ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

So, I've returned to this game recently and downloaded the newest update (1.23 I think… whatever the newest is) and I've noticed a major change in the gameplay for a mage and I want to know if it's a deliberate change or a bug or whatever. That feature is: constant - manaburn.

Of course, I can't be sure that's happening because nothing shows up in the log to suggest why, after being hit by normal assassins, etc., I suddenly have zero mana. It's happening constantly.

This is something has almost never happened before and now I can't keep a mage alive because everything has it.

For one, it makes manashield unavoidable for mages, which to my mind, limits your build options and decreases the fun. More so, why not note it in the logs? Also, why the hell can everything, at even a low level, drop me to zero with each hit?

Am I missing something? Is there a way to prevent it? Whose idea was this?

At this point, I can't keep a mage alive and it's very annoying because it's making the mage play-style too similar to the melee classes that I hate. Why not allow for gameplay variance? Does every class have to play the same? WTF?

Delmuir wrote:Whose idea was this?

I believe this has to do with certain bugs in the ego selection process for objects being fixed, allowing enemies to actually get weapons with antimagic egos.

I don't mind manaburn but it's a little unbalance when every bloody enemy can take you down to zero mana instantly. Instant zero manaburn is a diablo-like feature except you don't have mana potions in this game. It takes the numerous mage builds and turns them into arcane eye micro-managers… why? What's the point of that?

For one, it makes not using manashield impossible…

For two, it makes playing anything that isn't a higher/wildfire mage extremely difficult. Worse than that, any lightning combo mage is effectively useless.

What is the point, exactly, of reducing the number of viable builds to one, or at least very few? I get that on Nightmare or Insane but on normal?!?

I used to regularly play a pure arcane skeleton mage with heavy defense and Meta… I'd just stand my ground, casting arcane spells… guess? That's not possible any more and that was already a tough start (but easy finish). Why even have options if you're going to reduce the number of viable builds?

Well, I'm just going to de-install that update then because it's awful for gameplay. Sure, if you already enjoy the grinding micro-managing (which sometimes I do and thus, I play a build that needs to be micromanaged) then this isn't a problem but every other build is like that, save the summoner… weak...