Elves getting their own mage unit?

[BloodIssyl]

Personally i think the fact that the elves and the loyalists "share" the mage unit is sort of silly. The name of the faction is even "Elves" and not a group blanket term like "knalgan alliance." I think that elves should get their own version of the mage.

Some of the reasons i think this would be good/awesome/beneficial:

- Gives elves unique unit (makes game more varied and exciting)
- Could fix the "humans within elven faction" problem (even though merpeople are in, but shh, that's a unique unit.)
- It could be a pretty cool unit, considering the talent of the art developers and the fact it would fit in with elven lore.
- the "scholarly mage" doesn't seem to fit in with the sylvan, nature-like elves of the rest of the faction (wouldn't they require books and large cities?)
- Gives loyalists their own unit (ties hand in hard with the first point, i guess.)

Some of the reasons this might be not so good of an idea:

- A new unit would require balancing, whereas the factions are already finely tuned.
- New art, but that might not necessarily be entirely a bad thing.
- Mage is balanced and proven; some players might object at the removal.
- Removes a unit with fire damage from the elven arsenal (Although this could be fixed with the new unit.)
- Might take a lot of work that the development staff might not be willing to undertake.
- Elven mage already taken care of by branches of the shaman tree

I have a few ideas for the unit:

- wild explorer version of the mage with more shots, but less power, and a better melee. (could still be human.)
- elven battle-mage with spear melee attack and fireball throwing as secondary attack
- Elven raider unit (possibly mounted?)

I mean, i realize that adding a new unit to a faction is a large step, and the developers are going to be reluctant to consider it, but i really think that making EVERY faction have ALL unique units is an important step. After all, we want to continually improve Wesnoth, right?

What do you guys think?

[Turuk]

I could have sworn this was brought up recently. *Goes to find the search button*

EDIT:

Tada. http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic. ... elves+mage

And to speed up reading, previous links provided by yours truly about this desire to change.

Here is the thread that talks about the whole issue of multiplayer confusion, as well as proposing a simple redesign of the mage in the Rebels faction, all artistic, that would not hurt balance but establish a difference between the two.
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=18845

Older discussion on changing the Art
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15780

Discussion towards replacing the Mage with Another Unit
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=184955

A more recent replacement thread here
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=21066


As far as what I think, I do believe you have followed the policy of addressing why you think it is a good idea, why it might be a bad idea, and the associated problems. So while I feel you may indeed be beating a dead horse, you at least put the time and effort into providing problem -> reasoning -> solution format to get your point across. Too many people attempt to broach an idea with, "I think the shared human mage is bad, lets make an elven mage!"... And it is left at that.

[BloodIssyl]

Ah, sorry, i guess i should have searched first.

You know, thinking about it in retrospect, an art change to make the rebel mage look more explorer or nature-like would probably be the simplest and best solution, as well as the best for balance.

Well, anyway, mods can lock/delete the thread if they want, or if you guys want to discuss it again, you can. For me, the simple art replacement solution speaks for itself...

Thanks, Turuk.

[Thrawn]

Ah, sorry, i guess i should have searched first.

You know, thinking about it in retrospect, an art change to make the rebel mage look more explorer or nature-like would probably be the simplest and best solution, as well as the best for balance.

Well, anyway, mods can lock/delete the thread if they want, or if you guys want to discuss it again, you can. For me, the simple art replacement solution speaks for itself...

Thanks, Turuk.

Do all the art, and then we'll talk =P

until then, *Locked*