We've seen that there exists some downtime between pulls in the form of sitting down/resting to regain mana. I'd like to see utility skills that can be activated or passively trigger when resting. This could be something simple like small stat buffs that are unique to each archetype to promote diversity. Alternatively, this could be something where bards shine especially by letting bards perform for the party. The bards could choose from various different strong buffs that would last until the next rest.
But anyway, the thread is already full of good class/archetype utilities and I can't think of much to add.
I do have some ideas for racial utility skills!
Tulnar
Animal call. The Tulnar can choose between a few different howls: A warning, a "come here", a cry for help, and a generic hail. Other Tulnar within a very large area get a ping of your location (on hud and/or map) and the type of animal call that was performed. A toggle should exist to turn this feature on/off.
Something like Tauren plains running. Slower than mounts though. Improved somewhat underground.
Elves
Inheritance. Ability to draw power from the echoes of ancient Pyrian ruins and artifacts scattered around the old borders of the elven empire (and maybe some few farway locations too). First time interaction with a new location grants xp, subsequent visits give a mini "world buff". Additionally, some ancient elven dungeon could require an elf for access.
Some sort of farsight ability. Could be a literal zoom effect, or just straight stolen eagle eye.
Dwarves
Something to do with alcohol? That would probably be shared by both races.
Ability to board down mountain slopes for the Dünir
Swim speed/sailing bonuses for small ships for Niküa?
Can't think anything right now for humans.
But the idea is to have some cool unique abilities that provide benefits in some specific situations. Also, I'd like some racial skills that are especially useful around the starting locations so races feel more at home around them.
Utility skills means many things. These can be both the things that aren't covered by combat, crafting, or mobility, as well as ways to let each archetype have more unique expression that makes them a necessary part of a group.
In some ways, I'm thinking of shallow/linear progression like a "passive 0 to 100 skill" that grants benefits along the way for some of this, like drinking, sleeping, poison resistance, swimming, etc in EQ and that sorta MMO. Some of them may start at a certain point due to character and primary archetype selection, while many may accumulate slowly during gameplay.
- I could see the classic guild/school/trade affinity being used per archetype. Rogues are streetwise and can speak a secret thieves' cant, fighters can get recruited through sellsword contractors, bards have a charismatic presence, clerics can understand and perform various rites, etc. The more time spent with players engaging in these kinds of activities, the more a player can start to learn them too. Perform for a crowd with a bard regularly and charismatic presence may increase, do some work as a sellsword's healer and you'll find contractors going to you directly, etc.
- I could see some bonuses/boosts related to residence, so being in a node of a certain type temporarily bumps some of those "skills" or greatly increase the rate at which they accumulate while in and around their home region, like military "discipline," divine "piety," economic "professionalism" and scientific "academics." As a player accumulates these, they may get better opportunities or be able to participate in greater ways in places where those skills are useful, both at home and out in the field.
-Likewise, Verran people's customs could be learned through participation and residence in those towns, opening up more opportunity to learn about them, or to recall more about them when it comes up in questing and conversation.
Beyond that, I look at things that may be offered by default or through some selection and specialization to each of the different classes. I could probably pick my favorites from the list of what everyone's already posted, but I would emphasize that a theme to each archetype would really be worthwhile. That doesn't mean there can't be a bit of crossover, but that the defaults offered help to carry the party through different challenges with careful application.
- Tanks creating shields and walls and such makes a lot of sense, I could see some traps that require a deployed shield and active blocking at the same time so the tank can block two flame jets so the party can get by. Positional defense, both in places they can get to and places they may not, as well as being able to project and otherwise deploy additional shielding for both combat and trap-clearing purposes.
- Mages would do more of the classics, giving everyone one good leap, slow descent to cut fall damage, water walking to cross a river or investigate some flotsam, etc. They'd also be the best at activating or destroying element-based switches and triggers since they have so many elements readily available.
- Summoners are like the "Boy and his Blob" of the party. You need it, they've got it. Hundred foot ladder? Summoned. Helper monkey to flip that distant switch? Summoned. Likewise they may be very necessary to UNsummon things that don't belong in Verra, and are also in your way.
Etc.
And without going too far on the subject, mobility utility. Fighters throwing a harpoon and tying it down to make a zipline, or if the rope was knotted it may be climbable. Tanks can summon a shield sled for getting down a steep incline. Mage can blink through those bars and give those spells mentioned above. Summoner Voltrons everyone's mounts into a party bus. Ranger can "spot a path" that players can temporarily climb. Rogues can "spot a path" that other players can follow for a temporary stealth buff.
well lock picking could be a skill for rogues. If rogue succeeds then door opens quietley and does not trigger traps. Otherwise have to break down door possibley alerting mobs or triggering trap. Just to make thing interesting not necessarily for the purpose of killing the party.
One hunter ability in World of Warcraft that had a very hig value is the flare ability really useful ability to reveal rogues and druids with stealth abilities would could also be used in dungeouns (theoretically speaking pvp only abiltiy in WoW) to reveal secret doors panels invisible monsters. Actually clerica could be given a similar ability called reveal basicall spell based flare.
Mages in WoW had magical food this ability is appropriate for clerics and mages that was kind of a treat but got nerfed.
Speed boosts really useful in PvP.
Clairvoyance ability for preists to see if mobs have a special ability or item.
Not really an ability but having Open world Markers would be pretty cool
Sometimes while you are out dungeouneering gear breaks cause of durabilty. So if there were toons with blacksmith ability and magical portable anvil would be pretty cool. So professions could be really utile in dungeouns, like engineering.
Jumping. I grew up on platformers and cant stop loving it. Every class is gonna jump. Every race is gonna jump. If i could sacrifice DPS for jumping height, i would do it 100% of the time. Please do jumping right. Ask yourself, is it necessary to have a jump button?
* evil grin *
Imagine having an AoE-Effect of some kind of " GRAVITY-Magic ", that makes jumping around impossible for up to 20 Seconds or above.
Would be awesome in MASS Battles. Reducing an absolute Hell of Frames for both Eyes and Computer and prevent Monkey- and/or Bunny-jumping in important Moments of Battle.
A lot of people are talking about using light, darkness and general vision effects. This is a great idea if it can be used with this unreal engine 5. Personally I like the idea of utilizing vision as a strategic gameplay element.
Things like smoke bombs, invisibility spells/cloaks/potions, illusions, clouds of fog, etc. Any way that can be used to conceal/obfuscate players when farming, running caravans, during combat, or war.
Things like levitate or grappling hooks can be fun.
I’d say anything you can do to make defending/attacking caravans fun is good.
As cool as it is, I don't think Intrepids gonna do a lot with light and darkness in the literal sense.
I think too many people can deal with it. Playing where you can't see really seems to rub people the wrong way. I kind of get it, but it's one of those things, it might not be cozy comfortable, but it could add so much to the game.
There's also the factor that lighting which isn't baked into the game is SUPER resource intensive for any card not running with raytracing support. Even with RTX it's resource intensive. And if it's going to be a mechanic like we want, it can't be just an option you can turn on and off, it has to apply to everyone.
When I think about utility skills I imagen skills that help you traverse difficult terrain or move through dungeons and less combat utilities like camouflage. Pokemon comes to mind with it's "Rocksmash" or "Strenght".
And "Open Lock" and "Disable Device" from Pathfinder are in this category.
Down below is a list of 8 abilities I would put in this category. In my opinion every utility skills should have two classes(Archetypes), to not punish small groups or groups of the same class to harshly, but also no more then two, to make it still matter. And if you still missing a player for the job there should be expensive one time use alchemical items, that can be crafted, in case of emergancies.
- Open Lock: Is used to open locked doors and treasure chests.
- Disable Device: Is used to disable all kinds of traps. (I hope this game makes use of traps, just like DDO does. Deadly traps every where. You are not welcome!)
- Trace Tracks: Is used to discover hiden tracks that guide you to secret stashes and hiden entrances
- Dispel Illusion: Is used to discover secrets that are hidden through magic
- Jump: (like the spell) Is used to make it easy to traverse and lets you get to places that would be impossible to get to otherwise (exept you are a ranger I guess)
- Shatter Debris: Is used to clear blocked tunnels or buried objects
- Heavy lifting: Is used to move heavy objects out of the way, or in the way of others. And to use all those pesky, old, rusty leavers which every dungeon is cluttered with
- Light: Is used to light up really dark places, make it easy to see in dim areas, let very rare cave flower bloom, to make them collecable or make some fance morse messages from one hill to the next ( I love some competent devs that can really uttilize pitch darkness in their games)
I would like to see a variety of traversal skills that allow you to skillfully move around the environment in more efficient ways.
Based on the linked vid, some key parts of what makes fun movement involve:
1. having a variety of movement skill options
2. the presence of environmental factors
3. skillful timing
4. building up and maintaining momentum
5. calculating trajectories
6. having reactive physics.
I think it would be great to have traversal utility skills that utilize these aspects to make for fun travel around Verra:
A) Environment- Utility skills that allow you to take advantage of the environment. This could be things built into the environment itself, that require players to learn about in order to maximize efficiency, such as risky routes like tight turns that can shave off some travel time as you move toward your end destination, or hidden shortcuts around the map, or even a variety of static tools such as ziplines, shooting youself out of a cannon, launching yourself off a catapult, etc., or maybe triggered events that can help you get somewhere faster like triggering a stampede or something where you could ride creatures to get somewhere faster or through a unique route. Another type of environmtal factor could also be specific contextual ways to interact with things in the environment, such as swimming in water, running on land, or being able to do a special leap at the edge of a cliff, grinding down narrow poles, climbing up mountains, shield-surfing down steep hills, etc. These all have there own situational use-cases, pros and cons, and can add to the depth of traversal by learning the environment and its unique interactions. Assasins Creed is a good series to look to in terms of interesting environmental mastery.
