Arbedark
09-08-2008, 18:04
Yes, thats right! Two ideas in one thread! You're all getting your monies worth here!
Anyway, onto the actual ideas themselves.
The first of these ideas is partly present in D2 but I'd like to see it expanded upon.
Inherents
The basic idea of inherents is that each class has an inherent ability which isn't normally available to another class, requires no skill points and is available immediately.
The two classes in D2 that had inherent abilities were the Barbarian and the Assassin. The Barbarian could wield two weapons at once, which in D2C set him apart from the rest of the characters, and with the introduction of LoD the Assassin gained a variation of this inherent in being able to dual wield claw class weapons. The second inherent ability available to the Assassin was the ability to open locked chests without the use of keys.
Now that you hopefully have an idea of what an inherent should be I'd like to present how I feel this idea can be improved and expanded upon in D3;
I'll start with the Barbarian again, since he is the only confirmed returnee so far;
From the trailer, we can see that he will be able to dual wield weapons again, and while I do consider this an inherent, I feel that a lot more can be done to make the classes more unique.
The first of my ideas for the Barbarian centres upon the "Fury" which we have seen in the trailer as a numerical value associated with various skills.
The way I envision Fury working is very similar to the way Fury works in City of Villains (yes, a MMO, but I feel it would be very applicable to an ARPG in this case). For those who aren't familiar with this concept it can be summarised as follows;
The character has a Fury Bar, which is filled via two methods, the giving and recieving of damage. Attack A may generate 5 fury, while attack B may generate 3, taking 50 points of damage may generate 1 fury etc.
Now without attacking or recieving damage the Fury Bar empties at a considerable rate (maybe 5 seconds or so to go from full to 50% and 15 seconds to go from 50% to empty).
As the character generates and maintains Fury they recieve a damage boost which exponentially increases.
Having 50% Fury may give the character a 100% ED boost, while having 75% Fury could be 250% ED and 100% Fury could be a 500% ED boost.
Now that you understand the concept (I hope), I will explain why I feel this would add to the gameplay.
In short, the damage bonus is an incentive to keep attacking relentlessly. Obviously this would take a lot of balancing, so that it is an incentive and not a requirement.
This would add help differentiate the gameplay between the Barbarian and any other Melee classes that exist.
For other characters the inherent could be along the lines of the following:
Amazon:
Make Dodge, Avoid and Evade into an inherent.
Temporary AR Bonus for each kill.
Reduced Bow / Javelin requirements.
Increased Bow / Javelin missile speeds.
Make Pierce an inherent.
Assassin:
Inherent Critical Strike Chance.
Smaller Aggro radius / threat level.
Druid:
+ X / X% max Life per Party Member / Living Summon.
Necromancer:
Life gained after each kill.
Temporary Enhanced life regeneration after each kill.
Paladin:
Temporary Defence Bonus after each successful Block.
Only character that can use two aura's at once.
Sorceress:
Reduced Mana cost as life goes down.
Enhanced spell damage as life goes down.
Enhanced spell damage the lower %age mana is.
Inherent damage taken goes to mana.
Temporary Enhanced mana regeneration after each kill.
Now onto the second idea:
Origins
The concept of Origins is much like that of races in other ARPG's etc, and similar to inherents.
My thoughts are to give each class three choices of origin at creation, each of which gives a minor stat change / bonus, while fitting with the Lore.
For example the Barbarian may have the following three Origin options:
Shadow Wolf Tribe:
+5% ED with Axes
+10% IAS with Axes
+5% Chance to Block
Bear Tribe:
+5% Health
+10% Defence
+10% ED with Mauls
+5 Strength
-5 Dexterity
Snake Tribe:
+10% ED with Spears / Polearms
+5% Critical Strike
+5 Dexterity
The Witch Doctor could have the following options:
Tribe of the Clouded Valley:
+10% Disease Damage
+20% FCR
-5% Health
+5% Mana
Tribe of the Five Hills:
+10% Increased Fear / Confuse duration
+10% FRW
+10% IAS
Clan of the Seven Stones:
+10% Enhanced Damage for Summons
+10% Enhanced Defence for Summons
-10% Summons Health
Other classes would have Origin options relating to their character class, different mage clans for the caster class etc, each giving different boni.
