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 ToS thief class that is actually a swordsman class, the land pirate in flesh - Corsair. In case this is your first time on a Design Breakdown topic go to this link for some basic information.
Corsair - RANK 5 - ATTACK / PARTY
Dual-wielding seems like a good fit for corsair but it can also be extended to quick attacks, the class identity is rather simple as it another offensive one but it fairly broad as well. The issue with this direction is that focusing on weapons often works against synergy and allow identities to be recycled, in this case going for quick attacks doesn’t result in anything unique as this element can see in several other classes.
According to some sources Corsairs are pirates with governamental bounds, their job was to steal other country ships cargo on their way back. This kind of activity rose due colony production and mining without all the manpower cost, even if said Corsairs were caught they could be taken as regular pirates without harming their contractors.
One thing that can be discussed as Corsairs are bandits is the Thief class tree as it is something a portion of the game community wants. The standard setup for RPGs has the following archetypes - Warrior (Knight, Swordsman, etc), Thief, Cleric (Priest), Archer and Mage (Wizard) - and this works in games that have few branches on top of those classes, however in ToS this isn’t even possible as can be seen in the chart below.
| Melee | Ranged | |
|---|---|---|
| Magic | Cleric | Wizard |
| Physical | Swordsman | Archer |
If we follow this division there is no room for Thief, it could fit between Swordsman and Archer as a mixed range hybrid yet it can easily endanger. Even if said tree were added it also requires 14 new full classes to follow the current ranking at least, those also need unique identity to have their space in the game environment and would likely to clash with other trees due mechanical similarities.
The other thing that has to be discussed when talking about Corsairs is daggers and dual wielding. It’s clear that this offhand weapon brings no advantaged to the user in any circumstance as shields provide defense and block capability, on the other side the two handed weapons have higher base stats and can scale further with enhancement and transcendence. Daggers also have a shorter range attack that despite faster it doesn’t affect regular skills, to say they have some use the identifiable equipment can have offensive stats and provide some extra offensive power yet it is a minor element to use when shields are way more reliable. For the dual wielding the community asks for twin sword classes but there are few historical records that support this fantasy and Corsairs aren’t one of them. The few that point this combat style uses parallel attacks instead of attack sequences as seen in modern media, this can be overlooked to deliver a power fantasy but it may not happen at all.
Jolly Roger (F) - Gimmick
Jolly Roger is a name used to refer to pirate ship flags, its worked both as a threat signal for ships in range allowing them to choose between fighting to death or surrender without confrontation as pirate took all the goodies. Unlike most believe those flags had a broad range of designs using elements such as weapons, monsters and sailors, and some even had red as part of the color scheme. There’s no real connection with the theme and the skill mechanics as the flag is a signal of pillaging and in some cases confrontation, yet the effect requires a condition to be met and even then the reward doesn’t match the theme.
The skill is utterly outdated and was only an interesting when it had the pillage effect as reward for 300 hit combo. It all changed when pillage became a basic attribute and the Jolly Roger was updated to nullify Double Weapon Assault Stamina consumption as a base effect and have additional Missile property damage as the fever effect, later on Double Weapon Assault had its limitation lifted and Jolly Roger was completely abandoned. By limiting fever to Missile damage only it cuts out more than ¾ of all classes from the game, which includes Corsair as it can’t use it unless it goes all the way to the last circle, as they don’t have any skill or weapon that uses it. Even if a party is assembled with 4 archers and a corsair, which isn’t the best composition, it still requires the combo gauge to be filled as the flag itself does nothing unless, that means all players have to attack constantly for 300 hits (60 per player) in limited location to receive a 10s buff only and repeat the process over and over. To not say the skill is completely useless the flag can generate aggro and also has the unity attribute that provides a chance to mitigate all incoming damage.
Theme wise this skill should add looting chance or increase the chance to drop silver when killing enemies, if not guarantee, as fever strikes. Another friendly change is to have fever not to expire along as the flag is up, this also allows the leveling factor decrease the hit count and access the buff faster.
Iron Hook (E) - Gimmick
Hooks are often associated to pirates due famous character Captain Hook, however some believe the object was used as a hand replacement through history as it has some useful uses and it happens that hooks were present in ships which allowed improvised surgeries to connect both parts. However the skill major element is the rope, these were the most useful equipment in the ship as it can serve to tie objects and prisoners, lift things, punish or execute traitors and even dock the ship which is the only application of it that fits the skill.
