WARNING - This thread isn’t made for new players or those that seek guidance on how to use said class, please look for proper threads regarding it such as class overviews and build guides. Design Breakdown is a design discussion thread only and has no purpose to help players on practical aspects of the game.
Starting another Design Breakdown with a controversial class that always finds it way on any single game, be that as a class or a profession, the one that doesn’t spare family nor pets - Alchemist. In case this is your first time on a Design Breakdown topic go to this link for some basic information. All threads were updated to the new format and you can check the new score explanation here as well.
Alchemist - RANK 6 - CRAFTING
“Alchemists use alchemy to enhance gems and synthesize or craft items.”
To summarize in a single word, “items”. Everything it does is based on items, may that be making something new, enhancing an existing item or destroying it. What Alchemist wants is to make profit through items.
Alchemy comes from arabic language, which can be translated to ‘chemistry’, and in its heart was science, technology wasn’t as developed it had to dealt with a lot of experimentation in order to find more about the world we live, the reason it became an individual word may be due the mystical elements were attributed to it through time as their practices could be questionable even at their time.
As main goal they wanted to know the composition of matter as at explanations varied and the most accepted ones said natural essences were responsible for the material things, along with that they carried the desire to manipulate essences and change any material into a more valuable one and that’s how the legend of the philosopher’s stone/elixir came to be as the physical manifestation of this concept.
Combustion (D) - Midground
Starting up with a chemical phenomenon, as they had limited tools it was essential to experiment and not all results would end up safely. Fire had an important role and heating certain combinations could result in explosions, thus it is a natural theme fit.
Combustion takes advantage on the game drop mechanics to deal damage as it targets loot on ground, the issue tho is that it will target all of it which isn’t reliable nor practical. For it to work there should be some way to sort what kind of item will or not be destroyed but that would demand too much effort to make it happen.
The silver attribute does help the skill but it can only triggers if the user don’t have any drops around, thus it won’t protect them in case you need the skill and want to preserve the loot.
Dig (F) - Gimmick
So far there’s no one in particular that wouldn’t be capable of digging, it could be arguable that some ingredients were found only underground but that may be a stretch.
The whole purpose of Dig is to setup Combustion combo and nothing else, without a floor this skill is as good as dead, it’s no use to have it at lower level as each level corresponds to the amount of dug items, that’s aggravated by the instant pick up for each item that spawns near the caster. It would be better for it to be removed completely but adding a brief delay before dug items are collected could be enough to make it usable.
Tincturing (C) - Lead
As medieval medicine was underdeveloped Alchemists also experimented with new medications, they believed some potions would grant you special abilities and that contributed to its mysticism.
Ticturing has a conceptual flaw that could be seen miles away, it only improves potion efficiency as leveled. If we take two Alchemists, one with Tincturing 5 and the other one with 15 they both will use the same amount of materials and yet the second one will craft a potion considerably stronger, when it comes to business there’s no doubt on which one will sell their goods. Just to warp the business aspect, unlike shops there is no price rule for potions and the only way to make lower level potions viable to sell is by selling cheaper, yet that is up to the community as market is regulated by players in small affairs such as consumables.
It would be unfair to have same outcome for both and giving a new potion for each skill level won’t help much as it still gives a major advantage for c3 and won’t allow players to stop midway, a fairer way to address it is by changing the outcome quantity.
The way the skill is, each time the skill completes its cast you get an X amount of Z lvl potions, by removing potion level any Alchemist will make the same potion but higher circles will get more of it with the same materials.
Example
Formula 5 + Skill Level
| Skill Level | 1 | 5 | 10 | 15 | Crafted Potions per Use | 6 | 10 | 15 | 20 | Increase for Current Cost (%) | 288% | 342% | 378% | 400% | Increase for Double Cost (%) | 144% | 121% | 189% | 200% |
|---|
As such having it maxed would give twice the amount of a c1 Alchemist limit, even if doubles the material consumption it would still be more viable for players to compete on market or at least have good potions for personal use. Tincturing also has a hidden component that unlocks more potion recipes for higher circles so that can also balance this low circle push.
