Questions by Benjamin
“Machail” de la Durantaye
and Cody Bye
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Answers by Evan
Michaels, Game Designer for Funcom
The Priest class interviews are finished up with the Tempest of Set.
Evan Michaels returns to us to tell us all about the class. As this is
technically the newest class of the lot, we had a lot of questions. We
find out where this class has come from, where its strengths are and
how it all balances out.
Ten Ton
Hammer: The
Tempest of Set is the newest class to be
announced by the team; a result of the removal of the Scion of Set and
a merge
with the former Druid of the Storm. What can you tell us about the
class? What
sorts of abilities were brought over from the Scion of Set and what
roles does
the Scion now hold in a group situation?
The Tempest of Set is an evolution of many different class concepts
which eventually become consolidated into the class we have available
to us today. The Tempest combines almost all of the unique aspects of
the previous Scion of Set, Druid, and Stormcaller classes, focusing
primarily on a mix of healing, area-of-effect lightning damage, and
crowd control.
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The Tempest of Set
Ten Ton
Hammer: What
sort of “flavor” have you given this new
class to make it more in line with the “Set”
theology? Will there be any
“snake” flavored spells, or is everything based
around this “elemental” sort of
theme?
have gone through the skill-set of the
Tempest to make sure that both the old and new abilities are in line
with the
new Set-based theme for the class. For instance, the new 'Cobra Stare'
ability
is a short-term paralysis ability, capable of stunning the target for a
period
of time and the 'Visions of Set' ability, which tricks the target into
fighting
a serpent illusion which appears to be attacking them from all
directions.
Ten Ton
Hammer: You’ve
mentioned that the Scion of Set is all
about damaging opponents early in a fight to make her healing more
powerful.
Will her spells display how much of a “heal buff”
she will get when she damages
her opponent? Will all damaging spells have this effect?
have multiple ways to increase their
healing abilities via damage, through either stacking buffs or
additional
effects. One example of this would be the "Faithful of Set" feat,
which causes all offensive spells to place a stacking buff on the
Tempest,
granting their next heal additional power. They also have a number of
abilities
which provide additional healing to friendly players around the target
of their
offensive spells.
Ten Ton
Hammer: Tempest
of Set has the ability to “control the
elements”. What kind of limitations or enhancements, if any,
can we expect when
it comes to this sort of gameplay? For example, can the lightning be
summoned
indoors? Will storm spells be augmented by the weather around the
player?
currently have no plans to limit the
abilities of the Tempest based on any criteria, as we feel that would
put an
unfair handicap on the class.
Ten Ton
Hammer: Apart
from healing and damage, what other
abilities can the Tempest of Set bring to a group? Will they have any
sort of
buffs that are necessary for players in group situations?
Tempest's primary group utility abilities
are in the form of providing additional reciprocal damage to the team
in
addition to large amounts of mana recovery. The Tempest is probably the
most
proficient class in the game in terms of regenerating mana for their
group.
Ten Ton Hammer:
Tempests
of Set seem to have a lot of offensive
abilities at their disposal. How is this going to affect their healing
ability?
Will a single Tempest be enough healing power for a group? Will the
average
Tempest be more inclined to focus on their healing or their damage
dealing
abilities – or is it always a matter of balancing the two?
the other Priest classes, the Tempest is
always going to be around balancing offensive, defensive, and healing
abilities
to provide the greatest benefit to their team. A Tempest will be fully
capable
of solo healing a group provided they are able to sufficiently
multi-task. A Tempest
who learns to use all their abilities to their fullest potential will
be an
extremely valuable asset to any group.
Ten Ton
Hammer: Are
all the abilities of the former Druid of the
Storm and the Scion of Set available now through the Tempest of Set?
What kinds
of things were removed entirely?
of the core abilities from both classes were
retained in the merger.
Ten Ton
Hammer: Will
the Tempest of Set be viable in a PvP
setting? She seems like a fairly “squishy” class,
but will the ToS have any
sort of snares/roots/mesmerize sort of spells to mitigate this fact in
PvP? Or
are they always going to be “squishy”?
Tempest is pretty middle-of-the-road in
terms of survivability when compared to other classes, and as such does
not have
an extreme amount of crowd control. That being said, they still have an
array
of snares, stuns, and mind control/confusion abilities at their
disposal.
Primarily, though, the Tempest is very much about area-of-effect damage
and
being a huge threat to multiple adversaries grouped together--having
the
largest AoE-based toolset of any class in the game.
Ten Ton
Hammer: Can
you tell us about the class defining ability
at level 80 for the new Tempest of Set?
level 80, Tempests gain the "Eye of the
Storm" ability, which somewhat exemplifies their storm and area-based
nature. Using this ability surrounds them with a massive cyclone,
increasing
their defensive abilities greatly in addition to making them immune to
all knockback
attacks. During this time, their AoE-based effects are significantly
increased
in power and any foes attacking the Tempest during the duration of the
ability
have a chance to be knocked away by the violent winds.
Ten Ton
Hammer: Is
there anything else you would like to tell
the Ten Ton Hammer readers about the Tempest of Set?
style="font-weight: bold;">Evan: The
Tempest of Set is a class I have played rather extensively in our
internal
testing runs and have found it to be extremely fast-paced and rewarding
in both
group and solo situations. The class provides many opportunities for
varied
types of gameplay and being able to swap between full damage, full
healing/crowd
control, and a mix of both is extremely flexible. For a player who
enjoys being
both a heavy AoE nuker and also a healer, the Tempest is a very
versatile and
enjoyable class choice.
In
the end, I’m pleased with the result of combining
the strengths of the various classes that went in to making the
Tempest, and
the final result is a class that I feel is both action-packed and fun
to play.
what you were expecting? How about that AoE damage? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?p=216251">Let
us know on the forums!
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