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The Chronicles of Spellborn: Part Four: Races and Classes
Today, we publish the fourth in our series of features on The Chronicles of Spellborn. This time around, Jon Wood looks at the facts around the races and classes that will be available in the game.
In the last few articles that I've written about The Chronicles of Spellborn, I've talked a lot about things like sound and art style. Both of these subjects are important, and any first-class game needs to be on the ball in terms of these departments, but still, in terms of excitement, nothing compares to talking gameplay.
In this article, you can expect to hear a little something about what you can expect in making and progressing your character. We're talking about races and classes this time around, and, as is the case with most things in The Chronicles of Spellborn, it isn't all what you'd necessarily expect from a fantast MMO.
Races
In many fantasy-based MMORPGs, players are faced with a broad selection of character races. At the very least, you usually get the basics: Human, Elf, Dwarf and some kind of Halfling-type race.
The Chronicles of Spellborn offers only two races. Both of these races were once servitors and slaves to the "Eight Demons" (the bad guys who ruled over the world before it broke into small shards). Now that the Eight Demons aren't such a direct threat, each race is coming to their own.
The first race, is the most obvious: Humans. Humans in The Chronicles of Spellborn are described as versatile and resilient, hard working and great thinking. It was their uprising against a race called the Vhelgar that caused the world to be torn asunder.
The second race is a race totally unique to the Spellborn universe. They look similar to their Human counterparts, but the most glaring difference is in the legs of the Daevi. They are jointed more like an animal than a human. Here's what the developers had to say about the Daevi:
;)
"The Daevi, like the humans, were a servitor race, created to oversee the humans and act as lawgivers during the rule of the Eight Demons. Although being different from Humans in many ways, the Davei found themselves subject to the same treatment by the Vhelgar rulers. Later, an unofficial alliance was formed between the two races, turning yet another race against the Vhelgar and their iron rule... Born as a hybrid race, the Daevi bloodline consists of human and demon blood. This mixture is the main reason for their differences in appearance. The most telltale difference between Humans and Daevi are their legs and feet. Where Humans have a knee and a heel, Daevi walk on their toes and use their heel as a second knee. Their feet are extremely large and angled differently, which makes it impossible for them to wear boots or sandals. Instead, they protect their knees and shins with a different kind of armor."
Obviously, the folks at Spellborn are taking a few risks in their racial department. First, they are only offering two races in a fantasy MMORPG, which, as discussed earlier, is unusual. Second, they have created a different and unique race that no one has heard of before. While this could cause problems for players who would prefer the familiar pointed ears of an elf, or round belly of a Dwarf, it is also indicative of the Spellborn desire to turn the classic fantasy MMO on its ear and create something different and innovative.
Classes
Classes are another staple of the MMO world, and as such, The Chronicles of Spellborn will be handling them a little bit differently. Instead of directly choosing your class from the beginning, and being pigeon-holed into that class until the end of your career, in Spellborn, you start your game experience with an Archetype.
There are three different Archetypes in TCoS, and they conform pretty well to MMO norms. You've got your Warriors, your Rogues, and your Spell Casters. It isn't until you've been out in the world adventuring for a while that you will come across a series of quests that will ultimately lead to your class.
Each of the three Archetypes that we mentioned above has three full-blown classes associated with them. As a result, it's probably best to go through them one by one:
;)
Warrior Classes
Within the classes for the Warrior Archetype, there is actually quite a bit of diversity. Still, while each class has its own charms and abilities, whatever you choose, you're still a damage-dealing melee machine.
The Blood Warrior: The Blood Warrior is a fighting machine, but also has the ability to "create a blood link between themselves and either a friend or foe". In terms of a friend, this ability allows the Blood Warrior to buff and guard the friend. In an enemy, the Blood Warrior gets increased damage by "redirect[ing] incoming damage to an enemy".
The Wrathguard: Wrathguards are the soulful of the Warrior classes. Soulful in that they are possessed by "ancestral spirits" whose knowledge gives them knowledge of all weapons, the ability to buff their groups or even possess their enemies.
The Fury Hammer: The Fury Hammer is really the tank of the operation. When something called a Fury hammer comes at you, you might want to get out of the way. Fury hammers are damage dealing machines that use not only their weapons, but their hands and feet as well.
Spell Casting Classes
The magic classes in The Chronicles of Spellborn are again, different but linked. Each of the classes has its own abilities and strengths as they manipulate the arcane to their will.
The Void Seer: The Void Seer's role is as a buffer /debuffer, and serves that role for the entire group. She can also use her powers to "cancel" enemy protection magic. Obviously, they're incredibly useful in a group.
