Tree of Savior Game play Mechanic
#Greetings
Your’s truly Karjalainen here making a TLDR on ToS iCBT2.
Some background on yours truly. I had played Ragnarok Online back in 2004(?) when the game became a fad amongst teenagers. It was one of the first mmorpg that came out during the rise of the internet. During those day the concept of mmorpg was still new and RO was the starting point of my mmo gaming.
Come 2008 came again another mmo from, this time it was the pioneer mmorpg of a new developer company IMC games. Granado Espada! I immediately fell inlove with the game and its concept of multiple character control the reminiscent of old console mmorpgs aka Squaresoft, now Squarenix, Final fantasy titles. Even down to the character designs appeal more to me with Final fantasy vibe.
Granado Espada became the primary mmorpg I was playing and the only mmorpg I fully commited. Given that I could just run GE while playing other mmos ensure that GE was never erased in my hard disk for a long time.
GE started as a subscription game but like any mmorpg from the past it became free to play, which unfortunately also made it ‘pay to win’ as many GE players can address.
With the rise of MOBA(League of Legends, Smite, Dota2) I gradually stop playing mmorpg as I devote more time playing them.
Then came Tree of Savior, a sudden burst of Nostalgia blew by my face as I saw the 1st videos of it from steparu’s youtube channel. Memories of my teen days flew by both Ragnarok and Granado Espada memories. Also the fact that mmorpg anime like Sword Art Online and Log Horizon were also airing gave fond memories of the past. Thus in my mind if there was an mmorpg that may get me back to the genre. Tree of Savior maybe it due to Nostalgia.
And Nostalgia is what many users and players here are expecting from Tree of Savior. Though nothing from aside from the visual were reminiscent of Ragnarok online, that’s ok since it belongs to another company which has bitter history with its creator. I do however loved the fact that you included a hell lot of reference to Granado Espada. Down to the audio bgms. If I wasn’t looking at the screen I would probably though myself I was either in Al Quelt Moreza or Torche Mansion.
Anyways into the iCBT2, as expected during the 1st week errors and bugs were prevailant. No surprise for me as I have played more than enough betas aswell to experience similar downsides. I ended up making a character in Gabija as it was the only server I manage to properly get in. As much as I wanted to continue testing builds with my swordsman to reach Fencer, my first choice. I could not play properly due to the excessive amounts of errors and disconnections that were prevalent once in awhile.
Gradually players manage to find fixes and I was up and playing again. I decided to reroll as my 2nd choice of character which is Paladin in Saule. Yep Saule! barely anyone was speaking English there and expected it to be that way. But my experience in Saule was better than in Gabija gameplay wise. Saule was more stable than the rest of the servers I almost never experience down time of the market and very fewer game crashes. Bonus that I got Vubbe fighter blood on my first run in Crystal Mine gave me a good start for my new cleric. That makes up for the lack of English speakers.
Now lets talk about the game.
Grinding wise, Im 50-50 on the exp rate, iCBT1 was at a lower rate while iCBT2 was on a faster rate. From Ragnarok Online classical era everyone simply did was grind all day and all night with almost no quest to speak off aside from changing classes. In GE it was given that everyone was grinding AFK. So unlike many players here I am actually fine seeing AFK players slashing their swords in the wind, since this was a common sight in GE.
However from my experience as a Priest in Saule, scripts might have been in rotation now. In royal mausoleum chapel I often TROLL into resurrecting dead Barbarians/Highlanders that kill steal from the parties there. But when I resurrect Priest/Krivis/Pyromancer they immidieatly cast as set of spells as if a player was controlling them. But surely resurrecting someone long dead would not immediately warrant a player input thus I conclude that bot scripts are now being implemented. Not to mention there are Private servers being posted in some websites.
Now back to grinding. In GE grinding was purely AFK 24/7 killing bazillion of mobs. However there was more than just genocide of mobs in GE. In GE you have multiple options to gain EXP. I suggest IMC to apply this to ToS aswell.
- Infinite Repeatable Quest
- Arena PvP EXP
- In-game Event EXP
- Completing Major Main Quest Level JUMPS (instant veteran/expert/master) – in ToS this could be for class level. The player would still need to grind their base class.
Basically IMC, give more different options for player to grind EXP. The more the choices the better.
EXP Penalties, do not punish player for working better and playing smarter. Give more incentive for parties instead of penalizing them. So many Kirito already, we need more Shiroe. Or pretty much just get rid of the penalties to simplify mechanics.
Stats, character stats, I like that one can freely add points in vast array of stats. However I see down side particularly to STR, INT and SPRT. In GE pumping STR or INT gives 20% more damage to your characters. While 20% is a huge boost in damage in ToS. INT and STR should give more than just +1 damage. Perhaps giving more bonus STR and INT when the player reaches them below 100 value.
Circles, class circles, as many have said early class circles damages gradually fall off and become useless at higher levels. Why not apply your original plan for class progression that goes beyond 3 circles. Some skills maybe limited to only 1 circle but at if there are more thatn 3 circles the damage from some skills can catch up to higher level content and not just forgotten and replaced with new more powerful ones.
