Suggestion Wordsmith - AKA Scribe re-write

[Eldrylars]

If all of you reading this could RATE the initial post that would be awesome, I am not asking for positive ratings unless you like and or approve but any rating is better then none so I can get a feeling for what everyone is thinking.

Here it is, the brainchild of Witchy and myself. Right now Scribe is a placeless hodgepodge of skills. There have been many suggestions on ways to fix scribe but all of them fall short of making a fun or "usable" class. What we do lack in the herocraft "crafting world" is a support type crafter. One that has minimal benefits for the self and great benefits for their nearby friends. Here is a class proposal that would not take much to implement and should not throw much of an off balance to the rest of the game.

Take a look and make some suggestions, leave some comments and as always, be constructive

PLEASE DON'T GET STUCK ON NUMBERS! The values below are placeholders for the balance team to figure out. Please try to focus on the idea of the class and the function of the skills and let the numbers do as they will if it ever moved forward.

-Wordsmith-

The left hand of the Lords. The Wordsmith is the person who gets the things done that need to be done. A generally selfless person who helps those around them complete their tasks at hand. Wordsmiths are heavily trained in literature and thus have learned many tactics to complete jobs more efficiently. Unfortunately although knowledgeable in most arts, the Wordsmith is more adapt at telling others how to complete their tasks then they are at helping themselves with the same knowledge. Many empires have been built and many lords have held the honors of these lands, but behind every great empire lies a great Wordsmith

- Leveling -

• Leveling Exp - Farming(cane cutting, shearing sheep,Lumberjack...) mining and fishing

- Skills -

Level 1

• Mark,Recall, Shears, Lava bucket, Lighter

Level 5

• Book and quill

Level 10

• Scan
• BreathInstruction- Gives all nearby group members as well as the caster water breathing for 15+(level*.5) seconds.

Level 20

• Overgrowth
• MinorRunestone

Level 25

• Farsight

Level 30

• Organization - Lowers the cooldown of nearby group members (does not effect the caster) Crafter skills by (lvl*.05) seconds for 1 minute. Exp. Smeltgold, transmute...
• MajorRunestone

Level 35

• TumblingLessons - Protects all nearby group members including the caster from falling damage for 10 seconds.

• Copy Maps
• Copy Books

Level 40

• ClearThinking - increase the duration of nearby group members Crafter skills by 4 +(lvl*.05) seconds for 2 minutes. Exp. Mining
• ImbueRunestone

Level 45

• VisualTraining - All nearby group members (does not effect the caster) can see in the dark for 30+(level*.5) seconds.
• GiganticRunestone

Level 50

• BookSmarts - increase the chance based Crafter skills chance of success by (base*1.5) for all nearby group members(does not effect the caster) for 2 minutes. Exp. Logging, mining, fishing...

• Book Chestshop

Level55

• NightVision
• RechargeRunestone

Level 60

• Beacon Use
• AncientRunestone

With Notes:

- Skills -

Level 1

• Mark,Recall, Shears, Lava bucket, Lighter

Level 5

• Book and quill

This is in the game right now but the perms were not working last I heard.​

Level 10

• Scan
• BreathInstruction- Gives all nearby group members as well as the caster water breathing for 15+(level*.5) seconds.

Witchy and I thought a little different on this one so I wanted to push this for peer review. Witchy brings up the point that it could be used in combat to gain an advantage. My original idea was for underwater building or mining. Whats your thoughts?​

Level 20

• Overgrowth

Level 25

• Farsight
• Crafting Books

Yes I am suggesting locking the creation of books. It would give some self value to the class and allow them to hopefully make some money. Maybe, maybe not.​

Level 30

• Organization - Lowers the cooldown of nearby group members (does not effect the caster) Crafter skills by (lvl*.05) seconds for 1 minute. Exp. Smeltgold, transmute...

This would only hook crafting skills with a total cooldown reduction of 3 seconds. Might need to turn it up to .075 to see a little better difference at L60(4.5 sec max)​

Level 35

• TumblingLessons - Protects all nearby group members including the caster from falling damage for 10 seconds.

