Will the AA Limit per Class be fixed?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Gnomereaper, Aug 6, 2021.

  1. Gnomereaper Augur

    I understand that there is a hard limit to the number of AA's a class can have. Is this sort of thing similar to the issue of no new character classes or races, or is this more like container slots that it's hard to fix but something that will eventually happen?
  2. Slasher Augur

    hard limit to number of AAs ?
  3. Gnomereaper Augur

    Combat Stability can have as many ranks as they want to create, but they can't create many more new types of AA's because of coding limitations. At least that is how I understand the current problem with AA's.
  4. Cragzop Cranky Wizard

    The developers have said that the code is limited to a certain number of aas which is why they have done aa cleanup from time to time.

    It's not a class thing, it's an aa system thing.

    There are two avenues for more aas ... further aa cleanup or some type of aa code rewrite. Either one can happen. It's just resources put towards aas is the question.

    Personally, they need to consider something widening the aa structure as the aa stagnation is one of the issues plaguing the continuation of the game (and really makes new expansions less exciting ... that and the lack of new spells).
  5. Szilent Augur

    The further cleanup version please!
    Andarriel and Tweakfour17 like this.
  6. strongbus Augur

    think they should make aa lines that don't stack with each other in a way, that one you buy the 1st rank of one line it greys out the other ones.

    atm you can buy ever aa and its cookie cutter for each class we all the same. but give us some aa lines that can make it so people can chose which line best suits their play style.

    for example mages have 4 types of pets. give them 4 different aa lines one for each pet but make it so they can only chose one.
  7. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    I totally think they should not do that. Other games do. Fine. Let those games be that way, let EQ be EQ.

    You can simulate what you want, just don't buy (or don't use) the lines you don't want ;)
    Fenthen and Qimble like this.
  8. Velisaris_MS Augur

    If they want to clean up AAs, as a cleric I'll gladly give back all the ranks of Enhanced Reformation I bought just to avoid wasted AA points.
  9. Act of Valor The Newest Member

    Is this something a possible 64-bit client would fix, or no?
  10. Accipiter Old Timer


    Only in the sense that they would be rewriting some stuff anyway.
  11. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Interesting idea for a new EQ game perhaps, as something to try putting into EQ it's a terrible suggestion.
    With 16 classes in EQ there is already more than enough diversity in classes, trying to find new niches for additional specs would be an exercise in frustration and dilution and that's before you get to class-balance complexity already being more than enough to manage, allowing for more race/class combinations is probably EverQuest's best path toward offering more novelty.

    A specialisation tree in a new EQ could allow for starting off as a generic "Tank" class with a mix of abilities from all of the later tank classes and them later as they level gradually lean towards one specific eventual class. That system would potentially offer the option of a respec of your character later on.
    Same thing could go for Casters, Priests and Melee.
    A new EQ could also instead opt for a "job" system such as FFXIV uses or something more like RIFT uses so that you can have multiple class types available to one character.

    Or a new EQ could go with something like this:

    Warder:
    Can choose between Druid/Rogue/Ranger specs

    Crusader:
    Can choose between Cleric/Warrior/Paladin specs

    Despoiler:
    Can choose between Necromancer/Berserker/Shadowknight specs

    Spiritist:
    Can choose between Shaman/Monk/Beastlord specs

    Dirge:
    Can choose between Channeler*/Bard/Enchanter

    Elementalist:
    Can choose between Hydrogeon*/Wizard/Magician

    *Channeler - inspired by Vanguard's Bloodmage this is a priest that can use a variety of energy streams which either go from the caster to their target(s) or from the target(s) to the caster/caster's group/caster and group. these have instant cast times, have durations and use resources over their duration, they cannot be applied endlessly and these streams have individual cooldowns.
    They can temporarily slow or snare a target while the channeler is using that stream, so they can be an instantly applied slow or snare while enemies are coming towards the group but when the channeler needs to heal they cannot then maintain those and need to swap to another type of stream such as a healing stream, whilke the group is healthy they can also apply damaging streams to targets to assist their group.
    Their later stage evolution can allow them to combine streams in various combinations making them a powerful and versatile class.

