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56 or 64 Class Combinations

ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
in Ashes Of Creation General Discussion
I have a simple question. The FAQ states that there are 8 class archetypes, and that you choose a secondary class from the same 8 archetypes, giving a total of 64 distinct classes.

I need some clarification. Can you choose the same class twice, both for primary and secondary? If not, then your secondary class can only be chosen from 7 archetypes, giving 56 distinct classes.

If I can choose the same class twice for both primary and secondary classes, what is the benefit of going that route? Is a Mage/Mage a better Mage than a Mage/Cleric? Is a Mage/Mage combo even possible?

Comments

  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    You can choose the same archetype again.
    What benefits you get from this, we can only guess about until they release more information.
    So my guess will be, if you take a tank class and later on choose the same class again, you simply get more in depth tanking skills. Can it be as simple as that? Maybe.

    So what if I choose a mage class instead? Will my tank suddenly be able to cast fireballs outta his ass? I really hope not! What I hope to see, and expect to see, is new styles will be available to you. These fighting styles can cause elemental damage, debuffs, etc and you might even have some self-buffs to cast on yourself, like hardened armor, auras, etc etc. But I don't expect tanks suddenly being casting fireballs here and there. Maybe adding a ranged dmg for pulling mobs and/or interrupting enemy casters, but that might be it.

    Like, if you choose a cleric as a secondary, you can suddenly be a off healing ... tank?! Naah, your styles might have some HoT abilities now, self-buff are available and so on. Basicly a Paladin, I guess.

    All in all, I just can't wait to see how the classes will end up looking like!
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    Thorik pretty much sums it all up. The two ways I can see double stacking will go is either your existing abilities and spells become higher level/supercharged versions of their previous incarnation. For example Fireball becomes Explosive Blast, Fireball being a single target fire damage and Explosive Blast becoming a stronger version with an AoE component now. Perhaps you will even get choices, say you don't want the AoE and instead opt for a stronger single target version. Lots of possibilities there. Or the other option being that you unlock a higher tier of spells/abilities. In this case your classes is more of what is changing rather than the spells. Going from a Mage to and Arch Mage to use a plain example. As an Arch Mage you now gain access to a tool set only an experienced spell caster would have.

    Ultimately it is up to the developers but really anything is possible at this point. If they have the resources and patience they could go down to such a detailed level that each combo has it's own specific spells/abilities. Unlikely? Yeah. Possible? Absolutely. Only time will tell!
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    Or someone just made a mistake in calculation... i hate math, i do mistakes all the time... /GG
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    It never occurred to me that choosing the same class twice would be an option. That seems.. strange to me. I'm not sure I like it.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    Curious.... there will be some differences between certain sequence of architypes combinations? Ex. Mage+War is the same class as War+Mag (by skills) ???
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    I would imagine so as the sub class is meant to augment your main classes abilities. A warrior charge skill with a mage sub might before a blink straight to the target instead of a run.

    Mage/War would have primary mage skills and the war sub may give more defense or add a bleed effect or something else. I would think they aren't the same kind of augments as the base skills should be different.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    Take a look at what Runes of Magic(RIP great old MMO) did with its dual class system if you want to see an incredible example for this game to follow. It already did most of what has been posted above a long, long time ago, plus more.

    In that game, there were 10 classes available; each class had a set of primary and general skills. At any given time you would have a primary and secondary class. For example, if you were playing a Rogue/Warrior, you had all of your rogue primary skills available like any other rogue, but you also had the general skills and class mechanics(In this case, building up Rage for Rage-based skills) from your warrior secondary available.

    Additionally, you could swap your classes at any time around certain NPCs throughout the world. Happily playing away as a Priest/Rogue, but a group has too many healers and not enough DPS? Switch to Rogue/Priest and play that DPS while having access to unique skills and possibilities for that combination.

    Some of these general skills could drastically change how the primary class could be played. Going back to the Rogue/Warrior example, the first warrior general skill that class has lets you equip axes. So, you could now have an axe wielding rogue, or an axe wielding mage, or an axe wielding priest, etc...

    As an incentive to level both of your classes evenly(you could only level one side at a time), not only did you get a portion of your secondaries base stats applied to your primary, but at certain level milestones you could obtain quests that allowed you to unlock elite skills. These elite skills gave unique skills and abilities for your specific class combination to better define its role.

    I could write a whole novel on the intricacies and pros/cons of RoMs dual class system, but I think you all get the idea.
    I'm looking forward to seeing what this game does.
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