The Chronomancer

IMPORTANT: This class is currently undergoing some serious renovation. Obviously, it is seriously overpowered in some situations, but I think this is an issue of quantity rather than quality (the concept doesn't have to change, just its intensity or duration), so help me out with that if you have suggestions.

Hello folks... here's another specimen from my CC Laboratory. I'm open to supportive criticism and communal brainstorming. For skimming ease, I've divided the post into three sections:

I. The Chronomancer - For the skimmer: concept art (coming soon...), a quick explanation of the basic concept, attributes, strengths, weaknesses and originality.
II. Tactics - For those with some time on their hands, a brief illustration of a few battle strategies.
III. Skills - For the ambitious reader, a tentative list of skills.


I. THE CHRONOMANCER

Background:

Covered from head to toe in heavy armor and defended by massive, two-handed shields, Chronomancers are unique and powerful wizards. When they lumber into battle, situations become surreal: nearby enemies are paralyzed and allies move with bizarre quickness. From within their moving fortresses, Chronomancers detachedly observe the surrounding chaos, swatting away would-be attackers with their body-sized shields. A Chronomancer’s interest is only piqued when confronted by a rival time mage, whose mere presence can disrupt his effectiveness. Resulting duels for temporal domination are perilous for both competitors, but can be downright catastrophic for bystanders.

Function:

The Chronomancer is a melee class that warps time to his team’s advantage. He enters the fray and acts as a moving ward, affecting all characters around him. He is powerfully protected behind sturdy armor and a large two-handed shield. At the expense of adrenaline and energy, he may bash adjacent opponents with magically charged shield attacks. A Chronomancer may teleport and duplicate himself at great cost. The presence of a rival time mage easily nullifies his effectiveness.

Attributes:

1) Temporality (primary) – Augments auras' effects by 0…25%.
2) Acceleration – Improves spells which speed up time.
3) Detention – Affects skills that slow and reverse time.
4) Stamina – Improves shield skills and lowers their adrenaline cost.

Strengths:

1) When taking into account the two-handed shield, the Chronomancer has the strongest armor in the game.
2) The Chronomancer has uninterruptible powerful auras which affect the speed surrounding players.
3) The Chronomancer can teleport and duplicate himself (although at great cost)

Weaknesses:

1) The shield does little damage. Truly effective shield attacks require lots of adrenaline.
2) The Chronomancer may only use one aura at a time and may not cancel an aura once it is in effect.
3) Players can only be affected by one aura at a time; if a player is already affected by one aura, a second aura will have no effect. Therefore, rival Chronomancers can easily disrupt each others' effectiveness.

Originality:

Time Control and Auras

The Chronomancer’s first major innovation is time control. He may establish one aura at a time (essentially a self-targeted enchantment that once in effect, is uninterruptible by anyone, including the Chronomancer himself). Alternatively, he has a vast array of single-targeted skills. It is a powerful aspect of the class, and if used effectively, can wreak havoc on the battlefield. Although impressive, time manipulation has its costs. Auras are extremely expensive, require slow preparation, and affect nearby players, including the Chronomancer himself! It is important to note that any player may only be affected by one aura at a time; if a player is already affected by one aura, a second aura will have no effect.

Two-Handed Shield

The second major innovation is the shield. It is truly massive, requiring two hands, and is covered in spikes and barbs. Without it, the Chronomancer has decent protection, but not nearly enough to be an effective melee unit. With the shield, the Chronomancer has the most powerful armor in the game. The great defense comes with a price, however: the shield is so heavy that while it may be used offensively, it takes great effort. Any serious damage requires adrenaline as well as energy. Therefore, the Chronomancer may only effectively attack after being in the fray for some time, building up adrenaline as he receives and deals damage.

Duplicates and Teleportation

The Chronomancer may travel through time to "transport" or be in multiple places at once. This would be very useful for spreading the effects of an aura around the battlefield. At the moment I can't think of cool way to implement this. Suggestions would be helpful.


TACTICS:

Pariah

The Chronomancer's most valuable role is that of a pariah. In group situations where his team is losing the fight, the Chronomancer is skilled at clearing out crowds so that his allies may regroup. He enters the fray until he is situated in the opponents' midst. At this point the Chronomancer casts Time Sink, Bystander and Repeat. All nearby players are slowed while the Chronomancer moves and attacks at normal speed, dealing double damage to his opponents. If done correctly, the Chronomancer can activate Repeating Concussion, effectively dealing four to six blows for every single attack. Melee fighters will try to escape the area, and if enemy ranged players decide to pummel the area with projectiles, the Chronomancer switches his aura to Stop or Reverse Flight, nullifying the incoming barrage.

Backline Support

Alternatively, the Chronomancer may stay back with the ranged and magic-using characters, greatly increasing their effectiveness. Although highly energy-consuming to the Chronomancer, simultaneously activating Augmented Regeneration, Instantaneous Magic, and Déjà Vu is well worth the cost. Mages and Monks are able to cast much more quickly. Spell Stagger could be thrown in to the mix, compounding the rapid succession of an ally's spell effects into one extremely powerful punch. Another option would be to stand directly in the middle of ally spellcasters and cast Revert, which returns their energy back to prior levels.

Disruptor

Yet another tactic is that of a disruptor. The Chronomancer can effectively nullify enemy spellcasters, particularly when they are grouped together. Once nearby, he casts Detained Minds, hindering the enemy mages' effectiveness. In order to avoid suffering the aura's effects, the targets will try to retreat rather than fight back, since that would only increase the Chronomancer's adrenaline stores. While some may be able to flee, a selected target has no chance of escape. Unfortunately for the victim, the Chronomancer is adept at pursuit. By simply casting Time Sink and Timewalker, the foe is now hopelessly slow. Easily catching up to his prey, the Chronomancer will attack, build up adrenaline, and incapacitate the target with powerful shield skills.


