Concept Class: Feral

Concept Class: Feral

Masters of survival, the Feral use nature and it's beasts as inspiration for their techniques in battle. They rely on a balance of cunning, instinct, and brute force to take down their enemies. The overall feel for the class is somewhere between Native American warriors, and barbaric tribes of early Europe.

Appearance:

The males would be real rugged looking, pretty hairy (noticeable more when –naked-), fairly muscular (body of a hard worker rather than body-builder), and faces mostly scowling or just simply emotionless, most with beards/facial hair. The females would be mostly the same ruggedness, but of course without the body hair, built physique but not entirely chiseled tone, and faces that have a fierce, Amazoness feel.

Typical armor is animal hides and bones in the shape of an actual animal, though sometimes adorned with trinkets taken from kills. Their headpiece is an animal head of some kind. The entire outfit would make the Feral appear to be some kind of half-man/half-animal.

AL = 70-75 (between Ranger and Warrior) with bonuses like [+15 AL vs. Cold], [+5-25 HP depending on piece], [+10 vs. Physical], [+15 vs. Piercing], etc. 3 Energy Regen Armor can offer up to +15 Energy (35 total)

Headpiece = Appearence based on stats
Lion Head: +1 Call of the Wild
Tengu/Eagle Head: +1 Claw/Arm-blade Mastery
Bear Head: +1 Animal Instincts
Rhino/Elephant/Bison Head: +1 Survival
Wolf Head: Standard/No Attribute
Dire Wolf Head: Collector's (basically a more detailed, meaner look than the normal Wolf Head)

Weapon of choice - Claws or Arm-blades. The claws are essentially katar-like hand daggers that, when held, give the appearence that they protrude from your knuckles (ala Wolverine). Arm-blades have similar function, but are strapped on the arms, and consist of only one blade on each arm (think Bloodrayne or Baraka from Mortal Kombat). Of course, this also means they are two-handed and you get no benefit from shields or off-hand items.

Weapon Stats: Speed - 1.33; Max Damage - 10-25; Type - Slashing

New Mechanic: Form
Forms are similar to Stances, in that you can only have one active at any given time. However, there is no time limit associated with Forms. They typically have an equal upside and downside and only affect you. Like the Monks maintainable enchantments, you can Double-Click to end the current Form, or you can simply activate another Form and replace your current one. Forms are essential to many Feral skills, as they are a requirement for activation.
*NEW* (There are no special animations for Forms. They are not transformations or shapeshifting, but more like a 'fighting style', i.e. a martial art 'Form'. If there could be a change in the way the character is standing, for instance fluid and low to the ground for "Deadly like the Serpent" Form, it might become easier to see if said character was in a Form.)

New Mechanic: Immobilize
Immobilize is a very unique 'condition' (though not treated as such) in that it affects both the inflicter and the inflicted. Once instigated, neither the inflicter of Immobilize, nor the now inflicted of Immobilize can move, attack, or activate skills for a maximum of 3 seconds. The one who activates a skill that Immobilizes, is considered to be activating that skill for the longevity of the Immobilization and likewise may be interrupted (using a normal skill that interrupts, like Disrupting Chop).
Some skills that Immobilize might come with an extra downside to being interrupted (like the skill "Impale").

Attribute & Skills: (Energy or Adrenaline/Cast/Recharge)

[Primary] Survival - For each point in Survival, you gain +5 HP and a 3% reduction in duration from Poison, Disease, Bleeding, Cripple, Deep Wound, and Weakness. Skills in this line are primarily self heals/protection.

Example Skills:
*(5e/1c/5r) Lick Wounds – Skill – Must be in "Fierce like the Wolf" Form. Heal yourself for 10…45 Health.
*(15e/3c/60r) Hibernation - Skill - Must be in "Strong like the Bear" Form. You are knocked down for 5 seconds, but gain Health Regeneration of +3...9, Energy Regeneration of +1..3, and +10...50 Armor for 5 seconds.
*(10e/2c/15r) Hardened Skin – Stance – For 10 seconds, you gain +10…40 Armor vs. Physical Attacks.
*(10e/2c/15r) Elemental Resistance – Stance – For 10 seconds, you gain +10…40 Armor vs. Elemental.
*(10e/1c/10r) Bones of Steel – Stance – For 18…36 seconds, you cannot be Crippled or inflicted with a Deep Wound, and have +10 Armor vs. Piercing Attacks.
(5e/3c/10r) Prepared Meal – Skill – Exploit touched corpse to create a “Prepared Meal” at it’s location. When “Prepared Meal” is picked up by an ally, that ally gains 35…105 Health.
(10e/1c/10r) Rested Stance – Stance – You gain +3…9 Health Regeneration for 10 seconds. Rested Stance ends if you attack or use a skill.
(10e/1c/10r) On the Move – Skill – For 30…73 seconds, you can activate any non-spell skill while moving. Any skills activated this way are easily interrupted.
(5e/3c/45r) Totem's Blessing - Skill - For 4...12 seconds, you gain +1 Energy Regeneration for each Spirit in the area.
(--/2c/30r) Focus Signet - Signet - Gain +1 Energy Regeneration every 10...3 seconds. Focus Signet ends if you move, attack or use a skill.
(--/2c/60r) Signet of Evolution – Signet – Remove one Hex from yourself. For 60…90 seconds, you cannot be the target of that same Hex.
*Removed Dolyak's Milk*
(10e/3c/45r) {E} Final Infusion – Skill – Lose the rest of your Energy. Heal yourself for 3…13 Health for each point of Energy lost this way.
*NEW* (10e/2c/45r) {E} Serpent's Regeneration - Skill - Must be in "Deadly like the Serpent" Form. For 8...18 seconds, you gain +1...3 Health Regeneration. All physical damage is reduced by 50%, and each time you are hit with physical damage, you lose 5 Energy or Serpent's Regeneration ends.

Claw/Arm-blade Mastery - Each point in this Attribute increases your damage and critical hits when using a Claw or Arm-blade weapon.

Example Skills:
(5e/--/5r) Devastating X – Claw Attack – Must be in a Form. If this attack hits, you strike for +3…15 damage.
*(10e/1.5c/10r) Gut Opener – Claw Attack – Must be in a Form. If this attack hits, target foe suffers from Bleeding for 4…10 seconds. If that foe already suffers from Bleeding, they become inflicted with Deep Wound for 5…15 seconds.
*Removed Immobilize* (made it a Condition instead)
*(15e/1c/20r) Impale – Claw Attack – If this attack hits, you strike for +3…18 damage. You and target foe are Immoblized for 1...3 seconds. If you are interrupted before Bearhug ends, both you and target foe are knocked down.
*(10e/--/5r) Disarming Slash – Claw Attack – If this attack hits, target foe’s action is interrupted and cannot attack for 1…3 seconds.
*(5e/--/30r) Deflect – Skill – For 10 seconds, you have a 25%…50% chance to block incoming attacks. Deflect ends if you attack.
*Removed Blinding Blades*
*(15e/1.5c/10r) Bearhug – Claw Attack – Must be in “Strong like a Bear” Form. If this attack hits, you and target foe are Immobilized for 3 seconds. When Bearhug ends, inflict 10...25 damage to target foe and they become Crippled for 3...9 seconds.
(10e/--/10r) Mauling – Claw Attack – Must be in “Strong like a Bear” Form. If this attack hits, target foe’s action is interrupted and is struck for +1…16 damage.
(5e/--/2r) Quick Swipe - Claw Attack - Must be in "Strong like a Bear" Form. This attack cannot be evaded.
(10e/1.5c/15r) Lunge – Claw Attack – Must be in “Fierce like a Wolf” Form. If this attack hits, you strike for +1…16 damage and target foe is knocked down.
(10e/--/10r) Rend Flesh – Claw Attack – Must be in “Fierce like a Wolf” Form. If this attack hits, steal 5…18 Health from target foe. Target foe becomes inflicted with Deep Wound for 5...15 seconds.
(10e/--/5r) Jugular Strike - Claw Attack - Must be in "Fierce like a Wolf" Form. If this attack hits, you strike for +1...8 damage and cause Bleeding on target foe for 8...18 seconds.
(5e/--/1r) Coil and Strike – Claw Attack – Must be in “Deadly like a Serpent” Form. If this attack hits, you attack target foe twice, but at 33% less damage.
(10e/1.5c/5r) Venom Fang – Claw Attack – Must be in “Deadly like a Serpent” Form. If this attack hits, inflict +1…8 damage and target foe suffers Poison for 3…10 seconds.
(10e/--/30r) Viper's Omen - Skill - Must be in "Deadly like a Serpent" Form. For 5...12 seconds, you have a 50% chance to evade attacks. Inflict 3...15 damage to each foe who fails to hit you in battle.
(5e/--/5r) {E} Rapid Blades – Claw Attack – Must be in a Form. Strike at up to 3…6 adjacent foes for +4…12 damage.
*NEW* (15e/--/20r) {E} Scissors - Claw Attack - For 3 seconds, you and target foe are Immobilized and you strike your foe once each second for +1...12 damage.

