Essentials Magic Missile

[Tony Vargas]

I understand the nostalgic desire for an auto-hit, but don't see it as apropriate for 4e. Splitting MMs among one or more enemies has always been an option, and is entirely compatible with 4e balance/feel. If they found themselves choosing between making MM autohit or allowing it to be split between two (or, at higher levels maybe, more) tagets, to make it feel more like the classic power, they should have gone with splitting. It's more controllery and just as evocative of the old MM.

The encounter power miss effects were interesting as well. Burning hands was obvious, half damage on a miss but some of the others were quite good. One prevents a creature from charging and a few others seemed to have effects. I do wonder how this will affect the balance of controllers overall, looks like Wizards are getting a pretty substantial boost.

There as been some non-trivial power inflation since the PH hit. The wizard has benefitted from it some, mostly in terms of feats. The other controllers have benefitted from (or embodied) that power inflation to a greater degree. The wizard already had very powerful dailies, so I suspect that the power up it's getting from Essentials and the impending Update may let him leapfrog the other controllers a little.

Controllers were poorly understood early on, and are challenging to play effectively (but potentially very high-contributing when well played), so I'm afraid that the role may be getting more of a boost than intended or needed. OTOH, it could just be that Wizards is intentionally giving the Wizard back some of his former overpowered glory to apeal to the (hopefully returning) 'Red Box kids' of the early 80s.

 

[jbear]

If wizards receive this change then it begs the question will the other controller classes receive a similar change?

I struggle to think why a wizard should have any advantage over an Invoker or a Druid. The Psion doesn't have encounter powers but when it augments with 2 Power Points then it could receive some effect even on a miss.

Being a 'Controller's Feature' would make more sense than just being a 'wizard's advantage'. Defenders get marks. Leaders get heals. Strikers get damage. Controllers do stuff even when they 'miss'.

 

[jbear]

What about this for a variation of MMissile that captures both the auto-hit, multi target nostalgia of it's predecessor, without turning it into a Minion Auto Kill and taking away the emotion of an attack and damage roll:

Magic Missile:At Will, Standard Action; Range 10; One or Two targets; Int vs Ref.
Hit: 2d4+INT Force dmg vs one target or 1d4+Int Force dmg vs two targets
Miss: 1/2 dmg
Special: Counts as a ranged basic attack

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think autokiling is iportant.

I am still for:

hit: 1d4 damage
effect: int damage

 

[Pickles JG]

Controllers were poorly understood early on, and are challenging to play effectively (but potentially very high-contributing when well played), so I'm afraid that the role may be getting more of a boost than intended or needed. OTOH, it could just be that Wizards is intentionally giving the Wizard back some of his former overpowered glory to apeal to the (hopefully returning) 'Red Box kids' of the early 80s.

Controllers are amazing when they can control but this only seems to really kick in one they get a bit more developed as most of their control is in Dailies & to a lesser extent Encounter powers. You already get all the nostalgia you could want - wizards still start of crappy & become uberpowerful later

(overstated for effect - I agree with Tony)

 

[Tony Vargas]

If wizards receive this change then it begs the question will the other controller classes receive a similar change?

It could be the intent is only to bring the Wizard into line with the other Controllers.

Being a 'Controller's Feature' would make more sense than just being a 'wizard's advantage'. Defenders get marks. Leaders get heals. Strikers get damage. Controllers do stuff even when they 'miss'.

Yes, the lack of a 'controller feature' to corresond to marks, extra damage, and healing has been a long-standing complaint. Maybe it hasn't been addressed because WotC considers it another example of the dispised 'grid filling' impulse. Giving each build some control element (condition, involuntary movement, loss or restriction of some action) that they inflict on a miss with any encounter or daily power might be a candidate for such a feature. Not sure why never missing is all controllery - except for the retro thing, of course.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think, adding miss effects can in no way overpower wizards, as optimized builds most surely don´t rely on missing.

It is just that even a fairly no optimized wizard will now contribute.

The controllery effect of miss:

- may not charge: seems like direct control
- half damage: usable to chop off remaining hps guaanteed

you just have to decide when to use which, what i consider the challenge of beeing a controler.

 

[Fifth Element]

Aw, yeah, that new development is a disappointment. I was all excited about 6 missiles/round with Wizard's Fury!

Wizard's Fury is limited to once per turn. So to have gotten 6 missiles/round, you would have had to use an action point (minor, standard and standard).

 

[Fifth Element]

Maybe it hasn't been addressed because WotC considers it another example of the dispised 'grid filling' impulse.

This wouldn't be grid-filling, though. It's more "Why have defined roles if there is no defnining feature of that role?" If there's no mechanical differentiation, there's no point in having the 'role'.

Unless the controller feature is that unlike other roles, it has no defining feature. That would be pretty weak, though.

 

[SabreCat]

Wizard's Fury is limited to once per turn. So to have gotten 6 missiles/round, you would have had to use an action point (minor, standard and standard).

Ah, yeah, good point. Still, 4 missiles/round would have been fun too ^.^