(The following is meant to illustrate how each class can achieve multiple flavors of the same role and is strictly a theory crafting exercise. It is to be assumed that every class will have a variety of core abilities that persist, regardless of specialization, that aren't delved into here ... (yet). This is also under the assumption that players can learn both specializations over an extended period of time and rotate them while out of combat once "master class" status is attained. Finally, each of these abilities are considered "epic abilities" that you would need to seek out specialized training for in order to acquire them. Brood Keeper specialization was added to the Summoner section as part of this update.)
Bard: Bards can play multiple songs in harmony by using their instrument(s) and voice. Mana Regen / Movement Speed are core class songs.
Rhapsody: Empower your allies with music and song; synergy extraordinaires, bards trained in the arts of Rhapsody focus on sustain.
Requiem: Demoralize your foes with melancholy and intimidation. Bards trained in the arts of Requiem focus on offensive prowess.
Rites of Passage: Bard songs can be altered over time by seeking out various gypsy lyricists and renowned musicians spread across the world of Terminus. Advanced bards can blend a broader range of songs together, accentuating synergy potential in their groups.
Cleric: Clerics offer the highest true healing output of any class and have exclusive access to "reactive healing" which are small heals that trigger each time an ally is attacked.
Devout: Provide sanctuary for your allies with various forms of CC immunity. Clerics trained in the arts of Devout focus on damage mitigation, temporary immunities, and an extra potent in-combat rez.
Curate: Purge debilitating debuffs with the added effect of a bonus heal on every successful cure. Clerics trained in the arts of Curate focus on shielding/cleansing their allies from harmful effects.
Rites of Passage: Clerics can learn to modify their spells by acquiring various celestial tomes that are spread around the world of Terminus. Their spells can be adjusted in ways such as removing portions of the arcane/divine/poison/disease aspect of their spells and focusing them into a single resist. IE, buff that provides 50 cure potency vs poison/disease debuffs instead changes to 100 poison or 100 disease, and can continue to modify the numbers back and forth as needed.
Direlord: Direlords manipulate the essence of living things. They prefer to steal valuable lifeblood from their foes, but will sacrifice their pets for a surge of power when needed.
Bloodletter: Able to regulate the bloodflow of both allies and victims, Direlords trained in the arts of Bloodletter can shift the tide of battle by harnessing the essence of blood.
Nebulous: Protect yourself and others by consuming the essence of darkness and dispatching it in the form of calculated shadows or void pockets. Direlords train in the arts of Nebulous can craft opportune blackouts.
Rites of Passage: Direlords can learn to increase their resistances vs poison and disease by collecting samples of "pure blood" that can be found around the world of Terminus. This blood does not always take on a liquid form, but once analyzed, Direlords can imbue powerful antibiotics into their bloodstream. While they can never grow truly impervious to poison or disease, well seasoned Direlords can offset a great deal of their effects by manipulating their very own toxin immunities to their favor.
Druid: Druids wield the power of nature and shapeshifting -- they can call upon the elements themselves or even defy the laws of nature with their spells.
Warden: Draw upon the lifeblood of the planet beneath your feet and use it's excellent power to nourish your allies, entangle your foes, or shapeshift yourself into one of the many sentient beings that form the pack of natural order.
Tempest: Whether it's conjuring storms or calming them, Tempests' are able to wield the dual powers of the elements; each element can be toggled to either offensive or defensive, granting these wielders of weather a diverse kit to pull from in any situation.
Rites of Passage: Druids can attune themselves to various Druid Rings spread around the world of Terminus. The power of each druid ring has an impact zonewide, granting the druid a minor increase toward permanent HP/Mana regen. This effect stacks but only works while in zones that contain a druid ring that you are attuned to.
Enchanter: Enchanters beguile friend and foe alike; inspiring allies with powerful enchantments or using manipulation of the mind to incapacitate their enemies. They are able to command the will of lesser beings -- whether that's charming/confusing an enemy or controlling conjured contraptions.