Call of the Wild - Skills in this line are shouts, AoE skills, and other skills. Note: The shouts, since having the character yell “HOOOWWWL!” is just silly, I was thinking it would actually simply say “[name of character] howls like a wolf!” and the character actually make the noise.

Example Skills:
*(10e/--/30r) Wolf’s Howl – Shout – Must be in “Fierce like a Wolf” Form. For 3...9 seconds, all nearby allies deal an additional +3...15 damage each time they hit with a Piercing attack.
(10e/--/30r) Lion’s Roar – Shout – All nearby foes take 5…23 damage. Adjacent foes take an additional 5…23 damage.
(10e/--/30r) Hyena’s Cackle – Shout – All nearby Allies gain 1…5 hits of Adrenaline.
(10e/--/20r) Bear’s Growl – Shout – Must be in “Strong like a Bear” Form. For 8…18 seconds, each time your attacks are blocked, target foe is knocked down.
(10e/--/30r) Serpent’s Hiss – Shout – Must be in “Deadly like a Serpent” Form. For 5…15 seconds, all nearby Allies attack 10% faster.
(10e/--/45r) Debilitating Laughter – Shout – For 8…20 seconds, all nearby foes suffer –1 Energy Degeneration.
(10e/--/10r) “Go Away!” – Shout – Inflict 5…18 damage to all adjacent foes for each Hex and condition you currently have.
(5e/--/20r) Break Free – Skill – For 1…3 seconds, you can go through creatures as if they weren’t there. When you travel through a foe, that foe is knocked down for 1 second and suffers 5…23 damage.
(10e/1.5c/15r) Falling Boulder – Skill – You jump and land on the ground, sending out a shockwave that causes 5…23 damage and Knockdown on all adjacent foes for 1…3 seconds.
(5e/--/30r) Dust Cloud – Skill – You become Knocked down for 3…1 seconds. You and all adjacent foes become Blinded for 3…7 seconds.
*(--/2c/20r) Signet of Culling – Signet – For 10…24 seconds, the next time target foe has less than 50% Health, that foe becomes Crippled, and you move 33% faster for 3…8 seconds.
*(10e/--/45r) {E} “No Mercy!” – Shout – For 5...13 seconds, all nearby allies who hit a foe in combat removes one Enchantment from them.
*(15e/2c/20r) {E} Primal Scream – Shout – Must be in a Form. All adjacent foes become Weakened for 3…15 seconds and Dazed for 3…5 seconds.
*NEW* (10e/--/30r) {E} "For the Pack!" - Shout - Must be in "Fierce like the Wolf" Form. For 10 seconds, all nearby allies' physical damage becomes Piercing and causes bleeding for 5...18 seconds.

Animal Instincts - Skills in this line are mostly stances, but also a few interrupts and other skills.

Example Skills:
(5e/2c/10r) Strong like the Bear – Form – You attack 33% slower, but deal +10…20 damage in melee.
(5e/2c/10r) Swift like the Cheetah – Form – You move 20% faster, attack 10% faster, but have –20 Armor.
(5e/2c/10r) Fierce like the Wolf – Form – You inflict +5…15 damage to all foes that are suffering from Bleeding, but Disease and Poison last 33% longer on you.
(5e/2c/10r) Brave like the Tengu – Form – Each foe your party kills in combat gives you a 2% Morale Boost (Maximum 10%). When this Form ends, you lose all Morale you gained with this skill.
(5e/2c/10r) Sturdy like the Yak – Form – You move and attack 10% slower, but gain +60…150 maximum Health.
(5e/2c/10r) Deadly like the Serpent – Form – You attack 20% faster, but have 15% less maximum Health.
(5e/2c/10r) Solid like the Tortoise – Form – You move and attack 50% slower, but you and adjacent Allies gain +40 Armor vs. Physical and Elemental.
(5e/1c/20r) Shedding of the Skin - Skill - Must be in "Deadly like the Serpent" Form. For the next 10 seconds, you automatically evade the next attack against you. You gain +10...35 Health when you evade this attack.
(15e/2c/60r) Heightened Senses - Skill - Must be in "Fierce like the Wolf" Form. For 10...24 seconds, you cannot be Blinded and your attacks cannot be Evaded.
(5e/--/10r) Anticipation – Skill – Interrupt target foe’s action. If the action was an attack, inflict 8…35 damage. If the action was a skill, target foe becomes Dazed for 3…8 seconds.
*Removed Incoming Threat*
*(10e/1c/60r) Lay Low – Stance – For 8…18 seconds, you move and attack 33% slower, but have a 75% chance to dodge ranged attacks, and 50% chance to block in melee.
(10e/2c/15r) Air of Hostility – Skill – For 10…23 seconds, you and all creatures near you deal +3…16 damage each time they hit, but take twice as long to cast spells. (creatures meaning all characters, in the same sense Heal Party heals all ‘creatures’)
(10e/1.5c/60r) Scent of Fear – Skill – For 18…36 seconds, you deal +10…35 damage per hit against moving foes that have less than 50% health.
(10e/1c/20r) {E} Blind Rage – Skill – For 5…12 seconds, target foe becomes Blind, and attacks 33% faster. Each time target foe misses in combat, they lose 5 Energy.
*(15e/2c/15r) {E} Natural Defenses – Skill – For 8…18 seconds, each time a foe attempts to use a skill against you, that skill is interrupted, and you lose 5 Energy or Natural Defenses ends.

No-Attribute Skills:
(10e/--/20r) Disarm – Skill – Target touched foe cannot attack for 5 seconds.
(--/--/10r) Beast Signet – Signet – Gain 2 Energy for each animal nearby.
(10e/1c/30r) Natural Immunity – Skill – For 20 seconds, you cannot be Poisoned or Diseased.
(5e/--/5r) Berserk - Skill - Must be in a Form. Attack all adjacent foes. These attacks have a 50% chance to miss.
(10e/2c/15r) {E} All or Nothing – Melee Attack – Strike for +50 damage. This skill is easily interrupted. If interrupted, you gain +5 Energy.
*NEW* (//) {E} Pushover - Skill - Must be in "Strong like the Bear" Form. You and target touched foe are knocked down and Immobilized for 3 seconds. When Pushover ends, target foe is knocked down again for 3 seconds.

