Grading Daily Powers

[keterys]

At the end of the day, PS, Fireball deals as much damage as the other area powers at that level to a huge area at huge range.

It's no Stinking Cloud, but neither are most powers that level. Stuff like Consecrated Ground and Stinking Cloud don't make other things failures. They just make it really easy to pick out the 'As'

 

[Plane Sailing]

The thing is, 9 times out of 10 the huge area is a limitation rather than a benefit. People get hung up on "Wow, 49 squares!" without asking themselves how often there are enough things that can get in it.

By the grading system you set out:

B - Good. This is a solid power. Most powers should fall into this grade.
C - Okay. This power is certainly adequate but pales somewhat in comparison to other powers.
D - Poor. This power is certainly usable (and may even excel in certain rare situations), but is definitely lacking compared to other options.

personally I'd give it a D. Usable and may excel in certain rare situations, but definitely lacking. I don't see how it could be rated better than some form of C though. A solid power? I don't think so. Every time I've seen it used it has been relatively feeble. It is a power doomed to always have considerable potential.

 

[keterys]

It's easy to hit 3 targets with it. It does 1.5 or 2W damage (2d10 equivalent). Compare it to W-based area options at 5th or 9th, and it's looking quite good.

It's not a great power. It's not even impressive. I wouldn't recommend it over other choices.

That doesn't make it bad.

 

[Plane Sailing]

It's not a great power. It's not even impressive. I wouldn't recommend it over other choices.

That doesn't make it bad.

Isn't that like saying


It's not a great power (A). It's not even impressive (B). I wouldn't recommend it over other choices.

That doesn't make it bad (D).

ergo, it fits in as a C?



I'll stop bugging you about it now, I promise

 

[Mengu]

Fireball is a weird one. I don't recommend it to anyone, and the wizard in my game lives for fireball. The huge are is not too much of a disadvantage because in close quarters you can pretty much confine it to as small as a 4x4 area. Placed in a 4x7, it can attack the front and back ranks of the enemy, without catching any allies (that you care about). If you get a good string of rolls, or have Action Surge or some other temporary bonus, it can really ease up a big encounter with many opponents (which is the purpose of a wizard daily power).

I don't think it's a power to be underestimated, BUT, it is situational, requires a certain type of encounter to be useful in, and compared to sustainable affects or whole encounter duration powers, it is simply not as versatile. I'd keep at around a C (+/- doesn't really matter too much). I definitely couldn't give it a B, just looking at the other powers that are getting B's.

 

[keterys]

So, it's clearly worse than Hunger of Hadar (B+) which itself is clearly worse than Stinking Cloud (A)... but compare to Avernian Eruption (C+) - Fireball's damage is comparable, and it's area is tripled and its range is doubled.

Maybe almost all of the damage powers are off, though...

I have to admit, stuff like Rain of Steel and Stinking Cloud and Consecrated Ground make everything look silly.

 

[Mengu]

So, it's clearly worse than Hunger of Hadar (B+) which itself is clearly worse than Stinking Cloud (A)... but compare to Avernian Eruption (C+) - Fireball's damage is comparable, and it's area is tripled and its range is doubled.

Maybe almost all of the damage powers are off, though...

I have to admit, stuff like Rain of Steel and Stinking Cloud and Consecrated Ground make everything look silly.

Avernian Eruption definitely does more damage, extra ongoing 5 fire has expected value of a bit less than 10 damage, and you might get a curse target in there, hit or miss you're doing extra damage to. Plus it's a control/striking power for a striker, which adds a little extra to its value. Fireball does do something Avernian Eruption can't, and that's to catch creatures in a bigger net, but that doesn't necessarily make it better, it just changes the timing of when you would use a Fireball vs Avernian Eruption. I don't see anything wrong with both powers graded as C (+/-).

 

[keterys]

ongoing 5 damage != 10 unless you have save penalties to attach to the effect, and even then damage delayed 1 or 2 turns is less valuable than damage now.

Avernian's base damage is the same as Fireball's, but with no miss damage. Miss damage may not seem like much, but it has a large effect on average damage all the same.

Curse damage does not apply to ongoing damage or to misses, just to hits, so no... their damage is functionally equivalent. The only way to bring Fireball back to Avernian's level is to assume that increased burst size is a _penalty_, which is downright silly.

Fwiw, I'm not opposed to Fireball being a C+ - it just means I need to take a more grim look at the other powers of that level most likely

But, after posting the at-wills. They're all rewritten now and I just need to finish rereading the thread and see if it's at all viable to put the grades into the wiki for others to maintain, then I can start looking at fixing the dailies

 

[Mengu]

ongoing 5 damage != 10 unless you have save penalties to attach to the effect, and even then damage delayed 1 or 2 turns is less valuable than damage now.

Yeah, that's why I said a bit less than 10 (because of the 45% chance, and the fact that combat will never last an infinite number of rounds).

Avernian's base damage is the same as Fireball's, but with no miss damage. Miss damage may not seem like much, but it has a large effect on average damage all the same.

Oops, I missed that Avernian doesn't do half damage, that's pretty stinky. Ok, we'll call it comparable damage.

 

[DracoSuave]

Fireball's a -great- power.

For a sorcerer.

Wizards on the other hand can't work that mojo so well.