I have no information - so that makes me a good person to respond ((chuckles)). Basic principles of game development would support the theory that everything is almost a placeholder until alpha testing. Pre-alpha tends to be focused on much more fundamental things relating to getting the game to actually run. Alpha release tends to be when thought and effort is focused on things like race and class balance in specific rather than as an overarching concept. Beta release tends to be when focus is on smaller improvements and fixes with the hope that nothing will change dramatically before release.
BamBam said: What is the status on these race differences. When can we look forward to get more info on this?
"Soon"
BamBam said: What is the status on these race differences. When can we look forward to get more info on this?
My official opinion of this is:
"Don't hold your breath"
`\_(=.=)_/`
The issue with racials always have been if you make them good, you are basically forced to take a certain race with a certain class.
If you make them bad you could more or less just remove them.
I would create a big list of racials. You get 1 out of the list the moment you choose both a race and class. Each racial is connected to 1 or more combinations.
It means each race can have several racials, which one you get depends on the choosen class. This makes it so that you always get a useful racial no matter what.
Noxa said:The issue with racials always have been if you make them good, you are basically forced to take a certain race with a certain class.
If you make them bad you could more or less just remove them.
I would create a big list of racials. You get 1 out of the list the moment you choose both a race and class. Each racial is connected to 1 or more combinations.
It means each race can have several racials, which one you get depends on the choosen class. This makes it so that you always get a useful racial no matter what.
It was a popular myth that Ogres in EQ1 with their frontal stun immunity made them the defacto best warrior race. That is demonstrably wrong. Many guilds, mine included, did not have even a single Ogre warrior and we defeated all the content put in front of us. Frontal stun immunity had benefits in certain situations but for the vast majority of content it had no bearing. Which brings me to my main issue with racial (and class) actives/passives: In the day-to-day content, what is the likelyhood that your active/passive will play a part?
Lets continue with the frontal stun immunity racial passive example. Of all the NPC classes, which ones would have such an ability/attack? And what are the chances you'll encounter that specific NPC class? And of those NPCs that have such an ability/attack, what is the likelyhood they will use that? And if they use it, how often in a given fight would they use it? Also, what if such an ability/attack required not only a specific class but also a specific disposition? That would further reduce the likelyhood you'll need that frontal stun immunity.
So throwing in some numbers for the sake of argument, lets assume that 1 in 10 NPCs is of the right class, and 2 in 10 of those NPCs will always spawn with the necessary disposition and that they have a 50/50 chance of using it during during a fight. Lets add in a 3 second cast time and a 20 second recast while assuming a fight lasts 45 seconds. You can quickly see that the vast majority of the time you'll not ever see a situation where that racial/class thing ever comes into play. And that is just for a racial/class thing that is applied 100% of the time. Imagine how that you're stuck with a racial/class thing that only has a 20% chance of being triggered? What then is the likelyhood you'll not only encounter a situation where it is needed but then it actually triggered when you actually need it?
i'm a firm supporter that every race should have something to which it is 100% immune.
I get your point.
In the rare occasion when a racial becomes useful, it should be useful 100% of the time.
But even if it just has a 30% chance to trigger, it could be useful.
Lets say you are stunned for 5 secs. The trigger could be checked not just once but every sec.
Most of the time the stun would be at least much shorter.
Then you could introduce a racial questline to improve the racial to 60% or even 100%.
This all would still not solve the issue i see in racials.
Stun immunity isnt that bad for an ogre warrior.
But rather useless for an ogre shaman. He rather wants to have something like a silence immunity.
Maybe an elf have that. It means as a shaman it is better to play an elf.
Therefore i prefer to have racials depending on both race and class. You will always have useful racials then.
