Shattered Kingdoms

Jesus man, could you be any more into yourself? It's [REDACTED] ridiculous sometimes. But lets not turn this thread into that - this idea needs to happen. Fartclown.

Why did you bring the idea to me instead of to the forums in the first place? Obviously, you were too timid, or knew you would be ignored. You knew that the only way for your ideas to be taken seriously were if people thought they were my ideas. Clownfart.

If you're going to implement a mechanic that makes up for barbarians not being able to wear heavy armor, it should be something thematic to barbarians. Enhanced dodge isn't bad, but that sounds more like something a swashie should get.

I think that if barbarians lose heavy armor they should get another passive skill only active while under the effects of berserk that lowers the damage from physical blows that land on them. It should be slight, of course, but I think it would be a neat addition. Call it improved toughness or something.

The reason I thought enhanced dodge fit thematically is that it goes along with the idea of the barbarian having supernatural fighting instincts. Put it in the same class as counterstrike and alertness.

Or limit use of spirit aura vials to barbarians only, cap their brewing capacity to "strong" vials at the most, and make them ignore MR so that MR barbs can use them too.

Yes, I just woke up so I haven't really given thought to how [REDACTED] this might make the PvP arena but it sounded like a good idea at the time.

You guys are crazy. Barbarians wouldn't be wimped at all by being reduced in armor type, and don't need any special pampering. Melee characters are crazy powerful. Barbarians get toughness, and fury and can put out [REDACTED] tons of damage via berserk.

I actually agree that they could be brought down to light armor though, but I don't think that it's going to wimp them in any way. This *might* bring incentive for players to play hellions, and paladins since they will have less competition for heavy armor.

So, what do you do with all the adamantite in the game once only Mercs/Hellions/Paladins and the rare heavy armor priest need it [ps, wrote this before Ardith's last=(]? Maybe that's confusing the issue at hand and shouldn't be considered, but seems like we're bringing in all sorts of stuff.

I'm a bit concerned that this would reduce flexibility with respect to RP choices; as it is now if you want to play a "soldier" who took merc or barb training you can choose either class pretty believably, and there are a number of choices as to how to RP your fury. Would definitely draw a more clear flavor line between mercs and barbs, but I prefer the idea of maintaining flexibility for different RPs within professions. Can't see how this does much except make all barbs into Spartacus.

Since it's a conceptually great idea to have the coding allow for Spartacuses, how about adding light armor as an option without making it a requirement? Give barbs some passive that gives them the heavy armor bonus while wearing light armor. On the other hand, that's a straight "buff" even if it's intended to just add flavor, and I don't see barbs as a class in need of a buff right now.

And I agree with Ardith that even straight up losing heavy armor without any replacement really wouldn't wimp them in any way. It'd just be a huge bummer from an RP standpoint.

Losing access to heavy armor without anything in return is a nerf, and a noticeable one.

You guys cling to that extra point as though it makes all the difference in the world.

Look at what barbarians get:

-huge bonuses to hit/damage, and fort, and will saves
-tracking
-toughness
-headbutt
-alertness
-butcher
-blind fighting
-counterstrike
-wild fighting
-disarm
-key skills offer hp recovery
-best melee class in the game due to fury affecting every weapon, unlike specialize
-griffarb is an illegal name

If anything the class could use a wimp. Light armor might be it, but I don't think it is going to make a profound change to the class. Barbarians will perform just about the same as they do with heavy armor.

I have no idea what your point is Ardith, but for the sake of argument:

Huge bonuses to hit/damage, and fort and will saves - Compared to mercenaries (Whose accuracy bonus is much more useful than the +hit from berserk), this is not as noticeable. Tack onto that the fact that a frenzied specialized mercenary does much more damage than a barbarian will, and will hit more often as well. The fort and will saves, while nice, also come at the cost of taking extra damage from spells. It's probably not a zero-sum, but a merc can just get more fort/will saves on his EQ whereas a barbarian will need more MP on his. Also, failing to fury sucks hardcore, whereas a merc can't just fail his specialization.
Tracking - This is useful, but most people you want to track will fly.
Toughness - Doesn't matter.
Headbutt - Also doesn't matter.
Alertness - Matters very little.
Butcher - Carry around food.
Blind fighting - Actually is useful, though you still can't target any skills while blind.
Counterstrike - Marginally useful, but only against backstab happy people.
Wild fighting - With massive weaponry, wild fighting is useless.
Disarm - Everyone gets this, it is nothing special.
Key skills offer hp recovery - I think you meant key "skill", not key "skills."

Now, let's look at what mercenaries possess over barbarians.
Retreat - Invaluable to group or single-person PvP.
Enhanced parry - While it does offer a chance to parry limbs, which is marginally useful, it also increases the chance of parry.
Specialize - Increases the base accuracy of the weapon, which is better than than a +hit bonus because it also increases your parry chance with it. In addition, specialize can stack with frenzy, putting the raw potential of damage on the same level as a barbarian, while also making the attacks themselves much more likely to land in PvP.
Crossbow/Bow - Barbarians have absolutely no ranged combat abilities, whereas mercenaries do. Mercenaries can also retreat while using ranged combat, an excellent synergy.
Not getting owned by spell damage - Mercenaries don't get owned by spell damage.
Concentration - for cabal skills/spells, unless a merc is frenzied his concentration will always be much higher than a barbarian.
Mana - The same for cabal skills/spells. Mercs don't have the same mana concerns that barbarians do.



In the game of mercs vs. Barbs, barbs forfeit enhanced parry, take extra damage from physical and magical sources, don't have any source of ranged combat at all, cannot retreat, and some very important skills like rescue take a hit when frenzied. While it is nice to be able to pick up and use any weapon as opposed to generally being stuck with just two, I would rather be playing a merc than a barb in the vast majority of circumstances. Besides, usually you don't need more than a couple weapons anyway, even if you're playing a barbarian.