Poniewaz jest nieco ukryte - postuje tutaj. Recenzje niektorych klas w WoW. Recenzja napisana jest przez kolesia, ktory tak z 5 lat gral w EQ, wiec jest mimochodem pewnym porownaniem WoW z EQ.
Calosc, wraz z historyjkami fabularnymi, jest tutaj:
http://www.fohguild.org/
In this update, I will be discussing two staple classes of MMORGs – The Paladin and the Rogue. In World of Warcraft, you will notice that these classes are given some special attention and both have some very intriguing characteristics.
The Paladin
The Paladin is an Alliance specialist. That is to say, Horde players will not have an option to play a Paladin. The Horde specialist is the Shaman, which I will be discussing in a later update.
Paladins can be either Humans or Dwarves. Their power and faith is drawn from “The Light.” A Paladin can best be described as a Holy Warrior. They are adept at utilizing weapons and armor as well as Holy Magic in various incarnations (more on this later).
Just like Warriors, Paladins begin as a chain class (Yes, I forgot to add this in my previous update). As they grow in power, they eventually gain the ability to don plate. YES, Paladins in Warcraft can use swords, but traditionally, they are more apt to use blunt weapons, i.e. Hammers.
Paladins get a few Melee abilities. These abilities currently draw upon the mana pool of the Paladin. One such ability is Holy Strike, a high damage melee attack that does extra damage versus Undead. Another ability in this category is the “Fist of Justice.” Fist of Justice is a stun that actually knocks the opponent to the ground; something a player would use in combat versus spellcasters to interrupt casting as well as to incapacitate melee opponents. Against humanoids, the spell actually knocks the opponent to the ground, on their back.
Naturally, the Paladin has the ability to Lay on Hands. Lay on Hands drains all of the Paladin’s mana but completely heals their target. Currently the use of Lay on Hands is set to a one hour cooldown.
Holy Magic
One of the first spells the Paladin receives is Holy Light. Holy Light will be the most commonly used heal spell utilized by Paladins. With Holy Light, a Paladin could keep their group healthy, but at nowhere near the efficiency of a Priest. The Paladin also gets the spell, Purify, which acts as a dispel towards detrimental spell effects cast against the Paladin and their allies. At level 12, a Paladin gains the ability to resurrect players. Again, at nowhere NEAR the efficiency of a Priest. A Paladin’s first resurrect spell brings the player back to life with nearly no hit points or mana. This will scale more efficiently at higher levels.
Seals
Another unique ability available to Paladins is Seals. A Seal is basically a short duration buff. Paladins are limited to being able to cast only one Seal per player. That is, A Paladin could not stack all of their Seals on one player or themselves. In order to make Paladins stack better in grouping and raid situations, however, Seals cast from different Paladins DO stack with each other. Thus, two Paladins in your group could put a different Seal on each player. Casting different Seals on players that already have one of their Seals overwrites the previous Seal.
Many different Seals are available for the Paladin to cast. For example, a Paladin could use a Seal of Wisdom on a spell caster, imbuing the player with enhanced mana regeneration. A Seal of Might could be cast on a melee class, increasing their damage output. A Seal of Protection could best be described in Everquest terms as a targeted Divine Aura. The Paladin renders the recipient of this Seal immune to attack for 5 seconds, hopefully allowing enough time for a heal or Lay on Hands to land. The Paladin also has specialty type Seals, such as the Seal of Righteousness, that increase the recipients damage against undead and a Blizzard favorite; the Seal of Fury, which is a short duration hate enhancement buff. I have been told that Tigole enjoys casting this Seal on Priests in his groups
Auras
Lastly, Paladins have the ability to cast Auras, similar to Warrior Shouts in effect. In EQ terms, Auras are much more closely related to Bard songs, although again, they will not be twisting these Auras.
For example, a Paladin could choose to cast a Devotion Aura, increasing their party’s armor class. During downtime when people are resting, a Paladin could choose to cast a Healing Aura, regenerating the health of their injured group members. If the Paladin wants to enhance the damage dealt by their group, they could use a Retribution Aura, creating a damage shield upon their group members, causing injury to monsters and opponents that strike at the party members.
