Mechanics of Aegis+Disruption Shield is pointless...

[Delmuir]

I hate to keep hammering the same topics but...

First, I want to address that the Archmage is a very well designed class and my criticisms should not be taken overly harshly.

Okay, the basic idea of the new Disruption is simple... you have a damage shield and once the damage shield hits zero then it starts draining mana. Fair enough. There is a slight issue here because it also shuts down at 50% mana. The reason that's relevant is because while you are taking damage, it is unlikely that you will just be standing there taking a beating. You will most assuredly be dishing out damage and thus, using mana.

This creates a weird problem... by the time you need the mana to absorb damage, you'll have used enough that the shield shuts down and thus, you never get to use that feature.

The only time you'll ever use it is against a huge opening burst of damage... which is fine. It's a rare utility but it works.

But here's the problem... Aegis. When the mana is being used to absorb damage, it stores up as energy which can be replenished with the Aegis talent. Aegis no longer increases the damage capacity of the shield. Unfortunately, this is almost impossible to use because it would require an extremely rare situation in which your massive damage is down and your mana is low but still above 50%.

Almost every Archmage is going to use another damage shield on top of the Mana shield and this exaggerates the problem further. The stronger the shield, the longer you can fight and use mana and thus, the more likely that the shield shuts down due to low mana rather than damage.

It's just... I get the goal here but it doesn't quite work and I'm not sure what the effect is that's desired, other than some relationship between mana and shielding.

I have now played two Archmages through on Nightmare (I don't really play insane much) and I have NEVER used the the Aegis talent and not because I didn't want to but because I literally never got the chance. The shield was shut down from time to time but I was never able to hit that extremely sweet spot in which I could use Aegis.

Ultimately though, it probably doesn't matter because the shield is really strong and the new runes scale so well that it is easy to have 1200 damage shields from runes and you can easily have two runes. You really don't need that weird effect from Aegis BUT if you don't have that, then the Aegis doesn't do anything for Disruption Shield as it doesn't increase the strength.

I don't know about the balance on Insane but on nightmare and normal, Disruption Shield is very, very strong. It's a good shield but its secondary effect is pointless and the Aegis aspect doesn't even work because, again, it's an incredibly rare situation in which you can use it.

What's to be done? I don't know... but I don't think I'm missing anything about how it works though maybe I am and someone will correct me.

[cowking]

Have you tried using Disruption Shield as your first buffer before other shields?

Meaning you don't activate time/damage shields at the start of a fight and let the damage hit your mana so you can recharge DS with aegis (you can also cast time/damage shields at this point if you want them buffed by aegis).

[Delmuir]

Have you tried using Disruption Shield as your first buffer before other shields?

Meaning you don't activate time/damage shields at the start of a fight and let the damage hit your mana so you can recharge DS with aegis (you can also cast time/damage shields at this point if you want them buffed by aegis).

Is this a serious question?

The entire function of the new shield encourages that style of play, obviously. That doesn't change the underlying problem. In the middle game, especially, you'll often only have a few hundred mana, of which you can only spend half, and your shield is generally powerful enough to outlast your mana expenditure. This problem is especially troublesome on sustain-heavy builds.

More so, if you take a large burst of damage then it'll drain your mana before you have a chance to use Aegis, but ultimately here's the problem:

1. You take enough damage to drain the shield

2. You then have to take MORE damage to drain your mana BUT not so much as to shut down the shield.

3. Then use Aegis to restore the shield... any leftover energy will become mana except...

4. It's almost impossible for there to be any.

The conditions in which you can actually use the Aegis mechanic are stunningly rare that in numerous games, maybe eight winners and 15 mages, I couldn't find a single in game situation in which I could make us of it. Sure, I could contrive one but even that wasn't easy to do.

It's not crap. It's just not properly tested, which makes sense because the new Disruption Shield was a quick-fix and clearly they didn't work it all out. This post is to look for solutions. If you have some, fine but suggesting that I don't understand how to play the game is irritating at best because you aren't considering what I'm writing.