Dev Discussion #15 - Favorite & Ideal Classes

LieutenantToast

Glorious Ashes community - it's time for another Dev Discussion! Dev Discussion topics are kind of like a "reverse Q&A" - rather than you asking us questions about Ashes of Creation, we want to ask YOU what your thoughts are.

Our design team has compiled a list of burning questions we'd love to get your feedback on regarding gameplay, your past MMO experiences, and more. Join in on the Dev Discussion and share what makes gaming special to you!


Dev Discussion #15 - Favorite & Ideal Classes
What, so far, has been your favorite class to play across all MMOs? If you could play your ideal class, what would it be?

Keep an eye out for our next Dev Discussion topic regarding group-oriented activities!

arodicus

I love playing the healer. Managing life pools while dealing with mechanics is lots of fun and can be challenging

Magic Man

MMORPG classes unfortunately haven't been up to the gaming industry standards for a while now. Rarely, we see some interesting classes with unique abilities such as Psijic order from ESO. It has many mystical, mind and time spells. That sort of stuff add a whole new layer to the gaming experience

FlynnStone

Being a damage dealer is fun, but in a lot of MMOs they can be pretty braindead to play.

My ideal class would be a warrior who uses several floating weapons to attack in unique ways.

Zackallic

Healer all the way. To be able to assist teammates in PVP and master your class in combat to not only heal others but protect yourself with CC's as well. Best feeling ever to amaze your team when the enemy makes you the primary target and you survive.

Excited for the Apostle Class. Cleric / Tank.

To see a healer with preventive damage shields and healing dots added to the mix. Change up the system a little and this be a higher skill curve class, once mastered, you can be a great asset to pvp / siege.

Loved seeing things like in ESO when you can pop up Siege Shields over your teammates and siege weapons to reduce the damage done to them with siege artillery.

Im hoping to see many forums and styles of healing that will make each healing class unique, different and its own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to PVP, PVE . From your Heavy Burst healers, to Preventive Damage healers, Stat buffing healers, weaker stealth healers.

Sparcs

Weilding the biggest weapon there whether it's a huge dragon or a massive sword is always fun
Favorite class is usually a Summoner but half the time the game only alows for a tiny summon that leaves a lot to be desired.
I don't really have an ideal class for AOC but if you leave a lot of options for how the players want to play then thats great

Galdreyice

Personally speaking I play mostly support roles like Healer in MoBAs and MMORPGs; but what I've found is that if all they bring is just healing and no other mechanics are tied to them it gets boring really fast; so for me a class like discipline priest from WoW or Holy Paladin from WoW are my Ideal Healer specs. Disc brings a really high skill cap of managing its healing through attonement, as well as bringing damage and Raid cooldowns(barrier) and a tank cooldown in the form on pain suppression.
On the other hand Paladin brings very good spot healing and passive damage reduction with its Auras and on demand bigger damage reduction and healing with its CDs. Overall a healer's job is not just to heal they should also be able to deal damage when needed.

nurph

Give me two daggers, let me coat em in poison, and then I'll love to stealth around and plunge those two daggers into my enemies until their wounds start oozing poisonous green instead of red blood!

P.S.: Can't post in chrome right after login because of invalid CSRF Token

Ryukibo

To be honest I've always played warriors or mages in mmo's but i felt like i was missing something. It would be awesome to see a combination of these, like a warrior capable of using displacement magic or some offensive magic slashes and spells. In conclusion something both agile and magical

draidin

For the last 8-10 years or so being a healer has been quite a bit of fun, prior to that I was mostly a mage/ranger which I still enjoy but I love the idea of being the one to keep the group alive and figuring out how to heal difficult mechanics always brings me enjoyment.

Private

It depends tbh. If the MMORPG is action based, I prefer to go melee classes with burst damage for that awesome feeling. If it's same old tab targeting, healers would be my choice as it's pretty much the only class that doesn't feel cumbersome with tab targeting for people with standards

chaoko954

I never liked DPS classes due to always having to just "follow my rotation" and that's it.
I am excited to see how Ashes changes up the mold.
Normally I play support or Healer roles though because for me I love keeping my friends alive!

Nagash

Necromancer

enyan

Loved all classes in Lineage 2. They are really interesting, like Blade Dancer: you have 2 swords, heavy armor, but can cast buffs and stuff.. like warrior and enchanter in one. o.o After L2, always played assassin class: i like fast skills and just hate slowwww mages with long cast times..

