Forums » News and Announcements

Class Reveals & Game Updates Highlight the June Newsletter

    • 287 posts
    June 13, 2018 5:40 PM PDT
    Great newsletter, these keep getting better. Thank you VR!
    • 523 posts
    June 13, 2018 6:42 PM PDT

    Warrior and Paladin look solid.  I'm personally a little bummed the Dire Lord is not like the EQ1 Shadow Knight.  Feign Death pulling and fear kiting was a ton of fun, it's annoying no other game has captured that playstyle.  They also look destined to be off tanks due to the mail armor limitation.  I get that they can self-heal quite a bit, but it looks like unless its a magic based fight, they are more second tier.  Or third tier even because the Warrior, on paper at least, looks to be far and away the most efficient tank with all his mitigation.  Will be interesting to see if the Monk can approach the Dire Lord as an off tank.  

     

    I am a little concerned that the team can actually implement all these abilities though.  There seems to be a lot of complexity.  Hope you have some all-star coders.  

    • 38 posts
    June 13, 2018 11:51 PM PDT

    All the tank classes look awsome the only thing a failed to see was the single "taunting" ability on the dire lord. Also Welcome Jimmy 

    • 38 posts
    June 13, 2018 11:56 PM PDT

    Mathir said:

    Warrior and Paladin look solid.  I'm personally a little bummed the Dire Lord is not like the EQ1 Shadow Knight.  Feign Death pulling and fear kiting was a ton of fun, it's annoying no other game has captured that playstyle.  They also look destined to be off tanks due to the mail armor limitation.  I get that they can self-heal quite a bit, but it looks like unless its a magic based fight, they are more second tier.  Or third tier even because the Warrior, on paper at least, looks to be far and away the most efficient tank with all his mitigation.  Will be interesting to see if the Monk can approach the Dire Lord as an off tank.  

     

    I am a little concerned that the team can actually implement all these abilities though.  There seems to be a lot of complexity.  Hope you have some all-star coders.  

     

    pretty sure all its lifesteal will off set small lack of armor if you have mail on but we will probably see it more in streams or in testing.

    • 73 posts
    June 14, 2018 6:38 AM PDT

    I love where you all are going with the class specific battle generated abilities, like Wrath or Essence. This looks like it's going to give so much flexibility depending on the fight. The tanks imo really needed this. 

    • 107 posts
    June 14, 2018 9:58 AM PDT

    Mathir said:

    Warrior and Paladin look solid.  I'm personally a little bummed the Dire Lord is not like the EQ1 Shadow Knight.  Feign Death pulling and fear kiting was a ton of fun, it's annoying no other game has captured that playstyle.  They also look destined to be off tanks due to the mail armor limitation.  I get that they can self-heal quite a bit, but it looks like unless its a magic based fight, they are more second tier.  Or third tier even because the Warrior, on paper at least, looks to be far and away the most efficient tank with all his mitigation.  Will be interesting to see if the Monk can approach the Dire Lord as an off tank.  

     

    I am a little concerned that the team can actually implement all these abilities though.  There seems to be a lot of complexity.  Hope you have some all-star coders.  

     

    I did find myself thinking offtank the whole time I was reading it, but I guess time will tell. I do agree with the poster that said pure mitigation rules the day eventually. Taps don't offset mitigation....ever. They are rarely used in group/raid settings. I'm concerned, but will wait until alpha to really look at implimentation.

    • 769 posts
    June 14, 2018 10:41 AM PDT

    Filzin said:

    Mathir said:

    Warrior and Paladin look solid.  I'm personally a little bummed the Dire Lord is not like the EQ1 Shadow Knight.  Feign Death pulling and fear kiting was a ton of fun, it's annoying no other game has captured that playstyle.  They also look destined to be off tanks due to the mail armor limitation.  I get that they can self-heal quite a bit, but it looks like unless its a magic based fight, they are more second tier.  Or third tier even because the Warrior, on paper at least, looks to be far and away the most efficient tank with all his mitigation.  Will be interesting to see if the Monk can approach the Dire Lord as an off tank.  

     

    I am a little concerned that the team can actually implement all these abilities though.  There seems to be a lot of complexity.  Hope you have some all-star coders.  

     

    I did find myself thinking offtank the whole time I was reading it, but I guess time will tell. I do agree with the poster that said pure mitigation rules the day eventually. Taps don't offset mitigation....ever. They are rarely used in group/raid settings. I'm concerned, but will wait until alpha to really look at implimentation.

