The Conductor Class: All Aboard The Ragni Express!

Spoiler: What Inspired Me to Make This Class Concept?

To put it simply, the spark which got me going was a comment from my sister while she was playing Wynncraft. She more or less said that the game was 'too fast paced for her,' and hasn't touched the server since I asked her to try it.
Combine this with me stewing over the last Class Concept I made about the Pilot, and you have what motivated me to make this Class about mobility, steampunk stuff, and a minor homage to my childhood fascination of trains and all things steam-tech.

An Overview of The Conductor Class
The Conductor commands his/her personal Train, and boasts their incredible ground mobility by letting others hop aboard their personal express and join them for the ride! The Conductor is tailored to be more of a mid-range fighter, akin to the Mage, with room for customization, defensive options, and, most importantly, teamwork strategies! Plus, while it is somewhat hampered by going solo, so is every other Class, in essence.

Why The Conductor Would Benefit Wynncraft:
- Trains. We’ve all loved them at some point.
- When advertising to potential players, you have a brand new selling point: Being an RPG server with an original Class just for trains! You sure don't see that everyday in the RPG genre!
- If casual players want to join Wynncraft, but somehow find it’s too fast-paced, a friend of theirs can simply play the Conductor Class and carry the burden of mobility and evasion on their shoulders!
- If you and your pals wanna travel as a pack, the Conductor’s Train mechanic makes sure nobody’s left behind or outruns everyone! (*Cough*Archer*cough*)
- It wouldn’t make sense in the context of lore if there were steampunk blimps, steam technology, and rails and minecarts without a single train in sight.
- The Conductor has all the mobility in the world!...Horizontally. Vertical ain’t so fun, keeping the balance of parkouring.
- The Conductor wouldn’t make a joke out of parkour, unlike other Classes (*cough*Mage*cough*), keeping it from becoming a cheese supply line.
- The Conductor encourages and rewards teamwork and strategy. With the set mobility it can provide to passengers, glass cannons and slow-moving builds will want to make teamwork with the Conductor to make the dreamwork!
- Makes waiting for mobs to spawn a bit less annoying - drive in circles or something while you’re waiting!

Spoiler: The Conductor's Main Weapon: The Bomb

The Bomb would basically act like vanilla Minecraft’s Splash Potions, the Instant Damage ones, in particular. It can technically outrange Classes like the Warrior and Assassin, but that’s about it - the range is around three-quarters of Mage’s default range, so it’s not going to camp very well, by any means. The Bombs will always hit anything in a 3*3*3 radius around the impact for 100% of their damage (unless other stats like dodging were to come into play).

Spoiler: So, Why Bombs?

Bombs are the most fitting weapon the conductor of a train could have - drop it next to the enemy, and then rush away at high speeds as they blow up, right? Even though the Bombs technically don’t have friendly-fire, that’s more or less what you would want to be using as a Conductor. Cannons and Ballistas would be too inefficient on a train - you’d likely miss, due to high speeds, and they’d both be inefficient, in general. Pistols are a no-go, by word of the developers (no gatling guns? Talk about wasted opportunity...) so those aren’t gonna fly, either. So, that left me with a few things to work with when designing - which was mostly abstract stuff or explosives.

As for the crafting system, among incorporating Mythic Weapons for the Conductor, that’s pretty easy to explain, in defense of the Bombs: They’ll be right at home in the Weaponsmithing category, and most of the Ingredients fit them well. By the way, Bombs will be crafted with the Oils and Ingots, and it’s obvious why - Oils for the explosion, Ingots for the shells to hold them in. The Bombs will also be quite unique in this regard, being the only Weapon Class to use exclusive Crafting Ingredients from both Weaponsmithing and Woodworking!

For explaining Mythics, c’mon - there’s NO reason you WOULDN’T use a bomb over a buncha cannons. Explosives are always the best for sieging and whatnot, and it would be easy to incorporate lore and unique Weapons based off of Bombs, especially given that Wynncraft’s story is often based on warfare!

From a gameplay perspective, this more or less forces the Conductor to get up close against melee mobs and bosses, unless they’re able to destroy said mobs in a single Bomb throw. But, at that point, they’re likely moving on to their next destination, or soon to be done with grinding the mobs in the area they’re in. Some Spells will obviously be longer ranged, but will still require the Conductor to be within range of threats, like most Classes have to suffer through. Plus, by the Conductors almost always having to get in melee range of their targets, their Assassin and Warrior friends will have incentive to gang up as a melee damage-oriented express.

Spoiler: The Conductor's Spells

And now for the fun part of most Classes - the Spells! The Conductor’s Spells are listed below.

