Game Mechanics SPELLBOUND 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: New Class, 600+ Abilities, All Reworked Archetypes

Hi forums!!

I spent the last half of the year reworking and rebalancing every class and archetype while also throwing in way too many extra ability nodes, ability tree pages and an entire 6th class

I want to clarify that this was for FUN and is more of a SHOWCASE than it is a suggestion, because 2.0 Spellbound is very cool and I wanted to see if it could be cooler. It has all been infinitely condensed and compressed into a Google Doc for you to read. Hope that you like it! Hope that you think its cool or else

https://shorturl.at/dsHR1

(The link takes you to the google doc with all the stuff in it, I had to use a wide page format in the doc which breaks and gets all messy when displayed as a preview on the forums. Sorry!)

 

Masterpiece.

 

Das crazy!

 

the peak has arrived

 

wow, great job

 

Very impressive indeed!
<I will reserve my spot for comments here when I'm done going through it all I guess>

 

IT HAPPENED AAAAAAAAAAAa

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THIS LOOKS AWESOME

 

Some of these are ridiculously creative, the art adds so much to it as well!

 

yayyyyyyyyyy

 

Is this able to be moved to https://forums.wynncraft.com/forums/your-work.75/ ?

 

I thought it was gonna be a rick roll

 

i mean.. its a suggestion

 

epic because it adds my favorite class into wynncraf:

'murican

Also this has the most effort put into a suggestion that I have ever seen, so automatic +1 for the sheer effort alone.

Edit: oh my god the stuff you've done to light bender, one of the most boring archetypes to play as, makes it infinitely better than what it currently is. I love the idea of mastery abilities to be the point where your moveset shows how much you've progressed, from it being a simple whack and a spell to such an intricate moveset, which is how it currently is in game, but this is even more intricate.

Edit 2: Also even if this isn't a suggestion and more of a showcase these are still awesome ideas that I hope make it into the game one day.

 

Also I do agree with Deusphage, this is more of a showcase of OP's insane creativity than actual suggestions to be taken seriously for implementation into the game.

 

OH MY GOD WHAT. I haven't read much yet but your game design philosophy is *chefs kiss*

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I'm gonna speak as someone who's also lowkey making suggestions for fun: game design stuff feels out of place in Your Work. It's mostly art and language there instead of more technical stuff, which General Suggestions do talk about more. It just feels like the target audience for these kinda posts is right here and not in Your Work.

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I just checked, and Your Work doesn't even have a game design prefix. They're mostly art and language. There's "Tool", but game design takes don't really fit that category.

 

Exceptionally true, but OP themself has stated that this post/doc was more of a showcase than a suggestion, which makes the decision for the location of the post really iffy.

 

It's really just about the target audience. People who are more interested in game design are here in General Suggestions. Like, you'll get more constructive feedback here.

 

Ok I've read more of the doc. Hire this man he is a PROFESSIONAL

 

Whilst it would be entirely unrealistic to expect devs/CT to implement even a quarter of the rework, there are still some very smart and creative changes to existing abilities/balance that would be very realistic to add, and the rework serves as an example as to what could be possible for the ability tree, so saying it belongs in your work seems very reductive

First off, incredible work. Besides possibly some of Purple Emerald's works, I've never seen so much work put forth into one suggestion/feedback post for Wynncraft. Frankly, I am jealous of a lot of the creativity here and wish I had made something similar of my own. And it's a bit unfortunate, as I don't really know if any of the developers/content team members in charge of the ability tree/balance will even acknowledge this project, but it seems like you made it for your own enjoyment anyways.

Reading through this was extremely enjoyable, especially with all of the great illustrations for all the new/reworked abilities. Don't entirely agree with all the changes, but general concepts for a lot of the archetype changes seem to be in the right place. Personally adore most of the changes done to Sharpshooter and Acolyte in particular. Would maybe give a lot more personal feedback on individual changes/abilities in an edit or longer comment, but would probably be a bit disingenuous to the purpose of the thread, unless you explicitly would like to see them. Although one thing I don't personally think is that well executed are the mastery abilities (I believe I commented this to you already in the discord), as super powerful long cooldown abilities don't feel like they have a place in the game given that a good majority of content is already pretty short form.