    Not entirely true. Wardens in LOTRO took a crack at this. They were avoidance tanks that wore medium armor (chain/leather) that relied on HoT and lifetaps along with a hefty pool of health. My favorite class of any MMO to date. 

    • 151 posts
    June 14, 2018 11:37 AM PDT

    To the folks saying the warrior will have the most mitigation and therefore be ther best...

     

    Has Joppa or anyone else said if armor will mitigate spell damage?

    • 85 posts
    June 14, 2018 12:27 PM PDT

    Well at least we got a preview. But at least all classes will have to roam the world to look for "rare spells/skills". So I guess Filzin there is hope yet buddy...  

    • 201 posts
    June 14, 2018 5:24 PM PDT

    I have enjoyed this newsletter quite well. Reading upon the classes skills and passives ETCETC. Definitely enjoyed looking at the design art and how they process what should be where in the terrain and knowing that Faerthale is the Reference Zone as its the most completed.

    But the 1 thing that kinda bugged me was the Pre-Alpha Phase 3 announcement. I am not sure if that was needed? Only real reason to tell us that is they are on the next step in development but as the reader it doesn't mean much to us, was 1) we don't know what each phase entails, and 2) we don't know how many phases there will be.
    but that's my opinion / 2 Cents.

     

    Anyways Great work everyone, I love seeing all the new updates ☺☺☺☺

    • 3237 posts
    June 14, 2018 7:31 PM PDT

    I think the intention was to show where we're at progress wise, Leon.  It was communicated during PAX that PA was going to be temporarily shut down while they handled the event and started plugging away with new content to prepare the next phase.  There were a lot of people who pledged during the PAX promotion and I'm sure they have been on the edge of their seat wanting to know when they would be able to get involved with testing.  All in all, this has been my favorite newsletter thus far!

    • 89 posts
    June 15, 2018 5:52 AM PDT

    Any word on when we can expect to see the old class reveals updated to the new format?

    • 2886 posts
    June 15, 2018 7:07 AM PDT

    Zyellinia said:

    Any word on when we can expect to see the old class reveals updated to the new format?

    All classes will be updated/revealed in the new format by the end of the summer - 3 classes (1 archetype) per month, we are halfway there. Whether they'll do casters or healers next is anybody's guess.

    • 267 posts
    June 15, 2018 7:12 AM PDT

    Bazgrim said:

    Zyellinia said:

    Any word on when we can expect to see the old class reveals updated to the new format?

    All classes will be updated/revealed in the new format by the end of the summer - 3 classes (1 archetype) per month, we are halfway there. Whether they'll do casters or healers next is anybody's guess.

    Isn't it obvious? Casters will be last, you always save the best for last. 

    • 9 posts
    June 15, 2018 7:13 AM PDT

    Thanks to the wonderful folks at VR for another great newsletter!

    After reading (and re-reading several times) the class skills for tanks, it occurs to me that Dire Lord is likely to be an awesome small group (less than 6) or non-traditional-group tank. Very excited to see how this all plays out.


    This post was edited by StromVillain at June 15, 2018 7:14 AM PDT
    • 62 posts
    June 15, 2018 8:52 AM PDT

    When is the next live stream with my boy Cohh? XD  Loving everything so far, guys!  Welcome Jimmy! <3 Looking forward to next month's reveal (I hope it's casters!)

    • 945 posts
    June 15, 2018 9:27 AM PDT

    Great reveal, but I must admit that I am deeply saddened that the DL is nothing like the SHD, which I know has been stated from the begining but it still makes me sad to see it semi-official.  No Plate, No cool utility spells, just have to hope they can melee (as a tank role) and do enough damage (read: likely have to be higher level than target to be effective) that you can heal yourself for a % of the damage you deal while likely getting hit harder than both other tanks in plate with shields and the warrior's resilience/paladin's measured healing.  They better have phenominal dodge/parry ratings and an enormous healthpool or have absolutely tremendous DPS if they're taking more damage per hit  :(

    I'll probably end up playing the paladin unless some things change.  Both paladin and warrior have great tank utility with the ability to move toward their target or pull their target to them which I find a HUGE advantage as a tank.  The warrior and paladin look like they can contribute to a group and the paladin looks like they would be welcomed in a group that already has a warrior... I would not see a need for a DL in a group if I already had a warrior and/or paladin or even monk.  Having high resistance to magic is not worth forfeiting 2 tiers of mitigation (plate and shields) IMHO.  I would think that their self healing will be very unreliable when they start taking hits that remove large % of their HP toward endgame, especially because their passive lifesteal from attacking is a blood state (stance) as is their blood state to generate threat.  I suppose the DL may be the melee DPS you want in raid since they can self heal as long as they're not taking hits... oh wait, there's the monk too which will likely do much more damage.