This isn’t all the skills, but a sizeable list to give you a really good idea how this class could work. I tried to be fairly unique in it’s implementation, and of course any help, comments, suggestions, criticism is welcome. I put around 3 days of thinking into this, so it’s not on the fly, nor is it completely fleshed out.

Props go to:
Hunter Sharparrow who suggested a Werewolf class, which got my juices going on this. Check out his thread at: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s....php?t=3010008
Ken Dei who suggested many great skill balance changes
General Typhus
actionjack

EDIT: All modified entries are marked with a *. See my latest post for modifications if you want to know.

I like it, all of the concept classes I bother to read then to be a "what if they released skills / stats that make my idea of a erfect wammo" etc etc, too often concept classes are based too much on a current class-combo and end up copying that, no offense to the players who put time and effort into them, but I dont see the point in making a 'concept class' that almost, but not quite exsists as a 2 class combination, next people will be saying "Concept class: Wammo" just to have all the skills easily under one roof.

But that little rant aside I really like your concept, I like the combination on "must be in this stance" ideas, very nifty, and if I would ever come up with a concept class its probably something i would use also.

So yeah, me like alot, and I'd probably play this class primary if it were released, but maybe the Elite "All or Nothing" is mildly unblanaced, when i read the name I thought it would be a desperate blow type thing, with a high +damage or a knock down on miss with a drop in accuracy, but yours works just as well.

You do know that you are suggesting a W/R
with assassin weapons do you? :P

anyways i didnt like the idea il
stick to ritualist

Brilliant idea. Very well thought out and thorough.

I like the utilization of stances and primal shouts. Maybe 3 pips of regen would be better, and "No Mercy" seems a bit overpowered with no recharge.

I'd love to see something similar in the next GW installment.

Definately appreciate the comment. The Stances and Shouts really were the main focus of this class. I was trying to think of a way to utilize things like Shouts and Adrenaline, but make it not so Warrior-like. I really like the Barbarian in Diablo, and gathered some ideas there.

"All or Nothing" was an iffy Elite, and I kinda like the idea of knockdown if interrupted (instead of on miss), I might change that. I want to make this character more of an enraged squishy-killer.

Sorry you didn't like the idea. Although it is similar to a W/R/A, it's still far different enough to where it could make a unique addition. A W/F, R/F, A/F, or reverse of each of those could all make very different types of characters, and I took all that into consideration. Skills that could compliment other classes, including the ones it's most likened to.

Having a new system that governs the character (like the combo-chain with the Ass or Ashes and Weapon Spells with the Rti) is something I struggled with. If I come up with something, other than the Stance idea, I'll post it. Unless someone else wants to help with some ideas...?

Thanks. I think you're right about "No Mercy". I think I'll make it cost 10e, and have a big recharge like, say, 30r? Sounds good. The energy regen did seem a little low, but I think it's doable. Maybe I should include some more energy-gaining skills to balance it out. I could definately see an armor set with a high amount of energy, too. I'll think about it.

Don't even bother commenting on Alcanazar, he won't respond. He's Mr.Onelineer with something like too much like W/R too much like W/Mo etc etc... (He compares everything to existing classes) Some people don't understand GW has already implemented the basics of any MMO in the core 6 professions, if anymore additional professions were to be added there would be overlapping...

Anyways, I like the idea; except the canabalism.. Prepared meal, would this work on humans as well?

I really like this concept. The chaining of separate types of skills is a nice twist.

Would the max energy be the same as that for a Ranger?

And Prepared Meal should be "picked up by other ally" - that way they won't know if they're eating a White Mantle Zealot .

I kinda felt Druid myself.

DId you get this feral idea from Far Cry? I love that game lol

I must say, i start reading it with a bias and a automatic rejection to it, thinking it would be just another melee ranger. However, after reading it in more depth, I have to say I like it. a Very good concept class indeed.

Wonderfully layed out, well organize, nicely name in skills, and good blance and creative use skills. Kudo on it all.

However, while it is a stance depended, but it still cover much of the same function as a warrior. I would want to see it differnt even more from a warrior. (like how ranger is not just another range attacker, but also have pets and traps and spirits) So yeah, need to see it doing something more unique, a new playing mechanic, a addtional Nitch.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I'm glad most of you are liking it. I was considering making "Prepared Meal" affect non-human corpses, but then it would have very little use in PvP, if at all (aside from pets). But yeah, hehe, cannibalism is great (my main is an MM, I love desecrating bodies, muahahahaha!)

I agree, actionjack, that it needs something a little more unique. I shall ponder this more, I really want this class to become something.

Making some changes:

Animal Stances will now be called "Forms". This is how it goes:
Forms are a kind of 'permanent enchantment' so-to-speak, much like the maintained enchantments that Monks use. It's not treated as an enchantment, stance, or shout, just something new and called a "Form". You can double-click the form to end it, or you can simply cast a new "Form" to change it. I am modifying the Forms so that they aren't too powerful (I hope), seeing as you can now have a Stance on top of the Form.

This will hopefully introduce a unique enough mechanic to warrant it's own style.

Feral will no longer use Adrenaline, as it is too much of a primary mechanic behind Warriors, and this needs to be something seperate.

Energy Regen upped to +3 instead of 2 to make up for more energy-using skills replacing the adrenaline ones.

Adding some Energy gaining skills.

I'm going to start working on this... editing orginal post now.

Glad that you decided to change the "animal stances" into "animal forms", I have been refraining myself from writing:
"Wild Blow = gg animal stances"

Cheers, mate.
Keep those creative juices flowing.

nice choice on the forms, hopefully alot of people will read it and think that since they are creating a new class, they may as well create balanced new skill types.

I personally liked the Adrenal useage, it worked, its a meelee char so it will build up fast enough and it makes adrenaline more useful.

Yeah, I liked the Adrenal skills, too... but I don't want to take the last 'unique' thing the Warrior had left. I figured if they could make a melee class like the Assassin without Adrenaline, well, maybe they intend for that to be special to the Warrior.

I think the addition of some energy gain skills and extra Pip should offset the balance and make it worthwhile without Adrenaline. Either way, update is complete. Tell me whatcha think.

I <3 you.

seems like you love mixing ideas as this new class seems to be 1 hell of a mix...
the forms from seem to be from the Druid in Diablo, at least the Wolf and Bear forms while you added many of your own(too many I must add)
the weapons seem to be from the from the Assassin in Diablo(not from the new assassin in GW although it's rather similar)
the stances and shouts seem to be a Warrior/Ranger/Ritualist from GW
and you even got that corpse usage thing from the Necro's death magic in GW

so yeah, I get the point that you love the Druid in Diablo II LoD, I love it too and I really liked that game...
and I get that you wanna connect this Diabloish char to GW...
however I think it's just pure mixing of ideas with nothing really original, just editted so it fits a different game.
and I think you tried to mix too many ideas into this char...

also, you have too few elites and most of your forms barely have skills for them only...

Hmm.... interesting take. Honestly, I wasn't even thinking of the Druid when I did any of this. The Forms are simply called that as an homage to martial arts, not actually shapeshifting.

I did use other GW classes for 'inspiration', but simply for ideas of how the skills work, and how they would compliment each other. Also, I tried ferociously to make skills that weren't already in the game. If I tried to copy anything, it was the playstyle of the Barbarian in D2, not the Assassin or Druid (I played very little of the expansion, didn't care too much for it).

I'm going for a fun class to play here. I never liked the Warrior in GW, but yet I loved the Barbarian in D2, so I'm trying to bring some of that fun I had with him back.

