Aion Templar

[Dekar]

Unless I'm mistaken, this seems to be the Aion "tank". What I'm really wondering is: Since it is a PvP-centered game, will he also ditch the damage?

I understand that you usualy trade damage for survivability, what I wonder is how big the trade-off is in this game. In many games, your Tank-specced character is UTTERLY useless as a damage dealer.

My fiancée is probably rolling a mage class, so I was thinking I'd roll a melee to go along with her. I'm hesitating between templar and chanter, 2 characters that should have some appeal to groups. Scouts look nice, but my guess is that everyone and his mother will roll a "ninja" as is usually the case and dps warriors rarely lack either, or any dps for that matter.

Anyone knows if the Templar will find himself useless in PvP? I wouldn't want to be condemned to tank PVE in a PvP game.


On a side note, I was thinking about the sitgmas and I wondered, how many others have also thought about a Mage in plate armor?

[Haubix]

Well... They stated that every class will be useful. And since it's a PvPvE game I'm pretty sure they've come up with some good ideas for the Gladiator to make him useful for all aspects in the game.

[Calindor]

Well tanks in L2 are some of the best pvp chars in the game, they just have a different approach at it. So its not farfetched that a tank can do well in PvP.


They said that Templars will become machines as they get low on health, and become stronger and stronger, so it might be something like the Paladin in L2, they have a skill called Angelic Icon, they can only activate it at 30% health, it reduces the effectiveness of healing spells cast on them by 80%, but it increases speed, attack speed, damage, critical attack rate, physical/magic defense, etc... It does some different things with different kinds of weapons, but it basically puts them in god-mode for a brief amount of time. Most paladins will chose to start a pvp at 30%hp so they have this skill from the beginning.

[AznKenshin]

Considering the peaceful Chanter class can transform into a Soldier-like being might be a clue as to whether Aion devs will implement a similar way for Templars to PvP effectively. Then again, we haven't been given a list of skills, so it isn't safe to assume that they are useless in the Abyss.

[Hellriser]

Very low on info here, we can only presume. For some well founded details please have a little patience 'till the English site will be updated or EU/US will have it's own beta testing.

[Dekar]

Originally Posted by AznKenshin

Considering the peaceful Chanter class can transform into a Soldier-like being might be a clue as to whether Aion devs will implement a similar way for Templars to PvP effectively. Then again, we haven't been given a list of skills, so it isn't safe to assume that they are useless in the Abyss.

The chanter can transform into a great fighter?

I was more under the impression that it was a do-it-all, albeit not very well kinda class. Hybrids usually end up being bad at everything high level :/ High level is usually more about hard min/maxing.

[Kyuzo]

Hmm if I recall correctly one beta tester had a review which was translated which basically went over the strengths and weaknesses of every class. The tank was probably one of them. I can't remember too clearly though.

I'm hoping the Templar is useful in PvP, I'm also considering that class.

[Szaman]

Dekar - right buffs cast in the right moment CAN do some "magic". And Chanter is to be a buff-monster in this game.
As for Templar... given we have Gladiator for melee DD I wouldn't expect Templar to a major factor in damage dealing. My bet is on aggro/crowd control and disableing mobs (stuns, some knock downs for example).

Kyuzo - was this on aionsource? (my memory seem to be full of holes... dammit)

[Tal Rasha]

If the templar will be the best tank (we all agree on that I think) and also be as viable in PvP as the gladiator will be, then why would someone create a gladiator?

And now to contradict myself of course a templar can still be viable in team PvP if he has options to prevent/mitigate damage not only on himself, but also on other friendly nearby players. In PvE this is easy with aggro control, but in PvP something else is needed.
Examples are intercepting enemy strikes, or becomming a shield wall in front of another player that blocks movement/spells/hits, or slowing down other players so they can't reach your friendlies.

I think it will be a mistake to try and make all characters equally powerfull in 1v1 PvP.

[Calindor]

They can be equal in different ways. A tank in l2 can arguable kill a gladiator or destroyer (both big heavy armour wearing dd's). But say a tank vs a rogue/archer, all 3, the destroyer, gladiator and tank can kill rogues/archers fairly easily, they just do it in different ways. A gladiator/destroyer will do it much faster, they are massive dd's. The tank will just take longer, it fights in a different way relying on its massive defence, and interruping skills like shield stun/slam, and its agression/root skill.

