My Tinker Class Idea (Long)

[Teriz]

So this is the third, and final thread in the series of threads I began with this thread. Yesterday, I did a thread about the Rangers and how they can be different from Hunters. Today, I'm going to work on the Tinkers and show how they can be different than the Engineering profession, and why they would be a great addition to the game. I'm going to also post up a poll asking readers to determine if I did a solid job differentiating this class from Engineering as well as the Hunter class. After the Ranger thread, I'm very interested in your responses.

Finally, its obvious that this class may never see the light of day in this game. That's understandable, however there's no harm in doing a little speculation and theorycrafting (it's also quite a bit of fun). And besides, if this class is never implemented, I still got my Engineer from Torchlight 2.


Tinkers



I: Previous Tinker Threads

I clearly love this class idea, so I've done multiple threads about it.

Reasons why I think Tinker is a potential class:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...w-class-in-WoW

Previous Tinker Thread from 2011:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ss-idea-Tinker


This is an updated version of my Tinker Class idea post MoP.


II: The Basics

Lore: After the events in Pandaria, both the Horde and the Alliance realize the advantage that technology brings to their forces. In particular, the absolute devastation that the airship Skybreaker brought to an entire horde fleet of ships in the opening days of the Pandaria conflict, and the destruction of Theramore caused by a mana bomb dropped from a Goblin zeppelin. Both sides quickly begin to develop corps of highly trained engineers who can not only develop technological devices, but fight with them as well. Some in this group choose to fight with guns and explosives, other decide to use robotics and other mechanical devices, while others decide to use their ingenuity to devise powerful chemicals and healing potions.

Overview: Tinkers are a hybrid class, consisting of Tanking, DPS, and Healing specializations. The can also fight from range with guns or crossbows. Gunnery Tinkers can dual wield two pistols at once. Tinkers are NOT a hero class! All Tinkers begin at level 1 in their respective zones.

Weapons: 2h Guns, Crossbows, 1h guns (pistols), 1h swords, 1h axes, 1h maces

Armor: Leather until level 40, then Mail armor. INT for Clockwork and Chemical. Agility for Gunnery.

Resource: Focus or Energy along with Spark. Spark generates while the Tinker does certain abilities, and degrades while the Tinker is out of combat. Spark is used for more powerful Tinker abilities. Chemists could use mana instead of energy/focus for balance purposes.

Races:
Alliance: Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, Draenei, Worgen
Horde: Orcs, Goblins, Blood Elves, Undead, Trolls

Possibly Pandaren


III: Specializations and Sample Abilities

:::Shared Abilities:::


Tinker Tincture: Instantly restores a small amount of health.
Jump Start: (CD) Instantly restores your resources to maximum.
Flame Thrower: (Channeled) Fires a stream of fire at a target, burning them, and dealing damage over time. (Clockwork and Chemical)
Pocket Transporter: Teleports you to a random spot within 40 yards of your starting location.
Repair Bot 2.0: Summons a small robot that will repair your gear and armor for a lower fee. Can also be used to repair your Robo-arms.


Clockwork




(Tanking/ Support) Clockwork Tinkers (CT) specialize in developing and utilizing advanced robotics for a variety of purposes. Of all the Tinker specs, this is the closest one to its engineering roots. CTs see robotics as a method not only to improve the world, but also themselves. They use powerful mechanical arms to assist them in battle, and support robots to protect their allies.

Sample Abilities:

Robo-Arms: The Tinker activates two large mechanical arms from its backpack. These arms increase the Tinker's armor and attack power, as well as granting the Tinker powerful melee abilities. Robo-arms allows the Tinker to tank and to fight from melee range. While Robo-Arms is active, the Tinker cannot use its weapons or ranged abilities. However, its other robotic abilities are available. Robo-Arms takes damage over the course of the battle. The Tinker must repair the robo-arms, or they will be destroyed.



-Robo-Arms abilities: Rocket Punch: A high powered punch, Magnetic Field: Pulls targets towards the Tinker, Smackdown: Whacks target with your Robo-Arms, stunning them, Personal Force Field: Surrounds the Tinker in a field of energy that protects them for a brief time, Robo-Tinker (CD): Tinker Transforms into a robot for a short time, increasing its damage and armor for a short time.

