Page 1 of 5
1
2
3
... LastLast
  1. #1
    Merely a Setback Teriz's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Soul of Azeroth
    Posts
    29,817

    Class Idea: Runemasters!

    Part 0: Introduction:



    Let's face it, everyone loves a monk class. In early WoW, Discipline priests were supposed to take that role, unfortunately Blizzard decided to take them in a different direction. Six years later, WoW still lacks a real monk-style class. Enhancement Shaman are pretty close, but its one spec of one tree, and Enhancement Shaman are more battle mage than a traditional monk. The recent introduction of a Monk class in Diablo 3 rekindled the interest in a Monk class for WoW, and that's where we see ourselves today. Chances are the next class will be a hybrid that will be able to tank, heal, and DPS. Runemasters fit that bill in terms of flexibility, and lore. Also Monk ranks as one of the most popular class types in RPGs, which gives Blizzard plenty of incentive to implement in an aging MMO. Finally, unlike Deathknights which were very expansion-specific, you can apply Runemasters to virtually any expansion and they'll fit right in.

    Part 1:Background:

    What are Runemasters? Link

    Why I think Runemasters will be the next class: Link

    Differences between Runemasters and DK?

    (Yes, I can smell trolls from miles away....)

    1.Runemasters use cloth or leather armor.
    2.Runemasters place runes on themselves instead of on weapons.
    3.Death Knights use Scourge magic, Runemasters use Ley Lines and Nature Magic.
    4.Death Knight wield 2-handed weapons. Runemasters would use fist weapons.
    5.Blood, Unholy, and Frost runes aren't the type of Runes Runemasters would use. Even the Runes used by Runeforging wouldn't be the type of Runes used by Runemasters.

    Part 2: The Basics

    Premise: Melee fighter capable of utilizing arcane and nature magic. Able to deconstruct weapons and armor into runes that can be placed on the body.

    All races could technically be Runemasters. However, these would be the main candidates:
    Races: Tauren, Orc, Troll, Blood Elves
    Alliance: Dwarves, Night Elves, Worgen,

    Armor type: Cloth or Leather. Runemasters aren't fans of large amounts of armor.

    Weapons: Runemasters can technically use several types of weapons, however weapons are absorbed through a process called Deconstruction. The only weapons that can be used outside of deconstruction is fist and staff weapons. They cannont equip Bows, guns, two-handed axes, maces, or swords. They also can't equip shields.


    Part 3: Class Schools, Abilities, and talents

    Like all classes, the Runemaster will have 3 schools; Rune, Deconstruct, and Naturalist. A brief synopsis of each school is located below;



    Rune:

    Grants unique Runes to the runemaster, allowing them to swing battles in their favor. These Runes damage and cause chaos among enemies, while increasing the power of the runemaster. In talents, this is a DPS tree.

    Deconstruction:

    Increases the power of your deconstructed items, improving your survivability and weapon damage. Less flashy than the Rune and Naturalist school, but just as powerful. In talents, this is the DPS/Tanking tree.

    Naturalist:

    Prioritizes your buffing and healing abilities through a mixture of arcane and nature magic, making you capable of doing moderate damage, but also keeping your allies alive. Unlike most healers that are casters who stay out on the sidelines, runemasters are melee healers. In talents, this is the DPS/Healing tree.

    Abilities and Talents:

    Runemasters use Runes (obviously). Runes are divided into a few sections:

    Body Runes: These are runes that are placed on the body (Head, Body, Feet, Hands). Only one type of each Rune can be placed on a target at a given time. These include buffs and debuffs that effect other players or enemies. There are talents that change this rule, but for the most part, its inflexible. You can't place Rune of Arcane Fury and Rune of the Broken Shell on the same target for example.

    Earth Runes: These runes are placed upon Ley Lines in the ground, and have a variety of effects. Only one Earth Rune can be placed at a given time. These runes tend to have AoE effects.

    Air Runes: These runes are unstable as the air itself, so they tend not to last long. These runes can be used on top of each other, either buffing the Runemaster and his allies, or severely hindering and hampering his enemies. Some air runes are cooldowns.


    Deconstruct (ability) :


    The Runemaster cannot equip standard weapons and armor. Instead, deconstruction takes any armor, or weapon equip and transforms it into a rune that the character inscribes on their body. Effected armor: Helmet, Wrists, Shoulders, Chest, Cloak, All weapon types except fist weapons. These runes look like tatoos, and glow whenever a Runemaster uses an ability that requires his/her resource.

