I'm suffering from tank overload at the moment. I need some time to fully digest the myriad information we've been blessed with, Dire Lord and otherwise. I'll try to distill my thoughts in the coming days.
That said, the lack of plate doesn't bother me, and it certainly doesn't scare me. To make a design decision like that means there's undoubtedly a reason for it. And to this point Joppa and crew have not given us any reason to doubt that, if nothing else, decisions are well thought out and never arbitrary, so I will reserve judgement for now.
Without getting too deep, my initial guess regarding the lack of plate for the Dire Lord has something to do with their self-sustainability, flexibility and utility being powerful enough to necessitate precluding them from plate as a means of balance. As such, raw mitigation is not the Dire Lords primary means of survival (and aggro management for that matter). But again, I will have to take a much closer look, especially as it pertains to the other tanks.
With all that said, I'm really excited. This has been a long time coming. Thanks VR \m/
zedroopy said: It's the crit dmg usually mitigated by AC that's scaring me. The endgame one-shotting boss type. True it can't be all of them. But I admit I'm used to loving my plate looks too... Chain not so much. Yeah I'm precious like that ^^.true but they added a skill that lets u heal your next damage after taking a crit...
Interesting design, even if really far from the dark knight I allways fantazise about.
Of course I'm worried/surprised by the lack of shield and plate, which will require proper tuning to be as effective and scaling as much as other tanks. I wouldn't bet on their "sustain" or whatever for their survival however, as it can't really be functionnal on very hard hitting ennemies unless it either is overpowered on weaker content, or depending of the ennemy's offense making it scaling with mobs more than with the player.
Theses are of course, very early suppositions based on previous MMO experiences where "leeching tanks" ends up beeing solo favored classes more than tanks of choices.
I'curious of the overall design, not that it doesn't please me, but the ogre seems really tribal to the core and I wonder if we will be able to make some more "slashy" oriented Dire lords, like dual wielding fine steel edged curved blades or so.
Nikademis said:yep i think the regeneration and the life taps is what looks to be how we tank so ya we mite ot be able to take a mega blow off the bat but we can take sustained dps and we can take on caster mobs better thin the ither 2 tanksI'm suffering from tank overload at the moment. I need some time to fully digest the myriad information we've been blessed with, Dire Lord and otherwise. I'll try to distill my thoughts in the coming days.
That said, the lack of plate doesn't bother me, and it certainly doesn't scare me. To make a design decision like that means there's undoubtedly a reason for it. And to this point Joppa and crew have not given us any reason to doubt that, if nothing else, decisions are well thought out and never arbitrary, so I will reserve judgement for now.
Without getting too deep, my initial guess regarding the lack of plate for the Dire Lord has something to do with their self-sustainability, flexibility and utility being powerful enough to necessitate precluding them from plate as a means of balance. As such, raw mitigation is not the Dire Lords primary means of survival (and aggro management for that matter). But again, I will have to take a much closer look, especially as it pertains to the other tanks.
With all that said, I'm really excited. This has been a long time coming. Thanks VR \m/
MauvaisOeil said:...the ogre seems really tribal to the core and I wonder if we will be able to make some more "slashy" oriented Dire lords, like dual wielding fine steel edged curved blades or so.
I would count on it. While the Skar and Ogre are indeed quite tribal at their core (I think this is a fair assessment based on the lore), I envision the Dark Myr as being far more calculated and lithe in their martial prowess, perhaps akin to Dark Elves of other fantasy universes (I hate to make the comparison, but Drizzt Do'Urden comes to mind...I know, I know /rolls eyes). I can most definitely picture an agile Myr wielding two scimitars, or similar finesse weaponry, while dispatching her foes in a flurry of adept strikes, draining their essence to power her own magic.
And if nothing else, the humans can land somewhere in the middle, though certainly not high on my list.
Sato said:This Dire Lord conception makes me interested in trying one, whereas an EQ SK was never appealing to me.
While I love the idea of a Death Magic wielding knight, the Dire Lord is a decided move away from the Shadow Knight that we were all expecting. So more to your point, this move away from the traditional hybrid classes really opens things up. Not only can each class stand on its own, rather than being a lesser version of another, it also leaves space for the Necromancer to be the only practitioner of Death Magic, further eliminating the idea of hybrids as they were presented in EQ.
I'm very excited for this class, maybe more now than ever. And while I will miss the Death Magic, heavy plated "Necromancer" of EQ, I'm very happy that the hybrid paradigm is be quashed.
Dire Lord looks like it is going to be more a Berzerk than a Shadow Knight/Death Knight type of tank. I am a little concerned about the Dire Lord tankiness. The class itself will depend so heavily on the leech to be relevant. Some abilities look very useful thought. I will test it during beta but I doubt it will be my main.
Be interesting to see how the Tanks play out in game. Without knowing the system and mechanics in place to ensure Tank equality it is hard to gage. From experience, the tank with the purest form of mitigation usually wins out.
Dire Lord - Mail Armor
Paladin - Plate Armor
Warrior Plate Armor + Shield + AC Buff
From the Read here are my untested first impressions.
Warrior the be all end all damage mitigator.
Paladin Undead Killing Machine and Best at AoE encounters.
Dire Lord Highest Potential Damage, Bane of Magic based encounters.