Spellbinder: These rapid-fire casters are capable of unleashing an array of different spells onto the battlefield. Enchanters trained in the arts of Spellbinder have the ability to chain-cast and inflict large-scale change into their surroundings.
Phantasmist: Wreak havoc in the minds of your foes by forcefully confusing them and inciting frustration as a result. Enchanters trained in the arts of Phantasmist use illusions and coercive mind play to bend the will of their enemies.
Rites of Passage: Enchanters are capable of leveraging an irrefutable charm by seeking out and successfully charming various inanimate golems that populate the world of Terminus. Immune to the actual charm spell, these golems must be subdued in 1v1 combat to earn their affection. For each golem conquered, the enchanter gains increased control over their charm spell, and can manifest a more powerful golem. (Cannot use charm/golem pet simultaneously)
Monk: https://pantheonmmo.com/newsletter/2017_may_intro/
style="color: #0000ff;">Body: (See link above.)
Soul: (See link above.)
Rites of Passage: Monks can learn the forgotten arts of various fighting styles by seeking out master trainers spread across the world of Terminus. These trainers instruct monks how to fully harness their inner chi and attain new levels of individual strength and melee prowess. A well versed monk has a much easier time beating his foes into submission as each new attack or counterattack learned opens up a new link in their chain of potentially lethal combos. (These would not serve as additional abilities, but rather automatically triggered "bonus" strikes that can occur when certain ability sequences are used.)
Necromancer: Necromancers practice a variety of dark arts that allow them to defy the laws of life and death. Macabre rituals grant them temporary passage to an otherworldly plane where they communicate with the deceased, bargaining with promises of power, revenge, or justice.
Lich: Using your mind as a vessel and your body as a tap into the spiritual plane, you can work out deals with fallen souls. Necromancers trained in the arts of Lich are bound to their unholy phylactery.
Contagion: Impregnate your enemies with seeds of corruptive growth and radial toxicity. Necromancers trained in the arts of Contagion find purpose in chaos and thrive in it's exploitation.
Rites of Passage: Necromancers find solace in death and so they seek out various graveyards that are spread around the world of Terminus. Each graveyard contains multiple spirits that the necromancer can summon (1 for each tombstone) that the Necromancer must defeat in combat. One of them (always random) will grant the Necromancer the ability to bind themself to that graveyard. (Binding to a graveyard would function similarly to "Return Home" but this ability would be separate and have it's own recast.)
Paladin: Paladins are holy avengers, sworn to lay waste to the undead that populate the world of Terminus. They pledge resolute faith to their deities and rely on their favor to shield their allies and themselves from evil, or refocusing their efforts to vanquish it. (Paladins also leverage a special resource called Holy Favor that is acquired by killing undead/evil. It would have it's own unique resource bar that caps out but the cap can be increased through a Rites of Passage trial.)
Sentinel: Harness the divine favor that has been bestowed upon you and use it to safeguard those who find themselves in a situation fraught with danger. Paladins trained in the arts of Sentinel are dedicated to protecting their allies, sometimes at the expense of their own well being.
Oathsworn: Sworn to uphold the order of all things holy, you consider the eradication of evil to be just as vital to the success of your conquest for justice as you do protecting your comrades. Paladins trained in the arts of Oathsworn are vigilant toward a cause that is aligned with their very existence, and that cause is vanquishing evil.
Rites of Passage: Paladins have all sworn an oath to extinguish evil and by law of their holy covenants, they must seek out and destroy the most tyrannical villains that scour the world of Terminus. For each renowned evildoer that is dispatched, the Paladin's maximum Holy Favor resource pool grows.
Ranger: Rangers thrive in open space but won't hesitate to leverage their cunning and perception in tight quarters. Their combination of stealth, tracking, survival, and herbalism pack the utility of a swiss army knife while braving the wilds ... but it's their proficiency with the bow that strikes fear (and death) into the hearts of their adversaries.
Forester: Your wisdom of all things nature allows you to communicate with the planet in ways that the untrained eye and ear could never comprehend. Speak with the trees and the wind, and harvest the nourishing properties of the earth around you. Rangers trained in the arts of Forester can harness the environment by calling upon the animal whose very instinct was forged within it, allowing them to share in the evolution of natural order.