The Rogue
Unlike the Paladin, the Rogue is not limited to just the Alliance. Rogues can be many different races: Humans, Dwarves, Night Elves, Gnomes, Orc, Undead, and Troll.
At its core, a Rogue is a pure melee class limited to wearing leather armor. A rogue is a master of stealth and armed combat, aided by the use of poison and perhaps, espionage.
Being a master of stealth has its advantages. Unlike Everquest where the monster or player either sees the Rogue or does not see the Rogue, World of Warcraft instead scales the possibility of detection versus the level and skill of a Rogue. A Rogue has an advantage when moving around stealthed if behind a mob. What this equates to in game is a thing of beauty. Depending on one’s detect skill and level, a Rogue can be completely invisible, or in varying levels of ‘transparency.’ When we were in one dungeon, Jeff and Rob ran by some Rogue NPCs who were hidden and I actually missed seeing them the first pass. When they went back and stopped, I actually saw two of them standing there almost invisible. Very, VERY cool stuff. Also while in stealth, the Rogue has the ability to Pickpocket NPCs. To prevent the inevitable player community whines that would rise up from this, what the Rogue pickpockets comes from a different/separate loot pool, set aside specifically for Pickpocketing.
Another Rogue ability is the ability to craft poisons and use said poisons in combat. The guys were very hush-hush about this because of how their system in World of Warcraft works. I was assured that the end result is something VERY cool and very much unlike the poison system in Everquest (I’m sure many Everquest Rogues are breathing a sigh of relief).
Something not discussed and still under debate is the ability of the Rogue to use disguises to their advantage. Currently this is a ‘maybe,’ but here’s to hoping and praying this one makes it into beta and beyond. Obviously, this could cause some PvP imbalances but the potential for fun is too much for this to be left out in my opinion.
Combat Mechanics
A rogues damage and power scales up with Opening and Finishing moves. During combat, when a rogue engages their opponent, the enemy target indicator will have 5 unlit bubbles. Opening moves light the bubbles up. Some Opening moves are worth more bubbles than others. Once enough of the enemy UI bubble slots are full, the Rogue can execute Finishing moves. Additionally, the power of the Finishing move is based upon how many bubbles are lit up. If the rogue switches targets during combat, they will lose any built up Finishing moves they may have had on their last target – that is, it is TARGET specific (all lit bubbles are lost when target switches are made).
The Rogue has an impressive arsenal of Opening Moves, some positional, others situational. Common Opening moves include Sinister Strike, a high damage move that can be executed from any angle, and Backstab, a high damage attack which can only be executed from the back of the opponent. The Rogue also gets a bevy of utility moves they can use for solo or group play. Gouge is a stun that the Rogue can use to incapacitate their opponent for 4 seconds, at which time they can strafe around the back of the enemy to get in a high damage backstab. Methods of hate reduction are also part of the Rogue’s Opening move arsenal. Through the use of Trips and Feints, the rogue can lower the hate the opponent has built up against them, thus keeping the damage they take to a minimum.
Two examples of the Rogue’s Finishing move array are the Kidney Shot (high damage plus a stun component) and Eviscerate (very high damage). Both of these moves will use up all of the bubbles lit up in the Enemy UI indicator. Depending on how many bubbles are lit up (up to 5) the power of the move itself will scale up or down. A Rogue will not be able to chain Finishing move after Finishing move but instead will have to use Opening moves to rebuild the power bubbles to use another Finishing move.
Lastly, a Rogue has the unique ability to Sap HUMANOID creatures while stealthed, from behind. What a Sap actually does is allow the Rogue to take an opponent out of combat for extended periods of time. For example, a Rogue may come upon an enemy encampment of Forsaken. While hidden in stealth, the rogue could sneak up to the two guards on the perimeter, Sap one guard, knocking them out for 30 seconds, while engaging the other guard in combat. Damaging the Sapped enemy will break the stun and allow the opponent to resume attacks against the Rogue.
Given all of these unique abilities, both the Paladin and Rogue are sure to see extensive play from World of Warcraft fans and players. I think it’s important to note that while this stuff looks great on paper, seeing all of these things in game are a different thing entirely. The attention to detail and gameplay (read: fun) given to the classes in Warcraft can only truly be appreciated while playing. I can’t wait…..