Oh, and, corpse usage thing? Like the Necro? Nah, never considered it! And here I was thinking that skill was actually kinda unique. Back to the drawing board...

This class is not a Druid, its Gau from Final Fantasy 6!



seriously though, i love it ^_^

I was going to post a shorter response, but this class has to much potential, so I'm going to identify the skills I take issue with.

Survival:

(10e/2c/15r) Hardened Skin – Skill – For 10 seconds, you gain +10…40 Armor vs. Physical Attacks.

(10e/2c/15r) Elemental Resistance – Skill – For 10 seconds, you gain +10…40 Armor vs. Elemental.

(10e/1c/10r) Bones of Steel – Skill – For 18…36 seconds, you cannot be Crippled or inflicted with a Deep Wound, and have +10 Armor vs. Piercing Attacks.

-Individually, not much of a problem, but stack them together and you have the potential for a somewhat overpowered tank. The skills need to either have minor draw backs, i.e. Hardened Skin makes you attack slower, OR they shouldn't be stackable.

-Survival Overall: The defense/self heal skills need a good amount of tweaking, what you've created here is a tank that can heal itself far better then a W/Mo, or Enchanted Mo/W. This is probably my biggest gripe with the class.

-Claw Mastery: Minor tweaks here, no individual skills are a problem, but even with some skills requiring forms to proform, you've basically made Warriors and Assassins obsolete.

-Call of the Wild:

(--/2c/20r) Signet of Culling – Signet – For 30…60 seconds, the next time a nearby foe has less than 50% Health, that foe becomes Crippled, and you move 33% faster for 3…8 seconds.

(10e/--/30r) {E} “No Mercy!” – Shout – For 15…30 seconds, the next time you hit a foe in combat, that foe is Knocked Down for 1…3 seconds, and suffers Bleeding and Deep Wound for 8…18 seconds.

(15e/2c/20r) {E} Primal Scream – Shout – All foes in the area become Weakened for 8…18 seconds and Dazed for 5…10 seconds.

-All overpowered skills. You could wipe out entire teams with these and even a moderately competent build.

-Call of the Wild Overall: Same complaint as before, you've outdone other classes with your skills.

Animal Instincts Overall: I didn't really have any problems with this batch, it's the unique niche of the class so it can't be compared to anything.

Non-Attribute Skills: No problems here.


Conclusion:
I know everyone seems to love the class, and I admit when I read through it the first couple of times it "seemed" balenced. But if you really start digging through your mind for abusive combos you'll start seeing some problems. And if you start comparing this classes abilities to other classes, you'll see what I'm talking about with the obsolesence.

The skill aren't done BADLY, they're actually, for the lack of a better term, done far to well. This is how Warriors and Assassins "should have been," truely capable of surviving the travel between targets and effectively buffing a team.

I'm not sure how to fix the class, except maybe add a few detriments to a good number of skills that don't require forms. I.e. the BEST skills work with forms, so there's not very many means by which to abuse them, and because they require extra effort, don't outclass other classes.

I was thinking too about what else could be added to make it more unique...

Consider "Bite"
Bite are melee skills that uses Adralines. However, the biggest differences is that there are no weapon requirement. Which means a magican equipting wands can use those if he/she wanted. (but its damage or duration is not too high)

(6a/--/--) Fresh Meat – Bite– If hit, target oppoent are damage for X, and you are hearl for Y.
(4a/--/--) Chump – Bite– If hit, target oppoent are damage for X.
(6a/--/--) Rabies Bite – Bite– If hit, target oppoent become diseased for T seconds.

I would still keep some claw skills Adr base. But maybe make it lower adr needed (like 3 to 5 adr range) but with weaker effects , so it is more spamable.

Might even consider "Spiritual Beast" type of summon in there (see my Druid concept class about it)

And if you do want to add Bite, do please add me in the credit as well...)

actionjack: Love the ideas, but I think I'm just going to 'stay off the grass' when it comes to adrenal skills. Bites are a great idea, especially love the "Rabies Bite", freakin cool, I'll think about adding that in.

Ken Dei: Excellent suggestions. In fact, I'm throwing most of that in, and making some major revisions in light of what you posted. I found myself nodding and agreeing with every line of your post, in fact.

As far as the Survival skills being overpowered, they are, kinda. I've made some revisions, and some limitations to make it more refined, but it is kinda designed to be self-sufficient, in a way. Granted, I don't want this to be able to solo anything without skill, but the Feral is a natural born survivalist. If I can better balance it with some more changes, I'll be more happy. I don't want this any better than any other class, just specialised, like every other class

I hope I took care of most of the problems with Call of the Wild. It was far too powerful, especially those skills, and it should be much more reasonable.

I did add a new mechanic (besides the Forms), called Immobilize. Not the skill, I removed it. Read it and let me know if it's dumb/overpowered/pointless. It's new, I know that much, lol.

Modifications:
*Better explanation of Forms.
*Added a new Mechanic - Immobilize (no longer a skill name)
*Changes to Hardened Skin, Elemental Resistance, and Bones of steel to be Stances, to avoid stacking effects.
*Changed Lick Wounds to be used in Wolf Form strictly.
*Moved Hibernation to Survival Att.
*Removed Dolyak's Milk (overkill)
*Added New Survival skill: Serpent's Regeneration {E}
*Changed Gut Opener - Lowered the condition effects to: Bleeding for 4...10 seconds and Deep Wound for 5...15 seconds
*Removed Immobilize and made it a game mechanic instead
*Changed Impale to use the new mechanic "Immobilize"
*Changed Disarming Slash so that it makes target foe unable to attack for 1...3 seconds instead of causing Weakness for a longer period, and upped the Energy cost.
*Changed Deflect to add a downside: Deflect ends if you attack.
*Removed Blinding Blades - too much like a Throw Dirt variant, redundant skill and made little sense.
*Changed Bearhug to use the new mechanic "Immobilize"
*Added new Claw Mastery skill: Scissors {E}
*Changed Wolf's Howl completely - moved the bleeding effect to the new Elite: "For the Pack!"
*Changed Signet of Culling to target foe instead of 'nearby foe', and the time limit to 10...24 seconds instead of 30...60 seconds
*Completely changed "No Mercy!"... basically an entirely different skill
*Changed Primal Scream to adjacent foes instead of foes in the area, and lowered the condition times for Weakness and Dazed - also added Must be in a Form.
*Added New Call of the Wild skill: "For the Pack!" {E}
*Removed Incoming Threat - Just seemed like a "oh, it needs another interrupt"-skill, pointless and it deterred from the rest of it
*Changed Lay Low to a Stance to avoid over-abuse
*Changed Natural Defenses to lose 5 Energy each time, instead of 5...1 Energy - hopefully a little less overpowered
*Added New No-Attribute Skill - Pushover {E}

This is definetly a interesting Idea. It is a popular character, and many people would enjoy it.

I like the multiple animal forms, I'm a bit vauge as to whether you intend for them to be transformations or simply attack alterations, but it is unique.

I think the biggest concern with this concept is that it is too heavily simular to Warrior and Assassin. It is a great idea to make another job who uses adrenaline skills, and it would most likely need to be melee with adrenaline attacks, but, that makes it simular to warrior, then you add on the fact that it uses shouts and your making it even more simular to warrior. Then you have the claws/katars, which are the exact same thing as Assassin daggers, with different skins. Claw weapons could only be different in damage/attack speed ratio from daggers, and most likly share slashing damage. Daggers are actually amazingly weak, against like foes with armor the normal attacks hit for something like 4-8 damage, Assassin relies on Chain Skills and Critical to modify the damage to useful amounts. With this Feral it would likely need to have damage bonuses on each form, with damage increasing based on an attribute, that way it can be added along with the weapons attribute for significant attack damage.