Deadeye: Picking foes apart from range is the tried and true approach of those who have mastered the bow and arrow. Using pinpoint accuracy and refined technique can render your foes vulnerable, but finding the right angle and positioning can be tricky. Rangers trained in the arts of Deadeye can inflict very high damage under the right circumstances -- whether it's launching a rain of arrows into a calculated radius, a flurry of arrows in the same direction, or a single devastating headshot ... enemies are terrified of being caught in their gaze.
Rites of Passage: Rangers can enhance their survival techniques by seeking out various earthly trials scattered around the world of Terminus. Each trial is meant to test their endurance and cunning, requiring them to tap into their surroundings in order to survive through the night. Each trial will reward the ranger with a new foraging technique, companion to summon, or tool that further refines their mastery of the bow and arrow.
Rogue: Rogues are the masters of stealth, swindle, and improvisation. They use tactical precision to vanquish their foes, handy toolkits to change the tide of battle, and experienced eyes/hands to minimize danger and reward deeper adventure.
Assassin: Make quick work of your foes by striking when and where they least expect it. Rogues trained in the arts of Assassin punish their enemies with excruciating attacks, invasive maneuvers, and hemorrhage inducing toxins.
Blackhand: Debilitate your enemies through semi-selective disablement. Rogues trained in the arts of Blackhand invade the life force of their enemies through a combination of neurotoxic chemicals and precise, crippling attacks.
Rites of Passage: Rogues are fueled by the desire to explore and discover, and make it their mission to unlock the chests that hold magical skeleton keys found throughout the lands of Terminus. For every key they find, they gain +1 luck. (Luck is a rogue-only stat that is rolled for disarming traps, unlocking chests/doors with a standard key, and finding rogue-only consumables from chests/corpses)
Shaman: Shamans are well-versed in mystic healing and perform a wide variety of rituals that can influence a lopsided skirmish to their favor. Their unique understanding of the time space continuum allows them to shift instances of chronology -- as with all things time and space related, they must exercise caution while conducting their manipulations as a mistake can lead to inopportune hiccups.
Oracle: Some prophecies are best left untold, and you can ensure that they never see the light of day by leveraging your link to the plane of time. Shamans trained in the arts of Oracle are revered for their ability to mitigate danger by creating time-stamps that can be forced back into existence within a short period of time.
Thaumaturge:
Summoner: Summoners form pacts with elementals and mold them into a living vessel that serves as a champion to their biddings. They gain access to their elementals at levels 10, 20, 30, and 40, and they are represented by Earth/Tank -- Fire/Melee DPS -- Air/Magic DPS -- Water/Support. They can be picked in any order. (Starts with an inanimate construct at level 5.)
Conjuror: Master your avatar by reforging them with a variety of linked property combinations. Summoners trained in the arts of Conjuror leverage extraordinary control over their constructs, allowing them to blend two elements into a single, powerful manifestation.
Brood Keeper: Rather than expanding upon the traditional archetype roles of each elemental, you harbor a stable of situational pets that provide exceptional utility. Summoners trained in the arts of Brood Keeper are more inclined to view their summons as a means to an end than an extension of their own power.
Rites of Passage: Summoners are dedicated to building a harmonious relationship with their elementals and so they seek out a variety of pools that contain pure elemental energy. For every unique pool that their elementals bask in, their stats and size grows.
Warrior: Warriors train for forceful interaction, resolved to challenge those who threaten or oppose them. They sacrifice themselves for the good of others.
Martial: Reveal yourself tactically and lay waste to those who dare to advance. Warriors trained in the arts of Martial are capable of withstanding the brunt force of their foes while also maintaining a surreal state of mind.
Warlord: Command the battlefield using a combination of physical presence and combat fervor. Warriors trained in the arts of Warlord are able to react to danger and reduce the attack speed of themselves and nearby foes.
