Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
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.
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.
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° Necromancy
° Elementalism
° Demonology
° Celestials
° Faeish
And if you go deep into either one of these skilltree directions, you can summon stronger beings of those different planes.
Summoner is such a broad term.
And I'm really done with asking myself what I wanna see in a game in which I cannot even predict anything and which feels like its release might even be still 2 years away at least.
With some of this:
I could envision something like the spellmancer using more dots, brood warden using life drain as a tanking mechanic, etc. with some classes leaning into the pets more than others.
Mechanics I am more partial to Final Fantasy 11 (and 10), with the single big honking summons. But I do also enjoy the hordes of chaff that degrade over time, that you have to constantly replace. It should depend on the type of summoner you are. Ie, what archetype combination.
Different strokes for different blokes.
those commands could be between in an area or on specific person for the control of the summons
yeah would like some class specific quest that can tell us what the summoner is all about in this world. Would love to have race specific quests to see how eath race summener is are there ones that sacrifice for power or others more druidic as well but im ok with one generic quest like so the game could come out
/ commissions. Looked like Shaman Minitors. Steven called NPC mobs Summoner. Was cool seeing all the animal pets. There was a number of different kinds. Would be awesome of you could somehow make a summons of NPC beasts in the wild you come across.
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Shadow Lord Class - Hybrid Rogue/Summoner:
The Shadow Lord is a master of stealth, agility, and summoning dark entities from the void of shadows. Combining the nimble and precise combat abilities of a rogue with the overwhelming power of commanding an army, the Shadow Lord harnesses the souls of defeated enemies, bending them to their will as shadow vessels.
Core Concept:
A Shadow Lord is a rogue capable of both melee combat and summoning a legion of shadows. These shadows are formed from the souls of fallen foes, allowing the Shadow Lord to build and customize a personal army. Each summoned shadow can be outfitted with gear, weapons, or enhanced with elemental attributes and status effects, making the army as dynamic as the Shadow Lord's own fighting style.
Combat Abilities:
Stealth & Speed: As a rogue, the Shadow Lord excels in evasion and critical strikes. Quick and elusive, they can ambush enemies, dealing massive burst damage, and then disappear into the shadows to avoid retaliation.
Shadow Manipulation: The Shadow Lord can manipulate the essence of shadows, granting them the ability to control the battlefield. Shadows act as both weapons and shields, creating a highly versatile playstyle.
Summoning Shadows: After defeating enemies, the Shadow Lord has the power to claim their souls, transforming them into shadow entities. These entities can be summoned into battle, acting as minions that follow the Shadow Lord’s commands. Each shadow retains the basic fighting style of the original creature but can be further customized or enhanced.
Summoning and Customisation
Shadow Vessels: Each shadow the Lord summons is bound to them after the death of its original form. The strength, type, and attributes of the shadow depend on the original creature, but they can be upgraded by equipping them with weapons, armor, or items found throughout the game.
Customisable Minions:
- The Shadow Lord can modify their shadow army by:
- Changing elemental attributes (e.g., infusing fire, ice, lightning, or poison into their attacks).
- Applying status effects such as paralysis, slow, or fear to enhance crowd control.
- Assigning roles such as tanks, DPS, or support, giving them specific commands to complement the Lord's combat.
Soul Absorption & Power Scaling: The more powerful the foe defeated, the stronger the shadow. Defeating elite enemies or bosses grants the Shadow Lord access to powerful shadow vessels, allowing them to summon these entities in future battles.
Signature Abilities:
Shadow Infusion: The Shadow Lord can merge with their shadows, amplifying their physical abilities, speed, and strength for a limited time. This infusion also grants additional evasive and defensive capabilities.
Shadow Army: At higher levels, the Shadow Lord can summon entire squads of shadows to overwhelm their enemies, each fulfilling a specific tactical role. They can call on a range of 5 to 10 shadows simultaneously, or even more with advanced skills.
Dark Resurrection: The Shadow Lord can momentarily resurrect shadows in the heat of battle, pulling defeated minions back from the void for a final attack or defense.
Shadow Warp: Harnessing their connection to the shadows, the Lord can teleport short distances by stepping into one shadow and emerging from another. This makes them difficult to track or pin down in combat.