It is a great starting concept, but it needs to be refined into a more unique class. Finding a different weapon type might be hard, but at the very least, if he is going to use claws, and use beast forms, a beast should have weapons which attach over his natural weapons, real claws, so a claw weapon that fits over the hand would be more effective.

Probably the best way you could improve the idea though, is to change or add a new way for the Feral to use adrenaline. For example, Forms could have added improvements in attack or defense as they build adrenaline, Wolf form attacks faster with more adrenaline, Cat form increases movement speed with adrenaline, Bear form gains attack damage with more adrenaline..... and something better then a TMNT has better defense with increased adrenaline.

The other thing that stands out when making a class that changes forms, is the use of these forms by demihumans, which is senseless. Why would a Tengu need to be fierce like the Tengu? In actuallity he doesn't have any special advatanges from being a demihuman, but logically, he would already be more powerful, being a Feral wouldn't realy help his abilities. That dilema stands with every demihuman, it would be a class which mimics the kind of animal like strength demihumans already have. In a way, it might be better if such a class was calling on power that didn't revolve physical beast strength. In the game, these beasts are pretty weak, I haven't had a fight with a bear since Pre-Searing. Perhaps if he was summoning the spirit of the Beast, like a shaman, and then used the behavior and spiritual power of that animal form in his movements and attacks, it would make more sense. The Feral wouldn't have to transform, but he would basicly be empowered Spiritually, and then he could run on all 4, move in different ways for each beast, and swing and bash differently. This works hand in hand with using Clawed hand covers rather then claws and katars attached to the outside of the hand as well, for running on all 4.

Anyways, it is a pretty good idea, it would have been better if you didn't make a skill list, because that just opens up more flaws, and limits the developers opportunity to make it their own, although they can take the concept and come up with unique ideas and balance it if they like it, either way, skill lists are naturally determental. The theme is very good though, a native american/Rain forest type background is a new culture to add to the game, and the idea carries with most.

I think the most unique thing you could do with this class is make it a solo/survival, non-supportive type class. Warrior has strong attacks, but also has many party buffing shouts, many other classes do as well. Assassin has mostly attack stacking with some hexing, good evasive power but can be chopped down if focused on, and almost no party support. With your Feral, you can make him very weak in the team support department, and best in self preservation department, his uniqueness revolves around survival. Limit all shout type buffs to only work on other teammates in the same form, Animal Cries instead of Shouts, more effective then shouts, but only working on other Form users. And give the animal forms and personal healing/defensive skills significant advantage. This allows the Feral to focus on continous assault with a low drain on team healing upkeep, Essentially making it more survivable then warrior, with a focus on continous attack rather then repeatative (Warrior) skill use, or chaining (Assassin) skill use.

Oh, and one more thing, Wile another class with adrenaline skills is much needed, with the now 7 to 1 ratio of energy classes compared to adrenaline classes (which is just Warrior), there is a price to pay for being an adrenaline based job. Just like Warrior, they should not get any kind of energy improvement from armor, not added energy nor regeneration, adrenaline allows them to build up skills without the used or maintenance of energy. But on the flip side they should have good defense. Compared to Warrior who typically has 80 AL with +20 Physical AL, or 90 AL, a Feral could manage to have something like 80 AL, and since it deserves something extra, but shouldn't mimic Warriors added armor, nor Assassins conditional armor and condition supression, and because Feral is lacking in damage modifying attributes, they could add plus damage to each piece of armor. How much attributes and armors +damage should be is a trial issue, Developers would have to solve that, but having 80 armor with + attack damage would be a unique armor type for Feral, wile there is room for other types as well. Another good armor mod would be health regen, either by armor, or class specific rune, allowing for 1 or 2 bips of health regen on certain pieces of armor rather than energy regen like casters.

too bad they are druid skills from diablo 2 :\ you just reworded the name

Well.. consider I never play D2... (WoW inspired me more)
but doing some reseach, I am guessing you are refering to Druid's skill of Rabies and Hunger?

In all case, so what? A line of adrlin base melee attack skills that all class can use (since it irregard what weapon you equip) I think would still be good and useful. Making Feral class more attractive and verstile in a prof combo.

Very nice. Well developed, unlike many concept classes (Mine included), well thought out, and doesn't overlap too much with existing classes. Also, it can easily be made to fit perfectly into chpt 3.

However, I do sense some potential for abuse. First of all, I'd suggest that any skill which specifically breaks stances breaks forms as well. Second, I'd suggest that Knockdown has a 50-20% chance (based on the form's reliant attribute) to break a Form, otherwise you might run into a Fe/Wa or Fe/Ra stance-abuse issue.

Also, the armor. Not including shields, mods, foci, stances, skills, etc, 75 is the max for rangers/assassins, and 100 is the max for warriors. I'd suggest a slight bump, up to 80 for the feral, to make it more of an even-ground between the two.

For weapons, there are several options. I like the claws/blades/katar idea. There are others, though. Here are a few:
Celt. A prototype of the battle axe, a Celt resembles an axe head, roughly oval in shape, less than a foot long and a few inches wide.Celts are made of flint, quartz, granite, or obsidian. If a suitably sized stone or mineral fits comfortably in the hand, no modifications are necessary. Otherwise, the edges is chipped to make it easier to hold. Holes may be bored into flat Celts; the user inserts his thumb and fingers into the holes, then grips the Celt in his fist. A Celt may be polished by grinding the surfaces in water and sand. When not wielded as a bludgeoning weapon, a Celt serves as a chisel or woodsplitter. {Please note: That was cribbed from the old 2e Advanced Dungeons and Dragons source book "The Complete Barbarian's Handbook. All credit goes to TSR and their writing/research staff, not me.}

Other than the armor, and the balance issue with existing warrior/ranger stances/skills, this looks to be an incredible idea, and I'd be more than happy to see a slightly revised version of it show up in a future chapter of GW. Keep up the good work. I'm truly impressed.

I like but it reminds me of the one dude from Warcraft 3 the frozen throne.. but it sounds interesting.

Pretty cool class enjoyed reading it

i would love to play this archetype.
i think that the Feral is more along the lines of what i was thinking about as opposed to like a zulu-warrior-class..

/sign

Thanks for the support, everyone! I still would love to play this class, or something like it. I guess time will tell if they ever implement something like it into GW. Heck, maybe Nightfall will have a class like this. A true tank, now that the warrior is classified as a purely physical tank.

Feral Rune of Superior Elemental Absorbtion

So, has anyone come back finally gone "Oh! This is really a paragon/dervish blend!" OP: hope you patted yrself on the back for this pre-emptive concept!

Even though this is pretty old it looks REALLY cool. I could see myself playing it.

Thanks guys. I loved the fact that they did incorporate Forms into the game. Also, with the Paragon, it's pretty much official that the Warrior is not the only one that uses Adrenaline. So I think a class like this could fare well using Adrenaline.

I still hope to see something like this in Chapter 4 or later. I've posted up a couple of other character classes (an Alchemist and Chaos Mage class), but this one is by far my favorite. I think it could use some refinement to distance it from the Dervish/Paragon, now. I might work on that - been feeling them creative juices flowing, again.

Thread necromancey is a bad thing, welcome to the other side

Other than that it is nice, especialy seen its been first posted before NF came out, by now the role of a suport class that uses shout has been kind of taken, I have a sugestion to that furrther down, but first something about the weapon.

Arm blades are called talons.
Tallons, for me are the coolest melee weapon, have been sent into forgottenness by people using them in fantasy games and not knowing the slightest bit about them.

