Don’t get me wrong, the idea of being able to buy different magic circle designs is great. The circle packs added to the full release update are amazing, and I’ve blown like a thousand Robux total on them.
My problem lies in how the circles are implemented in game, specifically the tier system. While almost all of the circles above tier 4 look excellent, almost all of the T1, T2 and T3 circles are pretty terrible.
For example, here’s the default circle with water magic:
Very iconic. Every pre-release AO player knows this design. I remember, back when I was a wee lad who couldn’t stop thinking about TGR, being hyped about it being simpler than the World of Magic circle design, which is now the Default T8 circle. The catch is that this design is now only seen on T4, T5 and T6, which are almost completely inaccessible to players, aside from mages.
So what are the hybrids stuck with?
Tier 1 Default
Tier 2 Default
Boring at best. Oh, and even for mages, dodge reflex and energy flaunting still stay at a Tier 1 design.
Imbuement circles keep their tiers, but it’s strange. My guess is that it’s dependent on the level of whatever stat you’re imbuing with your magic (weapons, spirit or strength), as it has a Tier 3 design on my 140/210 conjurer despite my blast spell being Tier 2.
My issue is that these lower-tiered designs just make magic seem less magical. Why even have magic circles at all if it’s just going to be a boring circle with a pictogram inside?
All the circle packs are also advertised with their Tier 9 variants on their gamepass icons and primarily by their Tier 4 variants in the in-game shop. The average player is not going to have knowledge of the inner workings of the game’s tier system; they’re just going to buy the circles that look cool.
Solar, for example, really only looks like a sun at Tier 4 and above, which requires a max level (175) mage to even access.
The fire conjurer wants this,
but gets this.
I know this system was designed around the future level caps. We’re not even two seas in. But why release it in this state? Since the game released 3 years ago, we’ve gotten 100 more stat points, which is one (1) extra tier. I understand this is a result of the devs working on gameplay features rather than story and will likely pick up the pace now that full release is out, but it still isn’t looking good. It’ll most likely be several years before hybrids can make use of these designs for their spells (and never for reflex and emotes).
My solution would be to either
- Make all circle tiers (possibly with the exception of rare/lost/ancient spells and ultimates) based on the blast spell’s tier, which is simply based on the magic stat since its base requirement is zero
- Or better yet, sell a gamepass that allows you to pick a circle tier to use on all of your spells (including reflex and emotes), perhaps with further customization for which spells use which tiers (maybe even include it with magic circle gamepasses or just make it free)