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
i like being on the frontlines, right next to the tank helping out, but free enough that i can handle any mobs that get past him and provide close defense for the ranged dds and supports.
i also like bringing buffs to the table that supplement the true supports buffs, and that would be useful in solo content.
In most games, casters are so squishy. I'd much prefer to be a really tough caster. I'd also like to be able to have fluid casting (no pun intended!) and stand toe-to-toe with tough physical enemies.
It would be essential for me to feel comfortable taking on solo content and I also like being able to take on more challenging content on my own, too, sometimes even things designed for 2 or 3 players.
Design/animations
First I would just say the design for the High priest needs to be different from the cleric. The cleric is very bulky and carries a mace and has A LOT of offensive/dmg spells. The high priest needs to look and feel dramatically different. After playing the cleric, the HP needs to main a staff, spell book, wand, or orb, not a mace or whatever that weapon is in the alphas. Now I know people can wear whatever armor they want but I feel that the HP should be best suited for robes and cloth armor. Example: google apostles/clergy looks, even the pope, and see how those robes look royal and angelic. They look truly worthy and befitting of the role of highest and strongest healer-focused based class.
Heal Ratio
I want to play a HP that well over all their skill from level 1-50, %50 is heals based. %25 stun/cc/disables/buffs/silence/blinds etc, and %25 is some form of holy damage, in the form of dots, drains, holy aura blasts, holy/light rays etc.
Skills
1. When it comes to skill I have a few ideas of what I would like to see on a HP. I would love to see a holy absorption shield/bubble that can be placed on oneself or ally that last X time or until busted, but also reflects a percentage of the damage back at the enemy. %24 of damage reversed back at enemy over the duration the bubble was active and the higher skill points put on "holy absorption bubble" reflects back higher percentages and absorbs more damage.
2. I would like an active running healing skill. I am so tired of heals that make you stand in place. I want to cast a holy light beam that I can run around with and shine the light on my allies and or foe and heals/damages them if they cross the path of my light beam when I am running across the field of battle or raid.
3. This could be a skill or just a character design, but I want to levitate as a High Priest. In world of Warcraft they had a levitate/feather skill that let the character ever so stay floated a few inches off the ground, it was so cool and made the character look powerful and royal. They even had a glyph system in which you could add effects and bonuses to your skills; I put the glyph that made my levitate look like I had a cloud under my feet. If you didn't want to make it a skill that is fine, but maybe at level 25 when I double down on cleric and become a HP I can get the character design that says if I press X key my character will now levitate/float until I undo it and will then stay grounded. (NO TIME LIMIT ON LEVITATION)
4. A skill called "connected life" in which I place a 10 round heal on an ally, (tanK for example) and when I cast on ally also connects to me. When that ally is struck that tick goes from 10 down to 9, and every time they take damage until it runs out to 0.10 stack heal, the first time hit the heal ticks, and heals for 50 area healing reaching out x feet/meters from the tank (or ally the spell was cast upon) and damages for 50, 9th tick 75 and so fourth until the last tick (1) heals for burst healing/damage and explodes damaging or healing nearby ally/foe all in the x area reach. This same thing is happening to the healer/HP as well. So If I cast that on the tank and all the people in that vicinity are feeling the effects of "connected life" then when his tick goes off the tick goes off on me as well healing/damaging allies in my vicinity range as well.
Conclusion
I want the healer to stand out from healers in other mmos I have played. They tend to be stale and follow this one path or meta . I want the HP to be dynamic in their healing, I want the HP to feel like a royal class and character you see in an anime that you can tell has high nobility and stature. I don't know if the High priest is only going to be able to use holy or light magic for their healing specs, but it would be cool to be able to use water healing properties, fire healing properties earth/nature healing properties i.e. Avatar the last air bender.
Thanks for letting me type this tirade and I hope you read this and consider implementing this vison or style for the High priest that I think will revolutionize the way we thinking about healing and design [/s]
A wizard is never late, he arrives precisely when he means to.
WARNING - AUTISMAL TLDR BELOW - WARNING
I have a tendency to play at least a handful of classes. For this reason, I am going to be writing up a separate answer for each of these classes. This is in due to two parts; one, I don't think we're far enough along in the game's development to give an accurate answer as to which class I would end up devoting the majority of my time to. Two, I suffer from altitus, so even if I do have a "main", I guarantee that my alts will end up being not far from my mind. And goddamnit, if I have to suffer from this debilitating illness, so will your feedback collectors. But I am a merciful autist and will attempt to give a summary at the end of each tldr.
