Let's duel
I'm 5 months rusty, though heh.
Sure, and I'm rusty too.
I'll PM a time somewhat soon.
More deep wall of text discussion below:
, particularly given that there is no immediate spell damage on UOSA outside of harm (you can practically start a Gheal at the same time your enemy unleashes an energy bolt and not be interrupted), as well as the power of mini-heal (which I don't remember ever using in the OSI T2A era).
That's why spells must be timed, I won't go into detail or give any example athough. As I've said before in a few posts when discussing mastery of spells, combos, timing, when to fast cast ect. Why the heck should I even give out my secrets lol, I don't want other people becoming powerful wizards while I'm on my break getting rusty
Given the way things are on UOSA at this time, I think it's safe to say that without a working knowledge of hally cycling, you are at a severe disadvantage in terms of PvP--hence this tutorial... which I hope nobody will ignore in spite of the philosophical arguments against it
Indeed, your effort is well appreciated because it can help the pvp community grow.
But hey, since we're getting philosophical and this thread will probably turn into a discussion about the NEA cycling mechanic, off we go
Aye. It is NEA, but I like the current mechanics as it is enough to not care much. There's so many different ways to play templates on UOSA that many people are not aware of. Some pvp tactics are only able to be done because of mechanics particular to UOSA's, which is great as it adds even more variety.
On UOSA without hally cycling, I can't imagine duels would get any shorter; I think they'd last until mana became an issue either way,
One things for certain, everyone would generally have more mana throughout fights(1v1's, 2v2's ect.). This means more chances to be liberal with spells, which is more fun overall. The main thing that drains mana so much in fights is dexers, which many mages resemble today thanks to the hally cycle bug being exploited. So without hally cycling, mage fights would certainly be quicker once people relearned the pvp and used spells effectively. Timing, strategy, fast casting, spell choice, when to use the hally hit, when to use tab become more important than using the hally. And yet, the hally is obviously important. Even when someone pvps "more like a mage" and doesn't rely on the hally as much, the hally is absolutely important because it's impossible to kill anyone without at least 1 good hally hit. Often you even need 2 decent hally hits during a succession of spells.
as well as the power of mini-heal (which I don't remember ever using in the OSI T2A era). I just don't think there is a way to deal damage fast enough on UOSA without hally cycling given those mechanics and the super good connections we have
The reason mini heal wasn't used as much in T2a era is because mages didn't pvp like the mages currently do on UOSA. Mini heal is supposed to be used against dexers since kryss, katana, broadswords hit so fast. On UOSA a mage usually only mini heals when he has no choice. An example is whenever someone is hally+harm spamming, casting gheal could mean certain death if the player was already low on HP.
Mini heal isn't as imbalanced or hard to counter as people make it out to be, the problem is people rely on the hally so much and are afraid to drop a 6th circle spells unless they get a good hally hit first(maybe they feel their mana pool is too low to do that?). This means they have less chance of nullifying a mini heal because the hally only swings 50% of the time and can't nullify a gheal effectively. So it's better to cast a 6th circle spell to nullify mini heals as soon as you see a mini heal being casted, it's actually one of the only ways to effectively nullify mini heal spam. 6th circle is really good at even taking out a gheal and sometimes dealing more damage than it healed. Then follow up the e bolt or FS with a hally hit(or harm depending on what they cast or do) since the hally will be ready by that time. Spells can't be juked nor dodged(and if they run, it gives your hally time to charge and whatever spell you currently have casted and "he'd will now be able to be fast-casted, chasing can give you an advantage if you're a good pvper). And even with GM resist, spells aren't resisted very often so they are a good choice in a fight more often than not. Gambling with the hally drains mana faster than casting offensive spells, all the more reason to be alittle more liberal with that mana eh?
Katanas would certainly enter the picture again (whereas they currently aren't a substantial part of the PvP picture on UOSA for tank mages), but again, I think it would still end up being a matter of mana conservation and DPS (and luck with hits). I could be wrong, but that's what I think. Don't forget that spellcasting is luck based too in terms of how much damage is done.
Definitely agree katanas, war axes, q staffs would all be used if the hally cycle bug was fixed. Mana conservation will always be a part of pvp with hally cycle or not. The difference I see though, is that without hally cycle, since the hally will be used less this means mages will have more mana. If someone runs out of mana and gets themselves killed cause they can't heal then that's their fault for not being smart with the spell casting. That's part of the skill, but if a mages pvp style revolves around a 50% chance to hit then part of the skill is gone from mana conservative. It's not always someones fault that they have to waste mana on constantly healing a barrage of hally hits while they themselves miss their attacks. Especially in a duel ring when both opponents are forced to be hit by their attacker since there's no room to juke effectively(especially for bad pings like mine). There's little chance of using meditation, that's a bummer since meditation costs 100 skill points to be effective.
Furthermore, I think that being smart with spellcasting on UOSA is just as important as it was on OSI--it's just that it's used differently than it would be with era-accurate swing mechanics.
Absolutely, and this is what seperates the good from the mediocre even now for the most part. My main concern is that, even now, the best players can get screwed over by just alittle bad luck more often than they would in true 1999 due to better mechanics and different pvp tactics overall. UOSA's are still damn close though, I am not complaining.