Blood magic was the big boogyman in dom1 with stories abounding of armies of dozens of Ice Devils. I never encountered this (MP games I was in ended too early) but I found plenty of scope for doing nasty things with blood even if it was just the contracts, which you don't have to do seperate research for, and multiple armies with half a dozen Ice Devils were not hard to come by. I'm glad that things have been toned down but always believed that rebalencing required improving early blood magic and that has not happened - the reverse with the weakening of contracts. Both high level (summons) and low level (contracts) blood magic has been weakened. Blood was only overpowered late game in dom1 and you had to survive to get there.
I really enjoyed blood magic in dom1 but find it very unappealing in dom2. Sure you can get some good results but the cost? I don't even think about it seriously with Pangaea as the price would be far too high to be worth channeling the resources from army building and conquest. When I have gone into blood with Abysia its been a case of ho hum these contracts sure are expensive and what exactly is the really useful summoning that I'm devoting so much time and effort to? No Pazzazu, only one Illearth, Ice Devils were never optimal for Abysia and are less so now (but still the most appealing), Fallen Angels and Arch Angels are seriously yawn material considering how little new they offer and how much work goes into geting them. Hmm lets see I could invest vast amounts of resource to get mages who can do what my existing ones can.
Sure you can turn them into supercombatents but that has its own costs in terms of gems and forging time and they are only ok at it. Doesn't compare to being able to build Niefel Giants from turn1 and have my mages seperate. I can't honestly say to you that its worth bothering with blood as Abysia until late in the game (which may never come) as from my tests of it probably isn't worth the pain in the period of the game when most things are decided.
Low level blood battle magic is fairly weak by nature - blood spells tend to cost blood slaves which can't be provided early in a reliable manner (cost of ferrying slaves, hunting for slaves . . .). Low level blood summons are unappealing due to the mage time required to summon them. Contracts are not what the used to be.
I have read reports of single player blood experiments which sounded good but I'm not convinced these have much bearing on MP as MP demands one build an empire not sit on onces butt collecting blood slaves early. Sure you can get some nasty results latter in the game but thats true of all paths of magic and others provide goodies early and don't require the huge expenditure in time and effort to get the blood slaves.
Bloods big thing remains how many blood slaves you can get and its true that you can get alot. It costs you a heap of gold and time in which you could be pummeling your opponent into submission or they could be pummelling you. Sure its the big bonus of blood that you can put in lots of effort and get a heap of slaves but its not enough by itself. In the end slow strategies need something special or they just can't compete with the value of doing the obvious.
Maybe I'm missing something but for me the fun has been taken out of blood and I have found blood largely a waste of time in dom2 - better returns elsewhere. As someone who really enjoyed blood in Dom1 its sad to see how low it seems to have fallen.
I realise that many people will have done impressive things with blood magic playing single player in Dom2 - single player gives you time to explore viscous late game approaches. If thats all blood has to offer then thats sad for me.
Please Illwinter reconsider allowing more low level blood spells where you get more then one devil per casting. This would bring blood into things early for Mictlan and not long after for an Abysian player so inclined - as it should be. I also think the devil summoning contract need to be made cheaper and possibly a starting ritual for Abysia. I miss my devils - I really miss my devils.
cheers
Keir
[ December 27, 2003, 06:38: Message edited by: Keir Maxwell ]
Blood?
Threaded Mode