Paladin (Tank/Cleric)
I love being the knight in shining armor, the beacon of light on the battlefield. My experience with this sort of class comes primarily from World of Warcraft. What I loved most about WoW's Paladin was two things; one, being able to say I'M FUCKING INVINCIBLE, and two, the feeling of being able to just completely CUCK whoever was beelining for my squishies.
In relation to the first feeling; one of my most vivid memories of playing Paladin in WoW PvP was during a bridge standoff in one of the night elf lowbie zones. You'd see it a hundred times: a bunch of Horde grouping up and ganking, a bunch of Alliance grouping up in turn, and then eventually the two groups just stand around mean mugging eachother with lots of BURs and KEKs flying around, with one side's backs to their respective guards' agro radius, just waiting for the opposite group to walk too close and get agro. Well, me? I hated that shit. I HATED feeling backed into that corner with a bunch of cowards too scared to just start the fight. That's why I love the ability to just wade in and start it. One of my most vivid memories of playing a Paladin is just walked those 30 yards or so up to the bridge, getting sheeped and ice bolted and frost shocked along the way, just getting pelted on, and then using my divine shield, yelling "I'M FUCKING INVINCIBLE," (no really this was my Paladin's Divine Shield macro) and walking up to stun the closest thing to me. And you know what? The crazy thing is, that's all it took for the batch of Alliance players at my back to get the stones to walk up and fight. Just watching the knight in shining armor run up and start shitting light and divine judgement all over some nerds. And then we WON. THAT was awesome.
In relation to the second; I didn't mind having basically horrible DPS as a Paladin because of the raw unbridled frustration you could doll out. You see, I was the bane of Rogues trying to kill my squishies, because I had two instant cast 6 second crowd control spells (a ranged mez, and a melee range stun). And if that didn't buy my allies enough space, I could make them invincible to physical damage for a few seconds. And if THAT wasn't enough, I could just straight up start healing the Rogue's target and guarantee he couldn't kill him in anywhere approaching a reasonable timespan, not before the whole rest of the group turned around and helped me administer a can of whoopass. And you know what? Playing that Guardian Angel, that protector of the meek, felt fucking GREAT.
SO IN SHORT, I hope that Paladin will let me max out that tanky-support sort of role. Achieve that level of interdiction and protection through a dash of holy magic. Be all about that protectan tankan stunnan healan role. And feeling FUCKING INVINCIBLE.
REFERENCES: World of Warcraft's Paladin
Beastmaster (Summoner/Ranger)
I love the idea of taming and mastering the wild things of the world, bending them to your will. I love the idea of that forest hermit type character who can whistle up packs of wolves and lord knows what else. And more than that, I am interested in the sort of gameplay that pet based classes can bring to games, of having to deal with that minigame of middle management for a huge and at times unwieldy force. City of Villains has that in spades in one particular type of character; a Mastermind with the Beast Mastery power pool (think "a themed set of powers you get for your class")
CoV Masterminds have the ability to have 6 pets at a time, 3 weak mooks, 2 stronger lieutenants, and 1 really strong "boss" pet. With Beast Mastery as your chosen power pool, that manifested as a pack of wolves, lions, and a huge ass dire wolf. You can independently control these pets, and part of the skill of playing a Mastermind is keeping them alive, keeping them active, and keeping them focused. So your gameplay revolves around ordering your wolves to avoid aoe, focusing them on singular targets so the whole pack focus fires to eliminate enemies as quickly as possible, healing and supporting them as they tear things apart in a whirlwind of fangs and fur, and more. It can feel a little overwhelming at times, but that's part of what makes it challenging and fun.
This sort of gameplay can also be seen in the PC game Sacrifice, which was a third person strategy game, where the player takes the role of a wizard who vies for control of souls so you can cage them to a vessel of your choice and make them fight for you in a battle to the death with the other wizards around.