Playstyle:
The Shadow Lord is designed to be a flexible fighter, excelling in both one-on-one combat and larger skirmishes. They balance their own stealth and offensive capabilities with the use of summoned shadows to flank, distract, or overwhelm opponents. The ability to customize their shadows allows for varied strategies, adapting to different enemy types or challenges on the fly.
Role in Teams:
In a group, the Shadow Lord can fill multiple roles:
Damage Dealer: Utilizing high burst damage, sneak attacks, and a swarm of shadows to dismantle enemy formations.
Support & Control: Using their shadows to provide crowd control, status effects, and debuffs, while applying pressure from multiple fronts.
Summoner/Tactician: With a small army of shadows at their disposal, the Shadow Lord can command their minions to guard allies, control zones, or focus on specific high-priority targets.
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The Shadow Lord is a versatile and formidable class, perfect for those who want the agility and cunning of a rogue, combined with the overwhelming might of a summoner.
Again this is just my opinion but think it’s pretty cool, and I can only hope for the best for this class. If anyone hasn’t read the solo levelling books I highly recommend you buy them they’re pretty good 👍🏼
My thought is that ShadowLord is more like a Ninja with shadow clone Jitsu, they make copies of themself which don't deal damage and which can be used in a shell game to distract from their own actual movements and intended attacks.
I have some concepts for the Summoner derived classes I'll post here.
Enchanter focuses on providing basic summons which can then be given powerful single target buffs to specialize them for the tactical situation at hand, team mates can also be the target of these buffs and summons skipped all together.
Necromancers summon undead themed minions which are unique for their immunity to most mind effecting debuffs, stuns, taunts and other mindeffecting crowdcontrol effects, the Necromaner also brings powerfull targeted and AoE lifedrain effects which sustain himself, his summons and team mates
Summoning phantasmal weapons and shields, each is a projection of an item the Wild Blade has equipped and carry their weapon skills and abilities into battle allowing them to be a practical one man army. The weapons lack player collision and are imune to elemental damage, making them highly effective against mages.
Spellmancer summons elemental themed minions which deal elemental damage and can use their minions as the location for creating AoE spell effects by dispelling the minion in a burst of magical energy. Minions felled in battle likewise burst making them all effectivly walking bombs sent at the enemy ranks.
Beastmasters summon exotic animal themed summons which are faster and more agile then standard summons. The Beastmaster can mark an individual oponents as the prey of his hoard and direct his swarm to attack them relentlessly.
Shadowmancer's summon etherial and ghostly aparitions which have no collision and evade most barriers and snares. As well he Shadowmancer can disquise themselves as a similar aparition nigh indistinquishable from one of their summons thus allowing them to join in combat, or escape at lower risk while presenting their enemy with a deadly shell game.
Specializing in maixizing the quantity and power of summons the Conjurer is also the fastest summoner able to uniquely summon multiple entities with a single casting to both present a threat fast but also rapidly replace combat losses.
The Brood Warden summons an aray of durable Golems ranging fom stone to blood to metal, with a command these golems can morph into walls, cages, spikes and other obstacles to block or trap oponents though they remain vulnorable to attack in this state. Likewise they can be commanded to morph back at any time to re-engage oponents in direct combat.
I like this Idea. A Summoner which can specifically buff his own Summons in certain ways that other Summoners can't who don't have a "Bard" Second-Archetype.
Oh Yes Please. This would feel AWESOME !!
Kinda a bit like a Warlock in WoW. Doing some Life-Drain while swarming my Enemies with a few Summons i can hopefully choose what for Attributes and Traits they have.
Whenever i read about this specific Archetype-Combo,
so that Someone can summon flying Weapons -> i am always reminded of a certain Character from Fate Stay Night, Fate Zero - and in general the Type Moon Fate Series.
I imagine this Combination a bit like a Shaman from WoW. You summon Elementals - or at least Elemental-like Beings which - well - deal Elemental kind of Attacks.
Beastmaster like the Ranger-Type in WoW again, from my Imagination. I think if done/designed right,
this would look IMMENSELY cool. Imagine a tiny Stampede of maybe a Bear, a Deer, two Wolves, maybe some Birds and Rabbits (lol) swarming a single Player as if Nature itself has a Hateboner on the poor Player who is about to get pecked, bitten, stomped and clawed at.
Once more and again,
if done and designed RIGHT - > this could look immeeenseeely cool.