SKILLS:

Temporality

Temporal Independence – Elite Aura. For the next 1...8 seconds, you and nearby allies are immune to time-related effects.

Time Walker - Elite Enchantment. For 2...10 seconds, transport to nearby target foes.

Duplicity - Enchantment. For 2...10 seconds a duplicate transports to next target nearby foe. Duplicate lasts for 10 seconds.

Chronological Attunement – Enchantment. For the next 5…25 seconds, auras' time-related effects on you are increased by 110%...200%.

Bystander – Enchantment. For the next 4…16 seconds, you are impervious to auras’ effects.

Temporal Vigor - Enchantment. For 60 seconds, whenever one of your auras ends, gain 2...7 energy.

Chronological Stimulant - Enchantment. For 60 seconds, whenever one of your auras ends, gain 1...4 strikes of adrenaline.


Acceleration

Time Vortex – Aura. For the next 3…10 seconds, you and all nearby allies move and attack 25% faster.

Swift Thoughts – Aura. For the next 2…8 seconds, you and all nearby allies’ casting times are 25% faster.

Augmented Regeneration – Aura. For the next 10 seconds, you and all nearby allies’ health and energy regenerate 25%...100% faster than normal.

Instantaneous Magic – Enchantment. For the next 5 seconds, target ally casts spells 25%...100% faster.

Swift Shooting – Enchantment. For the next 2…7 seconds, target ally’s projectiles are twice as fast.

Déjà Vu – Elite Enchantment. For 1...6 seconds, target ally’s next spell is cast twice and costs 5...10 less energy.

Time Loop – Hex. For 5…10 seconds, target enemy casts his next spell twice instead of once.

Repeat - Aura. For 5...17 seconds, whenever an adjacent enemy takes damage, he is hit twice.


Regression

Lapse – Enchantment. In 3…10 seconds, target ally’s health and energy will revert to their current levels unless he or she is killed.

Revert – Elite Enchantment. In 3...10 seconds, the health and energy of you and all nearby players reverts back its current status unless player is killed.

Stop – Enchantment. For the next 4…12 seconds, all nearby projectiles are nullified.

Reverse Flight - Enchantment. For the next 3...10 seconds, all nearby projectiles return and deal damage to their source.

Instant Aging – Aura. For the next 5…17 seconds you and all nearby enemies’ health and energy regenerate 25% slower.

Detained Minds – Aura. For the next 3…10 seconds, you and all nearby enemies’ skills recharge and casting times are 25% slower.

Time Sink – Aura. For the next 4…14 seconds, you and all nearby enemies move and attack 25% slower.

Return to Youth - Elite Aura. For the next 10 seconds, the primary attribute of you and all adjacent enemies drops 1...5 levels.

Spell Stagger – Enchantment. For the next 5…10 seconds, target ally's spells have no effect. When this enchantment ends, all spells' effects occur simultaneously.

Temporal Prison – Elite Spell. For 5…10 seconds, target other player moves and attack 75% slower but evades all attacks and spells.


Stamina

Defensive Fury – Stance. For the next 2…10 seconds, gain double adrenaline whenever you take damage.

Decaying Attack - Shield Attack. You deal triple damage and for the next 5...25 seconds, and cause target's armor set lose one point of armor with each successful hit.

Temporal Bash – Shield Attack. You deal 150% damage and for 2…9 seconds, enchantments, hexes, and conditions on target foe end 50% faster.

Aging Blow – Shield Attack. Your deal double damage and for the next 3…10 seconds, damaged enemy’s health and energy regenerate 75% slower.

Repeating Concussion - Shield Attack. Deal normal damage. In 10 seconds, target receives 100%...200% of this attack's damage.

Paused Response - Shield Attack. Deal normal damage. Target foe is knocked down and takes an extra 1...6 seconds to stand up.

Return to Fury – Enchantment. In 4…10 seconds, your adrenaline reverts back to its current level.

Paralyzed Reflexes - Shield Attack. Deal normal damage. For the next 2...10 second, target foe moves 25% slower.


Like what you see? Check out my CC Laboratory for more examples of my work. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Seems like something that would be fun to play around with... basically a walking/talking shield...

I just came up with this tonight... as I wait for my food to cook. I started thinking about it yesterday.

It's still sort of rough and the overall concept is unfinished. Most notably, it could be overpowered, I don't have many skills in either the Power or Stamina attributes, and I haven't started the Tactics section.

I do like the general gist of the character though. A battlemage that screws with time, has a massive shield, and may deal powerful attacks only if he is attacked. I'd like to get comments and suggestions before going further. Hell, even flames would be fine. I haven't been on this forum in a while now...

I like it. I actually suggested something similar a while back (pre-factions or pre-nightfall, don't remember when now). I had mine split up a bit differently. Acceleration attribute for party buffs, deceleration attribute for hexes, and a line to increase duration and speed of regenerative/degenerative effects.

And actually, it looks like Anet was seriously looking at a chronomancer type class. For the people who don't know about this, check out http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_Utopia

Let me take a closer looki, when I get off work... I was only able to skim the post right now...

But when I get off work Ill give you a better reply...

Thanks for the responses.

@Hells Faithful: it's a walking, talking, time-manipulating shield!

@Clone: I think time manipulation is pretty powerful, so I'm trying to tone it down by having the auras affect all adjacent players. No party buffs like your old CC. Do you have any examples of skills which affect re/degenerative effects?

I was thinking, is it unfair to have the Chronomancer unable to attack unless he is attacked first? Maybe instead of increasing adrenaline gain, Stamina should give the Chronomancer a slowly regenerating amount of adrenaline. x slashes of adrenaline per second, depending on the attribute level. Thoughts?

[skill=text]Rage of the Ntouka[/skill]
[skill=text]Signet of Aggression[/skill]
[skill=text]"To The Limit!"[/skill]
[skill=text]Auspicious Parry[/skill]
Nah, adrenaline doesn't need to regenerate, it's pretty much gain able without attacking already.