The longest section now classes.
Swordsman
I like the fact that Swordsmen can now spam thrusts. However Pommel Beat and Double Slash still fail to grant their value as circle 3 skills. The points were better off in the buffs instead.
Peltast
Tanking is unrewarding, the only way your going to enjoy playing a tank is being sure you have friends. I suspect even in Raids the tank gets no rewards despite being the core strategy is having a tank sacrifice himself to be a living piñata. I would suggest removing the damage penalty in highguard and replace it with movement penalty just like Highguard in GE was. Guardian also need the same treatment as Gung Ho, since as it is Guardians only value is lvl 1 to get the evasion attribute. You might also want to add reflect physical damage buff for circle 3 of Peltast and call it ‘mirror guard’ or something.
Highlander
While I have nothing to really complain about the class I pretty just complain of its lore. Highlander is reference to warriors from Scotland and there is not a single skill that reflect or reference that culture. For example Highland Charge was a basic Scotish tactic when fighting the English. Also a possible nerf for 2Hand Swords is make their cycle animation slower. It more logical this way as great swords are heavy weapons and are not meant to be wielded in a rapid slashing manner.
Also is it possible to make Moulinet to have manual bashing effect like stabbing of hoplite?
Barbarian
Glad that this class finally got a nerf. However I would like to suggest Barbarian to have a different class of weapon like the Hoplite are getting spears. Let barbarians wield Battle Axes. These make the barbarian more barbaric in figure. A battle Axe could have built in higher Crit Attack and deals slash damage.
Corsair
Double weapon assault should be available from circle 1, this give it the corsair its uniqueness available already. You can also consider it as rewarding the player finally to be able to wield daggers quickly.
Fencer
This was my first choice and this is where I have really a lot of complaints on the class. All in all Fencers in ToS seem lack luster and lame. They only wear a fancy clothes but not worth their bite.
My primary concern with the fencer class is the lack of gap closing abilities despite the fact that most of the skill description state that the ability allows the user to reach the enemy. In fact fencing itself has a lot of moves and infact it most basic move lunge is suppose to reach your opponent from a short distance.
Lunge vr A – Fencer will travel a short distance and damage the enemy
Lunge vr B – Fencer will travel a short distance and damage the enemy but will return to their original position – this becomes a ‘reach’ attack as lunge is
Esquive Touche – Allow the fencer to travel while the on going animations like dopplesolder cyclone.
Archer
Place Heavy shot at circle 1 for more kiting power
Quarrel Shooter
Deploy Pavise should buff the QS’s block rate if they are near it, thus making the QS player ‘stand their ground’ type of gameplay unlike other archers who rely on kiting. Since this was the reason why pavise were made not only to protect the crossbowman but to make them not lose their position.
Wizard
There are several abilities I would like to see for wizards that could redeem the class.
HP Casting – use HP when no more SP or convert HP % into SP
Energy shield - use SP value as a destructible shield
Psychokino
Teleport – leave after image of Psychokino when they teleport. The image is a pseudo clone that can be damage but disappears immediately.
Chronomancer
Add ‘Longer Cooldown’ Debuff for the enemy
Cleric
Heal, if the friendly target has full HP, the heal tile should not activate for them. Thus leaving the heal tile where it is for better use.
Krivis
Aukuras, it seems useless. Why not put a small flat SP regen along with it?
Priest
Cleric who takes the 1st circle of Priest should get some free amount of Holy Water and Holy Powder.
Monk
Weapon gauntlets or knuckles as weapon type for this class. Make it a two hand weapon.
Hwarang
Flying Kick should consider the Hwarang a flying type target.
#Others:
Dynamic Channel, channel increase and decrease depending on player population.
Future Content, Multiple Main Quest, In GE you got multiple chain quest happening due to NPCs to unlock.
Card battle is RNG based and too risky to waste boss card one might never get again. If card game is RNG allow players to place card a corresponding item to bet. Winners get the loser’s betted item.
Use Solitaire League Cards for another ingame card game
Raids should reward all participants just as they are in GE.
Field Bosses should spawn at random location.
Show up how much EXP we get
Promt the user wish to telerport/move to next map/etc can be turned off in option settings.
Juke Box
Gender Change
In-town Teleport
Bayonets on Musketeer rifles/muskets
Certain words to be unbanned, community should contribute words in different language that are mischievous instead of some presumed harmless words being banned.
Jail System for suspected botters/cheaters. Includes prison uniform costume. Also unique quest to get out of jail.
If there is an Alliance war, opposing sides should be wearing opposing uniform costume.
International game but have dedicated Regional servers (North America, South America, Europe, Oceana-South East Asia, +extra servers for player influx which in the long run will decrease anyway). This also requires a service of character transfer from server to server.
More optimize game better FPS for ToSters playing on toasters.
More ‘jiggle’ physics. in other words more plot.
#PLS HAVE AN Official ToS Webtoon with English translation
