About Gameplay as a Mage

[Johnny Hazard]

I will avoid talking about all other topics on the game and focus on what I think is THE MAJOR issue: combat game-play.
I started the game as a Mage, and I have to say... it's horrible. It's all over the place. It's out of "Dragon Age" style Mage in so many ways that it's even hard to specify. And the combat style sphere+dagger for melee? What kind of deranged fool would think that was a cool thing for a Mage?
Instead of Mage, they just slapped a "Magical Warrior" in it's place.
I guess the Devs got infected by Dark Souls syndrome?
No tactics, no proper Magic, and an apply afflictions+detonate mechanic?
What is all this?
How can I even begin to tell how this game made Mages ALL WRONG?
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Ok, I hate to just say that things are wrong, so, I'll write here what I think a Dragon Age Mage should be:

Instead of staff/dagger+orb style, stick with one weapon only - staff, Orb, Wand, Scepter.
Staffs have longer range, slower fire.
Wands are shorter range, faster fire.
Orbs activate, and fire by themselves (no light/heavy, just plain fire magic), always flowing around the Mage. They stop firing when combat ends. They fire at the target assigned by the Mage.
Scepters are similar to wands, mid range, but fire slower, and can channel energy for AOE blasts.
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The Mage stays a Mage, avoids melee, and uses magic spells.
Offensive spells:
>Fireball - explodes for fire AOE, leaves the ground in flames. Chance to burn (lingering damage)
>Cold Breath - frost cone that leaves enemies chilled, with chance of frozen. Leaves the floor chilled - slows enemies down.
>Chain Lightning - strikes 1 target with lightning and branches of to enemies nearby reducing damage by 50% each time. Chance to shock enemies (stun)
>Force blast - repels enemies around the caster. Chance of knockdown.
>Hunting Spirit - necrotic damage. Slower projectile that follows target for a necrotic AOE explosion. Chance to get enemies weakened. (lowers their damage)

Control Spells:
>Firewall - raises a wall of fire at the target. Fire damage to any enemy that stays or passes within. Chance of burning.
>Blizzard - creates an ice storm in an area. All enemies within suffer chill+frozen, and cold damage.
>Storm Call - creates an area where lightning strikes enemies, causing shock.
>Singularity - creates a force core, that pulls enemies within. Damages barrier and armor. Enemies caught are stunned.
>Death Cloud - creates a cloud of poison (necrotic damage). All enemies within take damage and are weakened.

Glyphs - mark the floor for longer time than control spells. The effect applies to all enemies/allies inside the glyph.
>Time Glyph - Enemies within are slowed to 25% speed.
>Armor Glyph - Allies inside the glyph get armor, and that armor regenerates slowly. Leaving/ending the glyph removes that armor.
>Elemental Glyph - Allies inside the glyph are heavily resistant to elemental damage. Enemies become vulnerable to elemental damage. Elemental damage restricted to fire, ice and shock. Necrotic damage still passes.
>Shredder Glyph - All enemies inside loose defense and take damage progressively.
>Sanctuary glyph - Allies regenerate health while inside.

Blesses - apply to the caster/allies.
> Hallow - Resistance to Necrotic damage.
> Might - damage increased, health increased.
> Purification - Removes all illnesses/curses.
> Dispel - Removes all enemy effects around the caster.
> Fade in - Caster becomes invisible. Effect ends if caster attacks or casts spells that affect enemies.

Curses - applied on 1 target.
> Diminish - target becomes half size, damage reduced to 25%
> Blindness - target attacks aimlessly.
> Stasis - target is blocked inside a stasis field for a short while. Cannot act or take damage.
> Crushing prison - if the target is under a stasis curse, it can be changed to a crushing prison. Target cannot act, but takes damage slowly. Heavier damage vs armor/barrier.
> Mana Clash - if the target has mana, the caster leeches mana from it, and the target takes damage proportional to the mana leeched.

Survival - spells for movement/positioning and defense.
> Blink - caster teleports into target position.
> Decoy - caster teleports back mid range, and leaves an illusion in his place.
> Stone wall - caster invokes a wall of stone around him. Blocks enemy attacks until broken.
> Thorn wall - caster invokes a wall of thorns. Blocks and returns damage to enemies until broken.
> Time Stop - time stops for a few seconds to all but the caster. Caster cannot damage anyone in the meantime, but can move and cast spells.

These are some ideas of spells similar to what the Dragon Age games used throughout the series. Just an brainstorm.

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About the skill tree.
It's bad. Seriously all over the place, with strange and dubious things.
It should be restricted to specifics on the character build, like Path of Exile did.
Things like mana+30, mana regen +10, health +30, damage +10%, resistance to fire/ice/lightning/necrotic +5%...
It could be developed around specializations too, but focusing on the spells and what such specialization should need improve.
Specializations:
Battle-mage - offensive spell slinger. Focus on mana regen, mana pool, spell damage, and spell range.
Warlock - control spells. Focus on area of effect, spell duration, and survival spells cool-down.
Archon - Defense spells, blessings. Focus on resistance, shield, healing and HP.
Sorcerer - Glyphs and illusions. Focus on mana pool, mana regen, enemy weakness, and survival spells duration.
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Final thoughts:
As it is, playing a Mage in Dragon Age Veilguard feels like a chore.
I will play the rest of the game for the story, but... replay-ability?
No. Don't even have the will to try another class.
There are better and more fun games to play than this Dark Souls brainless wanna-be.

[Lori37]

I loved the mage, tbh.... rogue too