There is currently no such potion. The Runic Sight potion allows you see ‘runes’ that are tied with certain players actions. In other words, some runes represent healing a target, doing damage to a target, how many targets are being hit, what kind of attack is being done (from warrior combo’s to different mage spells to different arrows).
This potion will not allow you to see the drawings of other mages.
@Neo_Zain Yeah… @Damage_Da_Mage and I covered that about an hour ago…
Edit: Apparently I’ve reached the maximum number of replies for my first day. In my own thread. So I’ll edit this one, which is a reply to the post /below/ this one;
In this case, I’m referring to disconnecting, closing OrbusVR, Starting it again, and reconnecting. I have absolutely no idea if that has any real effect. Maybe I’m connecting to another server? Maybe everyone connects to the same server and it’s all in my head? I have no way to tell, because I’m lacking loads of critical diagnostic information.
I have no desire to make the system “easier”. I wouldn’t even know how to properly define such a change, because I don’t know the root cause of the failures. All I want is more feedback from the system. I even advocated for making it more complex, if that meant that it was more predictable.
Spells are dependent on headset orientation, but not wand. I.e you can hold your wand sideways, (or for testing purposes I held my Vive controller upside down). I usually draw manashields when doing such test because that is the spell that I think is the easiest and most consistent (draw a circle instead of a square).
Now you said in some sessions certain spells work and others don’t. I wonder what you meant by sessions. When I am drawing my Affliction II, I notice that one of horizontal lines isn’t level with the other. To help improve the likelihood of getting such spell to work I tilt my headset just a bit, not my head the headset itself. The point being that if you are on the edge case of spells certain changes like adjusting the straps of your headset may affect your cast.
They remolded some of the pillars so I don’t know if this is the case anymore but the pillar for Frostbolt I was slightly misleading. The one in the journal book is ‘more accurate’. I try exploring shortcuts and try other methods of casting and so I have stopped using the language of ‘correct’ or ‘right’ drawings. Rather it is better to explain spell casting as there are some ways by which to increase the likelihood of succeeding in certain spells.
The book is certainly a start. But not the end goal. From the book you should get an idea of the shape and then play around with it. You can look at the video of other people and get ideas of what the different things that are available for you to use. But hopefully you will end up developing your own method.
Making the system easier will make it more likely for the recognition to accidentally switch spells. In other words giving more leeway to the system will make it more likely for a player to succeed in casting a spell, but not necessarily the spell they want to cast. This also makes it hard for the system to give you feedback. Are you drawing this spell or…?
This would be a big win for mages, and is primarily the best thing that could help casters. I would do more than just coloring the Z plane if possible as depth is not always the problem.
Personally I think a very useful feedback for mages would be similar to that of bridge simulators. Submitting a spell would show levels of “tension” where tension represents how incorrect or correct each part of the drawing is. The levels of tension are visually represented by hues. Blue being perfect, red being horrible & the hues shift everywhere in between blue/green/yellow/orange/red. Example:
If the player sees red, they can start manipulating that part of the spell until it becomes orange, then yellow, then green, then eventually poof! It casts. Muscle memory and practice are still required to actually use any spell consistently in combat.
To avoid showing feedback for a similar looking spell, on each page in the mage book a player can select a single spell. This would cause the feedback system to ignore all other spells when it evaluates the “tension” of the spell submission.
Opening the spellbook & selecting a spell could be a way to enable this feedback system & closing the book would disable it.
To clarify, the player opens the book, selects a spell, makes a drawing, submits the drawing, the drawing does not disappear if it fails or succeeds. If it fails, the wand poofs. If it succeeds, the spell goes on to the end of the wand… the usual. The drawing is replaced with an identical colored drawing showing tension. When the player begins drawing again, the colored-tension drawing disappears. This way a player can evaluate their successful drawings as well as their failed drawings. The player closes the book, and the feedback system is turned off.