You might want to make a return adrenaline to what it was x seconds ago skill though.
They are going to be needing to be very greedy with their adrenaline, skills like [skill=text]Soothing Images[/skill] and [skill=text]Ancestor's Visage[/skill] will be very painful to them, so they would need, preferably multiple skills to protect themselves from them.

On the class itself, it seems a little bland. All the time controlling effects might be powerful and stuff, but they are also all straight forward.
It's boring, only the aging blow is a interesting skill.
The idea of an aura'd tank is well tested, but a offensive aura'd tank has a problem, especially if it can't attack unless attacked.

Offensive aura's on a melee char can be good, but people can also just slow the char, saving them form both his attacks and his auras because he can't get close to them.
So usually there is a focus on defensive auras, that way they can be a good melee fighter and a useful buffer at the same time.

But if you are going time affecting, instead of holy radiance, debuffing makes sense.
So you might have to think of a way for the chronomancer to either:

Be safely approachable
(conditional debuff aura's)

Or to keep foes from getting away from them, with time stop skills.
(teleportation ( + preform an action instantly (if elite + teleport back)))

Don't like the Concept ...
When making a Chronomancer, then it should be a pure Mage Class...

Or does the Necromancer or the Elemeantalist (Pyromancer....) work so ? No, they don't ...

When you want make an unique Mage Class, then try to give it an other Weapon Concept, then only again Staffs and Rods, but still some kind of Weapon, that lets the Chronomancer attack from the Back Row and not at the Frontline, where a Chronomancer has nothing to search with its 60 AL


Also the Attributes are imo not total false setted togethe with the Concept...why you want mkeout of a Mage class a dumb tank with a 2H Shield.. not to mention, that such shields don't exist normally.

A Chronomancer is no Melee Tank!!, a Chronomancer a one of the strongest Types of AoE Attack/Support Mages. Time Magic can do outrageous Damage, when used by wrong people.

Attributes of a real Chronomancer should look like this:

(Primary)Immortality
Every point in Immortality will increase by 3% every healing from all sources the Chronomancer will receive. Also Immortalilty will give the Chronomancer per every point a Damage Reduction of 1%, which doubles, whenever the Chronomancer reaches the Health Marks o 50% and 25% HP left
This Attribute contains Spells, which will protect over time the chronomancer or other party members from deaths. also includes Spells, which can remove for certain time death malus, protect from new death malus, when dieing

Ex. Immortality 16 > 100% HP = 16% Damage Reduction
50% HP > 32% Damage Reduction
25% HP > 64% Damage Reduction
(not including damage of defense ignorign attacks/spells) So blood necros with their vamp skills do still full damage for example)

Chronology
No inherent effects. Chronology contains Support Spells, which manipulate the past, the now and the future, to buff the party members and or to heal damage over time, or in reaction with damage/condition triggers

Nature Magic
A Sub Kind of the Time Magic(Distortion), which allows it the Chronomancer to manipulate the nature, manipulating with his powers the growth of plants and birth of animals, able to summon the nature. Includes also buffing Spells for Pets, so surely an interesting attribute later for C/R Combos, btw R/C ...

Time Distortion
No inherent effects. This Attribute contains Time Spells, which do Damage to Single Targets or Field Damage to nearby Foes. Includes also lots of Degeneration Spells

Weapon:
To avoid Staffs and Rods, the Chronomancer fights with Magical Mittens.
which are called "Sphere Orb".
Weapon attributes are as for Mage Class normal all attributes.
The Sphere Orb does 6-28 Dark/Light/Chaos Damage. The Sphere Orb is a 1H Weapon and comes with Focus Items, that look like Armbraces.
Appearance of the Concept Drawings fomr Anet

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...onomancer3.jpg

There you can see at the Arms, what I mean.
Headgear are tiaras, nothing that looks so weird, like at these drawings...
Chronomancer should look like a normal being and not like a futuristic robot, like on thes concept drawings, but the part of the focus items and the weapon on these drawings is good, also this blue glowing stuff at it, makes the Chronomancer look, as if time would flow through its body XD.
Attack speed of the Sphere Orb would be similar to the Axe.

When U want me to write some example skills, then I'll do so, or you can think of them, for my Setting of Attributes ... as a pure Mage Class

As I said before Nebojats I absolutely love the concept of the Chronomancer... But after looking more closely at your post I see some of your ideas would be hard to apply to current gameplay..

The idea of a full out walking shield/aura is would seem like a great add to the gw world... But having very little attack power actually melee as a tank is kinda wierd, I say this cause you have to think of the character in two major catagories... PvE, and PvP... The issue of having all his melee attacks require adrenaline, is that in PvP is that all the opposing players would just ignore you and go after other players, since your melee attacks require adrenaline, if you dont take dmg your cant attack (which kinda deafeats the purpose of tank)... So all you would be doing is casting spell after spell, quickly running into energy problems... But your auras would help your team slightly, if they survive the onslaught without a real tank... But on the other hand this would be outright unfair to the NPCs in PvE when fighting you (considering that in PvE you are usually tanking the enemy NPCs no matter what class)...

The next issue is the whole time-warping side of your concept... It is definitely an original addition to the MMORPG world (never heard of your concept being considered for a game of this genere)... But it has application issue that could be worked out with some redesigning...
Take for instance your spell Lapse... I see issues with configuring a spell that would revert your health back in time (seems a little bit of a tricky issue, but then again i am not a programmer)...
Otherwise your time-warping spells see to fall along the same lines as some of the other classes (Deja Vu seems a lot like one of the Ele spells ???)... And having spells that re similar to current game spells is great cause it means that your spell would easily be implemented...

