Ive been thinking..

[FriXionX]

Spells are just meant to damage people, right? (and give bonuses and stuff) So technically, spells could just be damaging enemy units without any of the special effects. It would still be a spell, and set out to do what its supposed to do. Thats the MAIN purpose of spells, so why do people set out on these huge long triggers to make oh so fancy spells? xD Think about it Even though spells that do simply nothing except damage are boring.

 

[Bob27]

Well first off, spells aren't necessarily just to damage units, and yes a spell could be done without any special effects but it would look really boring.

 

[aaron]

all that long spell stuff is needed for the type of spell (mainly for MUI)

 

[DarkAngelAzazel]

Mh lets draw a connection...

Have you ever played Pokemon??

Next time you play it go to options -> and switch off the attack special effects...

You will see that the whole game is extremly boring without the great attack special effects... you just see the enemys life going down...

 

[GooS]

A Spell can Open, Move, Damage, Heal, Empower, Reduce any part you want of the target(s).

By Move I mean telekinesis, not a commonly used spell-type, but could also be such a thing as cyclone taking you away or a knockback, both of which do not need to have damage. Also teleport and blink.

Open, portals, gates, whatever you can think of the can be opened, or closed.

Damage, well kinda speaks for itself.

Heal also speaks for itself.

Empower, often used to empower the damage or survivability of a unit both of which ends in as heavy damage output you can get. But empowering something can be used in other ways which may end in Open or Move actions.

Reduce, or debuff, curse, whatever you wish to call it may also be used in a series of ways depending on which kind of map you are doing.

Basically it's all about what kind of map you are doing, if you are into making AoS style, then damage will be the most commonly found spell may it be indirect or direct.
But a Campaign, Puzzle, RPG, TD, the list goes on may use spells in so many other ways.

 

[Hakeem]

you just see the enemys life going down...

If that doesn't sum it up nicely, I don't know what does.

 

[Reaper2008]

Without spell effects it would be chaos. You'd get stunned, knockbacked, healed, damaged, slowed etc and you wouldn't know where it came from. Anyway, the effect is just a small portion of the spell, 4 lines tops.