Arcane Knights are a miss

[Owns]

I like the idea of the new Arcane Knight quest and skills. Who doesn't love battle mage builds wielding magic with melee application but I can't help but feel like this was, disappointingly, a missed opportunity.

From a role playing perspective, every Arcane Knight you meet in the game looks more like a warrior than a mage. Renda Windstrike near the Trollfens wields a sword and shield, leather/hard leather armor and her skills are Resilience, Heavyhand, and Duel, all non-mage skills, and she's an Arcane Knight. Then of course all the Arcane Knights guarding Icemist are dressed in what looks like chainmail armor and also wielding sword/shields (shields that mage class can't use). Yet, all Arcane Knight abilities can only be learned by the mage class. How does that make any sense? Sir Irolio is obviously not himself a mage, unless he breaks the gameplay rules of the Mage class. Really breaks the game's role playing aspect and the game is contradicting itself here.

Next, from a game mechanics and builds perspective. By making all the new skills (four, no less) available to mage alone, the game has added way more options for mage builds and nothing for the other classes. Only players interested in the mage class get new toys to play with, leaving everyone else out. That's no fun and I think this was a real missed opportunity when the passive abilities like Arcane Blade and Vampiric Blade could've been made available to all classes, maybe with a bit of re-balancing. While Death Cloud and Combustion might be considered for Cleric as well. That way you add new build options for all classes/players in a way that makes more sense with the game's lore itself (Arcane Knights being warriors themselves for example).

Finally, I'd like to have a look at the skills and their balancing but I haven't really tried them yet. On face value, Combustion and Death Cloud seem very useful even with the high mana cost, while Arcane/Vampiric blade seem to require a very specific type of build to make use of. (Could be more variety if other classes could learn them). Vampiric blade only providing its effect on kills rather than hits seems a bit weak since mages die pretty quickly to begin with, but I can't really say without trying it first. Maybe others who have already tried these abilities can share their thoughts.

 

[SlothPrince]

I would love to be able to build a mage joined to the warriors guild, able to get the same skills that clerics can when joined to the warrior's guild, and get the new arcane knight skills.

 

[Molokot]

Well it is like it is, its copletly optional , If u like it you have a bonus and if u dont like it you can ignore it. I will probably never use combustion , but i am temped to try paralyzing dagger and death clouds.

 

[BOSTACH]

Rogues can come up with a lot of weird and fun niche strategies using their unique skills as most aren't just a buff and rather a fundamental change to your play style with each new skill.

Warriors have a lot of great skills that complement each other making each new skill a huge boost.

Clerics have the luxury of being able to choose between 2 guilds and preforming well with their robust skills and there are few exclusive clerics skills compared to the other classes.

Mages have a lot of skills that are somewhat similar to each other i mean... You have 4 skills that summon a creature and 4 other skills that shoot out a strong projectile, they all work in different situations but still also mages have the most linear path when it comes to equipments and you will hardly question which equipment you should use 90% of the time, the new update just wrecks what i just said, pick and choose which melee weapon you wanna use as 85% of the weapons at your disposal and the new skills provide debuffs that are quite fun to try out e.g (death cloud and wands to slow enemies while pushing them away, summoner with the debuffs sounds busted but i still yet to try it, fire ball with combustion to burn your enemies to crisps or bully some ice golems and wolves)

 

[Antaerion]

First, I agree that the arcane knight skills add niche aspects to making a mage that enable vast variety within the class. For example, in creating one, I want to take strength in a way I never would with a mage normally, and INT isn't that important (thinking of doing a pure melee focus with an iron golem). Now, that said, when I look at the arcane knights in the game, they all have armor, which I still can't wear. That is a giant WTF?

Maybe add a skill that I can learn in Soliga that lets me wear armor? Level 1 lets me wear rogue armor, level 2 lets me also wear cleric armor, and level 3 lets me also wear warrior armor? Maybe with some sort of bonus to mana for the armor despite its natural lack of an armor bonus? Not much, but something? Like, level 3 lets you wear warrior armor and derive a 3MP per piece" or something. I don't know. Armor Attunement?

 

[VDX_360]

Aracane Knights were added very late in the game so there was less development time to massage some of the challenges with the class. There's also a balance issue.

Mages get some really nifty attack spells so allowing them to tank-up with better gear would make them into indestructible war machines.

 

[WITHERSCHAEDEL]

great Idea but better don't add the ability to wear plate armor

 

[Antaerion]

Ture, but I figured that it would still be a curious balance. I mean, on the one-hand, if it was an ability, it is one that people would need to toss at least 3 skill points (if only 1 point per level, but let's go with 6 assuming it were 2 per) to get to warrior class armor, so it costs them skill points compared to others. Then, when melee fighting, there are a whole host of abilities that they still can't get... Sure, they could later in game, but later in game there are still a bunch of tanky armors that they can get, such as like, the undermother hide and the like. And if it is something that was learned after the quest in Soliga, then it is still something for after they turn level 18+. Hell, as it is, I want to be an arcane knight, and that already means that I have to go through and (to avoid retraining) keep to the minimum in everything that I don't want long-term. Hell, I'm sacrificing early by skilling wonky for anything but a melee mage anyway. If we're talking balance issues, then it should be a hell of a lot easier to become a melee mage earlier on... But it kinda works as a strange specialty, and eating up yet another skill tree to train for armor might work out well too. Plus it wouldn't grant as much mana as actual mage pieces but maybe for a point here or there of armor? It is a tradeoff...

 

[stonedwolf]

Just the ability to wear Cleric armor would solve it. You wouldn't have Legion, Myrosian, or standard Plate; but you would get "mana" chain and plate and some forms of chain.

Rogue armour would add in Assassin's set which seems thematically wrong, same with Legion etc.

 

[SlothPrince]

There's Thuramium plate set for mages.

I have been playing an ironman "Arcane Knight" and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I have done all the major quests so far but the sleepers and about to go hunt them down.

As for only being to get and use the arcane knight skills at a high level I was able to achieve arcane knighthood at level 10. Got my full set of Thuramium armor by level 15.