Astral magic seems overpowered

[Kuritza]

Just ban all the late stage globals, together with gem gens.

[Squirrelloid]

I think that design philosophy is flawed. The late game generally moves toward a global stalemate situation, where neither side can inflict enough damage to matter. Endgame globals need to be overwhelming in order to break the stalemate, otherwise games just don't end.

[RonD]

At the risk of derailing the animated discussion of water gems and CBM

If you find yourself needing to counter massed astral mages, something like Earthquake or Rain of Stones can be you best friend.

[Folket]

Where did your opponent find 40 150 gold S4 mages by turn 23?

[Agema]

Falling Frost is ultimately too powerful to be cast by W2 - it's quite capable of really messing up many armies when cast in large quantities. Compared to its rough equivalents in other paths like Blade Wind, Thunderstrike, Shadow Blast, Stellar Cascades etc. it's pretty reasonable in terms of effect (AoE and damage), casting requirements, fatigue cost and research necessary.

[Tollund]

Falling frost is worse than falling fires, especially since F2 mages can cast falling fires, while W2 mages can't cast falling frost.

[Quitti]

Originally Posted by Tollund

Falling frost is worse than falling fires, especially since F2 mages can cast falling fires, while W2 mages can't cast falling frost.

Exactly. And falling fires is 15AP damage while falling frost is 17+ normal damage (and you don't see anyone boosting it much over that 17 damage since you'll want the mages hitting with something like niefel flames when they are w4 or around that (with a booster) for 10an and aoe of ~5 times more.

[Agema]

Originally Posted by Quitti

Exactly. And falling fires is 15AP damage while falling frost is 17+ normal damage (and you don't see anyone boosting it much over that 17 damage since you'll want the mages hitting with something like niefel flames when they are w4 or around that (with a booster) for 10an and aoe of ~5 times more.

Sure. If you've researched enough to fire Niefel Flames instead of Falling Frost in the second year, go for it.

There's no absolute requirement for Falling Frost to be be directly comparable with Falling Fires. It just has to do a decent job in many situations, which it does. You may as well complain about Blade Wind, needs E3, huge fatigue, and easily ruined by things as complex as armour and shields.

And to be fair, if you're going to talk up Fire, you need to consider the spell "Rain", and Water has a 50% fire resist spell (with earth, W3E1 I think) as well. And if you're a fire nation with heat auras and stuff, just think how Wolven Winter ruins your battlefield.

The only moral of the story is that almost nothing is equal. But Falling Frost is fine for what it does.

[thejeff]

On the other hand Water bracelets are cheap and easy while F boosters are expensive (and fatiguing) or crosspath.

[Squirrelloid]

Sure, but no one uses fire boosters to get to falling fires. They just cast phoenix power. No gem expenditures required, and no boosters risked on the frontlines.