 Sigil Developer Tracker
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The dev tracker is no longer actively scanning, however you may continue to browse the archives collected over the past several years here.
Please remember that these developer posts
are taken out of context, so beware of any silky venom being spewed forth.
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Green - Sigil Games Online Employee
Pink - Sony Online Entertainment
Gray - Microsoft Game Studios Employee
Orange - Community Member
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by MJB
I'd also take this as evidence.
The one ability berzerkers were advertised to have was the ability to raise their strength as their health dropped. In the April beta newsletter, the warrior class was said to have this ability. Plus, they were referred to as the most offensive of the tank classes.
It seems to me this would make the two classes highly redundant. I don't see the monk being redundant with the disciple (just because they're both running around in monk robes doesn't mean their jobs at all intersect), and clearly the rogue, bard, and ranger are still present.
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16 Classes. A possible 17th if there is time to implement the Berserker. We have many other tasks that take priority over the Berserker, unfortunately.
Monk, Bard, Blood Mage and Inquisitor are the classes not yet in beta. Necro goes live this week and was presented at E3.
We will most likely add the Monk and Bard and then pause to do some balancing and tweaking.
Monk is definitely not gone. |
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Find all posts by Talisker.
Find all posts in "E3 Video - 16 classes then?".
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Allow me to give you an example of what we are doing to over come the inherent problems with an archetype/job system (whichever you prefer).
I'll use a pair of our beta characters to illustrate.
Cleric - Has two types of spells - Divine Favors and Divine Rights. Divine favors can be cast spontaneously. If you have it and can afford the mana cost you can cast it. Divine Rights are much more powerful, has longer reuse timers and must be prepared ahead of time. You have a limited amount of "slots" wherein you can prepare these spells. You have many useful rights - which do you use for this battle? Find you are the second healer in a powerful group...load up some damage spells and swap to your damage improving combat form.
Shaman - Gains a portion of his spells from bonding with a parton Spirit. You choose, via vision quest, which of the patron spirits you will follow, and become a shaman of. Your choice will determine what you bring to the table. Did you choose the patron spirit that will provide you with haste and accuracy, or the one that provides endurance and endurance regeneration? Shaman who follow Hayatet the Phoenix provide amazing fire resistance and fire counter sheild...facing the dragon w/o this amount of Fire resistance will certainly prove more difficult...do you know a Shaman of Hayatet? I think I might prefer to group with a Shaman of Tuurgin - The damage buff that the bear spirit provides is way nice.
Ah heck -
Disciple - Going into beta today. Been playing him for a few weeks on beta..cause I am a dirty cheater. Martial healer. I have 4 attacks that can be chained together in a variety of ways. 1 attack is a small HoT on my defensive target. When I use this attack at the end of a chain it becomes a large instant heal. This is of course supplimental to my standard heals - but the point is that I can do some 'ok' healing while kicking NPC buttocks. Then, I have Focused Bonds. They are continuous single target buffs and debuffs. I can only have one active at low levels, two and three as I level...which do I choose? Give my ranger buddy a great damage buff, or make the transfer some of my endurance to the shaman, who needs endurance to power some of his spells? Then - I have great counter attacks - only really work when I am getting attacked - Enormous debuffs, nukes and even paralysis are what awaits those who choose to attack me.
ALL of the above classes heal with roughly the same effectiveness.
AND...Now I have said way too much and Jeff and Brad will probably come downstairs to flog me within moments of my hitting the submit reply button.
Look folks, the point is that the Job/Archetype system is not the problem...it is what you do with it. Trust me, it aint easy and we have made some errors in judgement - that is what beta is for. So we fix, tweak and differentiate. It is not an impossible task.
Now I have to get back to making our beta shaman happy. Soon guys, soon.
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Find all posts in "Archetype system worries".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDrunkenDwarf
He also talked about monk's attack chains having different effects based on what order they are used. (I didn't take notes on this, so hopefully my memory is correct.) To give an example with my own completely made up skills... If a monk uses Flying Kick and then Dragon Fist... the Dragon Fist could have a different effect than if he had used Diving Phoenix first and then followed it with the Dragon Fist.
Very good extrapolation, grasshopper.
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Find all posts by Talisker.
Find all posts in "Monk Fanguard Info?".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mish
Here are direct quotes from that interview:
Safehouse: Will rogues get to pickpocket?
Darrin McPherson: It’s not something we’re focusing on.
SH: Will rogues get a utility skill like disarming traps which will be rogue class only?
DM: Anybody will be able to open traps and locks but the rogue will get a bonus. A Large bonus.
SH: What do you see as the Vanguard rogue, describe him to me
DM: “I wanted the rogue to be stealthy. Stealth will play a major role for a rogue.” Darrin said, using the word he purports not to like, “I’m totally excited about stalking and stealthing so far.” He sees rogues as the stealthy fighter who will be able to exploit “weaknesses” and “states” in their opponents which will naturally happen during combat. An example of a “state” is being in “mid-cast” or in the middle of casting a spell. The rogue will essentially be “stalking” their opponent, learning their weak spots and then, say, jumping in at the right time for a massive attack. During the time they are stalking their prey they will be building up a damage multiplier. This will prevent them from losing dps while stalking. The rogue will also have the ability to distract an NPC during combat and then go back into stealth mode after performing an attack.-- IF there is at least one other person in the party. When solo fighting, the rogue will be able to stealth but then won’t be able to go back into stealth mode during the rest of the combat.
