Συνέντευξη με έναν Guardian

Questions by Cody "Micajah" Bye, Managing Editor
Answers by Jørgen Tharaldsen, Product Director for Funcom

Ten Ton Hammer's bi-weekly Age of Conan class interview series continues this week as we shift our focus from the Dark Templar to the Guardian, another class in the Soldier archetype. This in-depth, Q&A style interview was delivered to us by Funcom’s Product Director, Jørgen Tharaldsen, who has continued to amaze the Ten Ton Hammer staff with his thorough answers and enthusiastic attitude. Being the second interview in the series, Cody “Micajah” Bye delved deep into the previously released information concerning the Guardian, and his questions focuses on the Guardian’s reliance on armor, his nature in the Hyborian world, what his best abilities are, and the sort of players that might be attracted to this reinforced warrior. After you finish reading the Guardian interview, check out the Dark Templar Q&A and drop by again to read up on the next AoC class interview!

Ten Ton Hammer: In MMOG terms, the Guardian appears to be the epitome of the “tank” sort of class; his greatest asset is his armor. How much difference does it make between wearing a piece of light armor (leather) compared to wearing the full-plate type of armor that the Guardian will possess? Will the blows simply bounce off his armor or does the armor itself mitigate the damage?

Guardians are the only class in Age of Conan that can wear Full Plate.
Jørgen Tharaldsen: The Guardian will be a fantastic tank that is for sure, but I definitively wouldn’t say that their greatest asset is “only” their armor. The armor of the Guardian is naturally very important since the Guardian is the only class that can equip Full Plate armor (for one example), but he also has many other strengths. For instance, in Conan the Guardians can also deal significant amounts of damage.

In general, we have tried to innovate on several fields to make the tank classes more interesting than in many other MMO games, and I will expand on this a tad more in this Q&A. When it comes to the damage; the armor will mitigate the damage in most cases.

I found this King Conan quote from one of the lore documents that our lore master have made, and he thinks it’s quite fitting for this particular class…“Guardians are the unassailable rock upon which the waves of battle break.” This points towards having great defensive qualities, but if you read along you will also see that class has a lot more to offer than just protecting.

Ten Ton Hammer: How will the Guardians armor set progress in the game? Will they immediately have access to heavy plate armors, or will they need to wait for a few levels before getting the better armor?

Jørgen: We have divided the various armor sets into several categories, and it goes from full plate, which is the highest form, to heavy, medium and light (as well as shields). The medium armor starts at level 10, and it “ends” with full plate at level 60. As you progress through the game you will learn that the various forms of armor will increase the defense rating and weight of the Guardian, and in order to meet the defense rating target, the Guardian should / needs to always wear the heaviest armor available. If they don’t do that, they will take more damage. Simple as that. Also, by adding up weight, the Guardian also increases his resistance to knockback effects.

The armor progression doesn’t stop at level 60 either. You still have the normal tier upgrades for full plate, as for all other equipment types, at level 70, 75 and 80.

Ten Ton Hammer: Aside from his armor, the Guardian seems to be a fairly prolific de-buffer, wielding skills that allow them to wear down their enemies. Will de-buffing be the Guardians second responsibility when he’s in a group situation or is that merely a side effect of his skill set?

Jørgen: The guardians aren't really debuffers at all. The only real debuff combo line they have is their numbing strike line to lower DPS, although I guess you could say that stamina drains are a form of debuff as well.

Ten Ton Hammer: What is the biggest difference between the Guardian and the other two classes in the Soldier archetype (the Dark Templar and the Conqueror)? How will players that play Guardians differentiate themselves from the other two “tank” classes?

Jørgen: There are many differences between the tank classes, and we have tried to make each of them unique and innovative in their own way. It’s not innovation just for the sake of it though, you will notice it as a player if you are a veteran of MMOs. Remember that we have a lot of experience from Anarchy Online on what works or not (and many other games), and this means we have tried to take our experience and skills, and evolve it into something more modern and fitting for Conan.

When it comes to the main difference between the Guardian and the rest of the tanks, I can take the easiest comparison first, which is the fact that the Guardian is the hardiest of the three (most HP), and they also have the most defensive options. The Guardians are also the most adjustable, and their three abilities tactics, maneuvers and stratagems allow them to tweak their playstyle on the fly. At any time they can have one of each of these three groupings running (so they can have a tactic and stratagem but not two tactics).