Rites of Passage: Warriors crave conquest and adventure and so they seek out various victory mounds that are spread throughout the lands of Terminus. For every mound they plant their banner in, their confidence grows, increasing their max HP.
Wizard: Wizards are powerful sorcerers who spend countless hours perfecting their mastery of arcane magic. While relished by many for their sublime dedication, it would be wise to avoid inciting their fury ... the consequences are of epic proportion.
Arcanist: You must balance the desire to sunder foes with cosmic vengeance alongside the ramifications of overkill. Wizards trained in the arts of Arcanist can cast spells of unimaginable power but it's imperative that they manage the potency of that which is unleashed.
Elementalist: Your mastery of the elements allows you to leverage a diverse spell tree that centers around opportunistic upheaval. Wizards trained in the arts of Elementalist can exploit a variety of weaknesses or channel the matter of their environment to create surges of natural energy.
Rites of Passage: Wizards pour their heart and soul into their studies and so they seek out a variety of tranquil chambers spread across the world of Terminus. For every chamber they find, their knowledge of the arcane and the elements continues to grow, increasing their max intelligence.
As an example of how specialization can work without destroying the boundaries between roles I like what OneADseven has come up with. Having a class only have one essential style is so .....limiting.
My own preference is not to allow easy switching from one specialization to another. Indeed if up to me I might not allow *any* switching. But I like the idea of subclasses more than most of us do and there is a distinct difference between having subclasses and having a choice of specialization within a class.
I could suggest other alternative specialization choices but I and others have been doing this all along and I am content to support the concept of specialization and leave it to VR (as if we have a choice there) how to implement it if they are convinced.
Brood Keeper added to Summoner. Two classes to go ... paladin/shaman. If anybody has feedback feel free to share it as I have already considered making some tweaks to some of the existing classes. Again, this is nothing but a theory crafting exercise based around several assumptions. Everything should be taken with a grain of salt but all feedback is welcome. I am a huge fan of players being able to earn "master class" status where they can eventually unlock both specializations and rotate between them while out of combat, as needed. @Dorotea -- I know our opinions differ here but one of the driving points for me is that switching would never be considered an easy process, at least as far as "earning" the ability to do it is concerned. Unlocking the spells for each specialization should be difficult in their own right while unlocking the ability to rotate specializations while out of combat is something that should also be highly challenging. Personally, I would require a character to be at least 2'nd generation of progeny in order to do it, possibly in addition to some sort of epic class quest.
We *do* differ since our motivations are different. You focus more on creating a more flexible and interesting character. I focus more on incentives for people to play multiple characters, which I view as good for the game and for the player once character one has been pretty well maxed out at everything important.
I emphasize that our differing views are solely on how easy it should be to switch from one specialization to another, not on whether to have the specializations in the first place. And making it difficult to get the second specialization helps a lot. Many of my comments assume something like an AA tree where all you need to get a specialization is to reach the right level and pick it.
@MauvaisOeil -- The idea is that you would indeed be able to choose which skills you need depending on your team, or what you're about to fight. As far as limiting certain spells behind a specific specialization, this is to prevent FoTM builds where someone always uses the same set-up. I think it makes sense to have meaningful choices ... but at the end of the day, you earn the right to make those choices by unlocking those individual abilities as well as the right to rotate specs while out of combat. There is nothing preventing a wizard from learning both the Arcanist and Elementalist specializations but they need to choose which one makes the most sense for any given encounter. This is also keeping in mind that the "base wizard" will have plenty of spells available regardless of specialization to ensure that they can fulfill their standard role. Specialization is just a matter of flavor that you need to lock in before a given fight. One other thing I was considering adding was some sort of "passive" buff or utility for each spec to make them feel a bit more distinctive than just being associated with it's own unique set of epic abilities.
Two spec will end the same way, with one spec beeing overly favored even with a small %. Because now people don't care about breaking the odds. They want easy and fast results. I hope this won't happen, but breaking classes into sub classes will only make on toolset favored for it's practicability or DPS, like spec in wow were considered sub optimal if they weren't the "main stream overplayed spec of top players". Heck, I played fury warrior and bear druid during Vanilla wow and I was far to be weak with them.
