Chapter IX: Actions and Advanced Classes

Let’s talk about classes…many complained they had no identity, many complained they weren’t unique…so, even though I can see the uniqueness of them, I think it could be greatly improved with an advanced class system.

But for this to happens, we would require similar actions to have shared recast…like Raise and Resurrect, Provoke and Taunt, some other possibilities would be Pillage (MRD) and Steal (THF) or Quickstride (ARC) and Flee (THF). In short, similar actions that would differ only in name and class that learn them, allowing players to gain access to what they need by multiple ways…if he doesn’t like GLA but need Provoke, he can just rank up PGL.

With this said, we can talk about the advanced classes…the idea would be a set of 5 quests (always 5) that would require you to do something in order to complete it. Let me elaborate an example regarding Paladin. Let’s assume you find a master paladin in Ishgard that would offer you the opportunity to learn the way of the paladin. We can add a rank restriction to these quests…maybe rank 36…and he would tell you he would give you 5 tasks.

Task 1: The power of paladin comes from the light. I’d call it “Cecil’s trial”…PLD vs DRK, where you need to know Cure in order to win. Make the damage from DRK high enough to always leave the player with 1 HP at first hit and then finish him with a second hit. The why of this is because a PLD requires Cure, not Sacrifice. The player MUST know cure to beat this fight.

Task 2: The paladin protects the innocents. You would have a very weak NPC you must protect from a monster. The monster hits for pretty low damage, dealing little damage to you but the NPC has so little HP this low damage can easily 2-shot him. Also, the monster will always ignore you regardless of what you do. The why of this is because a PLD requires Cover. With Cover you can protect the NPC but if you try to, as example, provoke the monster, it wouldn’t work.

Task 3: The paladin is the shield so his allies can be the sword. You would have to help a NPC fight a monster that only takes damage from rear. The why of this is because PLD requires Provoke (or Taunt). So here he can’t just cover the NPC because the NPC must attack the monster from rear.

Task 4: The paladin fights for life. Here you must save a NPC from 12 weak monsters. The monsters hit you for very little, but the NPC is also very weak. Also, the monsters will focus on ranged attack. The why of this is because PLD requires Raise (or Resurrect). Because with this setup the NPC will always die…the monsters will never be close enough for you to use any area of effect attack and hit them all before they kill the NPC…so it’s simple…they kill the NPC, you kill them and then raise the NPC.

Task 5: The paladin has the will of steel. Here you will face the ultimate enemy. One-on-one fight and it will cast Curse (causing undead status affliction, that prevent you from being healed, actually making you take damage from heals) right at start. It might not hit hard, but the fight will be long enough for you to win without damage mitigation actions. It might very often also uses an action that causes amnesia, silence and pacification on you so all left for you is to stick with basic attacks and endure. The why of this is because PLD requires Defender. So if you can’t heal or use short duration buffs or use WS to kill the monster faster, all left is the only buff that lasts 30 minutes.

Once you completed all 5 tasks, the NPC would say that you actually already know the way of the paladin and then unlock it for you.

Now the question…would PLD have these repeated actions among others? Yes but, just like we have Provoke and Taunt, PLD would have Challenge with shared recast with Provoke and Taunt…he would have Rebirth with shared recast with Raise and Resurrect, he would have Cure (because as a spell cure can be learned by multiple classes), would have Cover (this time I’d keep the original name since Cover is the signature action of PLD. About the original Cover from GLA, I’d move it to Sentinel since cover makes much more sense being there than with GLA and rename it to Martyr) and he would have Unbreakable, that would have shared recast with Defender.

Now the other questions that might have come to mind…would PLD already start with these actions? No. It would start with no actions at rank 1, just like any other class, and learn its own version of the actions as it ranks up. So why having repeated actions on it? Affinity. Not only affinity for him but also when using his actions cross-class…depending of what the player wants, instead of having 2~4 affinity traits equipped he can have only one if he chooses carefully from where to pick the action.