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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Suggestion: Make family summoning a Bard/Summoner skill only
Crowley
Member, Alpha Two
I had an idea I'd like the community's opinion on (excuse me if this has already been discussed and I missed it):
Ditch the family summoning and make it a Bard/Summoner skill.
Even though there are obvious benefits to family summoning, it's pretty clear people are worried about the abuse it will bring with it. I don't see a possibility where you can get rid of summoning completely, but I do feel that making it a class specific skill will create an extra gameplay role and makes you revise your group/family set up.
I'd personally envision it as a spell like:
Summon Family
Summon your entire family to your current location
Cooldown 4 hours
My idea behind changing the amount of people from 1 to up to 7 and increasing the cooldown to 4 hours instead of 30 min - is it will be a more impactful skill. It will keep it's function but has less likelihood of being abused. This will mean that you need to think ahead when using it and will give the Bard or Summoner an extra role to add to a party.
Why Bard and or Summoner? Mostly because the Bard is already seen as an support class and Summoner…well….it’s in the name.
Let me know what you think of this
Ditch the family summoning and make it a Bard/Summoner skill.
Even though there are obvious benefits to family summoning, it's pretty clear people are worried about the abuse it will bring with it. I don't see a possibility where you can get rid of summoning completely, but I do feel that making it a class specific skill will create an extra gameplay role and makes you revise your group/family set up.
I'd personally envision it as a spell like:
Summon Family
Summon your entire family to your current location
Cooldown 4 hours
My idea behind changing the amount of people from 1 to up to 7 and increasing the cooldown to 4 hours instead of 30 min - is it will be a more impactful skill. It will keep it's function but has less likelihood of being abused. This will mean that you need to think ahead when using it and will give the Bard or Summoner an extra role to add to a party.
Why Bard and or Summoner? Mostly because the Bard is already seen as an support class and Summoner…well….it’s in the name.
Let me know what you think of this
0
Comments
If that can be the case, then I've misinterpreted the family system. I was of the impression you could only be in 1 family of 8 people.
EDIT:
According to the WIki:
Families are a means to relate up to eight characters.[1][2][3]
A character may only belong to one family at a time.
Leaving one family and joining another family will have a cooldown period in the order of days.
Family sizes are limited to eight characters.
So you're right they could summon 8 Summoners, that all change their families after the summon, so they can then summon the guild. But the cooldown will be several days according to the info above.
Wait my bad, you can only be in one family. I removed my comment to avoid confusion. I thought you could summon guild members, but apparently not.
Now to actually respond to your post, I still don't like it. If none of my 7 friends want to play a bard or summoner, then we won't be able to summon each other. So I prefer it to be available for all classes.
I'd much rather take a 15 min dual cd instead.
Keep in mind @CaptnChuck that we can make this hability be usable by classes that have these classes as secondary.
But i agree it gives purpose to the class! It fits. It's a gameplay and social element.
But there are 64 classes in the game. Only 28 of them would be able to summon families. This means that if 8 of my friends choose to play any of the remaining 36 classes, then we won't be able to summon each other. So no, I disagree with this.
I get this can maybe "force" someone in a family to choose the Bard or Summoner archetype. But in the end it remains the choice of the person/family. Same way you'll choose to add a support to your party or not.
I can't see what it adds that a Rogue or Fighter can summon their allies to a location. To me it feel too much as a thing of convenience instead of something that adds to the game/world.
That's what adds to the character identity imo. I don't feel being able to "teleport around the world because you're family" as something...normal I suppose.
If you are doing a dungeon and you stumble upon a locked treasure chest, but your rogue happens to be offline, I don't see why you would see opening that lock as a skill a non-rogue should also possess.
Because you're buddies. I'd like to be family with my friends regardless of having an extra skill or not.
Well hopefully the reason is it prevents the abuse of the family summon.
Depending on how bards are even going to play.
U.S. East
I didnt expect you to agree, you want to remove Bard and Summoner from the game.
In truth I also reject the suggestion. I would approve of summoners being able to summon but I dont see why Bards should also be included. Summoners have summon in the title.
Your reasoning makes no sense. Teleportation is a spatial ability, mages are more suitable for it.
Anyway, family summoning is a bad idea.
I'm all open for other classes having the ability compared to the once I suggested. I do feel atleast 2 classes will need the skill so it isn't a too niche of a trait.
I don't WANT them to be removed from the game. I just want the game to be balanced. If they can do it with 8 classes, then kudos to them.
It's proven it'll work, but probably not used as much as in Wow, due to the size of the world. I like the idea of certain archetype having the "summon" utility, being it mages, summoners or bards tho.
I like the idea that summons are tied around certain classes, but I would much rather have them consumable based, then cooldown based.
Those are my thoughts too. Family summon is not a tactical tool, and if it turns into one, should just be removed.
A lot just want to make people run for a few hours to play with certain people or make them run to you.
U.S. East
Also, instead of Bard, perhaps Mage would make more sense... to be able to open a portal if you're an Archwizard, Warlock or Sorcerer? I guess when I think of Bard, I really think of the FFXI Bard.
This is my opinion also.
I thought making it a class utility (with a 4 hour limitation) would give it a purpose in the world. Instead of a player convenience
I've noticed I only have the DnD Bard as example. They're capable of opening entire gates to different realms. I didn't take in mind that other people have a completely different view on what a Bard adds to the party.
That said, the ability to summon one person from across the world would be a fair enough summoner ability. Give it a long cooldown, make summoning another summoner trigger the cooldown for both players. A support class being required for a feature like this isn't anything out of the ordinary and helps give the classes more of an identity as well as mitigating possible abuse of the system.