Hop Aboard - [L-R-L] - 6 Mana
Summons your personal Train, which you and up to five other friends can board! (You always have to board the Train first, though - otherwise, your pals can’t, either.) Your friends can attack and cast Spells while on the Train, but will always have a 25% damage penalty whenever they’re aboard. You, as the Conductor, aren’t affected by the debuff, though.
The Train can move as quickly as 200% of your Walking Speed, but will have to accelerate, first. You accelerate at a speed of 10% every second, and hold Sprint to accelerate. Use the A and D keys to turn the Train while accelerating.


Acceleration - [L-R-L] when driving the Train - 6 Mana
Speeds up the Train, adding 50% of your Walking Speed to the Train when not at maximum speed already. When at maximum speed, using the Spell will instead make the Train perform a strong, melee charging attack! (You can’t attack or cast other Spells besides this one while charging, though.)
Tier 1 - Acceleration - Lvl 1 - 300% Wpn Dmg, +50% Spd
A simple, though expensive, boost in Speed.
Tier 2 - Dodge - Lvl 16 - 0%/300% Wpn Dmg, +50% Spd
If you’re not moving at higher than half of your full speed when casting this Spell, then the Train will still perform it’s full-speed charge attack, in addition to accelerating, but it will not do damage. Instead, you and everyone else aboard the Train will become invulnerable for the duration of the charge. This invulnerability state will not take effect if you’re moving at higher than 50% of the maximum speed.
Tier 3 - Handling - Lvl 36 - 0%/300% Wpn Dmg, +50% Spd
The train now rushes in the direction you’re aiming in, instead of the direction it’s traveling in, including vertically and in the opposite direction of which you’re traveling in, which can look really dumb, at times.

Bang Jump - [L-L-L] - 5 Mana
Jump forward with a Bomb in your hands, leaping forward split seconds before the Bomb explodes and launches you high up. If you hit an enemy with the tackle, the Bomb immediately goes off. It's harmless to you, thankfully, but deals damage to enemies.
It's plentiful fun to Bang Jump around, but it's when you use it while driving the Train which is the real fun part!...And yes, Death Fake somehow works on the entire dang Train. I have no idea why, but it does.
Tier 1 - Bang Jump - Lvl 11 - 100% Wpn Dmg, 10% Earth
Jump forward a measly 4 blocks, before the Bomb sends you flying 10 blocks diagonally upwards and forwards 4 more blocks. Any enemy within a 5*5*5 radius of you gets blown up in a not-so-fun way.
Tier 2 - Death Fake - Lvl 26 - 100% Wpn Dmg, 15% Earth, 5% Fire
Enemies will now think you died when using Bang Jump, being unable to see or notice you until you land back on the ground.
Tier 3 - Regal Descent - Lvl 46 - 100% Wpn Dmg, 25% Earth, 15% Fire, 5% Air
After Bang Jumps, you land on the ground with the grace and gentleness of a Nivlan Beauty...Tied to a falling Copper anvil by a Wheat String, I mean. You land with another explosion, which does the same damage and has the same blast radius as the one you cause when Bang Jumping.

Rocket Riot - [L-R-R] - 6 Mana
Makes your next regular attack a Marking Bomb instead of a Bomb, which doesn’t deal damage...but instead, marks the enemies hit by it. The ink marking lasts a few seconds, in which casting the Spell again launches several homing firework rockets from the Train. Casting launches a batch every time you cast the Spell after the Marking Bomb has already been thrown.
You cannot launch the firework rockets if your Train is not deployed, or if you haven’t thrown the Marking Bomb. The Marking Bomb can only mark up to 3 enemies for an explosive demise at once, and will always prioritize marking the 3 enemies closest to the center of the blast radiu first. Each firework can still do splash damage, though, blowing up a 3*3*3 area each.
Tier 1 - Rocket Riot - Lvl 21 - 75% Wpn Dmg/Firework, 3 Fireworks/Spell Cast
A glorious lightshow to share with your passengers, with a little preparing.
Tier 2 - Mo’ Rockets - Lvl 36 - 50% Wpn Dmg/Firework, 8 Fireworks/Spell Cast
What’s better than a deadly firework rocket barrage? A deadly firework barrage with more rockets, of course!
Tier 3 - Prepless Rockets - Lvl 56 - 25% Wpn Dmg/Firework, 12 Fireworks/Spell Cast
The rockets are now launch-and-forget - you can leave those little Marking Bombs at home! Rockets will now home in on the nearest enemies and fly up to 15 blocks to blow things up. Time for the biggest and best firework show in existence!


