What is this?
For the past few days there have been various ideas for new Monster Play classes in the thread http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...ew-Creep-Class . I too am one of the contributors there, more specifically for a Sorcerer or Sorceress class à la Angmarim. I've gathered my thoughts and ideas more carefully, and decided to give it a go in a seperate thread of my own. It is highly unlikely that this idea will ever be implemented into the game, but I think it's worth a try anyway. If you have any ideas you'd wish to share that might seem fitting for this class, feel free to share them.
It gives me great joy to present my first attempt at the Morgul Sorcerer.
/bow
Why a new Monster Play class?
Three reasons, really.
Firstly, because I find that currently the Monster Play side is lacking in variety. The roles that are missing are tanks, which aren't needed in PvMP anyway, true buff classes such as Captain, and Tactical DPS classes.
The second reason is because the LOTRO population has a very high percentage of female players, especially compared to other MMORPGs. And yet there isn't really a Monster Play class to which women can relate as an avatar. It is true that the Spider Weaver is a "female" character-class, but science tells us 102% of all women are terrified of spiders. With a 2% margin of error. Okay, so that was tongue in cheek, but I have been told by some of my female kinnies and friends that they don't like Monster Play because of the big, ugly Orcs and Uruks that they have to be. Sexist? Most certainly. Untrue? No.
The Sorcerer class would do away with that problem, seeing as one can choose between various skins to play as a Sorcerer or a Sorceress.
Thirdly, the ammount of badassery emanating from Sorcerers cannot be denied. They just look cool.
I am aware that currently the PvMP playing field is in favour of the Free Peoples and that some, maybe most, Monsters Players would rather see the current classes being tweaked for better balance. But perhaps adding a new class on one side also weighs in the scale of this imbalance.
Furthermore nearly all of the skins, animations and skills already exist in the game, and there is even a playable Angmarim Priest during session play. So creating the class would not mean making it from scratch and wouldn't require vast amounts of developer's resources; it would be a great deal of copy/paste coding.
What does the Morgul Sorcerer do?
The role of this class is --like most classes-- a double-role and not restricted to only 1 single field. It is a light-armoured tactical DPS class, but also has a variety of debuffs to weaken his targets, thus enabling his/her allies to do more damage. To ensure that the Sorcerer does not become overly powerful, its DPS skills work mostly via removable DoTs, and the DPS has been kept on average lower than that of a Blackarrow or Weaver. As compensation for that lessened DPS, it will rely on its debuffs and a small amount of self-healing and CC to survive and continue to do damage. To further avoid the class becoming a Tactical-clone of the Blackarrow, some of the skills do not have inductions but instead have their range reduced as a penalty, somewhat akin to a Rune-keeper's Lightning skills.
The Sorcerer's weapon is naturally a staff, but I'm considering adding a crossbow to their arsenal for a ranged auto-attack (and auto-attack only). Throwing magic shadow-balls for an auto-attack looks a bit cheap , imho.
One feature to the class is the ability to become more powerful as enemies around it die, much in the likeness of the Orc Reaver class. When surrounded by death, a Sorcerer can call upon a number of on-defeat skills to temporarily increase his/her own strength, or embolden allies, or even dabble in necromancy. Starting off their battles with moderate damage but becoming more powerful as the fight continues will make them a fine addition to any raid, and they can stand strong on their own by focussing debuffs on their victim.
The Morgul Sorcerer
Base R0 stats
Morale: ~13000
Power: ~3500
Armour value: ~5000
Critical Hit chance: ~6000
Finesse: ~2000
Block/Parry/Evade chance: ~1500 each
Resistances: ~8000 each
Appearance
Rank skins first. As mentioned before, the rank skins have both a male and a female version, giving the player the choice to play as either Sorcerer or Sorceress. Some of the female ones are still missing as I haven't found any more in the game. However, they can be created by mixing and matching pre-existing helms, shoulders and robes. And heck, maybe even a completely new one.
Here are also some ideas for Token skins. Right click and View Image to enlarge.
Skills
(please note, Power Costs not included)
Initial skills:
March!
Induction: 0.5s
To the front!
+25% Out of Combat Run Speed
Unable to Evade.
Unable to Parry.
Unable to Block.
Toggle Skill
Cimmerian
Tactical Skill
40m Range
Resistance: Fear (85)
You possess some sway over the darkness.
