Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
So far I do not think my favorite class has been released in an MMO. I like tank classes and mages but there is always some major drawback to the class to prevent flavor of the month that seems like there should be a better way like if all the classes have a flavor of the month appeal at the same time.
Ideal classes would be DPS, UTILITY, AND HEALING and make the tank class a DPS, there is no reason to make them single target and low dps when they are melee range only. having them do comparable damage to single target and groups of enemies adjacent to them is balanced with better survivability than a class that can ground target from a distance. healers having to damage things to get half their healing skill buttons is fine it makes you feel not like a heal bot. Utility would have buffs and debuffs along with defense half that of the ranged dps and melee dps.
That sounds suspiciously like the AION chanter
I like CC in the form of slows and stuns connected to a combo or setup. I like to disarm and spell reflect abilities.
I like when i need to plan during the fight and wait for perfect windows to use my burst and quickly finish my oponent when they make a lethal mistake.
1 : Blood Mage were very cool (dealing spell damage to heal self or allies)
2 : "Monk type" classes are nice, dealing melee damage to get some kind of magic power or deal magic damage (Magic: Legends mage is the same type of class, doing kung fu with fire fists... Awesome).
3 : Melee + Magic is definitely very cool, I loved the DPS Paladin in WoW, big ass mace, plate armor, and holy powers. In the name of our god, or what ever is sacred in fantasy !
4 : Last but not least : WoW Rogue or SWTOR Assassin or Ninja or any kind of sneaky basterd class is always very cool and on top of my go to class list.
I would like to be able to support the team offensively and utility wise, while having high mobility myself.
What i imagine a tellsword to be is some kind of melee fighter that uses buffs to increase his teammates damage, while being able to do sustained damage himself. Id probably like it if those damage buffs would not be too passive though. What i mean by that is, that instead of buffs like ˋ increase x peoples dmg by y for z secsˋ It could be something like:ˋnext attack hits x times harderˋ
It could apply debuffs similar to gw2 vulnerability aswell (debuff, incoming damage is increased). Generaly id like theese effects to be short but strong, so that timing/ coordinating these buffs and with your team is actually important.
What i envision a trickster to be is someone who can provide utility by e.g. stealthing his teammates, maybe swapping places with enemies, blinding enemies etc. while having great mobility and doing bursty-ish damage. That would enable him to go in and out of fights a lot, roam the battlefield to choose the fights where his specific kind of support is needed most.
What i envision a magician to be is someone with high mobility who roams the battlefield, supporting his team with things like projectile reflection, Buffs/debuffs, reveals(to unstealth enemies) and maybe portals, teleporting anyone who steps on them once opened, friend or foe. I think i have seen other people suggest things like portals for summoners before and i can see the reasoning, but i somehow like the idea of wizards having access to such a mechanic aswell. It fits to the ˋwizard makes things appear/ disappear/// rabbit from hat theme ˋ imo
All in all i think its fair to say id like to play some kind of utility based support class that requires good coordination with your team to be most effective.
1. a heal mechanics class with:
- heal on time spells, but also direct, single-target and multi-target healing
- REALLY interesting support spells. Example: the possibility of deflecting a ray attack, by correctly positioning a support spell or conversely of amplifying the spell of an ally by placing a spell in the right place at the right time.
In summary, not passive buff spells.
But ESPECIALLY: not to be forced to do damage (that the management of life + amplification / diversion of spells is sufficiently interesting not to have to start hitting a boss in raid).
2. That this healer class is not a priest / paladin. I do not support "sacred magic", and adore conversely profane magic (type magician / bard), or if it's impossible, the magic of nature (druid)
3. that this class is not a hell to level up (because let's be honest, we don't climb all its levels accompanied)
4. that this class wears cloth armor (not leather / metal)
Class example:
- a mystic who can invoke a kind of mirror diverting or amplifying the spells which crosses them
- a bard or a magician who can control time thanks to his songs / magic and having a similar dynamic.
I can't wait to see what the classes will be:
Bard:
- Scryer
- Minstrel
Summoner:
- Songcaller
- Shaman
Cleric:
- Acolyte
- Soul Weaver
Magus:
- Magician
- Oracle
I can't wait to see if one of these classes will meet my expectations.
I enjoy playing damage/healer hybrids. My favorite class ever was Enchanter from Aion which was (A mix of auras/buffs, potent damage and medium potency heals ). My secondary favorites were Druid/Cabalist from Rift (constant weak aoe dot damage that healed your party) and Reaver from Rift (A very tanky class that spread aoe dots that healed you, it was very weak in 1v1 pvp but amazing at fighting massive groups of players).
However, I am open to other classes. The only thing I don't really enjoy so far is pet type classes, hunter with a beast pet, warlock with demon, necromancer with an undead minion, ect. It I do recognize that other ppl do like those types of classes.
Anyway, that's the only class I truly loved ever. An extremely versatile, relentless machine of a tank that actually controlled the field through CC and withered opponents into uselessness; the class made you feel like a God and you'd call it broken outside of group/mass pvp - but even that required for the player to be good enough. It had all the tools to deal with anyone (and sometimes more than one) on it's own, but it required mastery and a brain.
