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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.
Lets discuss some archtype mechanics we can suggest
Veeshan
Member, Alpha Two
Figured we could come up with some advance archetype designs/plat style/mechanic to make them unique from eachother, here some of my idea so far ive come up with.
Summoners +
Enchanter (Bard) - Unique mechanic, new slot on paper doll for any weapon this will be the enchanters summon. Enchanters can enchant the weapon in this slot as it pet, the pets str is based on the weapon so better weapon = better pet, The weapon type will determin pets skills a greatsword for example might have more cleaving attacks/skills where a dagger might have more backstab/crit type attacks. The enchanter themself should have minimal dmg themself there dmg comes from there spell enchanting allies attacks or their pets aswell as debuffing the enemies.
necromancer (Cleric) - unique resource bar (Lifeforce) this bar fills up when they deal dmg, life force is use to summon pets the necro pets will be weak and disposable but they are numerous if these pets are left alone they can overwhelm you by numbers. other mechanics toggle skill that causes your spells to be amplified however instead of using mana to cast while this is active you use your HP bar instead for the resource (this will also increase your life force bar in the process), however you cant get healed while this is active or greatly reduced healing. Should get a life steal skill aswell in the kit so you want to dance in and out of this skill doing amplified spell and then dropping out to life steal ur life back
Wildblade (Fighter) - Class no longer a pet class, instead of summoning pets they summon weapons as short/mid range attacks, they function as spell attacks however they do physical dmg instead of magical, they also get more defensive skills available to them since there shorter range. Class mechanic replaces mana bar with combo pips, weak attacks build up pips and string attacks/skills consume pips instead, i say 10 pip max and skill consume anwhere from 2-10 pips. there skills tend to have short cooldowns than other classes
Shadowmancer (Thief) - Unique pet mechanics pets are stealthed while in the shadows or night time (when there low light) the summoner itself should have a stealth or camouflage skill while in shadows (Could just be stationary stealth in lowlight) As for other mechanics havant thought of any yet.
tanks +
spell shield (mage)- Aegis changed to be aoe bubble around tank, greatly reduces or prevents aoe dmg for 5 seconds (A skill like this will be manatory for seiges when it comes to pushing though choke points and still allow aoe skills to do relevant dmg) being able to rush a couple groups through a choke to stop the aoe spam in choke for everyoen else to push though will be key in pvp seiges, This also allows for pve raid mechanics aswell
Fighter +
Spellsword (mage) new mechanic bar (dont have a name) this bar fills up on melee attacks, This bar is consumed to release magic abilities
Bladecaller (summoner) Unique mechanic - Conjures weapons to use in combat these should have x charges and will alter your attack in some way Let use the hammer skill we currently seen for example that everyone hates :P if you conjure a great sword and use this attack instead of a hammer crashing into a spot infront of you it becomes a giant greatsword instead that cleaves a large area infront of you (maybe a knockback) With a spear equiped it might become a line attack that pierces through all enemies instead, using a hammer summon the hammer might then knockdown aswell. Class will be more versitile however more complex to play well since you need to memorise all the extra effects on skills and weapon attack style
Mage+
Spellhunter (Ranger) new mechanic bar drains a bit fop mana from enemies they attack (if they have mana i would like to see some classes move away from mana system for example wildblade above looses there mana bar) if they hit targets without mana this wont fill up the bar but if they do have mana it will drain mana from the target ontop of its dmg and this stolen mana can be consumed for better spells in there kit. So this class want to focus hitting targets with mana to build this bar up for there bigger attacks
Summoners +
Enchanter (Bard) - Unique mechanic, new slot on paper doll for any weapon this will be the enchanters summon. Enchanters can enchant the weapon in this slot as it pet, the pets str is based on the weapon so better weapon = better pet, The weapon type will determin pets skills a greatsword for example might have more cleaving attacks/skills where a dagger might have more backstab/crit type attacks. The enchanter themself should have minimal dmg themself there dmg comes from there spell enchanting allies attacks or their pets aswell as debuffing the enemies.
