Idea for Fixing Pures vs. Hybrids

[flaimdude]

I'm pretty sure everyone can agree that hybrids are a bit overpowered, so here's my suggestion: have pure-only skills. How would you do that? Well, right now each class has a 'main stat':
Ench - int
Arch - dex
Bear - str
I know, everybody knows this, but it's just to help explain. Anyways, let's say you have an ench. You would be a 'pure' ench if your main stat (int) was over a certain percentage (let's say 50%) of your total points. Then, pures would have special skills that make them more secure in their roles, and hybrids would still have their customization.

What do you guys think?

[Kirei]

i think that im wondering why your still level 29.....

[Monqi]

Agree ! Pure Bear / Bird / Elve should be fair with hybrids.. otherwise they r really overpower.

[KingFu]

LOL, Kirei. Way to criticize him! To be honest, I was thinking the same thing. LOL.

[Monqi]

Not updated? grin~

[Kirei]

hahahha. k flaim im sorry if that made you fell bad but i was wondering.
@ the topic i think that that is an alright idea, but wouldent it still be like a birdy could put more then 50% of their stats in int and get that ability?

[Violentsaint]

maybe they should have like gear with really high requirements so only pures can wear them?

like mummy robes int req 180

or race exclusive clothes 'oh whats that saint, being racist are we?'

[Monqi]

not racist but juz to get balance. haa~

[flaimdude]

hahahha. k flaim im sorry if that made you fell bad but i was wondering.
@ the topic i think that that is an alright idea, but wouldent it still be like a birdy could put more then 50% of their stats in int and get that ability?

No, again, you'd have to be that certain race to get the special skills. And don't worry, you didn't make me feel bad. I spend more time chatting/posting on the forums than I do playing PL lol, and since I jailbroke my ipod touch recently I haven't played PL that much.

[Royce]

The problem isn't skills. It's that hybrids don't make sense. The power of mage skills should be based on mana and Int, but instead things like damage (Str based) and crit (dex based) are more importand, and with the best gear for mages being Str gear currently, it's just stupid to be an Int mage. If mage skills depended on mana and Int then there would be a tradeoff to becoming a paladin, you'd increase your armor and weapon damage, but sacrifice skill power. I don't think skills should be restricted by hybridization.

The same applies to more than just paladins. Archer skills for instance like blast shot should not be long range for a Str archer with a 2-hand sword. The problems with hybrids are caused by the class primary skills (Int, Str, and Dex) not being important enough to the stats that matter for the class, by gear contributing too much to skills, and by skills gaining strength from things that don't make sense.

[Obliteration]

How about you guys stop bitching a rerole if you think hybrids are so overpowered. I deleted my bird for a bowbear. The devs like to see us customize. If they stop hybrids I and many other will be pissed.

[Silentreaper]

OKAY, personally, i think i hav an idea of what the devs were doing. I'm thinking that since they released AO in part 1 first, with the equipment they did. Maybe their whole plan was to try and get more players to try our hybrids, as many of you have probably seen, some of the AO2 stuff that dropped. I think that stuff will be aimed towards making pures. EG. the Isis gear, mainly being str based will make people want to go back to using str bear tanks as with the extra h/s will make them again truely hard to defeat. Some of the others like sniper horus for archers will GREATLY effect their crit rates which will make them want to go back to ranged. Same thing goes with the mages. Again, im thinking their plan was to get people thinking about different ways to personalize and customize their builds, i think the game will become more intense once the new AO2 gear comes out with everyone changing between a million different specs. itll truely bring out all the many types of players and challenges.

Just what i thinking.

[Izbar]

They have said it a few times that they (the Devs) "encourage hybrids" AO was just really strange because the best mage gear is strength gear with out a question. None of the Int gear makes any sense wearing and the new strength gear out weighs any swamp gear AO gear combination. I'm not complaining here, im playing a palli now and i think its pretty sweet its just been really strange how the gear worked out in AO.

[Interim7]

Hm.

