QCF Design Community

At this point, there seems to be widespread agreement that the new transmuter doesn't work. His only viable approach seems to be as an Orc PISORF specialist, a role that the Wizard already performed well in addition to a variety of other strategies. So, the question at this point is what to do with the transmuter?


Well, I'll start by throwing out a crazy idea:

Earth Lore: Begins with ENDISWAL glyph; ENDISWAL grants both physical and magic resistances to the Transmuter.
Stone Form: When under the effect of stoneskin, the transmuter's maximum resists increase to 90% and spells cost 50% less mana to cast, but the Transmuter receives no natural regeneration.
Recomposition: Converting an item or glyph causes the alchemist to regain health and mana, but removes all stoneskin. The Transmuter gains a 0.3% restoration to health and mana for every 1 conversion conversion point (ie, convert 100 points of stuff for a 30% restore to health and mana).



Now I must say that I do very much like the conversion point stacking idea, even if it didn't work out well on the current Transmuter. Perhaps this could be added to IMAWAL, which currently is a little boring since it's used exclusively on non-XP giving enemies or level 1's (occasionally level 2's). If IMAWAL gave 10 conversion points per level when an XP-granting monster is bricked, that would add a much deeper choice. Sacrificing juicy XP for conversion points? Sounds like a true dilemma.

IMAWAL already provides +50% exp for your next kill though. Maybe something like "IMALWAL + ENDISWAL combo raises Max Health by enemy level" might prove interesting. Or simply make IMALWAL give you 20% Magic resistance or something. Could work.

It's all about a theme though. Transmuter has always been "turn wall into ****"(Health in Alpha, Mana in Beta up until last update, Conversion since the last update). It's also about a completely new approach to the game. The old Transmuter loses little when exploring large swathes of the map because half of his natural regeneration is from a different source, thus providing a different way of conserving resources. The new Transmuter doesn't provide this. Due to his lowered stats, he can only work with races that provide stat conversion bonus, and these are done sooner better than later. There's no new mechanism. No different way of conserving resources. It's all about fast conversion, and then play as a blank class with one enhanced stat. Uninspiring to say the least.

So how many Transmuters rework have we had already?

There should be a quest where you play the spirit of all the old Transmuters for each dungeon. I hope their code is still in the game for that.

Honestly, I like the new Transmuter. He's just really, really weak.

If his attack, health, and mana penalties were replaced by some other small boost, he'd be really good.

Yeah, the current version has a good concept, but that's it. The problem is you can only convert into 1 type of bonus, and it's impossible to make up for all the penalties.

Yup. Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, and Goblins are just gimped as Transmuters since they can't make up for their weaker stats. Humans basically have no way to overcome the low base attack, so they're out. That leaves Elves and Orcs as the only remotely viable Transmuters. You're looking at BURNDAYRAZ and PISORF specialists respectively with absolutely zero potential for anything else.

The concept of super-stacking conversion points is cool, but I don't think it works for fixating an entire class around. It results in someone who is just way too over-specialized to be practical.