Greetings, glorious testers!
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Archetypes and roles
consultant
Member
Well first of all let me talk about roles in general. Well one of the things that should want to consider when making a class is the shelf life of that class. Or how long can a player play a class before he gets bored of it. Now there different things that come into play like skill shots, number of abilities how difficult it is to master. But lets take a look at the dps role for rangers. But instead of roles lets look at as responsibilities.
If you were to look at the abilities rangers have a dps cc role. So lets say they have those two responsiblities dps and cc chains in pvp and pve. Well I play rangers a lot and want to tell you that those two responsibilities are not enough to keep players playing that class for a long time. They just do not have enough to do to keep the class interesting ounce you hit a hard skill cap. After lest say one year. (although fun factor could change that) I know this sounds odd but lets look at the tank responsibilities
(Want to point out that every class has a dps role even healers when party is full of health so it could be said that rangers only have one additional role cc)
Tank responsibities
Dps still have contribute was much dps as possible but not primary role
Pulling
Holding argo
Target calling which includes putting icons over target heads
CC and interupts
Have to keep track of every ones mana and health in between pulls cannot pull when people are to low on health or mana.
Many times fulling the role of group leader and doing ready checks explaining fights.
So tanks have a full plate when it comes to responsibilities which makes the class ,in my opinion ,makes it more immersive and fun.
Think wandering mist made a post about how healers need more to do or something to that affect. I have never healed before so will not post about that but will say that a healers targeting system and GUI looks more complicated than the average rotation for dps cycle for dps class.
So looks like dps classes has a shortage of responsibilities so think that Archetypes would be a good way to give the player more to do but there are other ways to do that.
Another thing I want to mention is role playing value. For example for Beastmasters if their pet had a danger sense that detected stealthed enemies or undead in the ground like cadaver dogs. Would increase the role playing value of that archetype. Or for rogues if they were able to set trip wires (oddly enough League of Legends Jax already does this) in between dooar posts (concealed) and out in the open (unconcealed). So if a certain Archetype allowed a rogue to do that that would be great. Ninjas and other martial arts class also fall into the rogue category could be the rogue rogue category.
Also want to mention hunter mage like if traps were augmented with with implosion and actually pulled the target into trap increasing radius then imploding making little mushroom at center of trap knocking toon into air only to met by a trap when they land that would be pretty cool. Think this are the types of things players want.
The next topic I want to talk about is a class being able to do everything. Now some people say that makes all the classes the same, but in my opinion it is not what they are doing it is how well they can do it.
Now Ret pallies in WoW have an ability called flash of light. Flash of light is a spammable ability with cast time that serves as a small but decent seflheal or off heal. But the problem with this was that the way the game mechanics was set up that spell could be buffed on a ret pally in such a way that for a short time The Ret pally could fill the role of a healer. (heal someone to full health in 3 or 4 casts.) So if you were in a raid and there was a part of the fight that did damage pally could off heal and really no way that the tank was going to die with additional heals. So it would give raid groups with pally a huge advantage over a group without one so it got DEMARCATED
Yes gents demarcation is a fancy word for nerf
But Pallies can get an off heal for roleplaying purposes. Decent heal on a long cool like 3 min really does not have to much impact on game just Pally will be able to save people ounce in a while. But if you give pallies an ability on a short cooldown with low mana cost and decent heal then Pally would find himself pushing the heal button a lot more and play more the role of a dps with great heals instead of just a heal.
Now the Protection Pally in Cataclysm also played a dps role. There is a passive ability vengeance that was based on the total damage received while in combat well if you chained pulled the entire dungeound and stayed in combat by the time you got to end of dungeoun you would be doing an insane amount of damage. So that dps role had to demarcated or nerfed.
Now Hunters in WoW have an ability called raor of sacrifice were pets take 20 percent damage of target thing is it was on a 30 second cool down last time I played. Well 20 percent less damage every 30 seconds to help out tank is a huge boost (certain amount of skill required but not too hard) most tank defensive cooldowns were like 2 min and above I think.
