New Epic Archetype Idea: Moon/Sun Blessed

[RiktiHater]

I had an idea for another duo of epic archetypes. I will try to make their lore maliable enough that if this idea is accepted it can be implemented without many questions for me.

 

 

Attributes in common (the special things that applies to both):

 

3 powersets (2 options each set on primary, secondary and tertiary). This could be implemented in the character screen in theory but it'll probably be much easier to do a power pool type thing.

Special VFX for the time of day/night. Just a little addition to make them feel more connected.

Cool looking (and customizable) flight power themed after their respective blessing.

 

Moon Blessed:

Lunar based powers:

1st Primary is melee, 2nd is ranged

1st secondary is support, 2nd is armor

1st tertiary is summons, 2nd is control

 

Somewhat peacebringer but more "Moonfall" and "Lunar Flare"-like.

"The grandeur of the moon shines upon you and grants you strength beyond explanation."

Defense armor.

 

Sun Blessed:

Sun based powers:

1st Primary is support, 2nd is armor

1st secondary is ranged, 2nd is melee

1st tertiary is summons, 2nd is control

 

Something like "Solar Gaze" and "Burning Strife".

"The light of the sun grants you and your allies endurance and burns your enemies."

Resist armor.

 

I might (probably will) expand on this more. The lore is to be expanded upon as of writing this.

[Rudra]

So this is/these are an everything AT?

[Laucianna]

I have to agree with Rudra here, unless I'm missing something this does look like a one AT fits all which doesn't tend to go too well, hell Kheldians need to using buggy binds to perform even decently and they're only melee/ranged/tank

[Rudra]

Also, there is no lore presented. The epic in EAT is the story the AT is based on/revolves around. They aren't just a larger than normal collection of powers that cover a wider than normal range of abilities. They have a defining story and presence in the game that drives them. This is itself a limit on the AT because it is what defines the AT as a whole. And this has not been presented yet.

 

(Edit: Neither has the range of powers for each of the proposed selections been sufficiently defined to help clarify anything or how a primary-secondary-tertiary would even work.)

 

Edited August 23 by Rudra

[Hyperstrike]

^^^^^^
THIS!

[arcane]

Everything they said plus Sun/Moon is not very far removed from Luminous/Umbral…

[Hyperstrike]

If they can come up with a concrete explanation for what the AT is, how it's not just a sloshed together power set slapped on a vague concept, fine.

Kheldians are essentially shape-shifting energy aliens with a unique power tree.

Soldiers of Arachnos are generally guys in a form of powered armor with GUNS or psychic ninjas.

They have one thing that these others don't.

THEY ARE CANONICAL with ties into the milieu. exolaining what they are.  Save for Jenkins.  SOMETHING about that boy ain't right!

[Techwright]

In WoW, at one point during their saga of constantly changing powers of archetypes, I was very fond of druids and their abilities waxing and waning with sun and moon powers.  Perhaps some feature like that might set an epic set apart from the Kheldians.

 

That said, the description as found in the OP would feel hard to place in any other origin other than magic.  While origins are not really an end-all (and lets face it, the Kheldians get to pick from all 5 origins...why exactly?) it could be problematic for the Roll Player population.

[Luminara]

2 hours ago, Techwright said:

In WoW, at one point during their saga of constantly changing powers of archetypes, I was very fond of druids and their abilities waxing and waning with sun and moon powers.  Perhaps some feature like that might set an epic set apart from the Kheldians.

 

Half an hour of real time is one day in the game.  Too short to be viable.

[RiktiHater]

I'm working on expanding it currently. Will post here in a day or 2 tops.

 

Things happened and not in a good way so this was a lie. Maybe I'll try and get my plans back again butfor now I think this is a dead concept.

Edited October 4 by RiktiHater
Update

[Techwright]

1 hour ago, Luminara said:

 

Half an hour of real time is one day in the game.  Too short to be viable.

Right, I hear ya, but though its been years, I seem to recall the moon-to-sun mechanics were set to the character, not the game world environment.  As a result, it moved much, much faster on the gauge.

[FDR's Think Tank]

Epic Archetypes are unusual in that they are both Archetypes, but also semi-Origins as well.

 

Kheldians are Aliens.

Arachnos Soliders are Zealots. 

