"Real" Shadowmancer, Shadow Caster, Acolyte, and Necromancer. (Shadow/Darkness magic school)

ArchivedUser

Hi, for the sake of variety and in some ways balance - I was wondering if there will be any real versions of the classes mentioned in the title. In short, will there be a Shadow/Darkness school of magic for the magic system to build upon, to counteract the light type that is obviously present.

ArchivedUser

not much has been shown about the skills or magic in the game as of yet but we do have the class names that we can speculate about 

ArchivedUser

Ahtu said:

Hi, for the sake of variety and in some ways balance - I was wondering if there will be any real versions of the classes mentioned in the title. In short, will there be a Shadow/Darkness school of magic for the magic system to build upon, to counteract the light type that is obviously present.

There certainly doesn't SEEM to be a darkness/fear/lifetap/blood magic class that could be used to create typical MMO classes like the Shadow Knight or Necromancer. The current Necromancer is a Summoner/Cleric, which seems...odd.

The Rogue class may contain what you're looking for, and the Nightshield may be their take on the Shadow Knight class, but we don't have enough info yet to say for sure.

ArchivedUser

nscheffel said:

Ahtu said:

Hi, for the sake of variety and in some ways balance - I was wondering if there will be any real versions of the classes mentioned in the title. In short, will there be a Shadow/Darkness school of magic for the magic system to build upon, to counteract the light type that is obviously present.

There certainly doesn't SEEM to be a darkness/fear/lifetap/blood magic class that could be used to create typical MMO classes like the Shadow Knight or Necromancer. The current Necromancer is a Summoner/Cleric, which seems...odd.

The Rogue class may contain what you're looking for, and the Nightshield may be their take on the Shadow Knight class, but we don't have enough info yet to say for sure.

Most necromancers start off as people of faith and in search of knowledge to extend life for others, but that leads down a dark yet fun path of the dark arts of necromancy which starts with making animals long-lived then killing them and using magic to bring them back. After years of trial and error, he can bring humans to life but only as mindless being and not true undead. It's just when he accepts the dark arts that he understands he needs time, and that can only come from unlife so the work required to become a lich starts.

ArchivedUser

The cleric has a dark side to it but i'm not sure how dark it will go. They are supposed to be the masters of life and death: https://youtu.be/xMlOqAj9kXE?t=6m44s You can see the darker component of the cleric when she damages enemies in the PAX video.

The cleric is currently focused on healing which could be because we are in early testing.  I wouldn't be surprised if we see clerics getting their more death focused abilities and augments later down the road. I'm sure summoner/cleric is called necromancer for a reason. 

ArchivedUser

I doubt there will be 'schools of magic' that offer you different set of abilities

ArchivedUser

Large Tulnar screaming down at an egg. "U're a lizard, Harry!" Now put on the sorting smock and get picked for Pickle'smore.

ArchivedUser

AutumnLeaf said:

I doubt there will be 'schools of magic' that offer you different set of abilities

There are already "schools of magic", though they may not have been referred to as such. Lightning is a school of magic, so is light, fire and earth magic.

The real question is, will they balance it out? Will there be a dark school, to stand in opposition to the light? It may seem like a nerd/lore-only question to some, but in the end, it isn't. It is a question of diversity within the game, what base platform they have to build on. And I would be highly surprised if you can't in some way spec for specific schools of magic - like Lightning, Fire, Ice or Earth with a mage.

The introduction of a "Dark"/"Shadowy" school/branch/form of magic, would allow for huge area's of future development. Not only in the magic system, but also the synergestic effects with physical skill tree's. Aswell as in the enemies and crises situations we could be faced with. It is a huge part of story writing for very good reasons, it makes for a great creative basis. And such a basis is needed to effectively expand upon a system freely.

I don't expect us to get a fully developed Darkness/Shadow school of magic at the start(release). Just the basics: Shadow/Darkness type of damage, and dark/shadowy versions of spells and summons.

Ex. If there already is a fireball spell, make it a shadow/dark/black fireball spell. And adjust the visuals accordingly(this would be exceptionally easy).

Creating actual dark/shadow-specific spells, and synergistic spells can come later. We just need the prescedence(for reasons of both lore, and game mechanics).

ArchivedUser

McStackerson said:

The cleric has a dark side to it but i'm not sure how dark it will go. They are supposed to be the masters of life and death: https://youtu.be/xMlOqAj9kXE?t=6m44s You can see the darker component of the cleric when she damages enemies in the PAX video.

The cleric is currently focused on healing which could be because we are in early testing.  I wouldn't be surprised if we see clerics getting their more death focused abilities and augments later down the road. I'm sure summoner/cleric is called necromancer for a reason. 

Thank you! I missed that part before, that dark energy thing, does suggest a dark magic school. And that their clerics are built like a wow priest-paladin(a paladin that like the priest, can use either light or dark). First indication I've seen. Though this certifies nothing, as it may just count as light damage, it does still still give the idea a chance.

ArchivedUser

Sounds like Mage\Cleric might be the go to combination instead of Mage\Summoner for that Warlock\Dark Caster feel.

ArchivedUser

The thing Is, there’s this false illusion of 64 classes, when really there’s just your standard 8 classes and depending on which other class you pick you can modify your current abilities with your current primary class to have secondary effects or modify them somehow.

Or am I missing anything because form what I’ve scoured I can’t any reason to believe each and every single one of them would play like a new class.

I haven’t seen anything about getting new unique abilities based on the new class as you progress further past 30. 

ArchivedUser

RiverBird said:

The thing Is, there’s this false illusion of 64 classes, when really there’s just your standard 8 classes and depending on which other class you pick you can modify your current abilities with your current primary class to have secondary effects or modify them somehow.

Or am I missing anything because form what I’ve scoured I can’t any reason to believe each and every single one of them would play like a new class.

I haven’t seen anything about getting new unique abilities based on the new class as you progress further past 30. 

In the blog post they made about classes they said that:
"They’re not secondary in name only, as each one brings in unique augments that fundamentally change how the primary class skills work, what they’re called, and what they do. A Warden must feel uniquely different from a Spell Hunter, and a Beastmaster must feel unique when partnered up with a Necromancer".

If we take them on their words displayed there, then augments can change a skill completely making each class combination have unique abilities. And it seems they are aware that making 64 classes that feel different and offer unique functions in groups will be a challenge, but they are confident they can do it. Until they start giving us those "brief rundowns of skills, lore, and mechanics" for each class all we can do is speculate at this point.

ArchivedUser

As my main will be a Necromancer (Probably) I cannot wait to read up on the lore of Magic. Despite it being "fixed" a few times, I love RP'ing a Mage in WoW, sadly I'm the only one still using reagents for portals (In character)
But things like the law of sympathy, and how all that feeds in to the enchantment school, divination school, I just love it.

...More lore in short!

ArchivedUser

Ariatras said:

As my main will be a Necromancer (Probably) I cannot wait to read up on the lore of Magic. Despite it being "fixed" a few times, I love RP'ing a Mage in WoW, sadly I'm the only one still using reagents for portals (In character)
But things like the law of sympathy, and how all that feeds in to the enchantment school, divination school, I just love it.

...More lore in short!

The empathy side within us. Used in positive and negative ways ?

ArchivedUser

Law of sympathy, basically when you use magic. You leave a footprint, and, over time/generations, the ring you wore for example. Starts taking on magical properties. Divination can use this to estimate who wore the ring by peering into the past. Enchanting uses it to break the very binds of the ring and create arcane dust (a reagent in complex spells)