B- Timings- Having traversal utility skills that reward good timing can also make them more satisfying to use. This could naturally be a part of managing your movement around the world and moving more efficiently, such as the timing of choosing when to which skills, and reacting to those situations like timing a jump at the edge of a cliff. It could also be built into the skill itself such as having to execute a specific timing input to get the most out of a skill when its used.
C) Momentum- Maintaining momentum is one of the most satisfying aspects of traversal imo and should be a big part of traveling around the world and using traversal utility skills. Your utility skills should reward you for maintaining momentum and speed as you move, such as getting faster the longer you are moving or getting boosts of speed when you are moving at top speed for a long period of time.
D) Trajectories- Calculating trajectories is a very fun part of moving around and having utility skills that reward that would be very fun. If you glide off a mountain you should be rewarded for skimming the ground or if you barely avoid a big structure in the way by skimming the edge of the surface as you glide past. This efficient and risky movement should be encouraged and rewarded to make for more satisfying ways of planning the trajectories that you want to take as you move. There could be utility skills on land and air mounts that allow you to do this such as a "drift" kind of like in mario kart that could help navigate these tighter angles. There could also maybe be other benefits to skimming surfaces of the terrain as fast speeds, such as speed boosts, or maybe sparks or something that can damage pursuiting players, or maybe even cool gatherables that you can scrape off the mountain side, or maybe a way of enchanting a weapon by scraping it along some kind of unique material at fast speed. Just some random ideas related to the premise.
E) physics- Physics are fun and add complexity to skills. Having a lot of reactivity with the physics between skills and the environment as you move around can create more dynamic and fun traversal.
F) Options- as usual, having a lot of utility options for skill expression and creativity adds to the fun.
2. Climbing Utility
Climbing is technically a type of traversal skill, but offers its own unique experience because it isnt usually centered around traveling around the map at high speeds. Therefore I think a different approach might be best to keep climbing engaging and fun while you are slogging up a cliff. Here are a couple case studies on fun climbing mechanics that could help generate ideas for possible climbing related utility-skills that could be really fun if adapted into AOC.
When I think of combat utility skills I think of a variety of different things. I think of utility skills related to:
1. distance management through repositioning/space control
2. health and mana regen
3. environmental contextual attacks/interactions
4. Environmental hazards/factors
5. Unique enemy interactions
A) Space control- I think it is important to have a lot of utility skills relating to pushing the enemy away or pulling them in closer
Repositioning- Its also important to have plenty of utility for moving and reposition during combat to better manage your distance. Mobility options make for fun utility skills.
C) Health and mana regen- Having utility to skillfully sustain health and mana is very important for combat
D) Environmental skills- It could be fun to have utility combat skills that interact with the environmnet contextually, such as spartan kicking someone off a cliff or jumping on someones back who is below you.
E) Environmental Hazards/factors- Having utility tools that are built into the environment itself that allow for combat mastery and enable you to more efficiently deal with enemies, can make for more a more interesting world and more dynamic gameplay. You should be rewarded if you are familiar with the environment and its tools and encouraged to observe and learn how you can use it to your advantage for both traversal and for combat. This is something that the Hitman series does really well and can add a lot of depth to a game.
F) Unique enemy interactions- It would be cool if there were unique mechanics you could learn about enemies that could be used for utility purposes. An example could be a rhino that can get its horn stuck if you dodge its charge, or bat enemies that are scared of light and fly away, or goblins that run away or call for backup if a big ogre was lured in nearby, etc. These types of unique mechanics, interactions, and behaviors could give enemies a lot more personality, its also rewards observant players who are able to learn and leverage these mechanics, and it is also more immersive and interesting especially if these types of enemy interactions and behaviors are inspired by the lore in-game and could also be triggered by changes within the different story arcs or events in the world (such as new rivalries between different enemies creating different reactive behaviors). These can contribute to creating more opportunities for utility benefits to the players who take advantage of these unique mechanics.
4. Utility when interacting with Npcs
Im not sure how in-depth you will be able to interact with lore characters and npcs in Ashes, but utility skills could be used to enhance these interactions to make them more fun and interesting.
Things like class specific utility skills that can help specific classes deal with specific problems they may encounter when dealing with npcs. This could be mainly useful during questing, story arcs, and economic activities involving npc gameplay. Here are a few ideas:
- Maybe certain classes could interact better with certain npcs to give them more options for solving certain questing problems (such as the utility of a rogue getting access to a unique location/item from the thieves guild that the player could use to unlock a different quest path)
- Certain classes could encourage more dialogue options from npcs (maybe this is Bard utility, or maybe different classes could do this for different types of npcs based on the traits, such as one npc being more vulnerable to intimidation by a tank, and another npc more susceptible to being swayed by a bard's reasoning.)
- this could be utility skills that allow rogues to pickpocket, or bards to haggle down prices from an npcs vendor
- It could be utility skills that allow one class to confuse/distract npcs
- etc.
5. Discovery Utility
Discovery is a great opportunity to introduce some utility skills as well.
Utility skills that can help with solving puzzles in the world. This could even be combat skills that are dual-purposed as puzzle solving mechanics as well (such as a mage fireball that can also activate a specific kind of button in a puzzle). Its always really fun when a group needs to figure out what ability combo needs to be done to solve some kind of puzzle or activate some kind of secret entrance.
- Other utility skills that reveal secret areas can also be fun as well
I really encourage you to check out Crosscode and how genius the design is for the use of utility skills in the normal puzzles and the jumping puzzles. You were really rewarded for knowing how your combat mechanics interact with each other, different objects, and the environment, because a lot of puzzles test your knowledge of these interactions. The jumping puzzles were especially fun because unlike what normal traversal around the world would look like, the jumping puzzles auto-jumped for you when running toward the edge so you can focus less on the jumping execution and more on solving the well-made jumping puzzle itself.
This analysis breaks down some aspects of these jump puzzles. On top of this, I think its worth looking at the various puzzle designs and the utility aspects that played a role in making them more fun.
Movement abilities. Not teleports persay, but little skills and abilities that help traverse the map.
Rather than mounting up and pressing W.
Could even make them available only outside of combat, so as not to effect balance.
I'll give some examples, sliding down slopes and using the momentum to stay airborne (glider for example) grappling hooks etc.
Anything that takes away the monotony of traveling, something active to do. Of course longer distances would still be traversed with mounts as it's quicker. But little tricks and skills that help you move around quicker are always incredibly fun and engaging somehow. Discovery of movement tech etc.
But also things like Prestidigitation from DnD. But this would require armour etc getting dirty
And there's a lot more examples but! I suppose you could summarize it as such. Ways to interact with the world that aren't combat related.
Resurrection or reviving fallen allies, crucial in high-stakes PvE content like raids or challenging group events. Could also be useful in large scale PVP encounters instead of running back from a respawn point and/or potential for enemy to spawn camp.
I would like classes that do not have invisibility to have the opportunity to upgrade (suppose) herbalism to the maximum level so that the ability to "merge with nature" (pretend to be a bush) appears... Or when using an object... to set up an ambush or to avoid an enemy who hasn't noticed you yet.
-If you have an leading position in our guild it would be great to have (for others)an short area teleport ability to your position so you could organise/control a raids movement.
-or you could summon an Pillar of light at your position visible from an far distant (for friends/group members/ally only) so they can find you easyer in this fast area.
-an magic skill to open secret path networks in your guilds controlled terretory to flee/surprise attack enemys
- Please do not add any skills that provide a big buff for a single target. WoW has an ability that increases 1 person's attack speed by a substantial amount and I have to be the one to give it out. I get so much drama over it. My close friends get upset when I suddenly stop giving it to them after a guild officer has told me to give it to another guild member. I get private messages asking for it all the time. The officers get mad at me when I don't give it to the person they told me to put it on. It's absolute torture and I wish they would just take away that utility from me, even if it's a nerf.
- Don't have archtypes that exclusively have a particular utility skill. Make sure at least a few archtypes gain access to it, even if it's slightly altered. Otherwise it will be "bring the class" rather than "bring the player". It's fun to bring something unique to a raid, but it's not fun when a raid REQUIRES certain utility skills for the a boss to be killed. This is the generation of min-maxing, unlike it was in the past and people WILL enforce these things.
Good Utility Skills:
- Raid wide attack speed increase (makes you really feel like your blasting)
- Raid wide movement speed increase (good for times when people need to quickly reposition in a fight)
- Damage reduction in a set area
- Damage/speed buff in a set area
- Battle Rez
- Friendly Grips (bring them to you)
- Friendly swap of position or health
Great topic! There are many important aspects of utility spells, most of which have been covered as far as I've read through these comments.
For me, the most important impact of utility spells is the invitation to take your time within a certain scenario (I guess there are more fast paced scenarios which could use some utility as well but those are personally less intriguing to me unless I'm within a well oiled machine of friends who have taken specific compositions to a scenario).
