On the horizon: Ability Trees, Class Specializations, and Guilds

[Rias]

(Disclaimer: The below post is somewhat scatterbrained. I'm just excited for how it's all coming together!)

I want to prep people for some upcoming updates regarding ability trees, classes, and guilds. The general flow is going to be ...

1. Create your character
2. Start investing ability points to flesh out the character
3. Reach and select a Class Specialization ability node that unlocks an exclusive ability tree branch. (This will lock the character out of any other Class Specialization abilities/branches.)
4. Join a Guild that accepts members of that character's Class. The idea is that the Guilds are looking to recruit members who can prove their suitability/aptitude/dedication to whatever the Guild is about.

(Note: For legacy characters already in a Guild, their Class Specialization choice (if they wish to take one) will be limited to the classes accepted by their Guild.)

The point here is to allow a little more wiggle room for character concepts in some Guilds (some more than others) but still keep the Guilds and their members within the scope of their intended feel and design intent. We want to avoid significantly off-the-beaten-path class/guild combinations that are born primarily from a desire to be different, ironic, or meta-minmaxy. I know that to some the ideas of, say, a Dreadnought/Mummer or a Rogue/Templar sound like fascinating potential combinations to explore an atypical idea or to try and subvert expectations. That kind of stuff can absolutely be fun in some settings, but it doesn't fit the design intent for this one.

Of course, choosing a Class or a Guild are both optional. Some people might just want to take more generalized non-class-specific abilities for whatever reason, and that's fine.

Some Classes/Guilds are essentially the same choice at once, which is to say that choosing some Classes means the character will also be guaranteed (or required, depending on your perspective) to join the associated Guild as well. These tend to be classes/guilds that are exceptionally specialized or study-dedicated, such as Elemancers, Monks, Rooks, Wardens, and some other in-the-works guilds such as ones for Primalists (druidry specialists) or Physickers (who deal in nonmagical healing/buffs/concoctions).

Class Specialization/Unlock abilities that'll be available:

- Bard: Versatile class with lore and performing arts focus. Their love of knowledge and inspirational stories of variously-talented legendary characters grants them the ability to temporarily boost some of their own capabilities and even dip into versions of some abilities of similar classes.
- Berserker: Combat class focused on becoming increasingly powerful as they both land and take hits, and retaliating when harmed. Great at resisting or breaking free of disablers/debuffs in their unstoppable fury!
- Dreadnought: Combat class focused on shrugging off hits in their heavy armor while they overwhelm their foes with twohanded weapons. Signature move: Stopping incoming blows with their gauntleted hand. "Nope."
- Duelist : Combat class focused on finesse, quick movement, and style/panache. Additional chances of avoiding attacks to make up for their light armor. They're as fun to watch as they are to play. Show-offs.
- Elemancy Aptitude: An ability choice leading to joining the Elemancers guild. This is considered to be rooted in the character's background somehow, such as a history of related study or being tutored or similar, not something they only just now picked up to join the Elemancers.
- Guardian: Combat class focused on armor both mastery-wise and versatility-wise, shields for both offense and defense, and some group combat utility. Don't let the fact that they're great at defense make you think they're lacking in offense.
- Marauder: Combat opportunists focused on adaptability, improvisation, and fighting dirty. Why fight fair when your life is on the line? Or any other time, for that matter? The true combat pragmatists.
- Nightblade: Combat class focused on stealth ambushes with light weapons and front-loaded offense to try and end encounters quickly, but pushed to retreat and re-initiate if an encounter goes long. They may make a point of leading their attacks with an ambush from hiding, but they're ruthlessly capable of fighting face-to-face in the open as well.
- Physicker: Support class focused on conventional healing, buffs, and concoctions. Who needs magic? They'll treat your wounds with unguent, suture, splint, and ointment. They'll mix up the cure for what ails you or concoct a tonic to enhance your abilities. Their therapy training will enable them to raise your spirits, focus your thoughts, and even coax your broken mind back from the brink of insanity. Maybe even give a nice massage to relax the mind, unleash an inner reserve of energy, or increase physical flexibility.
- Primalist: Magic class focused on druidry. They commune with primal spirits to a wide variety of effects, from influencing the flora and fauna (and other druids) around them to partially shapeshifting their own bodies in order to mimic various beneficial traits of wild creatures. (No complete shapeshifting, sorry - that way lies madness.)
- Pugilist?: Combat class with a focus on unarmed combat and grappling; may be a lock into the Brotherhood of the Fist guild, may not, still deciding. More rowdy brawlers and street fighters than disciplined martial artists. They typically prefer fighting without weapons, but there are some fist weapons that can be employed against opponents protected by armor or tough hides.
- Ranger: Utility class with focus on exploration/survival/bushcraft. Peerless explorers, trackers, hunters, and survivalists that can overcome the toughest climbs and swims out there. The term "Ranger" comes from their expertise in ranging about the wilderness, not anything to do with ranged weapons.
- Rogue: Utility class with focus on stealth/lockpicking/artifice. Your classic sneaky type with a penchant for shady activities such as picking locks and pockets, not all employ their talents for selfish or greedy purposes. Rogues also make great scouts, infiltrators, spies, perfectly legitimate locksmiths, and even recoverers of previously-stolen goods! (Note: NOT elite assassins; see Nightblades for that.)
- Sorcery Adept: An ability choice leading to joining the Rook Parlour guild. This is considered to be rooted in the character's background somehow, such as a history of related study or being tutored or similar, not something they only just now picked up to join Rook Parlour.