In good ol' Dungeons and Dragons, classes are designed to fit certain roles. Unmodified, these classes fill these roles perfectly. The wizards and sorcerors cast magic spells. The fighter and barbarians fight. The rangers shoot stuff. The rogues pick locks. Thing is, though, is that these classes are the best at doing these things. No other class can do these particular things as well as the basic, pure classes can.

Of course, though, Dungeons and Dragons is also centered around hybridism. Your wizard can wield a sword professionally, and your rangers can pick locks and cast massive spells, so long as you've built them to be able to do so.

Problem is, in Dungeons and Dragons, there is a tradeoff for this hybridisation. A wizard that can wield a sword well cannot cast spells as much or as proficiently. A rogue that is dedicated to witchcraft may find that his lockpick fails from time to time.

...what I'm saying is this. Pure classes should be the BEST at what they do. Archers should be the gods of ranged damage. INT-Enchantresses should be the goddesses of magic-based attacks. STR-Warriors should be like Thor himself. Any hybridisation should be in play only to bend your character around an alternate role in play. They should not be more comfortable to play as than their pure counterparts, in fact, they should require more skill to master.

The fact that well-muscled bears are the most feared archers in all Alterra is a little silly, in my honest opinion.

[Elffy]

All of the threads that have been dedicated to this topic that have been made I'm sure has caught the devs eyes and I'm sure they are working on a solution to address this problem

[bmc85uk]

I agree with Royce on this one, a boost to pure classes is needed because it really doesn't make sense to play them right now, and that shouldn't depend on gear.

I'm all for hybrids, I play them in most rpg's when given the option, but to the exclusion of pure alternatives, being equally as good in one aspect and far worse in all the others?

That is clearly unbalanced, I'd still play a hybrid if they were evenly matched, but as far as I'm concerned I'd rather skip easy street and try and make an impression with something nobody cares to use.

[King Richie]

Won't work .. Will cause overpowerdness among the pures and will also cause hybrids to complain about being left out !!

[bmc85uk]

The way I see it, there needs to be an advantage to going pure, the advantage of a hybrid is that you get benefits from each source class, but as it stands, you end up getting equal benefits, a str ench for example only loses out on what equates to be a fraction of mana pool and a fraction of mana regen compared to the potential bonus from gear.

While skill effects are fixed to the skill level with no bonus (afaik) from stats, a hybrids skills are just as strong despite ignoring that races 'primary' attribute. I'd love to play a 'paladin' but not one that runs around healing, buffing and AE nuking as good as a pure enchantress.

Sure a rebalance would most likely be a bit iffy at first, but if you do something about it you can tweak it, it can be done well enough that it evens out, otherwise if you ignore it you've basically got an obsolete class, nobody likes being nerfed, but you have to admit, if the game is balanced to be a challenge for strong hybrids, it then becomes unplayable by weaker pure classes.

[Splurd]

How about you guys stop bitching a rerole if you think hybrids are so overpowered. I deleted my bird for a bowbear. The devs like to see us customize. If they stop hybrids I and many other will be pissed.

Oh yes, lets ignore the broken system and all hop on the imbalanced bandwagon.

That makes perfect logic.

its like if blast shot did 10000dmg, and everyone complained about it. And the only reply was "stop your bitching and make a archer if you think they are so powerful"

The game is about balance. And right now, it is not balanced. bow bears are far superior to archers.

[Royce]

While skill effects are fixed to the skill level with no bonus (afaik) from stats, a hybrids skills are just as strong despite ignoring that races 'primary' attribute. I'd love to play a 'paladin' but not one that runs around healing, buffing and AE nuking as good as a pure enchantress.

Unfortunately, stats do affect skill effectiveness, and the wrong stats in many cases. Enchantress skills are powered by damage and in PvP where crits win the day, dex is a spellcasters best friend. This is why the damage a pure enchantress can do is actually much less than what a paladin with higher str and dex can do. Currently paladins have better armor, stronger spells, much higher mana regen, higher attack, and only minimally reduced mana pool. This is why I say the problems are that gear plays to big a role in stats like regen, and skills like mage spells should be powered by int/mana not by str and dex as they currently are.