Another way to say this is that a utility spell or set of utility spells- from an individual player or your party- essentially temporarily changes the way you approach playing the game. It is no longer about killing as many enemies as quickly and painlessly as possible. It is about safe traversal (temporary group stealth), quick traversal (either a group teleport or something like a temporary earth bridge to cross from one outcropping to another), unearthing mysterious loot (a treasure finder of sorts, perhaps a rogue thing or a bard thing), finding the torn journal page to complete your historical research, setting traps to impede the progress of a caravan, sending out a massive signal flare with a lasting beacon that give party members a clearer indication of a significant point of interest.
The list of course goes on, but I feel these examples either further color/enrich the default gameplay loops we're aware of or introduce new fun conditions to meet/challenges to overcome.
Just as a side note, my absolutely favorite utility spell is the hunter spell from WoW called Eyes of the Beast or something like that, where you can see through the eyes of your pet at reduced threat from aggressive enemies. Perhaps the pet can camouflage as well for safer scouting than if the player character were taking the risk!
Visible Epic "Holy Sheetrock" .01% Crit animation, as it's own skill that replaces another. Limited by circumstances. Also a curse that makes said skill backfire.
Growable affinities related to the power of different branches of augments, scalable by updates. Affinity rises the more you use the related skills. Hidden quests might allow for extra augment branches by editing affinity from 0 to 1.
On the previous note, stealth/detection-based affinities would be 100% the coolest MMO Feature I can think of at this moment.
Elemental affinities could be used to walk freely through areas filled with that element. For example, a low-level fire-affinity could walk through a burning house, and a mid-tier poison affinity could walk through the blooming poison flower field.
To this point, opposing elemental affinities could use their skills to clear the elemental magic of that area, making others free to walk around. This isn't limited only to physical movement, but also to visibility and other status debuffs. Some players might get lucky and complete a quest through an area that looks inhospitable but has a useless debuff.
Affinity-based detects, for example if you're related to the "dragon race" in update 3 and there's a dragon amulet in the spawn area in alpha 2 but nobody can see it until someone with dragon affinity comes and you're the first and can then unlock the dragon race questline.
Light spells are always great from a beauty perspective, but I prefer to play through on high brightness settings as I have ADHD and a torch is one less thing to worry about.
Instead of a dedicated house in update 9, players could have their own "worldspace granted by the phoenix of creation" and go into their own, personal, small world-space that's the size of a living room to store their stuff. *goosebumps* it could grow based on a character's affinities
Carving skills can be upgradeable. I actually prefer the idea of walking alongside hunters and actually upgrading your loot rate from downed enemies.
I enjoy pickpocketing, but not in an MMO.
For summoner class specifically, I would love to have a big "summon" that's actually tons of tiny summons. It just makes sense to me.
Bounce & Slide. I'm a Monster Hunter insect glaive/ dual blades main, and basically love to jump around and dodge incoming attacks. It would really help rogue classes and others if they could move vertically as well as horizontally. I say this because it would be awesome to see a rogue being chased by 15 players, including other rogues, and get away back to a safe haven- without a mount.
Pocket Space. Slide into the void, hidden from all players, can't be seen unless run into. Then the magic pops you out to stabilize.
Invisibility potions / skills.
Assassination skills that give more damage out of invisibility.
Tracking would be nice as long as it has a high chance of failing, and can only be used so far. I also say this with the following thought, only against caravans as having 20 players chase one seems like a death sentence.
Most games don't let you trip properly. If you have a consumable thing that causes hallucinations and more for the character, it would be pretty awesome as no other game can incorporate that right at all. One example would be causing it to randomly backfire your base class-skills up until your class promotion.
Water Wall Siege Ability. Instead of using a siege summon to cross through the nearby fortress, take 8 mages to create a localized barrier that displaces water. Take your caravan and go through the bottom of the ocean to get to your destination. Time-limited by mana, mana potions allowed. I also, while I'm thinking about it, would recommend a change to the caravan water structure as it looks like a very old design. If you change the look of the bottom of the caravan to be rounded from the getgo and make the sides origami-flip outwards for a larger platform on top, and have a player inside the caravan operating the boats "gear-crank operated water-wheels" then it would be much more immersive. The more folds the more authentic. I recommend watching Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's Caravan Departure. You guys nailed the caravan itself, but it really doesn't transition to the water well. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F49JC9-GCd8
Physical traps. If these could be combined with rune scrolls I'd be laughing so hard at the player-created content. The drawback would be that if the enemies disable the physical trap they'd also be gaining a free rune scroll.
Random Boulders. Fighters can knock them into opponents, mages can chip them into an aoe attack, rogues can quick hide by jumping over them, tanks can hit them in front of an ally to shield, summoners can turn them into a golem, etc. There's a lot you can do with a random boulder
"Idle Skill." Allows the character to interact with the environment based on their first class, with special interactions per environmental object for a limited number of promoted classes. For example, playing with beachside pebbles or leaning on a tree. Pretending to cliff dive. Etc. Best used with voice-overs.
Parkour utility skill. All it does is make the character do cool flips whenever it lands.
Telescope magic utiltiy skill. I'm not sure how well this would run in terms of loading and available RAM, but it would be a tool that would make exploring Verra's enormous size a tad* bit easier.
Disco Ashes. Customize how your ashes fall.
Weapon-based "show-off" skill.
A system where a player can give you permission to tp them, and you can tp them above a raging volcano. Long cooldown and limited by friendlies in the immediate area.
Wind-based parkour. For example, if a player teleports on top of a floating island in the middle of a volcano, and has to get to the outer edge. It requires specific skills and timing, but it is off by about three feet unless you time it... with the wind.
Mind Control. Speak enough gibberish at an NPC to get them to do your bidding. However, you can only control one aspect of their lives. For example, you can tell an npc to go fight x, x being whoever you want. Or you could tell the npc to give money made to X individual. Or the npc can only use Animal Husbandry on X species. But it's specific to the character mind control is used, it can only be used by one person, and it's set based on a random facet of the npc. Making mind-control useful albeit limited. Can be magical AND bard/rogue-related both.
Rope drop, rope cut. Super useful in a siege- for both sides.
Catapulting players as a siegeworks.
I'll use featherfall as a passive equip, but never as a spell. Generally in any game I play it's much more worth it to take the fall damage and recover. You also feel cooler. "Timed descents" are a tradition amongst gamers.
Shovel as a battlehammer. Whack people with shovels. Skill with extra damage if you use shovels. More Gag weapons
I can never get enough of gag bosses. One of the reasons I feel the Monster Hunter franchise has gone downhill recently is their lack of them. One of the best monsters was the one that blinded, stunned, and poisoned you right before playing dead, yelling "Psych!" and taking away massive amounts of health from all nearby players. It's fun because you can laugh at your friends and challenging enough to present an actual challenge to gamers. No matter if you're hard to hit, if the animations give different negative statuses they can plague a group of healers/supports that only came prepared for 8x specific debuffs. One cool thing you can tie this into is the idea that a creation affinity has affinity to all of the other affinities, while a destruction affinity is the absence of affinities. So the creation boss is loaded with possible buffs and debuffs, while the destruction boss takes away all of the players' affinities entirely.
I would love a hidden skill combo where a siren does a catwalk and a bard whistles. Just lol yes.
Debuff Stares. If a player has a significantly higher level than a mob he can stare at them and they just run away. Other stares can exist too, they're just too funny. This would also be great for roleplay purposes.
The most pointless utility skill ever but also the best. Rocket: transforms the player into a human rocket, launching the player to the top of the world. This skill only works properly if you can't use gliders or gliding mounts. But once the legendary flying mounts come out, their owners could rocket and actually be caught in air and fly around. Cool special gag idea.
Smoke bombs/smoke. If you could augment the smoke itself I'd be laughing. "Flammable smoke, poison smoke, rainbow smoke, hallucinogen smoke, windy smoke (spreads further), dookie smoke..."
I much prefer potions over food. The less bars I'm constantly having to juggle, the better. The more stat bonuses the better, by far, but they should affect a finite number of things. This might be because I have ADHD, but I find it allows me the most hype/addicted mindset to the game itself.
Magical Orbs that do random things. Like plug it into the wall slot and it makes the skeletal minions start dancing. Ancient Wizard had weird taste.
Material-based tax bonuses. For example, you pay less to the kingdom if you pay in cheese.
You might look at Star Wars: The Old Republic's healing idles with Cntrl+C in-game to see the Cartel Collection. You can watch all of them there for free without buying so that you are tempted to buy. Some of them are super stupid but others make sense. The scoundrel gambling on the ground, for example.
Speaking of, mobile game sets. So you can play cards in the wild until someone else spawns 50 minions on top of you. But it was the most epic game of "spoons on the side of a cliff" before it ended.
I've been thinking about this for a bit too long, so I'll be off for a while. Might come back and post again as more ideas flow. Gotta cap myself
What utility skills do you feel are most important? Are there certain scenarios that should require specific ones?
The utility skills that are most important are those that allow the player to interact with the world in a unique way and to feel somewhere useful and special.
Which shows that the choice of one's class, political affiliation or specialization have a real positive and fun impact on one's gameplay and gaming experience.
Which makes a group of players say "I'm happy to have a mage on my team because he was able to decipher his runes to solve this puzzle"
Taking a shortcut, gaining a tactical advantage in an encounter, accessing unique and secret locations are all ways to make utility skills fun.
The second most important are those which are linked to the gameplay of the class itself, and which can be useful in combat.
I can take the example of rogue on wow with its ability to redirect the aggro of mobs on tanks during its burst phases, lockpicking obviously too.
