Reborn Dev Spotlight: Shaman, New Zones
The next OrbusVR: Reborn Beta will take place this Friday, December 7th. In the lead up to that we've got some more fun sneak peeks at what new content you'll be able to test out.
Shaman
The Shaman is our second new class that we're introducing in Reborn. A high-output DPS class, the Shaman is all about battlefield awareness and positioning. The Shaman's core mechanic is the deployment of totems on the battlefield. Some of these totems, such as the Lava totem, are designed to control areas of the battlefield by pulsing with damaging effects or status debuffs such as Hex or Slow. Others, such as the Fireball and Lightning totems, are designed to be placed near the player so that you can use the orbs of magical energy that they generate to sling damage at your foes directly.
Here's a preview of some of the totems you'll have access to in this Beta test:
Fireball: The Fireball totem is your main single-target damage. After placing it on the ground, a fireball will be generated above the totem once every 3 seconds. You can grab this with your hand and throw it, hitting enemies. Note that if you want to save your arm strength, if you hold the orb with your palm facing outward (like an "Iron Man" attack) and release the orb, it will have a burst of force applied to it. Useful when fighting close up enemies without needing to actually throw over and over again.
Lightning: The Lightning totem works just like the Fireball totem, with the difference that it does less single-target damage, but instead will arc to up to 3 nearby enemies for additional damage.
Lava: The Lava totem is placed on the battlefield, then pulses every few seconds with a wave of fire, damaging any enemies withing range. In addition to this, it places a debuff on the enemies which makes them weak to Shamanistic magic, increasing the damage of subsequent Fireball and Lightning attacks against them.
Frost: The Frost totem works like the Lava totem, but instead it slows your enemies. It also applies the Weakness debuff as well.
Hex: The Hex totem works similar to a Polymorph spell from a Runemage, and will cause any enemies within range to be turned into a tiny creature, regaining full health in the process. Note that unlike the Runemage Polymorph, the duration of the Hex is only 10 seconds, and due to diminishing returns will only be applied to each enemy once.
Stun: The Stun totem generates a slingable ball of energy which will stun a single enemy for a short period of time, interrupting any spell casts.
The Shaman is a medium-difficulty class with a fairly low skill floor but advanced play which can offer a high skill ceiling. Although the core mechanic is very simple and easy to pick up (just throw a totem on the ground, grab a Fireball, and throw it), there is difficulty in mastering the class in the form of deciding what totem are best used in certain situations, the actual skill of throwing the orbs and hitting enemies (which is more difficult than you might think from far away!), and advanced play in the relationship between the pulse and projectile totems, the former of which buffs the damage output of the latter when played correctly.
Since the throwing mechanic is inherently more difficult to aim than the Archer's bow and arrow or the Runemage's guided missiles, the Shaman is best played as a medium-range class. In addition to that, the unique mechanic of deploying totems on the battlefield forces the high-level Shaman player to strategically consider where they are "setting up shop" on the battlefield; although totems re-generate fairly quickly to be re-deployed, if you make a mistake and put down a totem in an area where it's not doing anything, or you are forced to move locations shortly after putting down a projectile totem, your damage output will be seriously impacted.
New Zones and Highsteppe City
In addition to the Shaman class, you'll have the opportunity in this beta to access two new areas of the world.
The Lamavora Frontier has been the site of many battles over the last few decades. Ruins of forts and weaponry from long-lost armies litter the region. The well-known purple flower which is native to the area has also seen significant decline, and can now be found scattered only sparingly across the fields.
Highsteppe City looks very different from when you last saw it. It has grown to become the last refuge of humanity after a major incident many years ago forced people to flee their homes across Patreayl and seek shelter under the boughs of the large tree which has grown in the center of the city.
It's also significantly larger than before, with many different alley ways and both an above and below ground level stocked with market stalls, shops, and residents going about their business. Highsteppe will play a major role as the central hub of activity in the game, and players will frequently find themselves coming back here to collect rewards, accept missions, and delve the depths of what's going on underneath the city in the form of dungeons.
We'll be back later this week with a final blog post ahead of the Beta test with the download information as well as a final recap of all the new content you'll be able to test. See you then!