Item Awakening (F) - Counter Lead
Changing properties of things was in Alchemist’s goals so it would make sense, also this isn’t an enchantment as the effect is permanent.
It’s bad and boring. The only time this skill was interesting was before the game release as it really awakened hidden stats that items possessed as they were fixed for every single equipment, the current version is nothing more than a lucky game where you try your best to get something not as bad.
One interesting element of Item Awakening was the dungeon that had to be completed in order to achieve the extra stat but it was poorly implemented and was flat boring as any moderate gear Alchemist could clear it before the next wave spawn, most of the time inside the dungeon was waiting and anyone that didn’t knew how to glitch mobs couldn’t even AFK till boss spawn. It would be different if the dungeon had some dynamic elements, if it had rooms that affected the outcome players would be engaged by it and also have control over the progression but it seems like that won’t come back so soon if ever again.
What i see as the ultimate form this skill could have is a short selection system for stats based on each weapon, may that be done through their category, grade, level or a combination of all them. The amount of substat lines would be determined by the equipment grade and the skill level allows multiple lines to be opened in a single use, it could be the only shop that gives customers a fun experience along with some quality service but that would require a lot of work to be implemented.
Easily one of the worst circles to take by itself, not only the point distribution is horrible but all skills are straight bad, Tincturing is useless aside for personal use and yet it doesn’t match higher level potions, Combustion is decent damage wise but has troublesome execution to be bothered and Dig is a straight up joke. The only decent skill is here is Item Awakening as it has a single level only yet it isn’t enough to make the class desirable.
Gem Roasting (D) - High Lead
Taking impurities out is something that even the chemical industry does today, take that along with another basic principle of Alchemists to reach pure material and you have a theme connection that fits like a gauntlet.
Gem Roasting is another of those skills that won’t allow any mid level to exist, even if players don’t have lvl 10 gems they won’t use a lower level service. There might be a way to address that but it won’t be as easy as any of the changes i listed so far, even on other threads.
Magnum Opus (C) - High Lead
The translation of Magnum Opus is ‘masterpiece’ and that is indeed present in the skill as with the right combination can create an Alchemist’s (Philosopher) Stone which is indeed the masterpiece of alchemy, and that item enables Alchemists to have an homunculus. Both things weren’t available when the game was released so it’s up to us to interpret it.
Magnum Opus has many issues that i’ll have to ask for your patience to get into it. For starters the execution of it is done through a grid that can accommodate items, if a specific items are placed in a specific shape it can select them to generate a single unit of a different item, at this point you may see the issue with it. That means each time you want to transmute an item or try a new combination you have to drag every single material unit from your inventory to the grid, and if you do get a result you’ll have to repeat the process again, and again, and again.
Following that we have to know which items can be combined and how. The amount of materials (and consumables) in the game surpasses a thousand yet for the skill to work you need to know the ‘recipe’ of items and shape, few combinations requires more than a single item to be inputed but in any case their quantity vary from 3 to 10 per conversion, the amount of available combinations is countless for something that can only be achieved by trial and error. So far the list of recipes was seldom updated and even when it had few new entries, yet it’s near to impossible for a new player to use the skill on its own and even veterans have to look for guides. The only thing the skill does right is to organize shapes in item families which helps players to discover combinations once they know the logic behind it, yet each try is another drag session that may or not result in an item.
If you think that was bad be ready for the next part, multiple combinations. As the grid as big as 8x8 it would be natural for players to try take advantage of that space and fit as many combinations possible, yet that bug the skill and waste your time and patience. It might have been fixed at this point as it used to allow it back then, but at a certain patch it wasn’t possible anymore.
Lasty this skill has a pitiful input to output ratio and just to point out real quick, we can connect this property to the principle of energy storage and transmission that states that any energy transference will always waste some energy due resistances, that can also be applied to ingredients and their quantities as it’s impossible to use 100% of every single thing put on a cake. Back to the skill, since each combination only provides one unit conversions can vary from 1:3 to 1:10 efficiency, that if the output is indeed the desired material else that will be transformed again and may turn into 1:9 to 1:100, and the worst part is that some materials have such low drop rates that it justify using Magnum Opus for conversions such as 1:36.
