Kithani
Vyemm Raider
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Monsters and Memories (Project_N) - Old School Indie MMO
- Thread starter Flobee
- Start date
uniqueuser
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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It’s going to be a shitshow regardless, so it’s nice to see they’re no longer content to just copypaste EQ class designs.
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Quaid
Trump's Staff
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Well, I'm not sure I could be more pleased reading these plans. Almost everything has a nice gameplay 'hook' planned, and it sounds like they've given a lot of thought to retaining the spirit of classic era EQ while pushing it forward and correcting the errors of the past. Let's face it - all any of us wants is EQ 1.5 rather than what we got in EQ2.
The classes I thought were poorly thought out before, now sound like they're the most compelling. Archer, Spellblade, Paladin, Ranger, and Wizard all sound phenomenal. We'll see how it translates when we go from paper to actual gameplay, but I'm very optimistic.
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The only class I'm still worried about is Druid. I'm still traumatized from classic. The notion that DPS abilities make up for lack of heal utility, dmg mitigation ability, or a buff package feels as incorrect now as it was back then. The most effective groups in the best xp spots or the most challenging item camps will not assemble groups with multiple members dedicated to healing. They will also not dedicate one of 3 DPS group spots to a 'baby wizard'. The belief that a Druid will nuke when not healing is a fantasy. The best groups will push the limit of their one healer group slot, and will adventure on the edge of feasibility. Druid will be relegated to healer for last resort, or simply forced to solo.
I always disagreed with the decision to give Shaman both attack speed slow and melee haste. Had one of them been given to the Druid this problem would've been avoided. Unfortunately I think that ship has sailed and it is integral to the Shaman's identity. I've said it before but I figure I should repeat it. Make the Druid's buff suite do for casters what a Shaman's does for melee. A 10% Spell DMG buff for group members and a casting speed debuff for MOBs. This way a group would have to make a real decision between a Shaman or a Druid. If the group composition is caster heavy, or the party intends to adventure in an area with a high concentration of caster mobs, they would be more likely to favor the druid. Otherwise Shaman haste is simply too useful as an agro generation tool for tanks, and their slow is too useful for high-strain situations to make a compelling argument for a Druid.
That said, detail was sparse so maybe I'm speaking too soon. I just wanna make sure I'm loud about it because I feel like I've seen where this leads. Maybe I'll suck it up and post it on their Discord (again).
The classes I thought were poorly thought out before, now sound like they're the most compelling. Archer, Spellblade, Paladin, Ranger, and Wizard all sound phenomenal. We'll see how it translates when we go from paper to actual gameplay, but I'm very optimistic.
- - - - -
The only class I'm still worried about is Druid. I'm still traumatized from classic. The notion that DPS abilities make up for lack of heal utility, dmg mitigation ability, or a buff package feels as incorrect now as it was back then. The most effective groups in the best xp spots or the most challenging item camps will not assemble groups with multiple members dedicated to healing. They will also not dedicate one of 3 DPS group spots to a 'baby wizard'. The belief that a Druid will nuke when not healing is a fantasy. The best groups will push the limit of their one healer group slot, and will adventure on the edge of feasibility. Druid will be relegated to healer for last resort, or simply forced to solo.
I always disagreed with the decision to give Shaman both attack speed slow and melee haste. Had one of them been given to the Druid this problem would've been avoided. Unfortunately I think that ship has sailed and it is integral to the Shaman's identity. I've said it before but I figure I should repeat it. Make the Druid's buff suite do for casters what a Shaman's does for melee. A 10% Spell DMG buff for group members and a casting speed debuff for MOBs. This way a group would have to make a real decision between a Shaman or a Druid. If the group composition is caster heavy, or the party intends to adventure in an area with a high concentration of caster mobs, they would be more likely to favor the druid. Otherwise Shaman haste is simply too useful as an agro generation tool for tanks, and their slow is too useful for high-strain situations to make a compelling argument for a Druid.
That said, detail was sparse so maybe I'm speaking too soon. I just wanna make sure I'm loud about it because I feel like I've seen where this leads. Maybe I'll suck it up and post it on their Discord (again).
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Gravel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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It's pretty funny to consider they would've been right around the corner from EA. But it's definitely not a red flag or anything that they're completely redesigning the game suddenly.
EDIT: ugh, this may end up being a good thing sure but my first reaction is pretty negative. Especially for SK and Fighter, but kind of across the board these are some sweeping changes. Reads more like a complete redesign rather than iteration. May end up being good, but not loving it immediately. You can definitely feel the "we fired the guy, and hired a new guy" in these changes. Hope it ends up being a positive for the game.
Quaid
Trump's Staff
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Them recognizing and rectifying the issues that exist rather than basking in the glow of their own egos and Naruto running into the abyss is the greenest of flags.
Now just give every class gate/hearthstone and abolish the spellbook drop mechanic and we'll be cooking with gas.
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Yeah it's hard to really see where they are going off of flavor text without some tangible examples. Many such cases. I'm down for Elric vibes, but witcher and blu mage sound gay as fuck. At least they kept them 2h. Losing the utility/drama of our goober pet is gonna sting. And more importantly- do they still have FD? Hard to see a SK without most of their generally understood kit at all.
I actually kind of agree that using the monster powers more sense for the Beast master, tho you'd have to wiggle the vibe there to broader than beasts into monsters as a whole.
Spellblade sounds possibly good. I thought the elemental procs were goofy from the get go, and suggested arcane back on one of Nicks streams awhile back. Dropping the offtank/tank thing seems like a bit of a cop out really- but balancing bubble tank and leather would probably have been a headache. If i read the tea leaves on the description we'll get the utility port back + some rotational dps nonsense with it too. I dunno about dropping fields of stuff though. That seems very odd.
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Radicale
Vyemm Raider
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Flobee
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Redesigning classes != Redesigning the game.
Making abilities isn't particularly difficult compared to creating actual content. I'd say the bigger concern is can they wipe and restart on classes and also tune difficulty at the same time and within the next 6 months?
Having thought a bit more I do agree that the direction here is more thought out than what they had before even if I may not like some of the choices in theory at least. Hopefully they execute well on the direction change
Kithani
Vyemm Raider
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I would have preferred they grow a pair
- Merge Ranger + Archer or Ranger + Spellblade
- “hey we’ve realized twisting songs is lame in 2026”
- significant rework/nerf to charm like fixed duration with progressively increased resistances on recharm
- elementalist to leather class like a more caster monk
I like separating the hybrids from their parent casters always thought that was kinda lame since 2005 or so.
You really worried they need to make the literal most popular class better?
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Siliconemelons
Ssraeszha Raider
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I really did not want to play WoW because there was no “SK”… so I settled for the Warlock… human, I used that spellblade thing in classic hehe it was fun in pvp
There is nothing wrong with making the “hybrids” more than X% warrior and Y% caster in skills and abilities- but to change their standard trope…. esp when “classic” and callback and /EQ/ is what this is all about.
Anything wrong with what the said? Nah…but /as a SK/ yeah….mm
There is nothing wrong with making the “hybrids” more than X% warrior and Y% caster in skills and abilities- but to change their standard trope…. esp when “classic” and callback and /EQ/ is what this is all about.
Anything wrong with what the said? Nah…but /as a SK/ yeah….mm
Quaid
Trump's Staff
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People have always made Druids because of the travel and solo benefits, and they were the most popular class in classic era EQ as well. That has zero bearing on their group desirability, which was at the bottom of the heap back then, and will be now.
By all means, take some other Druid utility away in favour of a single spell line (maybe two) that makes them desirable in a very narrow set of adventuring circumstances. I think this can be achieved with the suggestions i made without increasing the power of the Druid itself much at all.