Curse

Ironballs · Feb 22, 2009, 07:10 AM // 07:10

Lancer (Needs a better name, to be honest)
Fighting until the very end, Lancers utilize their stamina to protect their allies.

I have a certain love for huge weapons and heavy armor, and Guild Wars is seriously lacking in both departments. This spurred me to create a Concept Class called, the Lancer. The idea behind such a class is to create a unit with the ability to aggravate many foes and hold them all off simultaneously with a heavy defense. Of course, this would make a much more effective tank than a warrior could even dream to become. I'm not out to make an overpowered class, so I've seriously thought through the pros and cons.

Pros:
+High Defense. The Lancer boasts the highest defense in the game. Elite Armor would give a massive 100 base defense plus 25 against physical damage.
+Adrenaline-based. With most skills being adrenaline-based, the Lancer need not worry about its low base energy.
+Unique Attack Radius. The length of lances provides the ability to hit multiple foes. The Lancer is able to hit up to two "nearby" foes in the direction he/she is facing.

Cons:
-Low Base Energy. With 15 base energy, Lancers have the lowest energy in the game. They have 1 energy regeneration.
-Slow Attack Rate. The size of the weapon greatly affects attacking speed. Approximately 1 attack every 3.2 seconds is among the slowest in the game.
-No Self Heals. There is no time to heal during combat! The pure-tank style leaves no room for self-healing.

I personally think it's fairly balanced, I leave it up to you to decide. Now I'm going to move on to the attributes and example skills.

Persistence (Primary): Each point of Persistence gives +1 base armor. Many skills, especially those related to raising defense and other stats, become more effective with higher Persistence.
Lance Mastery: Lance Mastery increases the damage you do with lances and your chance to inflict a critical hit when using a lance. Many skills, especially lance attack skills, become more effective with higher Lance Mastery.
Cruelty: No inherent effect. Many skills, especially offensive skills and skills that aggravate foes, become more effective with higher Cruelty.
Fealty: No inherent effect. Many skills, especially defensive skills and skills that protect your allies, become more effective with higher Fealty.

Buckle Down
Lancer, Persistence
Energy: 5 - Cast: N/A - Cool-down: 30
Stance. For 10...30...45 seconds you gain +100...300...550 maximum health and cannot be knocked down or interrupted. This stance ends if you move.
Notes: A very basic stance. It grants you extra health and a nice little effect. It would be very costly for a lancer at 1/3 base energy.

Raise Shield
Lancer, Persistence
Energy: 5 - Cast: N/A - Cool-down: 120
Stance. For 10...30...45 seconds you gain +10...30...40 armor and a 66...75...80% chance to block incoming attacks. This stance ends if you move.
Notes: Another basic stance. This one allows you to increase your armor (which would be amazing) and it also increases your block rate.

Piercing Thrust
Lancer, Lance Mastery
Energy: 6 Strikes - Cast: 1 - Cool-down: 6
Lance attack. Deals +1...10...20 damage. This attack has 2...10...15% armor penetration.
Notes: This would be your basic spam-able attack skill. Most lance attacks would have armor penetration. REMEMBER that the lance is capable of hitting multiple foes. Unlike scythes, all foes within attack range would feel the effect of this skill.

Fatal Insertion (Elite)
Lancer, Lance Mastery
Energy: 14 Strikes - Cast: 1 - Cool-down: 15
Elite lance attack. Deals +10...30...45 damage and inflicts bleeding, deep wound, and dazed for 5...10...15 seconds. This attack has 5...10...15% armor penetration.
Notes: It seems a little overpowered to me, but it costs 14 strikes and it isn't spam-able.

Barbed Tip
Lancer, Cruelty
Energy: 5 - Cast: 2 - Cool-down: 30
Preparation. (24 seconds) Your lance attacks inflict bleeding for 3...8...15 seconds.
Notes: Preparations, I love them but I don't think the class should have more than a couple. Meh.

Mighty Challenge
Lancer, Cruelty
Energy: 5 - Cast: N/A - Cool-down: 60
Skill. For the next 10...45...60 seconds, all foes within earshot direct attacks towards you. Once the effect ends, foes attack their original target.
Notes: This would be great for giving your team a quick break to get their health and enchants back up mid-battle.

"Get Behind Me!"
Lancer, Fealty
Energy: 5 - Cast: N/A - Cool-down: 45
Shout. All allies within earshot gain +5...10...15 armor and cannot be knocked down. You take 15...50...60% of all incoming damage towards affected allies. You do not gain benefit from this skill.
Notes: This wonderful skill would allow you to literally soak up damage from your allies. This gives them a lot more time to nuke the area.