More specifically to AoC, I want Summoners, and indeed my Beastmaster in particular, to be all about making hordes of fierce furry followers and enlisting the aid of creepy crawlies. I want permanent summons that I control and direct, but I'd also love to see lots of spell effects represented through temporary summoned monsters, too. For example; imagine if I could set "traps" by summoning a trapdoor spider who wouldn't act as a permanent, controllable pet, but instead was a static, uncontrollable, timed pet that hides in place and leaps out to bite and kill whatever wanders near. Or instead of applying a simple damage over time effect to an enemy, I conjure a murder of crows that tries to go actively murder my target for a period of time till they disperse, or until they're killed, whichever comes first. This sort of "uncontrollable pet that just automatically does a simple task for you (usually killing your target)" is seen in the Dark Age of Camelot Theurgist, which I found hilariously fun for that feeling of "oh holy shit that's a lot of dudes running at me" (because I played Hibernia, so I was usually on the receiving end of that avalanche of kickass running at me; a dozen or so giant rock monsters all summoned by a single player stomping their way towards me in a beeline explicitly to kick my ass. You applied an AoE mez, or ran like hell, with no real in between!)
SO IN SHORT, I want my Beastmaster to summon all kinds of natural critters. I want mechanics for permanent, controllable, pets, with the ability to micromanage them as if I were playing a third person strategy game. I also want short duration, uncontrollable summons that aim to accomplish a very simple task and act as a standin for a lot of other simple game effects. In fact, see this video?
REFERENCES: Dark Age of Camelot's Albion Theurgist. Sacrifice's creature summoning and management mechanics. City of Villains' Beast Mastery Masterminds.
Bladedancer (Fighter/Bard)
Ima be straight, I'll just play whatever Fighter variant that lets me feel like I'm a wuxia martial artist, and this one's label is just the thing that sort of sounds closest. I'm talking "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, vaulting through bamboo forests and balancing on branches while I fight" style nonsense here, aight?
Running up walls? I wanna do it.
Running across water? I wanna do it.
Double and triple jumping through the air in between air jumps? I wanna do it.
Pulling gravity defying acts of agility and acrobatics in general? I wanna do it.
I want to streak across a battlefield like a shooting star and gracefully slice apart enemies. I want to dash around, vault through the air, leap over people, and mix battle with ballad as I play DDR on my enemy's face. Raw DPS isn't as important as that feeling of freedom of movement.
This one is short enough that you don't get a TLDR
REFERENCES: League of Legend's Irelia, Age of Wushu's movement system in general
I think this would be an ideal melee experience. All close range, gap closers from the tank kit, and fast. Since I'm melee and lack ranged damage, I expect my character to be strong in melee but fast moving and swinging so that when I close the gap, I destroy something. Also, since tanking is universally the rarest role selection, I think they should have at least enough damage that when solo, they do good damage.
Soul bow (ranger/cleric)
So, I hope all ranger base classes have significant damage for wind-up shots, and absolutely eat clothies. As a soulbow, I hope the active abilities can somehow cleave heals off the target. Let's say I hit a mid sized elite creature, and the arrow burbs the target but heals HIS target, that would be a sweet heal. I think haha.
Hawkeye (ranger/ranger)
This is the class I think should be capable along hitting those massive crits because they're basically our snipers. Maybe they get more armor piercing or base damage as a nightkhawk. With a little but of speed boost and root breaking capabilities, I think these guys also should be able to run fast and kit. On the run maybe they do less damage, like a lot less because they aren't turreting.
Nightshade (tank/rogue)
I think this is a safe bet to expect a ton of damage from a tank. I feel like as a rogue seconday, I'd want my tank to have a "heart strike" bonus so he hits 1 target extra hard to crush him. But maybe sacrifices a lot of cleave?
Thanks for reading, I may add more later.
-2 Soul bow This can be a 100% caster archer .. wearing clothes and things like that. that its main source of damage is epic skills with many white particles hahaha https://prnt.sc/z63fid
Strong Buffs
Able to deal atleast small amount of damage
Enchanting / Enhancing weapons / abilities
Some healing (mostly HoTs)
mostly ranged(distance) abilities
Increasing Resistances
should not be using flame elements
Shadow Caster
High Burst Damage
Should have ability with low cooldown (spammable)
DoTs
Abilties should use "Shadow" elements/dark magic/blood magic.
high mobility
As for which specific class I think I will spend the most time playing, that is a little difficult to determine when detailed information is currently scarce, but there are a few that I can see myself gravitating towards. It's very likely that I will invest into Necromancer. Although multi-role classes appeal to me as a whole, the capability to heal others is very important. I imagine that Necromancer will be my prime choice for situations that call for high healing output.
