Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
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.
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.
Class Flavors That I Want to See
LemonTwiss
Member, Alpha Two
Hi all,
This post will include the class flavors that I want to see in the game. Please keep in mind that these are my suggestions, and I don't expect everyone (or anyone) to agree with me on all/any of them.
Without further ado, here we go:
Note: I always prefer it when different classes use different mechanics in terms of resources and resource management that is specific to each class. The most basic examples include Fury/Rage for Fighters/Warriors, the combo mechanic for Rogues/Assassins, and the usual Mana for Mages. However, I do think that all classes should have Mana as a resource to use for magical spells (if they have any) in addition to their specific class resources/mechanics.
Ranger:
Rangers are always my favorite classes in RPGs, so I will start with them. Bare with me as this will be a long section.
Since rangers always have a focus on archery, I would like to see a class mechanic that capitalizes on that and that adds an extra flavor to the class.
For rangers, I think their class mechanic should be limited arrows that replenish over time. Basically, rangers could have 10 arrows for example, and their arrows could replenish at a rate of 1 arrow/sec. Their number of arrows and replenish time could be based on their quiver type, bow type, or based on their skills and stats (or a combination of all). This could also be a mechanic that is tied to the type of weapon itself; meaning, if a fighter uses a bow, they will have the same mechanic, so they won't be able to shoot infinite arrows during a fight. However, a fighter won't have any skills or abilities that are based on this mechanic or that improve the number of arrows in a quiver or how fast they recharge.
Based on this mechanic, rangers could have an added class flavor where they collect or create certain arrow types that they can add to their quivers. For example, there could be elemental types of arrows that they could add to their quiver in certain slots. Let's say a ranger has a quiver that can carry 6 arrows in it; the ranger could set the first arrow in the quiver to be a frost arrow, the third to be a fire arrow, and the fourth to be an arcane arrow. As they fire their arrows, they will be modified based on the arrow type, and as the quiver replenishes the arrows, it would replenish them in the same order that the player has set. Since these are "magical" arrows, they would use Mana when fired.
The types of arrows that could be added could be based on the secondary archetype that the player chooses, and they would also affect the abilities that a ranger has which also use arrows (example; ranger has an ability that shoots 2 arrows: this ability will use two arrows from the quiver. Ranger has an ability that shoots a fan of arrows: this ability uses all arrows in the quiver. Ranger would have an ability that instantly replenishes a quiver on use.)
Another additional mechanic that I would like to see with the ranger is when combined with the summoner archetype, which would allow the ranger to tame a single animal to be their companion, and I would absolutely love to see an option to tame a falcon or an eagle and use that as a scout, giving you the ability to control the bird and see through its eyes to gain an overview of the battlefield and be able to scout from high above.
Mages:
Mages are mages. They should use Mana for all of their magical skills. However, mages should also have certain spells or abilities that use extra and limited resources, like gems or whatever. These should be their most powerful spells as well as their utility spells.
This will add an extra flavor to the class by making it so that mages should go on adventures and quests to collect certain items that they want to use for certain spells in preparation for raids, dungeons, or other events or things that they want to use.
For example, mages could have an ability that allows them to teleport the party to a city. But instead of the ability being based on a cooldown, it should be based on a certain limited item or scroll that they need to be carrying in their inventory in order to use the spell, which would destroy the item/scroll, so they have to be selective as to when they want to use it. (I understand that the devs don't want fast travel in the game, so the mages' teleportation could have severe limitations on it like a very limited resource, a limited radius around a city/node, or a 24 hour cd "which could create an opportunity for mages to make extra income each day by using their 1 teleport to teleport other players from one place to another for a fee").
Obtaining these items or scrolls should require some effort, like adventuring to a far location or doing a complicated quest. A mage, for example, could discover a certain hidden quest chain while adventuring, and at the end of the quest they would get a very rare item that would allow them to use a very powerful and destructive spell which other mages don't have access to.