Steam Charge - [L-L-R] - 8 Mana
Charges up your next attack with Steam, boosting your next attack/Spell’s damage. You can stack up to three Steam Charges at once. Increases the duration of the Acceleration charge attacks, and the range of the main Weapon’s, Marking Bomb’s, and Rocket Riot’s attacks. The charges will wear off after 10 seconds after the first stack if not used, no matter how large the stack. Several charge stacks from multiple Conductors will not stack on top of each other. When not onboard their Trains, Conductors can’t give their Passenger Charge buffs, for obvious reasons.
Tier 1 - Steam Charge - Lvl 36 - 50% Wpn Dmg/Spell Cast, up to 150% extra Wpn Dmg
Buffs the range of the main Weapon and Marking Bomb/Rocket Riot by 3 blocks per charge, and stacks up to 9 blocks of extra range. Doesn’t affect passengers.
Tier 2 - Sauna Steam - Lvl 46 - 50% Wpn Dmg/Spell Cast, up to 175% extra Wpn Dmg
Heals you and all Train passengers for 5% of your Max Health when cast. Everyone affected will heal respective amounts of Health, based on their own Max Health.
Tier 3 - Passenger Charging - Lvl 66 - 50% Wpn Dmg/Spell Cast, up to 200% extra Wpn Dmg
You can charge up to 4 times now, and each and every charge will now affect your Passengers for up to 200% extra damage, just like you.

Spoiler: The Coding/Substitution Specifics (For Developer Ease and Sanity Preservation)

Let me clarify: Unless you have insomnia, or you’re part of the Wynncraft Content Team, you can skip this part of the thread entirely. It’s nothing very much related to gameplay, so don’t read it expecting to really find some game-breaking quirk or whatever.
What I’d personally consider when coding all this

Edit 1, 11/29/2020: Wow, I'm pretty glad that I placed the 'No, because lore' option into the Poll.
Someone commented that the Conductor wouldn't make sense because of the electromagic required to fuel the Train. You might be thinking stuff like steel, magnetic railway stuff, there - I'm just talking about Steam with this locomotive.
Before you ask about Hunker Down's steel plating forming, Hunker Down in general was something I just slapped on in the last hour of editing, so I'm definitely going to go back and rethink the Second Spell to not seem so...ahead of it's time, in comparison to the rest.
You don't need electromagic to...
- Make the steam needed to get the Train going - it's a steam locomotive, c'mon, now. Steam would be made with Water, Fire, and maybe a dash of Air, last I checked.
- Summon a damn train from thin air. For any counter-arguments, please explain how the Shaman summons Totems!
- Launch and aim firework rockets mid-flight. If you can get Archers to make a miniature orbit of arrows around themselves and call it an Arrow Shield, I think you can manage a bit of Air magic to make the rockets 'homing.' In fact, you could explain the Marking Bomb directing the air current to guide the rockets to the target, in this case.

Edit 2, 12/1/2020: Trains fit into the lore of Wynncraft just fine. Unless those gas stoves in Ragni are simply a figment of my imagination, I think it's possible that steampunk tech has already been made in the Provinces besides Corkus.
I mean, when you think about it, you just need heat, water, and a couple of mechanisms to make a train. Oh, and a lot of steel and metals to build it, but with the surplus of mining stuff everywhere, material investment is no excuse. I'm convinced that you can figure out steam stuff if you have the ability to cast so many kinds of magic, and even summon Smoke Bombs.

On another note, I've removed Hunker Down and replaced it with Bang Jump (and it's finished upgrades!), partly as a homage to my first custom D&D Character, who did the same technique a few times (though not with a train), but also as an acceptable, though still unique, Spell to slap on, since Hunker Down wouldn't work well without the Train.

 

First of all, amazing class suggestion! Idea, melee, spells, upgrades, everything! Even a poll! There aren't that many like these, so in this perspective it is definitelly a success.

Sadly, the thing is that it doesn't really fit into Wynncraft, either lore or mechanic-wise, same as the pilot class (which was good too).

 

next: submarine driver class

 

Spellspam conductor sounds like it would feel a bit like this

 

Okay, general problem with this and Pilot.
Whilst these are great suggestions, they don't fit with the lore as you only unlock Corkus at level 83, and never master electromagic or anything similar.

 

hmmm.... bombs, eh...? A Hat In Time conductor Battle for Award 42 much eh?


I dun't like it tbh. I don't think trains would fit in to Wynncraft, and I mean we already have madmen going around Detlas in boat trains, we DEFINITELY don't need them on a REAL train god that would be horrifying

That's all i really have to say to be quite honest. I think that's all i really need to say. It just won't really fit.