But this allowed hunters to play the off tank role on top of their dps cc roles. Also want to add that hunters in WoW had a debuff abilitied called tranquilizing shot. Could be spammed cost 20 energy out of 100 but because it was spammable hunters also had responsibilty to debuff. Worked great in pvp sometimes useful in pve. So just one ability gave him a role mainly because it was spammable and not on a long coold down. Got demarcated (nerfed). Hunters also had a very small 2 percetent heal every 20 second more for role playing purposes which I liked. Yes hunter had a heal that could heal others but so small impact on game extremely small.
So classes can do lots of things and still play their main role. Just should be careful about abilities given.
Another Thing I think you should consider is the needs of the company. When the game rolls out lots of tanks will be need so only makes sense to have more classes fulfill the tank role. So you could have the tank archetype be more impactful than the rest of the archetypes. Really do not think you should tie your self down to all 64 archetypes to a certain level of demarcated roles instead just create them as needed to benefit the game. My personal recommention is to allow warriors warlocks tanking roles. rogue more of a pure dps role over all,hunters off tank role with pet tanking (that means ranger tanks would be allowed to have pets).......point is tank archetypes could have different amount of impact per class.
If you were to look at the abilities rangers have a dps cc role. So lets say they have those two responsiblities dps and cc chains in pvp and pve. Well I play rangers a lot and want to tell you that those two responsibilities are not enough to keep players playing that class for a long time. They just do not have enough to do to keep the class interesting ounce you hit a hard skill cap. After lest say one year. (although fun factor could change that) I know this sounds odd but lets look at the tank responsibilities
(Want to point out that every class has a dps role even healers when party is full of health so it could be said that rangers only have one additional role cc)
Tank responsibities
Dps still have contribute was much dps as possible but not primary role
Pulling
Holding argo
Target calling which includes putting icons over target heads
CC and interupts
Have to keep track of every ones mana and health in between pulls cannot pull when people are to low on health or mana.
Many times fulling the role of group leader and doing ready checks explaining fights.
So tanks have a full plate when it comes to responsibilities which makes the class ,in my opinion ,makes it more immersive and fun.
Think wandering mist made a post about how healers need more to do or something to that affect. I have never healed before so will not post about that but will say that a healers targeting system and GUI looks more complicated than the average rotation for dps cycle for dps class.
So looks like dps classes has a shortage of responsibilities so think that Archetypes would be a good way to give the player more to do but there are other ways to do that.
Another thing I want to mention is role playing value. For example for Beastmasters if their pet had a danger sense that detected stealthed enemies or undead in the ground like cadaver dogs. Would increase the role playing value of that archetype. Or for rogues if they were able to set trip wires (oddly enough League of Legends Jax already does this) in between dooar posts (concealed) and out in the open (unconcealed). So if a certain Archetype allowed a rogue to do that that would be great. Ninjas and other martial arts class also fall into the rogue category could be the rogue rogue category.
Also want to mention hunter mage like if traps were augmented with with implosion and actually pulled the target into trap increasing radius then imploding making little mushroom at center of trap knocking toon into air only to met by a trap when they land that would be pretty cool. Think this are the types of things players want.
The next topic I want to talk about is a class being able to do everything. Now some people say that makes all the classes the same, but in my opinion it is not what they are doing it is how well they can do it.
Now Ret pallies in WoW have an ability called flash of light. Flash of light is a spammable ability with cast time that serves as a small but decent seflheal or off heal. But the problem with this was that the way the game mechanics was set up that spell could be buffed on a ret pally in such a way that for a short time The Ret pally could fill the role of a healer. (heal someone to full health in 3 or 4 casts.) So if you were in a raid and there was a part of the fight that did damage pally could off heal and really no way that the tank was going to die with additional heals. So it would give raid groups with pally a huge advantage over a group without one so it got DEMARCATED
Yes gents demarcation is a fancy word for nerf
But Pallies can get an off heal for roleplaying purposes. Decent heal on a long cool like 3 min really does not have to much impact on game just Pally will be able to save people ounce in a while. But if you give pallies an ability on a short cooldown with low mana cost and decent heal then Pally would find himself pushing the heal button a lot more and play more the role of a dps with great heals instead of just a heal.
Now the Protection Pally in Cataclysm also played a dps role. There is a passive ability vengeance that was based on the total damage received while in combat well if you chained pulled the entire dungeound and stayed in combat by the time you got to end of dungeoun you would be doing an insane amount of damage. So that dps role had to demarcated or nerfed.