438 Shadow Damage
Sweep the Leg
Melee Skill
2.5m Range
Max. Targets: 2
Radius: 5m
Even a quick swipe from your staff bears result.
402 Common Damage
-25% Run Speed
Duration: 20s
Cooldown: 10s
Terrifying Wound
40m Range
Resistance: Fear (85)
Your power is terrifying and will sap your target's Morale.
207-289 Shadow Damage initially.
207-289 Shadow Damage every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.
Duration: 20s
Cooldown: 20s
Susceptibility
40m Range
Resistance: Fear (85)
Your foes are full of openings, use them!
Lowers Resistance by 15%
Duration: 1m
Cooldown: 30s
Blood Pact
40m Range
Seal a blood pact with an ally to cure dazed, knockdown, knock-out, silence, and stunned effects. It will provide temporary immunity to dazed, knockdown, knock-out, and stunned effects. This skill has no effect on cowering or full disables.
Duration: 45s
Removes Dazed, Stunned, Knocked Down, and Knocked Out effects.
Cooldown: 5s
Chosen of the Eye
Induction: 1s
Channeled skill
Take pride in being worth more than a lowly Orc, Mordor sees you as a useful maggot.
But you are still a maggot.
Heals 284-362 Morale initially.
Heals 284-362 Morale every 1 second.
Channel duration: 6s
Cooldown: 3m
Reap
You gain power from those who fell to shadow. Each use of this skill improves your damage and critical hit chance, up to 5 uses.
Requires a defeat response
+2% Tactical Damage
+1% Critical Hit Chance
Duration: 1m
Cooldown: 10s
(This effect may tier up to Tier 5.
Tier 5: +10% Tactical Damage and +5% Critical Hit Chance
Tiering up refreshes the duration timer.
Timer expiration makes it disappear? Or Maybe tier down? -- not sure yet)
Rank 1:
Blemish
Melee Skill
2.5m Range
You channel the shadow through your staff and attack your foes to great effect.
647 Shadow Damage initially
150-225 Shadow Damage every 2 seconds for 10 seconds
Cooldown: 20s
Fueled by Fear
Range: 30m
Resistance: Wound (85)
Induction: 1s
Using the fear of your enemy, you burn through their core.
878 Fire Damage.
Cooldown: 2m
Rank 2:
To the Abyss
30m Range
Resistance: Fear (85)
You are destined to bring doom to those who oppose The Eye. Knowing this provides you with a greater determination in your actions.
703 Shadow Damage
10% chance to apply
+15% Tactical Damage
Duration: 15s
Cooldown: 5s
Night Terror
30m Range
Resistance: Fear (85)
Seek out your enemy and sanction their demise.
462-652 Shadow Damage initially
209-303 Shadow Damage every 3 seconds for 15 seconds.
Applied on expiration if in combat:
5s Stun
Cooldown: 15s
Rank 3:
Improved Terrifying Wound
40m Range
Max. Targets: 3
Radius: 5m
Resistance: Fear (85)
Your power is terrifying and will sap your target's Morale.
197-279 Shadow Damage initially.
197-279 Shadow Damage every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.
Duration: 20s
Cooldown: 20s
(replaces Terrifying Wound)
Flipside
30m Range
Reistance: Wound (85)
Induction: 1s
You face your enemy with a terrible choice lest they first cower away from battle.
+5% Run Speed
Duration: 15s
Applied on expiration if in combat:
-40% Outgoing Healing Modifier
Duration: 15s
Applied on removal if in combat:
-40% Incoming Healing Modifier
Duration: 15s
Cooldown: 1m 30s
(Basically this skill gives the opponent +5% run speed which they can use to flee and get out of combat OR to use it and chase you down instead. However, both the removal and expiration (in combat) have a negative effect, effectively forcing the opponent to choose between 3 outcomes: flee, reduce incoming healing or reduce outgoing healing. Obviously some classes will not or barely be affected by this, but the heavy self-healing classes will need to think carefully. This is a skill meant as a counter against for example Wardens and Lore-masters in 1v1, but it can also be used in raids as a sort of single-target Blight. Whatever the use, the target will need to choose the outcome of the buff/debuff that fits their class and situation best)
Rank 4:
Shadow's Touch
40m Range
Resistance: Fear (85)
The Enemy is weak, weaken them further!
+10% Incoming Damage
Duration: 1m
Cooldown: 30s
Necromancer's Contract
Induction: 1s
After defeating an enemy, you may summon a Fell Spirit to aid your purpose.
