Pre-barrier rewrite WM's were in a OK state solely due to IC. Their offense has been nothing but constant nerfs for going on 20 years now. Post barrier re-write the holes are now glaringly apparent. Some of the offensive nerfs need to be reverted. I'm also very aware pvp sub 200th circle is a different story, but most of these are a factor in lesser tiers of pvp as well. At end game a 80k wm that knows what they are doing are not really a threat to most other guilds of similar ranks, with a couple of exceptions, and those specific guilds are in a even worse state. I've played and pvped a wm for 20 years now from circle 0 to 200th multiple times. I'm very aware WM's aren't the only guild that needs balance adjustments, but other folks playing those guilds need to do their testings and provide reasoning and justification for buffs.

Lets just talk about their general kit and the pros and cons of it.


WM is a Magic Prime Guild. Used to be the guild that specialized in TM spells. The majority of their current TM spells are just the same thing with different messaging, and niche uses has been so heavily nerfed that they are not even worth using for their niche uses.

TM spells:

It's not really worth mentioning any of the intro or basic tm spells since they all are essentially the same thing with different messaging. Sure they do different elemental damage but in live scenarios they might as well be the same thing.

Shockwave - Does the same vitality and physical damage any other AOE single shot tm spell does. You will not knock back an at level opponent at full health at melee. Forget about knocking them prone. The meta spell flame shockwave does nothing but change a few lines of text. - I suggest a major damage increase and much higher knock back chance for at melee opponents.

Chain lighting - used to be the apex TM spell. Now it's about as generic of a spell as can be. It does little damage, it has a long target time, and honestly has no real use. It's not the prime spell for TM training and it does nothing special over every other AOE targeted single shot spell. * I suggest making this a multi hit spell. You cast it and it hits several times over the span of a 10 seconds or so.

"Multi strike" TM spells (AKA GarZeng Fireshards) in general are just not worth the time it takes to target them. They do SLIGHTLY more damage then a single hit TM spell. You are better off using a spell that takes less time to fully target. A 'multi strike' TM spell will not out DPS back to back lightning bolts.

BG - is really the only spell worth spending time using. It's damage has been nerfed over and over and over again. It used to be one of the highest dps spells in the game next to AE. It's fallen hard with the nerfs. The incredibly massive buffs to advanced combat maneuvers make old BG look balanced. I do no think the current state of DR pvp justifies the nerfs to this spell. It also is not very accurate. I'm constantly wiffing on 200th characters with capped tm + 30% and a TM foci with additional accuracy and damage. 4 out of 7 hits are either blocked or do glancing hits at level + buffs + foci.

DB - The one spell that is in a OK state.

Lightning bolt - Really the only single target TM spell worth using but it PALES in comparison to other single target tm spells out there and its not even close. AE and triple burn both blow this spell out of the water. It doesn't even come close to 1 shotting at level opponents, both which i see happen regularly with AE and triple burn. I'd suggest bringing back nerve damage from getting hit by electrical spells and make nerve damage actually meaningful again.

Frost Scythe. Bypassing armor is meaningless since everyone has damage barriers. Have this spell bypass barriers then it might serve its purpose and be worth having on a heavy tm spell cool down.

Fire rain - It does even worse damage then single target spells. You cannot move rooms with it. It lands nothing but light strikes until a target is near death. At capped tm + 30% TM buff it's blocked often.

EE - It's only use is to pull from hiding, and it only some times does this. Nerve damage isn't very impactful. The only real time to use this is vs a stealth user and in most situations rimefang would be a better option. I think this spell is ok where it is, but never damage should have a bigger impact.

Rime Fang - Would be the best spell we have besides the fact you have to be melee. WMs have the WORST physical native barrier of the barrier rewrite, and they are survival and armor tert. Anyone running a advance combat maneuver script will win the fight well before rimefang does anything meaningful. It's only real use is to hit a thief trying to backstab over and over again. If a WM is relying on their native barriers they better get real lucky and hope rime fang hits them before they get the first backstab off.

Ring of spears - See my fire rain comment. Except with this it can move rooms. It only hits at pole or melee. It had its 'prevents melee engagement' niche removed. I'd suggest bringing that niche back. Does laughable damage.

Magnetic ballista. Inaccurate and doesn't do much damage. I cant think of a situation where using this would be worth it over just targeting a spell or casting BG instead.

PW - why is this even a spell? Why not make it a cantrip? There is literally no situation where it is worth the time targeting this to pull or push someone away when you could instead cast a disabler or a tm spell. It has no use. I'd suggest making this a multi hit spell like AE and how it use to ( kind of be ). Or have it to where if you succesfully land it that it either keeps a target locked at ranged or melee for 10-20 seconds.

Those are really the only note worthy tm spells and at 200th with capped TM they just aren't up to par. Most of the usefulness of the various spells are removed all together removing any real reason to use one over another.

Suggestion - Bring back ball lighting or old mark of arhat. This spell was removed because no one used it. And lets be real, back in 2000's no one used anything other than chain lightning. I think this spell as a cyclic would be more useful now than ever.