Now Hunters in WoW have an ability called raor of sacrifice were pets take 20 percent damage of target thing is it was on a 30 second cool down last time I played. Well 20 percent less damage every 30 seconds to help out tank is a huge boost (certain amount of skill required but not too hard) most tank defensive cooldowns were like 2 min and above I think.
But this allowed hunters to play the off tank role on top of their dps cc roles. Also want to add that hunters in WoW had a debuff abilitied called tranquilizing shot. Could be spammed cost 20 energy out of 100 but because it was spammable hunters also had responsibilty to debuff. Worked great in pvp sometimes useful in pve. So just one ability gave him a role mainly because it was spammable and not on a long coold down. Got demarcated (nerfed). Hunters also had a very small 2 percetent heal every 20 second more for role playing purposes which I liked. Yes hunter had a heal that could heal others but so small impact on game extremely small.
So classes can do lots of things and still play their main role. Just should be careful about abilities given.
Another Thing I think you should consider is the needs of the company. When the game rolls out lots of tanks will be need so only makes sense to have more classes fulfill the tank role. So you could have the tank archetype be more impactful than the rest of the archetypes. Really do not think you should tie your self down to all 64 archetypes to a certain level of demarcated roles instead just create them as needed to benefit the game. My personal recommention is to allow warriors warlocks tanking roles. rogue more of a pure dps role over all,hunters off tank role with pet tanking (that means ranger tanks would be allowed to have pets).......point is tank archetypes could have different amount of impact per class.
1
Comments
No, please. Players needs some small structure, and meaningful choices of skills and talents with risk.
Played a "classless" wow server and everyone were picking 1 point wonders and being efficient with "generalist builds" and high objetive value talents.
Pick 1 mobility spell.
Pick 1 Paladin Seal.
Pick 1 Paladin Aura.
Pick mage ice shield.
Why would you pick something cool and unique with risk when you can make a high value generalist?
Efficiency and fun are not always in the same page, and most people will put efficient over fun.
EQ2 had three plate wears that could also heal, and one plate wearer that could siphon health. Two of these were tank classes, two of them were healers.
Of these, one of the healers was quite good, one of the tanks was kind of average, and the other two were somewhat underpowered for over a decade.
If you build a plate wearing healer, all you need to do to prevent it from being over powered is to not give it too much of anything else. If it has low protection against magical damage (plate armor should't automatically provide protection against magical damage), then there is an obvious way to take it on in PvP - and if it has no real damage, no CC and is completely unable to manage hate (as a healer should be), then it is a healer with flavor, not a healer in which power creep is inevitable.
As to an actual tank that is able to heal, all you need to do is make it so those heals replaced the damage mitigation abilities that other tanks have. Kind of straight forward, really. If you try and showhorn an existing game in to a system that it was not designed for, then obviously things won't go well - even if it is actual professionals that are attempting it.
Taking a bunch of amateurs attempting this is nothing more than a recipe for failure.
However, neither of these are an indication that the idea can't work if it was a part of the design from the very beginning.
All your argument here is - if you actually made it properly - is an argument against poor execution, not an argument that a game can't be designed around the notion of all classes being able to do all things.
There is an argument both for and against that, but not the one you just made.
Being able to be taken down by magic is something innate of every class, I don't think that counts as weakness.
Then is useless class.
"no real damage" Can't dungeon dps, can solo content?
"no CC" Can't tank.
"unable to manage hate" Can't heal in dungeon.
Doesn't disprove the point that people will make efficient their fun if given the chance.
This people are getting paid. I think the game could be much more.
No. I think you should read again. People will make efficient their fun the same way people will pay to win.
You are incorrect. When this is used as a balancing factor, it is weighed on the other side by cloth/light having superior magic damage defense, as opposed to Plate/heavy having superior physical defense. This can be taken even further by having multiple types of heavy/light and multiple damage types those armor classes resist. Piercing/Blunt/Slashing for physical, elemental/light/dark/arcane for magic, as an example.