Requires a defeat response
Cooldown: 1m
(Fell Spirit is Normal and disappears after 30 seconds if not defeated.
skill 1: Evil Presence: Fell Spirit gains a damaging aura around it. 142 Shadow Damage every 4 seconds to nearby enemies. Duration 28s.
skill 2: Shadow of Doubt: Increases an enemy's incoming damage by 10% for 10s.
skill 3: Midnight Shroud: +75% Evade Chance for 10s)
Rank 5:
Adumbration
30m Range
Resistance: Fear (85)
Induction: 0.5s
You have gained deeper knowledge of the darkness, bypassing some of your foe's defenses.
Ignores 30% of your target's Mitigations.
942 Shadow Damage
Cooldown: 15s
Fear's Mark
You make your enemies suffer at your hand, testing their strength.
Range: 30m
Resistance: Fear (85)
+25% Skill Power Cost
Duration: 15s
Cooldown: 30s
Rank 6:
Thrust!
Immediate
Melee Skill
2.5m Range
You thrust your staff forward at your enemy, knocking the breath out of them.
604 Shadow damage
Interrupts inductions
Silences target for 10 seconds
Cooldown: 45s
Invoke the Eye
You call upon the Dark Lord to aid you.
+15% Tactical Damage
-15% Attack Duration.
Duration: 30m
Cooldown: 1m
Rank 7:
Scorched Earth
20m Range
Resistance: Wound (85)
Induction: 1s
You leave burning cracks under your foe's feet.
Enemies near the Scorched Earth suffer damage
200-400 Fire damage every 2 seconds
Duration: 30s
Cooldown: 2m
Death's Grip
30m Range
Spirits clasp at your enemy's feet, holding them in place.
10s Root
50% Break chance on harm after 2s
Cooldown: 1m
Rank 8:
Fright
40m Range
Max. Targets: 3
Radius: 7m
Resistance: Fear (85)
They will learn to fear you.
-365 Will
-365 Fate
Duration: 1m
Cooldown: 1m
Cry of the Fallen
Max. Targets: 6
Radius: 20m
Induction: 1s
When an enemy is defeated, you may rouse the Morale of nearby allies with a victory cry.
Requires a defeat response
Heals 345-423 Morale initially.
Heals 345-423 Morale every 3 seconds for 15 seconds.
Cooldown: 45s
Rank 9:
Gift of Umbar
10m Range
Max. Targets: 3
Radius: 5m
Resistance: Wound (85)
Induction: 1.5s
The Black Numenorians have long studied under Sauron, and you have long studied under them.
724 Fire damage
6s stun
Cooldown: 2m
Mortal Terror
Range: 20m
Resistance: Fear (85)
Induction: 2s
Friend or foe, all have reason to fear you.
742-812 Shadow Damage initially.
742-812 Shadow Damage every 4 seconds for 32 seconds.
Cooldown: 2m
Rank 10:
Fire of Udûn
30m Range
Channeled skill
Induction: 1s
Resistance: Wound (85)
Burn the fools who dare stand against you!
522-590 Fire Damage initially
522-590 Fire Damage every 1 second
Channel duration: 6s
Cooldown: 30s
Traits
Racial Traits
Rank 5:
Sent by the Tower
Your favour of the Eye gives you confidence in battle.
+10% Morale.
Rank 6:
Cunning of Man
Men serving the Dark Lord are not as strong as their Orcish brethren, but they are far more resourceful.
+340 Physical Mastery
+340 Tactical Mastery
Rank 7:
Racial Skill - Thrall of the Eye
Your standing in the army of Mordor makes your presence a welcome one.
Grants skill: Thrall of the Eye
Increases damage of nearby allies.
Max. Targets: 6
Radius: 15m
+5% Melee Damage
+5% Ranged Damage
+5% Tactical Damage
Duration: 30m
Requires: Racial Skill - Thrall of the Eye Trait Equipped
Cooldown: 1m
Rank 8:
Knowledge through Death
Your prowess in battle and dealings with the Dead have provided you with an eerily extensive knowledge of where to hit your enemies -- and where not to get hit yourself.
+1717 Critical Rating
+1730 Evade Rating
Rank 9:
Swirling Shadows
Shrouded in shadows, you make for a difficult target.
+1730 Resistance Rating
+2125 Armour Value
Rank 10:
Subtelty
Within the slavering ranks of Orcs and foul beasts, you can make yourself seem of little importance.