- *PENDING*: Some crafting-based class. More than one if we can think up ones that don't feel too shallow in their distinguishing traits and differences.

NOTE: For those who played COGG, know that re-appearing Classes here will not have inherent access to magical abilities that their COGG versions had. For example: Nightblades don't learn sorcerous abilities through their Nightblade class trainers, but could by joining the Claw of Shar or Harbingers of Aranas and visiting those guild trainers. Rangers and Berserkers don't learn druidic abilities through their class trainers, but a Ranger joining the Udemi or a Berserker joining Dwaedn Wyr could. Bards don't learn Words of Power on their own, but a Bard joining the Mummers could. Et cetera.

Here's our list of the Guilds and which Classes they'd accept (those surrounded by question marks are still under consideration/less-certain):

- Artisan (Coalition): Whatever crafting-focused classes we end up with. To start they'll probably just accept class-less characters with the warning that joining will lock them out of the Class Specializations (and that some Artisan-based class(es) may eventually be added).
- Brotherhood of the Fist: Pugilist
- Claw of Shar: Nightblade, Rogue
- Dwaedn Wyr: Berserker, Nightblade, ?Ranger?
- Elemancer: Their Own Thing
- Guild of Thieves: Rogue, Nightblade, Duelist, Marauder, Bard
- Harbinger: Dreadnought, Guardian, Marauder, Berserker, Nightblade
- Templar: Guardian, Dreadnought
- Mercenary (Coalition): Berserker, Dreadnought, Duelist, Guardian, Marauder, Nightblade, Pugilist
- Monk: Their Own Thing
- Mummer: Bard, Rogue, Duelist
- Rook: Their Own Thing
- Snowpine: Ranger, ?Bard?, ?Rogue?
- Udemi: Ranger, Berserker, Nightblade, Bard
- Utasa: Bard, Duelist, Nightblade, Rogue
- Warden of the Grove: Their Own Thing
- Wyrvardn: Dreadnought, Guardian, ?Duelist?
- (Unnamed Primalist Guild): Their Own Thing
- (Unnamed Physicker Guild): Their Own Thing

==========

Whew! Okay, and about ability trees: They're called "trees" because you go along various "branches", learning prerequisites in order to learn other abilities further along that branch. This is meant to prevent people from just cherry-picking all the "best" abilities, as well as encourage folks to be a bit more focused in the breadth of their character's capabilities.

And on the subject of breadth: Not everyone wants to learn a wide array of different abilities, so we're trying to accommodate specialization as well. To this end we're making several abilities repeatable with the benefit of increasing their bonuses.

As an example: Let's say the ability called "Weapon Specialization: Hafted" grants a passive +0.2 offense rerolls whenever using a hafted weapon for an attack, per rank, and can be learned up to 3 times. A character could spend 3 ability points to learn the ability all 3 times for a total passive +0.6 offense rerolls when attacking with a hafted weapon. Or the Combat Precision ability could be taken multiple times to further increase the bonus to chance to hit the body part being aimed for (and a +0.05 offense rerolls per rank on the side). Or the "Adjust Gear: Travel" ability a second time to be able to apply its benefit to additional types of gear. Additional ranks in Footpad or Inner Strength to increase their buff durations. All sorts of stuff like that.

