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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.
Comments
to be an effective class, your secondary archetype should enhance your effectiveness in doing your role (from the trinity) that you select for your primary archetype
This is the principle I personally believe in when it comes to making multiple classes as impactful and interesting as possible:
Your primary class should define what your playstyle is gonna be (based on the trinity); your goals as a player should always stick to where you fall in those category. therefore no tanks dealing majority of damage and no ranger tanking. this encourages the multiplayer aspect of the game, making you need other people in certain tasks.
meanwhile, TO BE AN EFFECTIVE CLASS, your Secondary should complement the goals/playstyle of your primary class and not "DIVERSIFY" it.
so for example; A tank/cleric class. having a sustain as a tank makes you a more efficient tank, because if your main healer need to do other things (ressurecting dead party, or healing others) you will still keep the frontline firm.
on the other hand, if you do tank/mage (or Mage/tank in that matter). you're taking away from your main purpose as a player (which is to tank) by improving your damage. your purpose in the party will be confused. you'll not be an effective tank, and either an effective dps.
here are some examples:
Ranger/Mage - to have elemental augments to your attacks
Ranger/Rogue - more crit chance and mobility to keep yourself safe
Cleric/Bard - for enchantments and sustain. ultimate support. same as Bard/Cleric
Fighter/Mage - same principles as Ranger/Mage
Fighter/Bard - make yourself stronger
Fighter/Rogue - for crits and mobility
P.S. im not saying the you cant be diverse. in fact steven mentioned before that secondary archetypes "bridges" the gap of the trinity. but IMO, following this principle makes a class more effective.
Here's what I want:
-Ability to disable Wand/Filler/auto-attack/melee attack to increase the power of cast spells.
-Tractor Spell, ability to drag dead bodies back a great distance in order to be safely raised.
-Crushing single-target magic, and AoE magical attacks, highest DPS in the game - not by a little, by a lot!
-Biggest, most dramatic AoE attacks, and Channeled spells. Ground shaking Meteor showers!!
-Spells hit so hard, we only have enough Mana to cast 5 of them before we're OOM and reaching for potions!
-The 5th consecutive spell in a row on any target, has a 100% chance to Critically hit!
-6th spell in a row also has a 100% chance to critically hit, but a Mana potion would have to be used after 5th.
-Largest Mana potion would be equal to exactly ONE ArchWizard spell cast.
-Auto phase out when Mana reaches zero, reduces visual signature, Evasion+15% cancels on next cast.
-ArchWizard is a Glass Cannon, and I mean literally glass cannon. Increased base damage if all cloth armor.
-Bonus base damage if a 2-handed staff is equipped, reduced crit % if a shield is equipped.
-Must sacrifice a portion of Mana to conjure a protective shield, or cast Reflect on-self. Both instant-cast.
-Big damage spells have a Big windup and cast times! CC, Sleep, Polymorph, etc, are instant-cast.
-Highly mobile, Zero cost Teleport, Blink, Warp, Vanish, Repeat. Annoyingly far, like catch-me-if-you-can-far.
-Huge Explosive Fireballs, I want my spells to feel like they have impact - like the Explosive Fireballs in Skyrim!
-Absolute MAX casting ranges, FAR! We're talking about the nose bleed section here!
-Conduit Skill: (10 min. Cooldown) Violently recharge 100% of your Mana over time, also restores X% of nearby allies Mana in a 50 yard radius.
-Able to instantly cast an ArchWizard only Magical ground mount.
Fighter. I look forward to trying out all the secondary classes for the fighter to find what suits my playstyle. I normally play the sturdiest class that can wield a giant sword. I'm usually on the frontline and I like being in the thick of it. A bruiser of sorts. To me there is this detachment from being a caster or an archer when I slay someone. The satisfaction of the kill just doesn't do it for me. I prefer to be standing over your corpse when I land the killing blow.
Bladedancer - Melee buff bot
Highsword - Holy Avenger
Weapon Master - Master of the 2h or dual wield (or both)!
Spellsword - I probably won't play this class.
Hunter - I'll play this class if I can melee and stalk people from the shadows.
Shadowblade - Less reliance on stealth and more swordplay.
Bladecaller - I probably won't play this. I hate pet classes.
Dreadnought - Maybe the only time a sword and shield setup might be effective at DPS?
With life augments i expect my aoe to give regeneration effect to my allies, and some passive buffs maybe.
With death i guess added survivability talking the life of others life leech some curses, reduce dmg done.
This is how i imagine cannot wait to see what you guys going to make.
