Shadow-Forged Weapons are garbage. Seriously, they're useless. It's a good concept, but they have 3 fatal flaws that completely destroy them in practice. Fatal Flaw #1: "Maycast" bug. There is currently a bug/feature in where the weapons will only cast spells when you use their item cards. This really breaks the whole point of a "maycast" weapon; it should randomly cast multiple spells over the course of the battle, not just cast two at controlled times. Being able to chuck free Skeletal Pirates at people might have some use in PvP, but fatal flaw #2 spoils that. Fatal Flaw #2: Bad stats. Maycast weapons have about the same block and critical as level 50 wands, back when critical was first introduced. Meanwhile, we have storms with 500 critical blasting everything. 20 block is not going to even make a dent in that, where the majority of our block comes from wands and boots. Being able to cast free Skeletal Pirates is no good if you die to a critical tempest before you can even get one off. Fatal Flaw #3: Choice of maycasted spell. Whoever decided that all the shadow-forged wands (except the Root of Spring and the Shadow's Point, the latter being the only one really used for non-stitching purposes, three guesses why) should be fired. Even if you did fix fatal flaws 1 and 2, allowing the wand to actually maycast and not get you killed by criticals of doom, I still would not even consider a maycast wand in PvE (with the exception of the aforementioned non-damaging two) because it would probably eat all my blades and traps. Imagine it: You're mostly bladed up for a kill on a boss, when suddenly, your wand decides to spit out a random Skeletal Pirate. This burns all your blades and traps and makes you lose the fight because you don't have enough left over. I already have to worry about losing my blades to Earthquake and Sirens, I don't need to worry about my own wand as well.
My Solutions: 1. Fix the bug/remove the feature that causes your wand to cast only when you use an item card. 2. Give the wands good stats for their level, minus a bit considering they have extra functionality. I'm thinking nerfed Hades' Staff of Frostbite. (On an unrelated note, why is Ice the only one that gets a really good wand from Hades?) This will give them function in PvP and PvE as you can critical some and not get destroyed by every critical ever. 3. Make an extra set of Shadow-Forged wands that cast blades/trap or utility spells. That way, I can use them in PvE to my advantage and not have to worry about losing all my blades.
In short, Shadow-Forged weapons need a major overhaul to have use, as currently their main use is stitching.
I actually like the way they cast now. I like having a little control over when it casts by using it's card even if it chooses to not cast. I only use rebirth wands on my 2 tanking wizards when teaming up with my other wizards in tough battles like tart, morg, and others. Otherwise unless you are stitching, the others are not really worth it in questing. And the ice wand from hades should be left alone. I have an ice tanking wiz and when he is not tanking and using rebirth wand, he might use that (with infallible) or use a crown wand for questing.
I actually like the way they cast now. I like having a little control over when it casts by using it's card even if it chooses to not cast. I only use rebirth wands on my 2 tanking wizards when teaming up with my other wizards in tough battles like tart, morg, and others. Otherwise unless you are stitching, the others are not really worth it in questing. And the ice wand from hades should be left alone. I have an ice tanking wiz and when he is not tanking and using rebirth wand, he might use that (with infallible) or use a crown wand for questing.
1. I think that the "cast on item card" is a bug and probably will/should be fixed. I respect your opinion, but I think it stays truer to the initial concept if it casts randomly. 2. My point exactly, the rebirth wand is the only good one, and the others are pretty bad. 3. I never said anything about nerfing the Hades wand. I said that it's stats were a good model for the wands, slightly nerfed perhaps.
Shadow-Forged Weapons are garbage. Seriously, they're useless. It's a good concept, but they have 3 fatal flaws that completely destroy them in practice. Fatal Flaw #1: "Maycast" bug. There is currently a bug/feature in where the weapons will only cast spells when you use their item cards. This really breaks the whole point of a "maycast" weapon; it should randomly cast multiple spells over the course of the battle, not just cast two at controlled times. Being able to chuck free Skeletal Pirates at people might have some use in PvP, but fatal flaw #2 spoils that. Fatal Flaw #2: Bad stats. Maycast weapons have about the same block and critical as level 50 wands, back when critical was first introduced. Meanwhile, we have storms with 500 critical blasting everything. 20 block is not going to even make a dent in that, where the majority of our block comes from wands and boots. Being able to cast free Skeletal Pirates is no good if you die to a critical tempest before you can even get one off. Fatal Flaw #3: Choice of maycasted spell. Whoever decided that all the shadow-forged wands (except the Root of Spring and the Shadow's Point, the latter being the only one really used for non-stitching purposes, three guesses why) should be fired. Even if you did fix fatal flaws 1 and 2, allowing the wand to actually maycast and not get you killed by criticals of doom, I still would not even consider a maycast wand in PvE (with the exception of the aforementioned non-damaging two) because it would probably eat all my blades and traps. Imagine it: You're mostly bladed up for a kill on a boss, when suddenly, your wand decides to spit out a random Skeletal Pirate. This burns all your blades and traps and makes you lose the fight because you don't have enough left over. I already have to worry about losing my blades to Earthquake and Sirens, I don't need to worry about my own wand as well.
My Solutions: 1. Fix the bug/remove the feature that causes your wand to cast only when you use an item card. 2. Give the wands good stats for their level, minus a bit considering they have extra functionality. I'm thinking nerfed Hades' Staff of Frostbite. (On an unrelated note, why is Ice the only one that gets a really good wand from Hades?) This will give them function in PvP and PvE as you can critical some and not get destroyed by every critical ever. 3. Make an extra set of Shadow-Forged wands that cast blades/trap or utility spells. That way, I can use them in PvE to my advantage and not have to worry about losing all my blades.
In short, Shadow-Forged weapons need a major overhaul to have use, as currently their main use is stitching.
I agree that the Shadow-Forged wands are useless except maybe the Root of Spring. I wanted to craft the Fire Shadow-Forged wand but when I saw what it look like well it was basically a burning stick The stats on the wands are horrible and need a major adjustment with critical (add about 20-40) add some block (about 50-70) and maybe 1 or 2 pierce points. Also maybe instead of a spell cast like Cyclops, Phoenix, Skeletal Pirate, etc, replace the may cast with a school blade which in my opinion would work out perfectly with the trap. And as you said Robobot, the may cast is probably bugged and needs to be fixed.
I 100% agree. I was quite disappointed when I saw the stats of the Shadow-Forged Weapons. I was so excited after reading the update notes, and after see what they looked like, but the stats, they aren't good at all. It's a really good idea, and could be expanded on if they were to be MUCH better than they are right now.
1. I think that the "cast on item card" is a bug and probably will/should be fixed. I respect your opinion, but I think it stays truer to the initial concept if it casts randomly. 2. My point exactly, the rebirth wand is the only good one, and the others are pretty bad. 3. I never said anything about nerfing the Hades wand. I said that it's stats were a good model for the wands, slightly nerfed perhaps.
Sorry my bad, I totally misread that about the ice wand
The stats on the wands are horrible and need a major adjustment with critical (add about 20-40) add some block (about 50-70) and maybe 1 or 2 pierce points. Also maybe instead of a spell cast like Cyclops, Phoenix, Skeletal Pirate, etc, replace the may cast with a school blade which in my opinion would work out perfectly with the trap. And as you said Robobot, the may cast is probably bugged and needs to be fixed.