I think taking inspiration from paper role-playing games would be a good idea. And that a healthy philosophy to adopt would rather be to build the world by thinking about utility skills rather than creating utility skills in the world after its creation. Because to be interesting, the world design and game design of the locations should take these skills into account to create curiosity, moments of contemplation, and reward the ingenuity of the players.
Another game that pushed this was Destiny 2 at one time with community challenges and puzzles.
Wildstar also with an implementation of interesting utility skills which allowed you to open hidden paths or solve puzzles.
Afterwards I have always loved puzzles so well...
Are there any situations where they should necessarily be used? In the vast majority of cases, no. and I'm talking about obligation. But for a few exceptions, I think it can be interesting to have certain places requiring you to use utility skills from several classes combined to access something or solve something as a team. Which would require a particular attraction for a class or a profession.
Skill Name: "Shhh..." Class: Ranger, Rogue, Bard (?) Description: Within a 100-meter radius, this ability allows you to perceive all player-related sound effects, such as footsteps and spells being cast. An indicator on the minimap displays the approximate source of the sound in a ~90-degree cone. This applies to all players, irrespective of whether they are party members, emphasizing the need for coordination in group situations.
Animation: When used alone, the character assumes a kneeling position. In a group setting, the user initiates the "Shhh..." sound effect while kneeling, accompanied by hand gestures encouraging nearby allies to also remain still.
Notes: While applicable in cities, caution is advised due to the potential risk of ear damage from multiple amplified sound effects.
Also, would be funny, if already in the "listening stance," users may pick up on others using the "Shhh..." sound effect while casting it in your listening range.
Backend Implementation: From a technical standpoint, this spell functions as a switch, turning off the proximity based sound effect reduction within a 100-meter radius until the character resumes movement.
One cool thing would be a curse augment that reverses damage/healing in sieges but takes healing and damage from all nearby sources including both allies and enemies… It would have a recognizable aura as well.
Another thing I thought of is that it would be super cool to have talisman/playing cards as a weapons for mages and/or summoners
Also, cool hair is a must. “Cool hair guy” is one of the best memes to this day. Also leather pants. (YGOTAS)
Crossing my fingers dwarves have a racial tanking attribute and a tiny hitbox
As a Utiltarian Zealot, I've taken to time to actually deeply think about this question and answer it properly in the question format it has been asked first.
Ironically Palworld has actual amazing movement, between it's slides, climbing, gliding, and grapple gun. All of those I consider movement utility.
Next Pals use of Pals have great homestead utility - fires for cooking, water for plants, generating electricity etc.
Now onto combat utility -
From WoW Classes;
Hunter - Flare, Traps, Aspects (ranger is only missing flare to detect stealth)
Warrior - Shouts
Shamans - Totems such as sentry totem which was actually useful in situations.
Druids - Transformations
From GW2;
Engineer - Almost everything in the kit and class is a utility ability and damage ability which makes the engineer awesome.
Elementalist - Conjurations
Mesmer - Shatters having different effects
Warrior - Banners
Ranger - traps, the warhorn off hand, sigils, etc.
From ESO;
Nightblade - Shade, Fear Trap
Sorc - oldschool overload were you could load it up with caltrops, flare, etc
Darkfall Unholy Wars:
There was a waterbowl spell that kept you CC'd in a circle where it pretty much created a mini dueling arena.
A utility as I understand it is more of a tool than a direct damage ability so thats where I tried to keep it here. There are many more I need to come back to.
Swap Places: Tanks can switch places with party members, putting themselves in danger to save others. This would be an ideal ability for tanks, as it also redirects aggro towards them, forcing mobs and players to target the tank instead.
Eye Scout (placeholder name): Summoners summon an eye that can fly ahead and scout, similar to the Ogre-Mage ability in Warcraft 2.
Raven Couriers: Rangers can send ravens to deliver quests and perform remote tasks.
Mana Transfer: Transfer mana between yourself and your target, aiding casters who have run out of mana.
Item Burial: Have stashes of items scattered around for storage. Bury extra loot if your inventory is full and retrieve it later. Stash consumables near dungeons for future use. If your caravan is destroyed but attackers are killed, bury crates and loot in the woods for safekeeping.
PvE means: A handful of coins and a bag of boredom.
Some more dark, mischevious utility skills for players who enjoy them
Throwing Snowballs
Sparta Kick with heavy knockback
When you use sparta kick on a giant you kick them in the balls
Ranger speed buff for kiting vs. melee
Streaming Identifier Pet: Pet that identifies streamers. While it wouldn't identify all streamers, it would allow for better management of streaming guild secrets. Example is a Floating Eyeball.
Absolutely Brutal Carving Animation. Cosmetic?
Skelepathy- Necro skill for mind controlling skeletons outside the user's summons
Burn Corpse - makes corpses unidentifiable
Call of the Woods: Summon a squirrel to jump at the enemy's face
Tiny hole in a building that you have to fit an arrow in perfectly to mark "the crystal" and summon new content.
Area where you can only access the content by using a guillotine on yourself
Mentioned this before somewhere, but a skill that rockets you in the air 10000 feet
A portal that you can summon like other portals but when anyone walks in they get teleported 10000 feet. Useful for solo players for tricking 1v15s into a state where everyone dies. Only useful if players can summon fast travel portals that take a while and have run away first. Former skill would have a shorter casting time than the latter.
Lighting caravans on fire for slow sustained damage (Zelda: Twilight Princess reference)
Goblin raiders that use the above skill.
Snakes that can fall out of trees.
Spider/Ant forest where they slowly circle the player. Fire AOE skill required.
High level teleportaion mage Banishment skill that teleports an enemy X meters away from the fight. Similar to the bard skill that was showed off but only on a single opponent and sudden instead of over time.
Different Siege summons based on territory. Example: Summon a Megalodon when attacking a sea base. Summon a Giant Frost Troll in snowy regions, a fat fire lizard in volcano areas, etc.
Death Field ability: Necro AoE skill that can be used against an entire group that drains HP in 3 bursts and gives you health back. Needed for the next section.
Respawnable npcs named "Random Bystander". This is a skill that allows players to achieve maximum debauchery.
Mortar skill that uses 3 interposed portals and a kit. Wide area. Spits stalagmites. Extremely expensive.
Skill: Swiping National Pastries. It takes stealing sweetrolls in skyrim to the next level. Summons guards but they're much more lax. Useful for going ham in cities as a heavily roleplaying thief.
Death touch raid boss skill. Immediately KO's aggroed player. Hehe.
Brewer as an augment for alchemy. Basically make pills but instead of pill form they're beverages. Or potions but beer. Can be mixed with crazy pills to make various levels of in-game drugs.
Draught of Death: Drinking causes death
Random taunts: Slapping the princess, throwing a pink bunny at a face, setting a pitfall trap and laughing, giving a jar of pee as lemonade, throwing splatter-veggies and fruits, etc. Various way to torque npcs and make them mad outside of the normal skills.
Running super obvious dagger backstab skewer: Distance requirement, only works if you're facing an opponent's back. Hits bosses in the butt. Causes an auto-crit. Long cooldown. For reference, watch That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime. It's in the beginning right before he transmogs. This is one of the funniest, well-done animations I've ever seen. Highly highly highly recommend as an optional, pseudo-secret assassin augment.
Not sure if this falls into this category, but a game game skill I would like to be able to achieve is "Purge" Obtained through PvP or other questline. Giving people a utility to use once every 10:00 minutes for a stun or root break.
For a rogue definitely Lockpicking and climb
Having areas on a castle that a rogue could climb up was epic in DAoC
It added a whole new dynamic than just standing on your walls and firing down.
TwitchTV Streamer: The Hidden Dagger Inn Saturday's 5:00 PM Cst And
Wednesday's at 7:00 PM Cst
I've had the idea for last two years about something very related to utility skills - in the truth, it was more about crafting but today I read about Utility and I think utility fits as well. I believe community and devs will find the best kind of utility skills, that's minor thing. My idea however would be a bit different.
So most of the players try to get some kind of meta builds. In every MMO expansions players look for new meta skills which make 2% more damage, even they don't have enough skills to correctly implement the proper rotation or combo. I have always tried to find some new niche builds, for example support class which increases dps of others in the same group. In WoW it worked as long as guild master planned ahead and listened to suggestions. But in random groups most people complained why I have lower healing than others, blablabla. In Warhammer Online my shaman always got best loot by playing support role. Others were surprised that I make low damage, low healing and always get top gear loot (they didn't see my group was always top in dps) - devs really supported unique builds. That was cool, until the game was shut down.
But I would like to play the game which goes even a bit further than that. What we have now? Everyone can maximize: 1. combat skills, 2. crafting skills, 3. my fresh idea (inspired by this post) - utility skills. And now the question - what if I can distribute 90 points to each, and then I have to decide what I am specialized in and get another 10 points to distribute where I want?
Example 1: I want to have meta dps build. I distribute 90 points in warrior dps tree, I distribute 90 points in crafting tree... and maybe 90 points in utility skills - I've never seen any game like that, but maybe that would be interesting? And when I reach max level I have another 10 points to distribute. So obviously I put all 10 points in dps - now I am mega-uber-hiper-big-dick dps warrior with 5cm longer... sword.
