A/N: Nodope should be seen as a case of what happens when you're blind to a foreign culture. The correct name should be Notobe, not some Japanese dopehead.
Wonder if it's possible for John to change his user handle to @emiyarou
No changes to paragon class names?
So what this post is all about?
This post will be adding on what The Assist Dude said. So it's going to be short. As short as... well, this vid below?
Wonder if it's possible for John to change his user handle to @emiyarou
No changes to paragon class names?
Well, the screenshot featuring a Hellbringer seemed to suggest this is so. To be honest, John has got nothing against it. After all, the last thing the devs need is to pull off another Mod 6. That'd be more disastrous than the actual Mod 6 itself. It'd be like voting out Dong Zhuo only to get either a Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu as your president.
Which now comes to the question of class features.
Note that there was no mention of class features in this post. Assuming that the paragon class details actually affect the gamer at level 40, this possibly means class features will be the feats for Mod 16. Yet, it must be stated that this doesn't mean the class features (as feats) will stay unchanged. The devs would have to change some things, take some other things away, and add some more things. This is where the possibility of 1+1 comes in. Yes, the feats as we know it are going to go. But it doesn't mean the devs won't do a cut and paste when it comes to the useful parts.
New Shift
The shielding system looks neat. Not just to The Assist Man, but to Le John as well. But there's a problem which The Assist Man brought up: So what will be given to classes which cannot shield? In other words, what would dodge and dashing give?
One interesting about dodge in the current state is that you'll get a brief moment of invulnerability post-execution. John actually accidentally discover that during Day of the Dungeon Master event where there's this mini-game involving rock dodging. But would a positive change in the invulnerability window work? Well, John won't be surprised if a longer invulnerability window would screw the gameplay. Dodging is meant to let the characters get away from being hit. In other words, invulnerability starting from the dodge animation could potentially break the game as in the only limitation lies in the stamina gauge. This may not matter much to Wizards, but it can be a very different story if we're talking about Rangers, Rogues, and Clerics. Classes whose secondary attribute is Strength.
Another way is to increase movement speed upon dodge execution. That'd make more tactical sense than upping the invulnerability stakes.
Which now comes to the Warlock dash. So what this class may get apart from running like a Bolt? One interesting observation John made when playing the Scourge Warlock was that dashing does NOT give any invulnerability status, be it during or after. So yeah, it's very likely Warlock dash would receive invulnerability for the duration of the dash. Broken? Actually, prolonged dashing isn't the best way to use a Scourge Warlock as this class doesn't have Strength as a key attribute. Of course, this is not to say invulnerability would persist throughout the 100m sprint. Rather, it may only kick in during the first few seconds.
Now let's get back to the new shielding system. Going by the text, it seems that Barbarians won't be able to run like a Great Weapon Fighter anymore. Which means no more insane Cimmerians dealing insane damage just because Conan can run faster than a cheetah. This would slow down the pace of party dps with more focus on the tactical end. In short, raiding is looking more like a case of Graeco-Roman tactical game rather than the run-and-gun style of Anglo-Saxons we're used to right now. And this is not to mention what the devs said concerning the tweaks to overall difficulty in terms of upping the raw damage and defensive stats.
One interesting about dodge in the current state is that you'll get a brief moment of invulnerability post-execution. John actually accidentally discover that during Day of the Dungeon Master event where there's this mini-game involving rock dodging. But would a positive change in the invulnerability window work? Well, John won't be surprised if a longer invulnerability window would screw the gameplay. Dodging is meant to let the characters get away from being hit. In other words, invulnerability starting from the dodge animation could potentially break the game as in the only limitation lies in the stamina gauge. This may not matter much to Wizards, but it can be a very different story if we're talking about Rangers, Rogues, and Clerics. Classes whose secondary attribute is Strength.
Another way is to increase movement speed upon dodge execution. That'd make more tactical sense than upping the invulnerability stakes.
Which now comes to the Warlock dash. So what this class may get apart from running like a Bolt? One interesting observation John made when playing the Scourge Warlock was that dashing does NOT give any invulnerability status, be it during or after. So yeah, it's very likely Warlock dash would receive invulnerability for the duration of the dash. Broken? Actually, prolonged dashing isn't the best way to use a Scourge Warlock as this class doesn't have Strength as a key attribute. Of course, this is not to say invulnerability would persist throughout the 100m sprint. Rather, it may only kick in during the first few seconds.
Now let's get back to the new shielding system. Going by the text, it seems that Barbarians won't be able to run like a Great Weapon Fighter anymore. Which means no more insane Cimmerians dealing insane damage just because Conan can run faster than a cheetah. This would slow down the pace of party dps with more focus on the tactical end. In short, raiding is looking more like a case of Graeco-Roman tactical game rather than the run-and-gun style of Anglo-Saxons we're used to right now. And this is not to mention what the devs said concerning the tweaks to overall difficulty in terms of upping the raw damage and defensive stats.
(Hunter) Rangers would want to know this
One of the most annoying aspects of playing this class all the while lies in the need to stance-switch in order to maximise the damage done. But there's a problem: You can opt for the archery tree if you don't want to stance switch like a Gen. And archery is the hdps tree. See where this is going? Yes, archery did experience horrendous moments of over-nerfing, but there's a reason why such moments existed in the first place.