The Rune Mage: Rune Mages are the big damage-dealing casters. They are able to not only cast damaging offensive spells, but can also cause area-of-effect spells. Being called a "Rune Mage", symbols (runes) play a large role in their magic. He can manipulate these in a number of ways, including the placement of magical tattoos.
The Ancestral Mage: Ancestral Mages are probably the closest thing that Spellborn has to a classical Necromancer... But don't let that color your opinion of them. Ancestral Mages manipulate the souls of the dead and tend to summon others to fight for them. They make use of spells and pets to gain an advantage over their foes.
;)
Rogue Classes
The Trickster: On top of the regular rogue stuff: using agility and tricks to make their way through combat, Tricksters are lovers of gizmos and gadgets that can be used to deal damage to their enemies.
The Deathhand: The Deathhand, while having maybe the coolest of the class names, also makes use of outside tools in her combat. Instead of widgets and gadgets like her trickster counterpart, the Deathhand uses more dastardly means like poisons and potions. Think of them as the rogue-like alchemist.
The Skinshifter: The Skinshifter might very well be my personal favorite class. While The Deathhand and The Trickster rely on gadgets and poisons to hurt their enemies, the Skinshifter relies of stealth and illusion. He is able to take the form of other people and things in the world and uses this to his best advantage.
Obviously, the folks at The Chronicles of Spellborn have put a lot of thought into the characters that their players will inhabit. Still, race and class are only the beginning. Next week, we will be examining the interesting and complex Attribute system that the game makes use of, and the ways that these attributes might effect your class and race selections.
Can't wait. Bring it!! Definitely looking forward to something fresh and TCOS is looking like it.
Those are the exact same reasons why I'm looking forward to this game. =)
There's not classic stealth though. The skinshifter's 'stealth' is purely done by taking over the shapes of creatures from the world, not by becoming invisible. I really wonder how this is going to work out.
And for the class you choose later on, I will pass too, I did not like that in EQ2. Waiting until you are level 20 to see if you like you template is a waste of time for me.
I think having multiple races and a variety of classes ( around 8-10, like most MMORPGs) give the game its own "oomph"
Having played many mmorpgs, classes with more than just 3 boring starting archetype, then QUESTING to see if you like it not is just plain boring.
EQ was alright when they did this, so this concept is not new.
There is no uniqueness to this game, even the classes are soo related to eachother, they offer no "specialty" to use.
take FFXI for example, they did a good job with their job system, having you reach a certain level to unlock new classes, and you can change anytime!
This job and race system just plain out bores me to death.
A game like this is going to fail, just like vanguard. my 2 cents.
same, still waiting for AoC, WAR, and willing to give that new sci-fi game a try.
Vanguard was fantastic conceptually. It failed because it wasn't finished. You should just put "Vanguard is bad" in your signature, then you won't have to reference it for no apparent reason in your posts.
Races were never that big a deal to me. It's purely a cosmetic thing, and as long as I have other ways to make my character unique, I won't miss it at all. The thing I'm worried about is no healing class. Even if they come up with interesting group battle mechanics that don't involve the classic Tank Heal DPS set up, some of us LIKE being heal bots. I find a DPS role to be incredibly boring.
There is plenty of info on their website, and loads ov videos floating around about the game. You just have to be interested enough to actually take the time to read/find/view them. They are introducing the classes one by one. You havent seen all the classes yet, no one has, as explained on their website. Also the game design is much different then the norm, not just new races. The combat system in particular is something that will set it apart from most MMOs, it actually takes skill. Not to mention the costume/armor-class freedom. There is much to look forward to here.
I think races creates who you are, it creates a bond with your character. And even though vanguard wasn't finished, it is still a bad game. I think it's a game designed for those with good computers, and people who like "good visuals". I've played the game, for the first 2-3 days, it was boring, it was laggy, it was ugly, it was digusting to see such a wonderful that HAD potential go to waste. If they worked on it a bit more, maybe it wouldn't be as bad as it is already. Anyways, Vanguard is bad, doesn't matter what you, unfinished or not, it is a bad game. It has no more potential when it first launched. Why? All these better MMORPGs out and upcomming.
I also find healing class exciting, i do too find dps boring. When i heal, it's like whack a mole with their HP bars :P.
Having a no healing class just made my opinion of the game go 2 scores down out of 10. current score is 5/10 :P
This article is laughable. The information presented is not new, nor gamebreaking, and lacks alot of additional info to the more sceptic public here.
First of all, when you create an article about classes and races, why don't you go a tad bit more indepth? For example, copying the raw descriptions from their website can hardly be called making an article, it looks more like stealing for your school essays.