Edit: I'm not willing to plunder your post with scepticism, forgot to add that line after my computer crashed, sorry if it feels like it.
Trust me, I am familiar with the woes of specialization. With this model, it doesn't matter if someone prefers one specialization over the other. At the end of the day, players would be able to unlock both -- this was an extremely imporatant aspect of how the model would work. If you make the choice permanent, you're 100% right, one ends up being superior for whatever reason and people are ostracized if they don't pick it. With this model, players can unlock both specializations. You can be an Arcanist Wizard for one fight, and then an Elementalist Wizard for the next fight. We're already going to see some degree of this behavior with our single limited hotbar. The way I envision specialization working is emphasizing that point. You have to prepare for combat and make meaningful choices prior to engaging. It might take awhile to unlock all of the different specialized abilities, or even the ability to rotate specializations, but that's a long-term goal that you can work towards. There is no "ideal spec" -- it's always situational. One phrase I have used in the past is this ... I would rather make hundreds/thousands of meaningful choices over the lifespan of my character (rotating specs while out of combat) than making a single monumental decision early on (picking a permanent spec.)
*Edit -- No worries at all! Skepticism is always a healthy thing and if there are any issues with the model I would love to be made aware of them. There are going to be some things that certain folks might perceive as an issue that I ultimately disagree with. A good example of that is allowing flexibility with rotating specializations. Another aspect is the requirement of progeny in order to learn both masteries. Those are just personal preferences of mine. I loved releveling in FFXI and it was a core part of the game due to the importance of sub-classes. I think you could accomplish the same thing, to some degree, with dual specializations. They may need more than just 4 epic abilities though which is why I was leaning toward also creating some sort of passive buff.
Added Sentinel for Paladin. This was a bit of an experiment as I added the passive ability as described above (Which I will eventually add to each different specialization for all classes) while also including a paladin-only resource called "Holy Favor." It's not all the way fleshed out yet but I like the idea behind it. We already know that Paladins are going to be exceptionally strong against Undead ... so why not give them an added incentive to potentially farm undead?
Let me say this one aspect nobody remembered.
More then one Spec, also caused you to adjust to others builds. You would be forced to button mash to the best spec available to support the guild. You never really had a chance to explore your own specs, but rather reviewed other You tube specs out there to be the best of that class. If we add in more then one spec the same thing will happen all over, button mashing specs.
I would rather merit a player for how they play and not by the spec?? get where i am going on this. Grouping vrs button raid mashing specs.
Keep it aimed towards true classes, and i am ok with that. Lets not force a player to follow someones spec to be able to solo, or group. Let the player be the player by the raw class they choose.
If VR decides they could always add in more specialiations at a smaller degree by the race. Meaning the race can matter somewhat, to change a slight thing or add in 1 or 2 extra values to make it different. Such as Cold Resistance boost of 10% etc...
Added Oathsworn to finish up the Paladin Class. This is the first class that I have added passive buffs to but this is something I would like to circle back to and add to all of the other specializations after shaman is completed. This class design is probably one of my favorite so far and was inspired by the paladin information discussed during the Bazgrim & Joppa class interview that recently took place at PAX East. I think the Oathsworn specialization is geared to serve as a devastating force to be reckoned with while battling undead, and the Piety passive buff would be an interesting way to somewhat offset their ability to become too overpowered. The idea behind that logic is simple ... you allow them to deal additional damage but it comes at the cost of their ability to heal themselves (or others) and this extra damage would not generate threat. Overall, I really like the idea behind the Holy Favor resource pool and how that could be tied into their unique Rites of Passage. By tying a cost of holy favor to each passive buff, it ensures that they would be able to leverage it consistently. In many ways, I feel that tying this resource pool into killing undead would be a great way to integrate the game lore into their class design. I imagined myself playing a paladin in order to accumulate Holy Favor and I figured it would legitimately feel like I was roleplaying a Paladin on a mission while doing it. The "Sacred Virtue" epic ability would be highly sought after by all Paladins and I would imagine that spell being prioritized sooner than later. It might make sense if some of the blessings that are associated with that spell are also tied into the Rites of Passage, or perhaps even their deity depending on how that system is rolled out.
