Due to how the armour proficiencies are set up below, it means that as you move down the armour types the amount of classes that can use the armour grows and grows, to the point that everyone can wear cloth; as opposed to EQ which listed cloth as NEC WIZ MAG ENC only.
I have a concern that when it comes to cloth and leather especially, a lot of people will end up rolling on items and some classes may face a lot more competition for gear.
Will this be handled by cloth and leather dropping more commonly due to more people being able to wear it? Or will armour types perhaps become more restricted to classes?
I ask because we've seen items with stats that a Rogue would want for example, but the items were Light Leather (Mnk/Dru) or Cloth (Enc/Nec/Sum/Wiz).
Heavy Plate - Warrior / Paladin
Light Plate - Warrior / Paladin / Cleric / Bard
Heavy Chain - Warrior / Paladin / Cleric / Bard / Dire Lord
Light Chain - Warrior / Paladin / Cleric / Bard / Dire Lord / Ranger
Heavy Leather - Warrior / Paladin / Cleric / Bard / Dire Lord / Ranger / Rogue / Shaman
Light Leather - Warrior / Paladin / Cleric / Bard / Dire Lord / Ranger / Rogue / Shaman / Druid / Monk
Cloth - Warrior / Paladin / Cleric / Bard / Dire Lord / Ranger / Rogue / Shaman / Druid / Monk / Enchanter / Necromancer / Summoner / Wizard
It is a bit of a concern (and I've raised it in the past).
The combo of Pantheon wanting 'supporting' attributes to matter (warriors having abilities affected by much more than just strength) and wanting items to be largely tradeable does imply that 'lower' types of armor (in the pyramid the OP shows) will get used by 'higher' classes.
Personally, I would like to see that pyramid re-shaped.
The argument I made when this was last discussed is it might make sense and help the situation if warriors, for example, are *not* proficient when using cloth/light leather. Someone almost exclusively trained to defend themselves with plate armour on would find it wildly different (and difficult and ineffective) operating in much lighter armor types. They would be moving in a totally inappropriate way and expecting armor to deflect blows that it can't, etc.
The 'realism' of the situation is beside the point, though, as with any mechanic. You don't want it to be crazy, but you don't want it to hinder gameplay either.
To be honest, the whole "paladins wear plate", "mages wear cloth", etc, thing never made much sense to me. At least no more sense than other possibilities. I think it has always been a Dungeons and Dragons forced mechanic hangover to some extent. D&D gave the excuse that mages couldn't wear metal armor because it blocked the magical 'weave' and hindered the precise physical movement component of spell casting. Uh huh. Why does 'magic' have to work that way, again?...
I have preferred in the past games that allow any class to use any type, but the type has advantages and drawbacks. Elder Scrolls Online does it pretty well. You can mix and match depending on what you want from your armor and how you play your class. Wearing cloth helps your mana regeneration, for example, but if you have a large mana pool anyway you might want to wear 2 or 3 pieces of heavy armor to up your deflection/mitigation and use your up-close spells more.
I really doubt VR will make any such changes, though, so I return to my original thought: Restrict 'heavy' armor classes from wearing 'light' armor, or at least have some kind of non-proficiency penalty (even Dungeons and Dragons *allowed* you to wear what you wanted, you might just suffer for it in some way (mages more than most)).
I don't think it will be a big issue.
Gear may or may not have class restrictions on it. AC should be a meaningful stat. Even if they make AC meaningless they may have ilvl gear drop left and right then it still wont matter.
If everyone wants the cloth poison resist mask to better survive the local poison miasma I am all for it. Magic items should be strong enough to be desired by all.
I think this is something that we will need to wait to see how it pans out in future testing situations. I can understand the concern but we really don't know a lot regarding stat allocation on gear vs the type dropping, or what level each tier of armor starts dropping at.
There is also the thing you mentioned about stats. If a cloth armor piece drops with agility then the distribution priority should be anyone who uses agility as the main stat. I highly doubt a healer or spell DPS would be like OMG I need that item because agility does so much for me.
Personally, I think the experience with this system in-game is going to boil down to how much common sense people have, and how much respect and courtesy people have for the people they are playing with. For example, I usually play a healer and I don't roll on stats that are trivial especially when another class could get more use from it. I also like to share the wealth so if I get an item with wisdom and there is a secondary healer I will usually pass on the next item that drops for them or if they already have the item then I will usually trade the former item that way we both come out of the situation with something.
As for types of armor I always try to respect other people and what they can and cant use. If there is an available armor type/class that is higher for me I typically pass on lower armor types. The only times which I consider rolling on lower armor types are situations where the other people in the group who would need the item already have it or situations where I am the only person in the group who could really use the stats anyway and its an upgrade.
Maybe they add in class restrictions to certain armors.
While 'Robe of the Finger Wiggler' may be cloth, it may be restricted to only casting classes, due to it's "magical properties".
Or go a step farther and while a Warrior might be able to wear that robe, it's magi\cal properties would have a negative effect on that class?
I can't imagine that all cloth will be usable by Warrior's and Paladins, and so on down the line. There will likely be magical armor that is only wearable by classes which it was desigend for, just like EQ had.
I think from a basic equipment level, that armor that is below the max grade should be wearable if the class wants. In D&D a Fighter may have the Feat to wear Heavy armor but they also include Medium and Light. I think it's a basic RPG trope and I'm frankly happy to have it.
Ezrael said:I have a concern that when it comes to cloth and leather especially, a lot of people will end up rolling on items and some classes may face a lot more competition for gear.
I don't see more competition for the majority of gear due to wider desirability/usage as a problem really (and AC is supposed to be important enough that classes will very much want to be in their highest category armor). This strikes me only as a problem for those who want clear claim to drops/gear for their own, which I've never been a fan of anyway.
I didn't say in my earlier post: I'm pretty sure Joppa has been asked about this before and the view was that they will have adequately varying and spread itemisation such that this won't be a significant problem.
I guess I'm happy to go on trust with that, as I am with most issues. Just discussing my views and ideas ;^)
"Trust In Pantheon" - Bazgrim, 2018.
In a group I'd say let each class roll for the highest available armor they can use. For example if a light chain drops and there is a Warrior and a Ranger, only the ranger should get it(if he needs it). But if light chain drops and a Dire Lord and Warrior can use it as upgrades then let them roll if there are no Rangers