This comes to mind the need to strike a balance between ranged damage and melee dps. Currently, the balance is just not there. The only way for a combat Hunter Ranger to deal good damage would be maxing out Agile Combatant and using either Split the Sky or Thorn Ward to start the damage rolling. In other words, a combat Hunter Ranger is currently restricted to the role of buffer-debuffer-dps hybrid. While this is definitely a very good way to use the combat tree, it also means options are extremely limited. At the same time, people would still be looking at renegade Control Wizards and temptation Scourge Warlocks instead of throwing a D20 on a combat Hunter Ranger. The same goes for oppressor Control Wizards and righteous Devoted Clerics. The market is not there because the practical factor is not compelling enough.
Ultimately, there are two ways to fix this. Either up the melee damage astronomically or close the gap between the ranged and melee. The former is quite obviously out of the picture as it can potentially break the game. The latter is definitely a more pragmatic option. However, there has to be an incentive to consider melee as either the main or secondary dps source. Which comes to the question of stance-switching. Would damage bonus resulting from switching stance be a good idea? Like 5% damage bonus lasting 10 seconds with a 20-second cooldown when switching to melee and10% movement speed lasting 5 seconds with a 20-second cooldown when switching to ranged?
And that's not to mention feats capable of making closing down tactics useful.
Latest update
Came across these two articles just now. So let's talk a bit about the reworked Divinity system here. Or speculate more specifically. Now assuming all the holy encounters rely on Divinity, what are we to expect from Paladins and Clerics? For one, the damage dealing department would very likely to be more at-will'centric (yes, that's an acrual invented by Le John). As for pressing Tab for class mechanics, this is very likely to be Channel Divinity where it's possibly a case of hold-and-charge. If so, then it'd make an effective at-will game an absolute must. For Clerics, Channel Divinity should be easier in raiding and less so in solo play while the opposite would point towards the Paladin.
Let's do some speculation about the individual paragon classes here.
Devout:
This is very likely the majority choice going by this description.
[When compared with other healers like the oathkeeper paladin and the soulweaver warlock, the devout relies on straightforward powerful heals, heal over time effects, and effective divinity management.]
Effective Divinity management? Sounds like each holy encounter would take up quite a bit of Divinity. It's either that or Devouts will become top tier healers with huge Divinity consumption. It seems that Devout is going to be the more straightforward half of the Cleric paragon classes.
This calls into question the aspect of buffing. It's very likely that Devouts can be capable buffers as well. As for whether it's defensive buffing or offensive buffs... well, John is leaning towards the offensive side.
Arbiter:
This one sounds like a whole load of a fun house here going by this description.
[Arbiters focus on providing complex gameplay with deep damage dealing rotations based on the shifting scales of their deity’s judgement. By switching between spells that deal radiant damage and spells that deal fire damage, arbiters can unleash devastating holy fire on their enemies.]
Shifting scales of judgement? Sounds like the teachings of Kelemvor to John. This statement is possibly pointing towards two damage types symbolised by two ends of the libra. The more radiant damage you deal, the more powerful the next fire damage attack and vice versa. Sounds like this to John. If anyone would be insane (?) enough to try out an Arbiter, then it's possible that the bread-and-butter dps would be on the at-wills.
It's very likely that Arbiter requires better tactical awareness. If Devouts are for those preferring a faster pace of play, then Arbiter is possiby the tactician of the party. This is not to say you can't play it fast with an Arbiter. But it's possible that any hdps Arbiter will have to learn how to plant a bomb instead of just throwing it.
Which now comes to the question of whether you can buff with an Arbiter. One possibility would be a more dps'y version of the Righteous tree where less focus is placed on the offensive debuffs and more focus will be placed in the dps.
Justicar:
This looks like a healing tank with a decent dose of buffing being thrown into the mix. At the same time, it seems that we won't be seeing the damage increment per X% max HP gone in Undermountain.
[A champion of all that is good and just, the justicar focuses on impenetrable defense and uses their divine magic to smite foes and can even heal allies in a pinch.]
This comes to mind a question: How would a Justicar pull and hold the aggro? Definitely there will be powers in charge of taunting and feats in charge of threat generating. Interestingly, divine magic may possibly become the main source of aggro control.
Oathkeeper:
[Having taken a vow to care for those in need the noble oathkeeper rescues their friends from the jaws of death with healing magic and powerful mitigative spells that shield their allies from harm.]
Description should be very straightforward. We all know Paladins are effectively clerics wearing plate armour. This means Oathkeepers would have better luck staying alive while taking aggro punishment. Also, it should be a no-brainer by now that Oathkeepers and Justicars share the same shielding system. It's very likely that compared to Justicars, Oathkeepers may need to rely more on holding shift.
Killing the bugs
The Assist Man mentioned the likelihood of more bug extermination due to the massive changes. While it's possible that more bugs would pop up for the next mod, one of the key reasons behind this massive streamlining would be making life easier for the programmers to debug and deglitch. For one, the focus is now concentrated in a smaller range of circumstances. Secondly, one can only imagine the nightmare the debugging and deglitching can cause due to a sprawling UI.
The greater concern should be this: Would gameplay synergy improve as a result of this change?
Boon(s) for the alts
The boons system is going to benefit the alts. Like big time. By removing campaign zone restrictions, this means gamers would be more motivated to use their alts. Alts are important in this game for a reason: Replay value. There's only this much replay value you can get by just using one main alone. Unless your mind resembles that of Emiya Kiritsugu, it's very hard to justify replay value based on one character alone. Ultimately, it's about how much farming you'll need. Definitely far less of a hassle in the future.
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