Example 2: I am bored of doing raids if I am forced to get highest dps, optimize my rotation, etc... frustrating. In exchange I would like to be useful different way - for example by some kind of utility skill (like in most rpg systems - D&D, Warhammer, whatever). So I have 90 points in my dps tree, 90 points in crafting tree (alchemy, whatever), 90 points in utility skills. And my last 10 points I put into very specialized utility skills - like unlocking the last door behind last boss with extra loot, opening 30 minutes shortcut in 3 hours long dungeon. So yes, I will not do as much damage as others but I maybe I can be invited to the raids to get these UNIQUE LOOT (it doesn't need to be better than last boss loot - but unique any other way), or maybe make the same raid faster (useful if you do it for 100 time).
Example 3: I want to be known as one of the best crafters in the game. So i get my 90 points in healing tree (let's say I am healer), 90 points in utility (like everyone), and 90 points in Blacksmithing. Now I am as good Blacksmith like any other player who has access to the best crafting stations in the biggest cities. But I'd like to spend my last 10 points in Blacksmithing and be able to make armor 5 points better than anybody else or add some visual feature and my signature. Or maybe I could have ability to improve existing armor by these 5 points? Everyone would respect the best crafter in the game... meta dps dudes would love to have slightly better axe or slightly more durable armor, meta healers would love to have slightly better staff, etc. But how to get invitation to raids if you do less healing than others? Maybe at the end of some of the dungeon we could have unique forge (different than in the biggest cities), where the fresh loot can be improved by these crafters - adding slightly to the stats?
That's just basic thought. I have ton of ideas and connections on how to make every class, every build, every crafter different and unique. Even fisherman could have spend that 10 extra points to get ability to dig for better worms which would allow him to catch unique fish - which could be used for better Cooking (meta) dishes and their scales could be used for better armor (by the meta-Blacksmith, lol). Whole new slightly improvement to economy of each class/crafter.
Imagine the world where you are invited to the raid not because you can make 2% more damage than others but you can be equally useful for the group.
Death Gates (Wheel of Time). Basically teleportation classes in that series got super over-powered by the end. In the series, the enemy units of darkness and corruption could not go through the portals. Therefore, they would link up several portals, make them start spinning, and send them off into the opposing army, causing massive disruption and destruction.
Another application was a "summon source"-like siege ability where they summoned a giant gate thousands of feet wide onto a battlefield. The other end of the gate was inside a volcano. You can imagine the destruction. This would be a 100-mage classes plus type siege ability lol
I think native languages of the races, being a utility skill in opening up special dialogue options that could be beneficial.
E.g. You are an Orc, and come across an Org in a dungeon, being able to speak Orcish opens up a secret passage, or invites the NPC to assist you in a boss battle, etc
I also like utility skills linked to professions, e.g. being a high skilled Fisher may let you make special lures, or able to fish up non-fish goodies, etc. or maybe have a passive visual indicator on currents in rivers for example.
Comments
But anyway, the thread is already full of good class/archetype utilities and I can't think of much to add.
I do have some ideas for racial utility skills!
Tulnar
Elves
Dwarves
Can't think anything right now for humans.
But the idea is to have some cool unique abilities that provide benefits in some specific situations. Also, I'd like some racial skills that are especially useful around the starting locations so races feel more at home around them.
In some ways, I'm thinking of shallow/linear progression like a "passive 0 to 100 skill" that grants benefits along the way for some of this, like drinking, sleeping, poison resistance, swimming, etc in EQ and that sorta MMO. Some of them may start at a certain point due to character and primary archetype selection, while many may accumulate slowly during gameplay.
- I could see the classic guild/school/trade affinity being used per archetype. Rogues are streetwise and can speak a secret thieves' cant, fighters can get recruited through sellsword contractors, bards have a charismatic presence, clerics can understand and perform various rites, etc. The more time spent with players engaging in these kinds of activities, the more a player can start to learn them too. Perform for a crowd with a bard regularly and charismatic presence may increase, do some work as a sellsword's healer and you'll find contractors going to you directly, etc.
- I could see some bonuses/boosts related to residence, so being in a node of a certain type temporarily bumps some of those "skills" or greatly increase the rate at which they accumulate while in and around their home region, like military "discipline," divine "piety," economic "professionalism" and scientific "academics." As a player accumulates these, they may get better opportunities or be able to participate in greater ways in places where those skills are useful, both at home and out in the field.
-Likewise, Verran people's customs could be learned through participation and residence in those towns, opening up more opportunity to learn about them, or to recall more about them when it comes up in questing and conversation.
Beyond that, I look at things that may be offered by default or through some selection and specialization to each of the different classes. I could probably pick my favorites from the list of what everyone's already posted, but I would emphasize that a theme to each archetype would really be worthwhile. That doesn't mean there can't be a bit of crossover, but that the defaults offered help to carry the party through different challenges with careful application.
- Tanks creating shields and walls and such makes a lot of sense, I could see some traps that require a deployed shield and active blocking at the same time so the tank can block two flame jets so the party can get by. Positional defense, both in places they can get to and places they may not, as well as being able to project and otherwise deploy additional shielding for both combat and trap-clearing purposes.
- Mages would do more of the classics, giving everyone one good leap, slow descent to cut fall damage, water walking to cross a river or investigate some flotsam, etc. They'd also be the best at activating or destroying element-based switches and triggers since they have so many elements readily available.
- Summoners are like the "Boy and his Blob" of the party. You need it, they've got it. Hundred foot ladder? Summoned. Helper monkey to flip that distant switch? Summoned. Likewise they may be very necessary to UNsummon things that don't belong in Verra, and are also in your way.
Etc.
And without going too far on the subject, mobility utility. Fighters throwing a harpoon and tying it down to make a zipline, or if the rope was knotted it may be climbable. Tanks can summon a shield sled for getting down a steep incline. Mage can blink through those bars and give those spells mentioned above. Summoner Voltrons everyone's mounts into a party bus. Ranger can "spot a path" that players can temporarily climb. Rogues can "spot a path" that other players can follow for a temporary stealth buff.
One hunter ability in World of Warcraft that had a very hig value is the flare ability really useful ability to reveal rogues and druids with stealth abilities would could also be used in dungeouns (theoretically speaking pvp only abiltiy in WoW) to reveal secret doors panels invisible monsters. Actually clerica could be given a similar ability called reveal basicall spell based flare.
Mages in WoW had magical food this ability is appropriate for clerics and mages that was kind of a treat but got nerfed.
Speed boosts really useful in PvP.
Clairvoyance ability for preists to see if mobs have a special ability or item.
Not really an ability but having Open world Markers would be pretty cool
Sometimes while you are out dungeouneering gear breaks cause of durabilty. So if there were toons with blacksmith ability and magical portable anvil would be pretty cool. So professions could be really utile in dungeouns, like engineering.
* evil grin *
Imagine having an AoE-Effect of some kind of " GRAVITY-Magic ", that makes jumping around impossible for up to 20 Seconds or above.
Would be awesome in MASS Battles. Reducing an absolute Hell of Frames for both Eyes and Computer and prevent Monkey- and/or Bunny-jumping in important Moments of Battle.
As cool as it is, I don't think Intrepids gonna do a lot with light and darkness in the literal sense.
I think too many people can deal with it. Playing where you can't see really seems to rub people the wrong way. I kind of get it, but it's one of those things, it might not be cozy comfortable, but it could add so much to the game.
There's also the factor that lighting which isn't baked into the game is SUPER resource intensive for any card not running with raytracing support. Even with RTX it's resource intensive. And if it's going to be a mechanic like we want, it can't be just an option you can turn on and off, it has to apply to everyone.
And "Open Lock" and "Disable Device" from Pathfinder are in this category.
Down below is a list of 8 abilities I would put in this category. In my opinion every utility skills should have two classes(Archetypes), to not punish small groups or groups of the same class to harshly, but also no more then two, to make it still matter. And if you still missing a player for the job there should be expensive one time use alchemical items, that can be crafted, in case of emergancies.
- Open Lock: Is used to open locked doors and treasure chests.
- Disable Device: Is used to disable all kinds of traps. (I hope this game makes use of traps, just like DDO does. Deadly traps every where. You are not welcome!)
- Trace Tracks: Is used to discover hiden tracks that guide you to secret stashes and hiden entrances
- Dispel Illusion: Is used to discover secrets that are hidden through magic
- Jump: (like the spell) Is used to make it easy to traverse and lets you get to places that would be impossible to get to otherwise (exept you are a ranger I guess)
- Shatter Debris: Is used to clear blocked tunnels or buried objects
- Heavy lifting: Is used to move heavy objects out of the way, or in the way of others. And to use all those pesky, old, rusty leavers which every dungeon is cluttered with
- Light: Is used to light up really dark places, make it easy to see in dim areas, let very rare cave flower bloom, to make them collecable or make some fance morse messages from one hill to the next ( I love some competent devs that can really uttilize pitch darkness in their games)
Open Lock: Rogue(Open Lock) Mage(Knock) Potion(Dissolving Solution)
Disable Device: Rogue(Disable Trap) Fighter(Bash Mechanism) Potion(Dry Ice Powder)
Trace Tracks: Ranger(Read Tracks) Cleric(Divine Guidance) Potion(Potion of Gazing)
Dispel Illusion: Mage(True Sight) Bard(Dispel Illusion) Potion(Magic absorbing Concoction)
Jump: Summoner(Grow Wings) Bard(Jump) Potion(Feather Destillate)
Shatter Debris: Fighter(Brute Force) Tank(Mighty Slam) Potion(Unstable Brew)
Heavy lifting: Summoner(Enhance Strength) Tank(Throwing your Weigth around) Potion(Rabies Drink)
Light: Ranger(Signal Arrow) Cleric(Guiding Light) Potion(Alcemical Torch)
There are probably many more but those are the 8 that came to my mind and how I would distribute them. I named them just for fun.
