@Arcahem Very sad. Bye Fractured.

I have noticed that I can't cast ice spikes (probably not the right name for the spell) until after all the missiles have gone out plus a bit. So, the cool down at least lasts longer than for an instant spell. Also have seen fewer than all missiles fire if I move during this cool down period. So, it functions like a channelled spell.

@Arcahem Very sad. Bye Fractured.

I saw in the thread on the mage nerfs that Prometheus has drawn a connection between luck and the +/- 25% damage ranges attached to the revised spells.

I have tested this (using my friend Firebolt) and have found no difference between high and low luck characters. The spell damage averages are substantially the same.

Also having difficulty confirming any connection between crit chance and luck - though this requires a very big sample.

Has anyone been able to confirm these relationships following the changes?

I think my lucky character rolls more fortitude/willpower/evasion save throws than my unlucky character - but I have no figures for this. Other than this and drop rates (which I've seen people mention but I haven't tested), I'm struggling to find substantive benefits from luck. The damage uplift from high Perception is solid and measurable. If there is a damage uplift from high Charisma, it must be quite modest.

Yes - agree.

Also, based on more Firebolts than I care to think of, I am pretty sure this talent is still treating resist as an absolute number - ie. regardless of whether the resist number is positive or negative, it reduces it by 40% - with the result that your best spells for any particular creature (because the creature is vulnerable to that spell) are nerfed by the talent.

Was trying to find the patch notes for the changes made in the last 24 hours to Ice Spikes, Firebolt, Magic Missiles, etc.

Yes, the tool tip for Power Caster refers to magic resistance, but this is not what I am seeing. Here are some damage numbers for different creatures using Firebolt and a 20 INT mage. The first number is without Power Caster. The second is with it. There are no other differences between the two cases.

Direwolf 175, 184
Rabbit 200, 200
Fox 200, 200
Bear 105, 130
Deer 200, 200
Stag 191, 194
Zombie 251, 234

You can see that where a creature has fire resistance, Power Caster has an effect. The numbers are roughly what you would expect if the fire resist were reduced to 60% of its starting value - with the exception of the Bear (which produces a result that doesn't seem to match the 60% number). The Zombie is a stand out as it is vulnerable to fire - ie. it has no fire resist. However, rather than making the Zombie more vulnerable to fire, Power Caster reduces the vulnerability of the Zombie to 60% of its starting value - with the result the performance of Firebolt is worse with the talent. This seems like a bug to me.

If the tool tip is correct, then all the above numbers should be the same, shouldn't they? In any case, the application of Power Caster to negative resist needs to be considered. I'll have a look at it with Magic Missiles.

Tried this on a few mobs and found that with this talent specced, the damage done by a Firebolt on a Zombie is less than without it specced. I'm wondering if it reduces the resistance number by 40% whether it is positive or negative.

From what I can tell, the relevant resistance number modified by Power Caster is the one relevant to the spell cast - so, fire resist for Firebolt. Whilst this works more or less predictably for creatures with small resist (like Stags or Direwolves), the numbers are not what I would expect for creatures with higher resist. So, for example, a Firebolt cast on a Bear by a mage with 20 INT does 105 damage without Power Caster and 130 with Power Caster. If the Bear's fire resist (47%) were reduced by 40% (to 28.2%) you would expect more like 143. So maybe something else is going on when determining the reduction.

A lot of the testing has been on mobs that are weak to fire (undead). Even so I have seen no crits from Firebolt. I'll see what I can find in terms of targets weak to the other elements - but the chance of a crit would have to be 0 or vanishingly small to explain the number of attacks I have tried without a single crit.

Not sure if this has any bearing, but staff auto-attacks crit fine. I haven't counted them but 9% would be about right.

The tool tips for Firebolt, Magic Missiles and Frost Blast include the words "The damage of this spell can be Critical." I have tested these spells with a character with 9% crit chance. I have seen no crits on these spells - so I'm guessing the tool tip is wrong or something is yet to be implemented - or there is some other explanation I haven't thought of. There are other spells that have the same wording that I haven't tested. Any ideas on this one greatly appreciated.

The tool tip for Deep Freeze says the slow lasts 2 secs. I'm finding that for some mobs (not all), the slow is permanent, so I'm guessing there is a Fortitude roll in there somewhere.

Yes please. Would be great to see a fix for this. I've noticed that once you start work on a gathering node other nodes become inactive (ie. if you mouse over them, the cursor does not change). Maybe something like this during combat?