I would love to see a system were Paladin is tankier because of its nature. This would give Paladin a clearer identy. So what i would do is making sure that paladin is able to get 75% cap and mage is not able to get 75% cap.
A returning problem (which POE also has) is that mage type classes deal tons of damage well still benefitting from every or almost every defensive layer that the warrior/paladin/druid got. The problem with this is that range classes already have the benefit of their range. Because of this they can offscreen mobs or jumping to safe spaces. People might not see it as a defence but it actually is. It is a mobility defence.
Iam playing melee paladin and i dont have a blink like mage has.
Yes iam able to get lunge but that skill has to target enemys instead. If i want a fast movement skill i need to play shield so iam able to shield rush (keep in mind that iam melee). Iam playing a two hander because i like it. Now i only have one option, Lunge.
If i dont see enemys i have to run alllll the way until i see an enemy. Then finally i can click the enemy and skip some meters. I was running so far already so i dont really care about the last few meters. I dont use Lunge because it is a waste of my skill spot. It is inefficient compared to all the other movements skills in the game.
Now to my point.
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Mage has a great movement skill with the option to not target an enemy. So you move faster in echoes (nice) and even better you can decide were you blink.
So if you are in trouble you blink away. -
Mages have all the defensive possibilities that Melee characters got.
Dodge, Same cap ranges, Armor, Ward. Yes in some degree in the passives it is harder for mages to boost armor but with skills and gear it is still rather easy.
Overall: Mages does a lot of damage has great options in single target and area skills and great mobility and defensive options. Being able to choose to move away easily from the enemy is a great defensive tool.
Melee classes.
You cant get away that easily as mages.
To do damage you need to get personal or you wont do damge. Yes Smelter is able to do range damage but you still need to channel so mobs can get close.
With a two hander you can only get lunge as a mobility skill. You can also get smite and the passive that you blink to the target.
Both of these skills require an enemy target.
When you are close to enemies they will hit you more often as you might understandâŠ
See what point iam trying to make? Melee has less mobility options and the same defensive layers as Mages while needing to face enemies up close.
Melee is worse in this regard because you just punish yourself.
The reason why Spin to win builds are good is that so far in both POE and this game you are able to move really fast and do a lot of damage while doing it.
Mobility and speed is great because you can get into safety when needed and get faster from point A to B aswell. Melee got double punished with worse mobility skills and needing to get close to the enemy if you get what i mean comparing to mage.
What would i love to see as a change:
- Make melee great again.
How: Nerf Mages by not giving all the options that Melee got.
For example like i said reduce the cap that they got in Physical damage and Armor.
Back in the day Mage had the identy of Cloth wielding people with magic. Because of the cloth you had less armor and phys reduction. They did really while however in getting away with blinks and deal high damage and have great AOE options.
Something like this would give mage Identy. Something that not every class has.
Warriors/Tankie dudes.
Heavy armor⊠I think you know the story about warriors. Less mobility but higher Armor and phys reduction to make up for that. Identy more tankie.
So go back to this old system?
No. But something like this would be good.
What i hate of that system is that there was not a lot of freedom for multiclasses.
I used to love Guildwars 1 because you cold be a Warrior/Monk (a mix).
So what would i like?
I would like a system were you need to give up something so you excel in something else.
If mage had less cap for example he needs to get Dodge aswell as an extra defensive layer if he doesnt want to get melted by Physical damage (Just an Example).
Mages and Paladin are the only ones to get Ward. They know magic so thats why they get it.
However the Ward of mages Resist elemental damage only were Paladins Resist a certain amount of Physical damage and Void.
Rogue and Necromancer/acolyte need to use other defensive layers to be able to defense themselfes.
Point 2: Class identy
Making changes in the way you excel with defensing would give a class Identy.
However donât do this to hard so we still get some freedom in how we want to build our defenses.
Give a unique weapon or tool to every class that no other class has.
Paladin will get a Blunt slinger weapon for example. This weapon is better in boosting bleed damage and knocks back enemies at crits (back in the day blunt slinger weapons knocked people really hard so it makes sence).
With auto knocking back, Melee would have an extra option to be a bit more safe. This is just a rough idea btwâŠ
Then Mages:
They have intellinge right. They get a Unique Class weapon or skill aswell.
Unique skill will be unlocked when all skills are level 20. You will cast a mirror of yourself.
With a cooldown or something. When the mirror is killed you get a amount of ward.
Unique Class weapon of Mage:
The magic Orb. Mages have orbs in movies and in a lot of games.
This orb can be used beside the idols gear and weapons as an extra weapon.
It stores a little bit of mana and power every 5 seconds in the orb when you are not casting.
When you are out of mana you will use the mana of the Orb and gain the extra power of the orb. (again just a raw idea). Or make it so that with an extra button you can decide when you use this orb.
Long story short
Make sure you give every class a downside and a unique tool to boost the identy of the classes. There are many ways to make sure that classes feel different.
You could make it so that mobs get more armor penetration againast Mage and Acolyte for example then druid and Paladin. As a buff to make up for it. Mages deal a bit more damage with elemental skills then Druid and Paladin. Druid and paladin are still good with it but Mages should excel in it.
Acolytes should have something like that aswell but then with Minions and Poison.
In this way everybody is still able to be very good at other things beside what they do best but if you want to be really Really good in elemental damage you need to make a choice to drop some defensive options. This is were the min maxing would be really cool. You are not able to get anything if you want to excel in elemental damage and resist unless you commit more into it with gear slots and/or passive points.
Also the gear numbers should be different aswell for every class. Mage know everything about the elements so it is easier for them to get elemental resist. Other classes CAN do it aswell but less easy.
I got way more ideas by the way about this but iam not sure if people are interesed in this. And iam afraid that its going to be to long and/or you will probably missing the point since my post is kinda messy already.
Sorry about that. I hope you understand what i mean.