    Rune:
    Shield of Runes: Covers the caster in magic runes, absorbing a set amount of magical damage for 10 sec. When the shield expires, this damage is converted into a powerful burst of energy, increasing the caster's damage for 15 sec. based on amount absorbed.
    Rune of Power: (Earth Rune) Inscribes a large Rune on the ground. Rune of Power increases the damage of everybody who stands on it by 30%. Lasts 1 minute
    Rune of Arcane Fury: (Body Rune) Places a Rune on a target, increasing Arcane damage taken by X% for 10 sec. Also silences target for 2 seconds.
    Runic Fist: Blasts the target with Arcane energy, causing damage and knocking them backwards, dazing them.
    Rune of Moonlight: (Head Rune) Places a rune on the head of a target, reducing their spell power by a moderate amount for X seconds.
    Rune of the Broken Shell: (Body Rune) Places a rune on a target, reducing their armor by X%
    Runic Overload: The Runemaster's Runes explode in a flash of light, blinding the target, causing it to wander disoriented for up to 10 sec. Any damage caused will remove the effect.
    Runic Synthesis: Allows the Runemaster to inscribe multiple Runes at once to allow more efficient combat. (Think Call of the Elements)

    Deconstruction:
    Gaea Fist: A strong blow that heals the Runemaster based on damage done.
    Crippling Blows: Unleashes a barrage of punches on a target, ending with a powerful blow that hits for increased damage. Reduces movement speed for 4 seconds.
    Ley Blast: Strikes an enemy at melee range, damaging it for full damage, and any enemies standing behind it for reduced damage.
    Snap Kick: Kicks an enemy for 10% weapon damage, interrupting the spell being cast for 2 sec.
    Rune of Perfect Steel: (Hand Rune) Increases the damage of melee attacks of yourself, or your allies for 30 minutes.
    Rune of the Oaks: (Body Rune) Increases the natural armor of the Runemaster by X amount. This Rune also grants a low chance to reflect physical damage back onto an attacker.
    Rune of the Expanding fist: (Earth Rune) Summons a rune beneath the Runemaster. 15% of all damage inflicted by the Runemaster is transferred to all targets within 10 yards of the Rune. 45 seconds.
    Rune of the long fist: (Air Rune) Grants your melee attacks a 20 yard range for 20 seconds.
    Runic Smash: Dashes towards an opponent along a ley line, smashing into them causing moderate damage.
    Rune of Interlocking Chains: (Air Rune) Allows the Runemaster to chain cast up to 3 melee abilities (Gaea Fist, Ley Blast, Crippling Blows, etc.)

    Naturalist:
    Unified Fist: Sends a wave of energy towards a target, healing them for a small amount. Can also be sent towards an enemy, doing low damage (requires Rune of Unification)
    Unified Wave: Sends a wave of energy in all directions, healing all friendly targets and damaging enemy targets within 30 yards. (requires Rune of Unification)
    Unified Armor: Places 3 Runic buffs (i.e. Rune of the Mangrove) on the target, or places 3 Runic debuffs (i.e. Rune of Arcane Fury) on an enemy target. These Runes are more powerful than their normal versions, and they last for 15 seconds. Runic Buffs or Debuffs already on the target are removed. (requires all 5 stacks of Rune of Unification)
    Supercharge: Unleashes a burst of energy towards a caster, increasing spell damage by 25% for X seconds
    Hands of Restoration: (passive) Your melee attacks heal you based on weapon damage.
    Rune of Starlight: (Earth Rune) Heals you receive is dispersed among the party or raid at a reduced amount.
    Rune of the moving stream: (Earth Rune) Heals your allies for a small amount as they move.
    Rune of Unification: (Body Rune) Increases your armor and the effects of your Runes (through talents). In addition, your attacks store Healing energy. This energy can be used for unique abilities. Up to 5 stacks can be stored.
    Rune of Transformation: (Air Rune) Reduces damage, and attacks against you have a chance to heal you for a 50% of the damage. Last 8 seconds.
    Rune of the Mangrove: (Air Rune) Places a rune on a target, healing them over time for 10 seconds.


    Part 4: Resource system

    The resource system could be magic, a changed Runic system, or a type of focus/energy system. The choices are endless.

    Q&A

    Q: There's too many Hero threads on this forum!
    A: Yeah, so one more isn't going to hurt anything.

    Q:You used pics from the game!
    A: I realize that. I used the drawings just for the purpose of a theorycrafting thread.