A claw is any blade in the extention of the lower arm that moves along with the wrist.
They exist in several sizes, the shorter they are the less damage they deal but the tougher they are.
Claws are relatively easely to conseal and are used to cheap shot(hit unarmored places), as using them against metal armor would likely break them.
Using them to parry might likely break them too, however the shorter ones are able to to some extent, the Ninja climbing claws where known to be used to parry for example, and they are so short that they do not even extend beond the knucles.

Tallons are any blade in extention of the lower arm that extends the buckles beond the wrist(there by limiting the movement of the wrist)
Tallons also come in several shapes as well as sizes, depending on where the sharp part of the blade(s) starts.
The talon's blade(s) are mounted through the grip, providing for both strong blades as well as strong metal parts through the grip soo the entire lower arm can be used to parry.
The stronger blades can also be used to pierce metal armour, and because tallons are in line with the shoulder it is easyer to throw your weight into a jab, a strong set of talons is more likely to get through the armor than a blade of the same streght is.
(of cource a big *ss claymore is still the least likely to shatter when you try to run someone through, they can never be as fast, light or agile as tallons)

Claws are used similar to daggers while talons match rapiers, this also puts their user groups to rogues for claws and duelists for talons.
If you where to use them, pick one; they are so diferent you would need diferent weapons kills for each one.

Aside from that, blades in the extention of the arm are better because they allow fro multiple blades in the same direction, this increases the chance of hitting a major artelry or vital organ( in other words 2 blades = *2 crit chance 3 blades = *3 crit chance)

Exept that the recharge times and energy costs are higher this is a lot like a paragon. I have a sugestion I ripped of off Anarchy Online's Adventurer class.

That is team shape changing, asside form having several from skills that affect yourself, you could have a few team shapechanges(that do not affect dervishes in forms because their forms recharge to slow to have them raplaced by a shorter duration form, I'd say they do not affect anyone who is in a elite form that way you could make some elite selfonly forms too)

Now the forms change you into a magical version of a wolf bear or whatever you change into, these magical forms allow the party memebers to stay exactly the same and gain only a change in appearance and the bonuses of the creature. Liek there are spiders that can cast firebal and metor and shoot fire wand/staff attack from their mouth the forms would have no negative effects on your team members or yourself, a boost in speed armor damage or crit chance for a duration not too long, 30 seconds or less and the recharge longer than their duration for the team forms(perhaps less for self froms), they overwite each other so you'd have to chose which one to use when.

To suport those forms you would have long duration buffs, longer than the forms.
for example
Could be replaced by

Pack Hunter Skill energy 15 activation 1 recharge 60
For 60 seconds, each party member in the form of a wolf has 5...20...5% additonal armor penetration against foes suffering from a condition.
(The suffering from a condition effect is there to try and get the party members to hunt the same foe together)

The team form of wolf would end before this buff ends you would need to use self-form wolf to make sure you stay affected, or you would need a second feral on the team to activate his team form when yours ends.
That way the effects could never be maintained endlessly for the sake of blance, and 2 ferals could not stack 2 diferent team forms.
The while in form buffs maybe should not be stackable or may just require you to be in the correct form before you can activate them, also for balance reasons.
Also all team forms might be made elite for balance too.

Also

Lick Wounds Skill energy 5 activation 2 recharge 12
Heal target ally for 40...80..95 health and cure that ally of bleeding. If either you or target ally are not in a form this skill does nothing.
(Its also a skill in AO I just like it better this way)

I like. I honestly want you to send this idea to A-net so I can play it. It is just awesome and it fits into the game imo.

So, I decided to kinda re-write this due to the release of Nightfall and the Dervish and Paragon classes adding new things to the table. I kept everything as it was in the OP, for some nostalgic purposes (it was back in April, after all). So here is my new (and hopefully improved) Feral

Concept Class: Feral

Masters of survival, the Feral use nature and it's beasts as inspiration for their techniques in battle. They rely on a balance of cunning, instinct, and brute force to take down their enemies. The overall feel for the class is somewhere between Native American warriors, and barbaric tribes of early Europe.

The real inspiration behind this class is a Werewolf. A lot of players have expressed their wants for a shapechanging class, and a few have mentioned a hand-to-hand and grappling class, this is meant as a combination of the two. It utilizes the new mechanic that was introduced with the Dervish, Forms, for the transformations, and a new mechanic that can have a huge impact on battles, Grappling.

Appearance:

The males would be real rugged looking, pretty hairy (noticeable more when –naked-), fairly muscular (body of a hard worker rather than body-builder), and faces mostly scowling or just simply emotionless, most with beards/facial hair. The females would be mostly the same ruggedness, but of course without the body hair, built physique but not entirely chiseled tone, and faces that have a fierce, Amazoness feel.

Typical armor is animal hides and bones in the shape of an actual animal, though sometimes adorned with trinkets taken from kills. Their headpiece is an animal head of some kind. The entire outfit would make the Feral appear to be some kind of half-man/half-animal.

AL = 70 with +1 Energy Regen (for a total of +3; just like a Ranger), and +25 Health (like a Dervish)
Weapon of choice - Claws or Arm-blades (or "Talons" as System Crush points out). The claws are essentially katar-like hand daggers that, when held, give the appearence that they protrude from your knuckles (ala Wolverine). Arm-blades have similar function, but are strapped on the arms, and consist of only one blade on each arm (think Bloodrayne or Baraka from Mortal Kombat). Of course, this also means they are two-handed and you get no benefit from shields or off-hand items.

Weapon Stats: Speed - 1.33; Max Damage - 10-25; Type - Slashing

New Mechanic: Grapple (Formerly "Immobilize")
Grappling is essentially like a Knockdown, in that it can interrupt the target at the instant of the Grapple, disallow the target from moving, using any skills (except instant cast like stances) or attacking while in a Grapple, and it has a maximum amount of time someone can be in the Grapple (like a Knockdown is up to 3 seconds). The major difference is that the person causing the Grapple is also unable to move, attack or use skills.

Because both you and your target are affected by the Grapple, you are both vulnerable. During the time of being Grappled, each attack dealt to either the Grappler or the Grappled has a +50% chance of being a critical. Also, during the time of Grappling, the Grappler is considered to be "activating a skill", and may be interrupted by Knockdown, or any normal interrupt, like Distracting Shot/Blow, etc.

The maximum amount of time a target can be in a Grapple is 5 seconds. 4 seconds is the max for any skill, but like the Stonefist Gauntlets, you can get an insignia to increase that time by 1 second. I could see some anti-Grapple skills, like stances or enchantments, possibly even skills to inflict damage and/or conditions to someone Grappling you. I could also see some other characters recieveing Grappling skills, like Assassins and Dervishes.

Attribute & Skills: (Energy or Adrenaline/Cast/Recharge)

[Primary] Survival - For each point in Survival, you gain +5 HP and a 3% reduction in duration from Poison, Disease, Bleeding, Cripple, Deep Wound, and Weakness. Skills in this line are primarily self heals/protection.