The only other concept issue I see in your class, is the shield = dmg... It is definitely a doable thing (World of Warcraft Warrior shield attacks)... But It would appear have some conflicting problems with the current game machanics...
First in order to top the warrior for all out defense you would have to introduce a new type of shield (exclusive to the chronomancer) which would be a two-handed shield with lets say a minimium base of 40 armor, Not a big deal in gameplay...
Secondly you would either have to make these shields have a natural base dmg (like any other weapon... which would be kinda cool to see a shield in the catagory of weapon...lol) or you would have to compinsate and make the actual attack skills for the shield to do set dmg, kinda like any other casted spell...

Auras seems to be a reasonable add to the game, but the only aura I dont think would make it to the end of game production would be Suspension (not a bad idea but it would be easier just to make it so that the incoming projectiles are deflected... not just fall to the ground... then you would also have to change the aura name after that switch)...

I hope I dont sound to critical of your Chronomancer but it does have some aspects that would need to be tweaked in order to make to the actual game, instead of just a concept...

P.S. If you have any other idea that you want to run by me I would be glad to look them over and give you my opinion...

Sorry for the length of my critic...

Ohh and some comments to Phoenix Tears mod on the Chronomancer...

Come on... % dmg reduction... that seems a little to powerful even for a warrior concept... All warrios would dream to bethat powerful in gw... and this coming from a guy who wants the Chronomancer to be recatagorized from Nebojats idea of a hardcore tank, into a squishy back-row catser class...

Not a problem at all, long as you are setting a point to return to it isn't that hard.
If it where the skill that returns you to how or where you where X seconds ago, you didn't set a point to return too so it would have to have been logged, which is memory wise not recommended.
Would require giant log files, and be giant pain on servers and connection speed because of this.

That doesn't say anything about balance though, would be a great way to fill up an 90 energy ele's bar.

As I said earlier issues that would need to be tweaked or redesigned...

When it sounds too strong, then half the % to 0,5% reduction per point ...
then its 8 > 16 > 32 ...
My CC version is in first line a Magelike concept... but the problem everyone has with new CC is the primary attribute ...

first you have to find something, that fits to the profession ..., then it must be something unique, that no other proession had before.
Alone Fact 2 smallers widely the options of what you can pick, because nobody surely wants to create a CC, that looks somehow copied from other professions ...
When U've thought of these 2 aspects, you must also look that the effect of the primary fits to the profession. Don't forget that Chronomancer should have 60 AL ...not like some super pwned value, that should be far stronger, then Warriors with like 40 AL 2H Shields (what would be 2,5x better, than a max 1H shield)

However, when this Reduction seems to be too strong, than change it maybe, that Max Energy will increase, so lower HP gets

instead this then:

(Primary)Immortality
Every point in Immortality will increase by 3% every healing from all sources the Chronomancer will receive. Also Immortalilty will give the Chronomancer per every point 2 Energy Point more, which doubles, whenever the Chronomancer reaches the Health Marks o 50% and 25% HP left
This Attribute contains Spells, which will protect over time the chronomancer or other party members from deaths. also includes Spells, which can remove for certain time death malus, protect from new death malus, when dieing

Would mean then 100% > +32 E
50% > +64E
25% > +128E

say Base Energy is 30 with E Reg of 4
At 25% Hp, without any armor mods a Chronomancer would have then 168 E
Thats balanced imo, compared that an Ele with mods ect can have permanent over 120 E, while the Chronomancer must be at 25% Hp, to receive best volume of its Energy
With mods ect. an Chronomancer would receive an Energy max of say 190 around circa.
Would fit to the energy level of both professions, because as said, the Chronomancer will also do AoE Spells with DoT, which should be its specialisation.

Also the weakness of the Chronomancer lies in armor penetrating attacks and spells, because these don't get reduced...

Imo I think both would be balanced, if now more energy, or like 32% reduction of damage with 25% HP left.
And you know, that this should be balanced, even with reductuon..fighting with only 25% HP left is hard, especially in hard mode, where enemies attack more and quicker with armor penetrating attacks.

Also making Mage classes, that aren't just simple other magicians with near no difference in gameplay is not easy.
However, my CC, i think is in this form implementable, the balancing around the primary is just peanuts. the basic concept around stands and is fluid

Wow, thanks for all the feedback! I wasn't expecting nearly this much (well maybe I was for SC since I know him). To HF and PT, thanks! And it’s delightfully thoughtful to boot… sweet!

God, I wish there were an easier and shorter way to do this, but to respond to the critiques (because there are so many of them), I need to lay them out. I think these are the main critiques people have pointed out:

1) The Chronomancer needs adrenaline-protection skills. (SC)
2) The Chronomancer is boring. (SC)
3) The Chronomancer is easily kept at bay by slowing him, etc. (SC and HF)
4) The Chronomancer should be a pure mage profession sticking to the backlines… no two-handed shield! (PT)
5) No one would attack the Chronomancer, since that just lets him attack back. (HF)
6) The skills aren't original. (HF)
7) How would the two-handed shield work? (HF)

Time for my responses:

1) SC, you’re definitely right about that. Some sort of skills that protect from adrenaline-draining spells would be necessary for this class. I’ll try and think some up. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

2) Personally, I think the gameplay would be fun (although I admit it still needs to be expanded). Acting as a moving fortress, you seriously screw with people by using Chronology or Temporality skills. The enemy is caught in a catch-22; they can passively suffer the effects of your magic, or they can attack you and consequently get bashed with a massive, damage-dealing shield. I agree the role could be expanded (possibly with the creation of a new attribute and a merging of two existing ones), and there could be more flashy and exciting time spells. If you can point out specifically what’s boring or suggest any ways to spice up the class, I’d be thankful. It’s too vague a critique at this point for me to really tackle.