The sheer Potential for cool, mysterious - or outright Love-Craftian or otherwise kind of Horror-Creature kind of Summons would be incredible.
Like a Death (Alb?Albae?) Wraith(?) in DnD. A Monster looking mostly like a somewhat Humanoid Silhouette but is also mostly just a spooky, creepy Shadow with two bright-glowing Dots where a Person's Eyes would be -> out for nothing but to destroy the Life of whatever poor Soul might be it's Target.
( These things are so scary and creepy somehow. )
Hmmmmm. I think when i remember correctly -> Sir Steven and his mighty Crew said that Three Summons will stay the Maximum for a Summoner, right ?
While i would like that a "Summoner-Summoner" could have more -> maybe we should just stick with the quicker, faster Summoning Time.
It would be easier to balance and also somewhat easier on the Frames if the Number of Three Summons is not exceeded. After all, there will be Battles in the finished Game with like 500 People against 500 People and God who knows how many People from these Armies will be Summoners.
Even if i want to play my Summoner as a Necromancer only - > i clearly like THIS take of yours the most.
Different Types of Golems with different Qualities and Abilities where they could be incredibly useful depending on the Situation and their Type ? Hell Yes.
MORPHING into Cages, Walls, Spikes - > this Idea may seem simple, but is actually very brilliant. Genius even.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)
Either way for Ashes I hope the special nature of Summoner is reflected in their unique way to deal with the "trinity" roles. Summoner is the one class that can DPS, Tank, and Heal via their summons and I hope their summons can so these roles well enough were they can be a similar comparison to Cleric vs Bard for support. What I really hope wont happen is say a tank pet will just operate like the voidwalker in WoW were it technically tanks but not really and not well.
I also hope Summoner is the prime example of how the augmentation system works. With all three roles available to them, their augmentation choice defines the path they walk. I would hope the Shadowblade summoner operates in a different playstyle than the wildblade summoner. Whether it be how they summon or the utility they bring with their summons.
Last hope on the wishlist is to keep even a semblance of the past ideas Steven said for Summoners. To list off a few; defeated bosses could possibly become summon skins, multiple summoners can summon a siege summon that packs a punch, augments change the appearance of a summon, and more. Imagine playing a summoner and seeing a cool animal or skeleton wandering about and learn you COULD summon that NPC if you follow X method? Would add so much to the true endgame that is fashion.
And when they are at the unit cap the hot key to summon said minion becomes an active ability for those minions.
Beyond that I would expect you to play as support and fight through your minions.
Now if I really want to reach far...a while back I wrote about a summer/tank being able to tank through their minions and I still think that would be an amazing new play style option for tanks.
No words needed…
Pretty much 100000% this ^
- Summoner does most of the work, and few pets are mostly decorations acting as tools (for example, Aion).
- The summoner is absolutely useless by themselves, and pets do everything except give commands.
- "Summoner" has only one pet at a time, and this pet is chosen at the start of progression (basically a hunter with a wolf, but replace the wolf with an elemental or something).
- The most frustrating type is a "summoner," who is actually a classic mage, but all their skills are visually altered to look like summoned creatures (so instead of, say, a fireball it's a flying firebird that does exactly the same thing as the fireball).
So all this leads me to my first wish:
1) I wish Summoner and their summons were balanced in a way that they possessed equal (or close to) value. Let summoners both cast their own spells and give commands for summons to cast theirs.
2) My second wish is for utility. From my perspective, Summoners and Bards are the two classes that suit the most for out-of-combat useful skills. Personally, I think something like Family Summon would be the best. You can summon one of the players on your family list from anywhere as long as they accept the transportation notice and you have a costly ingredient for the ritual (sold at node vendors or crafted by artisans). Obviously, this skill comes with a huge cooldown. Let's say an hour or two.
The second idea for utility is weather manipulation. Summon rain, for example. We know that some weather conditions have an effect on skills or terrain (maybe it can effect crop growth on your farm?). Of course it should come with an appropriate cost and cooldown.
3) Seige golem for node wars. Maybe make 2 variations? One melee for destroying gates and walls and one representing catapult or trebuchet to target towers, buildings, and defenders?
