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.
Unarmed fighting anyone?
Kalv1441
Member
Any front line folks curious/hoping there will be an option to fight without a weapon? I've always enjoying a martial arts type/Fist only archetype in the many RPGs i play.
I would LOVE to be a tank slamming folks left and right and punching my way to glory when this game comes out!
I would LOVE to be a tank slamming folks left and right and punching my way to glory when this game comes out!
5
Comments
Not that I hate that kind of thing; I played a rogue in WoW for years with fist weapons (Combat spec) and role-played him as a martial arts monk. That was years before MoP added actual monks. It just doesn’t seem to fit in AoC though.
From a power gamer stand point, i totally get that. Having brass knuckles or something to that effect would fix that particular issue.
For me it's more the fun/flavor of it. As someone who has enjoyed characters like Zangief from Street Fighter, Udyr from League of Legends, All Might from My Hero Academia, the Monk from Diablo etc, it would just fulfill my particular play style.
Is dnd not considered western? Monks are a staple there
I suppose you mean with an empty weapon slot though. Probably not with a empty weapon slot.
U.S. East
In many fantasy themed games - it's level that affects your power scaling more than items, monks at least in DND worked that way, and it was thematic to have limited items, in exchange for getting less equipment, they scaled pretty decently simply by leveling. Fists essentially were an always equipped scaling magic weapon which got stronger over time.
Limited armor was part of the theme and of course they were balanced around that as well, essentially having their own "magical justifications" for their power scaling, like a caster - or anyone else. Also a myriad of fantasy games where casters gain more from leveling, than they do from any particular item(harder hitting spells, greater access to spells etc.)
Now I don't actually care if they end up adding monks, but I understand why that's a net positive for the people who find X class desirable, for their to be a class that fields X desire, or has X aesthetic. Magic(the only justification for why just about any class is the way it is), is always conveniently there
I don't see the flaw in the logic - that the same rationale that justifies someones ability to generate fire from thin air, can't also strengthen their fists, or their body, hell wizards had spells to do precisely that, Tensers if I recall,
If you can't tell the difference between Merlin and Bruce Lee, then I can't help you understand it.
Bruce Lee was a "real life" martial artist, where magic doesn't exist, and Merlin is a fantasy character, who yes, simply has magic, because magic.
This will be a game where things are weird. Mages will carry a sword and shield, or a bow. Fighters can use a magic wand. They aren’t tying a class to a weapon style, sort of like how ESO did it.
So in that vein it seems like “martial arts” would be a good fit, except that Intrepid seems pretty insistent on avoiding an “Asian MMO” aesthetic (no “little girl” or “maid” styles, no giant weapons, no eastern-themed gear or classes). I don’t think it would be bad to add it, especially if they made it be a brawling/pugilist style (Queensbury Rules!) but I wouldn’t expect to see it
I have zero qualms with them not adding them - and of course I didn't start this thread, but I do take issue with other peoples poor justifications for not having them. Not having them as a design choice - makes perfect sense. Not having them because, loleasterngarbageoutofhere, not really an argument. I would also say at this point we've "adopted" monks as a western concept, and I draw a large chasm between the asian model/aesthetic mmorpgs - and simply having a class that punches people with magic.
UO had unarmed skill(wrestling), DND has monks, EQ had monks, those are all western games/mmorpgs, western payment models, western foundation, western inspired worlds, they simply had classes, who punched people. Granted unarmed in Ultima had zero to do with killing people, and just gave you paralyzing strike and disarm to bolster your survivability. Not saying that was your logic for not including them either, just saying, in general
You make some valid points. For me personally, it's less the Martial Artist feel that I would like to see in the game but more Rocky Balboa, All Might type of fighitng. I think that would lend itself to be an awesome flavor for a tank. I used Monk/Martial Artist more as a moniker because it gets the idea across since at this point in gaming/rpg/nerdom people would know I meant a guy who punches things lol
Who knows, maybe they’ll change their mind and turn one of the orc races into samurai or something. (I wouldn’t object to that, that sounds cool to me.) We don’t know a lot about orcs or dwarves yet (except the Nikua look like Pacific Islanders).
That said the game's balance is based on rarity of equipment. So you can't flat out make classes that leave equipment slots empty because their final itemization will either be up or op. If a class was based around it then it would have a chance. There isn't though so it's probably too ridiculous to be an option.
I don't mind fist weapons being a thing in the future though. That is something closer to realistic expectations.
U.S. East
Come near me wanting to play fisticuffs, you gonna get chopped
The bagh nakh, which is Hindi for “tiger claw”, was sort of like brass knuckles with blades on them. The katar, a type of punching/pushing dagger, was another weapon from the Indian subcontinent. These are also weapons that would utilize very close combat, with punching or slashing from the hands. I could see the Vaelune maybe using these, or even the Nikua.
Then there is a simple gauntlet that is part of western heavy armor, which you might consider a weapon if struck with one, especially if it was heavy enough or studded with knobs or spikes. That’s another idea for a fist weapon.
I’m all for this stuff, as I said in old vanilla/BC WoW I used fist weapons as much as I could. I thought they were fun and cool.
U.S. East
U.S. East
It would be a cool in-game feature to have bare-knuckle duels in the pubs. Even cooler if folks could bet on the fights.
You hear that @StevenSharif!? You're fans want Fantasy Fight Club! With Dwarves used as weapons and bets all around! rofl
All kidding aside, Intrepid might make this happen being that they are just that awesome.
In the game I've played, the class uses aura or spiritual energy to form large yellow flying palm hands* to do AoE damage, I was excited to explore more about the class, but now that's all I remember.
Dnd can be western, but the monk class is not, the only monks who fight barefist are asian.