First off, sticky flame needed a nerf, it totally did. Now, having said that, the current state of it wrecks the Book of Flames and Fire Elementalists. Let me elaborate.
FE has two playstyles, stay far back and blast things with fire or sticky flame things and then melee them. Almost all fire spells are either the first or assist the first. The second playstyle is born purely due to sticky flames' ridiculousness.
So how does range one sticky flame fit into the true playstyle of FE? It doesn't. Any FE that gets into melee range of a spiny frog or hydra is completely dead. So now FE tackles the Lair by putting down walls of conjured flame all over the place, which makes me ask the question: why start as FE? Wz[flame] and Cj[fire] both provide throw flame and conjure flame and in addition give blink/meph or the newly buffed stone arrow which clears the lair quite nicely. FE doesn't have a reliable midgame spell anymore, by the time you will actually be casting bolt of fire Sif will likely have given it to you or you have the book of power from Vehumet for mystic blast or whatever.
Before, you used to cast Sticky Flame then backpedal. Now, you cast Sticky Flame then… backpedal. Nothing really changed. — kilobyte
What about the parts where you need to stand next to a monster, give the monster a free melee turn after casting, or ask for the monster to get still more hits in with double moves (and/or just being faster than you)? Pretty sure the abovementioned spiny frogs and hydras notice the “change” caused from starting at melee instead of five squares away. — og17 2011-01-01 23:55
Look, I'm not saying sticky flame should be unnerfed but the current situation leaves a gaping hole in the Book of Flames. If sticky flame is intended to be a reaver spell then give it to reavers and put something else in the Book of Flames, it's completely out of line with FE. — st 2011-01-01 03:25
This is immediately obvious, no idea how it went ignored. It's funny that FE is so much worse than EE now, though! However, “give it to reavers” is a strange suggestion - I'd put it in Fire, getting rid of the thematic-but-useless evaporate if necessary. Or better yet, figure out how to make sticky flame less than suicidal for a pure blasting conj/fire class that has zero movement or disabling abilities. A range of two would help give a head start against same-speed enemies, at least, though you'd still get killed by double moves - maybe being on fire could make monsters panicked or insane? I don't know, but this should've been figured out beforehand, and the nerf should be reverted until someone comes up with a fix. — og17 2011-01-01 17:40
Alternatively, FE could be changed in other ways to open the class up to hybridization, which would also better fit in with the other elementalists - IE, EE, and AE are certainly broader than FE's straight blasting. Maybe conjure flame's clouds could be given some disabling effect, though you'd need to be careful to keep it distinct from miasma. Or maybe throw flame could be replaced with some sort of movement or disabling ability? Or give flame tongue a secondary effect, maybe introducing an invis or confuse-like blinded/dazed status that makes monsters less accurate? Basically, melee-range sticky flame could work if FE had any business being in melee range in the first place - it requires giving the class a way to survive and/or escape combat, needless to say. — og17 2011-01-01 17:55
If sticky flame had range two then you could sticky flame things while hiding behind conjured flame–IF you're in a corridor. This would go away after a certain point in the game though when you get to the really strong enemies, nor would it help you through some branches (like Lair). So it'd be helpful but probably not enough. Also, I'm against “opening FE up to hybridization” for the simple reason that the game needs one element that really is all about blasting. It sounds ridiculous to change what fire magic means just because one of the spells in its school was nerfed and left a gap; better to find something to fill that gap. — brickman 2011-01-01 22:05
I would have to agree that sticky flame being range 1 really doesn't fit with the whole fire elementalist playstyle, or fire magic in general. The entire school is structured around long-range blasting, with a spell that promotes creating a distance between you and the enemy (conjure flame), and a few spells that outright punish you for using them at close range (fireball, fire storm). Ice magic is more suited to the hybrid playstyle. st makes an important point about spiny frogs and hydras: the typical fire elementalist won't want to risk casting a spell at melee range against one of these enemies (also, if I was in that situation and had no escape, I'd rather cast bolt of fire in order to kill it more quickly). On the other hand, I do think the old sticky flame was overpowered for its level. It's just that the current nerf puts it in a very unusual niche which I can't see much use for. — evilmike 2011-01-02 07:51
I agree with many of the other commentators here that Sticky Flame was entirely too powerful the way that it existed, but if the intent was to amke the spell useless or niche, then making it range 1 was a good call. If however, the intent was to make it a viable early-to-midgame spell for a FE without being overly powerful, then it was a bad call. Giving an Ogre/Hydra/Spiny Frog a guaranteed swing is just going to lead to a lot of squashed FEs. I think it would be just as successful at leaving it at range 2 (and why would Vehumet not extend the range of this particular spell either?) would accomplish most of what the devs intended while still leaving it viable. Also, I'm assuming that mottled dragons/draconians have also had their breath reduced, right? If the devs are intent on doing this to sticky flame, then it should be removed entirely and instead every fire spell should have a chance of setting a creature on fire. This would especially buff conjure flame which is very situational currently. — rebthor 2011-01-10 17:22
