http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aktLRiWXf
qg
Classes 101
Posted: 4 years ago
At level 5 you get a really good look into all the classes abilities and how they play. /sarcasm
That's like saying guys im gonna level to 5 in wow and tell you what the class is all about. Come on vernand!!!
Quote
Posted: 4 years ago
Play Black Orc and Marauder so I can get the details on those classes please.
Quote
Posted: 4 years ago
Draghun said:At level 5 you get a really good look into all the classes abilities and how they play. /sarcasm
That's like saying guys im gonna level to 5 in wow and tell you what the class is all about. Come on vernand!!!
Meh. That's why it's classes 101. I know the classes won't play the same at level 5 as they will level 10, level 20, etc, etc, etc. I'm just doing this to give people a brief view of the mechanics, how it plays, and my opinion of the class.
Classes 102 will probably come next week, when I get the chance to level them all to level 10, and see if my opinion/if anything else changed.
Quote
Posted: 4 years ago
Updated for all Order Classes. Tomorrow I'm going to start on the Destruction classes, with Black Orc and Marauder first, just in case they decide to close down the servers after the preview weekend.
Quote
Posted: 4 years ago
(Edited 4 years ago by Vernand)
Updated for Marauder and Black orc
Also, seeing as how fucking irritating leveling each class up to 5 has become, I'll be doing the rest of the Destruction side by request. If you want to know about another class, request it, and I'll level it.
Till then, I'm going to level up a few of the more interesting classes I found in order and destruction (hopefully up to level 10-12) and give a full run down on each of them, each ability they have, etc.
I also hope to put together a few other informational things on PQ's, Scenario's, Battlefield objectives, etc.
UPDATE: Boo-urns. They took down the servers. ~_~
Quote
Vernand
"rp queen"
Cum Dumpster (Rank 10)
Alright, from here on in over the preview weekend and further, I'm going to try and level up each class in Order and Chaos to level 5 and give you a rundown and review of them for you. I'm going through order first, then destruction. Anyone that's also in beta/whatever that wants to post their own reviews of classes, you're more than welcome to.
Quote
High Elves
Sword Master
When I first logged in, I had high and exciting expectations of the Sword Master. Oh, how quickly those were diminished. For 1 of the 2 Order Tanks, I was very disappointed with how this class turned out. Way overhyped.
Firstly the combat system for the Sword Master works in a clunky, not very imaginative sort of "unlocking abilities" system called "Balance". You have moves that require NO BALANCE or something, then abilities that require IMPROVED BALANCE, and then abilities that require PERFECT BALANCE. NO BALANCE abilities unlock the IMPROVED BALANCE stance, and IMPROVED BALANCE abilities unlock the PERFECT BALANCE STANCE. Actually, now that I think about it, this would be a mirror for the Black Orc class. The problem is, I didn't see any damage there, compared to the rumors of the damage output that Black Orcs have.
If you want to play the Sword Master properly, you're going to have to be prepared to memorise every single ability the Sword Master has to offer, and then memorise different combinations of NO BALANCE -> IMPROVED BALANCE -> PERFECT BALANCE abilities to really be good with it. The reason for this, from what I could see, is that the Sword Master's dps takes a back seat to the debuffs and DoTS each ability puts on its target. In a nutshell, that's what this class is all about, managing combinations of abilities and combining the debuffs and dots from them to create devestating attacks.
When it comes to crowd control, up to level 5, the Sword Master has none. This was very disappointing.
Leveling up was a painful affair, from level 1 to level 5. You need patience for the sword master, which is something I didn't have. All and all, if you're going to go with the Sword Master, be prepared for a harsh trip to level 40, and you're going to want to do most of your leveling with PvP and in groups.
White Lion
Now, for me, this class was exactly the opposite of what happened to me with the Sword Master. I went in thinking, boo-urns a hunter class. I came out thinking that these things might not be terribly overpowered, and in fact, were quite fun to play.
If you liked playing Hunter in WoW, this will be the easiest transition for you. It plays like the WoW hunter, except instead of the big play on ranged damage, you're right there alongside your pet doing the damage melee style. The trick with the White Lion that I've seen so far, is that you've got to stay near your pet, and attack with your pet to get the most out of the class. While fighting alongside your pet, you and your pet can unleash devistating combo attacks on your target, and another trick of the White Lion is combat positioning while on your target. Essentially, you want your pet to have aggro as much as possible, or you want the enemy player to attack your pet rather than you. While they are doing this, you can position yourself at the sides or rear of your target to enable some brutally damaging attacks.
All and all, I really liked this class, but it's got a long way to go before its reliable to play. At release, I'm betting, that this class is going to be shit. This lack of reliability and my prediction is all down to the pet responsiveness. To put it simply, controlling that fucking thing is one of the hardest things to do at the moment - It lags 100 yards behind when you're running from place to place, it goes to attack a target and then runs back to you without attacking it. The most annoying thing I experienced so far to date was the fact that if you click it to attack someone, and then something respawns near you, and you click for the pet to attack the respawn... The previous attack order doesn't get erased. The pet runs and tags the original target, and then runs and tags the respawn, putting you in a sticky situation where you need to pop a few pots to survive.
