No. No. No. As a matter of fact, we should have a Arena fight to see which class Gnomes lose for the anniversary. 50 of each class...first class to all die gets kicked from game.
Yes Yes Yes As a matter of fact we should have a Arena fight to see which class will not be restricted to Gnome only. A best of the best type of competition.
My 2cp Gnome Beastlords with a clockwork pet makes absolutely no sense to me, the Beastlord has a synergy with an animal not a metal-creation if you want gnomes with clockwork pet(s) I think it should be a new class altogether. Something like what City of Villains had with the Mastermind (Robotic set) perhaps. Controlling a single Robo-spider at level 1 with higher levels enabling higher threat level clockworks & additional pets at the high levels having 8 clockwork slaves to command. with "spells" based off engineering / tinkering feats.
With what your saying that the beastlord must have an animal then the Treant doesn't fit your mold unless you think of it as an animal? Looking at EQ beastlord have a Warder but it doesn't say it must be an animal. The warder stays with or nearby the Beastlord from the earliest stages of their development and it is this 'pet' that makes a Beastlord into a powerful fighting force; as the Beastlord advances in strength and experience so does their warder companion. When fighting side by side, the two make a formidable opponent and the damage they can inflict is nearly unrivaled when considered with the beastlords other benefits to a party. The Beastlord class is a unique class that is a hybrid of the Shaman and Monk parent classes. One of the class's distinguishing features is the ability to summon a warder pet to fight alongside them. The form the warder takes depends on the race of the beastlord. A Warder: 1. a person who guards something, as a doorkeeper or caretaker. 2. a soldier or other person set to guard an entrance. So a Clockwork does fit the definition of a warder as one that would Guard the the beastlord. We have also seen that clockworks were build as caretakers and fill that role well beyond their masters death. GMM as an example. They can be soldiers. I not sure who wrote the following but to understand gnomes and the bond they have with clockworks I feel it fits well. Like people that bond with pets Gnomes bond with their clockworks and the clockworks are more then just robots. MOTOR COMMOTION ALL FOR EMOTION There once was a man. An old tinkering gnome who had no child, nor wife of his own. Mathematics and functions they did fill his mind. Experiments and gizmos took all of his time. Lonely he was, so he thought to himself, “I will make me a man, a gnome or an elf! He will be out of metal, sprockets and gears. He will be my companion and helper for years.” He did as he said, and made the dear lad. A round little figure that jostled a tad. He was good to his creator, and did all he asked. “Grease this; Carry that,” the clockwork was tasked. No grudge did he carry, for he had no emotions. This was a man of springs, cogs, and some potions. But one day he spotted with his little receptor, a mad little gnome make the rudest of gesture. “What drives such a man to shout and to flail?” he asked his master upon recounting the tale. “Anger is a feeling, like joy, sorrow or passion. They are good in degrees, but bad in substation. They can make a sane man crazy with time, but make life worth living with every clock chime.” “I lack these emotions. I am not complete,” the metal lad thought, as if on repeat. To the merchant he went rather lickety-split. “I’m to purchase emotions, Mister Crandle Z. Flint.” The merchant just laughed, and set the boy right. “You can’t buy emotions. Now have a good night.” “But what could I do if I wanted a set?” “You could pray to the gods, and see what you get.” He did as directed. He asked all he could for the full set of feelings – the bad and the good. He prayed upon Brell. He prayed upon ‘Bane. Tunare, even Marr, they answered the same. Metal he stayed. All wheel and spindle. A bucket of bolts. No emotion to kindle. “Gods of the men made of flesh and the bone, cannot comprehend needs of metal and chrome,” the clockwork decided while deep in his thought. “There must be another. Another not taught.” Men may have called it a crisis of faith, had he a sould to be sucked by a wraith. He was just looking for parts that he lacked. He wanted to be full, complete and exact. This would go on as he did all his work. There was not a time that a chore he did shirk. Then came the dark day coming back from a trek, his master’s nice house was aflame and a wreck. Around the debris stood gnomes stricken with fears. Some moaning, some shrieking, all covered in tears. He gave it no thought. He gave it no pause. He ran in determined. He ran in with cause! There was his dear maker slumped under a chair. With a lift and a hoist, he took every care to deliver his master away from the flame while men of emotion felt sorry and shame. They had been too afraid to act as he had, to run into danger that was sure to be bad. That’s when it struck him, a bolt to the head. Maybe these feelings aren’t as good as all said. “Listen inside you,” goes an old gnomish saying, “When questions and figures are heavy and weighing, with cosigns and fractions your head it does spin. You’ll find that the answers, they come from within.” “I need no emotion. My mind I can settle. I am, what I am. A man out of metal. Within me are gears. They roll and they turn. They drive me they do, as they twist and they churn. Feelings for men, and metal for me. I am then complete, and as whole as can be!” He finally felt peace with this grand little notion, perhaps even happy, if he had such emotion! So yes I believe that gnome beastlord with a clockwork warder would be possible. I not a big fan of the junkbeast but to each their own.
At least the myths supports living, mobile, autonomous trees. Look at Plane of Earth, Ents in LoTR; the evil trees in Wizard of Oz date back more than 100 years. Northern European myths include sentient trees. So befriending/taming the trees can be seen as natural, and along the lines of powers that might come from druids or shaman.. as Gnomes have no shaman, no monks, and no druids.. they can't have evolved those powers. They eschewed those powers to go scientific.
In return to OZ you have Clockworks Gnome in lore have been druids, Monks and Sham. If your going to Bring in LoTR then one could also refer to D&D that helped shape most fantasy. I could see a gnome that lived alone that tinkered a clockwork warder to be a companion and guardian. When the clockwork was created the Gnome used his shammy like powers to give the clockwork a spirit (soul) of it own. Much like the clockwork in return to Oz the clockwork was alive and the bond between then grew. Back in 2013 even the dev's consider a gnome beastlord as an option. That tells me it was consider and possible for a gnome to take that path. but the player base at the time voted for a WE over the Gnome. https://www.everquest.com/news/everquest-combo-clash-round-one Just because we were out voted in the past doesn't mean we lost all hope that one day the lost tribe of gnome will be found. After all they just uncovered GMM and so other gnome site could still be found as well.
