Class differences

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Which hero do you think plays the best?

Gadgeteer Hero
15
50%
Psion Hero
6
20%
Naturalist Hero
5
17%
Elemental Hero
4
13%
 
Total votes: 30

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Ryme
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Post by Ryme »

Just wanted to pop in and say I'm curious to see what others have to say, because I don't rightfully know the answers myself. It's tough when you're too close to the work.

Please do keep in mind that the classes have a ways to go before they're really finished. For instance, elementals are going to feel a whole lot different once some foes have elemental weaknesses, and the missing skills will round out all of the classes more.
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Jesus
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Post by Jesus »

I'm an elemental.

I tend to be very conservative with my MP (or PP, in this case) in any RPG-type game, so I mainly play as a fighter with a bail-out button. When I was adventuring in areas I could barely handle, I'd spam spells and rest as needed to restore PP fast. Trading chips for HP or MP is just too costly.

Of the buffs I've got, the only one I found really useful is the fire shield (I think it's called) -- it deals damage to an enemy if they hit you. The other buffs are apparently damage reducers, but they didn't seem to have enough of an effect to make them worth their cost (again, I don't like to spend PP).

Ethereal club is win. But pandimensional scepter can't be overlooked either. Basically, equip scepter and go to the toughest area you can until you're out of PP, then go somewhere safer with the club to restore your PP. Then back to the rough place. Once you've got Lifeblood Manipulation (HP 4 or 5 points shy of full for 20 PP), HP restoration is no longer an issue.

Now that I have the ethereal club, I use spells A LOT more, and that is how I feel the class is intended to play. It's certainly more fun using spells just because they don't miss.
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Post by Ryme »

Jesus wrote:The other buffs are apparently damage reducers, but they didn't seem to have enough of an effect to make them worth their cost
Can't remember if I mentioned, but just yesterday I realized that Air Shield was woefully inadequate, and now it scales with level to a certain point. Didn't look at the other yet, but it may also need tweaking.
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Post by Cristiona »

Jesus wrote:the ethereal club
Best. Weapon. In. The. Game.

Let's see... from what I remember playing the classes (didn't play much as a Psion or an Animalist).

Gadgeteer: Seems to be the easiest class to play. A wide range of delevers (perhaps too many), bonus to damage, healing spell, and armor/weapon tweaks. Total powerhouse. Stun Gas is possibly the most powerful spell in the game, letting you adventure way above your head, especially with the occational stunning effect.

Elementalist: Just started a new one of these, and they're an interesting mix. Their spells are weak, but seem to scale with what they're fighting nicely. Lack of PP is the biggest problem. Still, spamming Lightning Bolt works rather nicely, as does Groundquake (Stun Gas seems better, though). Jesus is pretty spot on for early levels: fighter with a big honking "oh shit!" button. Fire shield is awesome.

Animalist: This is an interesting class. Lots of buffs, and their attack spells were pretty neat, too. Seem kinda like Turtle Tamers in that the spell can miss. However, I seem to remember their spells joining with a normal attack, so an Ethereal Club will help pay for their attacks.

Psion: Er... really don't remember much, but I seem to recall having a hard time with these. The buffs were neat, but not too major, and the spells were neat, but didn't pack the punch of the Elementalist spells.
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Post by Ryme »

I don't mind sharing a bit about my original intentions for the various classes here. Not sure if it'll shed much light, but ...

Gadgeteers work on the idea that the best offense is a good defense. Hence the deleveling, the armor improvements, the (eventually) battle armor. With toys and electronic resourcefulness, of course, because that makes them gadgeteers.

Naturalists originated with the idea that the best offense is a good offense. Muscle power is supposed to carry the day, though the variety of the natural world gives them versatility.

I'd envisioned elementals as being the spellslingers of the group. At low levels I did expect them to have to fight though most options (with spells as an escape when needed), but at higher levels the idea is that spellslinging should be more viable. Also, as mentioned, once foe elemental resistances and weaknesses are added to the game, I think elementals will naturally become more complex/interesting.

(And sorry, frost_maze, but I've been using "elemental" as a noun from D&D since 1985, so I'm gonna stick with it. Weirdly, I absolutely HATE it when shampoos advertise that they're good for you because they've got lots of "botanicals" in them. Same thing, I'm sure.)