Example Skills:
(5e/1c/5r) Lick Wounds – Skill – Must be in "Fierce like the Wolf" Form. Heal yourself for 10…45 Health.
(15e/3c/60r) Hibernation - Skill - Must be in "Strong like the Bear" Form. You are knocked down for 5 seconds, but gain Health Regeneration of +3...9, Energy Regeneration of +1..3, and +10...50 Armor for 5 seconds.
(10e/--/30r) Hardened Skin – Stance – For 10 seconds, you gain +10…40 Armor vs. Physical.
(10e/--/30r) Weathered Skin – Stance – For 10 seconds, you gain +10…40 Armor vs. Elemental.
(10e/--/45r) Bones of Steel – Stance – For 18…36 seconds, you cannot be Crippled or inflicted with a Deep Wound, and have +10 Armor vs. Piercing Attacks.
(5e/3c/10r) Prepared Meal – Skill – Exploit touched corpse to create a “Prepared Meal” at it’s location. When “Prepared Meal” is picked up by an ally, that ally gains 35…105 Health.
(10e/--/30r) Rested Stance – Stance – You gain +3…9 Health Regeneration for 10 seconds. Rested Stance ends if you attack or use a skill.
(10e/1c/15r) On the Move – Skill – For 5…60 seconds, you can activate any non-spell skill while moving. Any skills activated this way are easily interrupted.
(5e/3c/45r) Totem's Blessing - Skill - For 4...12 seconds, you gain +1 Energy Regeneration for each Spirit in the area.
(--/2c/60r) Signet of Evolution – Signet – Remove one Hex from yourself. For 10…60 seconds, you cannot be the target of the Hex that was removed.
(10e/.5c/45r) {E} Final Infusion – Skill – Lose the rest of your Energy. Heal yourself for 3…13 Health for each point of Energy lost this way.
(10e/2c/45r) {E} Serpent's Regeneration - Skill - Must be in "Deadly like the Serpent" Form. For 8...18 seconds, you gain +1...5 Health Regeneration. All physical damage is reduced by 50%, and each time you are hit with physical damage, you lose 5 Energy or Serpent's Regeneration ends.

Claw/Arm-blade Mastery - Each point in this Attribute increases your damage, and critical hits when using a Claw or Arm-blade (Talon) weapon.

Example Skills:
(4a/--/--) Devastating X – Claw Attack – Must be in a Form. You strike twice at target foe, but deal 25% less damage.
(10a/--/--) Gut Opener – Claw Attack – Must be in a Form. If this attack hits, target foe suffers from Bleeding for 4…10 seconds. If that foe already suffers from Bleeding, they become inflicted with Deep Wound for 5…15 seconds.
(15e/--/30r) Impale – Claw Attack – If this attack hits, you strike for +3…18 damage, and Grapple target foe for 3 seconds. If the Grapple is interrupted, both you and the target are knocked down.
(10e/--/15r) Disarming Slash – Claw Attack – If this attack hits, target foe’s action is interrupted and cannot attack for 1…3 seconds.
(5e/--/30r) Deflect – Skill – For 10 seconds, while you have Claws equipped, you have a 25%…75% chance to block incoming attacks. Deflect ends if you use an attack skill.
(10a/--/--) Bearhug – Melee Attack – Must be in “Strong like a Bear” Form. If this attack hits, you Grapple target foe for 3 seconds. When Bearhug ends, inflict 10...45 damage to target foe and they become Crippled for 3...9 seconds. (the second effect only happens if the Grapple is not interrupted at any time)
(6a/--/--) Mauling – Claw Attack – Must be in “Strong like a Bear” Form. If this attack hits, target foe’s action is interrupted and is struck for +1…16 damage.
(4a/--/--) Quick Swipe - Claw Attack - Must be in "Strong like a Bear" Form. This attack cannot be evaded.
(6a/--/--) Lunge – Claw Attack – Must be in “Fierce like a Wolf” Form. If this attack hits, you strike for +5...15 piercing damage and target foe suffers from Weakness for 3...13 seconds.
(8a/--/-) Rend Flesh – Claw Attack – Must be in “Fierce like a Wolf” Form. If this attack hits, steal 5…18 Health from target foe. If target foe is knocked down, you steal an additional 5...35 Health.
(8a/--/--) Jugular Strike - Claw Attack - Must be in "Fierce like a Wolf" Form. If this attack hits, you strike for +1...8 damage and cause Bleeding on target foe for 8...18 seconds.
(5e/2c/10r) Coil and Strike – Claw Attack – Must be in “Deadly like a Serpent” Form. If this attack hits, you deal +10...55 damage. If that foe is suffering from a condition, you gain 1...7 energy.
(6a/--/--) Venom Fang – Claw Attack – Must be in “Deadly like a Serpent” Form. If this attack hits, target foe becomes Poisoned for 4…12 seconds.
(10e/--/30r) Viper's Omen - Skill - Must be in "Deadly like a Serpent" Form. For 5...12 seconds, you have a 50% chance to evade attacks. Inflict 3...15 damage to each foe who fails to hit you in battle.
(10e/2c/30r) Grip of the Constrictor - Melee Attack - Must be in "Deadly like a Serpent" Form. If this attack hits, you Grapple target foe for 1...4 seconds. For each second Grappled, you inflict a cumulative 5 damage each second. (This means damage is dealt each second in the grapple, increasing each time. So - 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 damage with the +1 grapple insignia for a total of 75 damage)
(5e/--/10r) {E} Feral Flurry – Claw Attack – Must be in a Form. Strike at up to 2…5 adjacent foes for +4…12 damage. Each foe that was hit is interrupted.
(10a/--/--) {E} Scissors - Claw Attack - Lose all Adrenaline. If this attack hits, you Grapple target foe for 1...4 seconds and inflict 5...30 damage each second Grappled. When Scissors ends, target foe begins Bleeding for 6...24 seconds. (again, like Bearhug, if Scissors is interrupted before the full amount of time, the effect of Bleeding does not take place)

Call of the Wild - Skills in this line are shouts, AoE skills, and other skills.

Example Skills:
(6a/--/--) Wolf’s Howl – Shout – Must be in “Fierce like a Wolf” Form. For 3...9 seconds, all allies within earshot deal an additional +3...15 Piercing damage each time they hit foes suffering from a condition.
(6a/--/--) Lion’s Roar – Shout – All foes in earshot take 5…23 damage. Adjacent foes take an additional 5…23 damage.
(10e/--/30r) Hyena’s Cackle – Shout – All allies within earshot gain 1…5 hits of Adrenaline.
(6a/--/--) Bear’s Growl – Shout – Must be in “Strong like a Bear” Form. For 10 seconds, the next 1...3 attack skills you use that are blocked by a foe, that foe is knocked down.
(10e/--/45r) Serpent’s Hiss – Shout – Must be in “Deadly like a Serpent” Form. For 5…10 seconds, all foes within earshot attack 25% slower and move 25% faster.
(10e/--/45r) Debilitating Laughter – Shout – All foes within earshot suffer Weakness for 5...13 seconds.
(10e/--/10r) “Go Away!” – Shout – Inflict 5…18 damage to all adjacent foes for each Hex and condition you currently have.
(5e/--/20r) Break Free – Skill – For 1…3 seconds, you can go through creatures as if they weren’t there. When you travel through a foe, that foe is knocked down for 1 second and suffers 5…23 damage.
(10e/1c/30r) Falling Boulder – Skill – You jump and land on the ground, sending out a shockwave that causes 5…23 damage and Knockdown on all adjacent foes for 1…3 seconds.
(5e/--/30r) Dust Cloud – Skill – You become Knocked down for 3…1 seconds. You and all adjacent foes become Blinded for 3…7 seconds.
(--/2c/20r) Signet of Natural Selection – Signet – For 10…24 seconds, the next time target foe has less than 50% Health, that foe becomes Crippled, and you move 33% faster for 3…8 seconds.
(10a/--/--) {E} “No Mercy!” – Shout – Lose all Adrenaline. For 10 seconds, all allies within earshot gain 150...250% more adrenaline and 1 energy each time they hit foes with 50% or less health.
(10a/--/--) {E} Primal Scream – Shout – Must be in a Form. All foes within earshot suffer from Bleeding and Crippling for 3...10 seconds.
(10e/--/45r) {E} "For the Pack!" - Shout - Must be in "Fierce like the Wolf" Form. For 10 seconds, all allies within earshot have their physical damage become Piercing and cause bleeding for 5...18 seconds.

