Speculation on Mysticism

[Sir_Bolo]

At the Seattle Town Hall, Mythic announced that the Stygian Abyss expansion to be released in 2009 will introduce a new spellcasting skill: Mysticism

The skill is supposedly already past the implementation stage and submitted to QA for internal testing. While we wait for an official FAQ from EA, let's try to guess how the skill might work!

I have two different theories about the skill:

1) Mystics will be able to cast spells using runes, in a way similar to the magic system of the original Ultima Underworld: The Great Stygian Abyss game. Every Britannian rune could have a different basic effect based on its meaning in Gargish, and you can combine different runes to obtain more powerful effects. For example, invoking the power of a Flam rune could create a flaming Flam symbol which may then be placed in the world as a trap or tossed against enemies. Invoking a Por rune (movement) would create a Por symbol which can be consumed to run faster for a while, or applied to an arrow or even to a Flam rune to increase its range. And so on...

2) Mystics get their powers from Singularity, the source of all gargoyle Principles. Any race can learn Mysticism, but they need to complete a series of quests in the gargoyle lands to learn the gargoyle Virtues. The abilities of a Mystic are in some way related to the eight gargoyle Virtues of Direction, Feeling, Persistence, Balance, Achievement, Precision, Order and Singularity.
For example, Precision could grant a Hit Chance Increase bonus. No idea about the others though

Of course there's also option number three:

3) Mysticism will just be a collection of spells with a common theme like Spellweaving. Hopefully not!

What do you think then?

 

[Violence]

A few things I would dare guess..

The number of Mysticism's spells will be comparable to Magery's.
Reason : It's about time we get a real adversary for Mages.

It will be a general purpose skill. With that I mean that all templates can possibly benefit from it. Auras, buffs, debuffs along with direct hit stuff.
Reason : They mentioned cramping our templates and there's only Throwing as an alternative skill to choose from with SA, which caters to nobody in particular as it is too much of a stand-alone the way I understand it.

It might not have a complimentary skill but may be connected to the Gargoyle equivalents of the Virtues.
Reason : We still have some unfinished Virtues and there's a possibility they will have direct impact on certain aspects of our templates once finished.

It might benefit from various other skills a bit while not requiring them.
Reason : Template cramping. Balance.

Some quick thoughts and wishes : Prolly won't require "Spell Channeling" weapons- at least not for all spells, probably affected by FC/FCR, probably timers a la Spellweave, could feature some abilities that require Stamina instead of Mana.

Also I would like to say that Gargoyles' racial ability with Deadly Aim is totally worthless if it's only for Throwing and say, not Archery.
Although if it IS for Archery as well it would explain the recent increase in failure to hit with Archery.

A note on Berzerk : Nice touch! Every warrior will want to be a Gargoyle I believe, because during a single fight one always reaches quite low health amounts numerous times hence one can take advantage of this ability.

Now give us Dual Wield...? :bowdown:

 

[Sarphus]

It would be really cool if mysticism worked by combining runes to form spells. So a mystacism spell macro would basically let you pick 2 or 3 runes for the spell to use and the effect is derived from the runes you choose. Some runes could be available on vendors, while others could be restricted to monster drops.

I think mysticism will serve as a stand alone skill and be designed to complement existing spellcasting skills. Careful consideration will need to be made into how the spell effects are balanced. We don't need another skill like chiv that has its power determined by something outside the skill system. Such skills are generally unbalanceable.

 

[Sir_Bolo]

Of course there's also option number three:

3) Mysticism will just be a collection of spells with a common theme like Spellweaving.

Turns out that option 3 was correct...

I was hoping for something more original this time.

Oh well.

 

[Sarphus]

Well the one good thing about the way they did it is that it will be more balanceable than it would have been if they created a dynamic, experimentation-based skill.

Many of the mysticism spells are similar to existing magery spells, which have already been balanced.

There are still a few mystic spells that I think will need a blance pass before they go live, though.

I think Hail Storm and Nether Whirlwind will need to reduce their damage when they hit multiple targets (similar to meteor and chain lightning)