Aetolia.com Lore Wiki Vote! Forum Rules
Looking for more active discussion? Join our Discord at https://discord.gg/x2s7fY6

Sentinel Previews

SlypheSlyphe
edited November 2012 in Aetolia Development
So, keeping in line with our goal of greater transparency, I'm happy to give a quick overview of the changes we've been planning for Sentinels for awhile. The recent changes to Dhuriv were the first step in our goal of balancing what is an extremely strong active offense against a useful set of passives and traps, while also designing a new tertiary skill to accompany it. As you know, our overall goal in the revamping effort is to remove skills that are based entirely around trade, to move them into the Mercantile category and make classes independent of non-combat skills. So, without revealing too much (for instance, specific abilities!), I'd like to highlight the planned changes for each of the three Sentinel skills.

First up is Dhuriv. Everyone has already experienced the first set of our changes to the skill, with mixed reactions all around. In its current incarnation, Dhuriv is very confusing - there are a plethora of abilities, but the class is focused around affliction stacking, making all but the fastest options for delivering those afflictions obsolete. While Dhuriv will be receiving the fewest overall changes, we will be focusing on making the obsolete abilities more competitive, while reducing their overall affliction pool to be more focused and less of a bottleneck in the class's design. While there are still design hurdles to overcome in that regard, you can expect significant changes to several of the class's abilities, specifically in regards to Overlay. This is the last leg of our class design, and once we've decided on the fine details, the class will be moved to Liaisons for testing.

Woodlore is receiving a heavy set of changes - in fact, the skill may hardly be recognizable to current Sentinels. Traps have been removed from the skill completely (read further before you get too excited), leaving room for a complete overhaul of pet mechanics. Instead of the same group of six pets everyone is used to, every legacy pet has been removed and replaced with a pool of companions that the Sentinel may choose from. The overall number of pets they'll have available is reduced, but the individual contribution of each has been amplified and tactical decisions will have to be made. Accompanying this, Sentinels are masters of the forest once more and have a number of environment-related effects, including building and fortifying their own campsite to gain a significant homefield advantage. The legacy spear and axe weapons have been removed and their associated abilities merged into their current weapons.

Finally, Sentinels will be gaining a brand new skill, known as Tracking. The traps that were previously present in Woodlore have been redesigned and balanced to be single-off effects, making it a tactical boost rather than a requirement for combat as it was previously. There are several new exciting options within this set for Sentinels to experiment with, including launching enemies into the sky and simply burning them to a crisp. To accompany this tactic, Sentinels will also be receiving the use of a hunter's crossbow, and the ability to prepare organic resins that may coat their bolts. While slower than bows, the unique effects of resins may be applied to a target at range and ignited in the fray to create a myriad of effects. This interplay between traps and bolts gives a Sentinel a unique level of mobility, capable of forcing their opponent to risk tripping their traps, or to hole themselves up and risk the dangers of bolts and resins.

We will be previewing more on Sentinels similar to our Teradrim previews as we approach testing and release. Questions and speculations are of course welcome, though specific answers may not be guaranteed!

CaspienZunAldricAlistaireAngweLinHavenNolaIrea
«1

Comments

  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    Will crossbows be made with the Tracking skill, like dhurives in Dhuriv? Or are these going to be crafted via Forging, and thereby customizable? 
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
  • AldricAldric
    This looks and sounds absolutely amazing. 

    It's worth a shot asking though: are you able to reveal how many/what animals there would be to choose from? Will we also still be able to make them emote and whatnot like now?

    /obligatory rpwhore question
    image
    Feelings, sensations that you thought were dead. No squealin' remember, that it's all in your head.
  • AzraelAzrael
    Agreed that these updates sound as if they have the possibility of being absolutely amazing. If it weren't for being able to multiclass this would put the Shamans out of business for sure.
  • ArbreArbre Arbrelina Jolie Braavos
    ...I have like four guild members. Our doors are already closed.
  • RazmaelRazmael Administrator, Immortal

    Kiyotan said:
    Will crossbows be made with the Tracking skill, like dhurives in Dhuriv? Or are these going to be crafted via Forging, and thereby customizable? 
    It will be put into fletching with the rest of bows. Fletchers can customize bows already so this should be no problem.
  • AlistaireAlistaire Las Vegas, Nevada
    Heck yeah, crossbows. Pew, pew. (My avatar picture is very fitting!)
  • SeirSeir Seein' All the Things Getting high off your emotion
    edited November 2012
    While the loss and/or modification of Overlay frightens me if we're remaining an affliction-based class, it is good to see that Sentinels are getting attention that they've sorely needed for some time. Cheers.
  • RazmaelRazmael Administrator, Immortal
    Aldric said:
    This looks and sounds absolutely amazing. 

    It's worth a shot asking though: are you able to reveal how many/what animals there would be to choose from? Will we also still be able to make them emote and whatnot like now?

    /obligatory rpwhore question
    You can still make them emote and so on.