 

...Not even I am that outlandish, come on! There simply isn't enough water everywhere for it to work anywhere outside of the ocean. No matter which ways you slice it, it's impossible to explain, in all aspects.

(...Since when were you a mind reader...?!)

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Yup, you got me there. I'll admit to having heavily based the Bombs and Rocket Riot on the Conductor from A Hat in Time. I like my explosives and explosions as much as any other lad does!

As for the boat train thing...what? I didn't know those things existed. Each Conductor would basically be able to carry six people, including themselves, with exactly five seats for the other five Classes.

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...Chalk it up to magic? It's STEAM tech, not that electromagic stuff. Besides, explain to me how the other Classes make sense, with that logic. Assassins don't train up in the mountains before coming to Ragni. I sure didn't see the Mages getting their diplomas from wizardry college, and mind telling me what kinda rituals the Shamans DIDN'T have to go through to get their Totems?

I'm just befuddled how you can justify the Mages learning, before Nesaak, mind you, how the heck they can summon frosty serpentines. I think that if we can all turn a blind eye to these Classes' questionable Spell learning, we can do it again for the Conductor, right?

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...Not exactly?
The only semi-spammable Spell would be Rocket Riot, if not Accelerate's budget Charge full-speed ramming attack. Mage, Archer, and Assassin would all still be the Spell-spamming DPS kings (or queens).

Yes, there'd be many, many tren still.

 

Thank you, thank you! I put a lot of original ideas, and even more thought, into these Class Concepts of mine-

Steam Shot: What the hell are you?!
Steam Charge: Death.

...Anyways, what do you mean by it wouldn't fit in, mechanic-wise? We already have player-specific Horses, Totems, and Pets. I don't think the Conductor would be all-bad for Wynncraft, to be honest. I specifically made the Conductor original, but not too original, to be viable to add in even before the recent update.

The Conductor can work alone with Rocket Riot and Steam Charge, but is designed to be more powerful when teaming up with other Classes at the same time. (Except for other Conductors - we can't have 'a Train on a Train on a Train on a...' now, can we?) It's kinda like Mage in that it can play support, but it could also demolish anything in it's path by itself - teamwork just takes that demolition and makes it even better, especially with Tier 3 Steam Charge. Consider it a kind of Overwatch-like Effect.

Steam Charge would essentially be a necessary buffer to help other Classes reach their highest potential. I think that this makes the Conductor more important than 'haha tren go BRRRR,' making it a genuinely good ally to have, akin to the Shaman's Totem Buff.

Also, the idea of the Steam Charges being able to stack is derived from the Charges mechanic of the Tier 3 Arrow Shield. It could fit, for sure, especially ever since the apparent update in coding plugin tech which came with the recent Gavel Reborn Update.

As you can tell, I certainly don't just go 'haha posty poll go BRRR' - I legitimately brainstorm and balance for hours on end by looking to the other Classes' Spells with careful comparison and contrast.
Rocket Riot is kinda like if Meteor, Smoke Bomb, and Arrow Storm all had a child together - it needs the Marking Bomb, which could come from Smoke Bomb's coding, it launches mini-Meteors, and could use the same code as it, and the quantity is akin to Arrow Storm.
Notice how Rocket Riot's original, yet similar? That's the kind of thought I put into the Spell.

Anyways, thank you for reading my posts and tangent on designing for a Class which is likely to not even be included in the game!

 

It is too complicated in comparison to other classes

 

I'm inclined to believe otherwise, to be honest. You can spawn and sustain a single Train, as you would a Horse or a Shaman's Totem, and hop on and control it like it's a boat. You can attack and cast Spells while moving with the Train (glorified land boat), and only one Spell is specifically unavailable when not on the Train (Accelerate, for obvious reasons).
It's as simple as a Shaman, if the Shaman revolved around a Horse instead of a Totem.

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Okay, I'll keep that in mind for the next Class I make, then!

 

Ah, when you were in Fruma (which we know has powerful magic), you learnt these spells, and as you level up, you slowly remember more and more.
The player never goes to Corkus until level 83 (lore-wise), so they never learn this stuff.

 

ok lemme just but in here quickly

the class is heavily conflicted. that's already a bad sign

i'm done
i'm finished with rants ok? they take too much time and i just don't have enough time now that school is setting extra work

 

I can't see how it's conflicting, honestly. It's range is just about equivelent to Mage's, both in Spells and Weapon attacks, and all of the Spells the Conductor has were ones which I put time and effort into balancing (except Hunker Down).