This already exists on scribe and I like the idea of it being passed onto Wordsmith​

• Copy Maps
• Copy Books

Sure why not?​

Level 40

• ClearThinking - increase the duration of nearby group members Crafter skills by 4 +(lvl*.05) seconds for 2 minutes. Exp. Mining

This would only hook Crafter abilities such as Mining to give a boost of up to 7 seconds to the skills duration.​

• Dispel

This is here because it's on Scribe. I don't believe it's needed anymore as Wordsmith would be more then useful without it, yet lets hear what you all have to say.​

Level 45

• VisualTraining - All nearby group members (does not effect the caster) can see in the dark for 30+(level*.5) seconds.

Same thought as the safefall or the water breathing. Group mining support.​

Level 50

• BookSmarts - increase the chance based Crafter skills chance of success by (base*1.5) for all nearby group members(does not effect the caster) for 2 minutes. Exp. Logging, mining, fishing...

This would only hook Crafter abilities and would result in the following potential bonus'
Mining: .015% chance for iron from stone(instead of .01.)
Woodcutting: 9% chance of double drops(instead of 6.)
Summon cow: 45% chance of two cows(instead of 30.)​

• Book Chestshop

Cornering the book market!​

Level 55

• Localize - Marks the location the scribe is standing - 3 day cooldown, requires 1 diamond block. Only works in Warshard or Forgelight.
• Return - Teleports the Wordsmith to a location marked using Localize - 30 120 min cooldown, requires 1 enderpearl, 30 60 second warm up.

Original The main self perk of taking Wordsmith. Always at the beck and call of their Lords the Wordsmiths devised a new way to get back and fourth.​

Inside the pages of the wordsmiths ​

Long cooldowns, costs and warmups would hopefully offset the great upsides of a second recall to make it manageable.

12pm 2/5/13 Recall removed as it appears the general consensus is there is no way to balance it.

7:45pm 2/5/13 Opened for one more go with a new suggestion. To hinder the benefits of having to open recalls instead limit the use to this mark in the mining worlds. The only place mark would work would be in Forgelight or Warshard. Continue the discussion

2/12/13 - Removed again as resistance seems to persist. Please voice up regarding this skill if for or against as well as reasoning.

9/18/2013 - Scribe can be pretty useful now, but it's still not a class that players tend to stick with. I think adding in more crafting utility would give it a good enough boost that players might actually stick with it more often. Updated to reflect Runestones.​

• NightVision

Self perk​

Level 60

• Beacon Use

Favith Typical_Name WitchOnaRampage Carbash northeaster345 Orangedude345 maxmaxm jmoney222 LightningCape bfittipaldi mikehk MysteriousYellow Dsawemd Kainzo Dazureus Roadkill909 leftovers5 SemajArchMage grimlar eisental
Rumblestikk Ellron23 Nightroado Barnubus Northac Licksterboy lumont Sigpit Danda Angyles EtKEnn BeasttRecon Symbolite MultiHeartGold Jonsoon macura Drastikos Haxnn Flippintuna1 AzenYumCha c12095

 

[archceaser]

I completely love these suggestions and support them fully, these would make scribes feel more like a archivor of knowledge, it would be great to see some of these implemented as soon as possible!

 

[donaldmax1]

^

 

[Jaw895]

I like it and on another note if they can make books why not be the only one that can make bookshelves too, they are needed for town upgrades.

 

[northeaster345]

A second mark and recall is a dangerous thing, there's no downside to marking in someone else's base then.

 

[Dsawemd]

o Second mark and recall would be too much warping for Herocraft, as well as awkwardly jammed into the lore of this class.

o I like the idea of giving scribe an AOE that influences multiple other crafting specs, but that could be hard to code.

o We do not have a party night vision skill yet, and this would work as a unique buff skill. However, it has to have a cool fireworks effect like you shot a flare!

o Giving Scribe a group water-breathing spell would be alright, if it lasted as long as it normally takes to run out of air. The way waterbreathing works would mean that you could get 3x normal breathing time if you use this when you had 1 bubble, get water breathing until the duration that you would normally run out is up, then use your final full bar of air bubbles to surface again. For a total of 3x the normal amount of time spent underwater without taking damage.
This is less than 15 seconds of water breathing, but still useful if your group needs to dive, for instance while ambushing a tracked target who is mining under an ocean.

o Books. Yes, when possible. I would pay a scribe set up a book shop to sell scavenger hunts (I like Copy Map too, if it would provide real utility and not just take up space on the wiki skills list).