    The class is still undergoing balancing at the design level, so what animals and how many there are will potentially be changing.
  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    edited November 2012
    Razmael said:

    Kiyotan said:
    Will crossbows be made with the Tracking skill, like dhurives in Dhuriv? Or are these going to be crafted via Forging, and thereby customizable? 
    It will be put into fletching with the rest of bows. Fletchers can customize bows already so this should be no problem.
    Did I say Forging? I meant Fletching. Will there be any chance that the change to Dhuriv also includes a means of making customized dhurives? 
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
  • SerriceSerrice the Black Fox
    If a target 'holes' up, will the class contain sufficient offensive pressure to land a kill or have some realistic option to force the target to move?
     
  • AngweAngwe I'm the dog that ate yr birthday cake Bedford, VA
    edited November 2012
    image
    image
    Lin
  • SeirSeir Seein' All the Things Getting high off your emotion
    Well, I'm up for waiting on questions until they have something concrete down. Synergy between the skillsets is something that Sentinel has lacked since the Dhuriv rework. While I'm wary of tinkering with Dhuriv Overlay, if it means that the class has a way of creating pressure on an opponent via afflictions, especially ones that try to turtle, I'm all for it. A good defense should be a good offense.
  • SlypheSlyphe
    Serrice said:
    If a target 'holes' up, will the class contain sufficient offensive pressure to land a kill or have some realistic option to force the target to move?
    Resins can be thought of like hypnosis, in some regards. You'll be able to place more than one resin on the target, and then activate them relatively balance-free in the same room, for a burning effect over time based on what you used. This gives you a small tactical advantage when you engage, versus waiting for opponents to trip traps. Given that use of crossbows is a major component of the skill, you may also have some unique advantages compared to traditional bows.

  • SeirSeir Seein' All the Things Getting high off your emotion
    Is there an easy transition between dhurive and crossbows during the course of the fight? Are these giant crossbows that we wield when we sheathe our dhurive, or are these like... wrist-mounted crossbows a la Vayne?
  • ElanthElanth
    Will Sentinels be able to use meteor arrows with crossbows?
  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    Or meteor..bolts?
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
  • SlypheSlyphe
    There are no plans for meteor bolts, or arrows to be usable; Sentinels will have their own tricks to employ.

  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    Will bolts be cacheable? Or put into a quiver? Or something else?
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
  • HaernHaern
    You'll wear them like hairpins.
    LinKerrynMastemaOrisaeAngwe
  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    Can we get a moderator to ban this Haerntroll?
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
    AldricLinZunMastemaAngwe
  • AldricAldric
    Kiyotan said:
    Can we get a moderator to ban this Haerntroll?
    Seriously, who invited Amika back to the forums?
    image
    Feelings, sensations that you thought were dead. No squealin' remember, that it's all in your head.
    KiyotanArbreLin
  • RazmaelRazmael Administrator, Immortal
    They'll definitely have some sort of quiver or cache equivalent.
    Zun
  • HaernHaern
    A true masterpiece. A+++ for originality.
  • BorscinBorscin
    So... Everything looks pretty gnarly. But I did have one thought.


    Slyphe said:

    Woodlore is receiving a heavy set of changes - in fact, the skill may hardly be recognizable to current Sentinels. Traps have been removed from the skill completely (read further before you get too excited), leaving room for a complete overhaul of pet mechanics. Instead of the same group of six pets everyone is used to, every legacy pet has been removed and replaced with a pool of companions that the Sentinel may choose from. The overall number of pets they'll have available is reduced, but the individual contribution of each has been amplified and tactical decisions will have to be made. Accompanying this, Sentinels are masters of the forest once more and have a number of environment-related effects, including building and fortifying their own campsite to gain a significant homefield advantage. The legacy spear and axe weapons have been removed and their associated abilities merged into their current weapons.

    It sounds like most of it has been worked up. But I think it would be a little more interesting to be masters of the wilderness as opposed to just masters of the forest. You could add in an aspect that allows you to pick which environment you are syncing with once per IG day, and have new abilities or pets or w/e based on that environment. You can be a Tundra Sent, Jungle Sent, Mountain Sent, River Sent, Grassland Sent, etc. Then instead of having a few abilities that are just kind of 'here use these if you're in a forest otherwise lol no', you'll have at least a bit more use out of the abilities and be able to mix things up based on environment.
    AldricAzraelAmaraHavenAngwe
  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    I want to be an Unstable Environment Sent. 
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
    LinSerriceZunHaven
  • SlypheSlyphe
    It's a possibility to allow some abilities to adapt to other environments; however, some of the concepts we had in mind would probably not function as well, as there are no treetop analogues in a lot of those scenarios.

  • SerriceSerrice the Black Fox
    Would these abilities be essential to our offense to the degree that losing them would make a Sentinel unviable? Say, in the unstable ground during a leyline?
     
  • KiyotanKiyotan spectacular vernacular Summit of the Falconmount
    Are the changes to Woodlore going to necessitate a change to the artifact huntsman's pouch? 
    Some may say we've lost our way, but I believe we've not gone far enough.
    image
Sign In or Register to comment.