    Q:Runemaster is a horrible class!
    A: Thanks for your input. I disagree so I made a thread about it. If you don't like it, don't waste your time responding.

    Q:Where's the talent trees?
    A: Its coming soon! Patience is a virtue.

    Q: They're never going to implement Runemasters blah blah blah!
    A: I realize that. I just did this for fun. Relax.

    Q: Where's the Resource system?
    A: Didn't feel like making one of those either.


    Any constructive comments or discussion is more than welcome. Thanks for reading.

  2. #2
    Field Marshal ibprofin's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    71
    Anyone who says this class is like a DK is clearly an idiot.

    I personally love the idea, except for one glaring point.

    Though it makes sense for them to not use armor, wouldn't having a cloth melee be really squishy? Maybe give them a rune that doubles or triples armor received from wearing cloth.

    Overall very good, could use a few tweaks but its mostly theory-crafting so I wont nitpick to hard.
    "Its hard to tank!"
    "....Yeah, maybe in the first 5 seconds... if you don't have a hunter... or a rogue... or competent dps.... maybe...."

    Quote Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    Conjure refreshment now applies a debuff that does 30,000 shadow damage over 10 seconds to anyone, friend or foe, within 30 yards. "Vendor's Vengeance" is not dispellable.

  3. #3
    I love this idea. Amazing writeup too!

  4. #4
    Merely a Setback Teriz's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Soul of Azeroth
    Posts
    29,817
    Quote Originally Posted by ibprofin View Post
    Anyone who says this class is like a DK is clearly an idiot.

    I personally love the idea, except for one glaring point.

    Though it makes sense for them to not use armor, wouldn't having a cloth melee be really squishy? Maybe give them a rune that doubles or triples armor received from wearing cloth.

    Overall very good, could use a few tweaks but its mostly theory-crafting so I wont nitpick to hard.
    Bah! Good point. I meant to add such an ability as well. Obviously that would be a requirement, or they'd be toast in a matter of seconds.

    Thanks for the reply.

    Added Rune of the Oaks, so that should help.

  5. #5
    Like the Idea. Just wish Blizz would atleast take a look at this.

  6. #6
    Nice. I think the "deconstruct to equip" concept is a little unwieldy for game-play - gear is soulbound already - but is neat from a lore perspective. Given Blizz has been driving towards easier play, I'd expect that the graphics would show the tats, but the character gear would still be managed like every other class. Think Deconstruct as a Deconstruct tree talent that ekes out additional armor from cloth, a la Metamorphosis, but full time.

    Tho if you end up with tanks rolling need on cloth items, and seeking cloth +stam/+agi gear, it'd get messy - mebbe put Deconstruct as a talent that would allow the use of Leather, so as to share Feral tank itemization.

    Naturalist as a melee healer is interesting. I have images of localized AoE HoTs (a la Healing Rain), and fairly powerful ST heals that bounce back to the caster - as a tank healer, you'll be eating the dragon breath too.

    As DPS, the Rune tree sounds like it'd provide some ultra-localized buffs. This is counter to the path that Blizz has been going with making party-wide buffs raid-wide for the most part. Additionally, they'd either have to overlap with existing buffs (to meet the "no class is brought along simply for the buffs" ethos that Blizz is driving for now), or Blizz would need to change their current design philosophy. Which is possible.

    On the debuff front, there have been some significant reductions in the way the Warlock debuffs have been working (Curse of Tongues is a pale shadow of its former self, same with Curse of Exhaustion, Felhunter interrupt CD has been boosted). There's PvP balance to take into account too, which makes the whole thing tricky.

    Overall, I think implementing this class as a leather-wearing tank would be the easiest, with the cloth-wearing melee healer being most interesting, and there being a fair bit of balance needed around the DPS tree. AND, if you make a hero class that can do it all, there's the heap of QQ to be dealt with - so it might make sense to have it tank/melee heal/range heal.

  7. #7
    Interesting idea....

    Here's a few changes I would make:

    1. Allow the use of Staffs in addition to Fist Weapons. This is a sufficiently monk-like weapon, and could provide an option for players who wish to use 2-handed weapons.

    2. I'm a little concerned about the use of completely unique equipment in runes. While I like the idea of imprinting runes on your character, I think requiring everyone who plays the class to run around half-naked all the time could be a turn-off for some players. Perhaps allow players to imprint runes ontop of cloth armor rather then directly on the skin, even if it's purely cosmetic.

