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Lets talk Tanks

ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
edited August 2018 in Ashes of Creation Design
I went through all the wiki information regarding Tanks. to understand their known abilities and subclasses.  The overall goal was to understand the tanks categories of abilities and how many of each and clarify what a sublclass might bring to a player.   Given not all is known, I present my speculation of the subclasses  for your analysis.  So please help me in filling in the TBD's on the subclasses. 
(To prepare for alpha I want to do this for all the 4 Alpha 1 phase 1 classes: Tank, Cleric, Ranger, and Mage , and again for phase 2 of A1 for the other 4)
Note:   While adding a subclass adds abilities, they likely also are of limited nature than compared to if you took the secondary class as a main class, so don't do as well, but may be enough for a player to choose it. What they can do may be the reason they want that subclass!!

Tank:   


*Base abilities* (per wiki)

damage mitigation 2
passive defense 2
active defense 1
gap closure 2 (1 with spear only)
utility  3  (CC break, cover ally, detect threat)
aggro adder 3
focus adder 1
focus use - melee (spear) 1
CC 1 (shield bash)
ranged attack 1 (shield throw/adds aggro)

Total ranged attacks: 1
Total melee attacks: 5 (with melee cc 6)

unsure if "hatred" (aggro) can be a 'ranged taunt'

There are 3 subclass builds possible  (per wiki)

-Evasion tanks  (2 classes)   --best I can determine
-Control tanks  (5 subclasses)   -- best I can determine as a couple were toss ups between shield tanks
-Shield tanks   (1 class)


Further below is based upon description of the second class (logical as possible) 

**Subclass Bard**  (Argent)
Likely to be a "Control" based subclass which further adds to utility control for friend and foe. Specific additional abilities/demerits are unknown (TBD)

**Subclass Cleric** (Paladin)
Likely to be a "Control" based subclass which adds utility healing cababilities for self/friends. Specific additional abilities/demerits are unknown (TBD)

**Subclass fighter** (Knight)
Likely to be a "Control" based subclass over which add more melee weapon use possibilites than base tank.  Specific additional abilities/demerits are unknown (TBD)

**Subclass Mage** (Spellshield)
Likely to be an "evasion" based subclass over which adds to gap closures and ranged attacks reducing reliance on pure melee attacks.  Specific additional abilities/demerits are unknown (TBD)

**Subclass Ranger" (Warden)
Likely to be a "Control" based sublclass specializing in adding more ranged attacks in which the base class does not have with goal of having control of both melee and ranged (limited in scope) areas of the battlefield.  Specific additional abilities/demerits are unknown (TBD)

**Subclass Rogue** (Nightshield)
Likely to be an "evasion" based subclass over which adds stealth and setting/dismantling of traps and utilitarian debuffs (my speculation).  Specific additional abilities/demerits are unknown (TBD)

**Subclass Summoner**
Likely to be a "Control" based subclass over which adds a pet capability to add to dps from an external source than itself in which the tank holds the aggro while the pet dps's or heals (even of tank (??) (depends on summon). Specific additional abilities/demerits are unknown (TBD)

**Subclass Tank**
A further refinement of tank (purest form) .  Additional abilities to control aggro and defend ally's with the goal of being a pure damage absorber for parties and groups over all the other subclasses.  Likely demerit is increased defenses while sacrificing melee damage output more than the other sublcasses.






Comments

  • Before talking tanks, you might want to wait 3-4 seeks till we see what we see in Alpha 1 Phase 1.

    The classes are going to change around a lot as people test things, plus we haven't seen all the abilities, just a sampling.    
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited August 2018
    Can you imagine having a Warden tanking a raid boss with a bow?

    "Hold it still damn you!! I deal melee dmg. Fuck!"
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited August 2018
    Jahlon:   It may be early.   but understanding the theorycraft with the available knowledge helps us refine the subclasses  boundaries of envisioned capabilities of what is possible to see in Alpha 1 phase 1 based on known description of the class

    g1990gaming:  I see warden requiring swapping between weapons frequently.  In a very fast paced pvp situation,   time swapping weapons vs getting an ability off may mean you die.   Price you pay for a couple ranged abilities   for a ranged plate class
  • Who needs a tank when a mage is more than enough ?
  • Who needs a tank when a mage is more than enough ?
    who needs a party when you have a summoner ^^
  • Who needs anybody when you have a bard... *admits secret love for Mr. Bard.* 😄
  • Mindseye said:
    Jahlon:   It may be early.   but understanding the theorycraft with the available knowledge helps us refine the subclasses  boundaries of envisioned capabilities of what is possible to see in Alpha 1 phase 1 based on known description of the class

    Fair point, but I believe what @Jahlon is saying is that any theorycrafting at this point is arguably a waste of time, seeing as we haven't tested the full range of abilities and we're not even certain the ones we have are working as Intrepid intended. In addition, melee is in quite a raw place compared to range so a lot needs to happen before we can really contribute with sound knowledge rather than assumptions.

    Having seen the rapid development of combat from Alpha 0 I agree that we'll be in a far better position to theorycraft in a few weeks time, even though the tank won't be initially included.    

  • nagash said:
    Who needs a tank when a mage is more than enough ?
    who needs a party when you have a summoner ^^
    Which is basically a type of magic, yeah magic is awesome :3
  • Kratz said:
    Mindseye said:
    Jahlon:   It may be early.   but understanding the theorycraft with the available knowledge helps us refine the subclasses  boundaries of envisioned capabilities of what is possible to see in Alpha 1 phase 1 based on known description of the class

    Fair point, but I believe what @Jahlon is saying is that any theorycrafting at this point is arguably a waste of time, seeing as we haven't tested the full range of abilities and we're not even certain the ones we have are working as Intrepid intended. In addition, melee is in quite a raw place compared to range so a lot needs to happen before we can really contribute with sound knowledge rather than assumptions.

    Having seen the rapid development of combat from Alpha 0 I agree that we'll be in a far better position to theorycraft in a few weeks time, even though the tank won't be initially included.    

    Yes, that is what I was saying

    But tanks are included in A1P1.  We get tanks, rangers, clerics and mages.    


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