Iksar said:
I thought gouging a body part and wearing it would be pretty savage/aggressive. It would be a pretty cool animation, too. As far as their passive goes, I couldn't help but think that the Skar were an excellent candidate for tracking. They seem like a natural fit for it, regardless of what class they play, but don't have access to the ranger class as an option. The most consistent factor used during this theory-crafting exercise was established lore. At the same time, it's also important to consider the available class matrix for each race. Bloodthirst seems like something that would make sense if the Skar were always up close and personal, but how would that work for something like a shaman or necromancer? Same deal with Blood Sense. Sounds like something that would be great for a warrior, dire lord, monk, or rogue ... but not the other two classes.
*Edit -- for their active, I did adjust it slightly so that the Skar would have their small offensive bonus while wearing a gouged body part. It wouldn't stack with their night-time bonus but I think it would better represent their savage/aggressive nature than health regen alone.
Tracking is a bit too much of an active ability to be considered a passive, innate maybe.
To an extent the Archai active and Halfling passive don't seem particularly useful for casters/healers, which is why I figred "why not" for bloodthirst. Spell damage could heal too but otherwise it wouldn't be extremely useful to casters, yeah. Just seems like every other race (save for Elves) get great or widely useful combat abilities but Skar get little to nothing to that end.
Iksar said:To an extent the Archai active and Halfling passive don't seem particularly useful for casters/healers, which is why I figred "why not" for bloodthirst. Spell damage could heal too but otherwise it wouldn't be extremely useful to casters, yeah. Just seems like every other race (save for Elves) get great or widely useful combat abilities but Skar get little to nothing to that end.
The Archai active would apply to all "attacks" which would count both melee strikes and spell-casts that do damage. As far as the Halfling passive, I agree with you, and think it would be appropriate to add another small detail that would still fall under the scope of "accuracy." I adjusted the Halfling passive to also reduce the chance of fizzling for any spell-casts.
oneADseven said:The Ogre passive only triggers when they take lethal damage. More than anything it buys them some additional time on the battlefield when they would otherwise be dead. I think that ability would be really useful for both tanks and healers. The main reason I decided to make them immune to beneficiary effects while that passive is active is because druids could use Hirode's Chrysalis on them during that time. In my experience, these sort of "death-prevention" abilities usually have a limited duration. Very much a risk vs reward type ability where you can land a well-timed death-prevent or end up losing your cooldown for nothing. I'm not sure if that's how Hirode's Chrysalis is supposed to work but if it is, the Ogre passive would make it much easier to time that perfectly. It's possible that I'm wrong about that ability and that there wouldn't be any conflict between the two at all, in which case, the "immune to beneficiary casts" stipulation could be removed. (I do think their max HP should be limited to 1 for the duration of the effect, though.) The important takeaway from this ability is that it only triggers when the Ogre dies -- because of this, I don't really think a recovery should be possible, but I suppose it could be okay if the conditions are really tight and difficult to pull off.
I hear what you're saying and it makes sence. Would also be somewhat interesting tho. Fall down be unconscious, stand up again. Hmm did i get a heal or am i dead? combined with the death save i geuss it would depend on the trigger of that. Is that also going to be on receiving lethal damage or just before going unconscious, as it could cancel eachother out. But i like the chain of thought. Much like the warrior native back from EQ1 where they would go 'berserk'.
oneADseven said:As far as the gnomes are concerned I have received similar feedback from others. Losing that final 10% of mana would certainly sting for the gnome itself, but it could still end up being highly beneficial for their group. The reason I was able to justify a strong situational risk/reward mechanic for the gnome passive is because of their active -- they have a built-in mana regen mechanic to begin with. It wouldn't be fair if gnomes were truly limited to 90% of their mana pool and I think having access to their very own mana regen mechanic makes up for the difference. It may need to be reworked a little bit (can use on any NPC rather than on corpses only) but all in all, both of those abilities were designed to compliment each other while staying true to the lore.
Yeah that looks a bit better, that it can work on more than just dead body's (raid application could be hard without it). Ofcourse with a cooldown to compliment that. Or tie it to their other passive, where they do extra damage during the day? Make the ability more effective during the day as there is more 'sun' to pull power from. This could also incorporate it being more effective when another class creates a light source, making it more immersive, and maybe suitable for places where you cannot see the sun, like an underground dungeon or some sort of climate.