Other considerations for my ideal class include Conjurer and Enchanter. I imagine that both of those classes will be viable options if my goal is to capitalize on the versatility of Summoner. There is also the hope that Conjurer will have access to the largest and most powerful summons which would be a strong selling point in its own right.
I've always loved the concept of ranger-style class play combined with pet. Having a faithful companion that I can name and customize to distract enemies while going in for the kill. This has always been my jam. When this style of class is done well it's usually been a mixture of weaving pet commands with your own abilities and working off of buffs to each. I don't have any "crazy ideas" just yet but I'm VERY eager to start watching and helping this class develop.
For my Melee Healer I would go Templar (Cleric/Fighter) or possibly Apostle (Cleric/Tank). I love being in the thick of things as a healer rendering aid while also smashing face. My favorite types of weapons are two-handed for this and I would either go Longsword or Warhammer. I think ideally I would want this/these types of classes to take a more passive approach to healing. I swing my weapon and each successful attack heals x amount based on modifiers of damage. I would also want the classic "OH CRAP! TANK IS GOING TO DIE, TIME TO DEUS EX MACHINA THIS BEAST!"
My second would be a Battle-Mage (Mage/Fighter) Or potentially a Shadow Caster (Mage/Rogue). To me, a Battle-Mage should be a hybrid class of melee and ranged. I can cast spells in the backline, but if I get jumped I switch my wand/staff for a sword and go toe to toe. Likewise, a Shadow Caster would have to be proficient with a dagger and spells would focus on stunning/holding/tripping up a target for that narrow window needed to get the kill strike.
If I were to decide to stay strictly ranged I would go the classic Archwizard (Mage/Mage). In chess, the pawns go first, so send the pawns out while I work my most powerful spells to bring destruction to the enemy ranks. For this class I would want the big, flashy spells. I would want Archwizards to focus on Arcane magic instead of your traditional elemental. Sure, fireball and lightningbolt are classics for the wizard, but this is an Archmage who has spent years studying their craft. Make it resemble that.
I really dig the group aspects of multiple classes magnifying their spells into a much larger spell. Hopefully sub-classes will be able to count towards these "group summon" type of spells
In Vanguard ,the MMO, my preferred class was the Disciple. If you guys make a martial artist/healer/buffer then I may choose that instead.
Having a 2second animation time for melee (tank for example) is ample time for me to move out of range or avoid its abilities completely.
I like the old P&P mages. Hard to keep alive the first few levels but can change the fate of larger battles at higher levels with big AOE's. Plus being on the short invite list as a healer is always a good bonus.
Basically a Sneaky Ranger, or a Spellbow:
As an ADC main from league, and a sneaky bow person in pretty much every MMO game I've played, I really want a class that can provide a good feeling like that. Whether it be predator or scout, I want a playstyle that allows for consistent damage output through auto attacks, with chance of burst/execution with abilities, and good mobility.
That sounds like a lot and overpowered, but I believe it can be balanced around being easily killable and needing absolute perfect positioning. Having good mobility for kiting, and less mobility around getting out after being "caught." One dash/roll movement with a decent cooldown should be enough mobility for a character to escape "gap close" range with good movement speed to turn and shoot, turn and shoot, to keep consistent damage and "auto-space" your opponents to incorporate skill with movement.
Or if I don't want to go rogue I want to have the ability of being a "spellbow" character. Same principles as above, but with a blink or magic for extra damage/augment that could be utilized in the "scion" class.
Basically something that rewards good movement and punishes players for bad positioning or miss-use of movement abilities.
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Current Member of the Gray Sentinels.
Most likely will play a Mage, Cleric (Acolyte)
Magic classes are really good DPS and AoE
Healing Classes are great for utility.
Not a fan of the 64 classes. Would have rather had a system where you assign points into a class as you level up. For example Level 10 Fighter and level 10 Tank, then undergo a quest to combine the two classes to become a Level 1 Knight.
(Add) The Tank Levels would stay, and your locked in as a "Tank" but if you ever want to level "Guardian" you could switch it over
Sounds dumb on paper but it makes the Title feel earned and adds to progression.
Biggest fear is that the base classes are the primary focus and AoC cheeses the sub classes.
A class with set rotations will bore me in less than a week, even if those rotations are fairly long. I want to go in to a fight knowing what my first two spell casts will be, but not knowing anything past that point.
In order to achieve this though, there needs to be a reliance on other classes. In this regard,I would saymyideal class is one that is a part of a system of closely intertwined classes, where each member of your group brings something that alters the way you play, even if only a little.
