Currently I think magic is an underwhelming skill for what it really is: gain archery levels sure, shoot arrows more accurately, more attack/strength sure, swing more accurately/with more power, but magic?? Shoot bigger magic bolts? I think adding a subsection under magic would be so cool for end-game combat, new raids, and more interactive combat. What I’m envisioning is the ability to chose between standard magic attacks, enhanced magic attacks (costing materials to cast), standard support magic, or enhanced support magic (once again costing materials to cast). Even a few simple things like party heal, party damage buff, enemy debuff etc. would add a deeper layer to combat than just sit there with food. I understand that this isn’t really “idle” per se, but even having it as an optional feature for maximum end-game bossing efficiency would be very cool. (Also high-alch when?!?!)
#Magic overhaul
plucky stag
Furthermore, to keep archery relevant could add more use cases for carpentry / crafting, making more unique arrow types that are stronger against certain enemies / have certain effects (such as barbed arrows causing a bleed DOT, poison-tipped arrows causing a debuff, silver tipped arrows causing 15% more damage to werewolves), melee needs a buff anyways so I won’t mention it
In my opinion adding a few small things like this to the combat system will make it feel a lot nicer, giving players the ability to go in-depth if they want to optimise combat, or stick to the status quo for decent- but not maximum available efficiency
eternal light
I like this
devout tide
I'm mitigate. On one hand, adding combat mechanics while keeping the AFK aspect without making it too strong would be original and add variety, as long as it doesn’t change the game’s core. But on the other hand, magic is already a very powerful skill since it easily deals the highest damage with current gear, especially with the black magic potion, which is extremely strong.
What I mean is that magic is already powerful and also the most accessible combat method. Even with added consumables, it would still continue to far outperform other combat skills, despite your suggestions to balance it.
For such a change to happen, the entire combat system would need a complete rework to maintain balance.
-# Even with its current flaws like Berserk requiring six different weapons to cover all combat styles and archery relying mainly on arrows (which are very expensive because you need to invest in the "Ammo Saver" upgrade from the local market to make it worthwhile).
plucky stag
obviously with an overhaul this massive, balancing will need to be made. My main concern with magic is NOT it's strength right now, consider literally ANY mmorpg / -esque game out there, magic systems are usually deep, satisfying to learn / unlock new spells, have a high skill ceiling, and encourage high-risk high-reward playstyle, my main gripe with Idle Clans is the underwhelming combat, every game with a melee/ranger/magic class system ALWAYS incorporate some kind of trade-off between classes, melee typically being tankier at the cost of dps, rangers being incredibly high damage-dealers at the cost of survivability, and mages being incredibly versatile, balancing damage, cc, support magics, etc., once again at the cost of survivability. While I do enjoy this game and understand it will be difficult to implement, Idle Clans' combat system is lackluster at best. Yes. It is an idle game, No. That doesn't mean it is not allowed to have any active elements, and frankly active combat is the best way to incorporate active gameplay to it, the most active element currently in the game is raids, and they are insanely repetitive after a few hundred runs, offering versatility and weaknesses to each combat style will help enrich the game significantly, at least being better than the current system, which is quite literally different class = different damage type, with meta being based around whatever class got the most recent gear / whatever has the best potion buffs available.
atm everyone is spending all of their time concerned about magic being OP because of the items it has available, the issue is deeper than "x OP because does more damage". Ideally damage is only one element of combat, sure. If you're way above the level of the monster you're killing, efficiency is king, more damage is of course going to be favored, but the issue is that ALL classes are dps, with almost zero differentiation, so of course there is going to be one class that does more. Try playing a game of dnd only using weapon attacks and of course you'll think warriors and barbarians are overpowered, the rpg genre isn't supposed to be that, and when it is it feels incredibly one-dimensional, take into consideration that past level 90 taking damage isn't even a factor worthy of mentioning, and you get some bland combat systems - fine for an Idler, but why settle with fine?