-10% Threat from skills
+1717 Finesse Rating
Rank 13:
There is Power in the Dark
Decreases all skill power costs by 15%
-15% Power Cost
+343 In-combat Power Regeneration
Shadow Master
Increases the effects of Susceptibility by 10%
Rank 1:
Resistance Boost
+1030 Resistance Rating
Rank 2:
Fearmonger
Increases the damage of Terrifying Wound, Night Terror and Mortal Terror by 10%
Rank 3:
Morgul Weaponry
Your Melee skills have a chance to drain your target's power.
50% chance to apply
5% Maximum Power drained every 2 seconds for 10 seconds.
Rank 4:
Enhanced Skill - To the Abyss
To The Abyss receives 10% chance to increase your tactical critical magnitude.
10% chance to apply
+15% Tactical Critical Multiplier
Rank 5:
Enhanced Skill - Fear's Mark
You make your enemies suffer at your hand, testing their strength. If they cannot shake off this dreaded mark, they will soon lose heart while you bolster your own morale.
Range: 30m
Resistance: Fear (85)
+25% Skill Power Cost
Duration: 15s
Applied on expiration if in combat: Fear's Mark becomes Fear's Grasp**
Cooldown: 30s **Fear's Grasp
You have suffered the consequences of 'Fear's Mark'.
You will lose health as your enemy gains health.
196 Morale drained every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.
Enemy gains 196 Morale every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.
Rank 7:
Enhanced Skill - Necromancer's Contract
You have become more adept at summoning spirits. Your spirits have increased Morale and damage, and will remain with you for longer.
Fell Spirit is Signature
Fell Spirit adds +1 Dread to nearby enemies
+30s Fell Spirit duration
Rank 11:
Enhanced Skill - Gift of Umbar
Removes Gift of Umbar induction time and increases Max. Targets by 2.
Rank 12:
Enhanced Skill - Mortal Terror
Each time Mortal Terror damages your enemy, you regain some of your Power.
+74 Power per damage tick from Mortal Terror
Rank 14:
Morgul Dark-fire
Scorched Earth, Gift of Umbar, Fire of Udûn and Fueled by Fear will put the Dark Fire buff on you, which increases the critical hit chance for your next Shadow damage skill by 15%.
(does not stack)
Rank 15:
Enhanced Skill - Fueled by Fear
Fueled by Fear will deal additional damage for every active Fear on the target.
Does 25% additional damage per Fear
Animation examples
Right click and View Image to enlarge.
I hope you like the idea, and although it is unlikely it will get implemented, one can dream and hope. Enough positive feedback might make Turbine think about it, as F2Ps may want to dig in their pockets to play this. Not only that, but the removable fears would mean extra income from non-Captain players buying store Cure-potions. (Gee. Ain't I a stinker?)
Last edited by BirdofHermes; May 15 2013 at 01:29 PM.
In the sea without lees standeth the Bird of Hermes. When all his feathers be from him gone, He standeth still here as a stone.
Here is now both white and red, And all so the stone to quicken the dead
The Bird of Hermes is my name, Eating my wings to make me tame.
Really, really good idea, thats why it wont be added, cause it wasnt Turbine who came up with it >.> can dream though. this idea was so niiiiiiiiiiiiiice, me want!!!
just a question, how much time did you put into this suggestion? cause its possible the best ive seen for a new class.
Last edited by Witch0King; Jul 12 2012 at 08:32 PM.
Love the details, although I have been talking about exactly the same class in landroval's moors ooc many times but you have really worked out the details well.
I am a life timer but even I would pay for this class.
and why not make it a bit OP like RKs or Minis? for god sake Turbine, implement it!!
just a question, how much time did you put into this suggestion? cause its possible the best ive seen for a new class.
I have no idea. A few hours anyway, for finding all the pictures and then making my own to fill the gaps.
(I had to let my Dwarf get burned many times for some of the snapshots :P )
Originally Posted by Lady_Ash
and why not make it a bit OP like RKs or Minis? for god sake Turbine, implement it!!
Yeah...I suppose the damage is a little low, I have to keep reminding myself that Mitigations and Audacity combined soak up anywhere between 50% (lights) and 80% (tanks) of all damage. I might up them a little.
In the sea without lees standeth the Bird of Hermes. When all his feathers be from him gone, He standeth still here as a stone.