The Priest
This is not the Everquest Cleric you know and loathe. "There will be no complete heal chains in the World of Warcraft." That was one of the first things said to me last Friday as Jeffrey Kaplan (Tigole) and Rob Pardo (Ariel for those of you that know your Legacy of Steel history) demonstrated the Priest class in action. And what a show it was...
The World of Warcraft Priest shuns plate armor and instead opts for cloth. What they lose in defense, however, they make up for with some new abilities that definitely differ from any traditional cleric roles found in many other MMORGs. Most notable is the ability of the World of Warcraft Priest to use mind control on their foes. The Priest can mesmerize/entrance enemies and can also use a spell/ability to dominate the will of others. A Priest, however, is not the Enchanter of the World of Warcraft. Their crowd control ability is strictly limited. The Priest can only mesmerize one opponent at a time. Additionally, when using their Dominate ability, the priest falls into a sort of stasis or trance, unable to move or cast any spells, but instead possessing their target. When Dominating, the priest gains whatever abilities their opponent may have within their arsenal and moves/functions within the body of the enemy. Of course these spells can be resisted and the duration on the Dominate ability is still being tuned.
Naturally, the Priest shines in groups but is also able to solo with some success. Aside from different types of heals, which would fall under Holy Magic, the Priest is also able to make use of Shadow Magic. These would be Damage over Time and possibly some Direct Damage spells. Additionally, the Priest has a self rune type spell that they can cast upon themselves that allows the Priest to channel their magic through melee attacks more efficiently. This is basically a form of insurance for the Priest, allowing them to make certain their spell is cast without delay. It should be noted that spell casting classes (Priests/Mages/etc...) will be able to channel through melee normally, but the use of Holy Word Shield is a spell intrinsic to the Priest. How channeling normally works in the World of Warcraft is as such: As you begin to cast a spell you bring up a casting time bar. If you are hit while casting the spell, it does not interrupt the spell but rather it delays the casting bar for each hit that is taken by the spellcaster. There are, of course, abilities that NPCs and players alike have that can interrupt a spell outright (bash, stuns, special strikes, counterspells, etc…).
These abilities, of which I've barely touched on, as well as the ability to resurrect players at later levels and myriad other abilities and spells, are sure to make the Priest a very popular class within the World of Warcraft.
Now my personal opinion of the Priest is simply this: They kick ass. As we were porting around the world (which I will discuss in some depth in a future update - and no, it most certainly will not be so easy for the players to move around the world, we cheated) the guys (Jeffrey and Rob) put the Priest through its paces. We visited a hostile Ogre outpost where the Priest Dominated an Ogre or two and showed off some fancy moves while in the body of the fatties. They showed off some of the spells I mentioned earlier, healing, nuking, dotting, and falling back on the Priest's staff, administering some good old fashioned beatings. I also got to see some of the Priest's sight abilities, akin to Everquest's Bind Sight line - excellent utility spells for scouting and detecting some of those ambush traps I will undoubtedly be setting up to kill you in... Rule #1, never foolishly run up to a pile of gold conspicuously lying on the ground. Now I don't know if I can actually put gold or lewtz on the ground in the PvP areas, but I'll be damned if I don't try. You've seen the rule now, we both know you're not going to listen to the rule, which will inevitably result in me wearing your ears around my neck, pinned to my 'Necklace of Greedy Fool's Ears.' Don't be that guy...
The Warrior
Where to even begin? As many of you know, this is the class I play and have played for the past 5 years in Everquest. Comparing the two Warrior classes, Everquest versus the World of Warcraft, is like comparing your skinny cousin with the bad acne to Superman. World of Warcraft has a definitive advantage over Everquest, in that the classes are not as watered down and diluted, allowing for much more power to be allotted to individual classes. Sure there is another Tank class (The Paladin and to a lesser degree the Shaman and Druids can do some light tanking, but I digress) but he does not totally usurp the Warrior class, and in Warcraft our friend the Warrior is pissed off and packing something I like to call 'the pain.'
The Warrior is a class with depth. Aside from being a master of weaponry and armor, they are able to fight in three distinct stances (I was told that this may very well change, either reducing the number of stances or increasing them - it's in Alpha still people!). Additionally, a warriors special abilities come from two pools.
