A new level 0 spell called Arcane Blast (1700) has been released. All Pures (Wizards, Clerics, Empaths, Sorcerers, and Savants) will have innate knowledge of this spell and can simply PREPARE 1700 or ARCANEBLAST (or INCANT) to cast it. It requires no mana to cast, but does subject the caster to 5 seconds of roundtime. If cast from stance defensive or guarded, it cast a warding attack at the target. If cast from a higher stance, it will cast a bolt attack at the target. Holy Receptacle (325), Magic Item Creation (420), Haste (506), Rapid Fire (515), Charge Item (517), and Scroll Infusion (714) do not work with this spell.

It is our hope that this new ability will allow our players to play their characters as a caster from the start instead of relying on physical weapons due to mana constraints. We've updated the sprite quest to inform new characters of this new ability.

GameMaster Estild

This is pretty awesome. Makes me want to go roll a pure everything all over again.

>>I might be down, but I'm not dead. There's better days still up ahead. Even after all I've seen, there's hope in front of me.

CAN I JUST SAY AGAIN HOW UBER RAD THIS IS?!

---

"Bring me your suffering. The rattle roar of broken bones. Bring me the riot in your heart. Angry, wild and raw. Bring it all. I am not afraid of the dark."
- mia hollow

A hobgoblin snarls menacingly as she rushes in!
>stance off
inc 1700
stance def
You are now in an offensive stance.
>You gesture sharply and recite the esoteric command for Arcane Blast...
Your spell is ready.
But you don't have any mana!
>
You are now in a defensive stance.
>prep 1700
You already have a spell readied! You must RELEASE it if you wish to prepare another!
>cast hob
But you don't have any mana!
>rel
You feel the magic of your spell rush away from you.
>
A hobgoblin thrusts with a feather decorated bone spear at you!

VANKRASN39

part of me understands why people like this, another part of me just hates it because it becomes GS easy mode. Maybe a level 20 ceiling on using it?

Once your higher level, there's almost no reason to use Arcane Blast (1700) over the other level 1-2 attack spells. You can cast them almost twice as fast (3 second cast roundtime vs 5 second hard roundtime) and they have lores to enhance their benefits.

GameMaster Estild

>Once your higher level, there's almost no reason to use Arcane Blast (1700) over the other level 1-2 attack spells. You can cast them almost twice as fast (3 second cast roundtime vs 5 second hard roundtime) and they have lores to enhance their benefits.

but for zero mana it seems like a nice alternative to delay wracking.

Also useful if that last pesky critter has only a few health left and you don't have enough mana for your normal spells. I donno how many times I had 1 mana left and it didn't kill the critter when I 901ed.

Just an elf about town...

Good job. Awesome addition. I like it and please keep it up!

>>part of me understands why people like this, another part of me just hates it because it becomes GS easy mode. Maybe a level 20 ceiling on using it?

Personally, I don't think that's really necessary. It's not a very powerful spell, by any means, and higher train characters have soooo many more and better options.

I think it's fantastic for what purpose it serves, which is to give casters a much-needed option to not just stand there or go sit somewhere and wait at lower levels when they run dry. That's incredibly boring and a turn-off as a gameplay aspect, and insufficient mana has been a problem for lowbies since... I'm guessing, always.

---

"Bring me your suffering. The rattle roar of broken bones. Bring me the riot in your heart. Angry, wild and raw. Bring it all. I am not afraid of the dark."
- mia hollow

I love the addition. I'm glad that you're helping the young savants on their journey to cap!

:p

But joking aside, seriously nice change.

~Whirlin

>>but for zero mana it seems like a nice alternative to delay wracking.

For sure -- like I said, it's great to have options and this is a nice one. It's not terribly powerful at all, either; as an empath, Harm(/Heal) does noticeably more damage for 1 mana, and I'm sure most classes have something similar.... but for really low train character that have very limited mana, it's a great addition.

---

"Bring me your suffering. The rattle roar of broken bones. Bring me the riot in your heart. Angry, wild and raw. Bring it all. I am not afraid of the dark."
- mia hollow

It's a great addition. I'd like to verify that it is intended to work with flaring runestaffs before I get used to it and you change it. In this case I'm talking about elemental type flares and the like. Not mana, or acuity or ensorcell. But I would like to know if does work with the latter as well and if you see any of those being a problem?

ROB

It's a great addition. I'd like to verify that it is intended to work with flaring runestaffs before I get used to it and you change it. In this case I'm talking about elemental type flares and the like. Not mana, or acuity or ensorcell. But I would like to know if does work with the latter as well and if you see any of those being a problem?

Yes, it'll work with any ability (runestaff or otherwise) that might trigger off of a spell cast. With the 5 seconds of roundtime needed to cast the spell, there's very little risk of it being abused.

GameMaster Estild

I have to say Estild, I'm genuinely impressed. I take back 35% of the bad things I've ever said about you. The other 65% is pending what you said about fixing 730 and the elemental lore review! ;)

Keith/Brinret/Shiun

Brinret says, "Bring it on."
A bolt of lightning streaks down from the sky and strikes Brinret!
... 16428101 points of damage!
Powerful blast reduces Brinret to a smoldering pile of ash!

This is ... pretty damn incredible. The conversation about low level pures and being hamstrung by mana concerns always came down to needing this solution. I have pure alts and while I could afford to keep them in wands, it was time consuming, tedious, and expensive, to the point that I never bothered to level my pures as much as I would have liked. This, as noted previously, is a brilliant and elegant solution, one that allows the pure to use their low level spells and this spell as well, to keep them hunting and gaining experience.

Very well done.

You guys... you guys are on fire, lately. Kudos to all of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I really hope that this will work with F2P to bring new faces and population into the game, and that all classes will be given a try.

---

~ Bill, Coyote.

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
~ Voltaire

Awesome stuff going on, cheers to all the hard work from the GMs lately.

Pretty awesome!

Even if it won't be generally the best hunting tactic, I love MOAR SPELLS.

(Also, a very clever solution for low-level pures.)

So, when do I get to learn the other Arcane spells? Hmm? HMMM?

---

Check out who's dying any time! https://twitter.com/GSIVDeathLog

The low-level hunting problems of pures is something that has been overlooked since... well... basically forever. I suppose after long enough we all resigned to using the typical methods for grinding through low levels without casting. Glad something like this was rolled out.

I thought it might be worth stating that, beyond the obvious benefit, this is a major help for players learning their characters profession. For those of us who have been around the block, it's easy to swing a weapon for 30 days then switch over to pure and not be confused. We already know the game well enough to close out the 30-day routine without mistakes. But a new player has no basis for understanding training or experimenting with training if they do the same. So it's important to have the cradle-to-grave pure option more accessible.

>How is the CS calculated? My feeling is it calculates the CS for all spell circles known to the caster and selects the highest one.

That's because you aren't a wizard ;). I think its using your professional circle CS which is likely to be your highest CS on the other pures, but not on a wizard. (I don't have a wizard that knows a 900s warding spell but Arcane Blast had a much lower CS than immolate or Elemental Blast on my test.)

I'm not sure if all avenues for other classes using it have been shut down or not, and what would happen if a square got hold of it somehow.

...

Its an elegant solution, particularly for new players. I can do cleric and sorcerer pure with starter walk in experience (not sure about the others, which would be more difficult and I haven't had a serious try at it with them) but any new pure should be able to throw a spell out of the mangler.

Very nice change. I've always suffered through the first 10 levels and as a result sometimes my pures don't last past level 7 or 8.