Skill types

Alpha-2 Ranger skill tree user interface.

What you're seeing at a high level here is just what you'd pretty much expect of a traditional skill. We're doing something a little more advanced than just like a bottom up structure, because we're being a little bit more free-form in this iteration. This will obviously see more UI iterations in the future, but you'll see a mix of active and passive abilities here. Actives are indicated by their square shape, while the circular ones are representing passives; and one thing to note as well is that these passives are aiming to be a little more interesting than just like, this ability does more damage now, or it has a lower cooldown. We do have some of those too, but the goal with a lot of these passives in addition to that is to allow people to lean into unique play styles. So you'll notice that some of them are are changing your gameplay in meaningful ways; and that's the direction we want to take um player and character customization as a whole. – Tradd Thompson

Players receive skill points at specific points as they level. These can be used to level up skills (increase their rank) within their active, passive or combat/weapon skill trees.

Making active skills capable of receiving additional skill point allocations and unlocking additional features so that from a player agency standpoint it's going to be up to you whether or not you want to be more diverse but less depth- wider and not taller, in some of these skill choices. Or if you want to be very very tall, that's going to be something that is up to the player in that regard. – Steven Sharif

• Skill points will accrue at specific XP milestones, such as 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 progress through the level, so as to avoid creating an imbalance with experience debt.

We do have this concept of experience debt that does accrue and we don't want to create an imbalance between skill points acquired versus experience, so we're going to predicate your skill points acquisition based on benchmarks you reach when leveling through a level. So these are going to be at specific points in the level, like one quarter progress, to half progress, to three quarters progress: you're going to get an influx of skill points and then you'll be able to allocate them into your skill tree. – Steven Sharif

• Skill points can be used to unlock universal skills at the expense of unlocking class-specific skills.

• Respeccing (resetting and reallocating) adventuring skills may require travelling to a specific location rather than being able to be done on-the-fly.

• Augments do not cost skill points. It was previously stated that certain augments will have more expense required on the skill point side.

Sommige van de volgende informatie is niet recentelijk bevestigd door de ontwikkelaars en staat mogelijk niet op de huidige ontwikkelingsroutekaart.

• It will not be possible to max all skills in a skill tree.
• In terms of skill progression, players can choose to go "wide" and get a number of different abilities, or go "deep" into a few specific abilities.

Primary skills

Alpha-1 preview primary skills.

If from the eight archetypes whatever you choose as your secondary, you're going to receive a choice of augments that relate to some core ideal of that class. You know like a tank is about controlling the battlefield, is about surviving. The mage is about dealing damage and elements and ability in AoEs. The rogue is going to be about stealth and critical damage. So those augments are going to to play towards those identities. – Steven Sharif

The idea behind the system is that you're skirting the line through these augmentations of your role, right. We have the traditional holy trinity that's present in class designs for MMOs and it's often that those either are not deviated at all or completely deviated from entirely. The augment is to offer a balance between that where you still maintain the semblance of that trinity system while offering the opportunity to customize your play experience towards one of the other angles in the triangle. – Steven Sharif

Primary skills (class abilities) are based on a player's archetype.

• A player may choose a secondary archetype when they reach level 25. The player can then augment their primary skills with effects from their secondary archetype.

• Outside of class-specific skills there may be a subset of universal skills, such as active block and dodge.
• Class skills are not affected by the type of weapon that is equipped.

• Primary skills in Alpha-2 are expected to be very different to those in Alpha-1.

Weapon skills

Alpha-2 work-in-progress Greatsword weapon skill tree.

The intent here is to give you choices. Either I want to extend and improve my combo, or I want just passive benefits that increase my attack speed or crit chance. – Brian Ferguson

Weapon skills grant passive skills and proc effects and other status conditions rather than usable skills on a player's action bar. The more skill points that are allocated to the weapon tree, the greater a player's weapon familiarity. This influences things like the number of attacks, attack speed, and increased chances of proc effects from carrying out basic attacks with that weapon. These procs may offer synergy with the player's active skills. This synergy also applies to active skills from other characters.