First are the abilities the warrior may draw upon from becoming enraged, known as gaining 'Rage.' Gaining Rage is essentially the reverse of the Spellcaster's mana bar which exists in Everquest and other MMORGs. A warrior starts at zero Rage and gains Rage totally dependant upon the stance they are in and the actions they take while in the stance (more on this to come). Rage decays when the Warrior is not in battle, resetting to zero when the Warrior is at peace (think Hulk).
The second pool with which they draw their power from are their shouts. As a warrior levels and gains power, they also gain the ability to perform shouts. Shouts can have various effects on the warrior, their group, or on the enemies they fight. One shout may increase the overall damage of your party, bolstering their spirits and weapon speed, while another shout may cause the warrior's targets to flee (something that could be very useful to the soloing warrior who gets more than he can handle while adventuring). No, you will not be able to 'twist' shouts - these are not Everquest Bards.
Naturally the warrior gets a taunt ability. Taunt in the World of Warcraft requires the use of Rage, has no effective Cooldown or refresh, and adds/builds up hate towards the Warrior instead of the train wreck which is taunt in Everquest. Speaking of Everquest, EQ Warriors should pay close attention here, if you're playing World of Warcraft, you will encounter a strange and new sensation while playing the Warrior. Once the initial shock wears off, you will realize that when you press 'Taunt' it actually taunts your opponent – it does not fail and end up doing absolutely nothing – it is always building up hate, so long as you have the necessary amount of Rage built up to make use of the ability. It's like reinventing the wheel, or as I like to call it, COMMON SENSE. Certainly high DPS classes can overaggro if they are not careful, but the World of Warcraft warrior is well equipped to deal with the absent minded mages and rogues of the gameworld. Hallelujah!
Stances
The Battle Stance: When taking a Battle Stance, the warrior is a balanced fighting machine. In this stance, the warrior gains Rage from taking damage/hits and dishing out damage. As the Rage bar builds up, the warrior is able to perform special moves and abilities which cost a certain amount of Rage. Intrigued? You should be. These abilities are many, and can range from a simple extra attack at early levels, such as kick, to as Tigole said, 'AE Whoopass' which is the Whirlwind ability, gained later on in the Warrior's life. A side note here, in Warcraft you won't ever have 5 mobs messed/crowd controlled in your camp in a normal adventure group. The warrior is meant to dish out the AE damage, taunts, shouts; trying to keep some control of the chaos which will inevitably find you and your friends. Which stance you use will be totally dependant on the situation. With all that said, the Battle Stance is something Warriors will probably use most often when soloing.
The Defensive Stance: If you're going to be tanking in your group or raid, you're going to want to be in this stance. While in the Defensive Stance, the Warrior gains Rage from taking hits. With that built up Rage, they are able to perform various abilities that bolster their defenses. Some of these abilities substantially reduce the damage taken by the Warrior, while others empower the Warrior's shield with various attacks and strikes that can cripple their enemies.
The Berserker Stance: My personal favorite and one that probably most closely resembles my style of play. In the Berserker Stance, the Warrior gains Rage from dishing out damage. As the Rage builds up, the warrior is able to unleash devastating attacks upon his opponents. The aforementioned Whirlwind being one of those abilities, Cleave being another, which allows the warrior to exert such force upon their enemy that their weapon hits and damages the poor bastard standing next to the recipient of the Cleave. The saying, "I'm gonna hit you so hard your baby's mamma gonna feel it," comes to mind... To the Warrior in a Berserker Stance that's not an empty threat, that's a promise. Believe it...
With all of these abilities and powers, and from what was shown to me in gameplay, the Warrior will be an amazing and fun class to play. Definitely another class which I will use to kill you with...
I've only barely scratched the surface of what the Warrior can do in World of Warcraft, but I am quite certain it's more than 'press 'a' to attack, 'taunt,' and '/disc defensive,' for their 3 minutes of glory.
Within the coming weeks I will be giving basic overviews of the other World of Warcraft classes, giving those of you foaming at the mouth for l33t infoz, something to help tide you over until you can experience the Warcraft universe for yourselves. Now, I leave you with some screen-shots... ENJOY!
