I mentioned earlier that I hope the announcement from Mythic will include them dropping the Hammerer class and replacing it with the Dwarf Slayer as Order’s missing melee DPS class. I’m not alone in thinking this, there’s been a lot written all over the place saying the same for a while and for good reason.All Warhammer classes are based on the tabletop game’s background, which means options for the classes can be very restrictive. Particularly when it comes to their appearance. Dwarf Hammerers wear heavy armour and wield massive, you guessed it, hammers. Which isn’t that different to great weapon wielding Ironbreakers. Sure the background story for the two is very different, but visually and gameplay wise they are in danger of being very samey. People don’t get very excited about Hammerers, sure they’re the elite royal guard type dudes, but they’re still just heavily armoured dwarves with hammers.
Slayers are a totally different kettle of fish. A Slayer is a dwarf that has committed some terrible crime, like breaking an oath, failing to avenge an ancestor or having it’s beard shaved by goblins. They then dye all their hair orange, shave it into a mohican and take the slayer oath. This oath is to die in battle against the most dangerous foe possible, the catch however is they can’t just suicide (that would be dishonourable), they have to test themselves to the utmost and get the most spectacular death possible. That and they can’t wear any armour, so just walk around in their kecks. They also have a tendency for face paint and lots of tattoos. So basically a Slayer lives a life of constant battle, roaming the world in their pants, getting in fights with pretty much everything, Now that sounds much more interesting than a Hammerer. Which is only a good thing for boosting Order’s numbers on servers that need it.
Q) So how do you implement equipment for a class that doesn’t wear armour?
A) Easy! Face & body war paint, eye patches, nose chains/rings, bandanas, nails hammered into their head (yeah I’ve read the Gotrek series ;) ), chains, strapping, piercing, studs, more trophies, etc, etc.
No reason why any of those can’t have stats on them.
there is also a precedent in that GW allowed slayers to be used in its Warhammer Quest RPG system. So really there no reason for them to not be used here.
ReplyDeleteSlayers would be a very popular class no doubt but also would represent some tough design challenges. I cant imagine they can keep whatever mechanic they were using for the Hammerer and use it on slayers a complete rebuild will be the order of the day.
The problem is also atm yet another meele dps class wont help anything unless the nature of keep sieges changes dramatically, you only need so many people to guard a postern.
anyways nice start to your blogging GJ & keep up the work
Thanks matey ;)
ReplyDeleteThat's certainly the big challenge. _IF_ it was to happen, I imagine it would just depend how far down the Hammerer's development at the point they started changing things. Unless by luck the mechanic naturaly swapped over, of course as you say, that's not overly likely.
Certainly more melee DPS isn't so great for keep takes. Won't cause any harm, but indeed I can see them being relegated to postern duty. I think the role of melee in keep takes and defences is something that needs some tweaking.
Hammerers were just a strange choice all round, when even all the WAR artwork and game trailers featured Slayers..
Keep in mind, the Slayer isn't gonna be the only new career. We'll be getting Choppas as well. I know for a fact I'll be rolling both careers when they are released, as I heavily favor melee-based classes. I may retire my tank mains for this.
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