    3. Having runes simply glow brighter at higher ilevels could cause issues as new tiers are added later on. You would either have to periodically dim everyone's runes, cap the brightness after a certain point, or have them eventually outshine the sun. None of these solutions are particularly attractive, which is another reason why having the option of imprinting runes over cloth armor might be a good idea.

    4. If I'm reading it right, your resource system might be a little overcomplicated. Personally I would limit it to 3 rune types used for spellcasting that are used equally by all specs. Sure it would heavily mimic the Death Knight system on a mechanical level, but I think the simpler the system the better.
    Roleplaying, hardcore Raiding, running LFR on the occasional weekend, PvPing, rolling alts, achievement hunting, pet battling, or just enacting an endless series of whims, I don't care how you play WoW. Just as long as you have fun doing it.

  8. #8
    Sounds pretty cool tbh.

    Something i'd like to see.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    I would absolutely love the idea of a melee healer.

    My first thought of that was that the healer leaps and/or charges to his healing targets branding them with healing runes - sort of like a projectile. That would obviously cause alot of problems, but perhaps a copy of the runemaster charging to the person and branding them with healing runes would be more likely to work. Less generic design is always welcome, especially with where Blizzard has been going with this game.

    I also thoroughly enjoy the idea of weapons being there, sort of, but still not showing up and having the character punch instead. Ohh, and the fact that it's low armor, brutal and melee is somehow always appealing.

    I also applaud you for a well written topic.

  10. #10
    I'm not sure why, but this doesn't appeal to me at all. just sounds so ... plain.
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    If [the dps] are on the wrong target, then they are playing badly and should be corrected and / or mocked, depending on how you roll.

  11. #11
    High Overlord Suphix's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Warrington, England
    Posts
    191
    Blizzard have pretty much already designed this class, and we almost had this over DKs.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Teriz View Post
    Q:Runemaster is a horrible class!
    A: Thanks for your input. I disagree so I made a thread about it. If you don't like it, don't waste your time responding.
    So I can't respond just because I disagree with you?

    Ok, another "there's only 2 opinions - mine and wrong" thread.
    Why you think the Net was born? Porn! Porn! Porn!

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Serissa View Post
    So I can't respond just because I disagree with you?

    Ok, another "there's only 2 opinions - mine and wrong" thread.
    I think he was saying that people who don't post actual constructive criticism and just want to respond with "lol dumb idea" won't be replied to.
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    If [the dps] are on the wrong target, then they are playing badly and should be corrected and / or mocked, depending on how you roll.

  14. #14
    Merely a Setback Teriz's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Soul of Azeroth
    Posts
    29,817
    Quote Originally Posted by Onorvele View Post
    Nice. I think the "deconstruct to equip" concept is a little unwieldy for game-play - gear is soulbound already - but is neat from a lore perspective. Given Blizz has been driving towards easier play, I'd expect that the graphics would show the tats, but the character gear would still be managed like every other class. Think Deconstruct as a Deconstruct tree talent that ekes out additional armor from cloth, a la Metamorphosis, but full time.

    Tho if you end up with tanks rolling need on cloth items, and seeking cloth +stam/+agi gear, it'd get messy - mebbe put Deconstruct as a talent that would allow the use of Leather, so as to share Feral tank itemization.

    Naturalist as a melee healer is interesting. I have images of localized AoE HoTs (a la Healing Rain), and fairly powerful ST heals that bounce back to the caster - as a tank healer, you'll be eating the dragon breath too.

    As DPS, the Rune tree sounds like it'd provide some ultra-localized buffs. This is counter to the path that Blizz has been going with making party-wide buffs raid-wide for the most part. Additionally, they'd either have to overlap with existing buffs (to meet the "no class is brought along simply for the buffs" ethos that Blizz is driving for now), or Blizz would need to change their current design philosophy. Which is possible.

    On the debuff front, there have been some significant reductions in the way the Warlock debuffs have been working (Curse of Tongues is a pale shadow of its former self, same with Curse of Exhaustion, Felhunter interrupt CD has been boosted). There's PvP balance to take into account too, which makes the whole thing tricky.

    Overall, I think implementing this class as a leather-wearing tank would be the easiest, with the cloth-wearing melee healer being most interesting, and there being a fair bit of balance needed around the DPS tree. AND, if you make a hero class that can do it all, there's the heap of QQ to be dealt with - so it might make sense to have it tank/melee heal/range heal.
    I can definitely agree that Leather may be the better option for the class overall, since Agility and INT leather already exists in the game. Also Leather wouldn't hinder the lore too much.