When you talk about only two classes, even emphasysing it by adding the strange keyword to it ( giving the impression you yourself wanted the article to end negatively ) you should perhaps also give them some screenshots, video's or any other information about the countless of forms your character can take.
I can tell you, that if the movies I've seen still count after the Beta, you can make characters looking like the big tubby baker from next door, or looking like the skinny, almost skeleton like underfed son.
Instead of the general click-and-select skins, you can use a colorpalet thats almost equal to photoshop. Your looks are equal to whatever you fancy, you can preselect gear to match your taste, the ultimate roleplayers dream.
About the "human combined with beast lololol"
First of all, apparently some people can't take original skinning and modeling. That's fine.
However, some of you pretend it to be stupid, weird, foolish etc etc. I personally am very happy with this kind of setup. Playing something else than an elf on steroids is very refreshing sometimes.
I get the feeling, but this is purely based on ingame screens, that there is a sort of Soulreaver feeling to the game ( Personally I loved Soulreaver 1 )Twisted buildings, worlds and even your own character looks twisted.
and an oversized pic, link(jpg)
The people that responded so far, seem to base their opinions purely on the above article. You do not ask questions, you don't question the lack of information, you downgrade a game by 2 points on this abomination of an article. That's rather sad to be hounest.
Be more informed, when you still don't like it, at least you have your reasons straight.
Don't mistake the lack of a 'pure' healer class as the lack of 'healers', they are there just that the artical is that vague it shows the wrong picture..
Plus bit of advice read the main site, play the beta, THEN see if you like the game, don't judge it via scraps of information
You dont have a crystal ball and you like Final Fantasy.
You fail at opinions.
And about not looking unique? If you actually LOOK into their character creation its a lot like City of Heroes/Villains. You can wear ANY armor piece or weapon, they don't have stats, stats are done differently. They also use sliders for color and sizes of parts. So instead of using a ton of presets (which there are, one of the interviews specifically talks about not want to feel limited with two races) but you can also use sliders to adjust it.
Anyway the information is out there and there are plenty of gameplay videos as well.
Every class in Spellborn is a type of hybrid. There are NO PURE healer classes (classes that can ONLY heal or buff). Most every class in Spellborn has some form of buff or heal, so there is no need for a pure healing class.
Your group will work together to heal each other and themselves, though if you WANTED to just have heal skills in your skilldeck and JUST be a healer, you most likely can. Since you choose what specific abilities you have active out of your entire skill library, it's really up to you.
The fact that nobody is forced into a single role with their class is a GOOD thing. So stop panicking, people!
this. go here to look at the skills lists they have already released: http://tcos.com/news/?type=1&lng=en#news723
Blood Warrior, for example, has a move that heals him and everyone he has a blood link with. The strategy with this move comes because you can blood link to allies and enemies, so be careful not to heal your foes.
I will take the two races as long as they make them both lots of armors and weapons and working animations. Vanguard went for the billions of races thing, look what happened. They all look terrible, and the animal races are mascots.
And geezus, you know they're going to make more races in expansions. Maybe these races will actually be interesting, since this dev team has an ounce of creativity whereas most of the other developers are just looking to make another fantasy mmo with the same recycled garbage.
I want to play this game and see how it works before I pass judgment on the class setup. I hate playing classes that can only do one thing, so I think I'll like it, but you never know.
I have to agree, another rigid class game and then having to play well into the 20's to find out if you like the character?
Plus no healers, will this be just a potion fest then, like diablo, constantly drinking healing potions?
Perhaps I don't get what they are trying to do, but from a first glance it does not seem the game for me.
Look, I'm not gonna flame you because I can see why you came to this conclusion. If all I knew about this game was based on info from these in-studio interview things, I'd agree with you.
BUUUUUT, you play to level 5 dude before you pick a subclass. Level 5. Not level 20, not level 40, not whatever other levels were mentioned here. Level 5. That takes you what...an hour of playtime? Two if you're really reading the quests? It's just there to give you a feel of which subclass you want to play. If you find yourself enjoying the heals and buffs the most, pick a Void Seer. If you like the melee, and some nukes pick a Rune Mage. It's not all that difficult.
As far as the healer thing goes, that's just the way it is. This game doesn't have a centralized aggro system. You don't "build" hate on a mob. Mobs attack who they have an advantage against, who is low on health, who they can reach...whatever. There is no tank and spank mentality, so the trinity setup won't work. EVERYONE, every class has heals, and EVERYONE, every class needs to know when and how to use them. Healing is a group effort in this game, not left to some inherently needy IRL personality that wants to save everyones bacon, or be the center of attention all the time.
Way to totally ignore all the posts explaining why that isn't true.