Weapon skill trees are skill trees that you can unlock and invest points into as you continue to develop your experience with certain weapon types, certain weapon groups, like a dagger; and when you're doing your basic combo attack with those weapons, which is universal for all classes- anybody can use any type of weapon because stats can be changed on these weapon types through crafting and through drops- there will be certain proc effects that live on the weapon skill tree as you advance in them; and those proc effect effects will be able to interact with your archetype skills because they will have promotion type effects that occur when they synergize with one another. – Steven Sharif

• The weapon combo system determines special effects that proc based on weapon progression.
  • These procs may reduce or reset cooldowns on other skills on the player's hotbar.
  • Certain rotations can ensure the best chance of triggering a weapon proc, but there is no reliable way to ensure that proc activates.
  • Weapon progression such as set bonuses may change at what level any proc effects occur.

Our approach is not going to be providing skills through weapons. It's going to be providing skills through classes. – Steven Sharif

• Players can spec into weapon skills on their weapon skill tree (also referred to as Combat skills, and Combat tree) based on their preferred weapon types and the grade of the weapon.
  • Dual wielded weapons count as a single weapon type on the weapon skill tree.

Let's say a dagger has some slashing effects that bleed the target or that cripple the target... Every time you attack you have a chance to proc that effect. That effect then can synergize with what your active skills tree has available to it. So let's say your backstab deals 30 additional damage to a bleeding target. If you attack with your main weapon first and the target gets the bleed proc off and you do your backstab skill then you're synergizing your effects. – Steven Sharif

Let's say backstab that you can apply to deals damage to the target and it'll have a conditional modifier on that damage if you're behind the target, and it'll have a conditional modifier deal additional 50 damage if the target is under a bleed effect. So you want to synergize essentially your weapon proc conditions with your active skills so that you're timing your certain active skills appropriately with the status conditions that the target has taken. – Steven Sharif

• Certain higher-end weapons (and Armor) have active abilities, but the intention is that these abilities will not radically redefine the way an archetype is played.

Passive skills

Passive skills are used to augment weapon usage, armor usage, health regeneration, and passive stats.

• Passive skills can be levelled up by allocating skill points on the skills UI.
• Passive skills enable players to work toward mastery of a weapon.
• Passive skills are based on the player's choice of primary archetype.
  • Some passives may be introduced with the choice of secondary archetype, but this hasn't been finalized yet.

All these passive abilities: mana regen, attack damage, critical hit damage, health regeneration, defense mitigation, maximum health: A lot of different changes from the passive side of things and these are based on what archetype you've chosen. – Steven Sharif