This is defeating your own argument. Healers shouldn't be doing damage in dungeons. They should be healing. Are healers generally harder to solo things with? Yes. That's the price you pay for being able to effectively make someone else's damage meaningless. And a healer should never manage aggro. They should manage heals. The two can be related, but they are related on player choice and ability, not inherent systems (Misdirect Effects)
I have played every kind of role in MMOs (though I usually play tank or DPS). I feel challenged in any role. A DPS can bear a lot of responsibility; who else has been in a raid where the boss has “rage” mechanics? Basically, where they start suddenly getting more powerful if their health gets low, or the fight goes on too long?
For the former, you need to have good burst damage, timing, and resource management. Let’s say the boss goes berserk when its health is at 10%. It suddenly puts out high damage AoE pulses, or randomly stuns people, or some other major challenge. Your DPS saves their big attacks or high damage CDs for that point. You might also have to slow the damage down right before you hit 10%, to make sure tanks and healers have mana (or whatever) and nothing on CD so they can handle spike damage. Then you explode, trying to burn down that last 10% ASAP before you wipe.
In the latter situation, you need DPS that can do steady high damage to end the fight as soon as you can. If it goes on too long, the boss gets stronger than you can handle and you wipe.
I’ve heard either kind of battle referred to as a “DPS check” and a great deal of responsibility falls on players who are tasked solely with doing damage. That is in addition to the usual concerns... Stay out of AoE, damage spots, or other encounter mechanics, don’t draw aggro, etc. Well-designed group content does not involve the DPS doing their optimal rotation over and over until the fight is finished.
No real damage means if cant dungeon DPS, but none of the classes we are talking about are DPS classes. I would potentially agree that a plate wearing healer that could DPS well was overpowered.
And no, none of the four classes I am talking about were overly good at soloing. They weren't meant to be, and the games developer was quite happy to tell people that if they complained about it.
The no CC was also on a healer, so no, it couldn't tank. Plate armor does not automatically mean you can tank.
The inability to manage hate doesn't prevent you from being able to heal in a dungeon, in most games. Tanks are able to keep mobs off healers just fine - it is the DPS that need to keep their hate down. The only real exception to this is WoW, a game where healers generate more hate than they perhaps should.
Your comme ts about being magic being able to take down every class - most games have some form of mechanic where specific classes have higher resistance to magic than other classes. Some games have this built in to class buffs (EQ2), some have it built in to gear (Archeage). This is why in a game like Archeage, tanks taking on players using magic will often equip themselves with full cloth armor - it increases their defense against that magic damage.
The notion that some classes are strong to magic and some are weak to it is kind of a basic building block of classes in MMO's, I'm surprised this seems to be new to you.
As to players making their fun efficient - most games are developed around this concept. The fact that you played on a private server that didn't take this in to account means nothing outside of that private server.
If the healer dies, it’s the tank’s fault.
If the tank dies, it’s the healer’s fault.
If a DPS dies, it’s their own damn fault.
Played on a similar server once. But I did the one thing no one else did: Aura and def spell stacking as a druid bear. You can achieve ridiculous levels of tankyness xD
But to be real with you guys.
I think that classes should have their roles and their own gameplay. A warlock should not play like a mage. If it did, then you should rather play a mage.
If a clas didnt have its own gameplay then we would come to the same result as wow did. All ranged classes basically feeling the same, while all melee classes feel the same. No individuality.
A secondary class should not totally change the identity of a class. It should augment it. A Keeper (Tank/Summoner) would still be a tank, but instead of absorbing the damage himself, they would redirect it to their summons or something. Choosing the Cleric as your secondary wont make you a off healer. It will give you the tools to heal yourself.
As a person that has been a DPS first for almost 20 years (with tank, healer and support characters ready to go should they be needed by my guild), I have to say, this is about as accurate as a bit of wisdom can get.
Talking about basic, the basic building block for rpgs is D&D and D&D, as far as I know, doesn't have innate magic resistanc stats. You are just making what you have experienced, the arbitrary rule.
I see no point in keep talking to you if you keep patronizing.
If it were, WotC would sue - they are fairly strict in protecting their IP's.
Even the use of a Beholder has seen them sue in the past - let alone actually making use of their game systems without permission.