Something I felt like I should add is an example of what I mean, I would want something like a real incentive to kill tanks first, like debuffs that can only be cancelled when the tank hits health thresholds or dies or maybe only disappears when youve targeted the tank for a certain period of time, just something that's out of the ordinary and would make a tank's presence feel impactful.
If its dual class, I'd like to be able to dual wield different weapons maybe with different effects on enemies. Maybe one enemy takes more damage from axes than maces and another enemy has the opposite. I'd also be interested in a feature (if it hasn't been implemented yet) to add elements to weapons (poison, fire, ice, etc) for a little added special damage against certain bosses (loved this feature in two worlds I).
If its a mage class, I'd like there to not be a secondary class without too many AOE spells (I played a game where you had to click where you wanted the AOE to land, and that caused you to stop moving until you cast the spell and resulted in many deaths until I got used to it since the AOE was a majority of spells); I know mages are supposed to be range, but I'd like to see at least one mage class that can mostly do non-AOE spells.
If its a ranger class... maybe april fools day can bring about swapping arrows for rabid squirrels or something. Usually ranger classes treat me nicely but I feel they sometimes run the risk of being replaced by mages or simply nerfed to where they aren't as effective.
I've been considering summoner but want to see the gameplay before I really look into it. Animal summoning would be the class I'd go for; but I also hear that a summoner might be able to fill in for certain roles so I might choose that subclass if there is one (kinda like a jack of all trades but hopefully with enough complexity that its not only chosen by people new to the game until they learn all the other roles).
Would love to see a little white wing, inca, ringneck or mourning dove sitting on a mailbox or nest near a house (maybe just one town can have it), and when the character gets near, it wiggles its wings and coo's a hello. (
I want this combination because I want to be a Frontline healer.
A healer with a couple AOE heals that can heal the Frontline with ease.
But also be tanky enough to not die instantly.
I also find it important as a healer to have some sort of mouseover macros for targeting.
I know that you are not going to support addons.
And because of this I am presuming you will also not allow macros.
But it would be cool if mouseover target would be implemented in the game.
This will make things a lot easier for healers.
It would also be very useful to be able to move the party UI so that I can place it in a very visible spot.
With the tank augment I am also hoping for some defensive related buffs.
Being able to increase players' block chances or applying a typical bubble that gives the target more health.
The ability to debuff the defense of an enemy would also be interesting to see.
I also would like to see some heal over time skills.
As this makes things interesting.
This gives you the ability to keep a bigger group of people healthy.
It would be very cool to see some sort of mass heal ability.
This might be a little over powered but maybe on a long cooldown it could be interesting.
I am not expecting to be able to do a lot of damage.
But I do want the ability to at least defend myself when being jumped by another player.
This class combo I am planning on using mace and shield.
So I hope that the shield will not be useless and have some gameplay.
As for the mace I want some sort of blunt damage and cc skills like a stun.
I am planning on using plate armor for extra defense.
So I do think wearing plate should make a character a little slower.
But give them enough defense so that fast classes will still have a tough time killing the plate class that is not able to outrun the fast class.
Thank you for all of your hard work.
And bringing us an amazing game.
In short, I'm mainly interested in cleric as a secondary class with no primary class in mind, because honestly, they all sound great I would have to try them to see which one I like. I hope that I would be able to augment my build based on the activity I'm engaged in, if I were doing solo activity, I would prefer self-healing/life steal or if I'm doing group activity to make the healers life easier by off healing the group and possibly buffing them.
lastly, I'm very excited for the next community stream because I believe in the last stream you guys mentioned this one would be focused more on classes. Can't wait! thanks and good luck
But most likely a combination cleric and something else.
Acolyte would be a light and mobile caster class, I imagine it much like discipline priest from WoW.
Necromancer... well a necromancer. I imagine it as someone who uses death magic to reanimate dead organisms and focuses on debuffs.
High Priest would be your bread and butter cloth support/healer.
Shaman would be someone who infuses objects with power to perform certain tasks, much like totems from WoW. They would also evoke the power of elements or powerful beings to increase their own or someone else's strength as well as have some control over the elements.
Oracle I associate with information and foresight so a caster class that can extract information/buff and alter things. So perhaps they could have a focus on altering friendly and enemy spells to serve their will?
Shadow Disciple would basically be a rogue but with caster abilities. But rather than attacking close up they would be a ranged stealth user, basically strike from the shadows from afar.
Also the Stealth skill seems fun.
It’s all stuns,poison,stealth,big crits and big dicks with assassins in any RPG. So clichè 🥱 Pickpocketing, parkour and gambling would be fun skills for the assassin charlatan to invest in but loose combat ability’s.