Skill	Icon	Origin	Description
Act of War		Fighter	Switching forms no longer triggers cooldowns or costs Combat Momentum.
Blade Twist		Greatsword	Adds Wound to Greatsword Combo finishers and Extended Finishers.
Brutality		Fighter	Weapon combo finishers and extended finishers apply 5 Wound stacks, plus an additional Wound for every 10 stacks already on the target. Each wound stack reduces target healing received by 0.5% and target damage mitigation by 0.15%, up to a maximum of 100 stacks.
Burning Blade		Greatsword	Add Burning to Greatsword Combo finishers and Extended Finishers.
Caravan Trail Speed Bonus		Caravan	Minor speed boost for travelling on a simple trail.
Climactic Whirlwind		Fighter	Perform a final swing in an area in front of you after ending Whirlwind's channel, dealing heavy damage and generating 5-10 Combat Momentum based on number of targets hit.
Consuming Lethal Blow		Fighter	Lethal Blow returns 50% of overkill damage dealt as health and mana.
Extended Duration I		Greatsword	Extends the duration of the Second Strike and Perfect Timing proc effects by 2.5 seconds.
Extended Duration II		Greatsword	Extends the duration of the Second Strike and Perfect Timing proc effects by 2.5 seconds.
Extended Duration III		Greatsword	Extends the duration of the Second Strike and Perfect Timing proc effects by 2.5 seconds.
Extra Stacks I		Greatsword	Second Strike and Perfect Timing now stack up to 2 times.
Greater Brutality		Fighter	Overpower and Brutal Cleave apply 10 Wound stacks to enemies hit.
Greatsword Hit 3+		Greatsword	Weapon Combo Finisher. Greatsword Hit 3+ Unlocked. Has 25% chance to proc. Increased damage.
Greatsword Hit 3+: Extra Damage I		Greatsword	Increases the damage of Greatsword Hit 3+ by 10%.
Greatsword Hit 3+: Extra Damage II		Greatsword	Increases the damage of Greatsword Hit 3+ by 10%.
Greatsword Hit 3+: Extra Damage III		Greatsword	Increases the damage of Greatsword Hit 3+ by 10%.
Greatsword Hit 4		Greatsword	Weapon Combo Extended Finisher. Greatsword Hit 4 Unlocked. Increased damage.
Greatsword Hit 4+		Greatsword	Weapon Combo Extended Finisher. Greatsword Hit 4+ Unlocked. 25% chance to proc. Increased damage.
Greatsword Hit 4+: Extra Damage I		Greatsword	Increases the damage of Greatsword Hit 4 by 10%.
Greatsword Hit 4+: Extra Damage II		Greatsword	Increases the damage of Greatsword Hit 4 by 10%.
Greatsword Hit 4+: Extra Damage III		Greatsword	Increases the damage of Greatsword Hit 4 by 10%.
Greatsword Hit 4: Extra Damage I		Greatsword	Increases the damage of Greatsword Hit 4 by 10%.
Greatsword Hit 4: Extra Damage II		Greatsword	Increases the damage of Greatsword Hit 4 by 10%.
Greatsword Hit 4: Extra Damage III		Greatsword	Increases the damage of Greatsword Hit 4 by 10%.
Guard		Greatsword	Your abilities have a 30% chance to proc Guard. Guard: Your next weapon combo finisher grants 6 seconds of temporary health equal to 1-3% of your maximum health.
Keen Edge		Greatsword	Your abilities have a 30% chance to proc Keen Edge. Keen Edge: Your next weapon combo finisher has +100% chance to critically hit.
Meditative Form of the River		Fighter	Form of the River increases your mana regeneration by 0.01% of your maximum mana per point of Combat Momentum you have.
Overdrive		Fighter	After completing the final spin, you may continue spinning at maximum speed while rapidly depleting your Momentum. Ends after Momentum is fully depleted or after stopping the channel.
Perfect Timing		Greatsword	Adds the Perfect Timing proc to Greatsword Combo Finisher Procs & Extended Finisher Procs: Perfect Timing Reduces the Cooldown of the next ability you cast by 5 seconds.
Potency I		Greatsword	Second Strike - Increases the damage of the Second Strike Proc by 25%. Perfect Timing - Increases the cooldown reset by 1 second.
Potency III		Greatsword	Second Strike - Increases the damage of the Second Strike Proc by 25%. Perfect Timing - Increases the cooldown reset by 1 second.
Raging Blitz		Fighter	Blitz generates 20 Combat Momentum.
Recharging Lunging Assault		Fighter	Lunging Assault gains an additional charge and generates 5 additional Combat Momentum when dealing damage to one or more enemies.
Refreshing Followthrough		Greatsword	Your abilities have a 30% chance to proc Refreshing Followthrough. Refreshing Followthrough: Your next weapon combo finisher restores 3-5% of your maximum mana.
Reinvigorating Exert		Fighter	Exert additionally refreshes all ability cooldowns by 1% per point of Combat Momentum the caster has upon activation.
Reinvigorating Lethal Blow		Fighter	Killing an enemy with Lethal Blow resets the cooldown of Blitz.
Relentless Form of the Avalanche		Fighter	Form of the Avalanche causes your weapon combo attacks to apply 3 stacks of Staggered to enemies hit, plus 1 additional stack per 30 Combat Momentum you have. Staggered reduces physical accuracy by 0.1% per stack and physical disable reduction by 1% per stack.
Second Strike		Greatsword	Adds Second Strike proc to Greatsword Combo Finisher Procs & Extended Finisher Procs: Second Strike When you strike a target for physical damage with an ability, it gets struck again.
Slicing Maim		Fighter	Maim launches a piercing projectile that deals damage to enemies in its path.
Swordmaster: Consistent I		Greatsword	Adds Swordmaster: Swiftness - Increases effect duration by 0.5s. Swordmaster: Endurance - Increases minimum possible health restored by 0.5% Max HP.
Swordmaster: Consistent II		Greatsword	Adds Swordmaster: Swiftness - Increases effect duration by 0.5s. Swordmaster: Endurance - Increases minimum health restored by 0.5% Max HP.
Swordmaster: Endurance		Greatsword	Adds Swordmaster: Endurance proc to Greatsword Combo Finisher Procs & Extended Finisher Procs: 25% chance to recover 2-4% of your maximum health.
Swordmaster: Potential I		Greatsword	Adds Swordmaster: Swiftness - +5% Attack speed from effect. Swordmaster: Endurance - Increases maximum possible health restored by 1% Max HP.
Swordmaster: Proc Rate I		Greatsword	Increases all Swordmaster effect proc rates by 25%.
Swordmaster: Proc Rate II		Greatsword	Increases all Swordmaster effect proc rates by 25%.
Swordmaster: Proc Rate III		Greatsword	Increases all Swordmaster effect proc rates by 25%.
Swordmaster: Swiftness		Greatsword	Adds Swordmaster: Swiftness proc to Greatsword Combo Finisher Procs & Extended Finisher Procs: 25% chance to gain 25% attack speed for 1.5 seconds. Stack up to 2 times.
Unstoppable Exert		Fighter	Exert additionally breaks all hard control effects on the caster, and may be used any time while under a hard controlling effect.
Weapon Mastery: Bows		Bow	Lowers the Cooldown of Barrage and Scatter Shot by 3s upon: Completion of a bow weapon combo; Firing a fully charged Longbow.
Weapon Proficiency IX		Greatsword	Increased Attack Speed by 1%.
Weapon Training: Deflection		Greatsword	Increases your Evasion by 0.5%.
Weapon Training: Followthrough		Greatsword	Increases your Mitigation Penetration by 0.5%.
Weapon Training: Power		Greatsword	Increases your Critical Damage by 0.5%.
Weapon Training: Precision		Greatsword	Increases your Accuracy by 0.5%.