 

If you're going to keep that tradition going, you want to consider a few things: Where are these Epic Archetypes available? They could just make it easy to access and toss it to all sides, but it would be kind of nice to see an epic Archetype for Goldside, even though the Praetorian Universe is a doomed side/partial faction that players ultimately leave.

 

Demi-Gods/Heralds of a Higher Dimension might be an interesting lore back story to toy with for Sun/Moon related Epic Archetypes. This is a "Magical" origin, but also can be any of the other 4 primary origins as well, depending on how you view it. The trick is you need to make them feel quite different from Kheldians who already cover "Positive" and "Negative" energy. This would be even better if it could be tied into Hamidon in some way.

 

You might side step the idea of psuedo-good and psuedo-evil that is implied by the Positive/Negative dichotomy and focus more on something like the "Sun" representing burning Chaos, from which possibility is born. A little goes a long way, but too much feels hellish and downright manic. On the flipside, "Moon" might represent Coldly Rational Order, which stabilizes civilization. A little bit of this also goes a long way, because too much Order is oppressive and gloomy, draining the will to live. The Opposing force to these energies would be some sort of Divisive force that pushes each to extremes in order to create conflict and sow dissent.... the Ultimate Subversive Psychic Force?

 

You might have some sort of insanity/risk management that could be paired with these powers to counterbalance them?

 

We should probably not forget to post a link to this song either.... since it fits this theme so well.

 

 

It would be fun playing with Moon/Sun powersets. Perhaps what needs to be considered is how they interact with other Archetypes, what scaling benefits they get when the are soloing, and how these Moon-Sun Archetypes interact with each other specifically.

 

Honestly, I'm not convinced that some of the Archetype combinations that haven't been tried yet aren't actually viable with the right core mechanic. Epic Archetypes just feels like a side step of expanding the standard Archetype Roster. The most exciting part of adding new Archetypes is we can do powerset proliferation. Epic Archetypes seem like more work for less results and options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[biostem]

If we wanted to stick to the lore, perhaps something like a "Herald/Agent of Phoebas" for good/light and "Herald/Agent of Mot" for dark/evil, (though that may be too similar to the light/dark of PBs and WSs...

[Rudra]

56 minutes ago, biostem said:

"Herald/Agent of Phoebas"

Let's leave Pokemon out of this. (Bad Feebas joke, I know.)

 

A few notes. Phoebus was the god that Phoebas was the priestess of. Phoebas was not herself a god/goddess. Yes, Sister Solaris is found at Phoebas Point, but my guess is she is a priestess of Phoebus like Phoebas was. Though given Zeus is named as Zeus when referenced in the game, Phoebus would probably retain the more recognized name of Apollo. Mot is contained and progressively going away. Apparently he can't even become a Well any more. His last chance (to the best of my knowledge) of breaking the seals forcing him to feed on himself went away when the Dilemma Diabolique trial ends.

 

And lastly, I don't think we should be trying to create lore for someone else's lore-based AT. The lore should have already been provided to at least some extent as part of the AT pitch. Tweaks from the provided lore pitch? Sure. Generating said lore for the OP? Not so much.

 

(Edit: Though if you want to pursue the Apollo/Phoebus route, then his counterpart should be Selene.)

 

Edited August 24 by Rudra

[FDR's Think Tank]

21 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

Half an hour of real time is one day in the game.  Too short to be viable.

I was thinking about this conundrum. It's neat having powers that mutate based on a clock, but it becomes a real problem if that clock is too quick to rely on what's going on. So there are a few solutions to this:

 

1.) At middle levels, the Epic Archetype has Dawn/Noon (Sun) and Dusk/Midnight toggles which allow them to ignore the current clock at the cost of endurance. At High Levels, they might Unlock Endless Twighlight (Sun) or Perfect Eclipse (Moon) which allows them to run both timezone versions of their powers at the same time. (Yikes, endurance!)

2.) Rather than the switch between modes being based on Clock, it can be based on Location. You can divide Sun/Moon locations up and have characters that function differently based on available "Ley Lines" that they tap into.

3.) Create a different Sun/Moon timer that starts when the player activates specific powers, then either regresses or advances based on the use of various powers in each set. The Players need to balance how they use the power to avoid (Dusk with Sun) or (Dawn with Moon) which would impose some sort of penalty for creating imbalance. This might tie back to that Sanity Meter suggestion I made earlier.