3) You guys are right. I want this class to be such a pain in the ass, that when the other team sees him, they try all they can do to stop him from getting in the middle of their ranks (where he’ll disrupt the whole team’s efficiency with auras). They won’t want to attack him, so slowing him would be a logical alternative. Maybe the Chronomancer could have skills (perhaps stances) which for a set amount of time, let him ignore all spell effects that influence his speed. Yeah? Maybe?

4) Well Phoenix Tears, I appreciate the opinion, but that’s all it is: an opinion. There is no definition of what a chronomancer must be (except that it somehow uses time magic). It doesn’t need to be a support class, it doesn’t need to use aoe spells, and it certainly doesn’t need to use magic mittens. Personally, I like the idea of a battlemage. I’ve had enough weak spellcasters who sit back far away from the fight and wave a magic wand. I’ve been on these boards for about a year, and I know I’m not the only one who thinks that. Battlemages are in plenty of other games. There’s no reason they wouldn’t work in Guild Wars. As far as two-handed shields not normally existing, neither do scythe-wielding god avatars, magical mittens, and a long list of other Guild Wars features. Please PT, I can tell you’re intelligent. If you’re going to write on my thread, point out and critique the CC’s weaknesses rather than outright reject it as a general concept.

5) I actually think enemies would be really inclined to attack the Chronomancer. Because he has such powerful auras and time-manipulating spells, he would be a real thorn in the other team’s side. They either have to passively suffer from his magic, or fight back and get a two-handed shield bash in the face. Maybe I misunderstood though?

6) I admit, it’s been a while since I played GW, so I’m not up-to-date on all the current skills (not like I ever really was…), but can you give me examples of other skills which the Chronomancer spells might be copying? It could be that the Chronology skillset is unoriginal, I’m not sure. I’m positive, though, that the auras in Temporality are damn original, both because of their effects and the mechanic of being an environmental effect centered on a moving character.

7) I don’t think the general idea of introducing a new weapon would be a big deal (it’s been done four times already), but as far as the details on the shield go, I envision it having two stats: armor and damage. Shield attack skills would either augment the base damage or add some sort of effect. Thoughts?

So yeah… that’s one of the longest posts ever. Thanks so much for the feedback and please write again!

@SC: Actually, I think the Chronomancer’s targets will have a hard time running away from him. If he’s using something like Time Sink, there’s no way they can outrun him unless they adjust their speed somehow. What’s CGR && PLSQL?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronomancer

You're wrong... the Chronomancer has a definition. the definition is and was ever the "Time Mage" and nothing other is the Chronomancer.
Making out of a Mage Class a Melee Class is like, as if we would make now a CC about a GW2 Warrior, with Elementalist attributes ...

When we implement new professions, then we should/could expect from Anet, that they implement, as usual (with exception of the silly paragon), that the Concept around a Profession looks "realistic"
With realistic in this case I mean, that the Profession will look, act and move like the profession, from what the community understands under the name of the profession.

When anet would implement now a Rogue Class, than I'll expect from the Concept of that profession, that this professesion will be played like a real rogue and don't ends up in in a mage like gameplay, that totally don't fits to the concept of a Rogue.

The Chronomancer, as long as the Concept around a Time "Mage" exists in the scene of RPG's, was ever understood as a Mage and not as a warrior like tank.
What you describe here as Concept absolutely don't fits to the name of the profession > Chronomancer...

You seem to think, only because you gave your CC the ability over Time Magic, makes it automatically a Chronomancer ?!
Thats imo the wrong way of thinking.
Thats a childish way of thinking, thats as if I would say now, only because my elementalist weilds a Sword, makes it to a Warrior. Sry to say that...
When I create a CC about a Priest for example, then the result will look at the end like a CC, from what people mostly think a priest should look, act and move like. Then a don't end of with a paladin concept...thats no Priest

You want hear weaknesses ?
Can i tell you.

You just created a Paladin Concept with merged Chronomancer Abilities.
The result:

A Melee Class which should tank (Paladin, the main work of Paladins in RPG's is7was mostly ever tanking and attacking with Auras, or protecting with these) all this Stuff U've included in your CC. And due to the fact, that the pure paladin with is uber 2H Shield and the Auras wasn't unique enough to you, you thought, why not combine A with B and give it also Time magic and call it a Chronomancer which should work like a Paladin Tank...

Paladins also fight with 1H Shields, yes, they use they Shield also to Attack.
Look at the Crusader/Paladin of Ragnarok Online. Think of that Class and think now onto that concept additional Time Magic and bam, you have your CC here.

Your CC is too easily clear transparanted imo

My version version that is a clear Mage, with an other Weapon Concept, sure such mittens don't exist, but Mage Classes are an exception, everything around magic is in the end so or so only fantasy. But Melee classes should rely more on realism and fact is. 2H Shields never have existed. For which reason should a Warrior use such a shield, when he can't wear then a Weapon to defend hisself really. The only thing you could do with such a shield is blocking attacks. With such a big shield a Warrior would be effectively too slow to try to attack with the shield someone, and even then, it wouldn#t do very much damage...

My CC version has synergies with all other mage classes + the ranger.
When going with my 2nd version of Immortality, can have even all secondary classes have a benefit. But Version 1 could also bring mybe an end to the era of the obsi tank, making it possible, that everyone can tank more or less

Your CC would be only good in combination with secondary Warriors, because only they would have benefits beneath your CC self from your boring Stamina primary, which is even senseless, because when warriors want more adrenaline, they have lots of enough skills, to gain easily adrenaline, + they have weapon mods, that can double their adrenaline input with attacks at random chance. When your CC would receive also such skills and mods, the primary would be totally senseless at all

Yes come over to the dark side, we have (Internet browser)cookies.

Well adjascent is not a large range at all, and you will first have to get your foes into it, which is why is suggested the teleportation skills.
You do have a point in that the ranged spells could piss people off, how ever that requires 2 attributes to be good, ending it up with just a bunch of casters that use 'Renewed Youth' to maintain their energy, but don't spend any points in the shield attribute, nor in the primary because it only relates to adrenaline which is only needed for the shield attribute.
Or you get the opposite, of a player who spends in the primary and the shield attribute, and uses a weak aura.