Basically, unless they fix the pet for release, it's probably not going to be a good character to roll at the start. The class needs the pet to be far more responsive than it is, and without that responsiveness, you're going to find yourself in shitty situations in PvP and in PvE.
Archmage
Hm... Well, I can't say I knew much about this healer before I created one, but I do know that I came out from level 5 liking it. Personally, I think that when they said there would be no dedicated healing classes in War, that they were right, and the Archmage is a good example of this.
Now, they really arent' good at the whole DPS thing, but they can do a little damage. Actually, once I got used to the combat mechanics of the Archmage, I was pulling 2-3 mobs at a time, DoTing them up, healing myself, rinse and repeat.
So far, most of the offensive spells I've seen from the Archmage seem to be DoTS. At level 5 you get a channeling spell, which promises to do a bit of damage, but the game bugged out on me and I was unable to train it so I could test it. On the other side of the coin, the healing spells are much the same, with the majority of the healing being through HoTS.
The mechanic for the Archmage is sort of a ying and yang sort of theme. If you cast a few heal spells, it'll build up points for healing spells that will give your offensive spells a shorter cast time. The converse is the same, the more damage spells you cast, the faster to cast you healing spells become. Which is pretty handy at times, but mostly ignored at the lower levels.
So far, I can see nothing really wrong with this class and I could say that this class is a viable class to roll at release. It seems balanced, easy to get the hang of, and kind of fun.
In scales of penis's, I give this 4 penii out of 5.
Shadow Warrior
Out of all the high elf classes, this one was the most fun to play by a mile. Not only that, but it looks way cooler than all the other high elf classes in terms of uniform.
The shadow warrior is based on a stance sort of mechanic. You can switch from stance to stance, which gives you access to different abilities. Okay, so at level 5, both stances that you can get both share the same abilities, so it doesn't matter which stance you're in right? Wrong. Actually, switching stances was quite helpful. For instance, the scout stance doubled my range with my bow, and my assault stance increased my armor, etc. It was like playing a WoW warrior who could range attack quite effectively. Also, to my delight, they get an ability which decreases your threat to mobs. So avoiding getting pwned in PQ's is relatively easy.
Another thing I was impressed with was the damage the Shadow Warrior can do. JESUS CHRIST they can churn out some DPS. This was the fastest character to level to level 5 in the High elf classes, and that was all because I was chewing through mobs like there was no tomorrow.
Well, all I can say is that I really enjoyed playing the shadow warrior. Being effective in melee and in ranged attacks was pretty cool, not to mention switching stances again bringing up fond memories of me being a terrible WoW warrior.
This would definately be a viable class to play come release, I'm betting. It's fun as fuck.
4/5 Penii's.
Empire
Bright Wizard
Hm... Well, this class's mechanic seems to work on a sort of higher crit vs higher chance of taking damage sort of thing. Your combat abilities add a certain amount to your flame or burn or something, and the higher your flame or burn or whatever it was, the more crit chance you have on spells, but the more chance there is that one of your abilities will trigger an explosion that will harm you.
I don't really know what to say about this class. I don't love it, and I don't hate it. More so than anything else, I'm perplexed by it. Maybe it's just me, but I found it really hard to notice when I triggered an explosion that hurt me. I don't know if I ever even triggered one.
It's alright to play, it's got a good set of abilities, DoTs, ranged attacks, a DoT that reduces threat and damage against you from a single target. I just don't really know what to say on this one.
Huh...
Witch Hunter
Well, okay. This one I actually played up to level 12 before the preview weekend, and I must say that this class is pure win and FUCK YEAH! The mechanic here is based around combo points. The more combo points you build up, the better your executions will be. Executions in this case, are special abilities that are like awesome. For example, one special ability deals a set amount of damage. Another one does more damage, but acts like a DoT. Another one is something that I can't remember what it is, but it was good. It's Moral abilities were also awesome. The first one being that it deals a set level of damage (around 300+) to a target. The next one in the line is an ability that drains 200 Action Points (A whole bars worth) from the target, gives it to you, and then decreases your targets strength by 48.
Not only that, but Witch Hunters get an ability called... Something I can't remember, but it was like a stealth ability kind of... But I don't think it actually stealths you. I do know that it makes mobs less likely to attack you and there are some abilities that you can use that require you to be in this mode.
All and all, I found playing the witch hunter fairly fun. I had a ball. You could do a lot of damage, and fuck a lot of shit up. Pure awesome. It also made PQ kill x amount quests a whole lot easier because if you chained things right, you could go from mob to mob with executions, moral abilities, rinse and repeat in record time. It was also good for PvP because some of its abilities could ignore armor if you hit them from the right position, and another move that ignores whatever position your in for 10 seconds, and lets you use position required abilities with no restrictions. So it didn't matter what you targeted tanks, melee, or casters.