This capitalizes on the mages' ability to see and interact with certain magical objects that other classes can't, and would encourage mages to go on adventures where other mages haven't been in order to beat the other mages to certain unique and powerful spells or abilities that are limited in the game.
Bards:
Bards could have one of the most fun class flavors in the game in the form of performing in different taverns and inns around the world.
Bards could gain access to new abilities or buffs based on the places they have performed/played music at, the people they have performed to, and the instruments that they have used.
Additionally, bards could use their music as an extra source of income. The way this could work is that when bards are playing music at a tavern, players at that tavern could pay a small fee to the bard in order to gain a buff based on whatever instrument that bard is playing.
Bards could have an endless class quest/adventure of traveling around the world and performing at different locations in order to gain access to different buffs and abilities. Also, bards could become more and more famous as more players use their buffs at taverns, which could create a class-specific contest where bards compete over who the most famous bard is.
Bards would also use mana as their main resource for any magic-based abilities. However, their class specific resource could be "songs" that they can use, where each song would go on a medium/long cooldown after being used, so they have to always keep switching between songs and managing their cooldowns.
Since bards use instruments as "weapons", they could also have a class mechanic where instruments need tuning every once in a while, and a bard should always make sure that their instruments are tuned before a raid, dungeon, or large battle.
Lastly, bards could also have a mechanic where they can adjust the volume of their performance, increasing the area of effect in exchange for weaker buffs or vice versa.
Tanks:
Tanks could use a class mechanic that is based on their shields. In addition to managing their aggro, tanks could also manage a certain shield resource where their shields have their own HP that recharges over time when they're not taking damage.
Tanks could also have a shield points mechanic that they can use to completely block certain damage sources or abilities. For example, a tank could have 5 shield points that are used up by abilities that mitigate damage, and these shield points would recharge by using other abilities.
Example: a tank might have 3 abilities that build up aggro as well as recharge shield points, and 3 abilities which use up shield points and block damage. So, tanks would have to manage their resources between aggro and shield points in order to protect themselves and their party.
Fighters:
Fighters should be the class the focuses on combos. Their fighting techniques should revolve around comboing abilities with one another to create certain effects or to empower certain abilities based on the weapon type that they are using.
Fighters could also revolve around the ability to switch between different weapons mid-fight instantly in order to create certain combos. This is what I always imagine fighters should be: dancing and harmonizing their skills with fast reactions in order to achieve the highest DPS.
Fighters could also have a certain mechanic that allows them to gain mastery in each weapon type, giving them weapon abilities that other classes don't have access to. They can do that by challenging certain boss-fighters in arenas around the world in order to master that boss's weapon type.
There could be some sort of a Colosseum in military nodes that allows fighters to fight other players or NPC bosses. These arenas would have weapon restrictions, so a fighter may only use a certain weapon type in the arena and fighter against others that use the same weapon type. Only fighters who win and become champions in that weapon type would gain access to its mastery ability.
Summoners:
Summoners shouldn't be able to simply summon whatever they want whenever they want. They should have to work hard in order to gain access to their summons.
Summoners should be the class that changes the most based on their secondary archetype, and their summons should reflect that. For example, a summoner/mage should be able to summon elementals, but they should have to collect certain elemental essences or gems from around the world and use them to summon these elementals, which uses up their collected essences/gems. While a summoner/warrior could be able to summon ethereal weapons to fight for them, but they would have to actually collect these weapons and perform rituals in order to turn these weapons ethereal before they can summon them, which means they would have to search for and acquire stronger weapons in order to have stronger summons.
Summoners should use mana as their main resource, but their unique class-mechanic/flavor should revolve around them sharing a percentage of their health/mana with their summons, so the more summons they want to have at the same time the lower their max health/mana would be.
Rogues:
Rogues should be all about stealth and mobility, so their focus should be on stamina as their main resource.