    As for the buffs and debuffs, I was considering a skill that allows you to set up your buffs kind of like the Shaman totem bar. That way a Runemaster could quickly apply buffs or Debuffs to targets without worrying about flipping through their spell book. Through this skill, the buffs would of course be raid or party wide, and the debuffs could be tailored to what you're fighting.

    Balance is always a pain in the rear. However, that's Blizzard's job, not mine.

    ---------- Post added 2011-02-16 at 03:00 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Falrinn View Post
    Interesting idea....

    Here's a few changes I would make:

    1. Allow the use of Staffs in addition to Fist Weapons. This is a sufficiently monk-like weapon, and could provide an option for players who wish to use 2-handed weapons.

    2. I'm a little concerned about the use of completely unique equipment in runes. While I like the idea of imprinting runes on your character, I think requiring everyone who plays the class to run around half-naked all the time could be a turn-off for some players. Perhaps allow players to imprint runes ontop of cloth armor rather then directly on the skin, even if it's purely cosmetic.

    3. Having runes simply glow brighter at higher ilevels could cause issues as new tiers are added later on. You would either have to periodically dim everyone's runes, cap the brightness after a certain point, or have them eventually outshine the sun. None of these solutions are particularly attractive, which is another reason why having the option of imprinting runes over cloth armor might be a good idea.

    4. If I'm reading it right, your resource system might be a little overcomplicated. Personally I would limit it to 3 rune types used for spellcasting that are used equally by all specs. Sure it would heavily mimic the Death Knight system on a mechanical level, but I think the simpler the system the better.
    1. You make a very good point here. I went ahead and added it.
    2. I like this idea as well, mainly for armor of course.
    3. LoL! Very true. I think I'll remove that.
    4.Eh, I like the varied amount of runes. I appreciate your suggestion though.

    ---------- Post added 2011-02-16 at 03:13 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by fizikz View Post
    I think he was saying that people who don't post actual constructive criticism and just want to respond with "lol dumb idea" won't be replied to.
    Pretty much. Onovele and Falrinn's posts are examples of the type of disagreement I'd prefer to see in this thread.

    ---------- Post added 2011-02-16 at 03:26 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by wHen View Post
    I would absolutely love the idea of a melee healer.

    My first thought of that was that the healer leaps and/or charges to his healing targets branding them with healing runes - sort of like a projectile. That would obviously cause alot of problems, but perhaps a copy of the runemaster charging to the person and branding them with healing runes would be more likely to work. Less generic design is always welcome, especially with where Blizzard has been going with this game.

    I also thoroughly enjoy the idea of weapons being there, sort of, but still not showing up and having the character punch instead. Ohh, and the fact that it's low armor, brutal and melee is somehow always appealing.

    I also applaud you for a well written topic.
    Thank you sir.

  15. #15
    Cool class idea!

    The pictures are very nice as well.

  16. #16
    Deleted
    nice idea post it on the real wow forums aswell so the blizzard guys will read is

    //C

  17. #17
    Herald of the Titans Will's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    2,675
    Quote Originally Posted by Teriz
    Why I think Runemasters will be the next class: Link
    Quote Originally Posted by Teriz
    Q: They're never going to implement Runemasters blah blah blah!
    A: I realize that. I just did this for fun. Relax.
    eh? you think they're going to be the next hero class, but you realise they won't be implemented? If you're so sure they won't be implemented, why do you think they will be the next hero class?

  18. #18
    Nice idea but i think that someone blizz guy will already think about it :P
    For the Greater Good.
    www.allods.eu

  19. #19
    Herald of the Titans Will's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    2,675
    Quote Originally Posted by Teriz
    Any constructive comments or discussion is more than welcome. Thanks for reading.
    Quote Originally Posted by Teriz
    A: Thanks for your input. I disagree so I made a thread about it. If you don't like it, don't waste your time responding.
    How arrogant of you to propose an idea on the forum and then effectively say "I don't want ANY negative feedback so screw you if you disagree"

  20. #20
    Brewmaster Thundertom's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    1,319
    Great idea!

    As for the runemasters resources, I'd think it could be something like warrior rage. This would be different as a melee healer, since you would have to melee to get "runepower" and use that power to cast a heal, which would shed a whole new light on healers. Some damaging abilities would grant 'runepower" which would be used up to heal someone.
    Warlock (SL main)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •