Issue Data
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Issue #17365: Wall spells and their descriptions
WallOfFlames "Wall of Flames" [SPEL:00035D7F] uses BarrierFireConcAimed "Fire Barrier" [MGEF:0008F3ED] with a magnitude of 8. the effects destriction reads:
"Sprayed on the ground, it creates a wall of fire that does <50> points of fire damage per second." it should be changed to "Sprayed on the ground, it creates a wall of fire that does <mag> points of fire damage per second." to reflect the actual damage dealt and also take modifiers into account also it is questionable whether 8 points of damage is the correct value. it is an expert level spell and the damage should be changed to the expected value of 50, to make it more usefull than a static flames spell. the same problem extends (<mag> and low damage) to the spells WallOfFrost "Wall of Frost" [SPEL:00035D80]/BarrierFrostConcAimed "Frost Barrier" [MGEF:0008F3F7] and WallOfStorms "Wall of Storms" [SPEL:00035D81]/BarrierShockConcAimed "Wall of Storms" [MGEF:000BB96F] |
Wall spells are a bit more complicated than that. The portion of the spell that you cast directly (WallOfFlames) only has a magnitude of 8, but that only affects the damage of the spray, not the wall it creates on impact. If it hits the ground (see MAGFlamesBarrierImpactSet), it creates a hazard (either FireBarrierHazard or FireBarrierHazardDrop as necessary), which casts HazardWallofFireSpell, which has mag 20, dur 1. There's also some taper values, but the math works out to an inconsequential amount of damage (0.66), so it just seems to be there to cover the period in between casts. The hazard casts the spell with a delay of 0.3, so it should trigger every 1.3 seconds. So that's about 16 damage per second (including the taper damage), which is substantially less than 50, but more than 8.
the Frost and Shock walls appear to have identical values, except they don't have any taper. The magnitudes for HazardWallofFireSpell, HazardWallofFrostSpell, and HazardWallOfShockSpell should all probably be changed from 20 to 50. That would be in line with their magicka costs and the effects of other Expert-level spells, and should produce effects close to the magnitude stated in the description. I think it more likely that Bethesda did their math wrong (or changed the formulas without fixing the values for these spells to compensate) than that they put in the wrong value in the description.
To elaborate, the developer may have intended the spell to trigger 3 times per second (Target Interval of 0.3), which would work out to somewhere between 50 and 60 damage per second with a magnitude of 20, but did not account for Target Interval meaning a delay between effects</em> -- it doesn't cast a new effect until the previous one expires, plus the Target Interval. The developer may have assumed that the duration of the effect wasn't taken into account, or they may have initially set the duration on the effect to 0, and then realized it didn't look right once they tested it.
the Frost and Shock walls appear to have identical values, except they don't have any taper. The magnitudes for HazardWallofFireSpell, HazardWallofFrostSpell, and HazardWallOfShockSpell should all probably be changed from 20 to 50. That would be in line with their magicka costs and the effects of other Expert-level spells, and should produce effects close to the magnitude stated in the description. I think it more likely that Bethesda did their math wrong (or changed the formulas without fixing the values for these spells to compensate) than that they put in the wrong value in the description.
To elaborate, the developer may have intended the spell to trigger 3 times per second (Target Interval of 0.3), which would work out to somewhere between 50 and 60 damage per second with a magnitude of 20, but did not account for Target Interval meaning a delay between effects</em> -- it doesn't cast a new effect until the previous one expires, plus the Target Interval. The developer may have assumed that the duration of the effect wasn't taken into account, or they may have initially set the duration on the effect to 0, and then realized it didn't look right once they tested it.
Fixed for USKP 2.0.7.
Raised the magnitudes on the 3 hazard spells to 50 from 20.
Raised the magnitudes on the 3 hazard spells to 50 from 20.
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