I don't get it...does it do anything? I just recently got the book...learned the skill and tried it out!
Wee! Cute little ghost guy next to my advanced block icon.
I didn't notice any improvement however in the mana consumption of my brother's necro...we hunted for about 2 hours and sat every buff cycle like we always do...durn bugger blows through mana like...well...like a nuker even when he remembers to use BtM.
So what does it do? Does it ever have a noticeable improvement? I haven't had a chance to use it in any other situations...is this only for melee toons or some such?
I suppose with his cast speed it might not make a difference...or much of one...since death spike only uses like 30 mana...so if it's a 5% reduction that's only 1.5 mana a cast....
On the other hand he popped off drain exclusively for a while and that didn't have a noticed improvement either...and a 5% bonus there would be basically 5 mana per cast...
I understand that cutting it by say 50% would be perhaps overpowered...but cutting it by the fraction that it appears to doesn't seem like it's worth the 450-500 for the spirit ore.
Does anyone have any concrete figures on how the reduction is actually calculated, and what it applies to?
The reduction applies to the second half of the MP cost of a spell. It is indeed tiny - not the deal-breaker buff as which it was originally advertised.
Level 1 is 4% of some of the spell cost - harldy 1 MP for most spells.
Level 3 is 10% of some of the spell cost - by the time you get it, it might be noticable.
I'd personally prefer to hunt in a different spot to improve MP management over using clarity at that level.
well even tho lvl 1 clearity isn't something to clamer about.
It sounds to me more like your friend don't know how to play his class right if he is ever siting down while out lvling. (unless he's going to the bathroom or to the frig)
Necro Never ever!!!! needs to sit for mp. if your siting for MP then you don't know your doing. if your a SpS I could understand it, even if your a Scor I could understand it.
But not a Necro or a SH.
all lvl 1 of the new skills don't add a whole lot that really improves, but I'd rather have it then not have it. I know that GM is worth having.
But till you get to lvl 2 of the skill just hold off, and save your self some cash.
Apparently it only works on the second part of the mp cost of a skill (when you click a skill, it costs an initial amount of mp and when the skill eventually goes off, it costs the rest of the mp - so e.g. when you get interrupted while casting, the aborted skill only costs the initial amount)
nah ive never noticed it on dorf skills
and clarity rocks just hqave to use it right
clarity for the nuker and clarity for the recharger could easily mean the difference between zero down time with btm and zero downtime without btm
I believe that only spells have the split across initial and final MP used. I don't remember having such a thing on physical skills.
I'll test this later.
The old Prima guide shows the mp cost for skills. Most non-magic skills indeed have only one single mp cost instead of initial+final cost, but some non-magic skills DO have two costs, at least according to that guide. For example shield stun, detect <X> weakness, howl, battle roar (well it's a self-buff), UD, deflect arrow, ultimate evasion, confusion, unlock, frenzy, cripple, spoil, bandage and a few others all have two mp costs listed. I could not really see a system behind it though (shield stun has 2 costs, hammer crush only one?). Maybe things changed by now, though - the Prima Guide is *really* old...
For magic skills (I never knew that some non-magic skills didn't have split MP cost), level 1 Clarity should save about 3.2% MP on the total cost of the spell. The amount of MP saved is always rounded down, so it's likely to be less than that. So really it's hardly worth the cost for level 1 clarity.
The MP Split for all magic skills I've tested is always 20% of the cost for the 1st part, and 80% for the 2nd.
Since physical skills (at least some) aren't split in cost in the same way, Clarity would benefit Daggers or Gladiators more than it would nukers.
For magic skills (I never knew that some non-magic skills didn't have split MP cost), level 1 Clarity should save about 3.2% MP on the total cost of the spell. The amount of MP saved is always rounded down, so it's likely to be less than that. So really it's hardly worth the cost for level 1 clarity.
The MP Split for all magic skills I've tested is always 20% of the cost for the 1st part, and 80% for the 2nd.
Yes, a 3.2% total save sounds mathematically correct, if the numbers I posted above are correct (4% saving, but only on the second part of the cost). If you have a skill which costs 20% initially and 80% for the second part and you save 4% on the second part, that is 3.2% of the total skill cost (if a skill costs 100mp and is split in 20mp/80mp, a 4% save on the 80mp is 3.2mp). From what I could see in the old Prima guide, the 20%/80% split seems to be correct.
That also means that lvl 3 clarity with a 10% save on the second part of the skill cost saves only 8% of the total cost. On a maxed out standard nuke which costs 69mp, that is 5mp (rounded down). Sounds not much, but adds up in the end.