Use different sized drawings as well, not just shapes. Ice Lance for example can be more easily drawn (I believe) at a smaller size. There are a lot of little tricks and every spell is a bit different. I agree it’s not as simple as just drawing the shape in the book. In fact, I can not for the life of me draw the regular Affliction 2 even if I believe my drawing is nearly perfect. I feel that i can outline a spell like Fireworks or Affliction 2 and it won’t cast. Pushback 2 only vaguely resembles Pushback 2 and Frost 3 is also very different from the actual Frost 3. So, learning is more of a trial and error than it is studying a shape, most basic shapes excluded (like Fireball). For a number of these spells it would be ideal if they were changed to better match their depictions. However, changing the spell system also could wreak havoc on existing shortcuts, so I would understand any hesitation to change it heavily now.
Drawing the runes is fairly difficult. All of us have had issues here and there. Honestly just try to enjoy what they have given us for the time being. I believe the mage class should not be an easy class by any means. Infact, I would like to see a more difficult range of spells. I am looking forward to the future of runemage. [Maybe another tournament someday?]
This is an interesting post. I hope the Developers read it and take it into account as a possible way to give Runemages Training wheels.
Seems to be an interesting solution.
I also understand why they would want to avoid this, but it’s a not a good reason to avoid making changes to a game that everyone understands is beta. It’s growing pains. A bit of pain now to save a WHOLE LOT later.
I have stated repeatedly that I have no desire for it to be easier. I even suggested making it harder (i.e more complex), if that meant that it would be more consistent.
Yeah, I did not take the time to read your whole post. I’m sure you gave good feedback. At this point it’s all the same.
I know that it is frustrating but its supposed to be a hard class to play. It was made to be a kind of super class. Thats why you dont get a wand without the quest.
I know its annoying to keep hearing this and it seems patronizing but I swear that it is not met to be. Its just muscle memory. As frustrating as it is its just practice.
Check out a couple of different discords. They have some spell gifs to try out. There are some very cool alt ways of drawing spells.
Talk to other mages in game also! They are very helpful. They can have good tips.
Ie with fireball 3 I dont know how you cast it obv but try making your side circles nice and big and make sure that your B is pointy. I see lots of people making their circles too small. Be sure your circles are slightly in front your B.
Be very aware of your head position as you cast.
@Yecal_Wulf … I don’t mean to sound dismissive, but have you read this thread? It kinda seems like you haven’t.
I wish I could say something different…but 100% the spell system is janky and variable for everyone. And this isn’t about being a new mage. Veteran mages complain about this all the time but then turn around and say “git gud” whenever someone complains on the forums.
Ever wonder why certain players can use shortcuts but others have a hard time with it?
Ever wonder why you have spell inconsistency even though its the same drawing just a second ago?
The only thing that seems to be absolute is drawing the glyphs exactly how they are supposed to be, in game, but no end game mage does that because its slow and not even closed to balanced.
This is beyond “just practice”. Anyone who can draw in VR can easily figure out how the implementation of this spell system is not desirable even though in theory it sounds fine on paper.
And its not all on “frame” issues, which also impact this spell casting system too.
This spell system should be easier so that people can enjoy the system more, and skill shouldn’t be in drawing a spell, but using it effectively under pressure.
Just imagine if this game had more tolerance and better designed glyphs. Mages would be focusing on other things than “I can’t cast X spell”. How do they even balance a game that has such high variance on spell consistency?
This is another one of those elephants in the room.
I have and I gave you my prospective. It can seem inconsist when your muscle memory is not there yet. It’s just having to do it over and over until you can draw it in your sleep.
This is why I say this
I can cast frost 2, fire 2, and decurse with prob 98 percent accuracy always (with no frame drops). I recently learned affliction 2. I can cast that about %80.
Sometimes I get on and I just can’t seem to get affliction. I can still cast the main 3 though. It seems like the game is being inconsistent. I understand why people feel that. It’s me being inconsistent though. The way that the drawing works can make it seem that way.
This is not me saying to get good. This is me saying that it takes repetition and teaching your muscles what to do. I’m saying that it’s frustrating as hell and I understand why people want to find a reason and a way to fix it because it is hard to believe that this system is not broken. Especially when you are working so hard and still failing. I’m saying that you can do it but you have to push.
