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Since the World of Warcraft is a class-based game,
there will probably be multiple casting-classes. The
two most predominant classes in the Warcraft world are
the Wizards of Lorderon and the Shaman of the Orcish
Horde. In WoW, Wizards will probably be more offensive-magic
based as in many other MMORPGs. Shaman in Warcraft 3
tend to have direct-damage spells, but fewer or ones
that are more sporadic and uncontrolled. Magic in WoW
will probably be faster than in other MMORPGs as it
is Blizzard's goal to make all players feel powerful
and reduce magical regeneration downtime.
Damage Over Time (DOT) are spells which cause
a target(s) to take damage over a certain pre-allocated
period of time.
Direct Damage (DD) refers to spells which
are used to damage opponents instantly in a single burst.
For example, imagine a wizard casts a fireball at
an enemy, that enemy promptly takes damage. Direct damage
spells come in two varieties.
Buffering Magic (Buffs) spells are used
for multiple purposes. "Buffs" enhance or
degrade a specific quality or multiple traits of a character
or monster. For example, the Bloodlust spell (unconfirmed)
enhances a characters metabolism, increasing the attack
speed and damage of a character. Buffs do not last however
and their durations have various ranges.
It's good to keep allies buffed whenever possible,
they will like you for it. There are also negative buffs
which are good in Player-versus-Player games and against
difficult monsters. Buffs can come in LOS, Area effects,
and party effects, but the two latter ranges are rare
in MMORPGs.
Healing Magic is usually used by priests and
clerics, but there are exceptions in many games. Healing
spells do exactly what they sound like, they heal players
and cure them of diseases. Healing magic tends to come
in line-of-sight, area, or party spells.
Line-of-Sight Damage (LOS)
is a spell which affects a single target and usually
requires a direct view of the target. Spells like
shock missiles and heal are good examples of this, if
you cast them and they hit a wall, they simply fizzle.
Area-Effect Damage Spells (AOF) are spells which
can be cast and effect multiple targets within an area of the
spell. For example, if you cast a Blizzard spell,
not only is the creature you targeted/cast near damaged,
but also creatures within a defined radius.
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