Steven knows old L2 so he might understand what I'm talking about. Anyway typing on mobile is tiring.
I don’t want to feel brain dead when I’m playing a character🙃
My favorite Class is healer/necromancer!
I love to heal but, I also need to be able to turn the tables and dish out some serious damage.
In Aion, I played a clerk with a focus on DPS😁
I was able to heal and keep up with the DPS classes.
Second favorite class is monk, I love to just run up and punch something in the face👊
So I am definitely a mage player to the core but all mmorpgs all do some part of the gameplay wrong. Mages should have some quick spells and long ones that weave together nicely and could great different effects. One problem that all mmorpgs have with mages is that they're either a finger killing apm dmg or over complicated 10000 IQ niche pick.
I loved the thought that guild wars 2 had with combos and how the mage had the easiest access to them but in the end they didn't embrace it enough and it felt a bit shallow. They also had the nice idea of 4 elements but it was useless because most of the combos were useless and two of the elements (air and water) were underwhelming and never played. Endgame guild wars 2 was a button smash ofc.
I also love how Invoker does magic in dota 2 but it would have to be simplified for mmorpg context.
I think I would love to play a mage that carefully and tactically builds up the crescendo of dmg and finally then executes it and does great dmg to the target and stuns it or something. In mmorpgs it's just another one sliver of its health gone and that's just meh.
Mages should also have some risk to their spells. Like they could have some high cast time spells but omg you're in trouble if you get them through. Tanks and healers would be all over the mage when they start casting that epicness.
Spells should also have some effect to the environment but I understand that can be a bit hard for the game engine.
One other aspect that is rarely done well warlock. Usually they're just mages in dark robes with nothing special to them. I don't care if it's edgy but I would like to have a real high risk high reward warlock that is dark and gloomy. Like risk your hp, resistances or risk the hp or resistances of your allies (could some AoE they stand on so it's a willing sacrifice) and then cast dark spells that plague the enemy.
So the final classes I would like in game in a nutshell:
A tactical jack of all trades mage done well that is deep and your choices actually matter and you have multiple spells, not only the 3 spells that are worth casting and the rest is garbo. Combos, status effects, dmg. This is for advanced players or for those who want either depth or challenge or both. A book could be a great weapon for this mage. But this mage could have some skill trees to differentiate the more cc/supportive elements from the pure dmg ones. You could also make it into two different classes?
It could also be fun if we had some kind of primal mage who just shoots out primal, pure magic. Like just the pure stuff. This class would of course be the extremely offensive one but the primal nature could have some negative effects. I kind of like the randomness of wild magic surge in D&D where you roll and random stuff happens but I understand that you need to be careful with adding rng random stuff. This class could also be the apm dream that you press a lot of buttons fast and things happen. Maybe there could be some overheat mechanic for their kit as you over flow with magic, because you're literally just a valve for magic. You wither can't control the magic in you or you won't care and fire at will. For this class you could think of Ryze in League of Legends, I took some inspiration from him but I only noticed the similarity later on.
A warlock class with actual give and take, sacrifice something to gain something. High risk, high reward. They could even have some AoE healing to "return what was taken". Imagine if they could summon big daddy Cthulu or something to help them in a fight. Anyways, give and take, high risk, high reward, sacrifice and effect, the greater the sacrifice, the bigger the effect. Though the most "safe" method for them would be to dmg themselves to cast but bigger spells would need more sacrifices... Warlocks could actually also drain the life force from the ground but they would corrupt the spot they drained it from and would have to drain from the different spot next time.
I liked crescendo idea so some kind of pure offense focused music mage that builds up the crescendo in a fight and then when he executes the final note, it's beautiful and effective. Dmg, cc, flashy, the whole nine yards. Music is usually for bards and for support but F that. Also I would like to add that he's not playing the music, he's creating it with his wand or something. Because just playing some instrument is overused in games and forces the bard stereotype. Building up the song, think what notes you want or need to perform and the execution. There more you play, the more you get. This class is not about apm at all, this is about thinking. 1000 IQ.
Also someone mentioned a sword dancer type battle warrior. Like floating swords and all that stuff. Creating different weapons out of thin air? I'm in for that. But this could be more a warrior less a mage.
I just overall hope that you give mage some more depth as a class so it's not again another mmorpg with "press button do dmg" mage. That's the most boring part, make the dmg interesting and rewarding. Not just fireball, you did dmg, magic veil, you do dot...
(I know that's how every game works in a nutshell but I hope you get what I mean. Status effects and other effects beside dmg usually do the thing and make it interesting)
My other favorite from dragons dogma is magik archer. Both of these were so much fun to play.Not many make a hybrid rogue/archer/caster class in games like magik archer. The ability to use spells, daggers or fire a volley of coming magical arrows at your targets was always fun. And the effects of spells in that game in general was amazing.