necromancer (Cleric) - unique resource bar (Lifeforce) this bar fills up when they deal dmg, life force is use to summon pets the necro pets will be weak and disposable but they are numerous if these pets are left alone they can overwhelm you by numbers. other mechanics toggle skill that causes your spells to be amplified however instead of using mana to cast while this is active you use your HP bar instead for the resource (this will also increase your life force bar in the process), however you cant get healed while this is active or greatly reduced healing. Should get a life steal skill aswell in the kit so you want to dance in and out of this skill doing amplified spell and then dropping out to life steal ur life back
Wildblade (Fighter) - Class no longer a pet class, instead of summoning pets they summon weapons as short/mid range attacks, they function as spell attacks however they do physical dmg instead of magical, they also get more defensive skills available to them since there shorter range. Class mechanic replaces mana bar with combo pips, weak attacks build up pips and string attacks/skills consume pips instead, i say 10 pip max and skill consume anwhere from 2-10 pips. there skills tend to have short cooldowns than other classes
Shadowmancer (Thief) - Unique pet mechanics pets are stealthed while in the shadows or night time (when there low light) the summoner itself should have a stealth or camouflage skill while in shadows (Could just be stationary stealth in lowlight) As for other mechanics havant thought of any yet.
tanks +
spell shield (mage)- Aegis changed to be aoe bubble around tank, greatly reduces or prevents aoe dmg for 5 seconds (A skill like this will be manatory for seiges when it comes to pushing though choke points and still allow aoe skills to do relevant dmg) being able to rush a couple groups through a choke to stop the aoe spam in choke for everyoen else to push though will be key in pvp seiges, This also allows for pve raid mechanics aswell
Fighter +
Spellsword (mage) new mechanic bar (dont have a name) this bar fills up on melee attacks, This bar is consumed to release magic abilities
Bladecaller (summoner) Unique mechanic - Conjures weapons to use in combat these should have x charges and will alter your attack in some way Let use the hammer skill we currently seen for example that everyone hates :P if you conjure a great sword and use this attack instead of a hammer crashing into a spot infront of you it becomes a giant greatsword instead that cleaves a large area infront of you (maybe a knockback) With a spear equiped it might become a line attack that pierces through all enemies instead, using a hammer summon the hammer might then knockdown aswell. Class will be more versitile however more complex to play well since you need to memorise all the extra effects on skills and weapon attack style
Mage+
Spellhunter (Ranger) new mechanic bar drains a bit fop mana from enemies they attack (if they have mana i would like to see some classes move away from mana system for example wildblade above looses there mana bar) if they hit targets without mana this wont fill up the bar but if they do have mana it will drain mana from the target ontop of its dmg and this stolen mana can be consumed for better spells in there kit. So this class want to focus hitting targets with mana to build this bar up for there bigger attacks
0
Comments
I like most of this - here are fun ideas to look at for weapon summons and class design, Harbinger - Rift, Udyr - League of Legends, Druid - Diablo, Enhancement Shaman - WoW.
A berserker shaman theme is perfect - but if Interpid goes with multiple damage types I could see them pulling from Valheims playbook and giving abilities multiple damage types. Like Physical, Frost, and Ethereal or something.
I do not want spender builder. I absolutely hate spender builder, especially when its poorly done like some Enhancement Shaman iterations.
I do want the Wild Blade to have a dummy high skill ceiling, so I'll have to think about a resource system I would like.
Spellcasters convert it to Mana, physical classes to Stamina and some into both (e.g. Ranger) or something completely different.
I think Narc provided/took a solid base idea of giving each archetype a unique base resource mechanic that transforms when picking the augmenting class.
Before starting the wall of text let me just say: I don't actually think every class needs to have a unique class mechanic, for all I care one physical and spellcasting class could "only" use the base resources of stamina and mana. Still, I'll make suggestions for all archetypes.
Bards could for example have a cyclical nature to their skills, like e.g. classical music pieces have different sections. And depending on in which phase the Bard uses a skill it will have lower energy costs, a reduced cooldown, a higher range, higher efficacy or longer range. And when you choose a secondary class it changes the UI symbols with which the current section you are in is being displayed and maybe even the number or sections you are having in total. (Would be nice to see the Bard being able to switch the rotation of effects via talents). I could also imagine each skill having a rhythm counter that gives the Bard a "perfect note" after using one skill each 1.5sec to increase the efficacy of the next skill after. Which might be easy when staying stationary but could become quite the challenge when on the move.
