As we all know the duelling scene is very one sided these days. There is a clear Jinx majority and it has eaten up the diversity that duelling once had. The issue here is not stat based, the loadout update was highly focused on stats but as ive seen most people are still stuck in the Jinx category. I find this issue to be related to the spells themselves and the spell trees instead of the actual stats surrounding the categories.
The most usefull spells to use while duelling (offense wise) are the single shot spells, some of the most used being: Cascamorus, Levosus, Ignatium, Stupeficus and Contagios. As you can see majority of these spells are jinx spells, rightfully so. Im not arguing for these spells to change category. The issue I find here is that the other spell trees have a lot of damaging spells, but most of them are un used. Some for not being single shot spells, some for not dealing enough damage, some for having too high of a cast time and some for being too low on the spell tree to be put points into.
What im trying to get to is that to get back a diverse duelling scene, what needs to be fixed are the spells and spelltrees rather than the stats. Very few people use the spells at the bottom of each spelltree, not because the spells are bad but because putting that much points into it does not pay off. An example of this is the spell Leviocorpum, a spell that was used a lot before the spell trees were introduced as it was great for combos. Now I havent seen it being used since I came back in the beginning of this year. Not a single time. Other spells like this are Bombardus and Devoronox. Great spells but rarely used due to their placing on the spell tree.
AOE spells have also been neglected in the new duelling scene. Incendo and venenox used to be some of the main spells before but due to cast time and damage they are no longer seen in duels. This goes for a lot spells and combos. Ofcourse updates change stuff but the problem here is that we have the same ammount of damaging spells but majority of whom are not used what so ever. So what the point of having them?
The spelltrees lack in two categories: expenses of spells and locking players into a category. We have allready gone over the expenses and how it leaves spells unused. But the other problem is how it locks players into only using one type of spell. To add diversity you can not be locked into a category. Duels used to be a pick and mix of spells from all different trees, players mixed between jinx, charms, transfiguration and curses which led to a lot of players developing their own style. The spell trees hinder this type of development and players now only follows the stream of high ranked duellists and how they put their points in.
I have seen arguments against a lot of single shot spells being that they are too similar. But having a counterpart in each tree makes up for a more fair and diverse set of spells in each tree. Spells like divindo has been removed as they did not fill a purpose in duelling as a lot of spells did the same thing, but I beg to differ. By only adding divindo back as a charms spell a lot more players will have a reason to go charms.
Does anyone remember the skilltree? It was more focused on single set skills such as, piercing and knockback rather than a focus on categories of spells. Maybe bring that back? It would get rid of the lock on players to stay in their specific spell tree and rather focus on different styles such as offense, defense and healing.
To summarise this messy thought process. What I think needs to be done is a major spell update (and I am well aware that it is not one easy task). More single shot spells, more use of AOE spells, and a remake of the spelltree.
The most usefull spells to use while duelling (offense wise) are the single shot spells, some of the most used being: Cascamorus, Levosus, Ignatium, Stupeficus and Contagios. As you can see majority of these spells are jinx spells, rightfully so. Im not arguing for these spells to change category. The issue I find here is that the other spell trees have a lot of damaging spells, but most of them are un used. Some for not being single shot spells, some for not dealing enough damage, some for having too high of a cast time and some for being too low on the spell tree to be put points into.
What im trying to get to is that to get back a diverse duelling scene, what needs to be fixed are the spells and spelltrees rather than the stats. Very few people use the spells at the bottom of each spelltree, not because the spells are bad but because putting that much points into it does not pay off. An example of this is the spell Leviocorpum, a spell that was used a lot before the spell trees were introduced as it was great for combos. Now I havent seen it being used since I came back in the beginning of this year. Not a single time. Other spells like this are Bombardus and Devoronox. Great spells but rarely used due to their placing on the spell tree.
AOE spells have also been neglected in the new duelling scene. Incendo and venenox used to be some of the main spells before but due to cast time and damage they are no longer seen in duels. This goes for a lot spells and combos. Ofcourse updates change stuff but the problem here is that we have the same ammount of damaging spells but majority of whom are not used what so ever. So what the point of having them?
The spelltrees lack in two categories: expenses of spells and locking players into a category. We have allready gone over the expenses and how it leaves spells unused. But the other problem is how it locks players into only using one type of spell. To add diversity you can not be locked into a category. Duels used to be a pick and mix of spells from all different trees, players mixed between jinx, charms, transfiguration and curses which led to a lot of players developing their own style. The spell trees hinder this type of development and players now only follows the stream of high ranked duellists and how they put their points in.
I have seen arguments against a lot of single shot spells being that they are too similar. But having a counterpart in each tree makes up for a more fair and diverse set of spells in each tree. Spells like divindo has been removed as they did not fill a purpose in duelling as a lot of spells did the same thing, but I beg to differ. By only adding divindo back as a charms spell a lot more players will have a reason to go charms.
Does anyone remember the skilltree? It was more focused on single set skills such as, piercing and knockback rather than a focus on categories of spells. Maybe bring that back? It would get rid of the lock on players to stay in their specific spell tree and rather focus on different styles such as offense, defense and healing.
To summarise this messy thought process. What I think needs to be done is a major spell update (and I am well aware that it is not one easy task). More single shot spells, more use of AOE spells, and a remake of the spelltree.