Im looking at fighter for my base class. if not i'll be looking into summoner becous they will be hard to balance and would be fun with many support and damage options.
I figure it's worth linking this old thread by our favourite Forum Mod, which asked for interesting skill design ideas: forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/47234/design-your-own-spells
As far as creative/crazy ideas go, I'll just copy out the Bard skills I put in there:
Music-based skills:-
"Rousing Intro"
Music Spell. For X seconds, all nearby party members are inspired by your song, and gain X% damage mitigation.
"Rhythmical Motif"
Music Spell. Must follow a Pattern. For X seconds, all nearby party members follow your rhythm, and gain X% damage increase.
"Grand Finale"
Music Spell. Must follow a Pattern. For X seconds, if target enemy is under 25% Health, target enemy loses X% damage mitigation.
"Chorus"
Pattern. Must follow a Music Spell. For X seconds, nearby party members gain X Health Regeneration.
"Musical Fill"
Pattern. Must follow a Music Spell. For X seconds, nearby party members gain X Magic Regeneration.
Word-based skills:-
"Monologue"
For X seconds, increase the damage of your weapon skills by X%. You cannot use another Bard skill for X seconds, and this duration is increased by X per additional member of your party.
"Once Upon A Time"
Story Spell. For X seconds, nearby party members gain X Health Regeneration. This effect is refreshed whenever that party member is affected by a Story Spell.
"Central Plot"
Story Spell. Your 3 closest party members gain +X damage to their next attack.
"Dramatic Flourish"
Story Spell. The next time your closest party member attacks, they interrupt their target's action.
"Love Interest"
Story Spell. The next time your 2 closest party members use a skill, they are healed for X health.
"Unmasking the Villain"
Casting this spell on three separate enemies within a 6 second window causes the following: The first enemy is knocked down, the second enemy is interrupted, and the third enemy takes X damage.
Misc skills:-
"Centre Of Attention"
Pull all party members within X-distance to your location.
"In The Spotlight"
For X seconds, do +X damage to any target enemy attacking you.
"Encore"
For X seconds, gain X Magic Points whenever an enemy dies within X-distance of you.
"The Show Must Go On"
For X seconds, gain +X% damage per dead party member.
"Back For The Sequel"
Resurrect dead party member with low Health and no Magic Points. This skill has a short range.
As far as your classes go, the rogue primary class speaks to me the most. To me, the strengths and weaknesses of the rogue are as follows...
+ Mobility
+ Single-target melee burst
+ Stealth
+ Crowd Control
- Defense
- Ranged damage
- AoE damage
- Sustain
*I think stealth is best as total invisibility, but limited duration. Obviously other classes can get tools to reveal stealthed enemies.
On to the subclasses! These are what the names invoke to me of my five favorite sounding subclasses.
Assassin:
Scout:
Trickster
Shadow Lord
Strider
Thanks for reading! ◕‿◕
Instead, I hope they’ll be a mage who cast spells in the thick of battle, wearing either heavy armor or magical armor; maybe wield a spectral sword while staves are still their primary weapon. For Shadow Caster, I hope they’ll be evasive or use stealth, and able to play close-range or long-range. I’m not sure how it’ll differ from the teleport augmented mage.
characteristics:
-master of parry/evasion
- self-buffs(iron skin, closed mind etc.) and some sustain abilities
- ONLY light armor/clothes (for highest evasion, mobility and using certain skills)
- simple or exotic weapon - staff, katar, sickle, kama, gauntlets etc.
At least allow to "build" a fully functional "tank" WITHOUT shield and heavy armor..PLS.
Not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous on this one.
My ideal class, after reading what we know so far, is 100% going to be some kind of summoner archetype. I love that there will be DPS, tank, and support summons. I'm really really hoping there will be at least 3 support summons so when I'm in a party I can be pure support (healing and buffs).
My #1 hope is that the Enchanter (sub bard) just gives bard support augments as an option. I almost want to play bard because of the way they give support has been described... but summoners get pets. I LOVE pets. I don't care that they usually suck in PvP. I'm a little scared that the Enchanter will be the one that summons "temporary energies" rather than little critters. If that's the case, this class is out for me.
#2 wold have been cleric sub... but sub cleric = necromancer. I was hoping support summons with cleric augments would make a support powerhouse (if sub bard doesn't actually summon critters)... but since summons change appearance based on subclass... I probably won't do this. Undead are icky. I can't play for hours a day watching undead following me around, even if they are the most powerful... just icky.
Maybe cosmetic shop things could fix this problem (if it is a problem) down the road.