A character not as interested in having a wide array of different abilities could stack up a lot of bonuses to give them some significant advantages over other characters that are spreading themselves thin trying to pick up all sorts of different abilities rather than investing in fewer abilities. We're hoping this will provide a better feeling of choice in whether a character is specialized or generalized, and it should give the specialization-minded characters something that feels worth spending their points on instead of them just taking abilities that didn't necessarily fit because they had nothing else to do with their leftover points after they'd already gotten everything they were interested in.

[artus]

I can't wait to see this in game! I want to feel awesome again! Wait, am I awesome? Never mind.

Two questions though:
- It does sound like these are going to require a ton of ability slots, including abilities that stack because it does take one slot to add to said abilities each time you do it. Is there going to be any adjustment to ability points cap?
- What about ability unlearn? Is it going to be the same way something like class abilities in Cogg works? I have never ever unlearned any prereq abilities on there so I have no idea if it's even allowed mechanically, like say, taking a prereq for an ability and then unlearn the prereq. It'll be weird if it's the case. Is class specialization the same way? It's a bit confusing because we have class abilities and then we have ability trees which sounds like it's going to be both for general abilities and class abilities. I also don't know what will be in general tree so a bit of clarification would be helpful, especially since I'm going through a planning and replanning on both of my chars and don't know what to do or where to put stuff.

[Rias]

It does sound like these are going to require a ton of ability slots, including abilities that stack because it does take one slot to add to said abilities each time you do it. Is there going to be any adjustment to ability points cap?

No point cap adjustment at this time. The point (hah!) of the additional abilities (and repeatable options) is to make people think more about how they want to spend their points, and to have us end up with people using a variety of builds rather than everyone being the same. If you feel like there are more abilities you want than points you have available, that means the system is working!

What about ability unlearn?

Still mulling over how that kind of thing will work.

I have never ever unlearned any prereq abilities on there so I have no idea if it's even allowed mechanically

You can't unlearn an ability if it's a prerequisite for another ability you know.

It's a bit confusing because we have class abilities and then we have ability trees which sounds like it's going to be both for general abilities and class abilities.

Class/Specialization choice abilities are found in the general abilities list. Picking one means you get access to the abilities in its exclusive branch.

I also don't know what will be in general tree so a bit of clarification would be helpful

You'll see them when they're released! This post was meant to prep people for the concepts of specialization classes and how they'll work with Guilds, there's no complete ability list available yet.

[Sneaky]

As someone who has brawling as main offense on a claw, should I be concerned that pugilist is not a viable option for joining Claws as listed? I understand there will be general abilities that don't require specialization, as well as guild abilities. I guess what I'm asking is if picking a skill to focus in that is outside of your specialization and guild focus is at all rational. If not, will legacy characters have an opportunity to recalibrate skills to match their specialization/guild?

[xavier]

As a suggestion to crafter classes. You could very easily divide that into very specialized crafters. armorer (metal), bladesmith, hammersmith, toolsmith, potter, tailor, armorer (leather), leather goods crafter, and whatever else I'm missing I know I definitely am missing some.

The point of dividing them up so much is to give those very specialized individuals a bonus to what they make. You could easily make it so that a toolsmith's pickaxe automatically comes out better than average. or give them a choice about one stat of the item to enhance a bit. something along those lines. I know this might make it so that we would need sooooo many crafters. Maybe this will take care of the fact that everyone seems to have an artisan alt lol.

[Xanthe]

For characters that were previously ex-guilded before the awakening, how would that affect them?

[verel]

This I think will work well. It feels a little like COGG did but at least there won't be any levels.

Will there be tasks for these guilds as well? What's a mercenary to do without official work, after all? I sincerely hope so, there comes a time when you feel a little lost without something to hold onto and tasks were that for me.

[Kismet]

Is there any possibility of Duelist/Templar being allowed?

[artus]

It seems we have like 4 druid-ish guilds now, five if you count dunwyr which is no longer joinable on pc side but pc members still exist. I wonder how these guilds are going to pan out, how they differ, what they have and what the concepts are etc.

[Lysse]

It seems we have like 4 druid-ish guilds now, five if you count dunwyr which is no longer joinable on pc side but pc members still exist.

Dunwyr have never been a "joinable guild" unless something specific changed after I'd quit - it's always been invitation only from staff as far as I'm aware.