This clean cut, besides being one of the reasons it's boring, funnels the role of a single chrono. Many caster's prefer a pure build over a hybrid build, even though the chrono is not a traditional caster, they aren't a traditional thumper either(because they can't attack without adrenaline) so they should be kind of free to move between the caster side and the thumper side of their class.
Merging some attributes, preferably the temporalety attribute with something,as you will take only 1, 2 maybe 3 auras at a time, but not a lot of skills from that attribute at any time, because only 1 can be active at a time.

It's also boring because of the "activate a aura, stand near a foe" play style. When I'd glanced it I'd planned to go with the Primary 10+1 Auras 11+1 Shields 10+2
Resulting in a stand near foe and hope they hit you play style.
That is what I though would be boring, other than activating adrenal skill when they are ready, its rather fire and forget.
There isn't even any work going in to making foes for fill certain requirements to make my aura hit them, such as suffering form a condition, or having lost X% health.

They are cources I take, with the same teacher. Not only does he give loads of homework, but even if you Ace the exam, it will be 0 if you didn't show him you finished every shred he gave you before you took the exam.
(C)omputer (G)enerated (R)... I guess rendering, it is supposed to be (I)mages for what we learned in the course.
PL-SQL is programming in SQL(database language)

Highly overpowered, non elite version of [skill=text]Glyph of Renewal[/skill]
Imagine Déjà Vu + [skill=text]Glyph of Renewal[/skill] + [skill=text]Meteor Shower[/skill] + recast the shower.
That is 3 hits with the casting time and energy cost of 2.
The current [skill=text]Arcane Echo[/skill] + [skill=text]Echo[/skill] + shower doesn't stand up to that.

Also it has a strong hint towards [skill=text]Tease[/skill] as a whole, as well as Glyph of Swiftness, though that is not nesiceraly a bad thing, as those skills are a rare tree in the desert and haven't been done to death yet.

About you #6 repsonse Nebojat its not that the skills are not original, my points was that some of the skills that you are creating a similar to some of the current skills, which is a good thing... Because it shows that the skills you have created for the Chronomancer are easy to implement into the game since similar skills are used quite effectively in the game already (like your Deja Vu spell, and the Elementalists Echo spell)... For the most part your Chronomancer has some of the most original skill sets and spells out of any class in GW...

For your #7 response add a new weapon class is not new to the whole world of gw but it might cause a lot of warriors to be a poughty about the fact the a Chronomancer has a Shield that can do dmg and Warriors are stuck with a piece of: metal, wood,bones,rock that just is defensive in nature...

And for #5 its not that the Chronomancer wouldnt be a thorn in the side of an opposing PvP team its just that, there would probably be ways to counter his aura (healing, buffs, dmg reduction, etc)... So if a team had such tatics against the Chronomancer, they would have no need in even bothering with attacking him... Basically I am say that istead of making all his shield attacks require adrenaline, mix it up (like the warriors has and have some run of adrenaline, and other run of energy) or make it a little easier for the Chronomancer to gain adrenaline...

Holy mackerel. PT, you're seriously testing my patience. I hate hate resorting to the dictionary, but if you want to get technical about defining something that only exists in fantasy games (which is ludicrous), here ya go:

Chronomancer: a mage capable of manipulating time.

Mage: a person who is skilled in magic (read: no indication about identity, function, weapons, armor, etc.).

My CC: a person who is skilled in time magic.

I have made a Chronomancer. I understand you're not a fan of battlemages, but I am. They exist in other games, they can exist in Guild Wars. I don't want to hear about your completely unrelated version of a Chronomancer. I don't want to hear you reject my concept. I only want to hear you critique it. The words "senseless", "dumb", "wrong", and "childish" are not critiques... they're personal attacks. If you want to engage in conversation, do so. If you respond with yet another pointless, thoughtless, and unsubstantiated post, I will block you. I can't stand flaming trolls on forums and I will not waste my time with them. I'm here to have fun, not be dragged down in some idiotic argument with a stranger on the other side of the internet.

As to other responses, I'll get back to you later. Gotta run to class!

P.S. If I were to change the name from Chronomancer to something else, would that satisfy you? It seems like your quarrel has less to do with the function of my CC and more to do with whether or not "Chronomancer" accurately describes my concept class.

P.P.S. I never thought of a Paladin while creating this class. Even so, I think your understanding of a Paladin is just as narrow as that of the Chronomancer. According to you, a Paladin is a tank that attacks/protects with auras and attacks with a one-handed shield. Once again, using your affinity for definitions, a Paladin is defined as: "any knightly or heroic champion," or "any determined advocate or defender of a noble cause." Nowhere do I see anything about a one-handed shield, tanking, or auras.

I agree with Nebojats, it is a waste off time to squabble over your personal definition of what this or that means... He is looking for constructive critisism on his Chronomacer build... Not blatent attacks on him personal...

is it me or is this just a rip off of one ofthe classes that anet intended to make for one of the expansions? im pretty sure it is

Ouch, harsh words! GW did indeed intend at one point to make a Chronomancer (as Phoenix Tears and Clone pointed out earlier), although as far as I know, they never revealed more than concept art. It's no longer in production (Utopia got canceled) and from what I can tell from the few sketches GW put out, their version looked to have a very different sort of identity than my CC.

All I'm doing in the thread is offering a proposal for how I think the Chronomancer ought to be. I'm not intending to "rip off" GW, just as people who propose druids and paladins aren't ripping off WoW.

Couldn't you just build adrenaline with a different weapon, then switch to the shield to attack and skip the whole "wait to be attacked first" bit?

Alright, I made a lot of changes to the class.

