Preview: The Warden

[Rechan]

The thing that annoys me about the Warden is that they're all earth earth earth. C'mon. There's more stuff to do than Earth. Too many powers named Earth are going to get confusing. They need some Wind and Water stuff. They allready have a Thorn strike, so some plant based attacks work.

EDIT: As for the Warden class, the only peeve I have about it is that I find it hard to tie a concept or feel to it. I'm guessing it's a Warrior of Nature deal, but are we talking about a concept like the big burly bearskin-cloaked man living up on the mountain? Or maybe a tribal warrior focused more on shamanism than berserker strength? What other kinds of concepts do you have for the Warden?

Swamp Thing.

 

[FireLance]

EDIT: As for the Warden class, the only peeve I have about it is that I find it hard to tie a concept or feel to it. I'm guessing it's a Warrior of Nature deal, but are we talking about a concept like the big burly bearskin-cloaked man living up on the mountain? Or maybe a tribal warrior focused more on shamanism than berserker strength? What other kinds of concepts do you have for the Warden?

Earthbender.

 

[OchreJelly]

I dunno, true there are a lot of earth powers, but there's a good smattering of thunder, "vine", "tree", and even frost in there. Frankly when I think of nature dude that tanks, I think of earth and tree should stand out a bit more.

 

[OchreJelly]

For concepts, the first thing I thought of actually was a dwarf "elementalist" who channels a lot of these earth powers. I would reflavor the Ram power to have him take on aspects of a Galeb Duhr that rolls into guys.

 

[Rechan]

when I think of nature dude that tanks, I think of earth and tree should stand out a bit more.

Ever try to punch some water? It's hard. Water is mobile, certainly, but it's got immense weight and strength. The power of a raging river, or a great wave.

Then there's wind, which is a great force. Tornados, and simple wind factor, they can hit you like a train.

 

[Mad Mac]

EDIT: As for the Warden class, the only peeve I have about it is that I find it hard to tie a concept or feel to it. I'm guessing it's a Warrior of Nature deal, but are we talking about a concept like the big burly bearskin-cloaked man living up on the mountain? Or maybe a tribal warrior focused more on shamanism than berserker strength? What other kinds of concepts do you have for the Warden?

Geomancer.


Geomancer - Final Fantasy Tactics Job Classes - Caves of Narshe

Image: Geomancer - male | Final Fantasy Tactics Art Gallery at Creative Uncut

For those who never played FFT, the Geomancer was basically a high HP/medium armor job that tended to use big weapons like axes. They could gain abilities to walk over water or lava or otherwise bypass terrain, and use various "At will" attacks based on what sort of terrain they were standing on.

They didn't do much damage but had some nasty status effects and could hit multiple targets easily. It's actually a very good fit for what I've seen of the Warden.

Oh, and come to think of it, Entangling Vines was the most common attack for the Geomancer, because it worked on most basic terrain. I'm thinking someone at Wizards is a Geomancer fan, personally.

I expect there to be a lot of earth powers, but hopefully a good spread of other elements as well. You can't really judge any class fairly with 3 levels worth of abilities, which is the annoying thing about these previews. (Which are still great to have)

 

[Rechan]

But, my point isn't just "They use the Earth element a bit much." The point is the word 'Earth'.

Here, let me show you:

Earthstrength build.
Earth Shield Strike
Weight of Earth
Earth Spike
Hungry Earth
Burst of Earth's Fury
Earthgrasp Strike

And that's just in the first three levels.

You have too many powers with the same word, they're going to get confusing.

 

[OchreJelly]

Ever try to punch some water? It's hard. Water is mobile, certainly, but it's got immense weight and strength. The power of a raging river, or a great wave.

Then there's wind, which is a great force. Tornados, and simple wind factor, they can hit you like a train.

Oh I don't deny that you could concept out some good reasons to associate other elements like water and wind to work with a big tank. I'm sure the later power levels will incorporate more of that.

However, my suspicion is that some of that concepting is getting pushed toward the other primal classes to distinguish their feel:
From what we know already you could already say this about the primal classes:

Barbarian: emphasis animal aspects; savagery
Druid: emphasis animal forms, and you see a lot of even distribution of fire, cold, thunder, lightning. This befits a controller who conceptually has a big bag of tricks to draw from.
Warden: emphasis earth, thunder, plant (so far).
Shaman: We don't know much about them yet (are they even confirmed?), yet I would bet a donut that a heavy emphasis on water will go here. Gaming seems to associate water with life these days.

 

[Mad Mac]

You have too many powers with the same word, they're going to get confusing.

That's a fair point. You could sub in "stone" or "rock" for some of them, but even that'll only get you so far.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Fluff wise, well like I always do when it comes to magical classes there will be refluffing. Specifically when it comes to Primal the theme has been emphasizing the spirits and deemphasizing the nature connection.

For the Warden, while I will have to go through each Power later on and change fluff around. The general concept I am going for will be; "the Warden is the vessel and will of the Spirits bound to a region. She listens to their wishes but they answer to her call. Her connection gives them the strength to interact and influence the material and living."

Some of my initial ideas for Powers:

Warden's Grasp: Replace the spectral vines with spectral hands and limbs and you got that covered.

Weight of Earth: Spirits grasp and claw at the enemy like an angry mob. While your blade strikes home.

Earth Spikes: Solitary spirits rise silently from the ground like ancient guards awaiting those that cross their path.

Forms: Basically all the forms stay pretty well the same, if only less obviously animal and more simply bizarre and such. However a phantom image of the spirit that is now riding the Warden can be seen as he moves about the battlefield.