Many games also break down physical and magical in to sub-groups, with physical being broken down in to slashing, crushing and piercing, while magic is broken down in to fire, cold, lightning etc. If I were talking about this kind of thing, then I'd have to agree with you that it was some arbitrary thing I was making up. This is because fewer games do this, and among those that do, most have their own way of breaking things down past the generic magic/physical that is fairly standard in virtually all games.
As to arbitrary comments - not at all. The thing with arbitrary comments is that if you are talking from inexperience, all comments are arbitrary. When you are talking from experience - as long as your comments are based on that experience - those comments are no longer arbitrary.
So sure, I could be talking about what I have experienced, but if I have experienced 20 or more MMORPG's, then comments based on the collected knowledge from those MMORPG's is not arbitrary knowledge.
Attempting to talk about MMO's in general if you have only played 1 or 2 does run the risk of being arbitrary though.
In terms of what is absolutely arbitrary, this comment is the closest to a textbook example in this thread. It is taken from a singular perspective, yet is written in an attempt to be authoritative. It is also ignoring many, many games out there that have successfully implemented exactly what you are tring to say is broken.
Your comments on magical resists are also somewhat arbitrary, your attempt to back that comment up with your D&D quote above is completely arbitrary.
Many games also break down physical and magical in to sub-groups, with physical being broken down in to slashing, crushing and piercing, while magic is broken down in to fire, cold, lightning etc.
Really like the simple yet accurate slashing, crushing and piercing. I think magic could be a bit richer.
You made a comment expressing how what you experienced and your vision was the basic building block.
D&D IS the basics building block and contradicts that.
About plate armor and direct, constant sustain I hope I'm wrong.
EQ2 broke magic damage down in to 7 different types, while physical damage had the above 3. As I said though, talking about an example from one game would be arbitrary in this discussion.
But this isn't true.
D&D isn't a basic building block of MMORPG's (except DDO - and even then that is debatable).
D&D was influencial in the fantasy roleplaying genre, and MMORPG's have taken some aspects from that, but in no way is D&D a basic building block of current day MMORPG's.
Going back further to my years playing 2nd Edition, each class had different saving throws against various magical effects. A warrior might do better against a dragon’s breath weapon, but a wizard might do better against a wand. (Hypothetical examples, I am not going to go dig out the PHB from the boxes in my garage to give real stats.)
No, please. Players needs some small structure, and meaningful choices of skills and talents with risk.
Played a "classless" wow server and everyone were picking 1 point wonders and being efficient with "generalist builds" and high objetive value talents.
Pick 1 mobility spell.
Pick 1 Paladin Seal.
Pick 1 Paladin Aura.
Pick mage ice shield.
Why would you pick something cool and unique with risk when you can make a high value generalist?
Efficiency and fun are not always in the same page, and most people will put efficient over fun.
[/quote]
Well Protection pally in WoW is a Hybrid class that can do everything tank dps heal cc interupts burst dps
not so much dps because of tank spec but still had dps responsibility and I think it is the best class in that game. Not every class has to do everything I said a class not every class. Some classes could mostly be dps class with no support abilities and few cc abilities.
Another thing that I think should be considered is how prominent or impactful should an archetype be.
Archetype should present a little bit of a learning curve. Each Archetype within a class should be different enough so that the player should have to learn how to play that Archetype. Kind of like in WoW they had different specializations.
Think Archetypes should represent lesser versions of Presitige Classes from the world of Dungeouns and Dragons.
Now I do realize that tanks will have 8 archetypes but those archetypes would have to be pretty impactful for them to represent a choice. Which is the the opposite of demarcated roles. If the difference between archetypes is to little then all eight archetypes are going to feel like the same class.
But then you have the Class times tank archetypes like warrior tank. Well the archetype of tank would have to be pretty impactful for them to be considered as a tanke choice or pretty close to being on par with the tank class if not all the tanks in the game are going to be the same not saying much for variety.
So really do not see how IS could go with demarcated roles, but they are other solustions like having tank roles (warrior tanks and cleric can fill tank role in raids and be close to equal in tanking ability)
Edit: Despite all of the different augments I believe secondary archetype should matter in terms of flavour. But when augments only adjust skills you can see how different flavours will become multitudes of flavours, with so many flavours it is impossible to state the amount of flavours.
