Greetings, IMC staff and fellow beta testers.
I believe the current class system has some issues that need to be discussed.
As we currently are, we have acess to 6 ranks, and probably will have acess to some more in the future. The problem with the current system is that, as ranks progresses, the earlier classes tend to be quickly outclassed.
Take the base classes, for example. Putting them at circle 3 seems really unreliable, since their damage tends to be worse than later ranks. A circle 3 swordsman hits about as hard as a circle 1 hoplite; who can still evolve 2 more circles. Imagine when there are like, 9 ranks or so. Damaging classes like pyromancer, for example, will get completely outclassed, since their damage as a rank 2 circle 3 will never compete against the later ranks.
With that in mind, players will most likely start to grab earlier classes by “utility”. Since their damage will be negligible, it’ll be better to grab things that can still be used later on, like buffs, stuns, etc. Cryomancer, for example, offers control, which pyromancer doesn’t, and I don’t really see a reason anyone would get pyromancer like that.
This will lead to less variety betweeen classes, which I think it’s the developers’ goal here. Characters will be defined only by their later choices, and this will make earlier classes just a matter of early game.
I can only think of a few solutions right now. First, would be mantaining a certain and low number of rank advancements. 6 seems fine. Also, giving more options for the players to choose between ranks, would make the system seem less “linear”. Pehraps this will change when the hidden classes are implemented.
But even better, there’s a way I can think to make the class system even more intersting, but rather more complicated: Making classes stronger or weaker according to your current rank when they are chosen.
Let me explain. For instance, you might become a pyromancer circle 1 at rank 2. BUT you can also become a pyromancer circle 1 only at rank 4, but that would normally seem unreasonable. The point is making a pyromancer circle 1 chosen at rank 4 to be stronger than one at rank 2. This would open up a lot of doors for players to build unique classes, by balancing them to adjust to your current rank. The reason It would be complicated is because it would need a clever system about adjustments.
For example, let’s say 2 players chose pyromancer circle 1 at rank 2, but player A chose to upgrade his pyromancer class to circle 2 at rank 3 and player B chose to upgrade his pyromancer class to circle 2 at rank 4. Player B’s skills would need to hit harder. But what if player A chose to upgrade his pyromancer at ranks 3 and 4, and player B chose to be pyromancer circle 1 at rank 7? Who would be stronger? Would all ranks have “values” that would add up? That’s the kind of thing developers should think about.
The thing is: With this, if I want to play my endgame as a pyromancer, cryomancer, with the damage equivalent to the final rank, I’ll be able to. We would still be dealing with earlier outdated classes, but it would at least make things more intersting.
Altogether, taking both the solutions I stated might just solve this problem. Or it might not, but at least in my opinion, it would be a intersting thing to put some thought on, unless we’re allowing earlier classes to grab more circles than others.
Thanks in advance,
A beta tester.