As a single target control skill Iron Hook is already limited enough but taking in consideration it also binds the user, that may attack but not move, and that it lasts longer when leveled it doesn’t turn out as an appealing skill. It is possible tho to change it and allow multiple enemies to be affected in exchange of disabling Keel Hauling interaction yet that doesn’t change any fundamentals of it. It doesn’t feel like leveling the skill at all is advantageous due the limitations and having it to restrain an enemy for 19s is both too much and also pointless.
A small quality of life change it can receive is to allow the user to walk only at the hooked enemy direction as to be able to hit enemies afar at a safe distance. There’s another change that can be done to improve it but it will be discussed on the next skill.
Keel Hauling (F) - Chain/Relief
Keelhauling is a punishment and possible execution for crew members that committed crimes in the sea which also includes navy, the sailor would be tied up and have the rope looped below the ship and be dragged all way around it one side to the ship to the other. It would be likely for the person drown or receive major wounds as barnacles would grown under the ship making the surface rough and sharp. Without the ship the connection fades away as that was what inflicted damage and not the pulling act, along with that keelhauling had several sailors to be done to be able to push a person for the whole distance.
Conceptually Keel Hauling is great but it is one of the cases where the combo isn’t justified as an individual element, as the skill can only be activated along with Iron Hook it has no use by itself nor room to be used later on with specific class combinations which doesn’t sustain it. Along with that the skill always drag the enemy for the full distance and that isn’t always wanted, in fact in most of scenarios it won’t make full use of the damage due it.
This function can better implemented as a second stage of Iron Hook activation and solve its leveling issue. As for giving it more control the skill could allow players to pull one round per button press opposed to the full action of Keel Hauling, this makes room for players to use higher range skills in a safe distance and also use disruption skills to maximize the damage output. Combining those two it’s even possible to have maximum number of pulls as the leveling factor and the bind duration fixed, to promote the active use of it the skill can freeze timer for the pulling duration and enable players to reach the same control efficiency when playing it right.
Dust Devil (B) - Lead
The only convergence point when researching about Dust Devil are wind whirls, those are non lethal wind vortexes that can be seen as miniature tornadoes yet they can be meters tall, and as the name implies they often carry sand along. As a name it can be considered as an adaptation as tornadoes form in the ocean which is associated with the class theme, yet the water aspect is never represented within the class as the game Corsairs are land pirates so going for Dust Devil is ironic and fitting. This could end here but Granado Espada, the previous MMO of IMC games, also had the skill in similar execution, as such it could be that the real source is other than that or just the name fits Corsairs in particular.
Overall Dust Devil is quite solid and has a high functionality control component, to top it off it also comes with three overheats and that’s enough to serve this aspect for the whole class. The only demerit of Dust Devil is the restriction it has on weapons since it’s a basic skill, it isn’t exactly a bad trait but would be better to at least include shields. Due the skill theme it could be possible to have an attribute to incorporate Earth in its damage vector.
With an almost useless skill as Jolly Rogers and a combo with questionable execution on Iron Hook and Keel Hauling it’s hard to have a solid start, the only skill that is round enough to be useful is Dust Devil yet it requires an off hand weapon and daggers by themselves have no use for swordsmen. To make things worse this circle doesn’t have anything special to offer to justify dagger usage, despite the true control of Dust Devil other classes can offer more as a starting circle. There is however the pillage that could justify taking the circle as it adds a small chance to force drop items when attacking, the only issue is that the attribute value multiplies with the class circle and as such the efficiency is at minimal value.
To reinforce the issue with Iron Hook and Keel Hauling combo players have to pay twice for half a skil. The duration of Iron Hook is already significant on unlock yet its restrictions lock down the user, meanwhile Keel Hauling can’t be used on its own and will terminate Iron Hook after its execution regardless of the remaining duration.
Double Weapon Assault (D) - Complement
There’s no real source to support this skill aside basic dual wielding combat, it isn’t anything particular to the theme but rather a generic employment of the weapons. Double Weapon Assault is a mistake, not because it’s a bad skill but rather because it isn’t a default game feature for dagger combat. Since the buff requires the user to alternate Z and C attacks, that relies on a good connection to work, it makes more sense for it to be a default mechanic for dagger combat as they provide no significant advantage over other setups, even with offensive substats they can be replaced by two handed weapons in most scenarios or shields for extra protection. There’s some damage increment when performing Double Weapon Assault properly but it can feel lackluster as it cannot be seen most of the time, however the skill scaling is ven all that said the skill scaling is great as it has both a floor and an effect available at level 1.
If it were for this effect to be a basic mechanic the skill can still exist but as an automated version of it, instead of having to alternate keys it can use the dagger after the main hand attack. In fact it can even be turned into an attribute and make room for new skills to receive those points.