Also this skill has 6 levels only to prevent access to homunculi at c2. To top it off the homunculus itself has the worst AI in game, uses only a limited range of its master skills and will cast skills whenever it wants, it can be as reliable as a companion yet it will be gone after a week.
Despise all that it is possible to address every single problem the skill has, the grid itself isn’t a bad idea if it allows players to save the last combination used, it would be even better if players had the option to queue it for multiple conversions.
One thing that only Magnum Opus and few other features can do for the game is to have notes (book like item) with combination ‘recipes’ spread through game content, those may be obtained as monster drops, quest rewards, fishing, special interactions with environment, etc. By adding an exploration element that appeals to a single class in a way, yet not required for it, players may interact more with each other, they may sell those notes on market but as they are just instructions they won’t have real value, they may give them out for free to Alchemist friends, those can even exchange information on their notes so both can have access to it. It would be perfect if it came with a tool, maybe as a book, that allows searching and sorting of those said notes.
That may be the best way to keep the exploration/discovery aspect of Magnum Opus and also add a fun minigame for the community to engage on, in fact it can also be a easy way to add small batches of new content to the game by having more notes to hunt as combinations are added to the list.
To wrap it up the ratio of conversion can be changed into 20~50% based on item outcome rarity as some items aren’t rare nor useful enough to require massive conversions, at least do it for the lower level drops that compose 275- equipment.
Most of the issues within the class are still present here, Tincturing is slightly improved but not enough to be allow players to compete in Market, Gem Roasting scaling also prevents it to be of any use and Magnum Opus is just too annoying to deal with for the average player, it can be useful but isn’t nearly enough to support the whole circle.
As the usual crafting class this is the circle where it lacks combat power, the only advantage Alchemist has is that it already owns a strong damage skill yet the execution doesn’t help it at all, that will only be addressed at the next circle.
Alchemistic Missile (F) - Relief
Nope. This skill is disgusting, it’s too late in the class, it doesn’t have the minimal thematic connection and is a flat straightforward boring skill that have been reused for the third time.
It feels like they didn’t bothered to do anything for c3 so i won’t make it different.
Conclusion
There are two skills that sustain the class, Tincturing and Gem Roasting, and everything else is pure sprinkles, so is the fact that Alchemist is horrible aside for its last rank. Back then when it had Briquetting the class had something else to offer, it wasn’t a great skill but it had some niche uses and unique value. Magnum Opus may be a mess but i’ll acknowledge it has value and also a small player base that can make use of it but that won’t change the fact it is the most annoying skill to deal with and relies completely on outside sources or addons to be used.
Just rework the whole class from ground, no small fix will handle it and one or two new skills also can’t do the job. The community is asking for a throwing potion skill since the game beta and i would fit perfectly, just add a menu to equip potions similar to Wugushi’s and let it have some support value, heck it can even use to throw special offensive potions.
| C 1 | C 2 | C 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | C | A | E |
| Theme | C | A | F |
| Gameplay | E | D | E |
| Cohesion | D | D | E |
| Point Distribution | F | E | E |
| Dropout | F | F | C |
And concludes this depressive breakdown, next week things will be different as we have a twin release that was planned to be on this week. It would be way easier to take one by time but due the classes circumstances they must be done together, this also means their format will be different than usual and for better understanding of one both have to be read. In case i don’t manage to get them both in time i’ll do a light version on the winner hidden class and get the double release mid week. Also it may be interesting to recheck the older threads as they were slightly updated to fit this new thematic analysis.
If you feel like leave a comment with some suggestions on what could be done to Alchemist or crazy ideas that may fit it (don’t forget it isn’t supposed to be an offensive class), hit the like to show your appreciation for design breakdowns and even requests for the next class to be taken.
