First of all, I would like to point out the fact that I know SOD AA's are limited due to the "client restrictions" and that many AA's are shared amongst multiple classes. Furthermore, we are all also aware that there are classes who get many many practically useless AA's. Undoubtedly, we have all come across these and perhaps thought of some fixes. What I want to do is offer a couple suggestions that, if possible, might make a couple AA's far less of a waste. Do we really need more "that's an AA I will buy when I'm out of AA's"?
First of all, I know Wizards and Magicians get Spell Casting Deftness. This AA makes beneficial spells over 4 seconds cast 5, 15, and 25% faster at each level which I believe cost 2, 4, 6, respectively.
What is immediately apparent to these classes is that they don't even get many beneficial spells to begin with. Secondly, this AA only gives a mere 5, 15, and at best 25% spell casting reduction. Not only is this not a very significant casting speed increase for beneficial spells only, but for Wizards, Magicians, and Necros, this AA will only affect maybe 1 or 2 spells!
Another downside to this AA, especially for wizards is that it does not affect harvest. So basically, it's 12 AA's to cast blades or invis faster, which really gain little to no benefit from a shorter cast time.
As for Magicians, if this spell affected summons it wouldn't be bad at all. However, Magicians get an entirely new set of AA's (Quick Summon) to lower summoning times only. Again, there is minimal practical reason to purchase this AA.
I believe that if this AA could be altered to affect a greater number of beneficial spells and increase the % bonus then it would definitely be a step closer to being less of a wasteful, slot-filling AA.
A second change that could make something less worthless regards Magicians and Soulbond. I realize that soulbond is tied into the client; however, I don't believe spell traits are. As such, I see an easy fix for Magicians to gain some value if the following were changed. That is, since Magicians might reasonably only Soulbond one buff, group damage shield, if this spell's duration were increased to be along the lines of Deadmen Floating, Aego, Focus then it might actually be worth it for a Magician to soulbond something. As it stands now, a Magician's DS wears off entirely too fast for soulbond to be worth it. Actually, I believe the non-relic DS only lasts around 30 minutes, while Soulbond has a timer of over an hour.
First of all, I know Wizards and Magicians get Spell Casting Deftness. This AA makes beneficial spells over 4 seconds cast 5, 15, and 25% faster at each level which I believe cost 2, 4, 6, respectively.
What is immediately apparent to these classes is that they don't even get many beneficial spells to begin with. Secondly, this AA only gives a mere 5, 15, and at best 25% spell casting reduction. Not only is this not a very significant casting speed increase for beneficial spells only, but for Wizards, Magicians, and Necros, this AA will only affect maybe 1 or 2 spells!
Another downside to this AA, especially for wizards is that it does not affect harvest. So basically, it's 12 AA's to cast blades or invis faster, which really gain little to no benefit from a shorter cast time.
As for Magicians, if this spell affected summons it wouldn't be bad at all. However, Magicians get an entirely new set of AA's (Quick Summon) to lower summoning times only. Again, there is minimal practical reason to purchase this AA.
I believe that if this AA could be altered to affect a greater number of beneficial spells and increase the % bonus then it would definitely be a step closer to being less of a wasteful, slot-filling AA.
A second change that could make something less worthless regards Magicians and Soulbond. I realize that soulbond is tied into the client; however, I don't believe spell traits are. As such, I see an easy fix for Magicians to gain some value if the following were changed. That is, since Magicians might reasonably only Soulbond one buff, group damage shield, if this spell's duration were increased to be along the lines of Deadmen Floating, Aego, Focus then it might actually be worth it for a Magician to soulbond something. As it stands now, a Magician's DS wears off entirely too fast for soulbond to be worth it. Actually, I believe the non-relic DS only lasts around 30 minutes, while Soulbond has a timer of over an hour.