Why not remove sticky flame from the FE, give it to the Reaver (hybrid) and give the FE ignite poison? That would help against the fast foes that the FE has problems with (they are all poisonous), and still give them the range. — yet_another_stupid_noob 2011-07-05 22:38Sticky Flame is currently the best spell in the FE book. Post-nerf whining on this page is overblown, because it's still great for almost everything. You simply can't use it as your only needed solution to every threat from D3 to mid-Vaults now. It's not advised for killing a hydra just because of their damage output, but you do have Bolt of Magma or Bolt of Fire for that kind of job. Anything else, from spiny frogs and black mambas to dire elephants to orc warlords and so on, and napalm will do the job fast, particularly if you've softened it up on the approach. Ignite Poison is extremely niche; it might be useful against a handful of dangerous Lair enemies but it is completely useless in many other parts of the game. — koboldlord 2011-07-05 23:53
A few things: first, Ignite Poison is *not* a “niche” spell. If you cast Mephitic Cloud, Poison Cloud, Green Draconian breath (player's), Evaporate some poison-cloud potions, and then Ignite Poison, you have a LOT of very dangerous fire clouds that can last for quite a while. IP also appears to be a good skill for otherwise “pure” Venom-magic users against enemies who are pretty resistant to poison but not against fire. Plus IP'ing someone after poisoning them is adding insult-to-injury-to-poison-to-fire. ;) Second, if you want Sticky Flame, play as the Mottled Draconian (I think that's the one.) Yes, the draconian breath range is ALSO only 1, but it ignites multiple enemies simultaneously if they are adjacent to the player. Finally… Sticky Flame with range one and no Vehumet extension sucks, and I no longer use it. Sticky Flame WAS good for use on mid-level enemies like Hydra, but a bit expensive to take down lesser enemies like giant bugs, goblins, kobolds and orcs. Now it's *no longer useful* against mid-level enemies, *still* overkill for lesser enemies, and *suicidal* for high-level enemies. Solution? Use Poison/Mephitic Cloud and Ignite Poison, and you'll see what I mean. Casting two spells instead of one may be more expensive, but casting the two actually remain effective while the one is now a waste.
— andy 2011-11-11 19:57
It's great that you found a combo you like. Real great. Mephitic Cloud isn't in the FE starting book, though, and it won't be added, so Ignite Poison isn't going to be especially useful to a starting FE until they find a lucky book drop. Nor should fire elementalists be expected to invest in air magic, or hope for a lucky draconian type. Ignite Poison is certainly worth considering if you find it in the Dungeon, but it has no business being in a starting book. As for your evaluation of Sticky Flame… Your experience does not match my own. Sticky Flame is nearly capable of clearing Lair on its own, with only electric eels and hydra requiring another solution. It also effectively deals with notable enemies in Orc, up to and including orc warlords, although of course normal orcs probably aren't worth the mp expenditure. — koboldlord 2011-11-11 23:15
Ah, I think I realize the difference between us. I am a spellcaster mainly because I like to “stay-the-heck-away” from intended targets, so Sticky Flame (in its current form) is really not at all useful for MY playstyle. Since I usually play Kenku, Mummy, Naga, or Vampire, if I let robust melee-centric enemies near me then I'm either going to suffer a lot of harm or simply not be able to outrun them. Thus peppering enemies with “Bolt of Magma” then Blinking/Teleport/Flying away, or One-Shotting enemies with something like Bolt of Draining is much safer for my characters than getting close to enemies, setting them on fire, then letting them beat on me until they burn to death. Still, none of this changes the fact that Sticky Flame is less-than-useful to anyone with a similar playstyle to me… or that Sticky Flame is evidently useful to people like you. I suppose if I was a Troll or Minotaur in Plate Armor, I wouldn't be so averse to using Sticky Flame to cause *bonus* damage to enemies while I'm putting the beat-down on them with a bardiche or something, but still… I'm just a poor, anemic wizard/necromancer! :/
— andy 2011-11-22 19:51
FE doesn't start with Bolt of Draining, Bolt of Magma (anymore), or Blink. It starts with Sticky Flame. All my FEs, including MuFEs, have found Sticky Flame to be the most effective spell in the starting book. 0.10 FE has one of the best starting books, in fact, now that Flame Tongue and Fireball are actually usable. Your playstyle of discarding melee and melee-range spells entirely may not in fact be the most effective way to play FE! Also, trolls in plate mail? — minmay 2011-11-23 03:19
I agree that the current sticky flame is far-from-useless; you're going to end up next to something (a viper, say), sooner or later, and with sticky flame you're considerably more likely to survive. That said, I also agree that Sticky Flame should do something else cool, to make it more useful in this role. Suggestion - being covered in sticky flame should be *demoralizing*, so that monsters covered in sticky flame are (much) more likely to run away. This also makes very nice combos with conjured flame, corridors etc. — drpraetor 2011-11-23 17:06