Stand Ground (Elite)
Lancer, Fealty
Energy: 10 - Cast: N/A - Cool-down: 120
Elite stance. For the next 15...45...60 seconds, you recieve all damage, conditions, and hexes directed towards allies within earshot. Damage taken in this way is reduced by 25...50...60%. This stance ends if you move.
Notes: Much like "Get Behind Me". This one, however, gives you all of the damage which allows your friends to relax for a tiny amount of time.

Now I know I've given you a wall of text, and I regret to inform you that there is a little more to read. The equipment that a Lancer would use is as follows. (The stats listed are elite armor sets)

Head:
Base Armor: 100
Phys Armor: 25
Effect: +1 Persistence, Lance Mastery, Cruelty, or Fealty
Chest:
Base Armor: 100
Phys Armor: 25
Effect: None
Arms:
Base Armor: 100
Phys Armor: 25
Effect: None
Legs:
Base Armor: 100
Phys Armor: 25
Effect: None
Feet:
Base Armor: 100
Phys Armor: 25
Effect: None
Main Hand: Lance and Aegis (2h)
Max Attack: 12-20
Effect: Base Armor +1...25
Mods: Lance Grips and Aegis Emblems
Notes: The "Lance and Aegis" weapon would actually be a lance and shield combination (thus the 2h). The lance for attacking and the shield to look pretty (and to add base armor). The "aegis" DOES count as a shield, making use of skills such as [[Shield Bash] possible.

There are some things that could use tweaking, but I would like to see your input. What do you think of the class and how could it be made better? What I really want to know is: do you, as a player, consider this build to be cheap, overpowered, unfair, or overall useless?

Thanks for reading and thanks for your opinions!

Icy The Mage · Feb 22, 2009, 07:43 AM // 07:43

Way too overpowered imo, the amount of base health is enormous and the amount of base-energy is too high (take out the +5 inherent chest bonus) Maybe decrease energy regeneration to +1.

Eragon Zarroc · Feb 22, 2009, 07:59 AM // 07:59

too much defence and dmg despite slow attack rate. just creat a new weapon type for an existing profession if u want lances. hammers and scythes are both heavy and high dmg weapons. scythes already hit up to 3 targets.

Megas XLR · Feb 22, 2009, 08:54 AM // 08:54

You could use this as a new tactic in PvP, just stand there until your opponent resigns hahah.

It seems like an overpowered Imbagon. A provoke in this game would make it too easy. Way too much HP and the ability to have a shield while wielding a lance.

quad · Feb 22, 2009, 09:07 AM // 09:07

Way too overpowered. Can take insane amounts of damage, but why? An obsidian tank takes 0 dmg anyways, dont need this much armor. And those skills, whoa. You only need Raise Shield, permanent 90% block and 80 armor is insane. And those party buffs are imbagon v2. Don't think GW needs another high armor party buffer or tank, we already got warrior and paragon. Nice written tho, good ideas, but this is just not a balanced class idea imo.

Rak Orgon of Beowulf · Feb 22, 2009, 09:07 AM // 09:07

i say they just needed to have a two handed melee spear for paragons. Sorta like a choice between melee or ranged paras woulda been cool. nice idea though. one of the better ones to come through here lol.

Felixious · Feb 22, 2009, 09:32 AM // 09:32

This thing + [lions Comfort] = made for lulz.
Doesn't matter if the heal is for 50 points. Thats like a 150 point heal for a normal warrior. XD

shogun avatar · Feb 22, 2009, 09:37 AM // 09:37

Honestly, this looks like a warrior with scythe under dolyak signet. I like what you tried to do here, but this isn't much diversity. This is buffed warrior + paragon in 1 class.
With the ability of the lance to hit all adjected foes, Fatal insertion would be charged in 1 or 2 hits

Fate Crusher · Feb 22, 2009, 12:20 PM // 12:20

Would be pointless in PvP unless they have 1 or 2 godly attacks (fatal insertion as you said will be difficult to spam or be useful). people will simply ignore them, encouraging more speed buffs. can only see it being imba on an alter cap, possibly guaranteeing one alter (obviously won't be quick enough to cap another in time).

and again, you have looked at the PvE aspect of this concept. maybe consider how this profession would hold up in PvP, seeing as GW was built around PvP in the first place, promoting a very ballanced game (don't complain about sins, we've learnt our lesson :P)

i like the concept though. love big stuff ^^

Ironballs · Feb 22, 2009, 01:35 PM // 13:35

Keep in mind that the original post was made at 2:10 AM. XD
Okay, after reading your suggestions I do see how it could be/is overpowered and I'm going to change up the first post to reflect some of your suggestions. I do understand that other classes could easily pull a similar style, however, I'm going to keep working on this class as it gives me a creative output. (I'm bored and need something to do.)

Changes to OP are underlined.

