One and a half seconds is still a pretty long time. I agree that 3 seconds is too long; I hadn't realized how much that was bothering me until he brought it up. If you don't like 1.5 seconds (which is the floor of as low as I feel like what I'd be willing to go), what is your value you think is better?
The reduced seconds change seems a bit unnecessary to me as well. Now, granted, the bombs arent the easiest thing to learn to use as they are, but..... they're powerful as heck. I was already using them on basically everything that so much as dared to exist (this includes even things like scouts). The timing of them seemed a good thing considering the power of them. I dont think it's too bad of an idea to have some spells that are pretty darn tough to use, but are rewarding once you get them. There actually arent all that many of that sort.... there's alot of situational ones, but most arent hard to actually use once you find the situation that calls for them. The three seconds can seem like alot, but I find that there are many situations where this will actually take out enemies both faster AND safer than other attacks, particularly some of the loopier, more dangerous foes.
EDIT: It also occurs to me that in some situations this might make them HARDER to use, because there's less time in between when you drop them, and when the enemy must hit the explosion radius, which means getting even closer to many foes.
It's not THAT big of a deal either way though, but I figured I'd weigh in with some input anyway. Though, I *definitely* dont think that enemies like the eyeballs need the bombs exploding faster; I dunno how those guys are on lower difficulties, but even with reduced health, they're a very dangerous foe on Hero already as is (though appropriate for the Crag areas, which seem well-balanced now).
As for the caliber bit, I probably shoulda mentioned that "meh" sorta meant "neutral". I dont think the change had much negative impact on the game..... it just seemed kinda pointless to me. Granted, having things like rapid-fire spells that always break lots of enemy shots is an obviously broken thing, but still. Not a BAD change, it's just sorta..... there. It happened, is the best I can say about it, hah.
The perks and the bonuses from the concentration system though really did seem entirely useless however. You could always have the concentration system do something else entirely rather than the caliber thing (though obviously keeping the damage increase, which works just fine). For instance, increasing the range of shots a bit, or whatever. Right now it kinda seems like it's displaying a stat that just has no meaning (at least most of the time), and it always bugs me when a game does that. .....not to mention that a percentage boost to "low" or "normal" is confusing.