1) SC, you said the Chronomancer needed adrenaline-protection skills, since his shield attacks rely exclusively on adrenaline. I implemented the one you suggested, calling it "Return to Fury." I also made it so the Chronomancer can attack with his shield without adrenaline, he just does little damage (still trying to figure out how much the base damage is).

2) To Hells Faithful, I did modify the shield so it can be used offensively without adrenaline, although it deals less damage. Adrenaline is needed to do any serious damage. Otherwise, it is sort of weird to have a melee character that can't do damage unless attacked. You were definitely right on that one, haha. I also changed the shield attribute, Stamina, to decrease adrenaline costs of shield skills.

3) @SC, you said that one of the main causes of this class being bland is that it could only be a basher or a time manipulator. In order to have any sort of versatility at all, it had to max out two attributes. I reconfigured the attributes, and I think the new setup allows for a lot more variety with less investment in any attribute. You can also attack without adrenaline now, just not very effectively. What do you think about the new setup? Same question goes to anyone reading this, of course.

4) I think it was SC, although maybe it was HF, who said the Chronomancer needed protection against time manipulation so that he could get close for his auras. The primary attribute now has some skills (will have more soon, with your input hopefully ) that are designed to let the Chronomancer be unaffected by time-based spells and environmental effects.

5) On that note, SC, I expanded the auras' range from adjacent to nearby. This makes it easier for the Chronomancer to affect other players with his auras.

6) I think it was SC who said it didn't make much sense to have the primary attribute related to adrenaline, since this is a time mage. I combined the Power and Stamina attributes into one melee-focused attribute and set up the new primary to be Temporality, which improves all of the Chronologist's time-related skills. In this attribute are skills which let the Chronologist walk through time differently than others and the attribute affects all of the Chronologist's time skills' effectiveness. So it makes more sense now... the Chronologist's primary improves his ability to manipulate time.

7) @Nyktos: I hadn't thought of that, haha. A very good point. I now gave the shield the ability to attack without adrenaline so you wouldn't be tempted to weapon-switch in the middle of battle like that.

I'm still not sure how to make the skills more original. I also feel like the Chronomancer needs some way to get in melee range, although I don't want it to be teleportation (too Assassin-like). Otherwise, like SC and HF say, the Chronomancer could easily be kept at bay by keeping away from the fray with conditions, slowing, etc. Is the class still boring? I think you guys have given great suggestions, but the class is still far from complete. Here's hoping it gets better with more communal brainstorming!

Time manipulation seems a little, well, technological. It just doesn't seem like the sort of thing that wizards w/ medieval technology would ponder too much.

Creating a sort of bio-mage that simply accelerates or slows living things' functions seems more appropriate.

I could see things like "age", "restore youth", "hasten", "erode", "rust" as powers that this type of character would have. I would deemphasize direct time manipulation, and instead focus on things like aging, de-aging, etc.

I would actually have them use things like small 1-handed throwing blades in the primary hand, and hourglasses/sundials/books in the off-hand.

The attributes would be:

Pacing - (primary attribute) each rank heals you for 3 hp whenever something around you ages or de-ages, and 1 energy for every 2 ranks of Pacing. These skills would have trigger points associated w/ them - like w/e an enemy uses a spell, X happens, or w/e an ally attacks Y happens.

Prediction - This attribute deals w/ things that may happen in the (near) future - it could involve some interrupts of enemy actions, or have some reactive healing/buffing. It could also involve aging enemies to blind them, slow them, weaken them, etc.

Historical recollection - this has to do w/ restoring allies to previous (healthy) states - it wouldn't actually keep track of their past status, just give the feeling of doing so. It could also have some interesting tricks - like turn enemies into a baby-like state where they're weaker or slower, or temporarily reduce their attributes.

Rending - rending would have to do w/ displacing enemies form the natural flow of things - perhaps you freeze them for a short period of time. It could also be used to grant some protection to allies by taking them out of time for a short bit. This would also have some cool abilities, like pulling a version of yourself from a previous time for a short bit (think an AI-controlled hench that looks like you and has your skill bar, but slightly less hp/attribute points)

I said my personal rest to Nebo per PM ...

but to you:

I'm not someone, who just posts Opinions into others Threads, only to beg then for for criticism on my versions ...
When I write my personal version of a CC profession into someone others thread, then it should maybe help to improve the basic CC .. i emphasize ..maybe

How cheap do you think of me >.>

Must here everyone cry for a big "yay for this CC we've ever waited" before opinions get accepted here or what ...

PS: like biostem now, he just posted his opinion, how a Chronomancer should look like, does he now await cause of that, that everyone starts to talk only about his version, and that nebo has to change his whole CC cause of this ? ... HELL NO!!!

Wow, you thought this one out well... I find myself really wanting to play one. There are some nice skills there. I especially liked "lapse", the revert idea is pretty innovative. And of course, I'm swayed by the wiki pictures of Anets Chronomancer , but I'll try to keep that out of my argument.

The only flaws I can see is that it isn't really that specific, especially in PvE. There seems to be no way to do any real damage (yes, I know that was in the OP), and neither does it have any form of healing. And, to be truly effective, must run about a lot. This means one thing: Bad in PvE.
It sounds really fun to play in PvP. However, to my previous points. Without damage, in PvE, you have to really give something special. I mean, I'll often take ele warder heroes, but they always have damage on the side. Ever fought 3 monks in HM? The only people I generally take without damage are monks. Which brings me to my next point, that it has no healing. Yeah, a protective character is good, but what happens when one of your team is taking heavy damage? Yeah, you can prot them, but if, with a chronomancer as support, you've left out a monk for more damage, that team member wont get the healing. One or the other is really needed, even if just as a supplement.
Finally, heroes/henchies are stupid. This would work well in a all player team, but if your running around casting your area skills, your heroes will stop attacking to follow you. Which would be incredibly irritating.