EDIT: For you, Fate Crusher
Mighty Challenge (PvP)
Lancer, Cruelty
Energy: 5 - Cast: N/A - Cool-down: 60
Skill. For the next 10...45...60 seconds, all foes within earshot deal 5...15...20 less damage to your allies and deal +5...15...20 damage to you.
Notes: So instead of forcing another player to attack you, it gives them good reason to want to. I do understand that this would be a fairly weak class for PvP. Any suggestions on how to make it better?

Fate Crusher · Feb 22, 2009, 02:16 PM // 14:16

possibly adding snares and conditions to the attacks would boast it in PvP.

i do like that skill as a shout. not sure if the duration should be changed a bit, but it fits in quite well.

for this profession to compete as a viable frontliner in PvP, it needs certain skills that can be implemented in a spike, deep wound and a follow up skill, so it can rival a warrior or dervish. warriors frontliners are chosen for their high dps, armour and all around ownage. dervish are chosen for easy deep wound, spike damage and when they want to look poofy. you need to think of what a lancer can bring to the front line. it doesn't seem to be high dps because of their slow attack rate, and a lancer could possibly buff and protect the party.

this now sounds like a paragon, so i suggest making sure the lancer becomes a cemented frontliner, even though i really like that skill :P

and i seemed to miss it, but 12-20 damage with a slow attack rate means a lancer would be worse than a sin attacking without using a skill.

thinking over this, a lancer doesn't seem to have the capabilities of being the caller and will have to stick as a secondary frontliner, which fits it quite well. add a KD here and there and it could be quite solid.

EDIT: The armour base and inherent effect of Persistence has to come down. way down.

hope this helps.

quad · Feb 22, 2009, 02:40 PM // 14:40

This would be a really boring class to play with these skills, as there are only 2 skills with under 30 recharge. You basically use some party buffs and defense skills, and stand there doing little damage, and if you move, all is for nothing. How fun is it to press 1-2-3-4 (for example) and just stand there with your melee weapon until all are dead. Dont think you can hold aggro for very long either.

ammad2006 · Feb 22, 2009, 02:42 PM // 14:42

Stand Ground (Elite)
Lancer, Fealty
Energy: 10 - Cast: N/A - Cool-down: 120
Elite stance. For the next 15...45...60 seconds, you recieve all damage, conditions, and hexes directed towards allies within earshot. Damage taken in this way is reduced by 25...50...60%. This stance ends if you move.

Use this with [Life Barrier] and [Life Bond] and your team is invincible. (for 60 seconds) I see serious abuse of that.

Ironballs · Feb 22, 2009, 02:43 PM // 14:43

The Lancer is not meant to be a damage dealing class. It is supposed to take all of the hits effectively while freeing up a warrior to become a damage dealer. If anything, it should be the caller and the first into the fight.

It doesn't seem very effective since I've only provided 8 skills. If you would like I could post some more of my ideas to allow you a better understanding.

Thanks for the help.

@quad: People have configured monks to tanks, right? People have configured rangers to melee users, right? Couldn't you just as easily convert this to something else? And there are only 8 skills that I showed you, there are plenty more in my head.

@ammad2006: You see a chance for an invincible tank? What about a 55 monk? Not to mention the fact that both of those skills have an upkeep of -1 Energy Regeneration. The Lancer has only has 1. Making the use of both impossible.

I see what you two are getting at, but you don't know all the ideas I have.

Thanks for the input!

Punjabi · Feb 22, 2009, 03:07 PM // 15:07

Interesting ideas but in pvp I think useless unless you turn it into "Paragon Redux" It does next to no dmg, and can take all the dmg. Why would anyone in pvp even bother to get near it unless they tryed to use it to rush the guild lord or something.

I think its a cool class style(checkout Age of conan) but I don't think it has a place in Gw maybe Gw2, maybe it could be a Charr class.

Ironballs · Feb 22, 2009, 04:14 PM // 16:14

Well I see what you're saying, Punjabi, but it's more than a party-buffer. It actually reduces the amount of damage being thrown at it and allows casters the chance to decimate the opposition. No matter, I don't think it could be made into a decent PvP class unless maybe you rolled a La/W with a sword/axe/hammer. You would get the amazing Defense along with a decent amount of damage. *shrug*

Thanks for your opinions!

king_trouble · Feb 23, 2009, 08:40 PM // 20:40

This class would make pve way to easy. Take a look at how cryers, permas, sabway, etc... have made pve a complete joke compared to when guild wars first came out. Take "Get Behind Me!" + Drawven Stability + Heavy Prot/Heal and you got yourself an unkillable (prob unfailable) team.

housecalls · Feb 25, 2009, 12:28 AM // 00:28

Think of those skills when using Lancer as a secondary.......scary