The general goal is to get Scribes out of the void they are in, and I am glad we are still looking at it. They have an awesome skill monopoly in beacons, but not enough utility to make beacons worth spending any time playing as the spec, they just place and respec to something useful. As a result, very few players are scribes in-game.

 

[WitchOnaRampage]

A second mark and recall is a dangerous thing, there's no downside to marking in someone else's base then.

How would it be if the second mark could only be set in the mining maps - ie Warshard, Forgelight - and not in Bastion?

 

[leftovers5]

I like the idea of the scribe as a support crafter. Making other classes more efficient when they do their own jobs. I could see that being implemented. Tumble/breathing training would be dangerous, though.

 

[Eldrylars]

I like the idea of the scribe as a support crafter. Making other classes more efficient when they do their own jobs. I could see that being implemented. Tumble/breathing training would be dangerous, though.

Scribe already has group tumble and no one is complaining . You are not the first person to worry about that though.

I like it and on another note if they can make books why not be the only one that can make bookshelves too, they are needed for town upgrades.

I did not see a need for that as anyone should be able to place books on a bookshelf . It would mean more coding and more testing and if books were already limited then I don't see that adding anything to the class or server.

A second mark and recall is a dangerous thing, there's no downside to marking in someone else's base then.

It could be, but I believe with the proper steps taken it could also be balanced. Extending the cooldown to an hour to actually use recall, perhaps two hours. That way if used for marking in someones city the raiding would be heavily limited. Up the cost to mark to something even more valuable, perhaps a diamond block or an emerald block?
If it cost a reasonable amount to use and was a once in a while deal what then? Do you think it would still be to much?

Second mark and recall would be too much warping for Herocraft, as well as awkwardly jammed into the lore of this class.

Throw longer cooldowns, throw higher resource requirements at to limit it's use but still make it useful? If it's cost was proportional to it's usefulness and it's recast was long enough to prevent constant use then it could easily turn into a helpful but balanced perk? Continued thoughts?

o I like the idea of giving scribe an AOE that influences multiple other crafting specs, but that could be hard to code.

It actually should not be that hard to add in if I am thinking of it the correct way. When a spell is cast the game checks a variable to see what to set the cooldown to. instead they would have to add two new variables. One for the duration of the buff and a second one for the strength of the buff. So instead of cooldown = 15 it's cooldown = 15 - buff. Once the timer has run out buff = 0 and then it no longer effects the skill.
Very easy to regulate which skills get the buffs because you only add the check for the buff to the skills you want effected.

We do not have a party night vision skill yet, and this would work as a unique buff skill. However, it has to have a cool fireworks effect like you shot a flare!

Agreed

Giving Scribe a group water-breathing spell would be alright, if it lasted as long as it normally takes to run out of air. The way waterbreathing works would mean that you could get 3x normal breathing time if you use this when you had 1 bubble, get water breathing until the duration that you would normally run out is up, then use your final full bar of air bubbles to surface again. For a total of 3x the normal amount of time spent underwater without taking damage.
This is less than 15 seconds of water breathing, but still useful if your group needs to dive, for instance while ambushing a tracked target who is mining under an ocean.

Like I said numbers can be tweaked to balance things out. My goal is helpful not directly combat oriented skills.

The general goal is to get Scribes out of the void they are in, and I am glad we are still looking at it. They have an awesome skill monopoly in beacons, but not enough utility to make beacons worth spending any time playing as the spec, they just place and respec to something useful. As a result, very few players are scribes in-game.

Honestly until there is a way to lock Beacon buffs to a township there is not much reason to use them other then for looks. Beacons buff both you and your enemies. Enemies can change the beacons settings to whatever will help them as there is no locks on changing the beacons buffs. If their current form they are really only good for looks. If they can ever be expanded then perhaps this will be a big deal but until then I am not impressed.

 

[Northac]

This is a very intersting idea here, making a almost pure support class. would be interesting to see how someone would be convinced to spec into this tho, due to the fact that it has very limited self abilities, but the player who does would be well payed i believe, since the skills they would bring are very benificial.

I think the group water breathing idea is alright, though i dont know anyone who (besides myself) has built anything undewater. It would be close to a group use of the Necro skill "becomedeath" which grants underwater breathing for 2 min, among other benifits. so maybe just leave it at 2 min with a reagent cost? Since it is a group buff, maybe an ink sac, since it comes from an underwater creature.