The biggest issue I have ever had with the trinity system is how limited playing in a role really makes you. As a dps you cant do a whole lot of content without both a tank and a healer. Healers and tanks need dps sure but dps is a dime a dozen. Why do so few people play these archetypes? I Imagine its because of how limited your options are outside of group play. you dont kill things as fast as a dps so grinding takes longer. In an open pvp world where dps is generally king playing tank is just asking to be at a disadvantage. Sure you can always play as a group but even in an MMO that isnt feasible. A lot of times sure you and the guild are going hard. Other times however not many people are either online or interested in group activity.
In AA one of the defining features that attracted so many people is that tanks could spec in such a way as to be able to take damage but also to be able to kill targets in acceptable time periods. Could they do it as fast as an ultra fast dark runner? No. But they could survive a dark runners initial burst damage and apply sustained damage over a period of time and win the fight. Augments should allow you to do something similar and is the picture I get when I think about the current system. You can double down on your role if you only ever do group content or you can branch out and make smaller groups possible or even solo play possible.
Every role can benefit from this I think. Dps can spec into more dps or debuff or more mobility. Tanks can get damage or heals or buffs or debuffs. Healers can do much the same. Then if you think about the teamplay benefit it gets much better. A tank that can spec into applying status effects that the tank alone cant make use of but Dps and healers could. An example I would love to see is the tank is able to apply a combination of debuffs to an enemy that allows the healer to corrupt there healing on that target which does damage instead of healing.
So ideally the augment system should be aimed at helping you fill the gaps in your own play while also giving options for more synergy among the different classes. A lot of possibilities there if you really think about it.
I agree with your post. I think that one of the things that often happens is that DPS becomes more of convenience roll for some content. Sure there are DPS checks in certain fights but really if the healers and tanks are good enough they can survive without the DPS. Adding in Utility to certain kits would be a good means to address this.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.
Edit: Of course, the combat is in development. Sometimes I take snapshots and run with the facts at the time, rather than the potentials of the future.
I appreciate the pull back to Age of Conan's flaws whenever one of us brings up Age of Conan. There are many things I hope Ashes won't become, especially a meme which Age of Conan seems to be becoming lol
Lets talk about a mage tank now I know that to some people that does not make sense. Thing that is just saying it is outside the norm. Kind of like having the Rock paly a computer specialist in a movie rather than a operater in special forces. There mosty pretty thin and not to tall in the movies but that is that is just all in yhour mind just a type cast persay.
Now mages usually use two hands to cast spells so in case of a Mage Tank the shield that is equiped could just float there and block of its own accord. Plus
Mirror image could be used to trick mobs and aviod damage
Wall of force is already a defensive cooldown but could be buffed for Mage tanks
Mage tanks could be allowed to poly morph themselves into a tanky creature like lesser dragon for 20 seconds for high damage boss fights.
So mage tank could work.
Just to summarize real quick.
Rogue Tanks
Caltrops with debuff
Smoke bomb with debuff (makes them miss)
Shadow step (similar to mirror image of mage but leaves a shadow instead to aviod damage used in conjuction with smoke bombs.
Dual weilding medium size swords to make an x and block damage guessing could use daggers but daggers just seem to small to me
Ranger Tanks
Well ranger have Power shot so if the also gained a defensive shield to mitigatt damage while casting
Rangers can jump pretty high could be used to avoid damage
Could be allowed to have reall tanky pet to off tank like a Titanic drake or turtle with some defensive abilities
Shield bows could be allowed.
Shield plus one handed cross bow or one handed axe that can be thrown or lets say a shield and a boomerang like glaive one in hand and one on lower back hip area so two can be thrown at same time and come back to you.
I do not know about bard tanks and all the other classes like warrior tank are real easy to translate into tanking already did summoner on another post so Yes Every class could tank.
I wanted to point out that there is a difference between a class or spec doing everything and having a mage that can tank. If you have a mage that specs into tanking then well they can play the role of a tank does not mean they can do everything at the moment like cause they would be sacrificing dps to become a tank. So they.
I am sure since IS has a full crew of people they could come up with things are way better but just wanted to present the idea of how impactful an archetype should be in my mind.
I find things like that which make a class unique more interesting than giving every class a bit of everything in different measures.