My speculation as to why this is the case is for two reasons that combined to end up where we are now:

1. Creatures cast spells at a fixed mana amount, not a relative mana amount.
2. Debilitation and Targeted Magic spells had their mana ranges lowered quite significantly in the Magic 3.2 change almost across the board. (Only AoE and a few really special single target ones didn't).

Because a creature casts a spell with a fixed mana amount that mana wasn't very strong when considered against the higher range of mana the spell used to be able to be cast at, but with the lowered mana range the spell is suddenly a lot stronger relatively.

E.g. using CALM as the example with a hypothetical casting amount:
A warcat casting CALM with 25 mana under the old system where mana ranged from 2 to 97 was only casting the spell at about 25% of the potential effectiveness. But under the new system, that same warcat casting CALM with 25 mana where the mana now ranges from 1 to 33 mana is casting it at nearly it's full potential.

Unlike players, who are limited by skill resulting in their personal mana caps going down making their spells more or less just as powerful as they used to be a few days ago, critters didn't have their mana levels changed to go along with the update.

I'm personally of two minds on this issue. One, critter magic was pretty darn toothless before the update, so an increase in its effectiveness is in and of itself not an unwelcome change. Two, however, is that if a creature is now un-huntable because their spell casting is too overwhelming for their level then we need that to be looked at. Unfortunately, it's likely going to have to be on a critter by critter basis.

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Well, there's a sort of balance that used to exist, at least in the hunting areas I've been in. When first moving into an area the spell the creatures cast tended to have a chance of landing, albeit a small one in most cases. By the time I would leave the area, that chance had all but completely gone away. So there does seem to be a point where spells can be set that work somewhat around a creature's level relative to yours, although I could see the reduced mana ranges making it more difficult to find a balanced point since there's a bit less granularity.

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Creature casting logic is beyond dumb right now. It's been on my list forever to fix it.

However, from what I recall of what it's doing right now I don't THINK they should be using SvS as a notably higher level and even if they are it shouldn't be making THAT large of a difference because SvS is so strongly driven by stats compared to the component that comes from the mana level.

But it remains on the list.

-Raesh

"It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to BE itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true." ― The Slow Regard of Silent Things

<However, from what I recall of what it's doing right now I don't THINK they should be using SvS as a notably higher level and even if they are it shouldn't be making THAT large of a difference because SvS is so strongly driven by stats compared to the component that comes from the mana level.>

I'm not sure what they're using but it has made that large of a difference. Myself and others have had to move out of the area.

-Lukrani

I'm of the opinion if you invest in stats to resist deblitation spell....then critter debilitation magic should be toothless.

If the GM's want to make the critters "smarter" as in if you resist 2-3 mental blasts in a row they give up then that would be a happy change.

For warcats in particular it shouldn't even be a big deal if they land a calm on you... they'll break it the next time they attack.

-Raesh

"It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to BE itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true." ― The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Did you try since I fixed the bug causing that yesterday?

-Raesh

"It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to BE itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true." ― The Slow Regard of Silent Things

>>Did you try since I fixed the bug causing that yesterday?

Just tried them and things seem back to normal to me.