I absolutely love the concepts. It's exactly as I had hoped - the Dire Lord being the most damaging, potentially most solo-able (except perhaps Paladins against undeath) of the tanks. It makes sense plate is excluded for those reasons, and also thematically - we will have blood seeping out of our own pores, and that wouldn't work at all with plate. It could work a bit with chain... /anyway
Now I will hope VR will spend as much care creating their animations as they have done creating such incredibly cool, fresh concepts. Let's see blood animated well, coming off enemies and off ourselves - and hopefully these 'shadow strikes' will be given enough visual substance. Goes for all things, but considering many of these are melee-magic abilities, extra care should be taken to make sure animations are not rushed.
Dire Lord - Mail Armor
Paladin - Plate Armor
Warrior Plate Armor + Shield + AC Buff
Paladins will get sheilds
You imbue your shield with celestial light, increasing your chance to Block for a short time. If using a two-handed weapon, this ability will increase your chance to Parry. While Lightguard is active, your Blocks and Parries will stun the attacking enemy. (Uses Wrath)
I think the Dire Lord has been the most surprising of the class reveals. I was expecting them to be like the SK, but they seem more barbaric and less of a knight. Maybe it leaves the option open for Dark Knight type of class in future expansions.
Nonetheless, I think it will be a fun and popular class. You can tell that Joppa is a gamer at heart and plays the role of a developer. I do not think he will overlook our concerns of the class be over/under powered.
I'm ok with believing that VR will make the DL just as survivable as the other 2 tanks, as they have stressed that all tanks will be viable main tanks, even at endgame/raiding. However, the mail armor bothers me from a different standpoint. When loot drops in most groups, the tank is often the only class rolling on Heavy armor, or at worst is rolling against the cleric for the drops. This Mail-wearing DL can expect to frequently be rolling against several medium-weight-wearing classes for good loot drops. If the loot table is designed to address it, then no problem. But I kinda liked how as tank I was often the only one 'needing' a nice armor upgrade.
Jothany said:I'm ok with believing that VR will make the DL just as survivable as the other 2 tanks, as they have stressed that all tanks will be viable main tanks, even at endgame/raiding. However, the mail armor bothers me from a different standpoint. When loot drops in most groups, the tank is often the only class rolling on Heavy armor, or at worst is rolling against the cleric for the drops. This Mail-wearing DL can expect to frequently be rolling against several medium-weight-wearing classes for good loot drops. If the loot table is designed to address it, then no problem. But I kinda liked how as tank I was often the only one 'needing' a nice armor upgrade.
Not actually sure how they are classifying the mail armor as of yet though. The only other classes so far revealed that will be main mail wearers are the Ranger (light mail) and the Shaman (medium chain[mail-assuming]), while the DL is just listed as "mail". Does this mean there will be light, medium, and heavy mail? Or just light and medium mail? Who knows...perhaps the other two are just previous incarnations of armor types and they will all be classified as mail, which still only means that the DL will be rolling against the ranger and shaman...shouldn't be too bad I wouldn't think. Especially considering that DL's will be looking for Str/Con gear while Ranger may be looking for Dex/Agil and the Shaman Wis/Con(?) gear, not too much overlap. That's just my own speculations though...I could be entirely off-base but we'll just have to wait and see I guess (come on alpha!)
EDIT - I missed the Rogue...listed as light mail, will probably be more competetion for the ranger than the DL :)
Jothany said:I'm ok with believing that VR will make the DL just as survivable as the other 2 tanks, as they have stressed that all tanks will be viable main tanks, even at endgame/raiding. However, the mail armor bothers me from a different standpoint. When loot drops in most groups, the tank is often the only class rolling on Heavy armor, or at worst is rolling against the cleric for the drops. This Mail-wearing DL can expect to frequently be rolling against several medium-weight-wearing classes for good loot drops. If the loot table is designed to address it, then no problem. But I kinda liked how as tank I was often the only one 'needing' a nice armor upgrade.
Well and the Cleric is still likely going to be in plate as well, so they will be rolling for "tank gear" /shrug. I think there's likely to be gear overlaps for all the archetypes. I personally think it makes things interesting, though I can't really speak to how it will shakeout practically.
Torahdane said: As a long time fan of EQ, and someone that mained as an SK for 15+ of those years and still plays on TLP servers I am very disappointed by this reveal. No plate, no FD, no pet, no shield, I don't think there is even actual fear? Just aggro? Can only use one type of weapon? This class sounds nothing like an SK, it sounds like a berserker. Now, yes, no one said they were going to make an SK, and maybe they will someday in the future, but for me, this was an extreme let down. Flame me all you like, but this is from someone that was really looking forward to playing a game like EQ, with a class that was even half as cool as an SK.
No flaming here, I sympathize. I think many of us were expecting some sort of a SK/DK iteration in one form or another clear up until the PAX East class interview. I'm personally excited for a different take, but I can certainly understand how this would be a disappointment.
This reveal reminds me of the VG dread knight, which I personally liked. I'm not sure how the mail armor only will work, but thematically it fits. Maybe the difference between (heavy) mail and plate mail won't be that big. And I like the concept of buff stealing, dot sharing...sounds like fun :)
Torahdane said: As a long time fan of EQ, and someone that mained as an SK for 15+ of those years and still plays on TLP servers I am very disappointed by this reveal. No plate, no FD, no pet, no shield, I don't think there is even actual fear? Just aggro? Can only use one type of weapon? This class sounds nothing like an SK, it sounds like a berserker. Now, yes, no one said they were going to make an SK, and maybe they will someday in the future, but for me, this was an extreme let down. Flame me all you like, but this is from someone that was really looking forward to playing a game like EQ, with a class that was even half as cool as an SK.I 100% agree with you. Very disappointed.