    In a group-centric game I plan on playing a class that is desirable to groups :(

     

    • 190 posts
    June 15, 2018 10:22 AM PDT

    The husband and I are already planning to run as two Dire Lords, one to tank and one to off-tank/DPS, and have fun being mage-killers.

     

    The small twists on each class that are revealed are quite exciting. We can't wait to try out each one and see which fits us best.

    • 5 posts
    June 15, 2018 1:01 PM PDT

    Is it me or is everyone basing their chars on past games.  I thought VR were making a new exciting game that went beyond the boundaries we were used to.  A new game that we had to re learn the basics.  The character is the same but the manner in which we play is changed.  I will be greaty saddened if this is just a rehash of past games.  I want a character that I have to relearn.  I appreciate the lore maybe be similar after all a cleric is a cleric.  I so looking forward to a game that drops me into an abyss of learning.  I think too many people want to figure out which character  is best to play rather than enjoy rather than enjoy the character they are playing.  So long as high end game play is not the ability of your character I will be happy.  You should not have to be raid level to have fun 

    • 64 posts
    June 15, 2018 2:17 PM PDT

    So much for any tank other than Warrior MTing end game content. DLs are tanks in classification only.

    Very disappointing...

    • 64 posts
    June 15, 2018 2:21 PM PDT

    Darch said:

    Great reveal, but I must admit that I am deeply saddened that the DL is nothing like the SHD, which I know has been stated from the begining but it still makes me sad to see it semi-official.  No Plate, No cool utility spells, just have to hope they can melee (as a tank role) and do enough damage (read: likely have to be higher level than target to be effective) that you can heal yourself for a % of the damage you deal while likely getting hit harder than both other tanks in plate with shields and the warrior's resilience/paladin's measured healing.  They better have phenominal dodge/parry ratings and an enormous healthpool or have absolutely tremendous DPS if they're taking more damage per hit  :(

    I'll probably end up playing the paladin unless some things change.  Both paladin and warrior have great tank utility with the ability to move toward their target or pull their target to them which I find a HUGE advantage as a tank.  The warrior and paladin look like they can contribute to a group and the paladin looks like they would be welcomed in a group that already has a warrior... I would not see a need for a DL in a group if I already had a warrior and/or paladin or even monk.  Having high resistance to magic is not worth forfeiting 2 tiers of mitigation (plate and shields) IMHO.  I would think that their self healing will be very unreliable when they start taking hits that remove large % of their HP toward endgame, especially because their passive lifesteal from attacking is a blood state (stance) as is their blood state to generate threat.  I suppose the DL may be the melee DPS you want in raid since they can self heal as long as they're not taking hits... oh wait, there's the monk too which will likely do much more damage.

    In a group-centric game I plan on playing a class that is desirable to groups :(

     

    I share your disppointment in the DL class. It will not be a viable end game MT as currently described. It's shaping up to be a kool-kid solo class with mediocre DPS that will have no place in endgame content. Basically the worst possible role for any class long term.

    They are obviously trying to balance their lack of traditional tanking sills (like mitigation /boggle) with self healing. 

    The problem is a MT needs to be able to survive being one-shotted by end game encounters, and no amount of self healing will balance that. Any mob that hits hard enough to challenge the mitigation of a Warrior (or Paladin) will not be tankable by a DL.

    I'm going to guess the DL's self healing makes them a very efficient group tank for lower end content, but that's not exactly a role that sounds very appealing...at all. Honestly, it's not surprising they have no idea how to balance tank classes when Aradune is running around being a horrid tank in all demo videos.


    This post was edited by nscheffel at June 15, 2018 2:31 PM PDT
    • 523 posts
    June 15, 2018 2:48 PM PDT

    nscheffel said:

    So much for any tank other than Warrior MTing end game content. DLs are tanks in classification only.

    Very disappointing...