Classes dont have to do massive amounts of damage to be good in pvp.


In the olympiad tanks are probably the best 1v1 chars in the game compared to all the damage dealers, but they take much longer to kill things.

[jameinkaiser]

hi, didn't bother reading all the posts up there, so i may mention a few things that may have already been mentioned :]
templars as of now have several combo skills (to be added more in the future i'd assume) that are triggered with a successful shield block. (successful shield block -> counter attack skill becomes enabled) As many of you may already know, Aion's combat features chains of combos that if connect, can be very devastating. Although they may not have worked out the balances at this point (the success rate of combos and such) after they get the balances down (there are only eight after all) i'm sure templars won't just end up being simple tanks without damage output. templars also get several two-handed sword skills, i believe. you can check for yourself on the skills page that was going around the forum earlier on thisisgame.com. i also think i remember reading something about templars becoming stronger and stronger as they take more hits in one of the earlier translations by hellrose..

[Dekar]

That's great. I do think that in a PvP games even tanks should be able to do well.

Why a Gladiator over a Templar if they can both do well? There is no point to that question. Why a ranger over an assassin over a chanter over a spiritmaster ... ... It's a matter of roles and playstyles. Gladiator will surely deal more massive damage than Templars who will take longer to kill their target, but endure more.

Maybe it's not balanced around 1v1 PvP, still, no class whatsoever, especially in a PvP-minded game, should have an obvious disadvantage all the time. As they mentioned, there won't be much end-game PvE, who'd roll a tank then?

Myself as a tank I'd like to be able to soar from the sky to the rescue of an ally, force agro on me a few seconds(that's a feature I'd really like to see in PvP, taunt abilities working), taking a beating while giving back good enough. If you aren't as useful as anyone else in the principal aspect of the game, there is no use for your character.

[Calindor]

Taunt abilities are awesome in L2 because its click to move, but I dont see them being as good in a wasd game.

In l2 for example when a tank casts agression (has both aoe and target only), the target targets him, runs towards him and starts to do a normal attack. This can be cancelled by moving somewhere, doing a ranged skill, or targetting someone else, but the tank has it as a fast re-use skill, and it's very effective in pvp, especially when people arent fast enough to get out of it.

The only way to make it work in a wasd game is to either force them to only be able to target the tank for say 10 seconds after its used, or force them to run towards and do normal attacks on the tank for a certain amount of time (there was a class in WC3 DOTA that did this, and it had lots of rebound attacks, for example everytime someone hit it, it would have a chance to return 3 quick hits or something like that...and when it popped the skill off to agro everything it would go crazy with the rebound skill and own everything attacking it even though it was tanking a lot of damage).

Any way you get the idea

[Fleiva]

Changing target is annoying enough for a taunt. Works on wasd aswell

[Noventa]

I do remember reading something about templars knowing defensive chants. So it is possible (dont quote me on this)that the templar may help buff the party defensively. Doing this in pvp means that the Templar and the Priest are going to be the two main targets to take down first. Thus, creating a sort of fake aggro for pvp.

Templar
Fighting with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, the Templar is both guardian and fierce combatant. To remain effective, the Templar should stay on or close to the front firing line.
Special ability: Protection chants
Play style: A warrior that fights with his head as well as his heart. The Templar provides shelter from enemy fire, absorbing much of the brunt in battle.

This was taken from the news about the classes that we got a few months back. I also remember hearing something about templars not being completely useless as far as dps goes. So maybe it will be more than the traditional tank, but not as much as the dps classes.

Also we have to take in to consideration that there are big npc bosses inside the abyss. A templars main use may not be plain pvp. In order to take castles and get some nice gear guilds are going to need raid groups for npcs, and a second group protecting the raid groups from other players. PvPvE, sounds *****in!

I also think Calindor is probably on the right track about the stuns and interruption attacks as well. Hopefully we will find here pretty soon about skills and special abilities.
No question about it Dekar, sounds like the templar is going to be a very needed class. I think many players are going to go chanter, dps. The chanter is a very interesting class and dps is alwas a common one. Go templar, im sure it will be fun (I wouldnt start any other toon before a tank :P).