Since the WAR NDA has officially been lifted today here are my thoughts about the Chaos Chosen class and WAR in general.
First of all the chosen is one of the main tanking class for destruction side. It wears heavy armor and can use a variety of melee weapons (it cannot use ALL types of weapons) such as great swords, great axe, longsword and axes and carries a shield (if desired). First of all, many of the armor that can be found in WAR are specifically restricted to certain classes, so no more cloth wearing plate wearers. And unlike wow, you can only wear armor types associated to your class and nothing else. What makes the chosen so popular and unique ? First of all, you will be happy to know that all classes in WAR can solo decently well. And second is that the main stat of the Chaos Chosen which is "Toughness" migitates BOTH magical and physical damage so if you have a good set of armor it will protect you in PvP against both magic and physical damage and on top of that resistances can further protect you. Unlike in WoW PvP, PvP in WAR is more strategic and tactical based rather than twitch/front loaded damage based (or who do the most DPS in the shortest amount of time). There are no MP in WAR instead they use a character resource system called Action Points which is a continuously regenerating resource. All classes uses the AP system (both melee and casters) plus a secondary system akin to rage/energy in wow. As far as I know everyone gets the same amount of total AP(which is around 500 points <-- not sure) and whether you can increase your AP total thru morale/gear is unknown. But it looks like level alone does not increase your AP total. Skills/Spells uses up AP and the faster you try to spam your skill/spell the faster you use up your AP. When you are out of AP all your skill greys out and you cannot use any of your skill that requires AP. This prevent the twitch/spam skill syndrome. AP regenerates at it's own speed which is around once every 5 seconds (and at a set amount). You can also use AP potions (which has a 1-2 minute cooldown) to get a boost of AP instantly. This is a much more efficent system as you will have to think on your feet on which is the best skill to use at the given time than spam them all.
Okay onward to about the chosen class. The chosen is a front line tank. His main job is to absorb damage and I think Mythic has done a great job making sure the Chosen has all the right tools for doing his job well. The way a chosen tank is different from how an Iron Breaker tanks in that .. if an ironbreaker is a reinforced steel wall... the chosen is a wall that has spikes, slippery slime, and barbed wire on it. In game terms the chosen's skill is divided into various category:
Melee Attacks - These skills are you typical attacks which does direct physical damage or with various side effects such as DoTs, Snares, etc. Some of the chosen's attack have a 10-15 yard range which is good for finishing off fleeing opponents.
Auras - Chosen has various auras with various defensive/Offensive effect. At an early level you can an aura that reduces your opponent's strength at the same time increasing yours. Another increases your toughness at the same time decreasing your opponent's and one that decreases your opponent's magical resistance while increasing yours. You may have only 1 aura continuously active. Although if you toggle off one aura it's effect will still be on for about 10 seconds before dissipating. Auras from other chosens can stack with one another up to 3 auras.
Defensive Buffs - These buffs affect your party mates and comrades more than you. Examples like Hold the Line gives all your comrades an evasion and defense bonus as long as they are standing behind you and within range of the buff. There's even one that lets you absorb 50% of ANY damage that your target comrade suffers.
All skill will scale with your level so this makes even some low level skill useful at high level.
What to expect from playing a chosen:
- You're front line tank but instead of absorbing raw damage like the Iron Breaker you weaken your opponent so they don't do as much damage to you.
- You do decent damage with 2 handed weapons but since your job is really to tank don't expect to be the biggest damage dealer in the block. In fact practically every damaging dealing class will out damage you.
- Can be weak against ranged opponents because the range of WAR's range fighters are really far.... 100 yards and more... think of the Chosen as an unstoppable Abram tank that moves slowly to your opponents and see the whites in their eyes as they desperately try to slow you down/kill you.
- You don't really have any good ranged attack..You can throw axe and you can throw axe while running which is good..but that is rarely enough to take down anyone except maybe a fleeing mage with low HP.
- Weaknesses: Limited way to heal yourself (except thru potions and some high level ability). Does low damage compared to other classes.