    *Hydrogeon - a Melee DPS/CC hybrid that uses earth and water-based spells, these can drown for a slow, mudpool for snare, whirlpool for mezz, and tsunami crash knockback+damage, landslide crush dots.

    So with that a new EQ would start with 6 "root classes" and each has 3 spec/variations to choose from and swap between.
  12. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    So, sounds a lot like EQ2 :)
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  13. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Similar style yes, though I opted to mix the archetypes a bit differently and to base them more in EQ classes.
  14. Beimeith Lord of the Game


    While it is possible I missed a post or a conversation somewhere, I don't believe this is correct.

    Usually this ends up coming back to something Elidroth said about "running out of design space" which was NOT referring to a hard limit on the number of AAs, but about making AAs too powerful.
    Svann2 and Coagagin like this.
  15. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    Actually, I think that is what was posted by the developer. There were too many AA lines, and in order to introduce new AA lines, they had to consolidate the existing lines.
  16. Beimeith Lord of the Game

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  17. Shakara Augur

    There is a ton of consolidation they could do. Almost every class has AAs that dont make sense or are really filler as someone who plays Bard the ones I know of are.
    1) Lyrical Prankster/Song of stone- Why have swarm pets on a bard they do not add or synergize with our kit very well. Just straight up delete these.
    2) Improved Chants/Improved *Song Nuke Name*- Just make the base damage of the actual song higher, or if you really want progression to the songs do it as an aug or evolving piece of gear. The other Improved AAs can be taken out and replaced with an appropriate disc/song.
    3) Fierce Eye and Quick Time just need to be one AA. You want to use them together anyways. Play with the numbers and find a way to fit both types of effects into one button.
    That is a ton of consolidation right there opening up like 15 different lines and that is just one class.
    Andarriel likes this.
  18. roth Augur

    They kind of tried this already, and people gravitated towards the one line that offered the most benefit. Remember the Spires? You could buy all the AA’s, but could only activate one of the three. People tended to not pick and choose, but to only use one of the spires.

    I’m fine with whole package classes. I’d rather not go the route of specializations. We don’t need Flame Wizards, Ice Wizards, Lightning Wizards, and Transportation Wizards, for example. We don’t need Archery Rangers, Slice’N’Dice Rangers, Power Rangers, and Mystic Rangers.

    Specializations are fine for other games; especially when the game is designed with them from the get go. Trying to introduce them 22 years into a game’s life is not only missing the boat; its having watched the boat set sail, dock at the other port, sail on a variety of fishing trips, then rust away, get torched, and burn to the waterline kind of late.
    Hellowhatsyourname, Szilent and Skuz like this.
  19. Waring_McMarrin Augur



    They did this early on in the game and it was strongly disliked as it was easy for players to make a bad choice. Removing it from the game was a good choice as it just unneededly restricts player choice and eventually you end up with a single correct choice that most players use.

    As a side note these types of specializations would be one thing if players could reset their choices in order to correct bad choices or to change gameplay styles as needed.
  20. Niskin Clockwork Arguer

    If they are limited by the number of AA lines they can have total, it would be a terrible idea to limit them even further by making a character choose between the ones that are available. Basically it just creates more waste, and the need for extra effort to maintain that waste.

    But more importantly, please no, that was literally the thing I hated most about WoW. I'm a Priest, but am I a Shadow Priest, or a Discipline Priest, or Healing Priest? Well I'm healing, but they need DPS. It's ok, we let you switch between a couple specs now... Sweet, now I can agonize over which two specs to preset, and how to build them. :rolleyes:

    I'm not against the concept in general, 5E D&D uses variations like this and it was a good addition to the game, because it needed the flexibility, but EQ doesn't. They should keep doing AA cleanups until they can leave themselves a little room for future growth. We could use a little less ability bloat anyway.