If they just make my beast monster summon look like a ghost/spirit beast, that would be FREAKING AWESOME. Summoning zombies... barf...
So my #3 choice will be Conjurer (sub summoner). Probably the next best thing support wise since I'm not big on tanking or DPSing. But, some of the other classes may surprise me.
Either way I'm also super interested in the combat pets... even if you sacrifice something to have it out, if it can have a different effect from the rest of my summons, it's worth it. I could have 3 support summons (hopefully all doing something different) and a support combat pet.
Go forth my army!
Apostle for being a pvp healer which always ends up being a number one target to kill, thus hoping that tank augments would help to survive the pressure. I enjoyed playing Templar as a front line support in ArcheAge.
Falconer also picks my interest but from what I can find it looks like they wont be able to summon pets. I love playing ranger in GW2 and the ability to merge with the pet and get some of the beast abilities feels really amazing. Especially when different pets gives you different skills based on their nature.
My thoughts here are primarily based around answers found on the wiki, with some points filled in with personal experience in other games(Paladins having the ability to heal friends, for instance). I feel that going over my considerations for each Archetype is relevant to my final class choice, so we'll start with that.
Fighter: My natural draw in any game. Give me a big weapon with a slow paced tactical playstyle and I'll pick it automatically. Give me an ability fittingly named 'Execute' and you'll have my attention. But what's this I read about Fighters being able to properly specialize into ranged damage-dealing? Oh my, yes. I hope that makes it through to final design. Fighter would be my main archetype pick regardless.
Tank: The recent tank preview has given me some concern about the prominence of mobility. So many Tank abilities closed gaps, from Onslaught to Javelin. How does Mage's teleport and Fighter's Rush fit in against these? The differentiation between mitigation, shield and control tanking seems very interesting to me, as a player. Looking at the possibility of ranged-focused Fighters though; How effective would I be at damage or tanking with a dual-wielding/2h Tank? Is an ability like Onslaught only usable with a shield? Can I only tank with a shield?
Ranger: Another Archetype that seems to run into the same issue of mobility creep, though Ranger's abilities on the Wiki seem more focused around evasion than aggression, which makes sense. But how will a Rogue fit into this meta without having half their kit effectively the same as a Ranger's, I wonder? On the other side of that coin, there was an ability I saw focused around 'digging in' at a specific location to gain bonus damage and/or range? The fantasy of a slow-firing sniper appeals much more to me than Legolas, personally.
My ideal class... Would be heavily based in the fact that Fighters can specialize in melee or ranged. The versatility of being able to engage effectively in both melee and ranged is quite attractive to me. Move in, use a long CD melee ability, apply a slow, run back out to ranged and pepper them with arrows while they can't reach me. I'd still like an ability named 'Execute' though, if you don't mind!
Dreadnought draws me in first, because the name is cool as hell the potential for swinging Tank's control mitigation along with the playstyle described above sounds like it would have strong potential for controlling how I engage. Also, my friend group would need a tank, but I'm unsure if I want to commit to always being a tank. Hunter is also on the list for me, taking a different approach to the same direction as tank. Rather than focusing around CC, I imagine my Hunter would instead utilize mobility/improved ranged capabilities to keep melee opponents at bay, and ranged opponents wishing they could trap me in melee. Weapon Master is a consideration of course, pending knowing more about what a 'pure' class choice entails for augments.
Honorable mention is the Highsword, because Cleric sub-types have the potential to be ridiculously overpowered depending on how their augments play out. Seems like the equivalent of bringing a gun to a knife fight in 1v1 situations. I expect these will be balanced appropriately, so it's not a serious consideration.
I also love the idea of swapping to a melee weapon if I'm closed in on, mostly with some control ability options so I can get back to range, maybe one or two decent melee damage abilities on a bit of a cooldown so weaving into melee for a moment becomes an option depending on the situation. Maybe applying some kind of debuff from melee that briefly increases your ranged damage to the target, or vice versa, would be a fun interaction. The ability to lay traps is big too, adding a little extra danger to the battlefield and helping the ranger and their party to setup advantageous positions.
Overall a ranger with a good bit of versatility is what I hope for, with an emphasis on positioning and knowing when you can stop to attack. A good Ranger should be fantastic at kiting, soloing mobs in the world, and should lay down a lot of damage from range if their positioning is never challenged by the enemy. Fighting a good ranger should about giving them as few openings as possible to set up and really deal damage, making sure they have some kind of movement assist off CD to counter those of the ranger's, predicting the locations of their traps, trying to force them into terrain unfavorable for kiting, etc. Nothing more satisfying to me than the thunk of a well prepared arrow chunking a hp bar.
― Plato