On a side note Eldrylars, while im flattered you did, why'd you tag me? I'm not anyone special for the server lol.

 

[Eldrylars]

This is a very intersting idea here, making a almost pure support class. would be interesting to see how someone would be convinced to spec into this tho, due to the fact that it has very limited self abilities, but the player who does would be well payed i believe, since the skills they would bring are very benificial.

I love playing support and I am sure that there are many other people that are the same
On the flip side though with the above suggestion you get Dispel(great skill,) a second usable recall, and night vision.

I think the group water breathing idea is alright, though i dont know anyone who (besides myself) has built anything undewater. It would be close to a group use of the Necro skill "becomedeath" which grants underwater breathing for 2 min, among other benifits. so maybe just leave it at 2 min with a reagent cost? Since it is a group buff, maybe an ink sac, since it comes from an underwater creature.

I am not against regent costs but I think shorter durations would be good. We don't want it to out shine combat skills like the Necro's undeath. Just to give more utility.

On a side note Eldrylars, while im flattered you did, why'd you tag me? I'm not anyone special for the server lol.

I tagged a lot of people who have participated in discussions on new features/changes knowing you all have desires to make things better on the server.

 

[MajorasMask]

What about an ability to duplicate books? This would further help scribes to sell/make books for people.

 

[macura]

I am not sure if this would work but it would make being a scribe actually useful.

Skill: Studious
Through studying other crafter specializations you can change into one for a period of time.
Cd: This would have to be an insanely high cd. Something like 1 day.
Duration: Maybe a half an hour to an hour
Reagent: Idk, something somewhat large but not massive.

This would allow you to become a different crafter spec for a short period of time, once every so often. It would not render other crafter specs useless because it would have a very large cool down and once it is toggled you would have to wait a very long time to use it again.

 

[leftovers5]

What about an ability to duplicate books? This would further help scribes to sell/make books for people.

I agree with this. It's hard to part with original copies. The only downside would be that ShizzDawgg 's 50Shades of Shiz would be in circulation...

 

[MultiHeartGold]

ShizzDawgg 's 50Shades of Shiz

.......what?

 

[Eldrylars]

What about an ability to duplicate books? This would further help scribes to sell/make books for people.

Agreed, and not sure how it was missed! Fixed now.

I am not sure if this would work but it would make being a scribe actually useful.

It's an interesting idea. I can't honestly see a way to balance it with someone like me (I have most crafter professions mastered.) The problem I see is that I could be able to get everything setup for a engineering project and then pop Studious and bam! Free engineering for my project then back to Wordsmith. You would have a hard time leveling a class that's not leveled but once a day I could go smith for an hour and repair everyones picks, then tomorrow I can go master miner and smelt the gold down, then tomorrow... It's not giving a combat advantage which I like (unless it was used to go smith on the fly so you could FA Sword) but you are saving 1000c each time you use it and that's a pretty huge benefit.

thoughts?

 

[Eldrylars]

I agree with this. It's hard to part with original copies. The only downside would be that ShizzDawgg 's 50Shades of Shiz would be in circulation...

Then it's settled! it's a go, 50shades is coming to a chestshop near you!

Whats your thoughts on the recall idea Left? Do you think this could be balanced with costs/cooldown or do you think the advantage would be to great regardless?

 

[macura]

Then it's settled! it's a go, 50shades is coming to a chestshop near you!

Whats your thoughts on the recall idea Left? Do you think this could be balanced with costs/cooldown or do you think the advantage would be to great regardless?

I don't think u want to be doing that... I have a copy of 50 shades of shizz and it is not pretty.

 

[Eldrylars]

I don't think u want to be doing that... I have a copy of 50 shades of shizz and it is not pretty.

Anyhow, any idea how to balance the use of Studious against the cost savings of switching classes back and fourth?

How about the suggested skills at the top? Hate it, love it, scared by it?

 

[leftovers5]

Then it's settled! it's a go, 50shades is coming to a chestshop near you!

Whats your thoughts on the recall idea Left? Do you think this could be balanced with costs/cooldown or do you think the advantage would be to great regardless?

No, the recall idea is simply not an option.