Rogues would use stamina while they're invisible (no perma invisibility) as well as for their mobility skills, while mana should be a secondary resource that they use for magic-enhanced skills and abilities.
Additionally, and similar to fighters, rogues would have abilities that combo with one another, but their combos should revolve more around mobility+fighting skills. Basically, rogues should combo mobility skills with fighting skills to produce extra effects, while fighters' combos revolve around using different types of fighting abilities for extra effects and damage.
Clerics:
Based on what we know so far about religion and religious nodes is that they focus on epic quests. Clerics should have the same thing as their class-mechanics.
Clerics should have a mechanic that revolves around doing certain quests to certain deities in order to gain their favor. That favor is what fuels their abilities and acts as their primary resource alongside mana.
By doing these quests, clerics would gain access to that deity's abilities, and these abilities would use that specific deity's favor resource in order to use them. Clerics could replenish each deity's favor by performing rituals, visiting religious sites, and praying to that deity.
A deity's questline could involve a pilgrimage of some sort, taking the cleric on a journey around the world to visit religious sites and unlock new abilities. The most dedicated of clerics, and those who specialize in a single deity, gain access to performing miracles, which are extremely powerful and unique abilities that can only be used once per day, such as resurrecting a fallen comrade or smiting a foe for a significant amount of holy damage.
Clerics' quests should also revolve around certain dungeons, and they should form parties to aid them on their quests, which reinforces their role as "healers" and the most requested party members in dungeons and raids.
Other classes that want to gain the favors of the gods would require a cleric to journey with them to certain religious sites and perform certain rituals, so other classes will HAVE to work alongside clerics to gain these buffs and advantages.
Note: I was told by some of you on Discord that these aren't good ideas because many of them are against the design philosophy of the game, but no specifications were given. If those of you who know more info about the game than I do could be kind enough as to inform me of which ideas go against the design philosophies and in what manner, I would really appreciate it
I apologize for the long post!
Please let me know what you think
This post will include the class flavors that I want to see in the game. Please keep in mind that these are my suggestions, and I don't expect everyone (or anyone) to agree with me on all/any of them.
Without further ado, here we go:
Note: I always prefer it when different classes use different mechanics in terms of resources and resource management that is specific to each class. The most basic examples include Fury/Rage for Fighters/Warriors, the combo mechanic for Rogues/Assassins, and the usual Mana for Mages. However, I do think that all classes should have Mana as a resource to use for magical spells (if they have any) in addition to their specific class resources/mechanics.
Ranger:
Rangers are always my favorite classes in RPGs, so I will start with them. Bare with me as this will be a long section.
Since rangers always have a focus on archery, I would like to see a class mechanic that capitalizes on that and that adds an extra flavor to the class.
For rangers, I think their class mechanic should be limited arrows that replenish over time. Basically, rangers could have 10 arrows for example, and their arrows could replenish at a rate of 1 arrow/sec. Their number of arrows and replenish time could be based on their quiver type, bow type, or based on their skills and stats (or a combination of all). This could also be a mechanic that is tied to the type of weapon itself; meaning, if a fighter uses a bow, they will have the same mechanic, so they won't be able to shoot infinite arrows during a fight. However, a fighter won't have any skills or abilities that are based on this mechanic or that improve the number of arrows in a quiver or how fast they recharge.
Based on this mechanic, rangers could have an added class flavor where they collect or create certain arrow types that they can add to their quivers. For example, there could be elemental types of arrows that they could add to their quiver in certain slots. Let's say a ranger has a quiver that can carry 6 arrows in it; the ranger could set the first arrow in the quiver to be a frost arrow, the third to be a fire arrow, and the fourth to be an arcane arrow. As they fire their arrows, they will be modified based on the arrow type, and as the quiver replenishes the arrows, it would replenish them in the same order that the player has set. Since these are "magical" arrows, they would use Mana when fired.