4) Capturing creatures in the world so that you can summon them as pets. For example, pure Summoner (S/S) specializes in elementals. So you can't just capture any creature you like; you need to find those that represent your specialization. So you go in the dungeon under the mountain and capture fire elementals residing there near the lava lake. Or lets say you are a Summoner+Archer and your forte is forest animals. You go to the grove and look for elite bears to befrend. You are Summoner+Fighter? Its time to visit some abandoned mages tower and take control of living weapons. Fun, rewarding, unique.
If this concept is too ambitious and a nono, I personally want for summons to at least have visual progression. If you don't capture new creatures, your sceleton on LV 5 and sceleton on LV 50 should not look the same.
On a somewhat unrelated note. Have anyone seen Castlevania: Nocturne? I am in love with Maria's variation of a summoner.
https://youtu.be/kbDaene_w28?si=n184q4o8fDmy1hqP
also wil need to see that sieris i forgot about it
regarding the pet, something like l2 pony ;3
Among then was the Mage focusing on Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Arcane.
In the showcase for the Mage over a year ago, the Mage was shown to have a few Earth based magic spells, such as Earthquake.
It is possible such earth spells were place holder spells to be test using the Mage, that would eventually be used for the Summoner.
I would like to see the four schools for the Summoner being Earth, Water, Air, and Summoning (with utility abilities mixed in with the spells.)
Earth being main damage. Water being a mix of damage and healing. Air being a mix of damage over time and snares or stuns. Summoning will be basic, like golems and such. More advanced summoning being dependent which class is chosen.
This would let the Summoner control the Tank like monster for 5 min. Though this creature has very little damage output. It can hold attention of anyone it sets focus to. When the Sumoners essance is consumed. The Gholem will fall to rubble and the Summoner will come back to life with 100hp and no mana.
EDIT: this would give enough time to finish a raid where a tank died. Maybe on a longer encounter a Cleric enough time to res the tank at the cost of losing the Summoner.
I think one of the Reasons why dear Intrepid will probably not let us have something like "many smaller" Summons which we summon shortly - and which vanish after like Eight to Ten Seconds after attacking our Enemies,
is the Reason that in the very planned End of the Alpha, Beta, towards Release or afterwards - > they do plan indeed to have massive Battles of like Five Hundred versus Five Hundred People - right ?
Imagine every Side having like +100 Summoners or so, in Case they make the Summoner cool and fun enough so that many People want to play it - > and then EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. THEM. or so - summons at some Point like +7 Mobs/Summons to fight - even if for a short time.
I mean, okay. Maybe Intrepid WILL have the Server Strength and Stability to deal with this - but this would be an absolutely insane Mass of Models on the Battlefield.
Could easily overwhelm every Non-Elite Computer, wouldn't it ?
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)
That's an interesting catch there. You're absolutely correct mage did have some earth skills but lo and behold they're gone from the mage skill set. Curious...
your choice of secondary will determine this.
Summoner/Ranger will be a Beastmaster
Summoner/Wizard will have elementals
Summoner/Cleric will have undead (helpful spirits for life, zombies and skeletons for death)
etc.
Honestly this is probably partly why we don't see the summoner until Phase 3 when the first secondary classes are also introduced.
I expect secondaries to add other elements to the Mage. Mage/cleric could change their skills holy beams and necrotic spells, Mage/rogue could have shadow magic, Mage/ranger could have nature based magic, and Mage/tank could modify their skills to be more like the earth spells we saw as well as other defensive support.
I like things that can provide off-healing (or even main healing) or buffing, and while tanking is probably the thing I do least, I have no aversion to it and recognize it can be useful when doing some stuff like soloing or general better safety margin when farming, etc.
I'm not expecting Summoner to be able to replace a dedicated tank or healer or bard, but being able to do buffing when no Bard is around, healing when no Cleric is around, or at least some Tanking when no...uh...Tank (gods, that name needs changing... <_<) is around, would be something I'd highly value.
If SMN can't do this, I'll probably opt to play Bard instead, since it seems like you can at least do some off-healing or main heal low impact content on it, and the buffs and movement speed utility could be super useful.
I'd consider Cleric, what with being a healer main and all, but I'm not a fan of the "holy priest/churchy guy" aesthetic. I prefer more Druid or knowledge/sciency based healers (like FF14's Scholar or Sage), and at least what I've seen so far, Cleric seems overly...uh..."holy" aspected. In like...EVERYthing. To the point I can't squint hard enough to see it as something else. XD
He can still gather or loot or whatever other non-combat activities there are. Ride atop a mount while the summon does all the work, things like that.