[Squeak]

Per the Ranger description provided above, I kind of feel as if they would be a good mix for Dwaedyn Wyr. Being peerless trackers and hunters, it would fit right with the theme of the Dwaedyn at least for those Rangers who are more empathetic to the animals they hunt. It would also cover a wide range of playstyles for the class; You'd have your nature loving types with a more magical approach to animals and nature, the animal lovers who respect and honor their prey, and then the Snowpiner who would just open up a new bag of mundane tricks to aid in (wo)man's survival against nature.

It'd be an interesting fit, right there with Nightblade's, giving a different feel for the guild; the more shadowy side of nature, premier stalking and ambush predators. I do like the idea of Marauder's there, too, for that dirty fighting bit since, well, since when do animal's fight fair?

[Rias]

As someone who has brawling as main offense on a claw, should I be concerned that pugilist is not a viable option for joining Claws as listed?

I know that a lot of Claw characters are focused around brawling as their weapon choice (one of the guild's unique abilities does heavily encourage this), and the guild itself may well provide a few other things to support this. Pugilist is primarily there to support people who want to go the Brotherhood of the Fist route, so just think of it as the difference between the Fist and Claw guilds that has already been a thing. The former didn't invalidate the latter in the past so I think we'll be all right.

You could very easily divide that into very specialized crafters. armorer (metal), bladesmith, hammersmith, toolsmith, potter, tailor, armorer (leather), leather goods crafter,

This is a possibility, though I don't love the idea of having to come up with and support the number of additional classes that'll result in, and trying to give them all something somewhat unique so they're not all just copy-pastes except giving bonuses to a different crafting skill.

For characters that were previously ex-guilded before the awakening, how would that affect them?

They'll remain unable to join another guild. Having specialization classes generally available should feel better for anyone not able or willing to join any guild, though.

Will there be tasks for these guilds as well?

Yes, though that will come later. I want to get the abilities and guild-joining out first.

Is there any possibility of Duelist/Templar being allowed?

Templar have a particular focus on deliberately putting themselves between people and danger, and willingly subjecting themselves to harm in the place of others. With Duelist doing a lot of getting -out- of the way of danger for a large chunk of their style/defense, and the inability to do a lot of what their style focuses if they wear heavier armor, I don't feel they're particularly compatible. (This is why Duelist/Wyrvardn is also marked as uncertain.)

It seems we have like 4 druid-ish guilds now, five if you count dunwyr which is no longer joinable on pc side but pc members still exist. I wonder how these guilds are going to pan out, how they differ, what they have and what the concepts are etc.

Dunwyr and Wardens won't be freely joinable (Lysse is correct about Dunwyr never having been, and it sounds like that may have also been the case with Wardens?), so that leaves us with Dwaedn Wyr, Udemi, and Primalist. Dwaedn Wyr and Udemi have been around since pretty much the start of CLOK so people should already have a good idea of what they're like and about. Those who played COGG and looked into Primalist at all there will know what Primalist here is going to be like - exploring the world seeking places of primal influence to gain their abilities, some nifty extra bonuses to the druidic abilities that are more generally available, and some druidic abilities that are all their own. They're definitely into the wild side of primal forces and not your stereotypical "seeking peace through balance in nature" type of druid that are often found in other settings. This isn't to say that individual members can't be about that, but the guild itself acknowledges that natural/primal forces are wild and chaotic, not peaceful and orderly (at least not in the way that most humans would define 'orderly'). Their willingness to tap into the more raw and wild power of the primal tends to make them a little crazy, and maintaining their sanity (mechanically) is going to be a part of their gameplay - can't just pile on all the wild primal powers at once, that'd break their minds. The hope is to give them a bit of a spooky vibe in that way, being regarded as people who could potentially lose their grip on their humanity as they're skirting the boundary between humanity and the primal. Primalists and canim will likely find themselves nodding understandingly at one another.

Per the Ranger description provided above, I kind of feel as if they would be a good mix for Dwaedyn Wyr.

I'll consider it!

[Kismet]

Templar have a particular focus on deliberately putting themselves between people and danger, and willingly subjecting themselves to harm in the place of others. With Duelist doing a lot of getting -out- of the way of danger for a large chunk of their style/defense, and the inability to do a lot of what their style focuses if they wear heavier armor, I don't feel they're particularly compatible. (This is why Duelist/Wyrvardn is also marked as uncertain.)

I believe that a tanks having to be heavy-armor, shrug off damage characters is a stereotype. There's no reason why a light armor, deflective based character can't fill that same role just as effectively, and if COGG Duelist is anything to go by I can say from experience that Duelist Guard-focused characters work very well in that regard.

