Celtic Heroes

Shagg, Ice Shards is fine the way it is.
It does really high amounts of damage and, to be able to do that all the time in combat without having to worry about getting interrupted would make Mages overpowered.

Think about it this way, if they have to nerf the Mage, everyone else has to be nerfed because, no one should be able to out distance damage cast a Mage.
Besides, they brought down Firebolt and gave us Ice Shards.

i just want it a little higher and not to run a mile away from sometin

I support raising Sneaks' damage a little and making it easier to cast but, not like it was before.

thanks nito and i agree to handle wat ever problems u have

I have to disagree with you a bit yesteryear, although I see your point to an extent. I'd be happy if Ice Shards was not able to be interrupted, but had a longer cool down time, 45 secs or even 60 secs (although that may be pushing it). And yes they brought down firebolt, but my ice magic is at 170 now and I still hit higher firebolts than ice shards at times (my ice shard damages now range from 110 to 170)... Sure that is because my fire magic is maxed, but a maxed out firebolt costs 14 energy, whereas the maxed shards cost 75 energy, and I can still fumble it at this level! I should be able to cast ice shards more than once in a boss fight, even though I probably wouldn't since 3 of em would virtually wipe out my energy reserves after I cast my buffs and throw a few firebolts while shards cools down.

Maybe I would agree with you if I knew what they would hit when ice magic is at 200, 300, 400, 500, etc. but with the interrupts/fumbles/cast times for all (or most) ice spells as they are, the only way to get ice magic to these levels is to sit and spam ice buffs for a long, long time, or use shards against neutral enemies like the crookbacks (this would also be time consuming). I've already put at least two hours of spamming (not fighting, exploring, chatting - just sitting in a safe spot and casting) in and am only at 170. Noone should be forced to do this. If you were guaranteed to be able to hit at least one ice shard (assuming you don't fumble) per fight people could work on that skill in battle situations, which makes training, and the overall game experience, more fun.

I see what you mean.
How about, the Mages get a stun?
We could stun the enemy and draw back and cast Shards again.

Or, make Ice Shards like Firebolt?
Same damage, same cast time, same cool down?
It would make Lure of Ice more useful .

A stun spell might make the difference, but I don't like the idea of equating the ice shards with the firebolts - what is the point in using it at all then? Short of adding a stun spell (which I would have to test out first for effectiveness), I suggest getting rid of interrupt on Ice shards and increasing cool down and/or lowering the (upper?) damage level so that it is not as strong a nuke, but still better than firebolt.

Having no interrupt on the spell would also solve the problem with lure of ice, it could be used before going into battle, then players can take advantage of it since your shards will go off without any interruptions.

I am not making these suggestions so that mages become overpowered like the old rogues (and they were, for all the reasons mentioned earlier - i saw rogues in their level 30s routinely hitting 600+ pre-update) I just think that the main offensive skills/spells for all classes should not be subject to interrupt. It would be like telling a martial artist (if there were such a class) that he could punch at will, but only kick some of the time, or only at the beginning of a fight... (I should also add I have level 70 dexterity, and even though I evade a lot it is VERY VERY hard for me to cast ice shards in a battle...)

Ok I agree with shag and disagree with yester, it's like ur commenting without thought. Take into consideration a Mage has no def no str fir melee we only have magic. Which is as it should be but, mages should have a greater cast distance for all spells and spells should hit hard. Mages don't stand up in fights that's nit how it should be unless u make ur build a battle age like shag. Anyway if u get alot of focus no str or dex and some hp like a tru mage or pure mage then spells should - 1. Work! 2. Do damage! Otherwise well all become warriors and Druids and be done with it