Turbine Nation
While we all should know by now that the 2.0 revision of the Hero System is on the way, Turbine Nation gave the Live Team a chance to show us some pictures and clarify a few details. Let's see what they told us.
The best place to start is, I suppose with what will NOT change. The five passive skills (Health, Vigor, Bonus Damage, Lore and Focus) will remain untouched for now. These are scheduled for re-balancing at a later time, most likely not until 2005.
Tier 3 active hero skills, on the other hand, will be coming to town. These are the skills that have a minimum level requirement of 70. Each specialization will have their own unique skills...and they promise to be quite spectacular. We were shown a few initial animations, including a row of flying bolts of fire and other things I can't remember at this point. They flew by so fast I'm not even sure anyone got pictures of them. Take it from me, though, all of them looked quite fun.
The real changes of note, however, are Hero Skill points. No longer will there be only one path of active hero skills. Instead, there will be a number of different skills, set in trees much like the base trees. Many skills, such as Hero Portal Recall, will be available to all specializations. Others, such as the class specific attack skills, will be limited to certain classes.
Denour introduces Hero 2.0
Their will be a variety of Hero Skills available for purchase. These will range from Heal over Time and Vigor over Time effects to Portal skills to Heals to New Buffs. (This is a combination of guesses based on icons and what Denour said...if I'm not 100% accurate, it is my fault, not the Dev's.)
How will we buy these skills, including the old Tier 1 and Tier 2 active skills? Easy, we'll use our Hero Skill Points. For the items in trees, we'll have to buy the skill at the bottom to get the ones above it, just as in the normal skill trees. All of the Hero 2.0 skills will cost 1 Hero Skill Point to purchase.
"Aha," you say, "but how on earth do I get Hero Skill Points?" Well, my friend (as Harold Hill might put it), that is the easy part. You get 1 every 5 levels starting at level 50. Even better, you can get the level 50 Hero Skill Point early just by becoming a Hero before level 50. That'll let you start buying your skills early. This means one when you turn hero and one every 5 levels starting at 55.
"Oh, no! Only one point every five levels? How do I get my Active skill and Arcane Lore and Major Bonus Damage and..." Not a problem. The passive hero skills are still free. Only the brand new skills and the active skills cost points. So you don't lose anything you already have. And when Hero 2.0 is released, you'll get a refund on all the xp you have spent into Hero Skills in order to set things up just the way you want.
"Okay, that seems cool. Are these all going to 150? Is raising them actually going to make a difference with each point?" Nope, none of the new skills will go to 150...or 100... or even 50. These skills will all range from 1-10. Each point will make a huge difference. Unfortunately, each point will also be hugely expensive. Still, it will be a goal worth saving up for.
"Neat, I guess I can get my new Tier 3 skill right from the start with my level 47 character, then?" Sorry, Charlie. No, certain skills, especially the active attack skills, will still be level limited. Even if you have the skill points free, all the requirements met (if any) and a large bribe for the Live Team, you won't be able to buy them. This enables them to better scale the higher level skills to the content at that level without having to worry about someone taking a skill too early, burying all their experience into it and overpowering things at their own level.
"Ah, I see. Well, then, how much focus are these things going to cost to use?" That depends. The Live Team is actually introducing some new kinds of Focus costs with the Hero 2.0 system. Lets look at them:
These are the facts and ideas as they stood during Turbine Nation. A few changes from the original document shown us by Citan, but still much in line with the basic idea. There is still a week or three to go until the September Patch hits code freeze, however, and these skills are targetted for release in September (if I recall correctly). So there may be changes or additions by that time.
Hero 2.0 is looking great...and Tier 3 skills will be a happy treat for those few hardy levelling souls who have climbed Level 70 already. September seems to be hero month in AC2...and you don't hear me complaining. Now I just have to try to reach 60 to get my Tier 2 skill. :)