I like undead pets, it looks like you've got that covered. Dots are great for necros. Debuff spells are a great fit. The ability to heal the pet is nice, but not necessary. Some utility and/or CC would be great. They don't need flashy direct damage spells, but if they have them, they should be dark and death/disease related.
Edit to add: the Necromancer from EverQuest circa Ruins of Kunark was my favorite class in any MMO ever. (Beastmaster hunter from WoW circa Burning Crusade was second.)
In PvP situations, as well as PvE/PvM we use three main styles. Melee, Magic, and Range. There are also have prayers that protect us, provide buffs, and some that are meant to be aggressive on another player at a cost (smite prayer). There are also different 3 spell books for magic, in order to change up the feeling for PvP and allow for some fun builds ( ways to PK)
If any mods play OSRS It would be cool taking some type of inspiration from them and possibly creating what I would like to call:
"Hybrid" (2 styles) or "Tribrid" (3 styles) classes.
These two classes are meant to be a way to mix between melee, magic, and range. We assort ourselves with our select gear choices, inventory, weapons and special attack weapons in order to battle in 1v1s, or higher multi capped/uncapped fights.
However, each set is limited to whatever we pack in. A Player skill is what makes each loadout fun. Were able to do so much, even though we're limited to use ONLY what we take out. One cannot be overwhelmed/overpowered because it's all left to player skills and a bit of high risk high reward (good gear vs bad gear).
Summoning was also something introduced to PvP as an addition to help players whether it was for: attacking, buffs, heals, or storing extra food & supplies.
Again, if there was a way to make these classes solely based around the concept of being: a multi role user, with limited characteristics of the main classes (1 & 2) this would be something extraordinary.
This is a way these two classes can be harder to master, but incorporates high risk & high reward thats left up to the user.
Honestly it all depends on how spells and priests are done, Archwizard and High Priest are super appealing concepts. I really hope that classes get the potential to get rare spells and abilities that can be earned I'm game. Honestly it all depends what happens, hopefully I find out this year.
My ideal class would be a dagger focused class that will depend highly on your skill level using maybe stealth skills to outplay opponents. The class IMO should look like Lineage2 rogue class. You were dependent on bluff skill which made others turn their backs for backstabs, or like GW2 skills combinations that makes u invi a lot. But maybe with right tracks or aoe you can make rogue appear. A rogue class or assasin should also be able to climb higher than other classes, to be able to hide from others and heal, or wait for enemies. In other mmos rogue class is mostly solo class. If you gave an important skill for the rogue class that will boost critical for teammates too or any other supportive buff, you can make rogue a necessity to be in party. Maybe a skill that you can scan the area like eagle eye or something like that, to be useful in siege battles. Rogue class should use mainly dagger or dual daggers, a bow or crossbow at least for start. Skills like blink should be important too. Skill that will increase speed also. In Lineage2 you also had skills like mirage that made others lose the target, and you had trick/switch which you could spam in a way so they lose target. I think its crucial to make rogue very fluid in movement and combat so its fun to play with cool skill animations that you can use fast.
One thing i also want to mention about GW2 that I didn’t like is that all the classes have a healing skill including the fighters. I think that makes the game harder because a lot of people just run and heal run and heal, and you have an endless pvp. Heal should be limited to healer classes and mages. Fighters should use other method to regen HP such as drain life from mobs, or HP pots, or a healer.
Best memories and nostalgia from Lineage2 was when you had AIO Buffer, which you can buff yourself with buffs such as Cov/cat buff that gave you hp/defence/damage/critical for 4 minutes, and as soon as you get those buffs you teleport in an area for pvp. Having buffs that are important for pvp or pve from other classes with limited time i think makes the game fun and u got to be skilled to play pvp.
On another note, I think a really important factor in class based game play is player expression within a class itself - and obviously, some of that already exists in the class combo system....but there can still be those micro customizations.
For example: If I play a Tank, am I allowed to focus on a shield bash playstyle vs a 2 handed axe style?
If I'm a Monk - can I choose to focus on kicks vs punches? a wooden staff? chi-powers? etc.
In my head these types of customizations are expressed as some sort of talent tree - maybe even as simple as making specific skills more powerful than others. This would allow the players to alter their own rotations to their own liking.
Thanks AoC team for everything you do!
Having a class hall.. or class guild
Class mounts, maybe..