Do you think magic missiles is overpowered?

Arctic Wolf · Feb 12, 2012

Hello all. So yeah, the reason behind this thread is because I was messing around with the character builder with a wizard and just wanted to see if I could make magic missile very effective since you don't need to roll to hit.

I found a daily attack power called Wizard's Fury which lets you use magic missile as a minor once per turn. So normally this would be ok until I thought about the Archspell Epic destiny and well this daily does qualify for it. So, to get to the jist of it, at level 30 you can basically use it for every encounter and every turn you would be doing at least 50 damage while not rolling for it thanks to a few items (more if they are bloodied) and even more if you really put a lot of time into it. I am just curious to what you all think since I have no epic game experience.

Edit: Well apparently I was half-asleep or something but yea [MENTION=36754]Kynn[/MENTION] you are right, since they did switch it to raw damage the most potent part of what I was thinking was gone so pretty much ignore this thread. Got to love feeling like a moron lol xD

Nyronus · Feb 12, 2012

Arctic Wolf said:
Hello all. So yeah, the reason behind this thread is because I was messing around with the character builder with a wizard and just wanted to see if I could make magic missile very effective since you don't need to roll to hit.

I found a daily attack power called Wizard's Fury which lets you use magic missile as a minor once per turn. So normally this would be ok until I thought about the Archspell Epic destiny and well this daily does qualify for it. So, to get to the jist of it, at level 30 you can basically use it for every encounter and every turn you would be doing at least 50 damage while not rolling for it thanks to a few items (more if they are bloodied) and even more if you really put a lot of time into it. I am just curious to what you all think since I have no epic game experience.

Excuse me for a moment.

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Now, as for your question: No.

Not at all.

Not even remotely.

Before hand this was a decent option, along with some other tricks, to back your wizard into being a really good Striker, but the erratta to magic missle made it worthless. There are almost not ways to boost its damage, and by 30 it will at best be minor tickling. If you want to waste the most potent ability on a potent epic destiny for mediocre striker class feature, go ahead.

Kynn · Feb 12, 2012

Arctic Wolf said:
I found a daily attack power called Wizard's Fury which lets you use magic missile as a minor once per turn. So normally this would be ok until I thought about the Archspell Epic destiny and well this daily does qualify for it. So, to get to the jist of it, at level 30 you can basically use it for every encounter and every turn you would be doing at least 50 damage while not rolling for it thanks to a few items (more if they are bloodied) and even more if you really put a lot of time into it. I am just curious to what you all think since I have no epic game experience.

A lot of those damage boosts you're talking about are based on "damage rolls" and the current version of Magic Missile doesn't have a damage roll.

Quickleaf · Feb 12, 2012

What Kynn said.

But the real beauty of magic missile in 4e isn't dealing massive amounts of damage. It's that you bypass all cover and concealment, and ignore anything imposing attack penalties. For one blogger's take on magic missile optimizing see Is Magic Missile a change too far? | Greywulf's Lair.

Destil · Feb 12, 2012

The new magic missile sucks, both from a power perspective and a design perspective. The only thing it's good for is being a free ranged basic for the Mage.

S'mon · Feb 12, 2012

Definitely not overpowered IMC, but I give minions a Damage Theshold of 1/2 Level +5 to kill, half that to bloody. This makes MM a bit weak, if anything.

(Psi)SeveredHead · Feb 12, 2012

I don't agree with the Greywulf's Lair article. It's only broken if you take some powers I don't recognize and the White Lotus Hindrance Feat.

I think it's weak, which is why you get the insta-minion-killing effect. You pay for bonuses with damage, and MM loses a lot of damage.

Bold or Stupid · Feb 12, 2012

Yeah Greywulf knows nothing. His constant instance on "this is how I think it works" in ignoring the fact that all his broken combos require a hit that MM is incapable of giving plus almost all damage boosts require a roll.

I like auto hitting MM but it's still weak in real terms. The most common "power" use of it in my games is using it to finish off almost dead enemies when the Warlord misses with Brash Assualt.

Mustrum_Ridcully · Feb 12, 2012

I can only say I preferred the original D&D 4 take on Magic Missile. Rolls to hit and damage are satisfying, and the spell overall gave decent damage. The new one is a lot less exciting.

Larrin · Feb 12, 2012

My personal feelings after seeing it in play: its a cantrip and should be treated as such.

Seriously, Mages (who get two at will, plus MM) will use MM fairly often, but wizards (arcarnists) are sacrificing ALOT if they take MM as one of their two at wills. If they could choose it as one of their cantrips, that would be about right in my mind. Cantrips can be very useful and MM is useful in a damage way similar to how mage hand is nice in a moving object way.

Old magic missle would be a very nice option to keep as an at will, there was nothing wrong with it, its disappearance was un-needed. I think both options are worth having.

Do you think magic missiles is overpowered?

Arctic Wolf

First Post

Nyronus

First Post

Kynn

Adventurer

Quickleaf

Legend

Destil

Explorer

S'mon

Legend

(Psi)SeveredHead

Adventurer

Bold or Stupid

First Post

Mustrum_Ridcully

Hero

Larrin

Entropic Good

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