Overall Impressions of the Iconics

[samthedagger]

First of all, let me begin by saying that I really like the concept. So far I have had the chance to try out the Bladeforged, the Purple Dragon Knight, and the Morninglord, and I am in general quite excited about the chance to play these races live. I already have a Bladeforged paladin on live who is kicking ass and taking names. I have three character spots set aside for the others when the Xpack hits. Letting them start at level 15 was a novel idea, even if they can't reincarnate (yet). It gives us a chance to get our iconics into the endgame action a lot earlier, which I love. And you actually gave them good gear! (gasp!) Honestly, I don't see much need to change the gear around on most of these characters until you hit level 20, so great work on that. Now to some more specific critiques.

Bladeforged: By far my favorite of the bunch. These guys look tough and they are tough. Aesthetically, you guys nailed it. Your art team should pat themselves on the back. Mechanically (no pun intended), swapping the Cha penalty for a Dex penalty was a great move which makes them much more viable. The Wis penalty is still a bit hard to work around without tomes, but it is doable. I especially like the background of being created by the Lord of Blades himself. That's pretty cool! The new racial enhancement tree is a vast improvement over the standard warforged tree. Reconstruct as a spell-like ability? Yes, please! My only complaint about it is the complaint about the paladin enhancement tree itself really. It is really hard to build a balanced character out of it. You almost have to go whole hog with either Defender or Knight of the Chalice. And let's be honest, you guys haven't really developed a game where tanking is a necessity in all but a few corner case situations. So this makes it a tough call. The racial abilities seem defensively oriented and appear to work best on a pure paladin. But DPS is what beats down bosses. It's already clear (on my server at least) that there is not a lot of interest in tank paladins because they just don't have a lot of use. And the minimum points spent requirements really hamstring us when we want to add in some damage-dealing capability. So for this iconic to work, I think some tweaks need to be made to the enhancements. At the very least, some of the DPS-oriented enhancements from Knight of the Chalice need to be available earlier so it isn't so hard to splash them. Right now, playing on live I can take Exalted Smite, Divine Might, and Divine Sacrifice without being tied to a prestige, but somehow fitting those in is going to get much more difficult after the enhancement pass. Right now, I give the Bladeforged a B+. It's good, but it could be better.

Next, I move on to the Morninglord. This is the one I was most excited about. I have a soft spot in my heart for elf clerics since I played one for years in tabletop D&D. This iconic is the diametric opposite of the Bladeforged. The cosmetics are awful, but the mechanics are solid. Allow me to explain in a little more detail. Aside from the single cosmetic outfit (which is kind lame, considering Bladeforged get THREE), there is virtually nothing to distinguish a Morninglord for a typical elf. They are supposed to be followers of the sun god, so they at least deserve to be shiny or something! A natural radiant aura of gold, a spark of fire whenever they cast a spell... something. As it is, they don't look all that special. However, I found the mechanics of the Morninglord to be quite great. On top of the fantastic new prestige paths clerics have access to, among which are a bevy of sorely-needed spell-like abilities to give them better SP retention, they have racial enhancements which really open the door for a lot of customization. Arcane Archer, Bludgeoning weapon specialization, phenomenal undead turning, and even unique spell-like abilities. I only have one glaring problem with the Morninglord. All other divines (clerics, favored souls, and even paladins) now get to pick a deity feat for free and gain a related feat at 6th-level for free as well. Well the Morninglord gets the free 1st-level feat (+1 to hit with heavy maces, which is not so great), but what do Morninglords get at 6th-level? Bubkas. Give them something, please. I have ideas, like maybe light damage absorption or a searing blast of light that damages enemies, just something. The +2 Int is a nice touch for a skill-deprived class. Concentration is practically mandatory and now clerics are going to want Heal and Spellcraft too (and the good ones will also want UMD). So this is a nice little bonus. Overall I give the Morninglord a B.

The Purple Dragon Knight is somewhat analogous to the Bladeforged. You got the cosmetics down pat. No one will be mistaking these bad boys for standard, run-of-the-mill fighters. But aside from a special racial enhancement tree and a face-lift, what do they really get that makes them that different from humans? Not a whole lot it seems. The fighter enhancement trees look solid enough, but suffer from the Bladeforged's similar problem. Too many options and not enough points to spend them on. You basically have to choose between a Stalwart (and as we know tanks don't fly too well in this game) or a Kensai. And taking up the Charisma bonus for attack/damage enhancement pretty much begs you to splash two levels of Paladin. Aside from that, there dont seem to be a lot of options. I give it a B-

I haven't test the Shadar Kai yet, but I will soo.

[Zaffod]

Shadar-Kai is really the only "new" kind of player character. The others are characters you can create with a few "perks" - if you will - that are not available to other player characters.

These player characters are fun, but not any more fun then the characters I already have to play. What would be really nice would be to see more races be introduced that can "enhance" some of the classes. i.e. Gnome Monk or Bard...

[Mister_Shevek]

Splashing two levels of pal on the pdk is ok but from my testing, I found it more effective to make the pdk a bard/fighter m/c (spellsinger tree mostly) and the fatesinger ed. With high cha/perform and decent melee, you have decent sp for buffs/rejuv cocoon, and good cc/damage clickies (turn the tide, dirge, enthrallment, spell song vigor, etc etc).

The cha to dmg opens up alot of options that do not simply revolve around a paladin splash. I find it to be the best iconic of the bunch for sheer build variety that is possible with it. When the Warpriest enhancement line is released, it may even be possible to make a decent melee fvs with it.

[Caoilfhion]

Thought your comments about the appearances were funny as they diametrically oppose my own. I loved the look of the Morninglords, thought the bladeforged mediocre and the Purple dragon knight and rogue aweful. My only problem with the Morninglord is they still use the same horrible elf face for the males. I wish they would change that so you could get something more elfish and better looking than what they have now.

[SSFWEl]

Thought your comments about the appearances were funny as they diametrically oppose my own. I loved the look of the Morninglords, thought the bladeforged mediocre and the Purple dragon knight and rogue aweful. My only problem with the Morninglord is they still use the same horrible elf face for the males. I wish they would change that so you could get something more elfish and better looking than what they have now.

first post and you necro?

[FranOhmsford]

first post and you necro?

Less than 3 months = Necro now?

Please Save the Ire for those truly deserving and not newbies to the forums who may be ignorant of the arbitrary limits on what thread's safe to post in.