"MaGeZ SuXoR!" and Other Thoughts

[Bolty]

Also the game basically replaces the lower rank of spell with the higher one when you learn it so you will not have access to say two different ranks of Fireblast to fall back on.

Actually, this is false - I can cast Fireballs level 1, 2, 3, and 4. The lower levels cast faster but do less damage. What I'm not sure about is if a monster's chance to resist is based on the character level of the caster or the power/damage of the spell. If the latter, then the lower level spells truly are useless.

Bolty can comment on if the Mana Shield will actually prevent the stuttering or not.  Also the rapid loss of 120 mana may put the mage in tight spot as far as his reserves are concerned.

Mana Shield does not prevent stuttering, no. It's also really inefficient, since 120 points of damage taken will reduce your mana by 120. This puts you in trouble, since 90% of your offense is tied to your mana. One of the many suggestions for Mages is to increase the efficiency of Mana Shield - as in, perhaps 240 points of damage reduces mana by 120.

As it stands now my level 9 mage can throw fireballs that have a higher average damage than the average damage of my level 15 fighter can dish out with using any buffs.  The way the balance is now for the mages is that they are almost litterly glass cannons.

Very correct. Against a solo melee monster (that's non-plus), it's pretty sick how fast Mages can take them down. Frostbolt, Fireball, Scorch, Fire Blast, Frost Nova, Fireball, dead. While this uses up a good 600+ mana and thus requires the Mage to drink afterward, sheer damage per second is incredible. That is, as long as the Frostbolt and Frost Nova isn't resisted, and the Mage sticks to one monster at a time.

Since Mages will draw aggro quite a lot due to this high damage, they just need some minor tweaking - and I still think that the stuttering removal is it. The Mage would still not be able to take on more than one mob and expect to survive, but they could then get off some offense, and it would remove their HORRID time against enemy ranged attackers.

-Bolty