Hexen Dropper (B) - High Lead
It wasn’t possible to find anything related to Hexen Dropper aside for a skill present in Granado Espada, in fact a lot more of their skill names can be seen in ToS spread among classes. I won’t say for sure it has no basis for the skill but as far as things go i’d assume so.
Hexen Dropper is a straight forward short range damage skill that also makes use of attack speed, it’s everything the small identity of Corsair needs and does the job fine. Here it would be interesting to have the execution speed fixed, or increasing speed with level, at the highest end as a way to distinguish it from regular offensive skills and embrace the identity along, that isn’t needed however.
The major improvement the class receives at this circle is Double Weapon Assault as it brings this feature which sole mechanics allow players to have double hits. Hexen Dropper is a decent skill it doesn’t do anything special that other classes can’t offer, that’s only relevant as the previous circle rooster is poor to the point the follow up should be at least special.
Quick and Dead (A) - Midground
Back then this skill was named Pistol Shot and this is basically all it is, the new name however is more aligned into the pirate theme. This is the only true ranged skill in the whole Swordsman tree and one of the largest hitbox skills as well, the minimum critical chance is also an interesting addition but isn’t that needed. It isn’t clear how the targeting is done as the skill uses pistol only and the ricochet attribute makes it even more confusing as this is a basic component of the weapon attack.
Impale Dagger (B) - Counter Lead
Another skill that doesn’t seem to have any particular source as it is only a triple dagger stab. It seems like the skill is the only one that has fixed attack speed and it’s rather slow compared to what the others potential speed, if it weren’t for the dedicated damage on offhand this skill would have nothing new to offer.
It could be interesting to have some critical incentive here as well since the skill itself is rather raw especially due its range.
The sole introduction of Pistols in this circle is something special, not necessarily good but a small trait to be considered, yet that is done fairly late for the current state of the class. As Keel Hauling pulls uncontrollably and Iron Hook restrain the user movement a ranged weapon is all Corsair wants to have some agency but forcing players to go all the way into the class to have combat power is a terrible decision. Here it’s also possible to make use of Jolly Rogers in the personal level, even then the skill has too many hurdles to be taken at all.
It’s also visible that Impale Dagger, as added later, whole purpose is to provide something for dagger users at the last circle, this is a rather odd way to address it as Pistols aren’t that strong as off hand weapons and have no other use in the tree other than Quick and Dead. The ability to use Double Weapon Assault with Pistols is also great but due the weapon nature it feels like the execution is significantly slowed down, this is amplified as the difference of speed between Daggers and Pistols makes it harder to time it after you get used to one weapon.
Conclusion
Corsair is another interesting case of a class that seems fine at first glance and keep the impression even when played, however it has one of the worst standalone circles and a lot of poorly implemented mechanics. Even then the major issue lies deeper as the class doesn’t have a real identity aside for fast attacks, some may argue that dual wielding is part of its identity yet weapons fall more into the theme side than identity one as even Swords can be used for Pierce and Strike attacks. This concept weights a lot on the class design, especially for Daggers, and serve as a pretext to have the sub weapon in game, yet the said equipment lacks elements to promote its usage and turns out to be exclusive to the class even when every class tree can equip them. It also doesn’t make sense to have Pistols locked at the last circle when their basic attack has more downsides than advantages, not only that but Quick and Dead could improve the mid circle considerably even tho it is the best circle overal.
Another big flaw in Corsair’s design is the absence of sea in the thematic side as it is a crucial element to define a pirate over a regular bandit or thief, i won’t deny it is a hard thing to achieve but lacking weakens the fantasy. It also seems like the class claims to be a party oriented one yet few skills have party interaction or require some form of cooperation to be used, Jolly Rogers that is the lead party skill can be completely wasted depending on the party composition. It feels that the only reason, aside for Double Weapon Assault, to pick the class at all is for the thematic value of being a thief, most of the classes can offer the same offensive power for less commitment and also have other useful skills that come along.
| C 1 | C 2 | C 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | D | B | B |
| Theme | C | F | D |
| Gameplay | D | B | B |
| Cohesion | F | B | B |
| Point Distribution | F | E | D |
| Dropout | E | C | A |
That’s how we end the functional and questionable class that Corsair is, as always have your comments bellow on your take of the class and point out what else could be discussed on it. As a small personal statement i was quite surprised to see how low i rated the class even tho it is one of my favorite ones to play with. For the following week we’ll talk about Templars and this will be a wild ride, i’m still taking suggestions on the next class to cover so if you want to see one in particular just drop in the comments.