Anyway, just my thoughts. It looks like theres a lot more criticism than praise here, but I actually really love the idea. It just takes more time and effort to show hate than to show love

I've added a lot of new skills, put in a Tactics section to explain how the CC works in battle, and made a few minor touch ups here and there. Right now, as far as I can tell, the biggest problem with this class is that it needs to be close to be effective. Anyone have a good idea for how that can happen? In other words, what strategy should the Chronomancer use to assure he's able to get next to large groups of people?

@Biostem: I definitely like the idea of some sort of biomage that speeds up and slows down aging, rusting, etc. I think some of my new skills cover that role. If you have any other suggestions, please write them down.

I don't really feel like time manipulation is technological though. I mean, in my mind, controlling time is like controlling life, death, the elements, the spiritual plane, the mind, etc. It's just another sort of magical sphere. Maybe you could explain what you mean?

@PureEvilYak: Thanks! A compliment... that must mean the brainstorming process is coming along. I made a lot of updates to the OP. I added a section on tactics which might help to clarify the Chronomancer's specific roles. As for lack of damage-dealing, check out the Tactics section... the Pariah tactic shows how the Chronomancer can deal some serious damage. It's true the CC has little healing (although Lapse and Revert could be used to heal people really effectively if done right). Does that address your critiques? I feel like I might be missing out on something... Anyway, thanks for the response!

I have to agree that the "flavor" doesn't seem right for a fantasy medieval setting either since the concept of temporal manipulation is generally perceived to be "futuretech" and not "medieval magic."

Not that we can't cite examples of playing with Time in the past. Army of Darkness jumps to mind ("Did you say the exact words?" - love it! ). However as a way to express/define your character class with a single word I suppose it's a reasonable fit though not entirely apropos.

I suppose a true Time-stopping mechanic would be out of the question, especially in PvP, but I do like the use of speed-up/slowdown AoE auras to simulate localized temporal shifts. It will definitely encourage people to spread out.

However most of the abilities can be expressed in terms of hexing/cursing or blessing/chanting which falls more or less on other character classes. Which just goes to show that it's difficult to come up with a truly unique class that doesn't heavily overlap others in terms of flavor, which makes me really wonder what sort of classes will be in Guild Wars 2...


Hmm... just noticed two prior threads using the exact same character class name. Will have to glance at those since temporal manipulation happens to be something I enjoy in my games.

The Game isn't Entirely based on Fantasy Medievel Setting

It's too powerful.

He hasn't mentioned cost-activation and recharges, nor the damage or speed of the shield.
Basically you can imagine anything in those places, so the point of how powerful it is is really more one with your definition of the skills, than of how powerful they might or might not be.

Though I agree that that some of the timewarps that redo or undo spells might be a bit powerful.
Imagine using "Time Loop" on an enemy using [skill=text]Infuse Health[/skill].

Nebo want me to put this in the list^^?

I personally envisioned this as being a 60AL caster, along the lines of a mesmer dealing chaos damage but more of it without the if certain conditions are met and the interrupts and the energy loss and such of a mesmer. Just pure chaos damage with a side of support; kind of like a necromancer with his dark damage, I suppose. It'd be nice if they were able to finish off adding the chronomancer they started work on as some sort of mini-ingame store expansion thing. I like the idea of your time auras and such, but not the two hand shield; I bet the hourglass staff would look so good on this class. I find the skill you had which reduced hexes, conditions and enchantments on the target was very unique.

The Chronomancer is a Tank, which weilds 2 handed Shields.
And manipulates Foes around Him, and buff Allies around him too.

I have too much free time and noticed some numbers.

How come Nebo's CC's have almost 3 times the views of anyone else that posted their CC around the same time?
They don't necessarily get more replies, but this one for example has 8XX views against the 3XX views of other CC's posted around the same month.

I feel lacking in charisma...

Thanks for the feedback, people. I've sort of been busy with other things, so it's been a while since I checked out the forums.

As far as the general concept not fitting into GW, I suppose there could be some truth to that. Usually, my CCs start off with me trying to jam as much innovative stuff into them as possible and then over time I tame them down. In this case, I really like the idea of a time mage and I also love the idea of a massive, offensive shield-wielding class. I also like the idea of a battlemage (magic user dealing serious weapon damage in melee). It could be too much for one class, though. I'll have to mull it over and maybe churn out some new CCs inspired by the successful parts of the Chronomancer or just seriously revamp this class.

SC, as always, thanks for pointing out the obvious. No concept is inherently too powerful (although it can be ill-conceived), since you can simply change the intensity of effects or increase the costs. As far as time loop goes, what about making it elite and costing all your energy and causing exhaustion? Then is it too powerful? If not, then how about you lose 99.999999% of your health? etc, etc, etc.

MC, if you want to put this CC up on your list, that'd be awesome.

About the tons of views, I don't know. Maybe people like the layout or my beautiful prose(...) or the images (even though this one doesn't have concept art yet). Maybe everyone looks at them and just steals the ideas without replying! Or maybe it's because I compulsively check my posts for a few weeks, racking up the number of views, haha. That is funny, though... I'd never noticed how many more views my CCs ad. Don't worry SC... you're charismatic, man! And you're definitely one of smartest dudes on the forums. I'll check out your afflicitionist when I get the chance.

Peace!

P.S. Anyone have some good ideas for the CC?

I envy you, While I get 250+ Viewers you got s thousand^^.
How do you do it^^?

No Suggestions, It's perfect anyway what to Improve^^.
Except that you still have no Concept Art for this CC^^.

Happy New Year Guys, and Merry Christmas^^!

P.S.
-Please comment too in my CCs^^.
And be online in the forum as much as possible.
Last Week there was no topic to talk bout.
And were losing members^^.

Edited:
-And Please Keep Not, to Register your Chronomancer in the List.
For me to Put Up the Chronomancer^^.