Talk:Spell

I am trying find a proper definition of the term "Spell"

the "Spell' page is not defined unambiguously enough.

For example, Is the Aimed Shot ability/spell a Spell? (which would mean that Intelligence would determine it's Crit Chance)

there is no obvious class of abilities/spells etc like in Guild Wars.

The WoW page http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/spells.html does not help either and just mentions that many people use the trems "Spell" and "Ability" interchangeably.

So what is an "Ability" and what is a "Spell"? what are the defining characteristics? how does Blizz decide when Int determines the Crit chance and when Agi determine the crit chance? This will help us determine which spells/abilities are in deed "spells" and which are "abilities"

(by Doublefrangelico)


 * You're mentioning an important point. I also wondered about a correct definition. To me it the following rules seem to be true:

If I'm not mistaken, Aimed Shot can be dodged, but not counterspelled, and its crit chance is not increased by intellect, therefore it is a "normal" ability. In addition to the definition I'd also like to have an appropriate name for "normal" ability, because as far as I know, ability itself is the umbrella term, consisting of "normal" abilites (as I call them here) and spells. --bfx 07:14, 17 March 2007 (EDT)
 * "Normal" ability:
 * Can be dodged
 * Cannot be counterspelled
 * Crit chance depends on AGI/STR
 * In most cases Physical school (though, there are Physical spells as well)
 * Spell:
 * Can be resisted
 * Can be counterspelled
 * Crit chance depends on INT
 * In most cases anything but Physical school (though, as above, there are also "normal" abilities which deal magical damage)

Guys, what does 'fizzled' mean? -- —The preceding unsigned comment was added by.

This seems to occur when a spell fails for some reason before being cast. It's easiest to see by simply using a warlock's Life Tap when your health is extremely low - rather than killing you, it shows "Fizzled" and simply is not cast, much as if you were out of mana. The only other place I've seen it is on engineering items - for example, it happened twice when I used an Iron Grenade on an enemy higher than level 50. Unlike normal malfunctions, this did not expend the item or incur a cooldown beyond the GCD.

- Owldark 09:24, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Are spells not simply those abilites which are disabled while silenced? - Aiadan 00:24, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

I'd like help cleaning this up. The links for the spells within the particular schools is currently meaningless as it points to something that has nothing to do with lists of spells and is very misleading and un-informative. NoranTheAxe (talk) 14:38, 13 August 2008 (UTC)