Animal Instincts - Skills in this line are Forms, Grapples, and Stances, along with some Adrenaline-management and interrupts.

Example Skills:
(10e/2c/10r) Strong like the Bear – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you attack 33% slower, but deal +10…30 damage in melee, and gain 5...50% more adrenaline. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(5e/2c/10r) Fierce like the Wolf – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you inflict +5…15 damage to all foes that are suffering from Bleeding, and steal 5...15 health from foes suffering from Deep Wound, but Disease and Poison last 33% longer on you. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(10e/2c/10r) Sturdy like the Yak – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you move and attack 10% slower, but gain +60…150 maximum Health, and +1...3 health regeneration. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(15e/2c/10r) Deadly like the Serpent – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you attack 20% faster, and gain +1...3 energy regeneration, but have 15% less maximum Health. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(5e/2c/10r) {E} Solid like the Tortoise – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you move and attack 50% slower, but you gain +50 Armor vs. Physical and Elemental, and 2...12 points of damage absorbtion. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(5e/.5c/10r) Shedding of the Skin - Stance - Must be in "Deadly like the Serpent" Form. For the next 10 seconds, you automatically evade the next attack skill used against you. You gain +10...55 Health when this happens.
(15e/2c/60r) Heightened Senses - Stance - Must be in "Fierce like the Wolf" Form. For 6...24 seconds, you cannot be Blinded and your attacks cannot be Evaded.
(10e/.5c/25r) Anticipation – Skill – Interrupt target foe’s action. If the action was an attack, inflict 8…35 damage. If the action was a skill, target foe becomes Dazed for 3…8 seconds.
(10e/1c/60r) Lay Low – Stance – For 8…18 seconds, you move and attack 33% slower, but have a 75% chance to dodge ranged attacks, and 50% chance to block in melee.
(10e/2c/30r) Air of Hostility – Skill – For 10…23 seconds, all creatures in the area where you activate this skill deal +3…16 damage each time they hit, but take twice as long to cast spells. (creatures meaning all characters, in the same sense Heal Party heals all ‘creatures’)
(5e/.5c/60r) Scent of Fear – Skill – For 8…18 seconds, you deal +10…35 damage per hit against moving foes that have 50% or less health.
(--/.5c/30r) Suplex Signet - Signet - Grapple target foe for 1...4 seconds. When Suplex Signet ends, and if that foe is suffering from Weakness, they take 15...50 damage.
(15e/--/45r) {E} Pile Driver - Melee Attack - Grapple target foe for 2 seconds. When Reckless Throw ends, that foe takes 15...45 damage and is knocked down for 3 seconds.
(10e/--/30r) {E} Blind Rage – Stance – For 10 seconds, you attack 33% faster and gain 100%...300% more adrenaline per hit. When Blind Rage ends, you are blinded for 10 seconds.
(15e/2c/60r) {E} Natural Defenses – Stance – Must be in a Form. For 8…18 seconds, each time a foe attempts to use an attack skill against you, that skill is interrupted, that foe takes 5 damage, and you lose 1 energy or Natural Defenses ends.

No-Attribute Skills:
(5e/--/30r) Disarm – Skill – Target touched foe cannot attack for 5 seconds.
(--/--/15r) Beast Signet – Signet – Gain 2 Energy for each animal nearby.
(10e/--/30r) Natural Immunity – Skill – For 20 seconds, you cannot be Poisoned or Diseased.
(5e/--/10r) Berserk - Skill - Must be in a Form. Attack all adjacent foes. These attacks have a 50% chance to miss.
(5e/2c/15r) {E} All or Nothing – Melee Attack – Strike for +50 damage. This skill is easily interrupted. If interrupted, you gain +5 Energy.
(8a/--/--) {E} Bear Slam - Melee Attack - Must be in "Strong like the Bear" Form. If this attack hits, you strike for +30 damage and Grapple target foe for 1 second. When Bear Slam ends, both you and target foe are knocked down for 3 seconds.

So yeah, tell me what you guys think.

Okay not to be offending or anything.But please look at your script. It says "Master of cunning and beasts and nature..." Now let me think...Thats kind of a Ranger class is it not? You're basically hybriding a ranger and a warrior together...

Lets keep it original

At 16 Survival, wouldnt that be a 48% reduction of Poison, Disease, Bleeding, Cripple, Deep Wound & Weakness? Seems fairly overpowered to me, what about 1.5% reduction or knocking out some of those conditions so the class still has weaknesses. That would be 15% with 10 survival, or 24% at 16 survival, still significant.

These confuse me, as in one you say there is no animation for the Feral's forms, and yet in the other you attempt to claim this is the answer to the Shapeshifting class calls, which from looking at the skills, is not.

I would call it more of a D/A/R blend.

The fact is that any profession you can come up with is going to seem like a hybrid if you want to look at it like that.

Nothing is truly original anymore...do you think A-Net was original in creating Warrior, Monk, Ranger, Necro & Mesmer? No. In fact, every one of those is very heavily based on lore & classes from games of the same genre. New originality lies within these "hybrids" in taking the old and creating something new and fresh.

I very much like the Feral class, not as the claimed shapeshifter, and certainly not with the talon-like katars or unbalanced skill set. But its got alot of potential. I definately would not hate to see a polished version in-game in the future.

That does sound a lot better, actually. Thanks for the insight. 48% is a bit much, especially with a stacking 20% reduction rune and/or shield. Yeesh.


If I'm not mistaken (I read it over and over to make sure, but still not 100%), you're taking what I said in the OP, versus what I said in the updated post 2 posts away. I changed the idea of Forms because of how the Dervish ended up. Since they transform, then I suggest that's how the mechanic should work, and thus the Feral would transform. I guess. So yeah, this would be a shapechanger, but only to fit into how Forms already work in-game.


Yeah, I try not to respond to any comments crying "Hybrid!" for this very reason. The 6 core classes are pretty much the only real original ones because, well, they are the original ones. Every class that is released after would just be considered some kind of hybrid depending on how you look at it.

I admit the skills could definately be tweaked, but the idea of the skills is just to show my vision of how they would work, not necessarily that I want these skills in particular. Overpowered/Underpowered is not of any concern because that is the point of balancing and testing - to eliminate that.

Though I do have a question, what don't you like about the talons? Do you have a better idea for a type of weapon? Or perhaps no weapon? I honestly only said claws/talons because I wanted a form of unarmed combat that could still be, well, kinda armed. I think there is still a need for a weapon (something to collect, mod, etc.) for even an unarmed class. Maybe I'm just not being creative enough on that aspect. *shrug*

Ahh, I gotcha now. As one who was hoping for an all-out Shapeshifter profession someday its just a little dissapointing to try and pass this off as such, given that I dont consider the Dervish a Shapeshifter profession either.


For the Feral? no. the Katar's actually do seem to be a good fit. Definately you do need some type of weapon that is moddable and different skins to alter the feel of your character. I guess I was just never a Wolverine fan, more of a Mystique & Gambit fan myself.

Are you kidding me? Night crawler was and stil is the coolest one by far.

And as I won't object to ferlas using claws, as they fit them okey, but tallons belong in a dualist fencer class, wielding a rapier class weapon IMO doesn't fit them.

Oh, katar I remeber now, I should study some more eastern culture. They are a punch-blade right? They would make a good weapon for the feral too.

And as I still want to make a duelist type class that uses rapiers and or talons, I do not want to be charged with a double steal, as I once made a Feral CC class(which got ignored by everyone) after you had made your original Post.