Looking at this - I think Rogue will be pure DPS with some minor "utilities". When I say Talisker's post contradicts this interview - I mean Rogues will not get PP. And without being able to steal - how can we be considered Thieves?
Assassins - I agree to some extent, but still it's not 100% correspponds to what Assassin is in reality. So far - Rogues will do more damage in 1st strike the longer they stay stealthed, and this is what can be considered "Assassin".
I can only conclude from this interview that Rogues will be damage dealing scouts because main attributes are Stealth+DPS.
I realize that there are a lot of ppl who like Rogues being massive damage dealers but in EQ1 I preffered my Rogue being more "rogueish" - being able to PP, posion etc...
Not that I could not do really good damage - look in my sig 
Mish
My initial thoughts for the Rogue were combat based - these are reflected in my interview with Fricka. When it came time to actually code him all sorts of other goodies were included.
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Find all posts in "Fellow Rogues, thief or assassin?".
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Balance is a funny word. As Brad said, it means so many things. In this thread alone you have discussed PvP balance, PvE Balance and Balance within a Job. So what is meant by balance? Let’s start from the beginning.
By now I expect most of you are familiar with our Job system. To explain again quickly, there are 4 jobs in Vanguard (and if you distill it down, in any MMO):
The Tank – Take damage, maintain control of the NPC as much as possible.
The Melee DPS – Deal damage and deal it fast. Help out with the protection if you are needed (although you are not nearly as effective as a tank).
Healer – Keep em alive so you can all go home. Buff and help us survive this encounter. You are also expected to lend in the melee and spell DPS.
Arcane DPS – You make things go boom. “Don’t get hit.” Get used to this phrase, your healers will be repeating it for as long as you play.
Sweet, done with that. Back to balance.
The idea is that all members of a Job will perform that job with roughly equal proficiency. All Tanks will mitigate roughly the same. All healers will have roughly the same healing power. Each class, within its job is balanced by the tenants of the job.
That is where we stop looking at balance as critically. We have taken great care (and a bunch of time) to ensure that the gameplay is different from tank to tank, from healer to healer. Adding these differences creates classes that may or may not appeal to your playstyle, but functionally is not at a deficit when compared to others. When you are looking for a Tank to fill your group, any tank can perform the duty of damage mitigation, but each will bring a bunch of other things to the table as well. You will probably have favorites, but that prejudice will not be based on tanking ability. There will certainly be times when a Warrior works a little better than a Dread Knight for X encounter, but that is not generally the case.
Honestly, that is the most alluring thing about the job system to me. I want to play a Protective Fighter – The choice is mine and has not been dictated to me by the creator of the game. I can choose any of the four and I know that I will always be needed anyplace that loot-carrying mobs hit players.
PvE Balance
Heh, this is a fun one. We set off deciding that all classes should be able to solo with roughly the same ability. We are not living in a dream world and we know that this goal will not be attained as perfectly as we might like. Certainly within a job it will be easier to enforce this, but will a Warrior be able to solo as well as a Sorcerer? Probably not. We are trying our best to close the gaps between the classes that has existed in most other games.
PvP Balance
Thankfully (for my sanity), Vanguard is focused on PvE, so we are less concerned about this. We will have some things in place to help balance out the traditional pitfalls that a PvE game has in this regard, but we realize that without a completely new game (and years to make it) a Warrior vs. Sorcerer won’t always be balanced just right.
Gotta get back to work. Thanks for the stimulating conversation. I hope that answered your questions. 
Cheers
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Find all posts in "Thought classes arent going to be balanced".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fortenbras
Didn't they say that Paladins will be more like Holy Warriors then the typical EQ Pally. I know someone mentioned no laying on hands.
Still though, I'm thinking more and more they they will be Psi-clerics. Seems that Vanguard likes the Psi-powers, we know for sure already that two classes will have psi powers.
Think less Psi and more Chi.
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Find all posts in "Disciple.... what is this?".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamer
Yes a Dreadknight would be, dark, brooding, and unapproachable. Intimidation would roll off of him/her and would be palatable, obvious to even the most distracted. Crowds melt before them as they walk down the street. Even the brave turn thier heads, fearful they might mistakenly catch thier eyes.
They would have a rigid code of honor that most would find unreasonable. Many would label them fanatics.
Speaking with a dreadknight, if you could even get one to talk, is a singularly unpleasent experience. They have little use for beings not amongst thier ranks.
Dreadknights are hard men and women who do hard things. Thier view of the world is grim. Morality doesn't figure into thier calculations. Cold reality is what they expect from the world, and it's what they mete out with each swing of thier sword.
It is the dreadknight, and his or her brethren against the world. In thier eyes it is us, and our simple notions of good and evil, that are a problem.
They are quick to violence, but can also be as patient as any other predator.
Woe to those who oppose them.
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I think a dreadknight will be a cool class to play, don't limit them by thinking they must be evil. It doesn't necessarily apply.
There has been some great stuff in this thread. The allusions to Batman are accurate in some ways. Dreamer's post is fairly accurate as well.
Fear, dread and despair are the tools of the Dread Knight. Does this make him evil or is he simply using the tools of evil?
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Find all posts in "Can they do Dreadknight right?".
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