The types of arrows that could be added could be based on the secondary archetype that the player chooses, and they would also affect the abilities that a ranger has which also use arrows (example; ranger has an ability that shoots 2 arrows: this ability will use two arrows from the quiver. Ranger has an ability that shoots a fan of arrows: this ability uses all arrows in the quiver. Ranger would have an ability that instantly replenishes a quiver on use.)
Another additional mechanic that I would like to see with the ranger is when combined with the summoner archetype, which would allow the ranger to tame a single animal to be their companion, and I would absolutely love to see an option to tame a falcon or an eagle and use that as a scout, giving you the ability to control the bird and see through its eyes to gain an overview of the battlefield and be able to scout from high above.
Mages:
Mages are mages. They should use Mana for all of their magical skills. However, mages should also have certain spells or abilities that use extra and limited resources, like gems or whatever. These should be their most powerful spells as well as their utility spells.
This will add an extra flavor to the class by making it so that mages should go on adventures and quests to collect certain items that they want to use for certain spells in preparation for raids, dungeons, or other events or things that they want to use.
For example, mages could have an ability that allows them to teleport the party to a city. But instead of the ability being based on a cooldown, it should be based on a certain limited item or scroll that they need to be carrying in their inventory in order to use the spell, which would destroy the item/scroll, so they have to be selective as to when they want to use it. (I understand that the devs don't want fast travel in the game, so the mages' teleportation could have severe limitations on it like a very limited resource, a limited radius around a city/node, or a 24 hour cd "which could create an opportunity for mages to make extra income each day by using their 1 teleport to teleport other players from one place to another for a fee").
Obtaining these items or scrolls should require some effort, like adventuring to a far location or doing a complicated quest. A mage, for example, could discover a certain hidden quest chain while adventuring, and at the end of the quest they would get a very rare item that would allow them to use a very powerful and destructive spell which other mages don't have access to.
This capitalizes on the mages' ability to see and interact with certain magical objects that other classes can't, and would encourage mages to go on adventures where other mages haven't been in order to beat the other mages to certain unique and powerful spells or abilities that are limited in the game.
Bards:
Bards could have one of the most fun class flavors in the game in the form of performing in different taverns and inns around the world.
Bards could gain access to new abilities or buffs based on the places they have performed/played music at, the people they have performed to, and the instruments that they have used.
Additionally, bards could use their music as an extra source of income. The way this could work is that when bards are playing music at a tavern, players at that tavern could pay a small fee to the bard in order to gain a buff based on whatever instrument that bard is playing.
Bards could have an endless class quest/adventure of traveling around the world and performing at different locations in order to gain access to different buffs and abilities. Also, bards could become more and more famous as more players use their buffs at taverns, which could create a class-specific contest where bards compete over who the most famous bard is.
Bards would also use mana as their main resource for any magic-based abilities. However, their class specific resource could be "songs" that they can use, where each song would go on a medium/long cooldown after being used, so they have to always keep switching between songs and managing their cooldowns.
Since bards use instruments as "weapons", they could also have a class mechanic where instruments need tuning every once in a while, and a bard should always make sure that their instruments are tuned before a raid, dungeon, or large battle.
Lastly, bards could also have a mechanic where they can adjust the volume of their performance, increasing the area of effect in exchange for weaker buffs or vice versa.
Tanks:
Tanks could use a class mechanic that is based on their shields. In addition to managing their aggro, tanks could also manage a certain shield resource where their shields have their own HP that recharges over time when they're not taking damage.
Tanks could also have a shield points mechanic that they can use to completely block certain damage sources or abilities. For example, a tank could have 5 shield points that are used up by abilities that mitigate damage, and these shield points would recharge by using other abilities.
Example: a tank might have 3 abilities that build up aggro as well as recharge shield points, and 3 abilities which use up shield points and block damage. So, tanks would have to manage their resources between aggro and shield points in order to protect themselves and their party.
Fighters:
Fighters should be the class the focuses on combos. Their fighting techniques should revolve around comboing abilities with one another to create certain effects or to empower certain abilities based on the weapon type that they are using.
