What do you really want to see in a Class?

ArchivedUser

What do you really want to see be a part of a Class? What defining ability/skill/feature is your favorite currently and why?

ArchivedUser

Balance.

I hate it when I see "Best class for xxx MMO" in google search. There should be no "best class", rather "best player".

I usually play Melee DPS classes and what is most important is that they are fun to play and also viable. I am usually bad at playing ranged classes, but wouldn't mind playing them on an alt if the gameplay is fun.

ArchivedUser

I really enjoy bow based ranged dps classes but hate when the incorporate a bunch of melee stuff that you have to do in order to min/max.

I'd like to see a super squishy bow user with excellent speed and range who can dump out some damage but requires a fair amount of skill to survive long enough to do so

ArchivedUser

I don't care too much about damage health these can always be changed (coded with a different number value). What I really to see in a class is a unique class approach to solving obstacles, or puzzles. PvP is nice but, great PvE content will hold the game together.

ArchivedUser

I want to see measurable shortcomings in each class. Each class should have obvious gaps in their toolkit. Part of class design isn't just figuring out what a class does well, but also designing what it does poorly.

You see this in a lot of MMO's, of the mage class isn't good at mitigation. So now whenever they add a new spell for the mage class Devs have this temptation to say "Well we're doing a content update/expansion what's a new spell we can give to the mage? Oh I know the mage has terrible mitigation lets give them a frost shield they could use that." After a few cycles of development no class is really unique.

ArchivedUser

First of all, great question.

Mage

I want them to cast not only elemental spells(Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth), but also other interactive stuff. All magic type classes being stucked into bending is dull(don't get me wrong, ATLA is the best of the best), while you can have Harry Potter as well. What I expect from Mage class is also Harry Potter-ish spells, great versality and fun. Flying, teleporting, openning portals, telekinesis, telepathy, gravity control, illusion etc.

Rogue

Be a ninja-alike class, acting fast, running faster than other classes, jumping higher, when it's night or dark he can get invisible or camouflaged naturally. Ability to steal from anyone and anywhere, also duplication ability for diversion. Sneaking ability to search and investigate a dungeon/castle/node without being noticed.

Archer

To be agile, can climb surroundings such as tree and buildings(it must be limitted to archer), Eagle Eye mode letting the player to zoom in. Exploding arrow, poison arrow, faster launching arrows, multiple launching arrows. Grenade launching. Setting traps.

Fighter

Having double-sword, or giant sword or katana  depending on choice of weapon. Skills including of hand-to-hand combat, SF and MC style.

Tank

Creating walls to trap the opponent, shield skills, lots of AOE skills

Cleric

Creating healing veil/field that player can get healed in it. Illusion skills, blinding opponent which will cause the player's screen going black.

Bard

Controlling opponent, seizing them, stunning them, slowing them down; buffying allies. A skill to make the opponent waste a skill to an empty direction or make them waste mana, or control their movement for a while. Or making them attack their ally for a few sec. 

Summoner

Ability to summon minions to loot, ability to summon mounts for different usage, ability to use dimensional portals, ability to summon material/weapon from storage. Being a Pokemon Trainer and raising stats and levels of such important summons, making a summon team. Summons getting smarter by the level of them, like instantly defending their master and block and attack or creating a barricade, repelling the enemy. 

ArchivedUser

@Dolphin great response, the depth you went into is great. I resonate with all those examples, you hit the nail on the head for me at least.

I really like the idea of measurable differences between classes, the pros and cons must balance out and a diverse team should be necessary to overcome challenges.

ArchivedUser

Tank: Cool armo, a herioc feel to it, cool animations and be able to survive through stuff solo.

Fighter: A big range of weapon use wich will be normal in ashes. Fighter must be deadly when he wants to.

Rogue: Stealth, insane burst combinations, controle. Well my main is a rogue in every game so i can go on for ages when we want to discuss that.

Ranger: Most mmorpgs are really bad with rangers, i hope they allow for alow of movement and some nice arrow shooting animations and effects.

Mage: Animations, a mage is made by there animations, they need to be epic and beautifull. Like when you cast a spell you are really like, thats so awesome. Or see a mage further away killing some mobs or fighting spells and get that feeling "awesome" 

Cleric: Heals and shields.

Summoner: I hope you can merge into beast, since there will be siege summons wich allow for great beasts to be summoned i think this class will be epic af.

Bard: Buffs like lucio, high mobile AOE healing/buffing/cleansing etc class.