Other abilities:
-Blitz: Combines your personal Force Field and your Rocket Dash ability into a devestating shoulder slam that damages and dazes its target and does signficant damage to all surrounding enemies in an 8 yard radius. Blitz begins the cooldown of your Personal Force Field ability.
-Heat Seeking Missiles: Fires missiles at target
-Pocket Factory: Creates a factory which automatically constructs Clockwerk Goblins/Gnomes. Clockwerk Goblins/Gnomes explode upon death, causing damage to nearby enemy units.
-Repair: Allows the Tinker to repair its robotic units.
-Sentry Bot: Deploys a small robot that fires at a target. Sentry Bots also have an improved chance of seeing a nearby invisible unit.
-Healbot 4000: Summons a small robot that accompanies the Tinker, healing those around it for a small amount. Lasts until is killed or expires.
-Cluster Rockets: Launches a cluster of rockets in an area around the Tinker, stunning targets in a 10yard radius.
-Hack: Reprograms mechanical enemies, and forces them to fight for you for a short time.
-Upgrade: (CD) Increases the power of your robotic arms, and your robots for a short time.
-Reboot: (CD) Resets the cooldown on all of your robotic abilities.


Chemical



(Healing/Support) During the Pandarian conflict, both factions realized that the army that tended to be victorious was the the army that tended to be healthy. Due to a shortage of magic-users who could heal allies, both the alliance and the horde began to look into how to use Alchemy and Apothecary to aid them in the healing and upkeep of their soldiers. Tinkers dove into this new field, honing their gadgets and technology to both enhance the power of these chemical agents, and to find more and efficient ways to disperse these agents over a battlefield. Of course, not all of this research has been positive. With the discovery of more effective ways to deploy and disperse chemical agents, various factions are finding ways to more effectively and brutally kill their adversaries with chemical warfare.

Sample Abilities:

-Conversion: (toggle) Converts your weapon into a device that can fire healing or offensive potions at targets.
-Twilight Pharmacy: Allows the Tinker to create four different types of potions. Each potion has a different effect.
-Adrenaline Shot: Places a target into a rage, increasing melee haste and movement speed for a brief amount of time. If the target dies while under its effects, they immediately come back to life. (Rebirth)
-Phoenix Fire Potion: A unique potion that burns targeted area for x seconds. If an ally stands in the fire, they are healed for the duration. If an enemy stands in the fire, they are burned for the duration. This effect is increased by Accelerant.
-Resuscitation: Allows the Tinker to revive a fallen comrade using advanced knowledge of anatomy and medicine.
-Healing Spray: Sprays waves of healing mist that heals units in a target area.
-Acid Bomb: Launches a bomb of acid at a target, reducing armor at a target by a high amount, and a moderate amount to surrounding targets.
-R.A.G.E. Potion: (CD) Transforms its user into a raging hulk for x seconds. This increases their HP, armor, and damage, and granting it unique abilities, but also draining the user of life while it is active. The user can die if they run out of health. The Tinker can place this on other friendly players, but the player must activate it before the effect expires. Only one can be active per Tinker per target.
-Accelerant : Sprays a target with a chemical that increases the damage and/or duration of fire attacks. Lasts 1 minute.
-Chemical Batteries: (passive) Increases the healing power of the Healbot 4000's abilities, and its duration.
-Gas Mask: (passive) Reduces damage taken from disease and poison effects.
-Transmute to Gold: (CD) The Chemist instantly changes the target into gold. Only usable on non-player targets who have 10% or less health. When you turn a target into gold, you instantly gain a percentage of money based on the target's level. However, you are unable to loot the target after you transmute them.

Gunnery



(DPS) Over time, the gun has become a much more viable weapon among both the Horde and the Alliance. Although some still view it as a weapon of cowards, their results in battle speak for themselves. As guns become more efficient and effective, a new breed of warrior has emerged that seeks to master its secrets and turn it into a respectable form of combat. To achieve this, they have learned to develop more effective types of gunpower and guns. Their highest achievement, the pistol, is the culmination of their efforts. Despite these successes however, Gunnery Tinkers know that they still need other methods to be equal matches to opponents who wield powerful armor and magics. To this end, they have also become masters of high explosives and bombs. Gunnery Tinkers are not as cerebral as their fellow tinkers. They instead decide to train their body to make themselves as swift and deadly as possible. Legends are beginning to emerge that some Gunnery Tinkers are so quick that they can even dodge bullets and missiles.