There ARE healing spells in the game. There just aren't any classes that ONLY heal as their entire job.
for one time we are not fixed with a body builded model for a male character... tss tsss
Yeah and 9 races... (elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, humans, goblins,dark elves, half elves and gnomes )
Ok stop kidding.
Did anyone read the article before posting ?
There is 2 races: Daevi and humans
There is 9 classes: 3 warriors classes, 3 mages and 3 rogues.
Each class have healing's skills.
I get more and more interested about this MMO.
It could be the next big thing. Think about it, a MMO developer that goes their own way. And not just look how everybody elsi is doing.
One of many reasons why this article sucks bigtime. You can make your character any size/shape you want, with any looks you want, photoshop way.
If you wouldve actually READ the last couple of pages you would've seen my post and you would've known that.
I do hope the skill system / skill bar has a high grade of customization. I would hate to see everyone doing the same thing.
As for races: Some may think that 2 races are not enough, but I think it might be ok. Maybe the game has got a lot of customization for your items? (paint, stickers, mods for weapons to change glow etc). Maybe different skill sets require a different set of items?
Anyway, I am looking forward to this game. I finally want something new.
Same here in that there is no archer type class. I might still give it a look though, I always end up playing something else anyway because the class gets over played.
The game does seem to have more customization then most. Each race/gender choice has three different body types, you have an unlimited amount of colors for both your skin and your equipment (from what I've seen all equipment has 2 different colors that you can change), equipment has no stats so you can wear whatever you like, etc. In the end the game should have more customization then most.
I've read a comment of a dev on the tcos forums that stated that the trickster would make heavy use of ranged attacks. So that would mean that it is a sort of rogue/archer fusion. The rogue part in it will mainly come from gadgets and illusions which I guess will be used to keep enemies at range.
All rogue skills should be published on their site within two weeks, this should be cleared up a bit more.
Ahh that's very interesting, thanks for that. Hopefully they mean bows but maybe not. I don't mind a rogue/archer mix, coming from a AD&D background for me it SHOULD be that way. :)
Bows would be the most logical thing I'd say. I don't think that they've added bows into the game only to be used for shooting one arrow once in a while.
People should really read more into this game; it's alot bigger then this article suggest.
Luckily a few people here post with real facts!:P
ALL classes can be a heal class in their own way! so with each class you can heal as much as you like!!!! no cooldown on spells just how fast the weel spins to the next tier:)
a monster got AI! yes prety nice one; They attack the class/person who they got an advantage over! so all classes got a chance to tank if they like "tank"
Also all classes can deal damage in some way; Void seer's are buffer's debuffer's... but look them up on skills; they can do damage very good too!
sorry i just find it "weird" that sooo much people whine about this game with just reading this article... this article is like 5% of the total classes etc. 4 lines about a class just isn't enough to tell people how it works; Which we can read on how people respond to this!
This game just takes a mmorpg and well just pulls it out of the normal line of the word. It's totally different. You should read the entire faq, read some on the forums, then you maybe can reply on this like a normal person would (sorry if i offend somebody)
next to that 2 races is fine since you can modify prety much all about youre character! Next to that Armor doesn't have statistics! So from level 1 you can wear awesome looking gear. At the start you can pick youre gear and weps.
Read on the Character Creation & Customization forum at Spellborn Forum Index;
To get on the classes; yes level 5 you pick a sub-class... This requires you to do some quest line first so you end up in a cave where you can fight some time with the 3 sub-classes of youre archtype. This way you can experiment what you like best;
prety much what combination you like most, so at level 5 you can try all of the subclasses!
Warrior (body)
wrathguard Body+mind
blood warrior body+body
furyhammer body+focus
Rogue (focus)
Trickster (focus+body)
skinshifter (focus+ focus)
Deathhand (focus+mind)
Caster (mind)
ancestral mage (mind+mind)
runemage (mind+body)
void seer (mind+ focus)
Between the () are the atributes a class uses most, where the first is what the archetype uses most so for a caster mind; and the second what the subclass uses most, so for ancestral mage it's body! The second attribute has more impact on the spells that you use when you choose youre sub-class.
The skills are linked to an attribute. On what they use/are. the higher the value of an attribute on a spell that you use, the better the spell etc.
i hope this awakens more intrest for the game... the game goes alot more indepth then this article describes! What i just told about what the classes use for attributes and how they are linked to the spells they use is just a PART of it!.
SO PLEASE READ MORE INTO IT!
i Hope this shines some more light on how "small" this article is.
You mean how really badly informed ? :)
ALL CLASSES CAN HEAL!
all classes got their own heal spell! So just make a spinwheel with just that 1/2/3 heal spells and youre a focking bloody healer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!