Would you like it to have all the classes from ac1 or ac2 or have all from both? I would love to see the classes from 2  make it in w/ the ones from 1.

The first AC has a skill system and the second has a class/skill system, cant mix them very well. Whatever turbine choose to use, its fine by me - I like them both.

I'm not that familiar with AC2's class system, but for AC 3 I'd like to see something like AC 1 had where you have a lot of room for customization.  But one major change I'd like to see from AC 1 is to have all four schools of magic be more independent and more like a true class.  I'd also like to see melee fighting as a skill rather than separate skills for each weapon type.  So here's how the magic classes would work

War Mage/Elementalist-  the nuker. 

Life Mage-  primary healer, some damage spells too (drains, harms). 

Creature Mage-  buffer and crowd control specialist.  Can heal some and can also charm enemies to fight for him. 

Item mage-  buffer and portal specialist.  Can create a powerful golem. 

I like the idea of AC1 of having complete control of how you want to design your character, but for melee its pretty boring just swinging all the time.   That was where AC2 was much more fun in choosing what type of melee attacks you do.   I hope something that has a lot of options but is fun.

Originally posted by Odysses

I like the idea of AC1 of having complete control of how you want to design your character

It's true that you had complete control, but eventually the vast majority of players were using the same or very similar templates.  That was especially true once the ability to respec was introduced.  But a mage was pretty much a mage, and a melee was pretty much a melee.  I think in some of these class based games you end up with more true diversity.  For example in WOW a mage and a warlock are much different IMO than say a Battlemage and an OG mage from AC.  And there's much more difference in a warrior and a rogue than say your average axer and dagger character from AC. 

Like I said in my post above, if ac was made I would like to see the magic schools be more independent like true classes.  But I'd also like to see customizable classes, so it's not like you would just pick a school of magic and that's it.  Here's how it could work

First you would pick from three basic character types.  Caster, Melee, and Archer.  This choice will affect the point costs of certain skills and number of "skill slots".  For example armor proficiencies might cost more for casters and archers.  Magic schools would cost more for melee types. 

Say you choose to make a caster.  You might have one primary slot and one secondary slot to choose schools of magic.  Certain spells might be limited to players that have that school as their primary skill.  So you would have 12 possible combinations of specific primary/secondary mage combinations and six school combinations regardless of which was primary/secondary.  Then you'd have general slots where you could spend leftover points on various skills. 

If it was to have classes, I just plain wouldn't play it.  AC was fun and unique, and if they want to stay that way they should recreate the skill/attribute system from the first game (but open up on it more and do more things with it).  It allows insane customization, and sure there were 'flavor of the month' builds, but everyone had their own preferences and ended up different in the end depending where they pumped their XP.

Edit:  And actually, in AC1 a mage wasn't -just- a mage.. and a melee -wasn't- just a melee.  Sure a lot of people were, because that's what they liked.  But in PvP especially, I saw multi-specs like crazy.  Sword/War was a huge one.  In the higher levels, and in PvP almost all melees had magics of some kind in order to buff themselves and not rely on other people.  A lot of them would gimp their melees just so they could have magic.  The best part about it was that multi-specs could still be competitive, due to the melee/magic/missile defense systems.  IE - even with a lower sword skill, a sword/war character could hit another person easily if they didn't have melee defense or if it was low.

Worked out really great, and I think if they polished the system and added new skills and ways to use the skills, it could be amazing.

Originally posted by Sheista

If it was to have classes, I just plain wouldn't play it.

I guess it depends on what you mean by classes.  If you mean there's just a list of 10 or so different "classes" to choose from, and once you pick one that's pretty much determine what your character will do...  then no, I don't want the game to use classes.  What I am saying is that I hope the magic schools will be more class-like, i.e. they will be more independent.  In AC you pretty much had to have all 4 schools to be a complete mage because the individual schools were so limited.  If you just had life magic or war magic you couldn't do all that much, but put them together and the synergy exponentially increased your effectiveness. 

