What kind of character do you want to play? How can augments help?

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Post by Azherae on 2021-07-15 21:07:41

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Yeah, for sure. Religious and organizational Augments are gonna be interesting, since there are a lot of augment types that would be good but wouldn't work well on Secondary Archetypes without pigeonholing people into specific ideas and builds, which the Creative Director doesn't seem to want to do.

I can see some sort of 'Holy Order Templars' org giving an Augment that buffs your block chance, for example, which you could just go 'well that's neither here nor there, I don't care about it'. If you put that on a Tank augment, though, then suddenly people who don't like using Shield have one less viable augment to choose from.

I still think the optional secondary Augments are going to be fairly impactful to performance, though. An ArchWizard whose Blink effect calls down six or seven lightning strikes in their wake as they move is a pretty different beast than just 'someone who disappears' (if Blink starts to get past collision).

Post by Wokal on 2021-07-15 21:58:49

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Post by SongRune on 2021-07-16 01:36:55

As promised, I return with my own wishes!

First of all, I'm a Bard. You might have guessed from the name, or remembered my post before. I want all the usual Bardy goodness. Buffs for all sorts of stats, recovery over time, damage over time, and the various stat and status debuffs that make up the Bard class as we know it from so many other games. What Azherae has put together in her Bard Compilation post (with a little help from me, gathering the data) sounds perfectly good to me overall. What comes next, is obviously, the subclass, or secondary archetype in Ashes parlance.

To choose my subclass (Spoiler: It's probably Rogue), I have to consider what I need or want, that Bard alone can't give me. (Shoutouts to all you Minstrels though!)

1. I want to blind my opponents with weapon attacks. I could probably get this from Bard with an accuracy debuff (like "Narrative Goal: Demoralize" > "Grace" in the above-mentioned compilation/theory), but even if I can, I still want it on weapon attacks or abilities. It just feels better that way. I don't want to have to worry about cooldowns on that (or linked abilities), and it'd be nice if it worked while "Silenced" (if this game turns out to have a status like that). I'm not extremely particular about whether it's an additional effect on normal hits (possibly activated for a short time by an ability or augment), or whether it's a weapon-related augment or ability in itself.
2. I want the ability to increase my evasion. Sure, I could get that from Bard abilities, but it'd cost "song slots", or cooldowns, or whatever else is involved there. Also, I want this to be a stance or ability that raises it sharply for a shorter period of time (limited by cooldown, of course), that I can use when my target is about to enter a dangerous stance of their own, or start using some big attack. Bonus points if this affects magic too, but, again, I won't insist. I'd also be happy to see a stance that will let me buff my evasion longer term, at the cost of DPS, as long as I can cancel out of it when I'm ready. I'm also happy for any form of shadow-trickery nonsense that lets me get similar results. I am fond of striking from the shadows.
3. I'd like the ability to bind my opponents and root them in place. I don't know how much CC we're going to get, and I can see how this gets OP fast if it lasts too long, or too many people have it. (Long cooldown? PvE only? Balance isn't my expertise.) Still, I would appreciate the ability to control the flow of battle that something like this provides. I would use it to change situations: To get a few seconds of breathing room. To let my critically wounded teammate back off a bit so they can be healed. To just give myself a head start if I want to run away. I would use it to create opportunities: My mages can go ham if they know that the enemy can't chase them down before the tank gets it's attention back (right after it wasted its long range ability, of course). So many possibilities.
4. I want a "Cripple" style effect, that limits enemy abilities. Preferably heavily right at the beginning, and diminishing over time. Lots of subtlety here as well. I can use it right as I expect an enemy is about to use their powerful attack for an almost stun-like effect (or in PvP, a race between my predictive skill and their awareness and reactions (to delay their own ability)). Or I can use it when I just need some more control or safety, and rely on the longer-term, weaker effect.
5. Extra critical hit or accuracy buffs really can't hurt. (Well. Me, anyway.)

Blinding, Evasion, Shadows, Rooting, Cripples, and Criticals. Definitely looking like /Rogue. I might even have a Rogue alt, but I'm never abandoning Bard. It will always be my main.

Things I don't want:
I don't need the whole "Backstab" thing. I'm not really a stereotypical rogue in that sense. I don't mind the ability, but setting things up in that way, as a major goal, isn't something I'd like to be focused on. It'd get annoying or distracting eventually, so I just won't unlock that particular augment. I prefer to keep my focus on control. I'll let my teammates capitalize, in that regard, or just wear down the enemy myself through debuffs, sustain, and evasion.

A lot of these would make solid abilities on their own, but they're fundamentally all compatible with augments. Probably mostly on Weapon related skills, as I don't see Bard having many active direct-damage abilities, but there will probably be some on those too.

Post by Dygz on 2021-07-16 02:28:48

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