And yet somehow the ability to use a 2h ranged weapon, which is unique to Hunter… could be passed off to any other class?
Anyone could learn to throw fireballs, yet no one else is a Mage and no one else can presently throw fireballs.
So how is it that one being theoretically able to use a 2h ranged weapon means that 2h weapons wouldn’t be a part of Hunter part of Hunter despite being unique to Hunter?
Hell, imagine if we had scrolls in this game for more than just buffs. Would suddenly a Scroll of Fireball mean that a Mage is not a Mage since others could just aim, press hand while thinking of target, and accurately fire off the spell? Or would a Mage still be the one with a skillset that has relative unique interactions with the needs and opportunities of combat that would best situate them to use the core schools of magic?
Would anyone else be able to prep and release the next spell so quickly? To maintain that spell-barrage? To synergize with what they had cast?
Or would, even if one small part were now easy enough for others to theoretically do, they remain masters of that while most wouldn’t even bother with the scrolls since it’s not an approach they’d particularly even think to take to combat, aren’t situated to leverage meaningfully, and would waste uptime otherwise spent on what they are actually specialized towards?
And fcs, if you’re going to say that our ranged attacks are too easy to pull off to be appropriately “Hunter”, look at our melee swings, man. Even with Butchery, Flanking Strike, a separate Mongoose Bite, etc., they are no works of art. They would not pass a unique capacity purity test.
And they don’t have to. Because being the absolute only one to be able to craft/do a thing is not what makes a class that class. It’s their approach to everything, some of which will probably generate unique capacities, but all of which generates some unique collection of skills not every part of which has to be something only they can do but instead need only fit the mindset such a class would take in-universe under no more or less constraint that any other class would (including Fireball, Butchery, Death and Decay, etc., being no more capable of friendly fire than Wildfire Bomb is).
The only part of that combat-related or even specific to Rogue outside of the random long-defunct Poisons proficiency is the actual throwing. And between accurately throwing something that makes the job easier and something not optimized for the job but nonetheless managing it, yes, the first would require more skill.
More steps, yes. None of which have to do with skill, let alone “skill expression” in any way that has ever been pertinent to a game.
Enough of this Classic Andy “I grinded bloat-items to unlock my toolkit, so my no matter how mechanically identical, my skills are more ‘skill expressive’ and my person more skillful than you[rs]” BS.
Then how the hell is buying Blinding Powder (which was literally available for easy purchase in every major capital city) more “skill expressive” than just using the skill???
If unique crafting systems (or, in practice, visiting a vendor) were the only thing separating the capacity of a Rogue from everyone else, it wouldn’t be a Rogue, and everyone would now have Blind, but they don’t, because what makes a Rogue a Rogue is in its approach to combat, not in how it sources its items.
No, it doesn’t, and no, it isn’t. What makes the Rogue a Rogue is still in the things it actually does in combat, in the set of combat tactics it’d see as relevant, in how combat opportunities are responded to per its kit.
Your Aimed Shot wouldn’t become less “skill expressive” for no longer firing a bullet blessed by the wind-gods of Kalimagu. If anything, that you land your shots accurately without their being thus specialized by means outside your actual palpable control would be the more impressive.
Because you —yes, you, specifically, not your “camp” or anything else— have thus far happily suggested what would be sacrifices to gameplay seemingly in favor of flavor-text based on nonsensical warrants.
Most things for which you’ve said “Hey, this would be cool!” has been in the interest simply of removing options others like because your preferred version wouldn’t ideally use them (despite their still being plenty canon and explicitly intended parts the spec) or has been based only on the name [and only occasionally animation] and nothing to do with thematic decision-making or enjoyable playflow. Which is not a great idea for a game in which we’d hope to be able to engagedly play a given spec for a great many hours.
But if so needs explicit inclusion, also:
- Do NOT screw over the resource economy such that we’re left to spam KC (such as by adding your massive Focus spenders).
- Do NOT remove geometrically more interesting tools and core (especially, partly bankable) CDs that can innately carry increased skill-expression.
- Do NOT remove options for further tool-usage.
- Do NOT remove options for manual afflictions.
- Do NOT encourage rote rotation through additional effects.