Clerics already have conviction but that could be displayed as light rays coming from a halo above them or so. And when you for example change that to a Necromancer it could become ghost lights appearing behind the character in a ring.
Fighters could have execution mechanic that applies counters to enemies hit and can trigger some new effects on using up these counters on a target. Usually displayed as blood drops above the targets head or as a row of swords on their health bar, it could change to holy symbols when taking the Highsword class (+Cleric) or to arrows when picking up the Hunter (+ Ranger).
Mages could have runes that fill up whenever completing a spell but fill up faster with consecutive use of the same element to unleash a free or cooldown reduced spell every time the runes are filled completely. The runes can be an extra bar or a circle around the characters picture in the UI flashing once when filled. When you change to e.g. Shadow Caster (+ rouge) the Rune circle could become poison green or a black orb filling up; while picking the Spellstone (+Tank) may change the rune bar into a shield of which sections light up.
Rangers could have kind of an ammunition mechanic where continuous attacks without using non-ranged attack skills stacks up to a certain point and then disables shooting skills. e.g. You have X amount of arrows (depending on the passive skill point put into the skill tree). The UI displays that as a quiver from which an arrow vanish with each 2 basic attacks or 1 shooting skill. The Ranger automatically "reloads" when they use any other type of skill, e.g. laying a trap, jump towards an ally (if that's to become a skill), throw a net or buff someone. When a Ranger switches to a Soulbow (+Cleric) they could get an orb filled with stars that fade or when taking the Falconer (+Summoner) it could become a birds wing from which feathers fall.
Rogues could have momentum which goes up when they move or when an attack misses them or they use a skill. They can then use that momentum by activating one of two skills one that grants 2s of increased evasion and movement speed which are increased the higher your momentum is or to increase the chance for a critical hit and armor penetration, also depending on the amount of momentum. Usually displayed as a wind circle spinning faster with momentum it could become a black aura when switching to Cultist (+Cleric) or black holes for a Shadow Lord (+Summoner)
Summoners are limited to 3 pets which share power with you, so the characters power decreases when you source some of it out and summon your pet. I think it could be possible to play a bit with that mechanic and have the power transfer delay a bit. So for a brief moment after making the summon, the 20% of power given to your pet will be still within you as well, which could mean a power spike right after summoning. And when cancelling a summon, you could gain buffs that manifest as a constellations above your head. e.g. you deliberately cancel your summoned ram before it is downed, stars connecting into a rams head appear above you head and your next direct attack gains a small knockback effect. When changing to the Enchanter (+Bard) you gain different buffs from that as your summons now are all fairy tale creatures or weapons when picking the Wild Blade which basically sounds like they are summoning spectral swords and clubs.
Tanks already have the courage mechanic and I'd honestly would hope they will display it like a growing row of shields or something in the UI rather than just a counter in the buff list. Again pointing to Narc, he had a solid take on making it a bar that fills up with this blue light and literally burns down when activating Grit. Not gonna lie, I thought that's a good take. Maybe not take a boring bar but fill a shield symbol up or depending on the class a sword, a staff or a hammer, but that was not bad at all.
CONCLUSION (finally): I think trying to add a unique to each Class (the combination of two archetypes) would be way too much work, so I would think that keeping the mechanic of the primary archetype is fine. Just change the look a bit.
And i think each class archtype needs to feel slightly differently either via mechanically or feel/playstyle. if all mages for example played the same where they just hit buttons and do dps spells and feel the same as eachother there realy no point to play a specific one they just go with highest dmg or highest aoe dmg one.
I also beleive some archtypes should be harder to play than other archtypes in the same tree, like having one mage that is close range and u need to position yourself well to maximise your output while trying not to be hit some people will enjoy more than another that sit back without a care in the world rotating skills for example other can be more challenging via use of unique mechanics and what not the trick is for each archtype to have an easy mode to play one and a challenging one with the rest imbetween so everyone can find one they can play well/enjoy
Aye aye. I like a challenge.