Obviously if he offers any kind of support or buff or healing or whatever else, then he's entered the combat.
Bad idea, thouse combat restrictions exist for a reason and allowing an archetype to evade them would break things.
One 'main' summon out all the time, with a HUGE spell on a long (2 hour) CD. Pick the pet for the content.
I want to see huge magical avatars of creatures - paragons of animals or divine heralds.
The spells should be buff/debuff and CC.
Ideally, archetypes would apply to the summon, moreso than the summoner.
THIS Picture here sums it all up. -> all of my (?) own Ideas and Wishes, which i hope and wish for, the Summoner will be able to do.
As i intend to play a Necromancer, in Case my edgy Avatar is not hint enough - Please nobody be awkward about this Picture being full of undead Minions.
Don't forget to open directly for Maximum Size. It is quite the cool Picture.
I doubt that Sir Steven and his mighty Crew plan to let all go like this for the Summoner -> or any specific Subclass/Specialisation the Summoner can go - > like for Example Necromancer,
but i would like to be able to choose my Summons. And maybe/also have a few rare, mighty Abilities i can use only once a Day or once every few Days.
I would like to be able to choose, if my undead Summons as a (dark/evil ?)-styled Necromancer who uses undead Bodies and Monstrosities instead of Ghosts, would be :
- > I can choose between if my smaller, minor Summons - are either Zombies - or Skeletons, or both.
-> If they are all Three either Melee Summons, - or Distance/Range-Summons like Skeleton- or Zombie Archers or so,
- or if they are undead Caster Type Summons, - or maybe even Summons with a minor Healing or Buffing Ability, if that wouldn't be to overpowered.
I know Summoners are told to have Three Summons, from the Wiki - but i hope we have a bit of Freedom and Variety to choose what exactly our Summons are. Aside from a Necromancer of Course using either Spirits, or Undead -> and an elemental-styled Summoner of Course Elemental Creatures.
- > Can i for Example - Please have the Ability - to summone ONCE per Day -> a huge, towering Flesh/Grave /Abomination-kind of undead Golem ?
While this Summon would be active -> i would of Course not be able to summon and use my Three normal/base Summons.
And while i hope such a humongous, colossal Golem of an Undead would be very tanky and strong -> meaning he can deal a LOT of Damage with his Strikes and tank an enormous Amount of Damage before he would collapse,
it could be very well balanced as in not being very overpowered -> by for Example making the Golem very slow and not being able to chase and corner Enemy Players easily.
My desired Thought would be, that he would be very powerful in a PvE-kind of Situation -> for Example against a single, stronger PvE-Mob,
or lets for Example against a "Group of Goblins" who try to run around -> he could have an UNBELIEVABLY cool looking Root/Rooting-Ability of "undead, boney Hands/Arms" coming out of the Ground nearby him -> doing a grabbing/pulling Animation around him,
and then all Enemy Mobs and/or Players would be "slowed down" by at least 50% or so - > as long as they are very close and near around him.
Like - > the undead (flesh?) kind of Golem would be very slow - but a huge Threat in very close Quarters and in Melee. Of Course only if you can't keep your Distance.
- > Or i could for Example have One or Two kind of undead Caster Units ("maybe just One") who can also slow a single Opponent/Mob/Player down a bit - with a magic Projectile for a bit. But just in way weaker as the Rooting-Effect of the huge, undead Golem.
And see the other two, huge and humongous Golems in the Background of this Picture ?
The Ones who look like they wear something like "huge Nameplates with lots of Skulls" on them ?
These Ones could be easily be displayed as EVEN WAY BIGGER than the undead Golem in the Middle, behind the Necromancer of this Picture.
Like EASILY double to three Times the Size of the normal, undead Golem.
They could be " SIEGE-Golems " of Necromancer-Origin. Spreading around a poisonous "Necrotic Damage" in the form of a gassy Cloud or something - making Enemy Players standing on Walls to defend against a Siege cough and gasp when being nearby them,
slowing down People's Casting-Time somewhat - or slowing down "Heals" of the affected Enemies as well.
So much Potential here. I am not joking around. I truly mean it.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)