Rabbit

I'm looking at playing a Cleric secondary. I prefer being a DPS, but if those attacks also heal the party , that's even more fun.

basvision

I love the idea of a paladin like healer (like the sigmar priest in warhammer online) who can heal via doing damage. Or at least in melee range. Could also be possible to have him shield and buff the people around him via damage. it would be ok if the damage is not that high then. A support role in the trinity would be really nice
If there is an option to have multiple specs to be able to do real damage if neeeded (by re specing out of combat) that would be great

iliya

High damage and High self-heal but low mobility classes are my favorite type. I prefer classes that more about making counterplays and reacting to the enemy rather than the ones that force plays.

avoxia

Support/medium dps type roles are my favorite, for example I love the ability to have summons(with various skin options cute vs cool) and have the class be able to choose from buffing/slight heals for the party or on the other end debuff enemies and do moderate dps.

Copperfield

tank class with healing...

i want to be sustain for a long time.. dont need to kill anything.. just absorb dmg and keep myself alive as long as possible

in the long run. i should be able to kill some tho.. like mages that run out of mana.

I do not hope that AOC will be an CC fest like AA..

i think the best balanced pvp regarding tab target games is warhammer online

Bot

I'd say my favorite classes have been Enigmatist in Archeage, Bloodreaver in Archeage, Darkrunner in Archeage, Moon Lord in Dragon Nest, Shadow in Continent of the Ninth Seal, and Warlock in Fiesta Online.
For me there are only three types of classes I find enjoyable in MMORPGs. The typical assassin like a darkrunner in Archeage that has burst dps and mobility, a mage like Enigmatist that has mobility and instant casts for less damage but better survival, and a tanky warrior/fighter type class that has a good balance of damage, tankiness, mobility, and cc. I also think Archeage's Nightcloak is another really nice class. A raidbreaker class with a ton of cc and utility, but isn't a tank or dps.

I'd say a big thing for classes to me is having distinctive playstyles to define each primary type of class. Like a frost mage that is all about cc and casting, fire mage that's all about single and aoe dps, lightning mage that's all about single target dps, and etc.

In terms of if I could create my perfect class for Ashes, it'd probably be a melee class with a big 2h sword, burst dps skills with some of them having gap closing dashes and others with slight slows while having one decent ranged aoe pull skill.

xilodon

I typically default to the standard archer type of class, and wished for years that the Hunter in WoW would be separated from the mandatory pet management aspect (which was eventually addressed, and won't be a concern with the distinct Summoner archetype here). I'm looking forward to how action combat will impact how things are balanced in AoC, as it will be impossible balance things to the point of homogenization when you have to account for differences in mechanical skill and human error.

The only time I got super involved with other roles was when I transitioned to Discipline Priest in WoW:MoP, as I really enjoyed being able to leverage a dps mentality to serve a hybrid role with good support cooldowns. Passively blanketing the raid in absorb shields really made for a difficult spec to balance so I would caution against going overboard with that kind of mechanic, but hybrid off-healers definitely fill an important playstyle niche.

54754N4

i love when i can mix archer and mage , especially if i can have lots of mobility spells. One of my favorite games was Archeage just because we could choose spells from 3 different classes at the same time and i could just choose all the mobility spells from each one. Was useless in PvP but that's how i wanted to play and i enjoyed it.

Tyluen

Favourite class of all time in an mmo was the spellslinger in Wildstar- a dual pistol wielding class with a high healing (or damage) skillcap. Most of the powerful heals & buffs required you to line up shots for maximum effect. You also had the option to directly target and heal a player with filler HoTs or emergency heals.

Given that this game is slated to include both action & tab target, a similar concept may work well. I would love to see a high fantasy version of the spellslinger with a bow!

zennia

I love healing if I'm teamed up with close friends, but don't deal with the stress of healing a PUG. As far as general classes I'd like to see, just something that's not cookie-cutter formulaic. One of my all-time favorite classes is the Mesmer from GW2. Beautiful spell effects and an unusual class mechanic via illusions and phantasms make it engaging and fun to play.

Building mechanics into your design that are iconic without being so complicated that it saps the fun, leads to memorable classes overall.

noxavian

NECROMANCERS.

A lot of games don't do them justice. Please please please allow for them to be pet based in Ashes Of Creation.

Necros are my all time favorite class and I'd love to be able to actually raise multiple undead and build around what I can summon. In a game lile AoC I'd love to be able to raise a small, but reasonable number of undead. (Example: 10-15 skeletons with various gear/armor or a mixture of that with zombies) and be able to tell them to go stand "guard" in certain areas etc.