I pick a class first, of course, and go from there. Never an elf or a dwarf. Too...elvish, and too short. Gnomes are cool tho. The race needs some kind of "spice". If Pantheon has factions like EQ, then playing an "evil"(yeah yeah I know that's not officially a thing but we all really know what's what) race provides extra thrill and challenge at the cost of extra work and pain. I will pick a race that is uncommon. I will pick a race that has a powerful trait.
When picking a race, I usually go for something unique or different in regards to that games world. As much as I love my standard trope of shorties like Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings, I like when other options are presented to me. For instance, my favorite race of all time has to be Frogloks. I've yet to play a game outside of EQ that allows me to partake in the play of an Amphibian. Hell, I'd love a more fishlike- aquatic race (Dark Myr are too human for my tastes), or an avian race and an insect race has always been on of my favorite possibilities. I like them humanoid, but the less human the better. I'll never play a Human, Elf, or Half-Elf unless given no other options.
Now for Pantheon, I have my eyes set on the Skar. They look incredibly interesting and give me both an undead and reptilian vibe, the class to me is secondary.
I will be playing a Halfling probably my favorite race. But I want it be a Hafling bard if bards aren't in at launch (fingers crossed they make it) then I thik I will be playing a healer of whatever race my wife and son pick. Hoepfully they agree on a race. As of right now they do not.
I'm not as experienced as you all in other MMORPGs, just EQ1. (did very short stints in EQ2 and Vanguard).
I am a human female, so I like to choose human females. This was a problem in EQ1 where humans couldn't be shaman, so I chose the next best, Barbarian. Boy, what a mistake. I will never play a porn toon again. I guess I'm in the "choose what I like the look of or racial bonuses" camp. I've played gnome enchanter , high elf mage, ogre sk. Rest were all human . Half elves repulsed me as being too sneaky looking
I usually lean towards evil races, or extreme "burn the heretic!" style good ones. I also like me some juxtaposition so when I can choose an evil race + good class or vice versa I tend to do that since I've got a history of playing Dungeons and Dragons characters along those lines.
I pick a race by; determining if the class I want to play supports that race (though it's often viewed the other way around). Then, if multiple options exists; which one synergizes best with the class. However it is important to note that the relative strength of racial abilities also has a strong bearing on the decision. If I wanted to make a warrior and was trying to choose between Ogre and Elf, if the choice only meant a small stat spread and/or a passive that has a relatively small effect on how I play the game, then I might select the Elf, even if it had slightly worse stats as a warrior, just because I think it looks cooler. Conversely, if the Ogre had racial abilities and stat combinations that made it far superior to the Elf as a warrior, then it makes my aesthetic preference for Elf much less attractive. (Of course this is sort of meta-gaming, but I think we all do this to some extent)
Essentially, it is difficult to say without knowing exactly how impactful any particular race will be on gameplay. Will the Racial stats vary greatly? do these stats or abilities have significant effect on how I play?
I always enjoyed the "trade-off" scenario:
Say I want to pick a Wizard and im down to my last few options. If I select Race A I will have more mana but less HP, than race B. Or, I could select Race C, which has slightly lower HP & Mana than either A or B but, it has a passive that is very beneficial to a wizard.
Regardless of which option I pick, I feel like it was a personal decision that makes the character a little bit more "My own" than some other methods.
Kilsin said:What is the deciding factor in how you choose a race for your main character? #MMORPG #communitymatters
There is definately no one deciding factor in this decision for me. I decide on class, then choose from the races that are allowed to be that class, the rest is probably just how I feel that particular day. I quite often choose a race for a particular class (usually 2nd or 3rd alt) that the general consensus says is the worst to pick due to racial traits, then make it work. /ponder...perhaps this is some antisocial trait I possess, a sort of 'in your face' thing.
--- My opinions are not humble, they are just my opinions. ---
The biggest factor for me is simply which race I think would make the coolest version of whatever class I'm rolling. Having good racial stats and passives for that class is also very important.