ArchivedUser

I want each class to have abilities that are unique and the other classes can't reproduce. Whether they are utilities, buffs, non-combat, or combat abilities doesn't matter to me. I just remember when you would bring a class to a raid or to a dungeon not because of their damage or healing potential, but because they brought something other classes couldn't. Like in WOW warlocks were brought so they could teleport everyone to the dungeon, their healthstones, and soulstones. Mages could conjour food and water for people to replenish their health and mana. Stuff like that is what I would like to see from each class.

ArchivedUser

It would be neat if summoners could "warg" into npc beasts in the world and use them as summons

ArchivedUser

Every class I ever took, I was really hoping to see a really cute girl in it.

ArchivedUser

I want the cleric to be more than an additional health pool for people. In many MMOs, the supporting roles simply provide sustain for people. They're "secondary" classes. When someone's low on health, you're supposed to heal, so they can continue their fighting. Other from topping people up, some MMOs have you provide little else and most of the time just /sit somewhere waiting for your turn.

I'm hoping that healing mechanics in this game will be dynamic, active, powerful and constant. You rarely ever have idle time during a fight: dodging, ducking, running around rejuvenating people, saving friends from imminent deaths, all the while keeping an eye closely on your mana pool.

I'm hoping we'll be provided with a wide variety of tools, ranging from game-changing cooldowns that can turn the tide of battle; strong, instant heals saving lives at the cost of more "mana" to constant, steady small heals that keep people from getting low while allowing you to recover your resources.

In short, I'm hoping that playing a healer in Ashes will make you feel slightly epic.

ArchivedUser

When we get the 64 class combo list, I'll be looking for matches with classes from DnD (2e), which I enjoyed playing the most.

• Mages (Wizards) could be illusionists, enchanters, necromancers or a number of other specialties. I remember the Mage/Cleric necromancer being a fun build with lots of magical synergies. I'm thinking of maining a Mage/Mage or a Paladin in Ashes. Which one I choose will probably depend on gameplay.
  
  
• Paladins were also a lot of fun to play but they were quite hard to master, and the racial limitation of being a human was pretty limiting. I've played paladins in many MMORPGs since and find them very enjoyable. I will likely avoid playing a Cleric primary in Ashes and focus on Paladin instead (Tank/Cleric).
  
  
• Rangers were skilled trackers, masters of ranged weapons and tamers of beasts (not to be confused with summoning beasts). I remember Ranger/Fighter and Ranger/Cleric being pretty good multiclass combos. My urge to play this in Ashes will depend on finding a good class combo and how enjoyable the gameplay is.
  

ArchivedUser

One thing that would be awesome to see would be a combat system that is as good if not better than Tera. I love all the ideas I have read through so far and would love to see some of it actually come to life in the game.

ArchivedUser

With the 64 class combos I look forward to complete individuality and  players being judged by THEIR ability and not the abilities they have.   
I don't know where to begin with so many choices that will be available but it sure is going to be fun once I get over the magnitude  of it.
I've always played a healer/cleric  and as alt I've played a ranger.   

 Somewhere I think a healer/ranger is in my future.

ArchivedUser

If anyone has played pvp in Tera then you would know of the horrors known as the lancing priest combo XD

I am sorry to anyone who has dealt with that kind of torture because I main a lancer and my buddy mains a dps priest in pvp.

And yes to clarify we don't want people to die quickly it makes you rage more

ArchivedUser

useful skills...
I am so annoyed with all of these FF(Final fantasy) skill systems.
Stun, Trip, blind, daze, pushback, pull, mass pull, snare, taunt don't work on bosses....
MMorpg needs saboteur class that decreases boss and enemy resistance to such skills.... ff even had that and it still was useless for key bosses lol!
Also, it would be so cool if Taunt works in pvp forcing players' cameras to be stuck on the tank.

ArchivedUser

My intent is to play a tank/cleric or paladin, one thing I would like to see is taunt be a usable skill in pvp. Say you can change a normal taunt use it on a player character and cause their next attack to be directed at you and have it reflect back at them instead. I do like the look of the tank skills as they stand at the moment, the wall looks really cool for area denial, I also really loved the taunt animation which was hitting your equipped weapon against the face of your shield.
I think there has to be some thought given to counter play verses kiting as if it is too easy for melee classes to be out ranged you just become an easy kill. But then it cant be too easy to get into the face of ranged classes thus why would you be a ranged class in pvp. 

ArchivedUser

Exactly