Here is now both white and red, And all so the stone to quicken the dead
The Bird of Hermes is my name, Eating my wings to make me tame.
This idea is awesome and I do believe creep side could use some extra variety. Your suggestion seems long and well thought out. I wouldn't be surprised if turbine gave you +rep I know I did
Very nice ideas, altho it will never happen. Turbine stated that theres no room for other classes on the game, several times... They could do the pvp on this game ubah! They just dont care anymore, and we need to realise and deal with it
All they will do is fixing bugs and exploits after they already exist for 6 months or so... maybe never.
Edit: Also making a new class atm with the current pvp status, for a big amount of time all we'd see from creepside would be sorcerer's
Last edited by Yelloweyedemon; Jul 13 2012 at 09:19 AM.
Why go through so much effort with this... Turbine doesn't come in these forums unless it's to lock/delete threads. Although now that they are charging to unlock monster classes, maybe they will add one or two more. I'm sure that would have people spending a lot of TP. I bet Turbine would make it a pay 2 play only class, too (even VIPs would have to pay).
Come on you Turbine monkeys.... The idea is basically made for you, it requires so little effort and money on your part... DO IT.
Could try posting this to the suggestion forums also to increase the chance of being acknowledged, or even noticed.
Last edited by Squelcher; Jul 13 2012 at 10:40 AM.
Leader of Rogues Gallery. Uruk dominance campaigner.
I've been saying the same thing for ages, that any new creep class should be an Angmarim Sorcerer/ess type. But I never went to any lengths to visualize what it would be or look like, other than a creep variation of a Tactical class, maybe a dark hybrid of Rk/Loremaster.
You've done some great work here fleshing out the finer details, and I commend your efforts. However like the previous poster said, it did not come from Turbine's own dev team so they are exceedingly unlikely to take it on board, even if it were a feasible idea.
If I were to add anything to your outline maybe another stun skill, a much longer one - and a Stun Immunity skill for creeps (like LM's)
Most of it sounded pretty cool except for the 10s silence on a 20s cooldown.
You're right, I'm making it 45s CD.
In the sea without lees standeth the Bird of Hermes. When all his feathers be from him gone, He standeth still here as a stone.
Here is now both white and red, And all so the stone to quicken the dead
The Bird of Hermes is my name, Eating my wings to make me tame.
Did it not bother any of you that every other rank or so your character has a rack and then next he/she does not? Make it either a Sorcerer or a Sorceress, not switching back between the two.
Did it not bother any of you that every other rank or so your character has a rack and then next he/she does not? Make it either a Sorcerer or a Sorceress, not switching back between the two.
I think the idea was that each skin has a male-female variant, the OP just could not find enough skins to demonstrate this.
Leader of Rogues Gallery. Uruk dominance campaigner.
I think the idea was that each skin has a male-female variant, the OP just could not find enough skins to demonstrate this.
Well, not exactly. My idea was that the R0 skins (of which there are always two anyway) have a male and female variant. However I could not find a basic looking R0 male skin to demonstrate it.
After R0, I thought it would just be a male and female skin alternating every rank. That way players can still choose between playing as a Sorceress or a Sorcerer.
Indeed, 2 skins per rank would be even better, but currently there are not enough female NPC skins for that. Also, it may be costly.
Last edited by BirdofHermes; Jul 13 2012 at 03:21 PM.
In the sea without lees standeth the Bird of Hermes. When all his feathers be from him gone, He standeth still here as a stone.
Here is now both white and red, And all so the stone to quicken the dead
The Bird of Hermes is my name, Eating my wings to make me tame.
OMG! I can't believe how much work you've put into this! Turbine would be most foolish if they didn't seriously consider your suggestion. How could they not do it?? All the work has been done for them.
I propose - initiate this class as soon as possible, promote Bird of Hermes to 'Honorary Turbine Member' and give them free access to the store for life!
~~~ If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off ~~~
Did it not bother any of you that every other rank or so your character has a rack and then next he/she does not? Make it either a Sorcerer or a Sorceress, not switching back between the two.
No. It didn't bother me in the least.
I think most people saw it as examples of what could be, rather than final rev. I don't know what they're doing on the back end, but the character's gender would probably be selected at creation and the skin would be appropriate for each rank.
its a well-thought out post..and if any1 from turbine ever reads this they should also note most creeps are so bored of the current classes they would jump at the chance to play something new..so u could even MAKE MONEY OUT OF IT. i used caps to grab there attention
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