[Squeak]

This may not be the proper place to ask this. But since it largely effects abilities, I figure it's as good as any.

I've been, and I'm sure a number of others have, too, been looking over the abilities from both Cogg and Clok. The former typically lists primary attributes to increase various functions of the abilities, mainly duration, with skills and affinities adding a bit extra on top. Have you any thought about bringing attributes and/or affinities back into play for Clok?

For affinities, it'd be neat to have them as a "focus" for classes and guilds, purchaseable through guild ranks. Inact a hard limit for how many can be purchased, three or four maybe at various level or achievement intervals (whatever will be used for abilities), through the life of a character. Just for that little bit of fine tuning, to show a character has a specific knowledge of <insert skill>. I suppose they could just be abilities, too, but with the huge number of abilities already present, assuming a good number from Clok/Cogg will be making a return, this might not be the best way to go about it.

[artus]

I like the affinities being buyable idea, actually, though through like guild points/merits/whatever as perhaps a limited bonus. That'll give those other than templars/monks with guild points something to do with them, also puts the merit system back in play if it's a possibility. Just an idea to toss around though. Affinities seemed to be granted by staff through rp on cogg but weren't followed up between that. I'm not sure how affinities would apply to clok ability set though. Probably something fun to go wild about.

And seconded duelists being some of the best guards if we go cogg abilities. They're literal parry masters and can keep up between people just fine, unless it's not the case anymore going forward. If it's still the case, it sounds fitting enough.

[Sneaky]

I am thinking you could very well specialize as a guardian with some more duelist general abilities if you really wanted. However, I personally think abilities like tumble and flip would be dubious for a guardian/templar to possess. Some abilities like repose would be acceptable though.

[Alaia]

I think another issue with the Duelists is that they are flashy, or are at least generally designed to be quite flashy, and thematically, all Templars are not flashy so having a flashy fighting style would probably not suit a guild that is willing to literally put their physical body between the innocent and the danger at hand rather than simply deflecting it (which may not codedly allow for someone to be hit, but realistically has the non-zero chance that their guarded would be caught anyways).

Just because something is codedly capable of being XYZ does not mean it should be included in something. Sometimes the RP theme of something matters more than the code.

[Kismet]

I just think that the plate-mail, tower shield, shining armor knight is a very narrow vision of what a paladin-type character could be. If you look at things like Middle Eastern stories, Chinese wuxia films, and the Three Musketeers you can see plenty of examples of agility-based defenders.

Edit: Also, Jedi.

[Smoothcoffee]

I imagine duelists are a bit too flashy, as mentioned above. Thematically, if a templar was showing off like that, we'd give them the side eye. If I also understood correctly, dodging won't always be a viable way to guard in the future, which honestly, fair.
I think dread would be lovely as an addition with guardians. A little bit of variety, at the very least.

[verel]

I think the armored knight though is what people are expecting. I can't personally imagine a flighty character protecting my chest from getting caved in by bandits or having nether thrown at me. It just doesn't seem like it could really be a thing with a character who isn't directly guarding me who has actual skill in doing so with shield and armor.

DO I love the concept of having a Templar who can flip and tumble and parry and all that? Yes. It's a very cool concept. But for just protection generally? Seems a bit out of the ordinary in my opinion and I'd be far less trusting that I'd be safe in those hands than someone who has a shield and armor to work with.

But that's just me.

[Maina]

it sounds like that may have also been the case with Wardens?

They were roleplay to enter, like Rooks. But you had to find members by word-of-mouth, as the guild hall was hidden. The particular culture and expectation was that it was a process that took months of education and getting to know the potential new member before inducting them. A long time of showing that you're a good fit and that you can handle the expectations.

Anyway, I was very happy to see them on this list. I largely haven't brought Maina-the-character back due to being unsure if her guild is still canon or not.

I remain excited for the ability tree update, too.

[Gorth]

SPEKing into the Duelist-adjacent abilities where possible would probably be fine. But at a certain point, unless you are dragging people's attention off of a target so they specifically attack you, it's really hard to afectively guard someone while dodging attacks. Parry? Sure. But that's different from dodging. And again, just because your character isn't flashy, doesn't mean that the class isn't generally flashy. I think it would be neat, and I'd love to see the classes be a little vaguer and more based on abilities, than anything. But at the end of the day, in a game designed the way this one is, breaking the mold is a difficult thing to do, without it feeling strange.