or they might do this at later time
Oracle added to Shaman. One more spec to go and then I'll start working on the passive buffs for the first 12 classes. I know some people have their reservations about specialization and many of them have been well documented in this thread. If there is a particular painpoint that someone would like to discuss, feel free to bring it up, but it's definitely worth reading through the thread to see if it may have already been discussed. If anybody has any feedback on any of the specs I would love to hear it! I have already gone in and made a couple minor tweaks based on feedback from someone I was chatting with in the unofficial Discord channel. If you're passionate about a specific class and feel there is an opportunity to bring something different to the table please share any ideas you might have. Thank you!
I worry abut these systems. If not approached very, very carefully, there ends up a perception that there's a 'right' spec :(
I used to play WoW, and I had chosen not the 'right' spec. The only group I could regularly find was my husband. His hunter had the 'right' spec and was constantly getting trolled to go joingrou, let alone if he was actively LFG. I would struggle, and get a 'why aren't you x spec?.
Because I play my game in the way I find most appealing. I'm a valuable and attentive member of the group. If you want an X Spec Hunter, go roll one, I like Y.
Venjenz said:Kytastrophe said:I worry abut these systems. If not approached very, very carefully, there ends up a perception that there's a 'right' spec :(
This perception is confirmed by finding any archive of the Druid's Grove forums, where damn near every player of the jack of all trades class in EQ1 spent all their waking time complaining endlessly about how nobody wanted them for groups because clerics healed better, other casters did better DPS, wizards had better ports, etc etc etc. That's what all dual class players do, compare one of the subclasses to the purist class of that same skill set and whine that the devs didn't let them have their cake and eat it too.
Then comes the "preferred spec" meta, which in games like WoW changes ever single time they patch the game, causing endless whineplay. Easier to have 10-14 distinct classes that are all purists in one of the required archetype roles - tank, heal, mdps, rdps, support. Done. Don't mix, don't match, don't try to have that one class that can do a bit of everything, or we'll never hear the end of it.
Digitalgrave said:Venjenz said:Kytastrophe said:I worry abut these systems. If not approached very, very carefully, there ends up a perception that there's a 'right' spec :(
This perception is confirmed by finding any archive of the Druid's Grove forums, where damn near every player of the jack of all trades class in EQ1 spent all their waking time complaining endlessly about how nobody wanted them for groups because clerics healed better, other casters did better DPS, wizards had better ports, etc etc etc. That's what all dual class players do, compare one of the subclasses to the purist class of that same skill set and whine that the devs didn't let them have their cake and eat it too.
Then comes the "preferred spec" meta, which in games like WoW changes ever single time they patch the game, causing endless whineplay. Easier to have 10-14 distinct classes that are all purists in one of the required archetype roles - tank, heal, mdps, rdps, support. Done. Don't mix, don't match, don't try to have that one class that can do a bit of everything, or we'll never hear the end of it.
This is my feeling as well. Purist classes are always best. I think that is the point of having an abundant list of classes. Creating role changing specialization is the lazy way out of having to create and balance a new class. Specializations if implemented should be miniscule to the class similar to EQ in that your specilizations were a choice of alteration, evocation, abjuration etc.
Even then, school specs had cookie cutters and you only took advantage from one or two spec at most, depending on your "playstyle" or maybe more of what you had to do as a class.
Making specs on skillups for melee wouldn't really change much, what would you have ? The Backstab rogue ? The Waylay rogue ? The DoT rogue ? One would be better than the others and it would neglect any other choices.
The offense warrior ? The defense warrior ? If the difference is significant, no one would want an offensive warrior because he would end up smashed when tanking, or the inverse : Too much damage gain, etc...
Can't say for now. The good aspect with this game, at least for me, is that I await to be surprised in pretty much every aspect.