Universal skills

Universal skills, such as active blocking and dodge rolling, are able to be unlocked by all archetypes.

Outside of your class-specific skill tree, there's going to be a subsection of a few skills that are universal, like active block, like dodge; and I think what we're going to do- or at least what we're going to be discussing here- is those universal skills will have progressions that might align with your passive tree; and you can spec skill points into progressing additional features of those universal abilities that you will have access to. So I think that's probably going to be the direction that we're going to take. – Steven Sharif

• Skill points can be used to unlock universal skills at the expense of unlocking class-specific skills.

Q: Will each archetype be equally efficient with universal skills, like dodging and active blocking, or will each of them have their own versions and flavors, or will some people be more powerful than others?

A: We want to provide a progression path that's shared for those universal skills across all the archetypes. So when you spend skill points, you can choose to spend them within the universal skill set and unlock particular ability types for the universal skills as well, but you will be spending them from the skill points that you would normally spend within your class-specific skill tree; and this offers again a different wheel of customization that I think is interesting. – Steven Sharif

• The developers will be testing the use of separate energy mechanics for universal skills in Alpha-2.
• Universal skill progression may align with a player's passive skill tree.

Utility skills

Alpha-2 Ranger Camouflage skill.

We have what are called utility skills and a lot of MMORPGS really only focus on active combat skills, but some of the favorite things that I've had as a gamer is tabletop RPGs like Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragons, and there are skills in those games that are relevant to either your environment or the quest line; and they're a little bit sometimes "story mode". – Steven Sharif

A utility skill is a typically non-combat skill that interacts with the environment and offers counters and horizontal progression against other archetype abilities. Utility skills lend themselves toward how classes navigate and deal with hazards in the world.