1. Traversal Utility
Based on the linked vid, some key parts of what makes fun movement involve:
1. having a variety of movement skill options
2. the presence of environmental factors
3. skillful timing
4. building up and maintaining momentum
5. calculating trajectories
6. having reactive physics.
I think it would be great to have traversal utility skills that utilize these aspects to make for fun travel around Verra:
A) Environment- Utility skills that allow you to take advantage of the environment. This could be things built into the environment itself, that require players to learn about in order to maximize efficiency, such as risky routes like tight turns that can shave off some travel time as you move toward your end destination, or hidden shortcuts around the map, or even a variety of static tools such as ziplines, shooting youself out of a cannon, launching yourself off a catapult, etc., or maybe triggered events that can help you get somewhere faster like triggering a stampede or something where you could ride creatures to get somewhere faster or through a unique route. Another type of environmtal factor could also be specific contextual ways to interact with things in the environment, such as swimming in water, running on land, or being able to do a special leap at the edge of a cliff, grinding down narrow poles, climbing up mountains, shield-surfing down steep hills, etc. These all have there own situational use-cases, pros and cons, and can add to the depth of traversal by learning the environment and its unique interactions. Assasins Creed is a good series to look to in terms of interesting environmental mastery.
B- Timings- Having traversal utility skills that reward good timing can also make them more satisfying to use. This could naturally be a part of managing your movement around the world and moving more efficiently, such as the timing of choosing when to which skills, and reacting to those situations like timing a jump at the edge of a cliff. It could also be built into the skill itself such as having to execute a specific timing input to get the most out of a skill when its used.
C) Momentum- Maintaining momentum is one of the most satisfying aspects of traversal imo and should be a big part of traveling around the world and using traversal utility skills. Your utility skills should reward you for maintaining momentum and speed as you move, such as getting faster the longer you are moving or getting boosts of speed when you are moving at top speed for a long period of time.
D) Trajectories- Calculating trajectories is a very fun part of moving around and having utility skills that reward that would be very fun. If you glide off a mountain you should be rewarded for skimming the ground or if you barely avoid a big structure in the way by skimming the edge of the surface as you glide past. This efficient and risky movement should be encouraged and rewarded to make for more satisfying ways of planning the trajectories that you want to take as you move. There could be utility skills on land and air mounts that allow you to do this such as a "drift" kind of like in mario kart that could help navigate these tighter angles. There could also maybe be other benefits to skimming surfaces of the terrain as fast speeds, such as speed boosts, or maybe sparks or something that can damage pursuiting players, or maybe even cool gatherables that you can scrape off the mountain side, or maybe a way of enchanting a weapon by scraping it along some kind of unique material at fast speed. Just some random ideas related to the premise.
E) physics- Physics are fun and add complexity to skills. Having a lot of reactivity with the physics between skills and the environment as you move around can create more dynamic and fun traversal.
F) Options- as usual, having a lot of utility options for skill expression and creativity adds to the fun.
2. Climbing Utility
3. Combat Utility
1. distance management through repositioning/space control
2. health and mana regen
3. environmental contextual attacks/interactions
4. Environmental hazards/factors
5. Unique enemy interactions
A) Space control- I think it is important to have a lot of utility skills relating to pushing the enemy away or pulling them in closer
C) Health and mana regen- Having utility to skillfully sustain health and mana is very important for combat
D) Environmental skills- It could be fun to have utility combat skills that interact with the environmnet contextually, such as spartan kicking someone off a cliff or jumping on someones back who is below you.
E) Environmental Hazards/factors- Having utility tools that are built into the environment itself that allow for combat mastery and enable you to more efficiently deal with enemies, can make for more a more interesting world and more dynamic gameplay. You should be rewarded if you are familiar with the environment and its tools and encouraged to observe and learn how you can use it to your advantage for both traversal and for combat. This is something that the Hitman series does really well and can add a lot of depth to a game.
F) Unique enemy interactions- It would be cool if there were unique mechanics you could learn about enemies that could be used for utility purposes. An example could be a rhino that can get its horn stuck if you dodge its charge, or bat enemies that are scared of light and fly away, or goblins that run away or call for backup if a big ogre was lured in nearby, etc. These types of unique mechanics, interactions, and behaviors could give enemies a lot more personality, its also rewards observant players who are able to learn and leverage these mechanics, and it is also more immersive and interesting especially if these types of enemy interactions and behaviors are inspired by the lore in-game and could also be triggered by changes within the different story arcs or events in the world (such as new rivalries between different enemies creating different reactive behaviors). These can contribute to creating more opportunities for utility benefits to the players who take advantage of these unique mechanics.
4. Utility when interacting with Npcs
Things like class specific utility skills that can help specific classes deal with specific problems they may encounter when dealing with npcs. This could be mainly useful during questing, story arcs, and economic activities involving npc gameplay. Here are a few ideas:
- Maybe certain classes could interact better with certain npcs to give them more options for solving certain questing problems (such as the utility of a rogue getting access to a unique location/item from the thieves guild that the player could use to unlock a different quest path)
- Certain classes could encourage more dialogue options from npcs (maybe this is Bard utility, or maybe different classes could do this for different types of npcs based on the traits, such as one npc being more vulnerable to intimidation by a tank, and another npc more susceptible to being swayed by a bard's reasoning.)
- this could be utility skills that allow rogues to pickpocket, or bards to haggle down prices from an npcs vendor
- It could be utility skills that allow one class to confuse/distract npcs
- etc.
5. Discovery Utility
Utility skills that can help with solving puzzles in the world. This could even be combat skills that are dual-purposed as puzzle solving mechanics as well (such as a mage fireball that can also activate a specific kind of button in a puzzle). Its always really fun when a group needs to figure out what ability combo needs to be done to solve some kind of puzzle or activate some kind of secret entrance.
- Other utility skills that reveal secret areas can also be fun as well
I really encourage you to check out Crosscode and how genius the design is for the use of utility skills in the normal puzzles and the jumping puzzles. You were really rewarded for knowing how your combat mechanics interact with each other, different objects, and the environment, because a lot of puzzles test your knowledge of these interactions. The jumping puzzles were especially fun because unlike what normal traversal around the world would look like, the jumping puzzles auto-jumped for you when running toward the edge so you can focus less on the jumping execution and more on solving the well-made jumping puzzle itself.
This analysis breaks down some aspects of these jump puzzles. On top of this, I think its worth looking at the various puzzle designs and the utility aspects that played a role in making them more fun.
6. Stealth Utility
Stealth utility will also be fun, assuming its still a planned feature.
Thanks!
Rather than mounting up and pressing W.
Could even make them available only outside of combat, so as not to effect balance.
I'll give some examples, sliding down slopes and using the momentum to stay airborne (glider for example) grappling hooks etc.
Anything that takes away the monotony of traveling, something active to do. Of course longer distances would still be traversed with mounts as it's quicker. But little tricks and skills that help you move around quicker are always incredibly fun and engaging somehow. Discovery of movement tech etc.
But also things like Prestidigitation from DnD. But this would require armour etc getting dirty
And there's a lot more examples but! I suppose you could summarize it as such. Ways to interact with the world that aren't combat related.
-or you could summon an Pillar of light at your position visible from an far distant (for friends/group members/ally only) so they can find you easyer in this fast area.
-an magic skill to open secret path networks in your guilds controlled terretory to flee/surprise attack enemys
so anything for player interaction would be great
- Don't have archtypes that exclusively have a particular utility skill. Make sure at least a few archtypes gain access to it, even if it's slightly altered. Otherwise it will be "bring the class" rather than "bring the player". It's fun to bring something unique to a raid, but it's not fun when a raid REQUIRES certain utility skills for the a boss to be killed. This is the generation of min-maxing, unlike it was in the past and people WILL enforce these things.
Good Utility Skills:
- Raid wide attack speed increase (makes you really feel like your blasting)
- Raid wide movement speed increase (good for times when people need to quickly reposition in a fight)
- Damage reduction in a set area
- Damage/speed buff in a set area
- Battle Rez
- Friendly Grips (bring them to you)
- Friendly swap of position or health
For me, the most important impact of utility spells is the invitation to take your time within a certain scenario (I guess there are more fast paced scenarios which could use some utility as well but those are personally less intriguing to me unless I'm within a well oiled machine of friends who have taken specific compositions to a scenario).
Another way to say this is that a utility spell or set of utility spells- from an individual player or your party- essentially temporarily changes the way you approach playing the game. It is no longer about killing as many enemies as quickly and painlessly as possible. It is about safe traversal (temporary group stealth), quick traversal (either a group teleport or something like a temporary earth bridge to cross from one outcropping to another), unearthing mysterious loot (a treasure finder of sorts, perhaps a rogue thing or a bard thing), finding the torn journal page to complete your historical research, setting traps to impede the progress of a caravan, sending out a massive signal flare with a lasting beacon that give party members a clearer indication of a significant point of interest.
The list of course goes on, but I feel these examples either further color/enrich the default gameplay loops we're aware of or introduce new fun conditions to meet/challenges to overcome.
Just as a side note, my absolutely favorite utility spell is the hunter spell from WoW called Eyes of the Beast or something like that, where you can see through the eyes of your pet at reduced threat from aggressive enemies. Perhaps the pet can camouflage as well for safer scouting than if the player character were taking the risk!
