I’ll start off by saying that this is a pretty major suggestion which I realize would require a lot of work, but with the current ongoing efforts to overhaul many aspects of the game and with Rank 9 likely coming out at some point within the next year this seems like it might be the best time to make such a suggestion.
Basically, instead of the current system where you gain access to two new classes with each new rank the classes would instead be divided into tiers consisting of three ranks each along with a new, very small ‘Rank 0’ starting class. To begin with, imagine dividing the existing ranks into three tiers so that Rank 1 through Rank 3 is Tier 1, Rank 4 through Rank 6 is Tier 2, and Rank 7 through Rank 9 is Tier 3 (Rank 10 would be the start of Tier 4 for that matter); Rank 0 is at the start outside of the tier system. The big change here is that when you advance to a new tier you immediately gain access to every class in that tier in addition to still having access to all the previous classes. Secret classes like Chaplain would be exceptions to the rule and still only become available at their current ranks since they only have a single circle anyway. I’ll explain Rank 0 soon, but I want to give some examples of what this would be like first.
Let’s take Wizard as an example and say you want to really focus on support early on. With the current system you can sort of do this, but Linker and Thaumaturge overlap and if you want to take Chronomancer to Circle 3 that means taking only a single rank in a rank 6 or 7 class or waiting all the way until Rank 8 before getting any sort of damage skill. With the tier system in place, Wizards would have access to Wizard, Cryomancer, Pyromancer, Psychokino, and Linker all at Rank 1, Rank 4 would grant access to Thaumaturge, Elementalist, Sorcerer, Chronomancer, Alchemist, and Necromancer, and Rank 7 would grant access to Featherfoot, Warlock, Sage, and Enchanter (and eventually also access to whatever the current planned Rank 9 classes are). Every build currently available would still be possible to make, but now you could also do things like Linker 3, Chronomancer 3, Enchanter 2 (yes this would mean implementing a second rank for the current Rank 8 classes). Additionally, those more invested in summoning classes like Sorcerer and Necromancer could start taking these classes as early as Rank 4 so they could start benefiting from their investments in Spirit much sooner.
Rank 0 comes into play in the form of a very basic version of the four existing starter classes and would be designed to hit cap slightly before players arrive in Klaipeda or Orsha. This class would have all of the Circle 1 skills of the starter classes, but each skill can only go up to level 1, it has no access to attributes, and it caps at level 4. Since Wizards and Swordsmen have one more Circle 1 skill than Archers and Clerics, one of these skills would simply not be available at Rank 0 so every Rank 0 class would only have four skills. If a player chooses to advance into Circle 1 of one of the starter classes it would unlock that class’s full potential, refunding their four skill points, giving them access to attributes, and, in the case of Wizard and Swordsman, granting access to the fifth skill.
I’ll use Cleric as an example of how Rank 0 would work. If a person starts off as a Cleric they will have exactly one level of Heal, Cure, Safety Zone, and Deprotected Zone by the time they hit class level 4. As this is a ‘Starter Cleric’ and not really Cleric Circle 1 they cannot apply attributes to these skills (the “Remove Damage” attribute on Heal and other significant toggles can be exceptions) and they cannot put any of these skills beyond level 1 other than through outside means such as via another Cleric’s Divine Might. Even if a Cleric were to never take a single rank in the Cleric class beyond Rank 0, every Cleric in the game would have access to this very basic form of these four skills. In this case we can say this particular Cleric chose to take Bokor at Rank 1 and then took an actual point of Cleric at Rank 2. Following this example, they would have access to Zombify, Hexing, Effigy, and Tet Mamak La as well as level 1 versions of Heal, Cure, Safety Zone, and Deprotected Zone at Rank 1. Once they hit Rank 2 their points in Heal, Cure, Safety Zone, and Deprotected Zone immediately get refunded in addition to gaining access to another skill point as usual and access to attributes for any Cleric skills they put points back into and access to up to level 5 of each of those skills. This means the moment they take a single rank in Cleric they can choose to evenly distribute the points again, but they can also choose to dump them all into Heal to max it. It also means that the official Circle 1 of each starter class gets 19 skill points to play around with instead of the standard 15 to help balance out the less focused nature of these classes compared to many of the other ones.
Again, I realize that a system such as this would require a lot of work, but I think it would benefit players and developers alike and actually even save some work in the long run. Here’s the list of benefits this system would bring with it:
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New classes no longer would necessarily need to be released at the same time as new ranks, allowing you to distribute new content at a much steadier, more even pace. If you have a new class done you can release it for its current tier even if you don’t have enough new late-game content ready to warrant adding in a new rank. Likewise, this will allow you to add in new content and a new rank while only adding in new skills for the existing classes in that tier rather than adding in two entirely new classes on top of new skills for existing ones. The only exception to this would be if the next rank is also the start of the next tier, so Rank 10 for example would probably also have at least one new class tied to it.
