Adding depth to the musketeer class

[Rem_D]

I am not very experienced with musketeer, but when I tried it I thought it was a little boring after a while. Grab an orb and shoot. Repeat. So here are some thoughts:

1. Be able to combine two different orbs into your gun to get a new, unique or more powerful effect. Now the musketeer has to learn which combinations produce what, and then do it. This may not go well with having only 4 orbs on the equip bar, or maybe it will help add more depth to the decision of which orbs to equip. I would appreciate comments from more experienced musketeers on this.

2. Be able to craft orbs. So far I think crafting has some real potential in Orbus and I love the idea of being able to tie it in with your class. The musketeer class would be perfect for this. Go to your house, throw some herbs and eyes in your cauldron and -Voila!- a new orb you never had before. Or maybe a more powerful orb of one you already have. Then perhaps tie this in with my first idea, and mix this new orb with another to blow your enemies out of the water.

However, potential issues I foresee include:

a) if orbs are crafted, how many do you have? Infinite? Or does crafting create a batch of, say, 20? Having a finite number of orbs that can be consumed could be very bad for a musketeer. I think there should be a set of starting orbs that are infinite so that you always have something, and then the more powerful/unique ones should be crafted in batches.

b) What if the player doesn’t like crafting but loves the musketeer class? I want my ideas to make the musketeer class more enjoyable, but this idea might ruin the musketeer class for some players. In this case, this issue might help cultivate a better community of people where players who love crafting can create orbs and then sell/trade them to musketeers. Similarly, an NPC could sell orbs.

c) This makes the musketeer class the most expensive class. All other classes relies on learning the combo/rune etc. and don’t require resources. If you don’t want to craft orbs, then buying orbs obviously uses currency. One solution to this would be to make the crafted orbs infinite rather than in batches, but then you lose that little bit of depth and you still have to craft it at least once. Not the best solution imo. Another solution is that you can sell crafting resources (eyes, feathers etc) and then use that dram to buy the orbs. So that would help balance out the expenses.

I would love to hear what you all think. Again, I’m not very experienced with musketeer so perhaps some of you will see pros and cons that I may have missed.

Thanks for reading!

[Pix]

Just load and shoot.
That’s it, kinda.

But there is so much to it.
Saying you’re running a Dungeon with 4 or more people - which 4 Orbs do you equip?
Where do you stand, who do you heal and when?
Is the tank poisoned and need a decurse? Is anyone in AOE range and needs a shield? All players heavily hurt? Risk to sacrifice the turret to heal all players with the instant healing orb? and and and, honestly i think there is so much to it already that i think it works just fine right now.
Even though i need to give you credit for thinking about new orbs.
The crafting aspect sound interesting, i’d love to see new orbs at sometime.

[Alex_F]

I agree the musketeer class is more complex than it seems but i feel like the cooldown time of the orbs should be longer. The reason for that is that a lot of players just spam their orbs without thinking before. If the cooldown time would be longer you have to think more and at the same time player will use the firing option more.

[Decoy]

Spamming orbs has its purpose though, not only do you need to judge which orbs you are going to need when you need them but which you don’t need yet and can use in that spam fashion to increase the rate of your super charge. Depending on the fight you can have your super 3-4 times and be ready for dire situations when they occur.

[Alex_F]

I see. I still feel like this class is lacking something.

[Decoy]

Perhaps maxing your set, not many muskies have done tile sets because it’s a dps aspect but working on creating a rotation to maximize yourself would keep you engaged. Also you can work on shooting your turret with an orb strictly to maximize its use before tossing out another. Mostly unnecessary but there are always ways to improve as a musketeer

[Alex_F]

Are you talking about the artifing? I feel like this class needs more out of combat features. Like the mages who have light and firework spells. It also needs a bigger background story. Which answers the questions what a turret is and how it was created and who invented it.

[Decoy]

Artificing yes, I was just saying that there’s more to the current combat features and other ways to capitalize on them. Finding new ways to use the orbs at your disposal.
I will admit the turret does have me curious on its origins and all that so I agree that would be nice.

[Alex_F]

I hope they awnser those questions one day.

I totally agree that they should change artificing. I actually don’t understand artificing to that. Artificing should much rather be forging (what blacksmiths do). Instead of only forging swords, he should forge turrets, bows and arrows, shields and swords. He should be able to change the weight, dps, dmg, speed and (size).

[Kala]

I like the idea of a pre-prep class in a future expansion but not rolling it into musketeer. Musketeer can be a really boring solo but is insane fun in a group. It’s practically a party management class.

When playing with a group in a dungeon, I have to watch not only my own health but those of all my party members. I have to decide which healing orb they’d must benefit from, a renew or a cure wounds or a lifewell or a shield etc. When deciding to heal a party member I have the option of firing from far away and possibly missing or jumping right into the fight right next to them and firing it into the ground or mob for a sureshot with the AoE before bouncing out. I think there’s a lot of depth to this class when you play in groups.

I think the main concerns for this class are that Artificing is not particularly useful for a musketeer and the lack of reasons to use frost, gravity or weakness orb.

[Alex_F]

I wouldn’t worry about specific orbs right now because they will add a talent system. I was thinking of the artificing still as a gathering discipline. I wouldn’t like it neither mixed together with the musketeer class.
If that’s the case than they should make Solo playing more interesting. Anyway let’s just wait and see what the talent system will add or change.

[Nicholas_B2]

To respond to Rem_D. I think you are onto something. My thoughts are what if we could craft a 5th bullet that has it’s own permanent slot and would revolve around the gun just like the other 4 (Total of 5 revolving bullets now). This crafted bullet would have to be done at home and would have infinite ammo but a timer. the side effect of this would be that you would have to have forethought. Are you about to solo, duo, pvp, or group dungeon?

Example: So using the current gatherable materials mixed such as lesser eye, queens ear, and a giant spell makes a bullet that does an area effect damage or something of that nature.

This gives more depth, more uses for mats, and more crafting to enjoy learning. Best thing is 90% of the mechanics are already there… They just need rearranged slightly. No major rework

[fireknight]

got to watch doing anything bad to the ONLY healer lol , do you want them to end up like tanks? none around.

[sean_d]

Squall here. Speaking as a musketeer main, I can honestly say our class is nearly perfect as is. Weakness orb could use a buff and possibly frost orb too. What we are lacking however is a resurrect ability(if I were to guess, we will see this when the talent system drops) it’s the least physically demanding class, easiest to learn, and can pretty much always find a spot in a group. I do like your ideas though. I just think musk is probably the most balanced class in orbus currently.