     

    Depends.  Paladins have innate mitigation against Undead, so I think there's a good chance they'll be the go to tank for Undead raid mobs.  Warriors, obviously, will be the primary MT for most melee mobs.  I think DLs could have a role against caster raid mobs due to their innate magic mitigation, but we'll have to see how many mage type bosses there are.  If the mob types are pretty diverse, and each class truly excels in their own niche, then it could work well at end game.  On a standard tank and spank raid mob, I'd expect the Pally to be an offtank in the MT group so the Warrior can get their AC buff.  The Pally will just help on heals, stuns, and battle rezzes.  The DL will probably be in the melee DPS group on a raid, at full haste, but his heal procs can probably help to keep that group alive, especially if partnered with a Monk.  

    It all comes down to the variety of raid mobs and if plate wearers take a significant penalty to magic damage.  If that is the case, the DL in his mail and with his magic mitigation becomes really interesting as a MT.  

    • 523 posts
    June 15, 2018 2:54 PM PDT

    nscheffel said:

    I share your disppointment in the DL class. It will not be a viable end game MT as currently described. It's shaping up to be a kool-kid solo class with mediocre DPS that will have no place in endgame content. Basically the worst possible role for any class long term.

    They are obviously trying to balance their lack of traditional tanking sills (like mitigation /boggle) with self healing. 

    The problem is a MT needs to be able to survive being one-shotted by end game encounters, and no amount of self healing will balance that. Any mob that hits hard enough to challenge the mitigation of a Warrior (or Paladin) will not be tankable by a DL.

    I'm going to guess the DL's self healing makes them a very efficient group tank for lower end content, but that's not exactly a role that sounds very appealing...at all. Honestly, it's not surprising they have no idea how to balance tank classes when Aradune is running around being a horrid tank in all demo videos.

     

    LOL!  I have to admit that watching the streams, I don't think either of the two DEV Warriors are very good.  It might just be that the Warrior abilities aren't implemented yet, or something to that effect, but they both seem to struggle with awareness and positioning.  And pulling, especially with pulling.  Joppa is a stud on the Shaman, but nobody else has really stood out very much.  The HiveLeader rocked the Cleric as a guest streamer.  Cohh was ok, kind of, on the Monk.  I guess Kilsin is solid on the rogue.  

    • 64 posts
    June 15, 2018 2:56 PM PDT

    Mathir said:

    Depends.  Paladins have innate mitigation against Undead, so I think there's a good chance they'll be the go to tank for Undead raid mobs.  Warriors, obviously, will be the primary MT for most melee mobs.  I think DLs could have a role against caster raid mobs due to their innate magic mitigation, but we'll have to see how many mage type bosses there are.  If the mob types are pretty diverse, and each class truly excels in their own niche, then it could work well at end game.  On a standard tank and spank raid mob, I'd expect the Pally to be an offtank in the MT group so the Warrior can get their AC buff.  The Pally will just help on heals, stuns, and battle rezzes.  The DL will probably be in the melee DPS group on a raid, at full haste, but his heal procs can probably help to keep that group alive, especially if partnered with a Monk.  

    It all comes down to the variety of raid mobs and if plate wearers take a significant penalty to magic damage.  If that is the case, the DL in his mail and with his magic mitigation becomes really interesting as a MT.  

    This same line of "certain tanks for certain encounters" thinking always comes out at the beginning, and never actually transpires in game.

    If you want to MT end game content, you better roll a Warrior. Expect to see a lot of whining once DLs get to max level and realize they have no role in end game content. As currently described, they are essentially Rangers in early EQ...only good for eating Death Touches on raids. 

    It's a shame that the same group of devs who balanced the 3 tank classes in VG so well couldn't pull it off again for Pantheon.


    This post was edited by nscheffel at June 15, 2018 2:58 PM PDT
    • 64 posts
    June 15, 2018 2:57 PM PDT

    Mathir said:

    LOL!  I have to admit that watching the streams, I don't think either of the two DEV Warriors are very good.  It might just be that the Warrior abilities aren't implemented yet, or something to that effect, but they both seem to struggle with awareness and positioning.  And pulling, especially with pulling.  Joppa is a stud on the Shaman, but nobody else has really stood out very much.  The HiveLeader rocked the Cleric as a guest streamer.  Cohh was ok, kind of, on the Monk.  I guess Kilsin is solid on the rogue.  

    Yeah, it's a bit worrisome that guys responsible for balancing the tank classes have no idea how to play a tank in their own game...