Spoiler

Noticed that some abilities seem kind of similar to my own personal archer rework from long ago, so if I possibly may have influenced them then I think that's really cool
and

and

With such a great rework, I just wish that CT were a lot more transparent about the ability tree so we could see some similarly awesome reworks/rebalances in the future, as I think everyone wants the ability tree to be the best that it can be.

 

This is really cool. I might add my personal thoughts later, but so far, AMAZING QUALITY. Like, reams of it, complete with sketches to visualise the abilities, which are all unique, fun and develop the archetypes in engaging ways. Incredible work, well worth the wait.

EDIT: OK, so I've read most of the abilities, and SOMEONE HIRE THIS MAN! All of the abilities are really cool, and all of the archetypes are given very solid levels of polish and originality. Here are some of my thoughts:

ARCHER
Boltslinger -I like how you have leaned heavily into a mobility aspect, with abilities like Wind Rider and moving over Rocket Jump (no self-damage is also pretty neat). The reworked nodes, such as Cluster Bomb and Kineticism are far better for ease of use. Maelstrom Winds is powerful, but it seems quite effortless to pull off, maybe something that requires some other abilities to be active first (such as max/near maxed Frenzy) would make it feel like an escalation during a fight.

Trapper - Thank you for removing summoner from trapper. Replacing Arrow Shield with Wolf Pack gives it more damage, and makes it feel a bit more risky. Chain Link and Hunter's Lure add great utility to the archetype, and Thorn Storm is just cool. The Dire Wolves ability also seems pretty cool, but I feel like it would be very cool if you could stay mounted for more than 20s.

Sharpshooter - All of the abilities just make sense. Mael's magnitude looks like a great quality of life tool, and Centered likewise. Snow Storm rework is nice, and Crepuscular Ray rework is a welcome change.

ASSASSIN
Shadestepper - Wall of Smoke/Better Smoke Bomb swap definitely helps Shadestepper retain Marks, and helps Smokescreen, which is a neat ability that helps Shadestepper deal damage whilst waiting for vanish. I like Shroud and Death Knell. Phantom State is very cool, also.

Trickster - The smaller abilities definitely help this archetype a lot. Cloak, Last laugh and Decoy are all simple but really effective. Master of Illusion seems useful for damage, and fits the theme well. Thousand-Cut Strike and Mise en Abyme are awesome names with abilities that are equally as good.

Acrobat - A lot of strengthening for the early game. It becomes more airborne earlier, which helps a lot. Tempest Blade, Cyclonic Slashes, and Unterhau seem like consistent abilities that would see a lot of use. One criticism of Acrobat, which extends to the current official version as well, is that Jasmine Bloom is quite far down on the tree, which makes staying airborne less viable damage-wise.

MAGE
Light Bender - The earlygame considerations for Ophanim show great proficiency in game design. I definitely agree that using relative values instead of solid values for orb health is far better. Crystallisation is nuts. Just perfect. Prismatic Glow and Dreamweaver are nice to have, Halo is awesome, Illuminate and Orphion's influence are incredible for healing. You really outdid yourself with this one; great job!

Rift Walker - Distortion seems a little weak, especially compared to some of the earlier abilties, but is still thematically consistent and overall a good concept. The plentiful Walk Speed buffs are very cool, and helps Mage a lot. Time Dilation is so much better (but it was still nice to include it as Hyperloop). Time Lock is insane. Everything from the concept to the ability to the appearance. It's really inventive and powerful. Frameskip and Boundless seem like nice Mana sustain abilities. And then there's Time Prison. It's very cool.

Arcanist - There's not much to say about Arcanist. Maybe that's because it was already good before, but the later abilities are great. I like the earthy, tectonic theme you went with, especially for abilities like Molten Eel and Volcanism. It's probably not where I would have gone, but it differentiates it from the other Mage archetypes and allows for very cool abilities. Meteor Shower is pretty cool. With its sheer velocity, I feel like it would be cool if the comets could knock flying enemies into the ground.

