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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.
Please don't make the mage an elementalist
Hi
I just wanted to talk about how I see my favourite class depicted in every recent mmorpg. Mages are only portrayed as elementalists, basically launching the classic fire, ice, wind and thunder in some variants (balls, strikes, waves, meteors, etc etc). What I would love to see is a mage that maybe yes, has elements based spells but also has what a mage should have: arcane magic. By looking at the gameplay it is very obvious that the main weapon will be a spellbook, which is great. Therefore, I really hope that they will take into consideration magic that does not only draw from the classic elements but also creates arcane circles on the ground. I don't know about you but I love when in games mages have a cast time for spells in which they "draw" magic circles below them. It just gives more deepness to the class and makes it feel more like a real mage and not an element bender. I hope it makes sense. What do you think?
I just wanted to talk about how I see my favourite class depicted in every recent mmorpg. Mages are only portrayed as elementalists, basically launching the classic fire, ice, wind and thunder in some variants (balls, strikes, waves, meteors, etc etc). What I would love to see is a mage that maybe yes, has elements based spells but also has what a mage should have: arcane magic. By looking at the gameplay it is very obvious that the main weapon will be a spellbook, which is great. Therefore, I really hope that they will take into consideration magic that does not only draw from the classic elements but also creates arcane circles on the ground. I don't know about you but I love when in games mages have a cast time for spells in which they "draw" magic circles below them. It just gives more deepness to the class and makes it feel more like a real mage and not an element bender. I hope it makes sense. What do you think?
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Comments
I like you point of view though, arcane energies, 'dark' energies, etc. should also play a role in the mages skill selection. However, in the end, I think you are likely to just end up with a 'fireball' like spell with a different skin.
That said, you might get lucky and be able to change the skins so that, even if it does fire damage, it might look unique and you can rp it anyway you want.
Spells with longer casting times would totally benefit from animations of arcane/magic circles complete with a glyph or what not.
Mages should be about manipulating the basic forces of time and space, or delving deep into forbidden arcane secrets. There's so many ways to get creative, and really make a mage stand out and feel like an actual scholar.
I saw the gameplay videos and that... levitation skill looks really cool, exactly what I meant.
Also, the fact that in AoC you can "combine" 2 classes makes me think of really crazy and exciting ideas, but still, I need to see more before getting so hyped up. I can't wait to see how the games evolves, this is the first time in my life i backed a game in kickstarter, and I'm so excited about it
I thought about opening this discussion after yet again checking for new mmorpgs to play and finding the Bless mage... big disappointment as always as it is another elementalist. I think Intrepid really has all the time, money and passion in it to make it right and deliver an outstanding and fresh game with a mage that can be called such. Another cool feature, in my opinion, is learning spells. While the majority of the spells should be learnt by levelling up I am of the opinion that really unique spells should be only obtained through crafting and or completion of quests and/or raids. This would really give a sense of importance to the spell and would stray away from the level up rush to get the OP lv 300 meteor. Additionally, some of these could be utility spells, or simply weird ones, they don't necessarily have to be really good or powerful, but they could contribute on making the game feel more alive and unique. An example that i can think of on top of my head is the staff of that guy in skyrim that turned enemies into random stuff. Now that is very cool. It adds a lot of depth into the spell set and provides a sense of reward for exploration. Imagine wondering and getting into a random quest with a random npc in a corner of the world just to find out that at the end you received a scroll to learn a new spell... It thrills me the amount of possibilities at hand
Abjuration; Conjuration; Divination; Enchantment; Evocation; Illusion; Necromancy; Transmutation.
In Ashes we have several sub-classes for Mages and Summoners:
Shadow Caster; Spell Hunter; ArchWizard; Warlock; Sorcerer; Beast Master; Conjurer; Necromancer and Enchanter.
I doubt that Spellswords, Nightspells and Oracles will just be doing elemental spells.
And we will have to see what the differences are between an ArchWizard, a Warlock and a Sorcerer. I also doubt they will be focused on elemental spells.
I'm not sure that Battle Mages, Shadow Casters, Necromancers and Enchanters will count as Mages in Ashes - but it seems like they will not be limited to just elemental spells...and that whatever elemental spells they might have have would function and appear differently than a basic elemental spell.
We will also have to see how skins for spell FX change our perceptions of the experience.
Seriously though, there are 8 versions of a mage and then another 8 mage versions of every other class too. It would be kind of silly to make them all identical.
The OP is still hoping that a Spellsword does not have to be focused on casting elemental spells - that other schools of magic will be available to a Spellsword.
Currently, a lot of the Mage spells do seem focused on the elements.
The other type of spells we currently know about seem to be focused on movement.
We'll just have to see how many spells we end up with that are not elemental spells.
And then, of course, how the secondary archetype augments and racial and social augments alter the base abilities.
http://aocwiki.net/Mage
oh damn....
The Class List states that the Base Class/Primary Archetype goes across the top, so we should find the sub-classes as we move down vertically, but...
Steven's quote above has the Fighter/Mage as a Spellsword.
Which would mean we're supposed to find the sub-classes by having the Base Class/Primary Archetype listed vertically and then move across horizontally.
The Art of War vid also indicates that Rogue is the Base Class/Primary Archetype for Predator.
So seems like we are supposed to be finding the sub-classes by starting with Fighter as the base class and moving across:
Weapon Master; Dreadnought; Shadowblade; Hunter; Spellsword; Bladecaller; Highsword; Bladedancer.
And with Rogue as the base class and moving across:
Duelist; Shadow Guardian; Assassin; Predator; Nightspell; Shadow Lord; Cultist; Charlatan
I mean, things could have changed, but... I don't recall Steven mentioning this as a change.
Mage is actually a group of different types of caster, all using magic, including elementalists, warlocks, druids, summoners, shamans, etc.
You are talking about elementalist here, the fact that elementalist is refered to as "mage" is actually wrong.
So what you could wish for is to add more types of mages into a poll, add blood wizards, etc.
What you can't ask for is to add a "mage class" that includes several classes combined, because that would be too OP. This is what you are asking, to expand elementalist class to include other magic types. These magic types are already included in other classes that i mentioned, and you have an option to chose what type of magic you want to use, and then play appropriate class from the poll.
So mage (someone who uses magic) = group of classes
classes = elementalist, druid, shaman, warlock,...
Maybe my eyes are bad -I'm old- but I don't see Elementalist on the Class List.
Traditionally, the types of magic in RPGs are Arcane magic (mages) and Divine magic (clerics).
We don't know which schools of Arcane magic the different classes and sub-classes have access to.
Seems likely that Mage, Summoner and Bard will be using different schools of Arcane magic. How those different schools combine as augments will provide us with the different feels for, say, Warlock and Sorcerer.
Traditionally, Clerics, Paladins, Rangers and Druids are casting Divine magic.
Ashes doesn't seem to have Druids and we don't know if Ashes has Divine magic as something significantly different from Arcane magic.
Probably there won't be a meaningful difference.
I would expect Bards to have more spells from the Illusion school than Mages...but, really, we just have to wait to see how everything works after augments are added.