4/5 penii.
Warrior Priest
Okay, onto the Warrior Priest. The warrior priest seems to be for those few altruistic players out there that get their jolly's from being a valued and contributing part of a team. Basically, from what I've seen, the Warrior Priest has awesome potential as a Support sort of class. The offensive attacks are boring at best, but where the Warrior Priest shines is in a group. Actually, thanks to this class, I figured out that you can have 2 targets in War, an offensive target, and a defensive target, so you can heal and fight at the same time. Like the Archmage, the heals are mainly in DoT form. But its in the fine print of most of the abilities that this class becomes interesting. For example, one of your abilities does damage to the target, saps their strength i think, and then gives your defensive target a 12 strength buff. Nice.
The warrior priest also seems to be able to weather a bit of damage, which makes it ideal for a front line healer. Not that there was any other way a melee dps/healer could go.
The mechanic for the Warrior Priest is something like Righteous Fury or whatever. You start out with 250 Righteous Fury points, and your healing abilities subtract from that total, while your offensive abilities add to that total. So, to be an effective healer, you really do need to be at the front lines, whacking the shit out of something.
Enjoyable, but sort of boring with it's initial abilities up to level 5, I give this class 3 out of 5 penis.
Dwarves
For the record, Dwarf women are gross. They look like fat kids.
Engineer
Not a bad class. Kinda cool with the gun turrets, but they don't fire often enough for my liking, nor do they grab aggro too good. But they are good for damage. The engineer is definately a ranged dps class, and its abilities definately reflect that. It's melee abilities are kind of piss weak, but when you get that rifle crankin, somethings definately going to die. No real interesting mechanics at this point, other than the turrets.
Not a bad class. 3/5 penii.
Ironbreaker
So, finally, we get to the other Order Tank. Surprisingly, it's not as horrible as the other one. This tank actually reminded me a lot of the WoW warrior, with this classes mechanic "Grudge" acting a lot like rage.So the class mechanic works like this, everytime you get hit, you get grudge. Some abilities that you have don't cost any Action Points, but they do cost grudge. Which is actually pretty sweet when you think about it, because it can mean you can spam out your AP bar, and then use your grudge abilities till it's back up.
The downside to this class is that you want to be in a party. ALWAYS BE IN A PARTY. The reason why is that grudge, while being helpful, is only useful if you have some... And one of the key abilities is that you choose a group member, and it has to be a group member, to be your oathbuddy or something. Basically, what this means, is that every time they get hit, you earn grudge points from it. Ideally, if you wanted to really tank the shit out of something, get 2 ironbreakers, using each other as oathbuddy's.
I wasn't really impressed with damage however. I think I was still doing the same damage, or similarly low damage at level 5 that I was doing at level `1. A pity really, I was hoping the damage would scale a little bit better, but nevermind.
I give this class 3/5 boners.
Rune Priest
Okay, the last order class to cover. The runepriest was... A little boring, but that could be because its 4am, and I'm sick of doing this at the moment. However, I did like the rune priest. I couldn't really remember there being any special mechanic to them, but I did learn that they're buffs are pimp. When you get the 1hr buffs, they give you an extra attack ability that you can use at your own discretion. There's no limit to how many of these buffs you can give out too. Give 5 people the buff, and each of those 5 people has the extra attack to use. Pretty neat. Not much else to say about them, apart from that they do nice damage with DoTS, and their heals are HoTS.
Nice class. 4/5 penii's.
Now... Tomorrow, onto the fun stuff. Destruction!
Orcs
Black Orc
Alrighty, now onto the classes we've all been waiting for! Firstly, starting off with the Black Orc! Well, I was right when I said it was the mirror class to the High Elf Swordmaster, and the mechanic works pretty much the same. You start of with "No Plan" and then you use your abilities as a gateway to the next level of the mechanic. So, you use a basic ability to go from "No Plan" to "Gud Plan" and then another gateway ability to go to "Da best plan". So... "No Plan" -> "Gud Plan" -> "Da best plan".
So, like the sword master, you're pretty much just chaining abilities. However, unlike the swordmaster, you can actually do some damage. Level 5 wasn't enough to see if the fabled brutal dps rumor was true or not, but I did see a little bit of potential there. It could very well be true. To find out for sure, I'd really need to level one up to 10-15 to say with any certainty.
All and all, I did enjoy playing the class. It wasn't the trial that the swordmaster was, and it will probably be a fairly good tank. 4/5 penii.
Chaos
Marauder
Alright... As soon as I rolled this character, I was all like RIP AND TEAR! RIP AND TEAR! Seriously, this class can do some damage. And being able to change your arm into a friggin' awesome looking claw is seriously cool. Only problem is that leveling to 5 doesn't give you a good indication of how the mechanics for the marauder work as such. But still AWESOME damage.
4/5 penii.