Character classes

Boanergese

I understand there is going to be 8 classes in the game at launch. My question is are the classes going to be like world of warcraft in that I am a mage, warrior, rogue, or is the game going to be like Final Fantasy 14 where I can switch classes based on my weapon. For example, if I start as one class and don't like it, do I have to reroll my character?

Noaani

You select your class (presumably at character creation), and that is your class.

You can not change your primary class at all. However, you do add a secondary class at level 25 (the current plan).

Vhaeyne

It's going to be more like WOW with some differences.

Your race/name is forever. Want to change it? Make a new character.
This is to make it so your character's social identity and reputation is preserved.
Otherwise, people could act like fools and pay to change it when they have burned every bridge on the server.

The secondary archetype could be thought of as your "Spec" in WOW. Each class has eight, and you can change them by means not yet known. We just know there will be a way to change the secondary, not the primary one you choose when you make the character.

Also, I have not seen it said that classes lock out of weapon choices like in Final Fantasy and WOW. Is tanking with a bow as your main weapon a good idea? I doubt it, but you can mess around and find out.

I hope this answer is helpful.

Boanergese

I was just curious if I could be a tank or a healer depending on what my guild needed at the time. In FF14 you can a weapon and you go from a paladin to a black mage. You just have to get a second set of gear. I suppose from a role play perspective you could play two characters. Perhaps the brother is a tank and his sister is a cleric.

George_Black

No. I like the ff14 system. I prefer it to alts. But the answer is no.
Feel free to discuss how it would be better to add it in the game.

Even before ff14, L2 had the same system in which with 1 character you could have 4 classes.

Howevet, that required dedication and it wasnt as ez as having 4 alts.
The rewards were: meaningful end game content ENABLING YOU to become more.
Exlusive content for people with an additional class to their main (not just some crap achievement tick offs and titles... real content)
Promotion of open world pvp pve.

Much better than ff14.

Atama

There are things you can do, like changing augments (which modify your skills to an extent, we don't know exactly how much yet). And you can swap those things around. But it won't change your main role. A tank will tank, a healer will heal, you can just tweak how you do those things.

If you want to play a very flexible character, consider making a Summoner. Based on what you summon, you can fill various roles all in one class. You might not be the very best at any of them, but you can contribute however you like in any given situation.

But just to stress, it is so early that we have very little in the way of specifics. If you were to ask "What is it like to play a Summoner?" all we can say is to wait until a later part of development when we get the chance to test those things out. Right now things are vague, and we really only have experience with Tanks, Clerics, and Mages, and even that is subject to change.

McShave

Here is a chart I made for another thread, but it describes class function and how secondary archetypes will effect it.



First I want to say nothing is finalized, and anything can change. But from what we know right now, when you pick your primary class (aka primary archetype), you decide on your role in a party. The tank will always be a tank, cleric will always be a healer, bard will always be support, and dps classes will always be dps. The secondary class (secondary archetype) you choose will change how your class works and what kind of effects your abilities have, but they will not change the role you have in your party.

For example, if you choose primary Tank, and secondary Cleric, you do not become a healer. You will be a tank with some healing effects, but the healing will not be able to replace a cleric in your party. One thought I have, that is to be tested, is if everyone in your party goes secondary Cleric, will that mean you don't need a primary Cleric to heal in your party? (You will probably need a Cleric for non-healing related abilities, maybe such as ressurection. Each primary class is supposed to bring something unique to a group, so Intrepid suggests having a full party of 8 with one of each primary class).

Atama

The diamond is a bit weird when you consider that DPS is three different classes (Mage, Fighter, Ranger) and Summoner is potentially any role around that diamond.

Then again, that's also not unusual. Most MMOs have more DPS than other roles. And that's normal because once you have enough of the basics to get by (tanking and healing especially, potentially another kind of support depending on the game) the more DPS the better. Because the more damage you do, the faster you get through content, and the less strain you put on the support people, and then of course just being done quicker is a huge bonus. So I guess it's about right.

Boanergese

Obviously, the game is subject to change since this is an alpha. It makes sense that from the eight arche types that what you choose will be your role. I was just curious if you could duel spec like world of warcraft. I am curious how the augmentation will work in the game. A battle mage in D&D could wear plate armor. A ranger who is also a mage would be an elemental archer.

One of the things I liked that the game Horizons did was it allowed you multi-class. The way it worked that you could get extra experience to raise your classes. So, I could be a level 40 cleric, lv 40 druid, and a level 40 mage. If I was playing as the cleric my healing spells would be level 40 and my druid and mage spells would be level 20. So, I could put bark-skin on my party at a lower rank, heal the group, and use a lower-level fireball for damage when I wasn't healing. I am looking forward to help testing in the Alpha Phase 2.

McShave

Boanergese wrote: »

I am curious how the augmentation will work in the game. A battle mage in D&D could wear plate armor. A ranger who is also a mage would be an elemental archer.

Ya, that's kinda how it will go. The secondary class you pick modifies the abilities you get from your primary class. So an archer with mage secondary maybe will have some cloth gear and their arrows will do some fire damage. Or a mage that goes tank secondary will wear a plate armor set with bonus magic damage and get some +def type stats when using his ability (something like this, we don't know what Intrepid is actually planning just yet).

The cool thing is that Intrepid has said each secondary class has 4 schools of augmentation, so there will be many ways to build a primary/ secondary choice. Alpha 2 should be a good time, I am ready to sink my teeth into this product and give my feedback as well.