And if you see me around say hi. I’ll be happy to help if I can.
@Chris_G1 I think your frustration level may be a touch higher than mine 
I’m more confused than anything.
At any rate, if @Riley_D is still watching, I came up with another possible modification that may work for both camps (high skill floor AND allowing the runes to relax the accuracy); Make everything a “ritual”.
Imagine a system that had the ability to choose both the delivery of a spell (ray, explosion, etc), AND the effect (healing, fire, affliction, frost, firework, etc). So you’d cast one rune to determine the delivery, one rune to determine the effect, and one rune for the level (early level spells have simple end runes, higher ones get more complicated, maybe even add more steps).
This system would retain complexity, allow for a much lower accuracy rate, avoids colliding runes that are too similar (by making a lot of them specific to just the initial step, or just the second step, etc), forces the mage to learn and be able to recall all the elements of the spells, encourages quick casting (which will need to be a learned and practiced ability), etc, etc…
Now, this isn’t a perfect idea necessarily, and I don’t expect you to directly implement it, but some element(s) of it maybe interesting to you.
(Plus, I’d like to be able to cast exploding balls of frost, continual rays of fireworks, and AOE mana shields instead of shooting myself in the head)
This much I was sure of, it just seemed like you were rehashing things that several other people had already said.
Sure, but;
Specifically, for spells that have /never/ worked, I have no basis for practice. It’s 100% guessing.
Are you willing to give the mage system another 20-30 hours of gameplay? I’m getting a very angry vibe from all the posts. Even our guys in Nova with bare minimum specs are making it work.
Thread summary(I think):
1] Everyone openly acknowledges that some runes don’t really look like the actual drawings, probably should be adjusted, and that this would have side effects on existing shortcuts.
2] Need a feedback system ( see my post ! ) as learning is the biggest challenge. Practicing the wrong shape = a huge waste of time, stressful, and the main reason that mages complain.
3] Inconsistent casting is a mix of skill level & understanding what shape actually needs to be drawn. If someone practices a nearly failing shape, the player will have more inconsistency with their cast. This is because the spell is already really close to failure, so any additional error such as a shaky hand will tip it over the edge. Someone who practices a shape that is more successful (thus allowing more room for error), they will have more consistency with their cast. A player with excellent muscle memory can make even the worst shapes cast consistently because they do not introduce additional error.
3-A] See [2]. If someone learns what shapes are better to cast, they can reduce their inconsistency. The difference between a good and a bad shape can sometimes be extremely minor details that a player is unaware of.
It is true that learning some spells, for example, Frost 3, is mostly guessing. You slowly adjust the various lengths of the line, the angle that it takes, and eventually it just clicks. This can take hours, days, or even weeks for some. This is not ideal, far from it. It’s worse that the statue for Frost 3 is very different from how everyone I know casts Frost 3. The angle of the line for the statue is so steep, and not even slanted on the X axis. Everyone I know only slightly slants the line and tilts it slightly to the right.
As I also noted before, I can trace something like Affliction 2 or Fireworks and still fail the cast. I’ve never casted a greater affliction as it appears in the book. I don’t know how this is possible lol. Yet I have my own ways of casting them, so eyh.
@Alu, see @Ian_L 's post. Couldn’t have said it better.
Also, your comment about specs has zero bearing on my issues, as it likely does not for many others. I’m sure some people have errors casting because of tracking spikes or frame drops. I have no evidence to suggest that I am one of those people (unless, of course, I’m not seeing the whole picture, and some kind of undiscussed lag actually IS the blame, but that’s pretty far fetched).
This is under assumption that the Runemage class is one that is for practicing art skills, or even copying symbols. One can make an argument that the Runemage class is one requiring intellectual properties requiring testing, trail and error, and honning in on what works. Heck maybe even figuring out why weird things work, stripping the symbols to the bare necessities.
(P.S. I kinda wrote it before reading all your post but then got confused to what you were trying to say 
)