Note: While all Tinkers can use pistols, only Gunnery Tinkers can dual wield. Gunnery Tinkers excel at both two-hand, and DW ranged combat.

-Sharpshooting: Fires a shot at a target's vital area, causing them to bleed for x seconds.
-Twin Vulcan/Burst shot: Launches a high powered blast from your weapon(s), dealing heavy damage, and knocking back your target. You are knocked back 10 yards.
-Ricochet: Fires a shot at a target that also hits 2 other nearby targets.
-Buckshot: Fires a powerful burst that hits all targets in a cone in front of the Tinker. (2h gun)
-Crossfire: You spin, firing off both your weapons and hitting all targets within 8 yards (1h gun)
-Bullet Time: The Tinker will dodge the next attack, immediately counter-firing with its weapon for additional damage.
-Pistol Whip/Gun Whip: Slaps opponent with you gun, dazing them.
-Vault: You backflip or Front flip a few yards, increasing your damage resistance.
-Rapid Fire: (CD) Increases your attack and movement speed for a time.
-Grenade: Tosses a grenade that causes fire damage in a small radius. Can be done while vaulting.
- Stasis Grenade: Tosses a grenade that stuns targets in a small radius. Can be done while vaulting.
-Remote Mine: You place a small mine in your target location. You can remotely set it off up to 40 yards away.
-Ghost Hunter: (passive) Some of your abilities have a chance to repeat at no resource cost or CD. However its damage is significantly reduced.



IV: Other Possible Specs

This concept is so broad that there's numerous other specs that could be created for this class. Here are some examples that just didn't make it into the main thread, but could still be awesome Tinker specs.

Steam Warrior: Akin to the Engineering class from Torchlight 2. This spec would use steam-enhanced melee weapons and armor to destroy its foes.

Magitech: Tinkers who blend magic and technology to create spectacular results. These tinkers would have far more advanced weaponry than regular tinkers.

Golem: Tinker who specializes in creating large powersuits known as Golems and piloting them into combat. Golem appearance:
http://-seed-.deviantart.com/art/Cal...h-ver2-2575478


V: Conclusion

Thank you for taking the time to read this thread. Please vote in the poll, and let me know if I successfully developed a class that was different than the Engineering profession, and the Hunter class. Again, thanks for reading, and I look forward to your responses.

Special thanks to Blizzard, Wowiki, and other sources from which I pulled various art and ideas.

[taurenburger]

I love this idea way better than your ranger. Well done!

[Northem]

Do not adding new classes due to the fact that they can be similar to things already in the game is an excuse that directly causes the decline of diversity.

Yes to the Tinkers!! They are a must!

[Elementalkin]

This is a fantastic idea you've presented here.

[delus]

My main problem is with this being another class that uses agi. There are way too many classes and specs that use it now.

[LilSaihah]

ctrl f
flamethrower
0 of 0

this class does not pass muster; distinct lack of flamethrowers, please remedy

[delus]

As far as pistols go, adding yet another ranged weapon type that only tinkers can use also kind of sucks. I think the dual wielding gun tree should be like a titan's grip for guns and crossbows. Pistol styled guns can be added like the arcanite steam pistol. Tanking should go with melee weapons and healing should use the standard spirit healing gear.

[Teriz]

ctrl f
flamethrower
0 of 0

this class does not pass muster; distinct lack of flamethrowers, please remedy

Its been added. I forgot to add it at the end.

---------- Post added 2013-02-02 at 07:33 PM ----------

My main problem is with this being another class that uses agi. There are way too many classes and specs that use it now.

It would just be a spec, not the entire class. The majority of the class uses INT Mail.

[Lighthoof]

Fantastic Idea! I hope to see something like this WoW someday.

[Haven]

Nice. Although chemists could use some more love - a pet oozeling that could deliver healing or stick as a parasite to enemies or "possess" a corpse, self-mutating potions that make you go berserk or grow tentacles, and an off-hand syringe.