Psions. I'm not sure how these guys are supposed to be played, and that may be part of the problem. As a heroic type they're too important to ignore, though, so they're in the game. They've got the most obvious weakness (trouble with mechanical/robot foes) so there ought to be some important advantages, too. I guess my idea is that with great intelligence should come great versatility. So that's why the auras work in vastly different ways. Sometimes they fight, sometimes they spellsling. The unimplemented skills will probably be important here -- I could see some skills that allow you out of or around situations in ways that other classes shouldn't be able to follow.
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Post by Ryme »

Prestige wrote: Other forms of clairvoyance could be fun, including Clairgustance, which according to wikipedia is "a form of extra-sensory perception that allegedly allows one to taste a substance without putting anything in one's mouth." Now that would be awesome.
Wow. I wish I had that skill. I would sit there and taste chocolate all day long without actually ever eating any of it. That would be amazing!

Your other points are good. The auras are intended to be a kind of mind control--it messes with others by making you seem like something, until you get the benefit of being that something. That's a sort of mind control, but a non-evil kind. (A hero has to be careful not to turn their powers to dark uses, after all.)

If I decide to do it in this game, Psions would definitely have the ability to either attract or repel foes, or both (in other words influence combats/noncombats).

More spirits/ghosts might be interesting, though. Or perhaps their attacks should be more effective against those things (like the astral beasts) to counteract their trouble with robotic foes?
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Post by Jesus »

As a player, here's what I thought when first presented with the classes:

Gadgeteer -something with items, like using spare parts to upgrade weapons/armor, or to make class-exclusive items. Sounds really cool.

Psion - mind stuff, probably has a lot of defensive buffs and weak attack. Likely to get the best spells (typical +item, +currency stuff*). Probably more difficult at lower levels. Also sounds cool.

Naturalist - the description of this class in the manual screamed 'fighter' to me. Nice, simple. Probably beats the crap out of things on lower levels and probably doesn't consume a lot of PP to do it.

Elemental - I had no idea. Between the cool-sounding Gadgeteer and Psion, and the classic fighter Naturalist, I figured Elemental would be the least popular chioce. It doesn't sound as cool, and it's niche isn't clearly defined. I went Elemental because I figured most people wouldn't.





*after a combat... Something tells you that you ought to give your opponent's left sock another look. You find an additional 20 chips squirreled away where he thought no one would look.
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Post by TheK3vin »

Not to mention the more complicated the game is. And that's not neccesarily a good thing. Most of the vocal people on the message boards are experienced players, most of whom come from KoL (such as myself). But we forget about new players, who find this game by chance in Google. TH already has more equipment slots in KoL, a more advanced time system, and more places open to a new player (I think). We need to keep these people in mind when we complain about how simplistic the game is. But at the same time, I agree with many of the points. It's not likely to see any new classes (extremely unlikely), but it would be cool for higher-level players to have branching classes that become unique via different talismans. Perhaps a quest chain where you trained under masters of each type of branch, and then you chose one and have to succeed in some type of challenge to get your new talisman.
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Post by Cristiona »

From the superhero standpoint, the Naturalist is spot on. Sure, he'd be a Fighter/Druid in D&D, but this is a different genre. A massive dude who calls upon animal spirits to be even more rawr is pretty standard.

As much as I hate to admit having watched this show, the Naturalist is somewhat similar to Bravestarr.
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Post by Jesus »

Hazard wrote:Would storm be as cool if she could manipulate all elements?
Storm isn't cool. "Hello, I used to be a pickpocket, but once my mutant powers manifested, people worshiped me as a goddess. My ability gave me the power of life and death over these people, so naturally I wouldn't contend my deification. I spent ages with Forge as a romantic interest, but then Black Panther came along... well, didn't really "come along", since his character had been around for decades... and, well, we're the only two black characters people really know (Luke Cage, Black Lightning, and Blade aside), so it was only natural we get married. Well, that and he's a king. Only a king ought to get a piece of a goddess after all. I'm so much better than you all.

And I have cat eyes. Sometimes. Sometimes my eyes just show up white. Because I'm so special and cool."

That, and weather manipulation is too broad a power. I mean, what's the limit of that, with a creative writer? Storm sucks.

/threadjack
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