WARRIOR
Fallen - So much QoL. Moving Blood Pact much further upwards is a good idea, Seismic Slam adds more aesthetic power to the archetype. World Breaker is a really cool ability, pre2.0 uppercut was awesome, and putting it with Fallen makes a lot of sense. There's also some great abilities to make Fallen better for less skilled players, such as Action-Response and Blind Rage, but also some for more risky ones, like Echoing Fury. Onslaught is cool, but I feel like synergy with bosses (maybe for every ~15% Health knocked off) would make it better. Bak'al's Wrath is an incredible ability that just makes so much sense.

Battle Monk - Cleave is cool. I like the combo-heavy expansion you gave Battle Monk, it makes generalist a lot more useful. Echoing Thrust seems pretty epic, and so is Dragon Kick. Cyclonic lance seems like a nice ability to have, and Asunder gives more value to combos. I have a question, though. Do the combo spells (Echoing Thrust, Tremoring Wind, etc) count as different Spells for Asunder? I feel like it would be cool if they did, but also maybe a bit overpowered. The concept behind Legendary Strikes is cool, but I feel like they should trigger on the last Spell in their sequence (not requiring the 1st spell to be activated) because it could interfere with muscle memory.

Paladin - I don't get why Shift to remove Mantle was even a thing in the first place. It felt more like a restriction than anything else. Sacred Power is a nice expansion to Sacred Surge's concept, and Staggering Shout is a nice tool for sticky situations. Sacred Light is especially powerful, but balanced. The crowd control on paladin is so much better, and with cool abilities to match. Final Stand is cool (but should be renamed to last Stand because it sounds kind of awkward). Both Final Stand and Second Chance are better versions of the current nodes. Juggernaut is simple but awesome. Vengeance also effectively converts higher defence into higher damage, which is what Paladin's all about (so it could be moved up slightly).

SHAMAN
Summoner - Moving the trapper summons here was a good choice. It gives Summoner a lot more usefulness. Allowing crimson Effigies to grab multiple enemies at once is also a good decision. Animancy is genius, an incredibly inventive ability that allows the player to keep track of what they are supposed to be attacking by just attacking the Totem. Really cool! The Hands of Undergrowth Grasp are creepy but pretty cool, but I feel like Storm Dance accomplishes the same thing, but faster. Hands have more flair, though! The Mimic seems pretty useful and also looks like a final summon. I thought six summons would feel like too much, but with how passive they are, it really isn't that bad. Monarch is broken I'm sorry

Ritualist - Giving the player all of the masks at once is strange but makes sense in order to get the player used to switching masks. Moving the keybind is also a welcome change. Soul prison reminds me of the Enclosure upgrade from pre-2.0, which was pretty cool and I'm glad it ended up here. I like how the debuffs from wearing masks are removed and instead put onto enemies through Ego Connection and Haunting memory. Makes them seem more like buffs than tradeoffs. Crescent rove and Obscurist are very aesthetically and mechanically pleasing, especially the latter. The Spirit upgrades are nice (especially the fanatic one, but I think it should remove more time), as they aid their respective mask accordingly. Thorned Skin and geyser Totem are unique upgrades that seem to be quite useful. With how powerful Mask of the Awakened is, it makes sense why you made it the mastery, and it feels right at home.

Acolyte - Exsanguinate is a nice addition, but I need to know: if you can unlock Sacrificial Shrine and Spirit of the fanatic at the same time, do they synergise? This is a very important question. Blood oath is useful, but I feel like there should be more control over when you get it (maybe if you have lost x% of health in the last 3s or something), because a 12s cooldown is quite long. Blood serpent healing allies AND chaining makes it very versatile, and the Blood Sorrow rework makes it actually usable, which is especially nice. The Sacrificial Runes ability is also pretty neat!

TL;DR
Var good suggestion/showcase good job!

Closing thoughts
The level of thought in this project is astonishing. Detailed, pictured, and incredible game design. All of the abilities have very cool levels of spectacle as well, which would make using them very engaging. A lot of abilities also deal knockback, which, on an aesthetic point of view, gives abilities more oomph. Absolutely well worth the wait. Sorry for the wall of text, I just have a lot of praise to give.

//Rythew