But yes, Clarity lvl 1 seems to be hardly worth it. If the same nuker had only Clarity 1, he would save only 2mp per nuke. And if we're talking about a lower lvl nuker who only spends 50-60mp, he will save only 1mp per shot. That definitely is not noticeable.
Are you sure it's rounded down, or is that just the display? MP and HP are decimal values (like most other stats) that are usually just rounded for display.
Also, clarity 1 at level 58 takes away a whole woopping 1.152 MP if all above numbers are correct - not a big surprise that there is hardly a palpalble difference.
I guess that giving clarity to a nuker is only really useful at very high levels then. Quick and dirty calculation - let's say nuker with 3500mp pool, 69 mp per nuke, gives ca. 50 nukes. Save 5mp on each, gives 250mp extra. Add in recharges, btm, elixirs which effectively increase your mp pool - it adds up (I'll leave out herbs because that's utter luck). To be really effective though you need the other mp saving and mp regen buffs - sws songs and prophecy of water. In combination, they are uber. If you only have clarity, the best effect definitely is the effect on recharges which the EE himself does - since then the savings get multiplied via higher mana gain.
I can't be sure if it's rounded down or not, but from my tests the amount of MP saved for each skill was always the same. If it wasn't rounded I'd expect the amount of MP saved to vary.
However I only repeated the test 5 or so times with each skill to make sure I was recording the correct results. It'd take quite a few more tests with the same skill to be sure.
You know, just how valuable is clarity really? At lvl 2 it will reduce costs by about 5.4% of total. It costs 62 to cast. I have about 2700 mp in tallum with -4 men tat and no mana up weapon, and I can regen all of it one and a half times a buff round (if I sit most of it). So if I burn every bit of it, I'll save 216 mp (before subtracting the 62 it costs to cast clarity 2).
Is a buff slot then honestly worth an extra 2 heals (or 1 recharge) every 20 minutes? I seriously doubt it. I can't believe nukers can accomplish much more with about 150 mp over 20 minutes. Maybe it makes more sense with 76+ skills, or for SH and Necros that can btm to use way more mp per buff round.
You know, just how valuable is clarity really? At lvl 2 it will reduce costs by about 5.4% of total. It costs 62 to cast. I have about 2700 mp in tallum with -4 men tat and no mana up weapon, and I can regen all of it one and a half times a buff round (if I sit most of it). So if I burn every bit of it, I'll save 216 mp (before subtracting the 62 it costs to cast clarity 2).
Is a buff slot then honestly worth an extra 2 heals (or 1 recharge) every 20 minutes? I seriously doubt it. I can't believe nukers can accomplish much more with about 150 mp over 20 minutes. Maybe it makes more sense with 76+ skills, or for SH and Necros that can btm to use way more mp per buff round.
It gives a good difference in raids...and probably sieges as well.
well, at 72 with clarity 2 casted on myself (i am an EE), splitting buffs with a SE along with being main healer in a group of 6 i was able to recharge myself to gain MP enough for 1 major heal every other kill (plus a few spotted greater heals) and still end up with full mana before it was time to rebuff 20min later. but, i use tallum robes and homu w/acu and acu pots for fast recharges. :p i was unable to do this before getting Clarity, so its a big help for me :)
Thanks everyone! I appreciate the feedback, and most importantly the hard stats on the spell itself...I can see it's limited application...but I'll probably not use it a whole lot at this point...maybe as these lil guys get closer to a 3rd class change.
It sounds to me more like your friend don't know how to play his class right if he is ever siting down while out lvling. (unless he's going to the bathroom or to the frig)
Necro Never ever!!!! needs to sit for mp. if your siting for MP then you don't know your doing. if your a SpS I could understand it, even if your a Scor I could understand it.
But not a Necro or a SH.
This rather depends on a number of factors....first in order to finish this test out we burned his mana pool without BtM in order to try and determine how much mana was actually saved.
Even using BtM at every single opportunity he still casts fast enough that he can in fact walk through his mana and mine where we're hunting atm.
Sure if you're hunting somewhere where the mobs are spaced out and you have to do a lot of walking, you take the time to pick up your drops after every single drop, and you are too busy in vent to target quickly a necro could probably use drain and never burn through his own mana pool...let alone a rechargers too.
Where we're hunting we have a fast enough spawn that he's casting constantly...we don't stop to pick up drops until we're ready to leave...and by and large it takes about 45 minutes for him to use all of both of our mana pools on walk before we need to step back out of aggro range and med a bit...I give him a hard time about forgetting BtM once in a while...but he's been playing a nuker for 3 years now...so I think he understands the game mechanics at this point =P