I recently just listened to the colored mama discussion from the 2nd round table in February. This is an amazing concept and if done correctly in my opinion can definitely set Pantheon apart from many MMOs out there. The idea of having the capacity to build a new identity within the class is very fun, and exciting.
That being said I do have some questions, and please excuse me if this has already been discussed.
I will happily admit I hated the dual-spec system in WoW. It was way too forgiving and easy to just swap to another spec and change the pace of the game completely. I leveled my Druid solely tanking, knowing it was easiest to grind as a tank and switch to boomkin in late game.
With that said my question is in regards to the Focus and Mastery ideas and paths. If in the example of the cleric I were to pick one path and focus as the "Off-Tank" disc priest type class, but suddenly within my group of friends we lost our healer what would the process look like to then switch from one Mastery to another?
My idea is that you would return to your focus trainer and complete the quest to change your mastery and possibly go back to level 25. Obviously keeping gear, gold etc. I feel like this wouldn't be AS strict but definitely be a commitment.
I have played other MMOs in the past where it locks you in at level 10 and there's no changing (SWTOR) and that system seemed a bit too rigid. If I wanted to for whatever reason go back and change from the off-tank cleric to the main healer I would basically have to re-roll and start from scratch.
What are your plans on this? And switching mana?
Thanks for any responses and I apologize if this has already been answered somewhere else.
They haven't really gone into the colored mana system much or any kinds of specializations. You won't likely be an off tank as a cleric or otherwise able to deviate too far from your class type. All we know for sure is:
Pantheon is a traditional level based system with skills and abilities that are unlocked and practiced as you level up. Some customization and specialization will be present, but never to the point where a warrior ceases to be a warrior.
I am not entirely sure what you are referring to. Do you mean the roundtable from February 2015? As far as I know most of that information is very dated and has likely since changed. That may have been before they scrapped the old Pantheon they were building for the game we now have.
Hey Aidmaro. It seems like you missed some of the discussion there. With that system, you weren't locked into one path or the other. You could master them both. You would switch specializations by switching gear and changing which spells/abilities you have memorized. So, in your example, you would take off your grey mana gear and switch in your gold mana gear. Then you'd forget your grey mana spells and memorize your spells that use gold mana. I was really into that system also, but that discussion is quite old and we've seen some things that conflict with what they were describing, so I think it's been scrapped. I think it's a shame, really. It seemed like a great way to do it.
Iksar said:They haven't really gone into the colored mana system much or any kinds of specializations. You won't likely be an off tank as a cleric or otherwise able to deviate too far from your class type. All we know for sure is:
Pantheon is a traditional level based system with skills and abilities that are unlocked and practiced as you level up. Some customization and specialization will be present, but never to the point where a warrior ceases to be a warrior.
I don't see a cleric being an offtank in a group as far from their class role.
Heavy armor (plate), often a shield, there were quite afew times in EQ our cleric would offtank mobs and survive by sheer virtue of the plate armor and a decent HP/level.
In Vanguard they had a defensive stance
I think a cleric being able to be in the thick of the fray, could be a possible way for them to make up for the lack of direct utility.
But that's my personal belief for what I'd like to see from the cleric class so IDK.
>Pantheon is a traditional level based system with skills and abilities that are unlocked and practiced as you level up. Some customization and specialization will be present, but never to the point where a warrior ceases to be a warrior<
This is part of the core game design and unlikely to change. But there can still be significant levels of customization for almost any class.
Thus, a ranged combat dps class should not be given the option to turn into a tank or healer. Pantheon should not be like Rift in that regard. But if it got the choice at relatively low level to train in pure DPS abilities, crowd control abilities, poison or traps (just picked four things quickly this isn't the best set of choices) it would stay as dps but every member of this class wouldn't be cookie-cutter identical in skills.
In fact if every level gave this ranger or hunter or archer a choice of three abilities, by level 30 we might have a huge range of different builds if it was done right and every ability was actually useful.
If it is the case that lateral differentiation, or specialization, will be guided by what a spells and equipment a player chooses to use as he/she grows, then I really hope they make mastering specific equipment and spell skills very difficult. I like the idea of leaving it up to the player to decide what build they want in the confines of their available equipment/spells, but I'd like to put some work into molding my own character to truly get the sense of accomplishment that I have indeed differentiated my character by the work I put into it. It'd be amazingly rewarding.
Wig said:I thought I remember them confirming an AA type system..maybe?
4.9 Are there plans for alternate advancement (AA) paths?
Something similar may be added post-launch but currently we’re focused on primary class advancement through leveling, skills, abilities, spells, and items.