I'm not saying get rid of the customization either.  I think with the system I described above you could actually have a lot more viable customization as it applies to playstyle than the original AC ever had.  You would have traditional two school mages of lots of combinations, but there would be other options.  Maybe you could make a single school tank mage by taking war magic and a higher armor class and defenses.  Or you could make an item mage with melee skills who could summon up a golem to tank while you cut your enemies down with weapons.  You could make a cleric (life mage + heavy armor + shield).   Or maybe a healer with some bow skills that would be good for tossing in some DPS in pve without using mana.

Originally posted by Sheista

  And actually, in AC1 a mage wasn't -just- a mage.. and a melee -wasn't- just a melee.  Sure a lot of people were, because that's what they liked.  But in PvP especially, I saw multi-specs like crazy.  Sword/War was a huge one.

That's somewhat true, but in many cases mages were extremely similar.  Sure, you had some renegade specs especially in PVP.  And there were often small differences such as lockpicking, alchemy, loyalty, etc.  But I'm talking about the overall experience for the vast majority of players which was pretty cookie-cutter. 

Originally posted by Sheista

If it was to have classes, I just plain wouldn't play it.  AC was fun and unique, and if they want to stay that way they should recreate the skill/attribute system from the first game (but open up on it more and do more things with it).  It allows insane customization, and sure there were 'flavor of the month' builds, but everyone had their own preferences and ended up different in the end depending where they pumped their XP.

 

Edit:  And actually, in AC1 a mage wasn't -just- a mage.. and a melee -wasn't- just a melee.  Sure a lot of people were, because that's what they liked.  But in PvP especially, I saw multi-specs like crazy.  Sword/War was a huge one.  In the higher levels, and in PvP almost all melees had magics of some kind in order to buff themselves and not rely on other people.  A lot of them would gimp their melees just so they could have magic.  The best part about it was that multi-specs could still be competitive, due to the melee/magic/missile defense systems.  IE - even with a lower sword skill, a sword/war character could hit another person easily if they didn't have melee defense or if it was low.

Worked out really great, and I think if they polished the system and added new skills and ways to use the skills, it could be amazing.

The AC1 and AC2 core level/skill system is so alike its scary.. the only real difference is how they are layed out and presented to the player.

Something else to consider...

I'm not sure whether it would be good to actually make AC 3 or make a new game in a new universe that is a spiritual successor to AC.  Because if you make AC 3 then you have all that lore to step over.  What time period would it be set in?  It's just a big can of worms.  Maybe it could be in the same universe, but set on a different world.  Hell, maybe it could encompass multiple worlds.  It'd be awesome to visit the Olthoi homeworld and kick some ass there.

I would buy AC3 in a heartbeat if it was even just AC1 with a facelift. Throw in some new stuff like mounts and a wicked awesome crafting system and I'll get the CE!

I hope they make AC3.

When LOTRO was released last year there were rumors that Turbine would start working on AC3.

I would prefer a more AC1 based sequel.

Originally posted by xaldraxius

I would buy AC3 in a heartbeat if it was even just AC1 with a facelift. Throw in some new stuff like mounts and a wicked awesome crafting system and I'll get the CE!

It would need way more than a facelift.  Have you played AC lately?  The UI is terrible, the controls are so outdated and clunky, and frankly the combat is a little bland. 

I think a lot of this sentiment is pure nostalgia.  A direct AC remake would flop IMO. 

Originally posted by Wrymstrum

I'm not that familiar with AC2's class system, but for AC 3 I'd like to see something like AC 1 had where you have a lot of room for customization.  But one major change I'd like to see from AC 1 is to have all four schools of magic be more independent and more like a true class.  I'd also like to see melee fighting as a skill rather than separate skills for each weapon type.  So here's how the magic classes would work

 

War Mage/Elementalist-  the nuker. 

 

Life Mage-  primary healer, some damage spells too (drains, harms). 

 

Creature Mage-  buffer and crowd control specialist.  Can heal some and can also charm enemies to fight for him. 

 

Item mage-  buffer and portal specialist.  Can create a powerful golem. 

No No No No No No NO

Oh my godz, that would ruin Asheron's Call!!  Did you play this game?  The whole reason AC is what Ac is is is is is BECAUSE it wasn't an EQ clone like you suggest!!!

It was Classless and therefore had all the class in the world.  Oh my gods.  Lock this thread! Quickly! 

Again -  NOOOOOO!