I'm confused- you suggest Anti-Apparation spells are difficult to use because they probably require line-of-sight, then in the very next sentence acknowledge that we only ever see them as area-effect spells laid on locations. You don't think it's likely that all Anti-Apparation spells are area-effect, including the combat-time version that one might find oneself under the influence of while being attacked by Dark Wizards? It seems more reasonable to treat it as a tactical consideration if the jinx denies Apparation in a hundred-yard-radius sphere for five minutes, or something like that.
It seems to me that Potterverse magic comes in two distinct kinds. There are dueling charms that require line-of-sight, and this is what we actually see being cast. And then there are big area-effect magics like the ones affecting Hogwarts, and we don't really know anything about those - we never see them being cast. But we do see that such things are rare, and mostly old. This suggests to me that there's no area-effect combat spells, to be laid on in five minutes before you enter the enemy's house. Rather there are point-and-shoots, and Epic Ritual Magic,...
Edit: New thread posted here.
This is a new thread to discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and anything related to it. This thread is intended for discussing chapter 86. The previous thread has long passed 500 comments.
There is now a site dedicated to the story at hpmor.com, which is now the place to go to find the authors notes and all sorts of other goodies. AdeleneDawner has kept an archive of Author’s Notes. (This goes up to the notes for chapter 76, and is now not updating. The authors notes from chapter 77 onwards are on hpmor.com.)
The first 5 discussion threads are on the main page under the harry_potter tag. Threads 6 and on (including this one) are in the discussion section using its separate tag system. Also: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
As a reminder, it’s often useful to start your comment by indicating which chapter you are commenting on.
Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically: