New class idea (be genlte)Follow

I like it better than what little I know of the Berzerker. I really don't sit around looking for damage dealers all that much (what with: rogue, beastlord, ranger, mage, wizard, necro, monk and more available to fill the spot) but more people along the lines of Enc/Shm would rock.

One thing I would add would be the eye of zomm-like pet could add a minor hp or mana regen to the group while not engaged with an enemy, e.g. you are just sitting around.

Maybe you mentioned crowed control, but perhaps one could summon a "pet" which will fully occupy a single mob.

For the role playing aspect of this, I envision gnome inquisitors (they are inquisitive) with little mechanical robots gliding around, half elves with tiny pixies who mesmerize the target by dancing suggestively (well, PG-13 suggestively - oh ya and male casters would summon female pixies and vice versa) and Vah Shir who summon tiny kittens which alternatively purr contentedly or hiss viciously.

Obviously, this is a huge step down from a chanter who can mez all the adds, and toss some kind of mana regen spell on everybody, but with the added functionality on top of a little damage and perhaps paladin level healing (obviously without lay on hands or rez - just spells), this could be a fine class.

If I'm going to see a new class, I'd like to really see something new rather than mixing and matching things everyone else does to greater and lesser extents. I'll give you an "A" for effort but a "D-" for execution.

The class seems to waste too much time. You wouldn't want to summon multiple pets and see what this is and what that is one at a time. I'd sooner see the pet be able "scan" all those thing at one time. That's not too crazy if the pet can't do much else.

Second, what's it's real focus? In a lot of cases (like LDoN) the critters die too fast for debuffs to really be mana efficient. If you have to cast debuffs seperately then you're really wasting time, mana, spell slots, and causing a lot of aggro.

I play a Chanter Primary and I concider Shaman to be the better debuffers between the two of our classes, but I can debuff well too. With that in mind what would a group gain with your class?

Let's say a well balanced, focused group is

Cleric,(main healer)
Enchanter,(Control and haste)
Shaman,(Slower, backup healer and debuffer)
Paladin,(or other good tank class)
Mage,(or other good DPS caster)
Ranger(or other good DPS melee)

Here we have what's pretty close to an Ideal group. There is good room for other classes to be switched in, but who whould you switch out to put your class in and why? That's the best way to decide the focus of your character. To place the new classes, the Berserker and Beastlord could both fit the Ranger slot as both are good DPS. Monk, rogue, and Bard could go there too. Druid, Wizard and Necro are also good DPS casters. Warrior and SK can both tank for the group also. What would your class fill in for? I wouldn't put it in the Chanter slot because it don't deal in control. Shaman seems like the slot, but Shaman have reasonable nukes, DoT's, buffs, debuffs, a resonable pet and even heals.

I'm not trying to knock your idea, but rather help you shape it. It needs to add something to the group that makes people want you. So far it sounds like it only debuffs best(but one stat at a time which means to full debuff will take 20 seconds or more(that's 3 second cast times with 1-2 second recovery)) and gives mob info. Does it actually kill anything in any way? If so, how and how does it compare to other classes that kill with the same ability? Enchanters while having the lowest hit points have Rune to balance that. What protects your class? Can you stun? Run(SoW)? Stop or slow the mob from advancing on you(root, snare)?

There are a lot of things to balance a class. My 3 biggest questions are... 1)How does it kill? 2)What makes it fun to play that will draw people to it? 3)What will make groups want them?

The way this pet would work is like the cleric's summoned hammer. It continuly does its 'damage' be it hp or a stat, or effectiveness. If you have the HP pet up, it acts as a dot, no cast time, just continued damage. And we could up the number per tick. And make it cap at 75% of the max (except for mana and hp). So if we made the pet debuff whichever stat extremely well, then it would do the same with the hp debuff. So it would do about 200 per tick at level 30. That is great DPS, but it cannot take a hit, well, maybe 2 or 3. So it would be a tactic thing on when to use its ability.

I was thinking it would steal the stat (to include hp or mana) and give it to the group, but then what if it is stealing AGI, you would have 1k agi pretty fast in a chain pulling situation. So instead, you have empty vials. As the pet steals the stat it fills the vial. When the vial is full, you can cast it (like a shaman buff), that stacks with shaman buffs. The HP vial and MANA vial are heals when casted. The ammount that can be put into a vial depends on the vial, and maybe the vials are summoned, thus making them no rent. But you could fill 5 100mana vials and cast them on whomever. Or sell them in the bazaar. Since the vials will fill up pretty fast, the buffs will last like 5 to 10 minutes.

So they can deal damage, or mana drain, or debuff. Maybe snare, slow, or lower the ATK of the mob. Just up the amount per tick so it takes 5 ticks to get the mob from 100% AGI to 25% agi. Maybe the number it lowers per tick is dependent on the level of the Inquisitor, the level of the mob, and the resitance of the mob.

So the Inquisitor has some basic healing spells, dots, nukes, and has the vials they summon to buff and heal with.

As with the scanning, maybe that is a spell the Inquisitor does, and it shows all stats, or maybe % of the max. So as you fight you cast the spell, and see its AC is at 50%. You can do the math and figure out what it is, like when you cast a spell that takes 100mana and lowers your pool by 10%.

As for what makes groups want them, the potions (or essenses) they will be able to make through the use of thier pet, and the ability to get the group from point A to point B with the EYE of Zomm Tranport spell.

As for making it fun, you get the chance to make or break a group. You can act as a second healer, or DPS, or debuffer. You have 5 tanks, and 1 healer, use the HP pet to siphon life to make healing essenses to help heal. Or you have 2 healers and 4 melee. Use a debuffing pet to make them hit harder since DPS is covered, and so it healing. You have the option to be usefull in most situations. And think of the Assasination LDoNs. You get the named to spawn, and the Inquisitor summons his Eye to locate the named and viola, he tranports himself there. And uses 5 more eyes to get the rest of the group there. You will own in LDoN!

As for CC, you can have a pet that has a mem blur effect, or a 6 second mez. Each pulse he refreshes it, but if it resist then you have a 6 second extra bashing on your group. Not a replacement on the long duration enchanters have, but a good back up. Would have to keep only 1 mob mezed, but it works.

Oh YES - it would be!

The Idea of the gnome inventor who uses all sorts of probes someone else wrote of is also very appealing and I like the idea of a pet class very much but not the debuffing thing. I would prefer a class that has NO spells at all but only the ability to make probe-summoning devices with tinkering skill for which he gets the molds/patterns with leveling as chanters do with spells.

A class that would both offer fun and something new could be the "inventor" who uses probes to mimicks abilities from other classes and races but can only have one probe active at a time. These probes could also raise their skill to a max of 50, probes I would like to see are:
-fishing probe
-foraging probe
-cloaking probe(invis for 10-120 sec depending on skill)
-flashing probe(stuns for 5-50 sec)
-binding probe (heals wounds)
-shielding probe (takes hits for the inventor)
-tracking probe
-snorkel probe (gives air while diving)
etc.

these could be upgraded with higher lvl to raise skill to 100.

The Inventor himself may use every kind of weapon or armor only restricted by race but is given HP and AC rise the same as caster classes

but of course we will never see anything really new on EQ - just think of the Berserker.... :(



Edited, Fri Feb 27 05:52:10 2004 by Leiany

yes yes but back to the important part.... the pet that forages....
=)

Ok, I'm running off onto a whole new world and twisting this class thing some more

I agree a new class has to be special. You can't give it to much of one thing and then something completely different - it could make other classes less favorable. So to review what we have (very basic list):

Int Casters:
Wizards - Direct Damage / Teleport Spells
Mages - Elemental Spells / Pets / Summons Items
Necromancers - Dark Magic / Undead / Disease / Death
Enchanters - Magic Enhancements / Mental Enhancements / Charm

Wis Caster:
Cleric - Heal Spells / Protection Magic / Life Magic
Shaman - Physical Buffs / Heal Magic / Disease
Druid - Movement Spells / Heal Magic / Dots-DD Magic

Ok, so first of all, if a new class was to be created, and was going to be Wis based (to give an even 4 int - 4 Wis) then its safe to say we can give it Heal magic. All wis casters have healing spells, but none are as good as a cleric.

Now the next thing is, it seems people like the idea of pets that "do stuff" - other than just attack. So this class can be a pet class, however, the pets really won't be used to attack. Perhaps one can be created to be a decoy so the caster can get away or something, one can forage, etc. Now there's two ways to do this - one, you can have a spell for each type of pet (like a mage) or you can have buffs to put on the pet that determine its ability it has (much like the pets for a Beastlord).

So we know the class can have some healing spells and some beneficial pets. What else can the class do. Well lets center this class around utility. None of the current classes have abilities or spells that directly improve other classes skills. Some may have self buffs - but none they really can cast on others. And others just buff stats, which is great if your trying to raise a skill, but doesn't help when your skill is lacking to begin with. This class's use, in say an LDON or Raid, is simlar to that of a Shaman, in that they buff the classes, but not by buffing stats, but by buffing other attributes of the character.

for example. A spell may give a player a +5% bonus to 1HS. This spell would be pretty useless cast on lower levels, as the skill cap would prevent it from being too useful, however, a 200 would get a +10 out of it. Other benefits can be granted by these utility spells. For instance, they may be able to enchant players (as opposed to only their pets) with procs for weapons. Its as simple as having level requirements for the proc to go off to prevent abuse.

To keep the player working, the spells can be given short durations, the player would then have to spend time while in the dungeon constantly rebuffing the characters.
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What I'm thinking so far:
1. Beneficial Pet - has effects similar to other classes/races that can help the player and the group - such as forage, bind wounds, etc.
2. Skill Enhancing Spells - Enhancement spells that grant mods to current skill levels as opposed to stats, giving bonuses for very specific skills.
3. Healing Spells - All wis casters have healing spells, this class being focused on benefits could have them as well.
4. Player Proc Spells - Short lived spells that grant a player a proc effect. Perhaps even better would be to not allow the player to target themselves with these procs, requiring them to group to get the effect.



Now our new class can, at lower levels, fill the Cleric spot, as Druids and Shamans sometimes (sometimes way to often) do. At higher levels you would really want a Cleric in that roll.

However, our class can add to the DPS of a group with its proc spells and other Beneficial spells. Procs from our class + Dex Buffs from a shammy (who can also mini haste) could be some great damage. If a Shammy was not available, the new class could somewhat fill that roll.

While I think its safe to give this class a couple of nukes or dots, they seem out of place. So This class would not really replace any casters.

And unless we really want to stray off from the current formulas, the player is unlikely going to be replacing tanks or melee dps.

But what else can the class do? Well lets look at one casting skill that has really been untouched and underused (when's the last time you specialized a character in divination?) - Divination.

Well our new class's last aspect can be a divination aspect. They can get some spells that help them forsee danger. For example - they could have clairvoyance where they can see things from a distance. Perhaps they can get a new line of "sense" spells such as sensing out treasure or traps.

Some spells could possibly help players with quests - kinda like identify item does "you sense someone in Kaladim has been searching for this" may tell you that an item specific to only one quest can be turned into someone in Kaladim.

Perhaps a spell can even give you knowledge of what factions will be impacted when you kill a mob.

These are, of course, more random ideas of mine.

really though, I don't need any new classes, I'm running 13 characters as it is....


Edited, Sat Feb 28 00:01:43 2004 by Devilwind

Edited, Sat Feb 28 00:05:54 2004 by Devilwind