Partially inspired by Mek's post about his thoughts on individual classes and because I'm tired of seeing threads I don't want to read about ABS and Cabdru and how someone felt screwed over six years ago for being annoying or whatever.

I love empowerment classes. The overhaul to paladins was awsome and well done. So I'll leave them alone.

The change to healers went in right at the end of the only one I'll ever play so I can't really comment on it. Not a class I'll probably ever play again so I'm not going to suggest anything for it.

Shaman are a great class, very inuitive, with the tools to fight almost any race/class combo in the game. Capable of taking on groups solo and they become down right nasty in a group. The class abilities aren't what I have issue with it is how bland it is to play them. It could be that I've had a few but god they really don't feel like there is any inherent flavor in the class.

Druids are also a great class. The most fragile of all the empowerment classes but also able to dish out probably more damage than any of the others. The amount of utility in the class is amazing and the actual mechanics of the class are fun to figure out. Like shamans, I wouldn't mess with their actual class abilities.

I recently stepped outside my comfort zone and played a necro. Which is where all this is coming from. The ambient echos that go with the class abilities made playing a necro so much fun. Having newbies stop in their tracks at the echos from "speak with dead" was its own kind of fun. While I don't think shaman/druids need an overhaul, some more window dressing would make them amazingly fun and they deserve it. Empowerment classes are held to higher standard and are not a gimme to play. As someone who probably plays too many empowerment chars I would love it if people would reply and give any ideas they've had for echos that could go with ALREADY existing class abilities.

Maybe if we get enough good stuff here there will be some imm interest to put these in or at least give some good jumping off points for some slave of the staff to work something up.

Agree that necros are a VERY atmospheric class, relative to others.

Speak with dead etc -- amazing.

However, druids have so much variety and raw power that I think you can still have interest with them (although better echoes couldn't hurt).

I really think shaman and healers need to be the priority.

Paladins too.

I definitely agree. Shamans in general are hamstrung somewhat by the fact that shamans of very different gods don't necessarily has a great deal in common with one another. Druids have some flashier abilities, but they also have a number of older ones that vary from nifty to bland.

I recently stepped outside my comfort zone and played a necro. Which is where all this is coming from. The ambient echos that go with the class abilities made playing a necro so much fun.

That's probably the best example of a class that saw a large-scale revamp where we aimed primarily at cosmetic results. One of the nice things about that is that new players tend to pick up up on the themes of the class quickly, and it's pretty rare that we see anyone above level 2 or so that's confused as to why they have to be evil, etc.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

I've been playing for years (I can't believe its been as long as it has) but the esthetics of necros is half of what made it fun. It was almost like playing CF for the first time. Brought back a lot of the magic. I think neat stuff like that would go a long way to hooking a new player too.

Healers - I've never played one to Hero. Though with the changes it seems like Evil Healers got hugely nerfed or at least that's what they tell me. That seems to account for the very low numbers of them these days. Might want to tone it back up a little.

Shaman - Ugh most boring class ever. I think these guys need a complete and utter overhaul from top to bottom and give them some form of identity. Seriously gut them and start over.
They should have more to do with spirits and artifacts of spiritual power, channeling spirits of good and evil, animals and ancestors, etc to grant them power. Use of holy/unholy relics like masks, talismans, shrunken heads, goblets, etc. And maybe even some use of herbs, peyote, etc. to help channel or create said relics. Things like sweat lodges, visions, sacrifices, possession, exorcism, guardian spirits, etc. should be more along their abilities with a wide split between good and evil shamans. There are a ton of possibilities here, old shamans need to go.

Druid - Great class as far as being interesting, echoes would definitely be a nice touch and maybe some specialization choices. Also would be cool if the Bear form was worth using.

With Empowerment overall though, I think it could still be improved. Seems so hit and miss. My characters either get empowered right away or never hear a peep. weird thing is, it's usually the better thought out more RP intense ones that get ignored. Perhaps general religions that could be administered by any Immortal on, like Mother Nature, Grim Reaper, The Sun, Etc. I know you can do it now but make it a real ingame system with specific general religions set up. I always feel limited by trying to pick the few Imms that are active Empowerers and forcing a role to fit them.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

Healers - I've never played one to Hero. Though with the changes it seems like Evil Healers got hugely nerfed or at least that's what they tell me. That seems to account for the very low numbers of them these days. Might want to tone it back up a little.

One of the very deliberate aims of the healer revamp was to reduce the number of evil healers, and skew the class towards good-aligned. Evil still has three evil-only classes which do not require empowerment, vs. one good-only class that does.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com