When compared to the other Soldier classes in the game, Guardians have the most HP and are more adjustable than the Dark Templar and Conqueror.
These abilities are small tradeoffs; they increase power in one area while reducing it in another. For example, the Unguarded Attack Maneuver increases DPS but lowers HP, while the Enduring Defense maneuver decreases DPS but increases invulnerability ratings and fear/stun resists. Since all of these three can be swapped around on the fly, the Guardian can change around his setup in small, yet significant, ways depending on the circumstances. Of the three tanks this is a Guardian-only ability.

In addition to this there are many other differences both small and large, like the full plate armor mentioned above, and the many unique combos only the guardian can access. Guardians are also very proficient with the polearm, which allows them to sweep through ranks of enemies (polearm is not available to the other tanks in the same way). For instance the Tempest polearm feat line enables attacks that sweep, striking many foes simultaneously.

To continue on that line of thought, the Guardian’s Juggernaut feat line provides more defensive augmentations, but both styles incorporate devastating charges, faster combo recovery times and melee attacks that immobilize, stun or leave an enemy bleeding. These are all unique to the Guardian.

I would also say the Guardians are known for their devastating charges, and they are capable of ripping through enemy lines, deploying them straight into the heart of the battle.

Ten Ton Hammer: According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the term “guardian” means “One that guards, watches over, or protects.” This seems like a pretty noble goal for someone in the Age of Conan universe. Will Guardians be the “lighter” side of the Dark Templar? Are they more concerned with protecting lives than killing hordes of people?

Jørgen: Noble goals?! Light?!! NOT killing hordes of people?!!! I assure you…if there is one thing you will do in Conan it is killing people, almost regardless of your class (ok, ok, that was a bit unfair on those who don’t want to be all about killing, but….guess you catch my drift *smiles*).

As we see it, this class isn’t “light” at all. They are rather hardened professional killers. I would therefore file them under “purely professional soldiers and mercenaries,” instead of the “good guy” (or woman) category. They are incredibly honed in their abilities to adjust to the circumstances around them, so they are, quite simply, perfect killing machines and consummate professional soldiers.

Ten Ton Hammer: Being a “tank” isn’t always a very exciting job when it comes to MMORPG gameplay. Why should players take a serious look at the Guardian when deciding on a class to play?

Jørgen: I think this depends on who you are. Remember that many individuals like to tank (and these people are often highly needed!). After all, it’s their task to keep the mobs off you and others, which is pretty important in order to succeed. *winks*

Taking your point, it’s true that people often deem tanks to be boring because they have low DPS ratings, so when they aren't actually tanking they sometimes “suck” at what they do. I think we have found some cool ways around that problem with our stance system. The stances give all of our tanks Defensive and Frenzy stances. I spoke shortly about this in the Dark Templar update last time around, but if you, for instance, swap into Frenzy stance you can significantly increase your DPS, and thus become a serious DPS threat. This means you lose your primary tank ability though since you take massive amount of extra damage. Therefore, should you want (and dare), you can make a DPS-oriented tank, and there are additional lines of feats you can use to aid you along that road.

However, when you find yourself in situations where you can’t be in DPS uber mode (if you are soloing or if you are the tank), you simply exit frenzy and revert to normal or go over to defensive. This means that there won’t be a massive need for re-specing feats when you cross between being a survivable tank and a DPS-focused soldier. It is all done just by entering a stance.

Ten Ton Hammer: Anything else you’d like to tell the Ten Ton Hammer readers?

The developers at Funcom believe they've found some cool ways to alleviate any frustration players may have with playing a tank.
Jørgen: I think our class designers have done an excellent job with the Guardian class, and there is so much more cool stuff we could share about this class. As an end to this article I am therefore copying in some selected ability examples I found in one of the class design documents;

Wall of Steel – Tactic
The Guardian defends themselves with a wall of flashing steel allowing them to evade blows but fending off strikes tires the guardian fast.

Charge - Combo
The Guardian rushes at their enemy delivering a savage blow. Their weight and added momentum makes this attack particularly devastating.

Impale – Feat
While wielding a pole arm, this charge attack causes horrific damage and the target suffers a bleeding wound.

Focused Counterstrike – Combo
A Guardian relies upon their honed battle reflexes to automatically counterattack enemy blows.

Savage Counterstrike – Feat
The Guardian improves their counterattacking technique, increasing the damage done by their counterstrikes.

Juggernaut – Feat
The Guardian becomes an unstoppable war machine for a brief time, invulnerable and dealing increased amounts of damage.

On a completely different note… the first snow just fell in Oslo. The darkness and cold is upon us again (so good times for finishing up a game *smiles*). And with that the snowboard resorts open up again! Can’t wait to continue training some of those RL feat lines.