Class Flavor

[Liyle]

Ok, OK... I know we aren't supposed to start on this topic yet really, but I just had a long conversation about it and I wanted to write this down before it escapes my little old lady brain. I think that using Durability/Progress  points doesn't really make for distinct flavors for the various classes.  It seems to me that using attributes and resists would be a more interesting way to go. Like STR being important to an Armorer (The smith a mighty man was he...) and the damage he takes be Heat. Or INT being the primary for Alchemists and Poison being the damage. And so on. I just don't see Durability and Progress points as being very meaningful, esp since they are obscured by the RNG. Then things like STA might contribute to Durability and Haste towards Progress. Another advantage to moving in that direction would be that it provides a logical progression to crafting gear. I know that is in the future somewhere but  the way would definitely be paved, and a good argument could be made for gear when the time is right. Also, these concepts are already in-game so using them would help integrate crafting more tightly into the overall system and add a level of complexity for us to enjoy.

[Deson]

The entire point in not doing that is to not give any adventure related activity any advantage and to discount race beyond the traits(that I still feel should be innate instead of chosen). Doing this would give adventuring undue influence into crafting and upset the current balance of things. It would certainly impact non-adventure crafters the hardest as they would have none of the skills/equipment needed to be truly effective;it would all but kill crafting being independent of adventuring. For there to be true progression that holds solid to crafting being a separate path, they are just going to have to come up with a different stat pool for crafting. From there, they can build any way they like without giving adventuring undue influence.

[Liyle]

Yes. I agree completely. That is one of the problems we talked about but I neglected to mention (and should have.) I have to admit I don't know the answer but I like the direction nonetheless. It just seems that a blacksmith should be strong, an alchemist intelligent, a sage mystical and so forth. I guess that taking some of the emphasis off the product and putting it on the crafter is appealing to me. However, the idea that a level 70 Jeweler/3 Warden would be less able than a 70 Jeweler/70 Raid-Warden is awful. Still, you can somewhat do this now. My newly hatched level 12 Scholar is outfitted in Sackcloth and an Artisan's Tunic (she wears plate as an adventurer.) I get +60 Power added to my pool. I think that she is functionally better wearing the "crafting" armor than she is without it. I don't know if it is still done or not but we used to always group with an Illusionist to craft (for Breeze.) Perhaps what would need to happen would be that gear could be gotten either by crafting means or by adventuring? Over time I have had to come to grips with the fact that adventurers are the focus and you can't just cut them off... so I don't know if buffed/resist gear could be limited to only TS. Sooner or later enough people will ask "why can't I just wear my Fabled that I worked so hard to get?" But that brings up the question of why can't the 70 jeweler/3 Warden have Fabled gear appropriate to her as well? As soon as you cut off one head two more sprout...

[Deson]

<cite>Liyle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Yes. I agree completely. That is one of the problems we talked about but I neglected to mention (and should have.) I have to admit I don't know the answer but I like the direction nonetheless. It just seems that a blacksmith should be strong, an alchemist intelligent, a sage mystical and so forth. I guess that taking some of the emphasis off the product and putting it on the crafter is appealing to me. However, the idea that a level 70 Jeweler/3 Warden would be less able than a 70 Jeweler/70 Raid-Warden is awful. Still, you can somewhat do this now. My newly hatched level 12 Scholar is outfitted in Sackcloth and an Artisan's Tunic (she wears plate as an adventurer.) I get +60 Power added to my pool. I think that she is functionally better wearing the "crafting" armor than she is without it. I don't know if it is still done or not but we used to always group with an Illusionist to craft (for Breeze.) Perhaps what would need to happen would be that gear could be gotten either by crafting means or by adventuring? Over time I have had to come to grips with the fact that adventurers are the focus and you can't just cut them off... so I don't know if buffed/resist gear could be limited to only TS. Sooner or later enough people will ask "why can't I just wear my Fabled that I worked so hard to get?" But that brings up the question of why can't the 70 jeweler/3 Warden have Fabled gear appropriate to her as well? <b>As soon as you cut off one head two more sprout...</b> </blockquote>Hence why you just create a whole new beast.With the game the way it is, trying use what's currently in game is not just stifling to growth(see the TS arts) but also fraught with balance pitfalls. The safest, cleanest way to do it is to have a separate TS pool to draw from- even if all it is is a TS "combat" mode that discounts anything with an "Adventure" tag on it. With the two cleanly cut in whatever way, you have more room to go where you like without the unneeded baggage. Sure, creating something like it is a lot of work but, it's frontloaded; once it's done you don't have to worry much about it again as opposed to the current attempts to "share".

[Liyle]

True. In that case you wouldn't even want to call it STR and INT to avoid confusion.  However, there are atributes already: Artistry and so on. Maybe the damage could be broken out in the same way, creating a parallel and internally similar system to adventuring. If you follow this a bit farther, adornments might play a larger role in crafting than adventuring since the resists needed would be predictable  That way you could have just one Artisan's Tunic graphic for all classes and add adornments as you go along. Of course you will immediately have a hue and cry for class specific garb.