Mark of Arhat - was a frustratingly bad spell change. the 'damage amplification' is a joke. If you were to cast MOA and 5 lightning bolts. Then heal up and just cast 6 lightning bolts. the 11 do more total damage then Moa + 5. The damage amplification is not high enough to warrant giving up the time you could have spent just casting a damage spell in any scenario. This spell back in the day was one of the most unique and awesome spells in the game. This spell is just a joke in comparison and shouldn't even share the same name as that spell. It was essentially the WM version of soul attrition, but it did regular damage and could be blocked after the wm landed it. It also cost the wm a lot of mana to inflect damage. If this spell was changed back to a cyclic damage spell that followed the target I guarantee you it would be used many times over than how often the current MOA is used. Even if it was a 100 mana a pulse cyclic it still would be leagues better than it currently is.

Buffs:

How is it a magic prime guild has no guild provided buff to its primary mental stats? Intel + wisdom + disc are the stats factoring into TM. Wisdom + Intel are the main stats we use in our disablers and we can buff 0 of the 3 natively. Infact the WM guild has the lowest stat boosters of any guild. We can boost 3 stats max. If you want to buff your weapons then you can only buff 2 stats. 2 or 3 stats.... on a magic prime guild..... sure there is sorcery, but even barbs who can buff most of their stats can just wand up and use external buffs. Would it really be too OP to add a metal stat buff to substratum and make it cost a extra slot? Make it signature, will of winter still exists for other guilds to use as a sorcery buff.

YS - just about as useful as air bubble. armor ranks are meaningless after a few hundred ranks. Buffing armor ranks has 0 use. It used to reduce armor hindrance. Bring that back.

Air Bubble - Is there even anything in the game that requires the use of this anymore? The real sad part is its one of the only spells that can train utility up to 1750. Buff wise and utility wise it has no purpose.

Gam Irnan - was nefed before it even went on spell preview. It is the only barrier besides sagacity that goes on cool down. It does not block enough damage to justify the cool down. Backstabs and ACM's from at level opponents at 200th kill just as fast with GI up or down. +/- 1 hit. Also does not block any elemental damage. I believe this is the ONLY barrier with a cool down AND only factors into physical damage. it has 2 negatives attached to it and still is the worst physical barrier. MAF does a better job on its own than this spell

ES - Again, doesn't block physical damage, only elemental. On its own it is less effective at reducing elemental damage then any other barrier in the game. If it only reduces elemental damage then why is it not the best at reducing elemental damage? Not even second best..... not even third best...

GI + ES together, big surprise, is the worst barrier combo out of the barrier rewrite. I just don't understand the thought process behind this. Both spells had stipulations attached to them, but didn't have any additional benefits making them worthy of having stipulations attached. It make sense if the Wm's offensive abilities warranted having a weaker defense, but as it stands now it doesn't.

Elemental weapons. I mean I guess they are good for hunting if your too snooty to use regular weapons. The IC change gave them some purpose, but you need to HEAVILY invests spell slots, crafting tech, and you need to have a rare ingot get slightly better than store bought but worse than rare metal weapons. If a WM is able to beat someone melee, then they most likely outclass that opponent anyways. If you can beat someone with secondary skills then you should have absolutely been able to beat then even easier with primary skills. I just do not see the benefits that justify the slot costs. I suggest reducing the slot costs, remove the tech requirements, but require a rare ingot to still create the best elemental weapons you can.

Disablers

IP - why was the stun removed? There are far more impactful disablers out there, but I guess since they are not on a MT wand they aren't a problem. Mental blast and deadfall are magnitudes better. They both can put you asleep WHILE prone which is a much bigger defensive hit than being prone and stunned. "Immobilizer" is the worst type of disabler in the game because it has the most counters to it.

Tingle/Anthers call/frostbite - their debuffs need to last longer. Their durations need to be doubled at least and they should not trigger the disabler diminishing returns. There are no real reasons to use these because they end up hurting the caster more. If I cast tingle on someone then I cast IP that IP is now only going to last half as long as it should. If I IP first then I cast tingle or anthers call then those debuffs are going to wear off before I can even get 1 fully targeted TM spell off. At the very least put debuffs on their own diminishing returns.

Pathways

There isn't much to mention. These are useless after you can cap spells. The only one that does ANYTHING is quickness. 1 second less target time isn't big enough to factor into any scenario. I've tested the other pathways multiple times over the years and there were no noticeable differences. IIRC when these were released Armifer stated these were created with the intent to help new warrior mages out. Well, we have a summoning skill... so can we make these serve a purpose?

I tested each pathway with 10 casts without using any and 10 cast with each pathway and there was no mark differences in outcome. Spells did the same amount of damage to me with out the Defensive pathway up vs not.

At the end of the day WMs were always glass cannons. Can die fast, but also had one of the best offensive kits in the game because of that weak defense. Now it's clear they still have the defense of a sand castle in a hurricane, but the cannon has been nerfed down to a dollar store water gun. To be fair, the offensive nerf was justified in IC Realms. WMs need to be adjusted in the new realms beyond IC.

Please.