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Balancing classes becomes significantly easier. Rather than trying to weight the benefits of Circle 1 of a class against Circle 1 of a class at the same rank, Circle 2 of the classes from the previous rank, and Circle 3 of the classes from two ranks before that, you are only weighing each circle of a class against the same circle of the other classes within the same tier. Since every class in a tier becomes available at the very start of that tier it is possible to get it all the way up to Circle 3 before hitting the next tier. Thus, you would be weighing the benefits of Enchanter 1 against those of Featherfoot 1, Warlock 1, and Sage 1 rather than against Enchanter 1, Warlock 2, Featherfoot 2, Necromancer 3, and Alchemist 3. This would almost certainly be the part which would require the most time and effort as several classes would need to be rebalanced so that, for example, the first circle of any current Rank 4 class is just as appealing as the first circle of any current Rank 5 or Rank 6 class since they all fall into Tier 2, new, lower versions of specialized equipment like rapiers and guns would need to be introduced to take into account classes like Fencer and Schwarzer Reiter being available by Rank 4, and Circle 2 skills would need to be introduced for every current Rank 8 class, but future balance changes and classes would be far easier to implement.
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Class choices would be easier for the players themselves to balance. The current system asks players if they want to strengthen their existing skills and gain access to one or two more by taking another circle in a current class versus taking a rank in a new class which will give them far more versatility on top of the new skills being balanced to be on par with the second or third circle of their existing class. With tiers, players are strictly choosing between giving themselves a lot more power and a little more versatility by taking a new rank in an existing class versus giving themselves a lot more versatility and not necessarily more power with a new class. It’s fine if a class in one tier is stronger than a class in the previous tier because players will always have the option available to them to get all the way up to Circle 3 of a class in one tier before they gain access to classes from the next tier.
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Classes not being strictly tied to ranks means it would be possible to introduce more classes at lower tiers down the road rather than making new classes for higher and higher levels.
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Rank 0 would give players an opportunity to get a feel for the game and for the basic ways their class can play without any risk. Since the only choice at Rank 0 is the order in which you learn your four skills, every player has a chance to try out the different types of skills available to their class without worrying about misplacing a point right at the start. This also means that, unless a player decides to take an actual rank in a starter class and actively chooses to not put even a single point into a skill, every player will have access to at least a very basic version of these four skills so even a pure damage build will have at least one support skill and a pure support build will have at least something in the way of a damage skill they can use without feeling like they ‘wasted’ a point.
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You can prevent players from becoming overwhelmed by choices when hitting a new tier with a few simple advancement markers. You already list class ‘difficulty’ in each class description and guide players towards popular classes and skills with the “Hot” marker so this would just be a simple addition to that. Any class which might be more difficult to play can be marked with a larger “Hard” banner and/or any ‘easy’ class can have an “Easy” banner on it. This would basically just be taking the existing Easy and Hard indicators in the individual descriptions and slapping them on the class rectangles alongside the Hot indicators. Even if a player hasn’t bothered looking into the classes too much in advance they would be able to immediately tell the difference between a class marked as both Hot and Easy and one marked with Hard without Hot.
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Players generally get to play what they really want to play a lot sooner. With the current system there is some excitement to be had upon finally reaching the required rank for a new class, but the journey to that class isn’t always a fun one. Depending on just what you want, you may end up putting a rank into a class along the way simply because it has a single skill which has at least a little bit of synergy with the class you’re actually aiming for a rank or two later. With the tier system you still can’t go so far as to take a class from a later tier in an earlier tier (though the reverse is still possible), but you can start putting ranks into some of the more unusual classes like Squire sooner without needing to go through one or two ranks in classes which don’t really fit the playstyle you ultimately want to have. It also largely fixes the current issue where it’s common to dip a rank or two into one class solely for skills which benefit a later class as, unless the two classes fall under different tiers, you can take the class you want and then put ranks into another class to complement skills you already have.
Well, that’s everything that I can think of. I realize this is quite a lot of text to read through and that a change this massive is unlikely to happen unless it gets a lot of support (and even then there are no guarantees), but I thought it was worth the effort even if nothing comes of it since I believe that this specific point in time, when massive balance changes are still being worked out and when a way needs to be found to entice the wave of new and returning players into sticking around for the long-term, is the best time to make such a suggestion.