Velious FoTM?

[slowpoke68]

Hello all. Anyone care to try their hand at a bit of divination?

Will there be any classes that will see a spike in population when Velious releases due to new abilities, spells or changes in mechanics?

Are there any classes that will see a significant population drops because of the same reasons?

How will the eventual elimination of hybrid penalties affect their numbers?

What do you think?

[Troxx]

We'll see a lot more hybrids - rangers especially. Very fun class, but the penalty is atrocious.

[PVP Cleric]

Definitely expect to see more paladins, rangers, and shadowknights. No more xp penalties, better skillcaps, new spells, disciplines, and cheaper kunark twink gear? Yeah. Hybrids will be a LOT more appealing to main or alt.

Might see more wizards as well? There will be a wider selection of zones to quad to level in, and wizards gain translocates, bane spells, flowing thought item(s), etc.

[Swish]

Problem with paladins/SKs, they're only good for the tank role... going to be a long lfg line - and worth saying again, the hybrid penalty doesn't disappear the night Velious is released, it's further down the patch line.

[dafier]

I don't recall.

Rangers actually turn in to a halfway decent DPS, right?

What I do remember is Rangers becoming AWESOME in PoP, but I don't remember if Velious had that much of an impact for their end game raiding.

On live, in PoP, I made a Ranger alt and had a blast. (Still I used him only for tracking, lol)

[TarukShmaruk]

Wizards are already valued in raids and Velious doesn't do anything but make them good for raids.

FT gear is basically all end game and only helps a little bit.

IIRC Wizards only got decent in groups with PoP because of the improved familiars, AAs, and Iceflame of E'ci allows you to do mana efficient DPS with Ancient : Greater Destruction of Ice and the other ice spell I can't remember the name of.

[Daldaen]

Bards gain Occlusion, easierish epic when Trakanon is triggered, and off handing epic in late Velious. Remains very viable in group/raid. Loses EXP penalty a month in. Expect to see a rise.

Clerics gain Aegolism, and Celestial Healing (44). Increases value on raids as CH chains become the norm and more clerics are needed than were for 32k HP dragons. Groups always will want. Expect to see more people PLing clerics to raid on so that their CH chain is of adequate depth.

Druids gain PotG, ATK/FR debuffs, indoor stun. Also Track increases hugely and snares/roots stack. Druid becomes more powerful but still is weak against summoning mobs solo. Easier to solo come Velious, Group desirability is reasonable in zones they can charm for DPS, Raids they stagnate beyond buff/debuff bot. There won't be much increase even though they gain nice abilities.

Enchanters gain GoB, and a duration mana drain. With higher level areas they lose charming utility in some high end locations but they are the gods of soloing Velketors because non KoS. Groups desire them a bit less atleast in areas with unmezzable mobs. On raids they either charm for DPS or they are buff bots. Expect to see less Enchanters overall.

Magicians gain "easier" epic and Monster Summoning. They will be more desired on raids for mod rods and CotHing during pulls/mobilizing. I don't see much movement in the popularity of the class beyond a few guild mages created to CotH.

Monks gain more gear, are already very OP, get triple attack late Velious. Pulling is a bit more important in Velious and monks are leading that charge. I don't expect a huge boom in monks cause they already are dirt common.

Necromancers get the shaft. Snare/Root stacking is only thing they can look forward to IMO. Their spells blow, more mobs summon. They have some okay kiting locations but nothing great at the near 60 end. Grouping they are always a viable option if played well. Raiding they are twitch bots. Expect to see a minor decrease in the class.

Paladins get a solid HP buff and HoT. Best group tank and gains some raid viability, however in the day of defensive they won't tank any meaningful raid boss in Velious. They are Rampage tanks and add tanks on raids. Removal of hybrid penalty and more spells. Expect to see an increase by virtue of hybrid penalty removal.

Rangers epic gets easier so more hasted/earth caller Rangers, and they gain some ATK buffs, Trueshot/Weaponshield disc, some low level spells like animal fear, and the removal of hybrid penalty makes them an attractive alt option. They increase soloing power with fear kiting (irrelevant for twinks cause fungi), grouping they continue being versatily but not the best DPS, okayish off tanks in easy areas but hard Velious locations you will want a knight. On raids Weaponshield adds a nice dimension to the class and adds a valuable strategic option. Expect to see these increase.