Thoughts + Opinions on these matters? Obviously values / effects or whatever should vary, I'm just trying to explain the flavour of the idea.
Anyway, onto the actual ideas themselves.
The first of these ideas is partly present in D2 but I'd like to see it expanded upon.
Inherents
The basic idea of inherents is that each class has an inherent ability which isn't normally available to another class, requires no skill points and is available immediately.
The two classes in D2 that had inherent abilities were the Barbarian and the Assassin. The Barbarian could wield two weapons at once, which in D2C set him apart from the rest of the characters, and with the introduction of LoD the Assassin gained a variation of this inherent in being able to dual wield claw class weapons. The second inherent ability available to the Assassin was the ability to open locked chests without the use of keys.
Now that you hopefully have an idea of what an inherent should be I'd like to present how I feel this idea can be improved and expanded upon in D3;
I'll start with the Barbarian again, since he is the only confirmed returnee so far;
From the trailer, we can see that he will be able to dual wield weapons again, and while I do consider this an inherent, I feel that a lot more can be done to make the classes more unique.
The first of my ideas for the Barbarian centres upon the "Fury" which we have seen in the trailer as a numerical value associated with various skills.
The way I envision Fury working is very similar to the way Fury works in City of Villains (yes, a MMO, but I feel it would be very applicable to an ARPG in this case). For those who aren't familiar with this concept it can be summarised as follows;
The character has a Fury Bar, which is filled via two methods, the giving and recieving of damage. Attack A may generate 5 fury, while attack B may generate 3, taking 50 points of damage may generate 1 fury etc.
Now without attacking or recieving damage the Fury Bar empties at a considerable rate (maybe 5 seconds or so to go from full to 50% and 15 seconds to go from 50% to empty).
As the character generates and maintains Fury they recieve a damage boost which exponentially increases.
Having 50% Fury may give the character a 100% ED boost, while having 75% Fury could be 250% ED and 100% Fury could be a 500% ED boost.
Now that you understand the concept (I hope), I will explain why I feel this would add to the gameplay.
In short, the damage bonus is an incentive to keep attacking relentlessly. Obviously this would take a lot of balancing, so that it is an incentive and not a requirement.
This would add help differentiate the gameplay between the Barbarian and any other Melee classes that exist.
For other characters the inherent could be along the lines of the following:
Amazon:
Make Dodge, Avoid and Evade into an inherent.
Temporary AR Bonus for each kill.
Reduced Bow / Javelin requirements.
Increased Bow / Javelin missile speeds.
Make Pierce an inherent.
Assassin:
Inherent Critical Strike Chance.
Smaller Aggro radius / threat level.
Druid:
+ X / X% max Life per Party Member / Living Summon.
Necromancer:
Life gained after each kill.
Temporary Enhanced life regeneration after each kill.
Paladin:
Temporary Defence Bonus after each successful Block.
Only character that can use two aura's at once.
Sorceress:
Reduced Mana cost as life goes down.
Enhanced spell damage as life goes down.
Enhanced spell damage the lower %age mana is.
Inherent damage taken goes to mana.
Temporary Enhanced mana regeneration after each kill.
Now onto the second idea:
Origins
The concept of Origins is much like that of races in other ARPG's etc, and similar to inherents.
My thoughts are to give each class three choices of origin at creation, each of which gives a minor stat change / bonus, while fitting with the Lore.
For example the Barbarian may have the following three Origin options:
Shadow Wolf Tribe:
+5% ED with Axes
+10% IAS with Axes
+5% Chance to Block
Bear Tribe:
+5% Health
+10% Defence
+10% ED with Mauls
+5 Strength
-5 Dexterity
Snake Tribe:
+10% ED with Spears / Polearms
+5% Critical Strike
+5 Dexterity
The Witch Doctor could have the following options:
Tribe of the Clouded Valley:
+10% Disease Damage
+20% FCR
-5% Health
+5% Mana
Tribe of the Five Hills:
+10% Increased Fear / Confuse duration
+10% FRW
+10% IAS
Clan of the Seven Stones:
+10% Enhanced Damage for Summons
+10% Enhanced Defence for Summons
-10% Summons Health
Other classes would have Origin options relating to their character class, different mage clans for the caster class etc, each giving different boni.
Thoughts + Opinions on these matters? Obviously values / effects or whatever should vary, I'm just trying to explain the flavour of the idea.