all. A capped cast gives me 10 minutes, but if I'm facing a constantly advancing foe, it decays within one minute to slow enough pulses to allow closing to pole consistently, and some melee (without charging). After three minutes, closing to melee (without charging) is almost 100% consistent, and there's time for 1-2 attacks before a pulse. At five minutes, it's 3-5 attacks (looks to be 4-5 sec average RT on attacks). At eight minutes, it's 7-8 melee attacks and doesn't really seem to be pulsing at all (I lost track of the exact averages/numbers here).

At half the cap (6 minute duration), pole range closing is consistent right off the bat. Melee closing is consistent about 30 seconds in, with time for 1 attack. At two minutes in, melee attacks move to 2-3 before a pulse. At four minutes in, it's about 4 before a pulse, some 5.

At min prep (1 minute duration), closing to pole range is consistent right off the bat. Closing to melee becomes consistent about 25 seconds in.

I find it pointless to go that deep into a min/maxing scenario that someone is gonna be wasting time and mana recasting this every 20sec to beat the timer. In a case like this there are no solutions cause if theyre gonna min/max that much then they are simply gonna max out a stat for the stat contest that keeps getting brought up and it'll still be a moot point.

~Tezirite Renzar Lorrani

"Power is merely a stepping stone to more power."

>> Plus, 3.0 fights last about thirty minutes

Couldn't help but laugh after reading that. Inner fire QQ or: how I learned to stop worrying and end fights in under 8 minutes.

>> if it is in fact true that it's currently impossible to close the gap (I was successfully charged plenty a few weeks ago testing it).

The problem I see with this is that no player in their right mind is going to just stand there and let you pound on them. How I envision this is:

Melee player engages MM
MM proceeds to steamroll player with offensive magic/disablers
Few minutes of engagement failures ensue resulting in little to no damage to the MM while he just goes off the deep end throwing everything hes got at the player.
Player either dies or the mana pool dries and the MM and runs away, hides and waits to recast WD.

I'm not sure what everyone else has been testing with, but it's ridiculously difficult to hit someone at-level at solid balance with a melee weapon, even with offensive boosters active(granted barb boosters are broken/underwhelming). Take being able to build balance out of the equation and you've got 2-3 minutes of misses/light hits. Charges are no exception, and retreat penalties are VERY underwhelming(not that they even apply here). I could say that roar stuns(for barbs) make this point meaningless, but they're going to get nerfed to all hell when the GMs bother to test/observe them in a real world situation.

---

IM: Dannyboy00001111

"Fool proof system do not take into account the ingenuity of fools, nor the power of numbers."

<<While on the surface, that looks OK, how fast can you recast it?>>

At the min? Very quickly, 6 mana is a snap cast. At the cap (105 I think), still quickly. That's at 1100+ augmentation. But that's not really the full story. The full question is whether in a drawn out fight (which mine are at level), I can afford, or want to afford, 105 mana for the WD help. As cool as the spell is, for me personally, I would not expect to cast it repeatedly in a fight unless I was really, really, overmatched and even then...

A 105 cast every couple minutes will severely limit my disabler and TM options (I have to cast TM and disablers at the caps too in order to get through others' barriers, and/or my own shear). If I really really need WD to survive, I am in a fight where I need my capped disablers and capped TM even more--thus there's a tradeoff there for an ability I can get without mana sacrifice via retreat. And honestly, if my opponent doesn't have the disabler/ranged to threaten me at all with WD up, it's not likely the penalty from retreat is going to be the gamechanger.

<<Melee player engages MM
MM proceeds to steamroll player with offensive magic/disablers
Few minutes of engagement failures ensue resulting in little to no damage to the MM while he just goes off the deep end throwing everything hes got at the player.
Player either dies or the mana pool dries and the MM and runs away, hides and waits to recast WD.>>

<<I'm not sure what everyone else has been testing with, but it's ridiculously difficult to hit someone at-level at solid balance with a melee weapon, even with offensive boosters active(granted barb boosters are broken/underwhelming).>>

I agree with this almost entirely, as a general story of how things could play out. The main problem is that you call a MM's offensive prowess "steamrolling with offensive magic and disablers," whereas your disdain for melee damage is set at "ridiculously difficult." As a MM pretty proud of my melee and mundane weapon focus, I assure you that I in no way "steamroll" anyone with disablers and magic and I am as discouraged with my own disabler/TM killing potential as you are with your mundane killing power. The difference is that, for me, without any mundane weapon boosts of any kind (I have not tested with the new nerfed predictions), my mundane melee weapons are easily the equal of my TM on a DPS basis, assuming I can hit with both. With the exception of TKT, which has been considerably toned back lately as well (curious if LT blades got the same treatment, or didn't need it).

The truth underlying your comment remains, and is by no means unique to MMs. If your opponent wants to run away in 3.0, they can, and easily. It will be very difficult to pin someone at level down for a killing if they don't want to stand and fight, even if they're unprepared. I'm trying to come around to getting used to that idea because I think it will play out well overall in the end, in terms of people being less skittish about some bruising.