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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
64 Class / Subclass combos = Altoholic Dream or Nightmare?
64 combinations is quite a lot.
Will the Altoholics be in heaven or will the sheer number of choices be overwhelming?
I don't struggle with this particular sin; I'll try a few different class combos then settle in on the one that fits my play style and stick to it.
I could see having so many choices driving some folks over the edge though, lol.
Will the Altoholics be in heaven or will the sheer number of choices be overwhelming?
I don't struggle with this particular sin; I'll try a few different class combos then settle in on the one that fits my play style and stick to it.
I could see having so many choices driving some folks over the edge though, lol.
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I think it is going to be a nightmare for a lot of people unsure which class to pick at launch and hopefully someone in the community steps up and makes Youtube videos on how each plays out.
Going back to a WoW example since that's what most people can probably relate to. It's like saying each spec within a class in WoW is its own class. Like a prot pally or ret pally being separate classes. So with the eight original classes and three spec trees each that's 24 'classes'. In fact, I think there will be less actual variation between secondary classes in this game than the difference between specs of the same class in WoW.
I think because of this, there won't be a huge problem for "altoholics" as the secondary classes will likely not change much. Maybe I'm overly skeptical, but I seriously doubt that for example the necromancer 'class' will feel like a fully fleshed out necromancer class, rather than just a different flavor of summoner. Because of this, I'm also not sure how I feel about each main/secondary combination having its own name as it seems fairly disingenuous.
And then during playing each of those characters you can switch secondary classes to have play style that fits your current mood.
Pooka believes that IS does have the ability to make the subclasses share the core components of the main class for it, but still be unique in its own way enough to make them play and make the character approach fights much differently form one another.
If they just do a sprinkling and make only minor differences between say Rogue/Ranger (Predator) and Rogue/Rogue(Assassin), then that makes the subclasses, apart from doubling the main class, very lackluster and watered down. For this to work they each need to bring something unique to the table for it to not feel like a jumbled mess of bullshit.
I think some builds will play similar but overall feel and look different.
As USE reminded me in another thread, the secondary class is more of an augment to your already existing abilities/powers/skills from the primary.
you'll level the main class first so for instance the mage and using the fireball a lot or what ever the main skill will be and once you get fighter secondary class you'll be able to make that fireball change into swords with extra effects. (not an actual skill but my take on the system)
Where as if you level the fighter first you'll be swinging that sword around like a mad man, as soon as you get the mage secondary class you'll be able to add fire damage to the sword strike.
see very different.
(all things said i hypothetical and of my own mind making things up at 4am in the morning)
and beside that, how they gonna balance all this.
one thing that came up in my mind was, how about making ur armor/weapon options based on ur first and second class choice?
i.e u can only wear plate armor if ur main or secondary class is a tank or fighter, leather armor if u have a ranger, rogue and bard, and cloth armor if u have mage, summoner ir cleric.
looking back at TESO, im kinda afraid that everyone is using the same type of armor cause of a meta that got created, if everyone can wear everything.
I cannot for the life of me decide what the starter should be. I'll experiment during the beta phases and see what I like though. Hopefully one combo or pure-blood will stand out.
Hopefully there are both benefits and drawbacks to most armor and weapons. As a sneak thief heavy plate should reduce sneak chance, as a tank wearing light armor would probably not be as beneficial.
I do agree, if Ashes players all resort to 1 armor and 1 weapon choice the game will look artificially bland.
If I had to guess a lot of those classes isn't going to be worth doing in pvp and vice versa.
I think they call that the pu-pu platter
In my opinion the goal should be for every class / subclass combination to be viable and make a valuable contribution in GROUP PvP, say 5 v 5 or more.
By working together as a team is each properly played class/subclass combination able to contribute some significant combination of damage (single target or AOE), and / or healing (single target or AOE) and / or crowd control (single target or AOE)?
It is entirely appropriate and in fact necessary for good group play dynamics for each class/subclass combination to have both strengths and weaknesses when compared to other combinations so that there is a need for groups to learn to work together to win in PvP combat and to overcome challenging PvE content.
There are 8 main classes which is not that so much. All other sub classes are to augment your current spells, which is kinda very cool because You can actually play your style depending on your mood, or...
...Or maybe sub classes will have bigger purpose on this?
Few examples:
1. You will be able to vary your augmented spells for pvp in certain situations. It will definitely depend on your opponent current class. You might be able to counter it. That means playing as a healer will not necessarily mean that the pvp fight will be one sided to your opponent's favor.
2. Maybe it will help you enter specific caves or kill specific monsters/raids faster?
3. Let's say you want to play pve as a solo player. Maybe with the help of your chosen sub class you will be able to clean monsters faster?
4. Playing in a party. It may be entirely different approach in recruiting players to your party. It may depend a lot on their current sub class.
Well, they did not tell us how you will be able to swap your secondary class, but what I truly expect that it will not be that easy to do in the battlefield. Players should think about their sub class choice before leaving a city or any other safe space. Maybe that is precisely what did @Steven mean?
Let's wait and see what happens next.
It would force people to value both players (pve & pvper) in guilds.
That sounds healthy for the community.
Instead they should look at perfect imbalance and allow the players the freedom to find which builds are the rock, paper, and scissors - There should be builds that are weak to a few (~30%), OP to a few others (~30%), and somewhat balanced to the rest.
For PvE this would allow for diverse monsters and bosses to be discovered and defeated.