Putricide has a special place in my heart, what can i say.

[Teriz]

Nice. Although chemists could use some more love - a pet oozeling that could deliver healing or stick as a parasite to enemies or "possess" a corpse, self-mutating potions that make you go berserk or grow tentacles, and an off-hand syringe.

Putricide has a special place in my heart, what can i say.

I liked the self-mutilating beserk potion idea, so i added it. Also gave a bit more love to the other specs and fixed some things. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Xalzel]

I love it, I've always thought we needed a second ranged melee class, and ranger seams too similar to hunters w/o a pet. I'm loving this

[Teriz]

As far as pistols go, adding yet another ranged weapon type that only tinkers can use also kind of sucks. I think the dual wielding gun tree should be like a titan's grip for guns and crossbows. Pistol styled guns can be added like the arcanite steam pistol. Tanking should go with melee weapons and healing should use the standard spirit healing gear.

Pistols are a tinker weapon the same way the bow is a hunter weapon. I felt that bows were too retro for this class, and that user base are demanding pistols anyway. Also a spec that specializes in gunslinging would be perfect for this class.

[Golden Yak]

Chemical tree sounds interesting... the talk of potions made me think of somehow using them as an ability resource. The thought that formed put me in mind of DK runes almost - the Tinker has a couple of regenerating potions on his character bar that fuel various abilities (red, yellow, green potions?). Maybe they could self-regenerate or require another resource to be manually replenished.

Heh, should also put in the 'Transmute to Gold' ability as a stun or something that turns the enemy to gold for a short time. Could deal them damage over time but make them immune to other damage sources.

[Archdruid Dehydrate]

I love this idea way better than your ranger. Well done!

Very well done write up, spent a good anough of time reading the OPs post over.

[sisk]

This sounds absolutely awesome

Very well put together and made a lot of sense to me, this is something i would love to see in the game. The gear options sounds perfect to me as well, hunters and shamans doesn't share armor with anyone so of we can have 3 plate using classes we surely can have another mail agi/int class.

I would love if there was some more interaction with the healbot 4000 and the chemical Tinker, having the first healing class with a proper pet would be really cool. Like you could have it in melee and the Tinker in Ranged and he would use the bot to dispense short-ranged but more powerful aoe healing at his own location and at the healbot. And maybe use a high powered healing ray-gun targeted at the healbot healing anyone in between the Tinker and the healbot 4000 (forcing some positioning requirements) for burst healing.

Just so much potential with this class it's almost unbelievable, and they are pretty much already in the game so a very justifiable class to make available to players but at the same time nothing like anything we would have seen before, hope blizz will read through the OP.

[Teriz]

I added spec icons to spruce things up a bit. Hopefully they fit the spec's purpose as intended.

Chemical tree sounds interesting... the talk of potions made me think of somehow using them as an ability resource. The thought that formed put me in mind of DK runes almost - the Tinker has a couple of regenerating potions on his character bar that fuel various abilities (red, yellow, green potions?). Maybe they could self-regenerate or require another resource to be manually replenished.

Heh, should also put in the 'Transmute to Gold' ability as a stun or something that turns the enemy to gold for a short time. Could deal them damage over time but make them immune to other damage sources.

Thanks for the suggestion, can't believe I forgot about that ability. I went ahead and added it as a sort of "Touch of Death" move that can only be cast on non-players.

This sounds absolutely awesome

Thanks Sisk. I'm glad you like this idea better than the Ranger idea. Also think your healbot 4000 suggestion was a solid one. I'll think it over.

[Murphlord]

Reminds me a lot of GW2 engineer. Do want.

[Teriz]

Reminds me a lot of GW2 engineer. Do want.

Yeah, I need to check out GW2's engineering class. Seems like a lot of fun.

Also, I wish the folks who thought this class was too much like Hunters or the Engineering class would explain why they feel that way.

[McWire]

I really really like the idea. Thanks for your great work

I would go for a dwarf tinker . Reminds me of my Dwarf Engineer from WAR ...

What do you think about turrets the tinker could place (for all specs) ? Something like totems but only one per time or with CD's ?!