Growable affinities related to the power of different branches of augments, scalable by updates. Affinity rises the more you use the related skills. Hidden quests might allow for extra augment branches by editing affinity from 0 to 1.
On the previous note, stealth/detection-based affinities would be 100% the coolest MMO Feature I can think of at this moment.
Elemental affinities could be used to walk freely through areas filled with that element. For example, a low-level fire-affinity could walk through a burning house, and a mid-tier poison affinity could walk through the blooming poison flower field.
To this point, opposing elemental affinities could use their skills to clear the elemental magic of that area, making others free to walk around. This isn't limited only to physical movement, but also to visibility and other status debuffs. Some players might get lucky and complete a quest through an area that looks inhospitable but has a useless debuff.
Affinity-based detects, for example if you're related to the "dragon race" in update 3 and there's a dragon amulet in the spawn area in alpha 2 but nobody can see it until someone with dragon affinity comes and you're the first and can then unlock the dragon race questline.
Light spells are always great from a beauty perspective, but I prefer to play through on high brightness settings as I have ADHD and a torch is one less thing to worry about.
Instead of a dedicated house in update 9, players could have their own "worldspace granted by the phoenix of creation" and go into their own, personal, small world-space that's the size of a living room to store their stuff. *goosebumps* it could grow based on a character's affinities
Carving skills can be upgradeable. I actually prefer the idea of walking alongside hunters and actually upgrading your loot rate from downed enemies.
I enjoy pickpocketing, but not in an MMO.
For summoner class specifically, I would love to have a big "summon" that's actually tons of tiny summons. It just makes sense to me.
Bounce & Slide. I'm a Monster Hunter insect glaive/ dual blades main, and basically love to jump around and dodge incoming attacks. It would really help rogue classes and others if they could move vertically as well as horizontally. I say this because it would be awesome to see a rogue being chased by 15 players, including other rogues, and get away back to a safe haven- without a mount.
Pocket Space. Slide into the void, hidden from all players, can't be seen unless run into. Then the magic pops you out to stabilize.
Invisibility potions / skills.
Assassination skills that give more damage out of invisibility.
Tracking would be nice as long as it has a high chance of failing, and can only be used so far. I also say this with the following thought, only against caravans as having 20 players chase one seems like a death sentence.
Most games don't let you trip properly. If you have a consumable thing that causes hallucinations and more for the character, it would be pretty awesome as no other game can incorporate that right at all. One example would be causing it to randomly backfire your base class-skills up until your class promotion.
Water Wall Siege Ability. Instead of using a siege summon to cross through the nearby fortress, take 8 mages to create a localized barrier that displaces water. Take your caravan and go through the bottom of the ocean to get to your destination. Time-limited by mana, mana potions allowed. I also, while I'm thinking about it, would recommend a change to the caravan water structure as it looks like a very old design. If you change the look of the bottom of the caravan to be rounded from the getgo and make the sides origami-flip outwards for a larger platform on top, and have a player inside the caravan operating the boats "gear-crank operated water-wheels" then it would be much more immersive. The more folds the more authentic. I recommend watching Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's Caravan Departure. You guys nailed the caravan itself, but it really doesn't transition to the water well. Here's the link:
Physical traps. If these could be combined with rune scrolls I'd be laughing so hard at the player-created content. The drawback would be that if the enemies disable the physical trap they'd also be gaining a free rune scroll.
Random Boulders. Fighters can knock them into opponents, mages can chip them into an aoe attack, rogues can quick hide by jumping over them, tanks can hit them in front of an ally to shield, summoners can turn them into a golem, etc. There's a lot you can do with a random boulder
"Idle Skill." Allows the character to interact with the environment based on their first class, with special interactions per environmental object for a limited number of promoted classes. For example, playing with beachside pebbles or leaning on a tree. Pretending to cliff dive. Etc. Best used with voice-overs.
Parkour utility skill. All it does is make the character do cool flips whenever it lands.
Telescope magic utiltiy skill. I'm not sure how well this would run in terms of loading and available RAM, but it would be a tool that would make exploring Verra's enormous size a tad* bit easier.
Disco Ashes. Customize how your ashes fall.
Weapon-based "show-off" skill.
A system where a player can give you permission to tp them, and you can tp them above a raging volcano. Long cooldown and limited by friendlies in the immediate area.
Wind-based parkour. For example, if a player teleports on top of a floating island in the middle of a volcano, and has to get to the outer edge. It requires specific skills and timing, but it is off by about three feet unless you time it... with the wind.
Mind Control. Speak enough gibberish at an NPC to get them to do your bidding. However, you can only control one aspect of their lives. For example, you can tell an npc to go fight x, x being whoever you want. Or you could tell the npc to give money made to X individual. Or the npc can only use Animal Husbandry on X species. But it's specific to the character mind control is used, it can only be used by one person, and it's set based on a random facet of the npc. Making mind-control useful albeit limited. Can be magical AND bard/rogue-related both.
Rope drop, rope cut. Super useful in a siege- for both sides.
Catapulting players as a siegeworks.
I'll use featherfall as a passive equip, but never as a spell. Generally in any game I play it's much more worth it to take the fall damage and recover. You also feel cooler. "Timed descents" are a tradition amongst gamers.
Shovel as a battlehammer. Whack people with shovels. Skill with extra damage if you use shovels. More Gag weapons
I can never get enough of gag bosses. One of the reasons I feel the Monster Hunter franchise has gone downhill recently is their lack of them. One of the best monsters was the one that blinded, stunned, and poisoned you right before playing dead, yelling "Psych!" and taking away massive amounts of health from all nearby players. It's fun because you can laugh at your friends and challenging enough to present an actual challenge to gamers. No matter if you're hard to hit, if the animations give different negative statuses they can plague a group of healers/supports that only came prepared for 8x specific debuffs. One cool thing you can tie this into is the idea that a creation affinity has affinity to all of the other affinities, while a destruction affinity is the absence of affinities. So the creation boss is loaded with possible buffs and debuffs, while the destruction boss takes away all of the players' affinities entirely.
I would love a hidden skill combo where a siren does a catwalk and a bard whistles. Just lol yes.
Debuff Stares. If a player has a significantly higher level than a mob he can stare at them and they just run away. Other stares can exist too, they're just too funny. This would also be great for roleplay purposes.
The most pointless utility skill ever but also the best. Rocket: transforms the player into a human rocket, launching the player to the top of the world. This skill only works properly if you can't use gliders or gliding mounts. But once the legendary flying mounts come out, their owners could rocket and actually be caught in air and fly around. Cool special gag idea.
Smoke bombs/smoke. If you could augment the smoke itself I'd be laughing. "Flammable smoke, poison smoke, rainbow smoke, hallucinogen smoke, windy smoke (spreads further), dookie smoke..."
I much prefer potions over food. The less bars I'm constantly having to juggle, the better. The more stat bonuses the better, by far, but they should affect a finite number of things. This might be because I have ADHD, but I find it allows me the most hype/addicted mindset to the game itself.
Magical Orbs that do random things. Like plug it into the wall slot and it makes the skeletal minions start dancing. Ancient Wizard had weird taste.
Material-based tax bonuses. For example, you pay less to the kingdom if you pay in cheese.
You might look at Star Wars: The Old Republic's healing idles with Cntrl+C in-game to see the Cartel Collection. You can watch all of them there for free without buying so that you are tempted to buy. Some of them are super stupid but others make sense. The scoundrel gambling on the ground, for example.
Speaking of, mobile game sets. So you can play cards in the wild until someone else spawns 50 minions on top of you. But it was the most epic game of "spoons on the side of a cliff" before it ended.
I've been thinking about this for a bit too long, so I'll be off for a while. Might come back and post again as more ideas flow. Gotta cap myself
The utility skills that are most important are those that allow the player to interact with the world in a unique way and to feel somewhere useful and special.
Which shows that the choice of one's class, political affiliation or specialization have a real positive and fun impact on one's gameplay and gaming experience.
Which makes a group of players say "I'm happy to have a mage on my team because he was able to decipher his runes to solve this puzzle"
Taking a shortcut, gaining a tactical advantage in an encounter, accessing unique and secret locations are all ways to make utility skills fun.
The second most important are those which are linked to the gameplay of the class itself, and which can be useful in combat.
I can take the example of rogue on wow with its ability to redirect the aggro of mobs on tanks during its burst phases, lockpicking obviously too.
I think taking inspiration from paper role-playing games would be a good idea. And that a healthy philosophy to adopt would rather be to build the world by thinking about utility skills rather than creating utility skills in the world after its creation. Because to be interesting, the world design and game design of the locations should take these skills into account to create curiosity, moments of contemplation, and reward the ingenuity of the players.
Another game that pushed this was Destiny 2 at one time with community challenges and puzzles.
Wildstar also with an implementation of interesting utility skills which allowed you to open hidden paths or solve puzzles.
Afterwards I have always loved puzzles so well...
Are there any situations where they should necessarily be used? In the vast majority of cases, no. and I'm talking about obligation. But for a few exceptions, I think it can be interesting to have certain places requiring you to use utility skills from several classes combined to access something or solve something as a team. Which would require a particular attraction for a class or a profession.
Here is my opinion on the matter.
Thanks for your work, as usual.
Class: Ranger, Rogue, Bard (?)
Description: Within a 100-meter radius, this ability allows you to perceive all player-related sound effects, such as footsteps and spells being cast. An indicator on the minimap displays the approximate source of the sound in a ~90-degree cone. This applies to all players, irrespective of whether they are party members, emphasizing the need for coordination in group situations.
