Does the hit spell do anything special in PvP? For PvM it would do very little damage.
What does Hit Area damage do for PvP and splintering to make them not compatible?
Thanks
Gotta remember in pvp everyone has high resists, and damage modifiers are negligible compared to pvm. There is also a cap on armor ignore damage of 35 for melee, 30 for ranged, which means that the paltry damage from a hit spell can almost double your damage on a base hit or increase your damage by ~ 30% on an armor ignore. Delayed spells like fireball are also excellent for mages as it adds a second tick of damage to interrupt their casting.
Hit area effect is "generally" not desired in fights because it can flag you on things that you weren't really in the mood to flag on, like monsters or other players. It is especially risky in guard zones on a red.