The one thing that sucks about melee is that it can be completely useless outside of it and without movement abilities there's nothing you can do.
Some hypermobile Warrior or Rogue type character would also be cool. They could even teleport wherever they want and use all 3 dimensions to their advantage.just dash dash dash and slash. Be quick and go fast.
Speaking of mobility, some flying classes would be cool but I understand it kind of breaks the game.
A malleable DoT class. Be it mage, Warrior, or Rogue. I for some reason find it fascinating and incredibly enjoyable seeing anywhere from 4 - 12 different Damage Over Time effects on a single target. Preferably an ability in the kit as well that causes an explosion of miasma which basically causes the DoTs on the one target to spread to all others nearby. And ofc a way to augment the abilities on the class in such ways as... making some of them based on damage type to be impossible to remove and you have to let the duration tick down. Maybe something along the lines of trap dots where if they are being cleansed they detonate for the remaining time on both the afflicted and the person or priest trying to cleanse the target. Maybe a skill that detonates all DoTs at once for their remaining timers.
I find personal enjoyment from a skill from the rogue class in the MMO RIFT. Before they nerfed it that is. The skill was called Barbed Shot. The function of the skill was to add combo points and then you can use a finisher skill after however many points you wish to spend. HOWEVER barbed shot also had a secondary effect. Aside from generating combo points and a small initial damage tick, every step the enemy player took caused the player to bleed for X% damage based off of the weapon used to apply the Barbed Shot. mmm... So very satisfying.
Basically I enjoy playing a class that with every action you take basically applies damage over time effects or debuffs that cause additional damage per hit after being applied.
AKA, a class that doesnt really do anything in terms of flat damage, however the damage they deal scales per second. Ideally they are tanky as well. I mean there has to be some beneficial bonus to not doing instant bursts of damage.
Some of my inspiration for how classes should be are from the anime Log Horizon. And the MMO RIFT. Oh and also going with Log Horizon example, The TANK class Guardian. Needs to have that anchor howl ability they show in a lot of the episodes. Where on activation all enemies are forced to attack the guardian, and if something ignores the Guardian and attacks something else, then the Guardian is allowed to instantly hit them from anywhere on the map.
K I'm going to stop here, I feel as though I'm ranting and repeating myself. But you have to admit there really is something in there about Dotting up an enemy and having it spread to all nearby. And the health on each just slowly ticking by, tick, tock, tick, tock... watching the inevitable decay and there is nothing they can do about it. mmmmm.... You know I think I need to see a doctor, maybe a priest... Something is clearly wrong...
Other than a DoT class, I think I would enjoy a good pet class. Sadly there really arent any out there atm that do them justice. I think the main characteristics that would be ideal for this kind of class would be along the lines of combat casting summoning for all the pets, skills that either ad or buff the amount of pets you can summon at once. The philosophy behind it would be, the summoner can just stand there in one spot and the pets will do everything. sadly that would require some really good pet AI. BUT an absolute must would be an ability to multiply your pets. Splitting maybe. Takes a high lvl pet and splits it into x number of smaller lower level pets.
Anywho enough ranting. I keep forgetting to keep it short lol.
A close second would be the Bard.
Not MMO but RPG classes / partnering that made for interesting dynamics.
Dragon Age used the classes in the party makeup to dramatically change the dynamic of the group.
Such that for example, if there was a tank in party, then perhaps they could bash through a wall to get to a different area in a dungeon, or a thief could unlock a door or a mage could open a portal.
With a sequence of unknown areas in a dungeon or area that are successively unlocked to different directions dependant on the party makeup.
Baldur`s Gate had NPC`s respond differently to different players. Would like to see the cumulative history of a player and the players in a group influence the outcomes of quest directions just like chaotic good, evil, neutral or various aliances or history.
Tale of Two Brothers, where team work was required to negotiate obsticals.
Everquest Next, from memory were planning to keep in game metrics of player terrain pathing and use mob spawns to either congregate to create choke points or be scarce around player popular movement.
L2 had the basics of DPS, healer and buffer.. then enhanced buffer.. would like to ensure a wider choice of successful party makeup.
Rather than as many MMO`s requiring the holy trinity party makeup.
In mmorpgs this fails due to meta.
Look at ESO and their bs play as you want.
So many sources of abilities, yet every fighter runs with two handed + sword/shield in pvp.
In pve every fighter runs bow + dual wield.
Look at AA. So many cool names for classes, yet nobody cares for the endless options. They all go meta.
A massive pool of abilities will be ignore for the few most effective.
This leads to boring homogenization.
Classe needs to be structured for flavour to exist.
There are many mmorpgs that dont have dps tank healer.
They have:
Tank
Healer
Buffer
Bard
Summoner (not best dps but brings buffs to group)
Dps (usually ranged classes)
Killers
Brawlers
All of them unique classes without "select your own skills"
The dps tank healer trinity emerged since mmorpgs became instanced dungeons for pve and instanced battlegrounds for pvp.
The design your own class is good in rpg. Not mmorpg.