Animation: When used alone, the character assumes a kneeling position. In a group setting, the user initiates the "Shhh..." sound effect while kneeling, accompanied by hand gestures encouraging nearby allies to also remain still.
Notes: While applicable in cities, caution is advised due to the potential risk of ear damage from multiple amplified sound effects.
Also, would be funny, if already in the "listening stance," users may pick up on others using the "Shhh..." sound effect while casting it in your listening range.
Backend Implementation: From a technical standpoint, this spell functions as a switch, turning off the proximity based sound effect reduction within a 100-meter radius until the character resumes movement.
Another thing I thought of is that it would be super cool to have talisman/playing cards as a weapons for mages and/or summoners
Also, cool hair is a must. “Cool hair guy” is one of the best memes to this day. Also leather pants. (YGOTAS)
Crossing my fingers dwarves have a racial tanking attribute and a tiny hitbox
Thanks for reading.
Ironically Palworld has actual amazing movement, between it's slides, climbing, gliding, and grapple gun. All of those I consider movement utility.
Next Pals use of Pals have great homestead utility - fires for cooking, water for plants, generating electricity etc.
Now onto combat utility -
From WoW Classes;
Hunter - Flare, Traps, Aspects (ranger is only missing flare to detect stealth)
Warrior - Shouts
Shamans - Totems such as sentry totem which was actually useful in situations.
Druids - Transformations
From GW2;
Engineer - Almost everything in the kit and class is a utility ability and damage ability which makes the engineer awesome.
Elementalist - Conjurations
Mesmer - Shatters having different effects
Warrior - Banners
Ranger - traps, the warhorn off hand, sigils, etc.
From ESO;
Nightblade - Shade, Fear Trap
Sorc - oldschool overload were you could load it up with caltrops, flare, etc
Darkfall Unholy Wars:
There was a waterbowl spell that kept you CC'd in a circle where it pretty much created a mini dueling arena.
A utility as I understand it is more of a tool than a direct damage ability so thats where I tried to keep it here. There are many more I need to come back to.
Throwing Snowballs
Sparta Kick with heavy knockback
When you use sparta kick on a giant you kick them in the balls
Ranger speed buff for kiting vs. melee
Streaming Identifier Pet: Pet that identifies streamers. While it wouldn't identify all streamers, it would allow for better management of streaming guild secrets. Example is a Floating Eyeball.
Absolutely Brutal Carving Animation. Cosmetic?
Skelepathy- Necro skill for mind controlling skeletons outside the user's summons
Burn Corpse - makes corpses unidentifiable
Call of the Woods: Summon a squirrel to jump at the enemy's face
Tiny hole in a building that you have to fit an arrow in perfectly to mark "the crystal" and summon new content.
Area where you can only access the content by using a guillotine on yourself
Mentioned this before somewhere, but a skill that rockets you in the air 10000 feet
A portal that you can summon like other portals but when anyone walks in they get teleported 10000 feet. Useful for solo players for tricking 1v15s into a state where everyone dies. Only useful if players can summon fast travel portals that take a while and have run away first. Former skill would have a shorter casting time than the latter.
Lighting caravans on fire for slow sustained damage (Zelda: Twilight Princess reference)
Goblin raiders that use the above skill.
Snakes that can fall out of trees.
Spider/Ant forest where they slowly circle the player. Fire AOE skill required.
High level teleportaion mage Banishment skill that teleports an enemy X meters away from the fight. Similar to the bard skill that was showed off but only on a single opponent and sudden instead of over time.
Different Siege summons based on territory. Example: Summon a Megalodon when attacking a sea base. Summon a Giant Frost Troll in snowy regions, a fat fire lizard in volcano areas, etc.
Death Field ability: Necro AoE skill that can be used against an entire group that drains HP in 3 bursts and gives you health back. Needed for the next section.
Respawnable npcs named "Random Bystander". This is a skill that allows players to achieve maximum debauchery.
Mortar skill that uses 3 interposed portals and a kit. Wide area. Spits stalagmites. Extremely expensive.
Skill: Swiping National Pastries. It takes stealing sweetrolls in skyrim to the next level. Summons guards but they're much more lax. Useful for going ham in cities as a heavily roleplaying thief.
Death touch raid boss skill. Immediately KO's aggroed player. Hehe.
Brewer as an augment for alchemy. Basically make pills but instead of pill form they're beverages. Or potions but beer. Can be mixed with crazy pills to make various levels of in-game drugs.
Draught of Death: Drinking causes death
Random taunts: Slapping the princess, throwing a pink bunny at a face, setting a pitfall trap and laughing, giving a jar of pee as lemonade, throwing splatter-veggies and fruits, etc. Various way to torque npcs and make them mad outside of the normal skills.
Running super obvious dagger backstab skewer: Distance requirement, only works if you're facing an opponent's back. Hits bosses in the butt. Causes an auto-crit. Long cooldown. For reference, watch That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime. It's in the beginning right before he transmogs. This is one of the funniest, well-done animations I've ever seen. Highly highly highly recommend as an optional, pseudo-secret assassin augment.
Hope you enjoy these!!
For a rogue definitely Lockpicking and climb
Having areas on a castle that a rogue could climb up was epic in DAoC
It added a whole new dynamic than just standing on your walls and firing down.
Wednesday's at 7:00 PM Cst
https://www.youtube.com/@TheHiddenDaggerInn/featured
So most of the players try to get some kind of meta builds. In every MMO expansions players look for new meta skills which make 2% more damage, even they don't have enough skills to correctly implement the proper rotation or combo. I have always tried to find some new niche builds, for example support class which increases dps of others in the same group. In WoW it worked as long as guild master planned ahead and listened to suggestions. But in random groups most people complained why I have lower healing than others, blablabla. In Warhammer Online my shaman always got best loot by playing support role. Others were surprised that I make low damage, low healing and always get top gear loot (they didn't see my group was always top in dps) - devs really supported unique builds. That was cool, until the game was shut down.
But I would like to play the game which goes even a bit further than that. What we have now? Everyone can maximize: 1. combat skills, 2. crafting skills, 3. my fresh idea (inspired by this post) - utility skills. And now the question - what if I can distribute 90 points to each, and then I have to decide what I am specialized in and get another 10 points to distribute where I want?
Example 1: I want to have meta dps build. I distribute 90 points in warrior dps tree, I distribute 90 points in crafting tree... and maybe 90 points in utility skills - I've never seen any game like that, but maybe that would be interesting? And when I reach max level I have another 10 points to distribute. So obviously I put all 10 points in dps - now I am mega-uber-hiper-big-dick dps warrior with 5cm longer... sword.
Example 2: I am bored of doing raids if I am forced to get highest dps, optimize my rotation, etc... frustrating. In exchange I would like to be useful different way - for example by some kind of utility skill (like in most rpg systems - D&D, Warhammer, whatever). So I have 90 points in my dps tree, 90 points in crafting tree (alchemy, whatever), 90 points in utility skills. And my last 10 points I put into very specialized utility skills - like unlocking the last door behind last boss with extra loot, opening 30 minutes shortcut in 3 hours long dungeon. So yes, I will not do as much damage as others but I maybe I can be invited to the raids to get these UNIQUE LOOT (it doesn't need to be better than last boss loot - but unique any other way), or maybe make the same raid faster (useful if you do it for 100 time).
Example 3: I want to be known as one of the best crafters in the game. So i get my 90 points in healing tree (let's say I am healer), 90 points in utility (like everyone), and 90 points in Blacksmithing. Now I am as good Blacksmith like any other player who has access to the best crafting stations in the biggest cities. But I'd like to spend my last 10 points in Blacksmithing and be able to make armor 5 points better than anybody else or add some visual feature and my signature. Or maybe I could have ability to improve existing armor by these 5 points? Everyone would respect the best crafter in the game... meta dps dudes would love to have slightly better axe or slightly more durable armor, meta healers would love to have slightly better staff, etc. But how to get invitation to raids if you do less healing than others? Maybe at the end of some of the dungeon we could have unique forge (different than in the biggest cities), where the fresh loot can be improved by these crafters - adding slightly to the stats?
That's just basic thought. I have ton of ideas and connections on how to make every class, every build, every crafter different and unique. Even fisherman could have spend that 10 extra points to get ability to dig for better worms which would allow him to catch unique fish - which could be used for better Cooking (meta) dishes and their scales could be used for better armor (by the meta-Blacksmith, lol). Whole new slightly improvement to economy of each class/crafter.
Imagine the world where you are invited to the raid not because you can make 2% more damage than others but you can be equally useful for the group.
Death Gates (Wheel of Time). Basically teleportation classes in that series got super over-powered by the end. In the series, the enemy units of darkness and corruption could not go through the portals. Therefore, they would link up several portals, make them start spinning, and send them off into the opposing army, causing massive disruption and destruction.
Another application was a "summon source"-like siege ability where they summoned a giant gate thousands of feet wide onto a battlefield. The other end of the gate was inside a volcano. You can imagine the destruction. This would be a 100-mage classes plus type siege ability lol
E.g. You are an Orc, and come across an Org in a dungeon, being able to speak Orcish opens up a secret passage, or invites the NPC to assist you in a boss battle, etc
I also like utility skills linked to professions, e.g. being a high skilled Fisher may let you make special lures, or able to fish up non-fish goodies, etc. or maybe have a passive visual indicator on currents in rivers for example.