I realize that is a bit hard to do, so I would just be satisfied with being able to raise a variety of undead.

DO N O T. Be like ESO's necromancer, please. The main thing with the necromancer in this game should be summoning and buffing your summons. Especially since you start off as a summoner then choose to become a necromancer. (For reference in ESO you can only summon 1 skeletal mage and 1 ghost, both of which don't have hitboxes and don't actually exist physically in the game world.)


Lastly I'd like to mention vampires. I really, really think AoC could benefit massively from having these "subclasses" that are attractable by other players or mobs in game. Like a vampire subclass, werewolves, etc. Especially in a game that is as deep as AoC, my dream would be to one day see a system like this in place. I really love how ESO does this, but I feel like the devs haven't given it much credit. Literally no other MMO lets players infect other players with a possible subclass or lets you change your playstyle based on a subclass you get from the world itself. Liches, vampires, werewolves, even hunter/church organizations with unique abilities to them could be cool.

Sirzecks_Lucifer

I love summoner classes. My ideal summoner class would be something from the book series (summoner by Taran Matharu) where summons cost different energy levels to maintain based on their overall power and rarity. The summoners who call upon them also have to build their strength up to be able to handle them as well as enter an aetherial plane to capture and tame them. It's a lot but anything like that implemented into a summoner class would be great.

Narys

Healer - The Chloromancer from RIFT - A plant based mage healer that would heal through inflicting damage and controlling the flow of life force through targets.

Damokles

The original release AION Chanter.
It was a priest, in chain armour and a two handed staff that debuffed enemies, controlled auras and healed surrounding allies.
This is what i hope the bard to be in AoC tbh xD

T Elf

Healer that's a damage dealer without having mobs want to kill me first. *like that's gonna happen*
A Warden/Druid type would be awesome.

Damokles

noxavian wrote: »

NECROMANCERS.

A lot of games don't do them justice. Please please please allow for them to be pet based in Ashes Of Creation.

Necros are my all time favorite class and I'd love to be able to actually raise multiple undead and build around what I can summon. In a game lile AoC I'd love to be able to raise a small, but reasonable number of undead. (Example: 10-15 skeletons with various gear/armor or a mixture of that with zombies) and be able to tell them to go stand "guard" in certain areas etc.

I realize that is a bit hard to do, so I would just be satisfied with being able to raise a variety of undead.

DO N O T. Be like ESO's necromancer, please. The main thing with the necromancer in this game should be summoning and buffing your summons. Especially since you start off as a summoner then choose to become a necromancer. (For reference in ESO you can only summon 1 skeletal mage and 1 ghost, both of which don't have hitboxes and don't actually exist physically in the game world.)


Lastly I'd like to mention vampires. I really, really think AoC could benefit massively from having these "subclasses" that are attractable by other players or mobs in game. Like a vampire subclass, werewolves, etc. Especially in a game that is as deep as AoC, my dream would be to one day see a system like this in place. I really love how ESO does this, but I feel like the devs haven't given it much credit. Literally no other MMO lets players infect other players with a possible subclass or lets you change your playstyle based on a subclass you get from the world itself. Liches, vampires, werewolves, even hunter/church organizations with unique abilities to them could be cool.

I think that 10-15 summons with differing gear would be game breaking. I would rather have a necro with either the ability to summon three consistent skelletons or more skelletons that require you to summon them during combat. (Not more then 5)

Zephirius

Historically I've played healers more than other classes, but I have enough enjoyed mages and rogues just about as much. Tanks have been enjoyable but I never wanted to be a raid tank (seems like it would be too stressful for me).

My perfect idea of a healer is one that does more than applies buffs and watches health bars. As a rune priest in Warhammer Online, I would blend offensive abilities with healing but not necessarily both in one spell like Ashes of Creation's priests seem like they would be. Being able to be in the fray with the other fighters and even seen as a threat would make being a healer more enjoyable and not some glorified buff bot. The abilities I would possess would also be both audibly and visually awe inspiring. Basically, I want that feeling I got when Rydia in Final Fantasy II reappears after losing her for a really long time and does so in spectacular fashion by wiping the floor of an enemy poised to kill the rest of my party. Or that scene in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers when Gandalf and the Rohirrim come cascading down the mountain side with blinding white light saturating everything as they came crashing magnificently into the Uruk-hai. That's the kind of experience I want! :-)