Metamagic - All spells or just SLAs?

[ToughPlankton]

I'm playing a Blight Caster for the first time and just hit level 5. I currently have Maximize and Quicken, but eventually I plan to take a lot more metamagic feats as I level up.

My question is: Do I want to use these for spells like Spike Growth, or have them only enabled for SLAs? At low levels I tried using Maximize with Acid Splash and was constantly running out of mana.

Any guidance on how to best set things up, especially as I level and gain more spells, would be welcome. Thanks!

 

[J1NG]

Typically speaking, especially for levelling, spells should be granted the minimal amount of Metamagics (usually only Quicken to keep it from being interrupted), whilst all SLA's should have all available Metamagics enabled.

This is because the Metamagics of Maximise and Empower, are only 175 extra Spell Power (SP) and 75 extra SP respectively. However, the amount of Spell Points (sp) you need to enable these, often cost more than casting the spell a second time on waiting for the cooldown - especially for lower level spells where doubling of a d4 means hardly any real increase in effect. Therefore it is a highly inefficient use of sp per spell, especially at lower levels. And especially on newer characters without more advanced equipment and builds that can suppliment the costs needed with enabling the Metamatics.

As SLA's do not increase the sp needed to cast them no matter how much Metamagics you have enabled, it is fine to keep everything enabled for them.

J1NG

 

[Zaszgul]

I wouldn't use metas (except quicken - which I turn on at level 3 and never turn off) on any spammable non-SLAs at low levels, but you might turn them on for persistent AoEs if they aren't killing things fast enough for you, since they are much more spellpoint-efficient.

However, IIRC with all the bonus damage/procs for Spike Growth from enhancements it should kill almost everything very quickly without metas until it gets outclassed by better spells/SLAs at mid-high levels.

But if there are places it's not killing stuff fast enough for you, then you might put 2 copies of Spike Growth on your hotbars - one with just quicken and one with quicken + maximize, and choose between them as you see fit. I would not use empower on any non-SLA in heroics.

 

[ToughPlankton]

I wouldn't use metas (except quicken - which I turn on at level 3 and never turn off) on any spammable non-SLAs at low levels, but you might turn them on for persistent AoEs if they aren't killing things fast enough for you, since they are much more spellpoint-efficient.

However, IIRC with all the bonus damage/procs for Spike Growth from enhancements it should kill almost everything very quickly without metas until it gets outclassed by better spells/SLAs at mid-high levels.

But if there are places it's not killing stuff fast enough for you, then you might put 2 copies of Spike Growth on your hotbars - one with just quicken and one with quicken + maximize, and choose between them as you see fit. I would not use empower on any non-SLA in heroics.

Thank you very much for the info!