CH4OT1C!
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As I read through the posts on this thread, I couldn't help but think a lot of the ideas being bounced around are somewhat nebulous. With that in mind, I've tried to arrange my thoughts in a way that helps to organise them a little. To start, I think we first need to distinguish between...
1). Spells: Attacks that consume MP in exchange for an increased power budget (whether this be used for direct damage or another effect) and treated/tagged as "spell-type".
2). Spell-type Skills: Attacks that consume a non-MP resource (e.g., SP, HP) in exchanged for an increased power budget (whether this be used for direct damage or another effect) and treated/tagged as "spell-type".
Although widely-known, this distinction is important to reiterate because each takes up entirely distinct parts of the Player-turn model. Spells are an integral component of Mage Player damage (as has been stated by @Ultam). Spell-type skills are "extras" that form a much smaller component of overall power. This imbalance in value matters.
With that said, here's my take:
A number of people have suggested the reason might be related to Mage's dominance over the past decade (I note @Sapphire is right to point out the versatility of the MP bar). However, I don't think this strikes the heart of the issue. From my perspective, the real reason is 10 years of weapon-type skills being dominant. It's worth remembering that the reason why Mages have dominated is because they perform the role of Warrior better than Warrior does itself (Rangers too but they have long lived in Warrior's shadow). I omit the complex set of interacting factors responsible for the sake of brevity, but sufficed to say for much of the past 10 years, that dominance has been related to weapon-type skills. not spell-type attacks. This has only become more severe over time.
The reason why becomes abundantly clear if you compare high-power attacks. On paper, spells and spell-type attacks should absolutely dominate such a list because they receive elemental compensation to damage/power. In contrast, Weapon-type attacks receive compensation to cost, making them more efficient but theoretically deal less damage. That's not how it works in practice. It's true that a spell/spell-type skill tops the list for most elements, but rarely is it completely dominant. In many cases, Bloodzerker can achieve comparable output whilst also retaining a level of efficiency. It's nowhere near the 1:1.6-8 ratio you would expect to account for elecomp. The reason is simple, spell-type attacks are treated like spells, which have a 200% Melee baseline. As many damage boosters normalise their effects relative to a standard Melee attack (100% Melee), their effects receive a /2 penalty when applied to a spell. In contrast, weapon-type attacks are treated as regular attacks, which are assumed to have a 100% Melee baseline (or even 75% for Magic). This means they don't receive the /2 penalty. In the case of Magic, they even get a *4/3 bonus. And, since many players use damage boosters, the difference quickly shrinks. It's very telling that spell-type attacks make up a minority of the list, and often appear at lower positions. Two things worth noting in particular are:
1). Thunder Groom/Bride is a Spellcaster lean armour with an in-built elecomped energy spell. This is only sufficient for 5th place in terms of unique skills, including Bloodzerker. Even spellcaster lean isn't enough to fully overcome the deficit.
2). This comes after the nerf of Chieftan's ironthorn, which would have multiplied the weapon-based numbers you see on the list by a further 1.5.
Put bluntly, spell-type attacks make you pay more, but leave you no better off than weapon-type ones. Even when they do offer a damage advantage, boss damage caps mean it rarely matters. Weapon-type attacks are also more versatile - they can be imbued and gain the effects of any weapon so long as it doesn't specifically target spells. Unsurprisingly, this led to a strong player preference for weapon-type attacks. This generated a feedback loop - Staff produced more weapon-type effects to satisfy player demands, generating more versatility and available options to reinforce said preference. It was doubly convenient because Weapon-type attacks benefit everyone, whereas spell-type attacks are more heavily skewed towards Mages. As I said earlier, the difference between Spells and Spell-type skills really matters. Moreover, FO was the dominant armour type and the old Spellcaster lean horribly underpowered.
So, to answer @Sapphire's question directly: The best things aren't applied to spell-type attacks because spell-type attacks are automatically at a major disadvantage. Addressing @Dizzle, spells definitely offer the benefit of sitting more defensively, but this also applies to weapon-type skills that follow weapon element. Just like spells, they receive less attention due to a lack of competitive edge (in that case, a lack of elecomp). Of course, I'm not suggesting Mage is perfectly fine - MP is versatile, we must be careful. The point I'm making is that views of spell-type attacks only recently began to change with the release of Necro and the updated Spellcaster Lean. That wedged the door, but there's still years-worth of catching up to do. Not to mention, recent progress has been severely hampered by much of the recent content being premium. All three of this year's tomes have costed tokens, the first three since Loremaster Tome in 2019. Of the 12 Spellcaster lean armours in existence, 6 are premium (Angelic Robes, Broomstrider, Ice Necro Cavalry, Infinite Darkcaster, Scathing Dreamweaver, Wind Necro Cavalry), and two are seasonally rare unless you have a token painting (Fall Dryad, Thunder Bride/Groom). The other four cover 3 elements between them (Earth: Eternal Champion, Dark: Necromancer and Brilhado Necromancer Robes, Water: Archmage Apprentice). Weapon support is scarcely better, much being locked away in the UR GGB. Spellcasters simply aren't able to properly compete right now. And, putting aside my other objections to some of @Sapphire's desired effects, none of them directly solve that problem.
Never mind the best effects being gatekept, spells and spell-type skills can barely compete at all right now. If there is a desire to push Mages towards spellcasting (which is certainly my preferred solution), that needs to change.
PS: @Ultam: If you're having some trouble with MP regeneration, there's always Mana Regeneration in Warlic's shop. It's Level 70 and outdated, but can regenerate a lot even at much higher levels with the right setup. Berserk affects healing spells, the Grakma horn misc should come in handy.
< Message edited by CH4OT1C! -- 10/9/2023 7:55:57 >
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