Feedback on New Light Spell

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This looks really really cool, I’m extremely excited to discover more non-combat spells that do a variety of things in the environment!

A couple quick thoughts/questions!

In terms of lighting, this does seem functionally similar to the fireball spell, in that it works while active and then is gone quickly, which means it’s not really persistent, particularly for combat, which is when it’s often needed most. In running the dungeon, I found myself grabbing a torch from the entrance and dropping it on the ground whenever combat would start, so we’d have some persistent lighting in our combat vicinity. Is there any notion of additional tiers of the light spell that are longer lasting? Whether that be a floating orb above your head, or a projectile that explodes into semi-persistent fragments upon impact with a surface, general persistent ambient background light, etc?

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

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It looks cool, but I think a more practical way of keeping the light would just be allowing it to glow wherever it lands. So if you shoot it at a wall, now you have a constant glow coming from the wall.

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This is probably how it’s going to work. Although unlike a torch it will eventually go out, but it will last long enough for a fight or two.

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It would be neat to be able to pair it with a ranger to get a Torch Arrow that would last 2x as long as the torch itself. Dunno if that would be possible or not…

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Personally I like the fact that the Runemage has the most versatility (yes as someone who plays mainly runemage I’m biased). Runemages are magicians, who should be able to do anything you can do with magic, at any point. It’s magic.

I think it’s important that we don’t try and instil the same abilities on to the other classes. Otherwise the musketeer will have 20 orbs that can float around, the ranger will have a dozen different arrows they need to learn etc. It simply doesn’t make sense for everyone to be able to do everything.

This being said I would love to see special interactions with all of the abilities. What if the Rain of Fire arrow could be picked up, scraped across the wall (to light it) and then used as a torch. The point is, I don’t think they should add in tons of abilities for all the classes to match the runemage, just make the abilities there are more versatile so they can be used in a number of ways.

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"Personally I like the fact that the Runemage has the most versatility… Runemages are magicians, who should be able to do anything you can do with magic, at any point. It’s magic.

I think it’s important that we don’t try and instill the same abilities on to the other classes. Otherwise the musketeer will have 20 orbs that can float around, the ranger will have a dozen different arrows they need to learn etc. It simply doesn’t make sense for everyone to be able to do everything."

I both agree and disagree with you on this. In reality, everyone IS able to do everything, they are just bound by what weapon they are currently holding. This is something that sets OrbusVR apart from other MMOs. A “Warrior” class character in WoW can’t cast a single spell. But if a warrior in Orbus puts away his sword and picks up a wand, he can cast any spell he knows the basic runes for. In my mind, this essentially means that every character is a magic adept, all are magicians. A Runemage requires a wand to do their magic. A Musketeer requires a gun. The wand and the gun/bow/shield/sword are the vessels through which the character is able to channel their magic ability. When a warrior taunts an enemy to gain aggro, is he just yelling at the monster to get its attention, or is he essentially casting a mind control spell that commands that monster to pay attention.

When you say that the Runemage has the most versatility and should be able to do anything with magic, that makes every other class seem like second-class citizens. It if were true, a Runemage could simply summon a sword and heavy armor and function as a Warrior. I do think it is important to separate the class abilities, but I also think it is important keep the Runemage from being the most versatile just “because they can use magic”. Without a wand, a Runemage is unable to perform any magic at all.

Following what I read about the first Alpha playtest, I was actually worried about this. It seemed like the Warrior especially was a boring class. The Runemage has 30+ spells to learn and perform. The Ranger has different arrow types and other abilities. The Musketeer has their different Orbs and Turrents. The Warrior gets to swing a sword and teleport around slamming his shield into the ground and into monsters to protect the other players. The only way to modify the damage done is to swing the sword further on each strike. Seems like every other class gets much more dynamic gameplay.

However, given that Riley has stated that they are planning a full rework for each of the other classes in future Alpha tests that the Runemage just received, I am hopeful that the Warrior will get some more dynamic gameplay options. I’m personally hoping that warriors receive the ability to do “flourishes”, almost like drawing their own melee combat runes, but with a sword instead of a wand. Maybe swinging the sword around your head charges magic energy to imbue your next strike with more damage. Banging your sword into your shield imbues your next strike with extra threat. Stabbing your sword into the ground gives it Earth Elemental damage, while stabbing the sky imbues your sword with lightening. Button presses would likely be required to make these flourishes intentional and distinct from random flailing, but I feel like the potential is there to turn the warrior into something more than a teleporting shield and threat holder for the other classes.

I have no idea if my “everyone is actually doing magic” theory fits with the official lore planned for Orbus VR, but it is what makes the most sense to me and the direction that I hope the development is moving.

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We are going to be re-working the other classes so I would hold off judgement until that happens.

That said, some part of this is about gameplay mechanics (e.g. what role does the class play in the group? How do we want the class to ‘feel’ while you play it?) and some of it is about class flavor (e.g. where does it fit into the lore of the world? What is the ‘identity’ of the class in relation to the other classes?)

There are so many spectrums to consider all of this on I’m not sure if I can even sum it up in a single response.

Take the Runemage. Yes, it does have a ton of spells and abilities to choose from at any moment. But in some ways that’s a burden on the player, because it’s like walking into battle with 15 different weapons and constantly needing to pick exactly the right one to use in the situation to get the best result. Could you just cast Fireball Lvl 1 over and over again? Yes, but you if you do that a Ranger is going to out-damage you. Runemage has a high skill ceiling when it comes to in-battle decision making and also when it comes to mechanically playing the class due to the rune drawing.

Now consider the Warrior. Their toolset is definitely going to be expanded beyond just “swing a sword”. But I wouldn’t expect them to have like 20 different abilities to choose from at any given moment like the Runemage. Rather, they have to be much more aware of the battlefield and what’s going on around them. Keep in mind that you guys are all experiencing the “beginner” content right now. Wait until you’re in a Level 20 dungeon and there is a boss, 6 adds, plus a fight-specific mechanic that all need to be handled correctly by the tank or it’s a wipe. In addition to that, the Warrior will have other considerations in terms of preparation and making sure they are well-armored and have the correct potions and buffs available for the fight. They’ll also be expected to move around the battlefield more frequently to defend their allies. So it’s like, a Runemage is going to be in one spot going “hmmm…which of my 20 different spells do I use to solve the puzzle that is this fight?”, whereas a Warrior is going to flying past them with a shield trying to keep them alive for them to solve the puzzle. It’s just a different type of gameplay.

And I think that’s important to keep in mind. We want every class to have deep, meaningful gameplay in their specific role. But the point of every class is not to “have a trick up their sleeve for every situation”, or “have interesting gameplay when doing damage to a single target.” Rather, the classes will (hopefully, if we do our jobs right) each have their own totally different ‘feel’ to them when you play them. I see the Warrior as being pretty easy to get started with, but the difference between a Master Warrior that’s doing end-game content and a beginning Warrior who can tank the current Level 8 dungeon is going to be night and day.

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