When we think about utilities, some of the examples of those utilities might be a Rogue has invisibility. How do you address invisibility? Well, a Ranger might have a utility ability that spawns a Hound that trails invisible targets within an AoE radius of the Ranger and you get that location. Whereas, a Mage might have an Arcane Eye that actually reveals them to the party of the raid. Those are the types of utility skills that we want to create. They offer counters and horizontal progression against the other archetype abilities. – Steven Sharif

• Classes will have different utility abilities, such as detecting traps and other hazards. For example: The Mage's detection spell casts light and reveals magical explosive hazards.
  • Certain classes are able to climb/parkour in certain areas. This is not a free-form ability. It will likely be restricted to certain quests, locations or objects.
  • Certain classes (such as Rogues) will have stealth abilities.

Q: What kind and how many special or unique activities can we expect classes to perform outside of combat, such as rogue's opening locks, tracking enemies as a ranger, or removing corruption from the ground as a cleric?

A: Just thirty minutes ago I was talking about those utility abilities like finding tracks, or cleansing poisons, arcane eye to reveal secret passages. The idea is how do we blend the traditional tabletop RPG role of utility and/or skill checks into the setting of a graphical MMORPG; and I think that it's both a complement of the skill kit that's available and how it interacts with the world for those curated or special designs within these locations. So to answer that question: that is intended- we've shown a little bit of that in the past and it is something that we want to make feel compelling and rewarding and viable as a use-case scenario in many different settings that you might find yourself in within the world. – Steven Sharif

• All classes will have maneuverability/traversal utility abilities.
• Utility skills exist that can help players discover hidden paths and entrances and may lead to discovering hidden quests while exploring.
• Certain objects exist in the world (such as ladders and slides) that aid player mobility.

We don't just have the approach of your class being reflected in your combat abilities but also there are utility abilities that certain classes have that other classes don't have. – Steven Sharif

Sommige van de volgende informatie is niet recentelijk bevestigd door de ontwikkelaars en staat mogelijk niet op de huidige ontwikkelingsroutekaart.

• There will be a grappling hook utility skill or item.
• Rogues may also have a spyglass utility skill.

List of utility skills

Skill	Icon	Origin	Description
Arcane Eye		Mage	Conjure a magical eye that reveals any camouflaged enemies within a 20 meter radius around you to you and all party members over the next 8 seconds.
Blink		Mage	Instantly teleport a set distance in the direction you are moving.
Camouflage		Ranger}	You become harder to see and cannot be directly targeted. The further you are from an enemy, the more difficult you are to spot. Any outgoing combat actions cancel this effect, as well as incoming damage or other negative effects.}
Collect Cargo		Caravan	Pick up cargo nearest the mouse location and add them to your caravan's storage if there's enough room.
Convert to Caravan		Caravan	Allows the raft caravan to turn into a vehicle that can traverse land.[ citaat nodig ]
Convert to Raft		Caravan	Allows the caravan to turn into a vehicle that can cross calm waters.
Family summon		[[]]	Long duration cast (30 seconds to a minute) with an approximate 30 minute cooldown that slowly summons each of your family members to your location (up to eight members). Players cannot be summoned in the following cases: While in combat, if they are corrupted, or if they are engaged in an event, such as node wars, guild wars, sieges, arenas or participation in the caravan system. If they have mats, gatherables or certs in their inventory. This will be tested in Alpha-2.
Pathfinding		Bounty hunter	Reveals corrupted player locations on the bounty hunter's map. Activating this ability will flag the bounty hunter for combat only to corrupted players for a period of one hour from the time of activation. The pathfinding ability can be toggled on or off.
Shell		Mage	Create a protective magical shell around yourself that absorbs a large amount of damage before breaking.
Stealth		Rogue	This does not render a player completely invisible. Instead, there will be indicators that can help players "feel out" where stealthed individuals may be.

Ultimate skill

Sommige van de volgende informatie is niet recentelijk bevestigd door de ontwikkelaars en staat mogelijk niet op de huidige ontwikkelingsroutekaart.

Ultimate skills are very powerful skills that can be used when enough focus has been accumulated from using the Weapon combo system.

- None -

Zie ook

• Classes
• Combat