Class System (Alter Egos)

stellariodragon

This has been suggested before but it's been a while so I figured I'd post it again with a better description. I recently took a break from CO and played another MMO that used a multi-class system. Pretty much the way that worked was after a player left the tutorial levels they could pick up another class to level independently from their first class. In CO this would be akin to allowing a player to level up a Marksman archetype or an Unleashed archetype depending on what build they were using. The benefit is greater customization, easier group formation, more replay value, extra income, and greater specialization. Players could switch from being a healer to a tank to DPS without changing characters. These power set slots could be called Alter Egos.

The player's current set of traits, powers, specializations, archetype, and level would be the default Alter Ego. Additional Alter Egos could be purchased (or granted at level 40 to gold subscribers) that would allow for leveling another set of traits, powers, specializations, archetype, and level. Alter Egos could be set to any archetype the player has unlocked or to freeform for gold players. The player's current Alter Ego would be set via the build system.

If the devs wanted to get fancy, they could add a set of "transition auras" to each build which would be vfx/sfx/animations that play when the build is switched to such as: white fade, black fade, hue fade, magical girl, clothes confetti, level-up, smoke, super saiyan, etc...

I know this probably means some back-end and UI programming so it's probably not likely to happen... but, you know, squeaky wheels get the grease. Thanks for reading this and keep up the good work Devs. ​​

spinnytop

So basically, a way for you to farm gear for multiple characters simultaneously.

soulforger

spinnytop said:

So basically, a way for you to farm gear for multiple characters simultaneously.

No, if you played WoW or Rift at all, thank of it as their secondary spec/role options. That's what he is saying. And he is not talking about farming for gear for multiple toons, but rather, multiple gear for one toon, that would be the case.

notyuu

In other words, a more in-depth, easier to use version of the build system that freeforms have access too.

if you don't get what I mean by that.
I make a FF that has str/con/pre as their superstats, they also have enraged, compassion, defiance and sepherim, with the remaining poweres scattered between celestial and Heavy weapons.

On build one of that toon I would have them in tank role with offence gloves, offence secondry, armoured chest, def secondry and utility helm and utility secondry, modded to have +con, with defiance and enraged as the slotted passive and form celestial ones.

On build two of that toon I would have them in support role with healer gloves, healing seoncdries and so on modded to grant +pre and con, with speherim and compassion as the slotted passive and form, with the powers being mostly celestial ones.

Meaning I have made a toon that is more than capable of filling in as both a healer or a tank as needs be, this could be extended out to other "twin" roles, or prehaps even three sperate roles if the build s made juuuust right.

pantagruel01

It's already possible to switch from healer to tank to dps without changing character, it just adds some surcharges so you wind up flawed in each of those roles (particularly if you try to do all three). Typically you'd swap some or all of your gear for ones with a different stat focus, swap your passive, and then make sure you have basic competence for your chosen alternative role.

You can usually do a Tank<->DPS switch by taking two passives (one defensive, one offensive) and changing some gear around (likely swapping between Con and a damage-focused stat); I do that on more than one character. Likewise, DPS<->Heal or Tank<-> Heal might call for a gear swap (+damage vs +healing, Con vs Pre). The biggest problem tends to be with threat-related advantages, you often want crippling challenge or challenging strikes for a tank build, and they're actively undesirable on non-tank builds.

spinnytop

As someone who has a character that can switch between a fully functional tank and dps, I don't think the game needs this.

soulforger

spinnytop said:

As someone who has a character that can switch between a fully functional tank and dps, I don't think the game needs this.

Maybe, maybe not. But, thats for the devs to decide.

spinnytop

soulforger said:

spinnytop said:

As someone who has a character that can switch between a fully functional tank and dps, I don't think the game needs this.

Maybe, maybe not. But, thats for the devs to decide.

That was never in question but thanks for pointing it out I guess?