Fighters could also revolve around the ability to switch between different weapons mid-fight instantly in order to create certain combos. This is what I always imagine fighters should be: dancing and harmonizing their skills with fast reactions in order to achieve the highest DPS.
Fighters could also have a certain mechanic that allows them to gain mastery in each weapon type, giving them weapon abilities that other classes don't have access to. They can do that by challenging certain boss-fighters in arenas around the world in order to master that boss's weapon type.
There could be some sort of a Colosseum in military nodes that allows fighters to fight other players or NPC bosses. These arenas would have weapon restrictions, so a fighter may only use a certain weapon type in the arena and fighter against others that use the same weapon type. Only fighters who win and become champions in that weapon type would gain access to its mastery ability.
Summoners:
Summoners shouldn't be able to simply summon whatever they want whenever they want. They should have to work hard in order to gain access to their summons.
Summoners should be the class that changes the most based on their secondary archetype, and their summons should reflect that. For example, a summoner/mage should be able to summon elementals, but they should have to collect certain elemental essences or gems from around the world and use them to summon these elementals, which uses up their collected essences/gems. While a summoner/warrior could be able to summon ethereal weapons to fight for them, but they would have to actually collect these weapons and perform rituals in order to turn these weapons ethereal before they can summon them, which means they would have to search for and acquire stronger weapons in order to have stronger summons.
Summoners should use mana as their main resource, but their unique class-mechanic/flavor should revolve around them sharing a percentage of their health/mana with their summons, so the more summons they want to have at the same time the lower their max health/mana would be.
Rogues:
Rogues should be all about stealth and mobility, so their focus should be on stamina as their main resource.
Rogues would use stamina while they're invisible (no perma invisibility) as well as for their mobility skills, while mana should be a secondary resource that they use for magic-enhanced skills and abilities.
Additionally, and similar to fighters, rogues would have abilities that combo with one another, but their combos should revolve more around mobility+fighting skills. Basically, rogues should combo mobility skills with fighting skills to produce extra effects, while fighters' combos revolve around using different types of fighting abilities for extra effects and damage.
Clerics:
Based on what we know so far about religion and religious nodes is that they focus on epic quests. Clerics should have the same thing as their class-mechanics.
Clerics should have a mechanic that revolves around doing certain quests to certain deities in order to gain their favor. That favor is what fuels their abilities and acts as their primary resource alongside mana.
By doing these quests, clerics would gain access to that deity's abilities, and these abilities would use that specific deity's favor resource in order to use them. Clerics could replenish each deity's favor by performing rituals, visiting religious sites, and praying to that deity.
A deity's questline could involve a pilgrimage of some sort, taking the cleric on a journey around the world to visit religious sites and unlock new abilities. The most dedicated of clerics, and those who specialize in a single deity, gain access to performing miracles, which are extremely powerful and unique abilities that can only be used once per day, such as resurrecting a fallen comrade or smiting a foe for a significant amount of holy damage.
Clerics' quests should also revolve around certain dungeons, and they should form parties to aid them on their quests, which reinforces their role as "healers" and the most requested party members in dungeons and raids.
Other classes that want to gain the favors of the gods would require a cleric to journey with them to certain religious sites and perform certain rituals, so other classes will HAVE to work alongside clerics to gain these buffs and advantages.
Note: I was told by some of you on Discord that these aren't good ideas because many of them are against the design philosophy of the game, but no specifications were given. If those of you who know more info about the game than I do could be kind enough as to inform me of which ideas go against the design philosophies and in what manner, I would really appreciate it
I apologize for the long post!
Please let me know what you think
2
Comments
I somehow REALLY like the repleneshing ammo for rangers idea, but only if they could auto attack no matter the ammo count, but their damaging abilities would cost them ammunition. 1Arrow/2sec would make them have to choose: burst immediately or keep some on the backburner for certain situations.
