Wednesday June 3rd, 2009
We received the following update today from JT O'Loughlin, Lead producer Midkemia Online.
Lately we've been working on finishing up Rogues, and coding Magicians.
Rogues:
Rogues are coming along nicely, and getting near to being completed. I'm really pleased with how they're turning out in terms of spying, stealth and infiltration abilities. One of the cool things about Rogues is the ability to construct bombs! There are different types of bombs Rogues can construct (smoke bombs, Quegan fire oil bombs, etc.), and they can be used in 3 different ways: to throw directly at an enemy, to throw at your room for a room-wide effect, or to throw into an adjacent room for a room-wide effect. Rogues can also hide themselves from sight, making them difficult to detect or hit, and launch sneak attacks for massive damage if they are unseen, before launching into a barrage of fencing attacks with their rapier. And, of course, Rogues are able to eavesdrop on nearby conversations or even spy on private communications between other players, making them masters of espionage.
Magicians:
Ok, so a few things about Magicians that may have changed from the original plans: when we release, our Magicians will be Greater Path Magicians!
They are a classic glass cannon archetype, with their most powerful spells only able to be cast at a range, such as hurling giant balls of the blue fire the Tsurani Great Ones use in battle. Of course, one of a Magician's signature spells is the ability to create Rifts -- which are the only "teleportation" or long-distance transport ability in the game (in fitting with Midkemia's theme of low magic). Unlike most teleportation skills in other games, however, enemies (and allies) can follow you through an open Rift, so it's not a perfect escape method. Beyond manipulating magic, Magicians also create a variety of useful enchantments that are usable by anyone. Lesser Path Magicians are more skilled than their Greater Path cousins at creating enchanted objects, however.
So where does that leave Lesser Path?
We are still planning on having Lesser Path Magicians, but they will be released after beta. Why the change? Three reasons. First, there was just more interest in people playing Greater Path Magicians, since they feature more prominently in the series. Second, we had a firmer design in place for Greater Path. And third, Lesser Path Magicians make extensive use of the elements (such as weather) around them, and I wasn't convinced that we could have a really interesting Lesser Path without a completed (and easy to manipulate) weather system. In the future, you can expect that Lesser Path will be less flashy and flamboyant than Greater Path, but arguably more powerful in a meta-sense. Whereas a Greater Path might throw fireballs at an enemy, a Lesser Path might manipulate the weather to make it colder or rainy (and thus cause those fireballs to fizzle out and do significantly
less damage), or create a violent storm with lightning and hurricane winds spread over a wide area.
