Spell Fizzle Fix

[Cranjis]

I know this is a somewhat minor issue, but it can be really irritating in groups.
While caster, whether auto-targeting or locking on something, if something or someone kills the target as you cast the spell, nothing happens. The spell goes on cooldown, sp is spent, but the spell doesn't even get cast at where the target was.
My suggestion is at *least* make the spell go towards where the target died instead of blowing spellpoints and putting the spell on cooldown because something died mid-incantation.

 

[Dandonk]

Yes, please.

I don't play casters all that much at end game, but I do run through them in TRs. And that fizzled spell annoys me a lot.

And annoys my caster guildy when I kill his mass hold target right before the spell lands.

Still, I can survive without such small joys, if I must.

 

[Buddha5440]

Nope...Your target is gone before the spell is completed. It SHOULD fail/fizzle. If you're shooting an arrow/bolt at something and it dies or is destroyed before you hit it, should your projectile just move to the next closest target???

That being said...something like Fireball should have a different targeting option (which we all know is NOT going to happen) where you can target a location rather than a mob.

 

[Dandonk]

Nope...Your target is gone before the spell is completed. It SHOULD fail/fizzle. If you're shooting an arrow/bolt at something and it dies or is destroyed before you hit it, should your projectile just move to the next closest target???

No, but it should continue on its path and possibly hit the mob behind the now-dead target. It should NOT disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again.

A fireball aimed a a monster should continue on the path it was already taking, and hit the spot where the dead mob was.

 

[Buddha5440]

No, but it should continue on its path and possibly hit the mob behind the now-dead target. It should NOT disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again.

A fireball aimed a a monster should continue on the path it was already taking, and hit the spot where the dead mob was.

For rays and such, I agree. For AoE spells, no. It's one of the differences between DDO and D&D. In DDO, the fireball is targeted on the monster...in D&D, it's targeted at the point in space the caster (sometimes poorly) designates (any good Dm will often show instances where the player cast it at a monster, which moved during the casting, and have it explode where the monster was).
If said monster/target no longer exists, the engine has no target for an AoE spell that needs a point of origin (it could but that would surely add to LAG if required to remember the location of everything for 6 seconds or so). For a ray spell it should be easy to just let it continue on it's way and hit whatever is next in line (ie. Precise shot/IPS).

I don't like it but it is one of the limitations of this game and not likely to change, even with a 64-bit server.

 

[Cranjis]

Nope...Your target is gone before the spell is completed. It SHOULD fail/fizzle. If you're shooting an arrow/bolt at something and it dies or is destroyed before you hit it, should your projectile just move to the next closest target???

That being said...something like Fireball should have a different targeting option (which we all know is NOT going to happen) where you can target a location rather than a mob.

Spells are cast by the caster speaking some words and point their fingers. If something that you're casting at dies, why would you, as the caster, fail the spellcast?

 

[rabidfox]

Target: Directional, Foe, Breakable
We have lots of AoEs and spells that can be cast at a location. If you don't have something targeted, they'll cast on the spot where the mouse/target recticle is at. If mob doesn't exist anymore at cast completion, it should just default to the location where it was last at.

 

[Buddha5440]

Target: Directional, Foe, Breakable
We have lots of AoEs and spells that can be cast at a location. If you don't have something targeted, they'll cast on the spot where the mouse/target recticle is at. If mob doesn't exist anymore at cast completion, it should just default to the location where it was last at.

Yes and no. It should default to the location the target was at when you began casting the spell...

My point is asking this old, spaghetti coded game to remember such things would make LAG even worse than the doomsayers claim it is now.

 

[rabidfox]

My point is asking this old, spaghetti coded game to remember such things would make LAG even worse than the doomsayers claim it is now.

Quite possibly. But nothing wrong with the OP asking for it and letting the devs crush the dream because of code issues. Or maybe it's not a big deal and would work fine.

 

[Visik]

For rays and such, I agree. For AoE spells, no. It's one of the differences between DDO and D&D. In DDO, the fireball is targeted on the monster...in D&D, it's targeted at the point in space the caster (sometimes poorly) designates (any good Dm will often show instances where the player cast it at a monster, which moved during the casting, and have it explode where the monster was).
If said monster/target no longer exists, the engine has no target for an AoE spell that needs a point of origin (it could but that would surely add to LAG if required to remember the location of everything for 6 seconds or so). For a ray spell it should be easy to just let it continue on it's way and hit whatever is next in line (ie. Precise shot/IPS).

I don't like it but it is one of the limitations of this game and not likely to change, even with a 64-bit server.

DDO targets things even when you don't necessarily want it to. That's a different pita for Warlock, where cone won't proc if the targeted mob moves outside the cone area; it should aim straight ahead at all times and targeting should be irrelevant to it.

In this case, you HAVE targeted a location, even though you did so by targeting a mob. If the mob moves, the targeting moves with it. If the mob ceases to exist, the targeting should stop moving; it shouldn't cause the spell to fizzle. Are we supposed to believe you were so shocked by the death of a mob in a wild melee that you failed your cast? Doesn't make sense. Or that maintaining a target location that's stationary is harder for the game than one that's moving?

 

[shopach]

I think the core issue here is that DDO validates the target both when you initiate the action and when the animation finishes (and I think this happens with other things too, like shooting arrows).

If the target satisfies conditions when you initiate the action, then resources are expended, the spell goes on cooldown, and the cast animation begins. At the end of the animation, it checks again to validate the target, and if the target is no longer valid (it has died, it's not in your front arc, it's not in range, etc) then the spell simply fails. This is especially punitive when targeting creatures that are close to you, as they can easily traverse your frontal arc within a very commonly occurring amount of lag time, meaning that no amount of "skill" can overcome this issue. See bat-like creatures for an example of how absolutely awful this gameplay is.

In my opinion, the game simply should not do this second check. If the target was valid at the initiation of the spell, attack, etc, it should just go through toward that target. If the target is dead, it should go in the direction of the target's dead body, parallel to the ground, but not collide with dead bodies as normal, so if there's a creature behind it will collide with them.