Rogues stay top tier DPS, they don't see many gains in Velious especially considering how easy their epic was to obtain, it's nearly impossible to replace. Group/raid viability stays the same. Expect no change here.

Shadowknights gain Deaths Peace. This spell alone is huge for pulling and SKing in general. It makes them more valuable on groups and raids in pull teams. They also get rid of the exp penalty and gain some Necro spells. Expect increase because of exp penalty disappearing

Shamans gain Focus, and some other meh spells. In the age of Slow being OP, Velious is about the antithesis of this. Due to that the class will be booming. Torpor Shamans should be able to hold their own at several camps no other class can solo. Group viability is increased as mobs live longer and slows are more valuable. Raid viability they remain buff bots and DPS healers. Expect to see no change because so many already exist

Warriors gain much better gear and in an age of hard hitting bosses, defensive disciplines are required. Raiding guild's will need a few hearty warriors to cycle through on tough targets. Beyond that, they are inferior to Knights for Group purposes. Expecting no real change in class.

Wizards get Bane nukes and due to this become top tier DPS. Coupled with new buffs for mana regen and flowing thought, they will be crucial on high AC targets. Soloing they get more locations to quad, Grouping they remain terrible and Raiding they jump up from very high desire to very very high (just below clerics). I expect to see some increase in wizard creation. Wizards that get logged in, burn their mana bar and log out to another character to finish the last 60% of the fight on a raid boss.


Is that everyone?

So more Hybrids because EXP penalty removed, more Cleric bots for raiding, more Wizard bots for raiding, and maybe some Shamans because Slow is OP. Everything else stays pretty stagnant. Druids may slightly increase with better tracking and snare/root stack. Necros probably decrease because they gain the least in Velious IMO among casters.

[Lune]

Originally Posted by dafier [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't recall.

Rangers actually turn in to a halfway decent DPS, right?

What I do remember is Rangers becoming AWESOME in PoP, but I don't remember if Velious had that much of an impact for their end game raiding.

On live, in PoP, I made a Ranger alt and had a blast. (Still I used him only for tracking, lol)

Rangers are already halfway decent DPS, that isn't really their problem. But yes their dps and tankability are modestly improved in Velious.

Most people who roll knights in Velious are going to play them until about 45 or 50 and then stop, just like most people who rolled knights in Kunark. Knights have always really deterred people once they get past the twinkage and learn their place in the world, watch monks and warrs run circles around them, etc. Penalty didn't help but I think that was only part of it. Can be hard to find groups when any given group only has a maximum of one spot for your role, and it can be filled by warriors, monks, rangers, and other knights.

FOTM is still gonna be monks and shamans, because those are very fun, very powerful classes. And honestly, I'm pretty sure monks get as much or more improvement in Velious than rangers or knights do (due to triple attack and itemization changes), which is disgusting.

[eisley]

Wizards are incredible in Velious, thanks in no small part to bard groups spamming mana inject w/ epics, and necros twitching, and mod rods. On anything they can Bane nuke they crush DPS.

Warriors also become a lot more desirable due to a massive influx of great proc weapons, and disc defensive is not just good, its A Problem.

Daldaen's list is great, every class gains certain benefits, but if I had to choose I think warriors and wizards see the biggest jump in status

[Daldaen]

I argue clerics hold that title. They don't really *gain* anything at the top end. But the end games paradigm shifts.

We go from 32k HP dragons where you cast 4-5 DLs before the mob dies... To 5-10 minute long fights where you need CHs landing every 2-3 seconds.

The requirement on any given dragon for clerics right now is like 1-3~. On Velious you may as well not show up without 5-6 clerics on most good targets. On many you will want 8-12 to cover a 6-8 man CH chain and a 2-4 man team covering rampage tanks. Plus AE damage.

Warriors you do need some of, but just 4~ or so should suffice, most guilds usually stacked 1-2 warriors with a ton of gear so that healing them was easier.

Wizards get huge gains but aren't make or break, they just speed up fights.