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Loreseeker
- Joined
- 24/05/2018
- Messages
- 187
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.
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.
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