Before drop any comments regarding the change itself i’ll slip by this small hypothesis based on the ongoing rumors of “thief”.
Thief-to-Tank expanded
In the current class vector we have each class taking two elements to work with in a 2x2 grid, these are reach (melee/ranged) and output (physical/damage) which doesn’t allow any class to get into it without breaking however some pointed out that having a dedicated defensive class (tank) and go opposite direction may fit in and it kinda makes sense. Assuming X (thief, outlaw or even mercenary) replaces swordsman as the melee damage tree the class can shifts into the bulky side and works literally as a tank, being resistant, slow and having concentrated damage, as the new addition takes the swift and consistent damage more in the lines of archers. That’s partially reinforced with the changes toward magic as X and archer will have to deal with it by dodging and swordsman will be the one blocking it.
Taking this in consideration, and the considerable effort of IMC to keep the themes faithful to their real life counterparts, it is likely for swordsman to be turned into “warrior” and move to the spear path leaving all the sword and offhand classes to X. In this scenario warrior classes will focus on spears and shields having the latter and two handed spears as the extremes, going by this logic the one handed spear works to extend the building path reach for both sides and kills most of the counter synergy the tree has.
On the other side by making X the sword class (and also abiding from the same moral standards of warrior) the focus can be split in a similar way as two handed swords, one handed swords and off hand (dagger/pistol) also allowing more combinations to be explored rather than having restrictions. Among some of the classes that can be shifted we have…
Swordsman
2 Handed Swords (or slightly inclined to) - Highlander, Barbarian and Doppelsoeldner
Weaponless - Shinobi
Off Handed - Corsair and Retiari
Archer
Weaponless - Wugushi, Sapper and Appraiser
Off Handed - Scout (if reworked), Rogue, Hackapell (sword for main and pistol for offhand), Bullet Marker and Schwarze Reiter
Wizard - Alchemist (unlikely but possible)
This solves most of the issues with weapon restrictions at swordsman and even in archer, it also adds some extra synergy as pistol classes can be taken from both trees and used along. Anyway, back to the real topic.
Identity
Regardless of anything they do, be that at the current or the new system, classes need solid identities as what they contribute to the game that others don’t do. It’s fun to play with a desired fantasy as setting everything on fire, but if another class can do exactly the same thing with ice, darkness of blood it won’t change a damn thing. This is something classes suffer today and it will be worse if they don’t have any ladder system to rely on as that at least pushes the lower classes into possible choices and assure the later ranks to be relevant.
Circle Break
This whole complain of taking circles out of the system doesn’t really connect to me as i do find myself in situations where i need to take a class to progress yet none of them appeals to what i want my character to be (which also stacks with the previous issue), being able to just skip that and get the next class i want sounds way more satisfying especially when i can combine the current high rank classes into fantasies that would only be (partially) available around rank 12~13. If a class can be a one circle wonders (or provide a circle peak setup for later classes) only then it has no place in the game environment, ideally it should be reworked but for that they need a clear direction on what each of the classes has to be and how it can improve the game experience.
With the current rank the straight forward build is likely to be 1-3-3-3 so the only difference is that we’ll have +2 at the start which is an improvement when combined with the free class pick. It also sets up a solid foundation and floor so players can have a consistent skill set that will guarantee that any character on that tree will have the minimal capability of doing one thing, in Cleric’s case it can ensure any single build will have healing in some degree and even as an offensive build they will be able to aid allies.
One issue that may rise with that is the considerable slow progression that new players will have to overcome to reach what the game aspire to convey, it may be 3 to 4 times longer and the game won’t be special at all until the second subclass. It’s also likely to make advancement overwhelming as instead of 3 options on first class change new players will have to pick 1 out of 10 classes (and going back to the previous issue) they may not communicate their role clear enough to help players to know how to use them.
I’d love to stick to the circle system just cause it gives control over how much of each class i can take however if they know that they can’t deal with it i’d rather try this new one that has more benefits packed in. Also we can’t forget that the limitation of 3 extra classes is what they play for the update and that may be expanded later on once we have enough classes to not fall into a similar, yet more flexible, version of the game we have today.
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Edit - At the current system some classes can have similar identities given a proper rank gap, this won’t be the case with the new system and i hope they realise and address it along else we’ll have a problem.
META and casuals
There’s been a misconception of what IMC goal is with this change, they don’t want to get rid of META and, if anything related to, are more inclined to dilute it into a larger build poll. However the true goal is to make classes desirable, playable and fun which is what games are really about, they want to take away some of the strategic stress embedded to the system and that will help the game by lowering the entry barrier for new players. I disagree when people say the game will be more casual since skills will still be decided by players and the point ratio to mastery should be around 35~70%, players will still need to formulate what skills to pick to synergise the build path and those that have this knowledge or insight to do the unusual will be rewarded.
I can see this system making a large array of builds playable even if not optimal and that isn’t much true with what we have now, at least it won’t punish players that hard to the point they’d rather quit and move to another game that is way more simple.
Stats
I do like the idea of having fixed stat (and perhaps substat) point distribution as i do, along with the majority of players, spend all my points into a single stat as is the best suited for my character, back then it would have at least some con as gears had all stats fixed but once we have random stats added anyone can compensate one or two stats lacking and also get the so desirable stat and be successful. It also doesn’t fit the theme of certain classes that have their abilities aligned with specific stats as players have full freedom on where to spend them and allow some cheese distribution as the infamous CON dump, we can’t blame players for doing so but there’s no easy and effective solution on that either.
It’s also interesting to point out that with magic being avoidable and blockable, which i personally thing is stupid, by default some stats with less or no value will be required to play as wizard as STR and DEX respectively, not only that but the game will also push evasion a little further as a defensive stat as currently it barely makes a difference.
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Edit - They may merge STR and INT into a single stat such as Power or Aggression, providing either PAtk or MAtk based on your base class (except for clerics that may receive both in 50~80% efficiency), in order to simplify the system and reduce the stat variance of RNG stats on equipment, in this case we may receive another stat but that sound unlikely to happen. Also with automated stat distribution some substats may return to the game or even show up in other stats in lower values, i can see SPR providing critical rate as it has the least overall value when comparing to any other stats in the same line.
( for my squire 3 nothing to do beside repairing better make use as blacksmith also ) or change looting chance to Luck
