Dispel magic

[Thales]

Hi, all.

I'm curious about a spell that most, or maybe all, of my toons have, but which I never use.  It's called "Dispel Magic" and its a debuff for X levels of "beneficial magic effects" on the target.  It never seems to make much difference whether I cast it or not.  Does anyone know if it's ever useful?

Also, can anyone explain to me why my cure spells say something like "dispels X levels of harmful effects"?  To what does the "X levels" refer?  If a group mate has 2 poison effects on it, I have to cast cure poison twice to remove them, even though my spell might say "removes 45 levels of poison effects".

Thanks,

Thales

[Eenie]

Ooooh.... I would so much like a response to this question!...  I have researched far and wide and I do not understand!  So, thank you Thales for bringing this up!  Hopefully one of these many, aweome, knowledgable individuals will help us understand!

Alajia

[Grishnar]

Buffs/Debuffs are cast at certain levels, not necessarily the level of the player/mob - for example, a particular raid target may be a level 84 mob, but cast spells at level 89, so you would need a cure spell/potion that cures at least 89 levels to remove it. The same goes for removing beneficial effects with Dispell Magic... make sense now?

[Thales]

Thanks, Grishnar!

That clears up my question about what the "levels" removed are--they're the level at which the spell is cast. 

What about "Dispel Magic"?  Is it useful?  Should I be wasting precious seconds casting it?

Thales

[Grishnar]

Yes, its useful - depending on how many levels yours clears - at least on raids, some form of dispell is very useful in removing damage shields... it'll strip buffs in pvp/duels... etc..