Mage:
Another cool gameplay decision would be, if mages could choose between certain cast stiles. Like Spellslinger: they can cast spells on the move and spells have reduced casting time, but the spells have reduced range and power.
Magus:"normal" mage
Chanter: spells can be overcharged while you stand still, but that takes more time (like a toggle ability that increases the range and doubles the cast time, but halves the cost of spells and increases its damage)
Bards:
I always liked the idea that bards are masters of illusions. The idea of a bard as solely bei g a minstrel is too used in my opinion. Steven already said that bards wont depend on music or instrument in their fights, which makes me reaally happy.
If you ever played a Mesmer in GW1, then you know what i have in my head. Manaburn, staminaburn, regen reduction, mirrorimages etc.
They already have subclasses called: Trickster, Siren, Magician.
For example, a magician is for me the idea of an oldschool magician with cardtricks and magic tricks, teleporting from place to place (maybe a bit like leblanc from lol where you can mark a place and return to that position like an escape artist), while a siren confuses the enemies with her songs, weaving illusions and breaking their mental resistances, while a trickster does exactly that, he fools his enemies, creates mirror images, where he can camouflage himself, and his big cd could be a short range teleport with a really short invibility.
Tanks:
Tanks could have tons of large scale group spells that increase resistances, armour, regen or give allies a direct shield etc.
Too long have tanks been bound to be the meatshields of the group, give them some more responsibility and engaging gameplay!
Fighter:
Bleeds, bleeds, bleeds! Give them tons of gap closers, and bleed effects on their attacks that stack with each other. The longer the fight goes, the more constant damage ramps up, and they could use those bleeds as some kind of combo points. AION had an interesting combopoint system. The rogues there carved sigils into their enemies and could then detonate them with spells from range, and that was one of the coolest dpell designs i ever played with! xD
Summoner:
I like the idea of an standard elemental summoner, and you can have one big constant summon with you, but then summon more and more elementals the longer the fight goes on. They could build up some combopoints and for each combopoint they can then summon an extra add sith the next summon or something.
I also think that the summoner should change most with their secondary class: s/r(shadowmancer) summons shadow creatures, s/f(wild blade) summons blades and other weapons, s/m(spellmancer) summons stronger elementals, and summoner/summoner summons whole walls and other things to interrupt his enemies in a more supportive role for example.
Rogue:
I like the idea with the stamina consumption while in stealth. I would also like to add that true rogue stealth should be pretty short, but they should in turn have some kind of camouflage, where they have reduced movement speed and stamina regeneration. While they are in camouflage rogues are coloured like their surroundings and you dont see their names, while true rogue stealth burns their stamina constantly but also increases the damage for their next 3 attacks after they get out of stealth. It would be cool if they would use the true rogue stealth as some kind of short duration cd in the middle of their fight, where they sacrifice stamina for extra burst damage. The true rogue stealth should only go for max 5-10sec, with a staminadrain of 10per second, at least in lategame. The staminadrain could get less with increasing levels(lvl1-10 has 20 stamina per second, 11-20 has 18stamina per second etc).
The whole rogue concept would be a "true" rogue. No swashbucklers or pirates anymore, those fit more the the fighter in my opinion!
Clerics:
Your idea would make clerics really bad to play, if you had to do constant quests just to cast your spells. Imagine the prep time for that when they started raiding or large scale pvp!
Here is another kind of what they could do instead:
How about some kind of divinity meter? It would start off at 0, but increase per second by 2 of 100 or something while in combat. They then recieve buffs for their spells with each 10/20 divine favour. When they get to 50 and 100 they then can use up the divine favour to cast big oh shi* spells. The player himself could then decide, if he wanted to sit on his favour and just use the constant buff that they give, or if he has to use his divine favour to save his allies.
It would always be awesoms if they could gain weekly "divine" quests where they have to cleanse a dungeon with some friends, and the gods would then give them and their allies extra buffs or something though ^^