Going from rank 2 to rank 3 Lightning bolt will be a dps decrease due to the increased cast time at level 14.
Base
Rank 2 29-34 damage at 2.0 cast speed. Average 15.75 dps
Rank 3 32-38 damage at 2.5 cast speed. Average 14 dps
At 5 SP
Rank 2 LB does 32 to 37 damage at a 2.0 cast speed. Average 17.25 dps
Rank 3 does 35 to 42 damage at 2.5 cast speed. Average 15.4 dps
It does seem like rank 3 is scaling better with SP but you would need a good amount for it to catch up due to the cast speed difference. I think it’s something like 30sp before rank 3 will do more damage than rank 2
IDK the spell scaling seems odd. I know they put a lot of it into gear, but regardless of how much SP you have getting a new rank of a spell should feel like a jump in power. And definitely not a DPS loss. This would be very off putting to a new player. A new rank of a signature spell shouldn’t feel like a waste of gold
This is at level 14. Continued scaling on rank 3 going into further levels probably changes this. I still stand by that going to get a new rank in a spell should feel like a power boost
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It’s scaling. If you have a bad weapon that will be the case, but it is not if you do. They boosted the item scaling pretty significantly.
I know there’s scaling, it’s detailed in the post. A new rank shouldn’t do worse damage at base than the previous one. It’s unintuitive and bad design.
You need at least 30 SP by level 14 for it to do more damage. The only way you can get that much SP is by doing one of the new dungeons. So when you get this new rank excited to go to the new dungeon you’ll end up doing less damage with it. Seems pretty dumb.
If they are doing it like this they should display the formulas in the tooltip. Or should we be forced to crunch the numbers and double check if we have enough SP every time we get a new spell rank?
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I personally kind of like it, makes itemization important and feel rewarding.
Downranking spells in classic for certain circumstances is not an unheard of mechanic.
They already listed this as a known issue with Paladin’s holy strike feeling terrible between certain ranks.
This isn’t zero sum. You can still have the majority of your scaling come from gear, but a new rank in a spell should never be a dps decrease.
They should at the very least display average dps for spell damage in the tool tip. You should never lose damage going up a rank.
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