Also, here to toss my hat into Marauder for Dwaedn Wyr. Animals don't fight fair. If someone calls that cowardly, well, the Marauder will just have to show them why not to say that.

[Rias]

More responses!

Re: Primary Attributes: They'll be back as a simple ability point investment. You'll only be able to choose one!

Re: Affinities: They weren't really ever implemented even in COGG, aside from a few characters getting a few points from a special event. I still like the concept and it may be added at some point, but it's very much a low priority backburner idea.

Re: Someone expressing a worry to me that Dreadnoughts are losing Blade Catch for some reason? Untrue, Dreadnoughts are keeping Blade Catch. I listed it as a "signature ability" in the little blurb for them above because it's one of my favorite abilities! It's hard to get cooler than denying an incoming attack by just reaching out and stopping it with your hand.

Re: Duelist/Templar: I get that the concept of a Duelist guarding other people is possible (everyone has access to the GUARD command regardless of class or ability, after all), but that's not all there is to it. Duelists are not a defense-specialized class. They have some extra personal defensive capabilities to make up for their lack of armor in order to make themselves more viable in combat, and while they can be great at parrying, there are a lot of attacks that aren't parryable, including all ranged attacks. At the end of the day, as a class/combat style their primary concern is winning fights (with a secondary concern of looking good while doing it!).

Templar are very much focused around the idea of being specialist defenders and guards, and want their members to not just be technically capable, but exceptionally capable. When it comes to protecting others they don't want to just chalk it up to "good enough", because other peoples' lives are at stake and the Templar are being depended on specifically for that role. Someone going the path of the Duelist hasn't chosen a path that says "I'm specifically interested in being a capable guardian of others." If this were a book or a movie or a small group tabletop campaign or something, would I entertain the idea of such a character ending up a Templar after some interesting long struggle and story arc? Sure, that could be awesome! But that would also be a much more controlled environment where it's possible to carefully entertain and guide the odd exception or edge case while avoiding it feeling like it's become a new norm and changing the overall feel and vision for the Templar as an orgnization. It's not uncommon in MUDs for a single player character to change the general playerbase's perceptions of whatever group they're a part of, deliberately or otherwise.

As others have pointed out, another sticking point is that the very flashy show-off nature of the Duelist combat style doesn't mesh well with the Templar discipline emphasizing modesty and humility. This doesn't mean all Duelists are arrogant show-offs, but there's still something to be said for considering how things look and feel on a surface level even if it's more of a meta concern than a lore/in-game one. Again: In MUDs, a single example of something can drastically change how things are viewed.

I'll also take this moment to re-emphasize: Templar are not a free-to-join guild, and are one of the toughest to get accepted into because of their narrow and strict discipline, behavioral, philosophical, and just general overall "feel" guidelines. That's a deliberate part of their concept and it's meant to appeal to people who are into that kind of thing, rather than be an annoying obstacle to get past or put up with. Because it's a restricted and narrow-fit guild, it's also not a good idea for anyone to invest too heavily into a character that only feels satisfactory if they're able to join the Templar. Always allow for the very real possibility that the Templar thing might not happen. The defender-of-the-innocent bit is in no way exclusive to them: Wyrvardn are an organization with a name that literally means "Protectors of the People", and if that doesn't fit either, there's always the option of founding a Company dedicated to the cause of people-protecting that's more widely accepting.

If I also understood correctly, dodging won't always be a viable way to guard in the future, which honestly, fair.

Rigt, that's a longstanding COGG bug that dodge could be used while intercepting attacks. (It wasn't possible in original CLOK and got more than a few well-intentioned guards into bad situations as I recall!) I'll go ahead and fix that now to prevent any future confusion or expectations built on what is, unfortunately, a bug.

[Zeldryn]

All responses and elaboration appreciated, as always, I say.

I normally am not this guy, but I'm admittedly just excited. So, I have to ask.

Any rough idea on a timeline for when we might see general/specialized ability implementation? I'm not talking like-- a specific deadline by any means. But. Hypothetically, given no crazy breakdowns. A couple days? A cople weeks? A couple months? I just want to temper my expectations appropriately!

Thanks again for all of the explanation and setting of expectations.

[artus]

Simply ability point investment? Might I ask what that's supposed to mean?

My wild guess is that it's like this thing you can choose to spend an ability point on, no getting back, no unlearn and permanent loss of one max slot for abilities, as a tradeoff of free attribute buffs.