Is This correct?

[Hyfrydle]

My current 17th civ level character has the following stats:

Health: 8532
Magic Points: 950
Magical Attack: 968
Magical Casting Speed: 2

I have the following spells Ball Lightening 1 & 2 and they both have exactly the same stats:

Magic Point Cost: 1
Global Cooldown: 0.5
Yellow Offensive Cooldown: 1.5
Magical Power: 969

Shouldn't the version 2 spell differ in some way if not why do the two spells exist?

Sure I'm missing something here but all my offensive spells seem to have a magical power of 969 except for Energy Pulse 3 which has 1368. The only difference seems to be the cooldowns.

[x4000]

Yes, that sounds correct.  The tier 1 and 2 spells are considered equivalent to level 1 and level 6 in their power.  Anything that is fewer than 10 levels below your current level is going to be incredibly weak and cheap to use.  Tier III and IV gems are available to you at this point, and would have different stats.  If you play up levels you can even get Tier V gems, which have even better stats.

But as you level up, the higher tiers will get cheaper and weaker as well, eventually having the same stats as the tier I and II versions as the civ level progresses and higher tier spells become available to you.

[Terraziel]

Or more simply, yes, you have out levelled them and out levelled spells are essentially all the same.

[Hyfrydle]

So my aim would now be to aim for tier 3 gems which should be in level 17 regions?

[x4000]

I'd aim for tier 4 gems, which should be in those level 17 regions, actually.  Tier 3 gems would have started popping up around level 10 or 11, I'd think.

[Terraziel]

*Thinks*...tier 3 gems are in level 10-14 regions, tier 4 is 15-19. so go straight to tier 4.

I can never remember if the tiers are 1-4, 5-9 etc  or 1-5,6-10 etc....i should probably pay more attention

[Hyfrydle]

I'm having real trouble getting my head around these changes and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Is it correct to say that each tier is 5 civilisation levels and then you need to create improved higher gem spells to progress further?

So at my civ level of 17 I should have no problem taking on lower level reqions?

Also I can aim higher than my level and become stronger for a while?

[x4000]

I'm having real trouble getting my head around these changes and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

To some extent I think it's harder that you knew how it used to work and are now having to re-adjust your existing habits, but yes.  To some extent this happens whenever you have an established group of players and any major change is made.  To another extent we need to do a better job of making this stuff clearer.  I'm tempted to make anything you've outleveled simply shatter to clear up the confusion. 

"I can use this equipment for 10 levels, and before then I need to find more gems from the higher level regions I'm then in, and craft something to replace my old stuff; be that a higher-tier replacement of what I already had, or a higher-tier version of something new."  That's always been the core design, and we've just changed how the numbers look to make them scale more cleanly and clearly.

Is it correct to say that each tier is 5 civilisation levels and then you need to create improved higher gem spells to progress further?

Sure, and that's not new at all -- that was always the case.

So at my civ level of 17 I should have no problem taking on lower level reqions?

Generally speaking, sure.  Also not new.

Also I can aim higher than my level and become stronger for a while?

Very much so -- also not new, although it's harder to do new (it was laughably too easy before).  I recommend no more than about 4 levels above, in the main.

[Hyfrydle]

Thanks for the replies I think I'm finally starting to get it Maybe making things shatter isn't the answer but leveling up to the current level might help then players have a base point to work from. As it stands my spells are much too low for my level and I guess this may hinder my future progress.

Even though I'm getting confused I'm still loving been involved in the process of the development of such a forward thinking innovative game idea. So thanks for taking the time to help me out.

[x4000]

I think you're right, having been plopped into the middle of this was not helpful for your case -- in the prior versions, because the difficulty did not scale properly, you could use woefully underpowered spells and not really have any problem with it.  In fact, probably the difficulty progression felt fine because your equipment stunk so bad.  But if you'd been using better equipment all along, you'd have been one-shotting a bunch of like-level bosses and surprised at that, heh.  Which was the genesis of the change.

In your case, the spells still do some damage, and I wouldn't expect you to find it impossible to progress -- about half of the damage of the lower-level spells comes from your character, ideally, so at worst you're doing 1 damage from the spell and then the rest of the damage based on your character's aptitude.  That should be enough to sneak into some underground caverns, grab some gemstones, and get the heck out so that you can craft them.  Then from then on you should be okay, I imagine.

Cheers, and thanks for the kind words on the development -- very glad you feel that way despite the bumps here and there.

[zebramatt]

Do what I did: start a new world!

[Hyfrydle]

I'm going to start a new world now I have a better understanding and go and search for those gems. Thanks for all the useful info I'm sure I'll be back with more questions and hopefully ideas.

[x4000]

Sounds good!

[Hyfrydle]

Started my new world and the game does definately seem harder I really hate the rhinos!!! Been quite close to losing my level 1 character a number of times.

[x4000]

Really!  At the earlier levels, the game should be easier now.  The rhinos were always a couple of hits to kill you, heh.  If you stayed in the ice age early on in before, and now are journeying out more, that might explain the difference.  And of course, the way you've been playing for a while was a lot easier because the balance at the higher levels was just completely hosed.