Spells

[Thelonious]

Well icebolt has been a great spell in HoMM III and HoMM IV, because of the class it belonged to. So yeah Icebolt is a must, it's become one of my favorites (especially now -> playing the order campaign )

[theLuckyDragon]

Nice thing, the Icebolt. It'd be even more useful to the Academy if it remained in their associated magic school, whatever that will be...

[Mutare Drake]

As for spell book length/spells per page, I'll go with Thelonious - I'd rather have a short spellbook with less details and extra bits of graphics than a really detailed one with 2-3 spells per page. I kinda liked the little tidbits and stories in H4, but there ought to be one or two spellbook pages where you can quickly find a spell to cast it. Have separate more detailed pages with the stories and whatnot.

[pasto-sor]

imagine when u are playing online and u have limited time and u have to find the spell quick!

[Thelonious]

Yeah then you wan't be reading the little stories either . It's not like I don't like 'em, but like in HoMM IV they shouldn't be in the actual spellbook when you're browsing your spells.

Someone mentioned there'd be 40 spells, so to go from spell one to 40 you'd have to flip 7 times.

Though there is one advantage of it all, while looking for one spell, you won't have double check, and there is a much bigger chance you won't over see the spell. I searched for Precision in my HoMM IV spellbook today, and I managed to go through the whole book 2.5 times before I actually found it, and since my spellbook had 6 pages, I fliped some 8 times - with just 3 spells per page I won't have over looked the spell and had gotten it quicker.

And there are those situations were you want to determine which spell is the best, if the effect is under the spell, you could see directly if that spell would fit that occasion.

So I've got mixed feelings about the system - it's got it's advantages and disadvantages.

[theLuckyDragon]

Actually, in Heroes 4 the descriptions are in the spellbook, but the hero is smart enough to open the book at the summary.

I think that regardless of the number of spells per page, they should most definitley keep that system from Heroes 4 for classifying spell according to their effects: direct damage, blessigs, curses, summoning.

[Thelonious]

well not in the part where you can choose the spell you want to use -under the spell

[theLuckyDragon]

I'm not sure I understand what you're referring to. There's a view of the book when there are more spells per page, each in a small rectangular area, and another view with one spell per page and the description written right underneath it. In both views you can choose "the spell you want to use". The first view is what I called the "summary".

[Thelonious]

Then I'm reffering to the summary - that's the way I'd like to see my spellbook. The stories around the spell should be in the mageguild - why would any one write that in a spell book?

[theLuckyDragon]

Well not all mages are practical and concise... Plus, a spellbook can't just be a summary, can it? It has to be full of useful observations from the person's teachers.

[DaemianLucifer]

Well,lets look at the bright side.It wont happen to you to click on a wrong spell because it looks similar to the one you want to use,or because its to close to it.Oh how I hate casting mass dispel instead of mass precision!

[theLuckyDragon]

Speaking of Dispell, I just remembered I liked this spell's graphics from Heroes 3 more than those in Heroes 4. They were more... spectacular in H3, more mystical somehow than that funny hand from H4 that seems to sprinkle something over the unit.

[Fallen Angel]

Don't forget that the past two games have also included school-specific tabs in the spellbook. If H5 includes those as well, then there won't be any more clicking than in previous games.

[DaemianLucifer]

But there will be.Heres an example:You want the spell on third page,so you flip pages two times,find the spell and cast it.But if you click the appropriate tab,the spell is first on the second page,so you click on the tab,then flip the page then cast the spell.It is the same number of clicking,but its easier to click twice on the same spot,then once on one and once on the other.

Now,with 3 spells per page,this spell comes to be on the 5th,or 6th page(3rd if the tab is used),so youll have to use the tab if speed is of the essence and youll need an extra click,even like this.

It seems trivial,but its not.Its quite annoying to flip through your book all the time.

[ThunderTitan]

Don't forget that the past two games have also included school-specific tabs in the spellbook. If H5 includes those as well, then there won't be any more clicking than in previous games.

The videos show that there are tabs in the spell book.

And there won't be any more clicking coz there are only 40 spells, 10 per school etc...

[Thelonious]

Well,lets look at the bright side.It wont happen to you to click on a wrong spell because it looks similar to the one you want to use,or because its to close to it.Oh how I hate casting mass dispel instead of mass precision!

Well, did you know that dispel works on illusions and summoned creatures as well. That totally destroys Nature magic... and the demon summoning spells...

[ThunderTitan]

Hey didn't Ubi say we would get the spell info in november? What happened?

[Thelonious]

No, that was soon, and you know what 'soon' means in Ubi terms -

[DaemianLucifer]

It means that well get the info after the game is published

[theLuckyDragon]

Is that 40 spell number definite? By the way, how many spells were there in previous Heroes games?