Hey all! One of the things we're most confident in with Crystal Horizons, enough to name it as a core pillar of the game, is our class design. The complex, interconnected kits are unique among other games in the genre, taking inspiration from modern MMORPG design to elevate the identity of a class and add another layer of strategic decision making. I bring this up because I want to share the results of our playtesting and discussion regarding class kits, and highlight a few changes that we're testing with some classes.
We'll be focusing on Lumimancer today, but I might continue this with some of the other classes we've adjusted next week. Let's take a look at how the class started, our design philosophy for classes, and how we've evolved the class to where it is today.
Lumimancer is, at it's core, the primary healing class in Crystal Horizons. Other healing classes (not yet revealed but maybe soon?) may have certain restrictions on their healing such as range, area, or resource requirements. Unlike those classes, Lumimancer has a simple yet effective kit; Flash allows for ranged single-target healing or damage, Sacrament allows for ranged multi-target healing, and Rejuvenation grants a regeneration buff to allies in an area. Chuck in a few damage and utility spells as well and you have a solid, useful skillset that would be perfectly fine in a tactics game.
(Here's a side-by-side of the Lumimancer spell list, from one of our earliest builds next to current. Surprisingly, most spells have survived to the current iteration, although their effects have changed a lot.)
Here in Crystal Horizons, though? That kind of simplicity simply doesn't fit alongside other classes on the field. Our intention is for players to be able to use their mastery of a class to set up and execute on complex strategies over multiple turns. To this end, we try to look at how well a class can act both reactively and proactively. Right now, our simple Lumimancer doesn't have much in the way of proactive gameplay, apart from applying regen and doing damage. So, how do we go about adjusting this base to be more in-line with our design goals?
The easiest way to do so is to introduce a status of some kind that allows different parts of the class to interact with each other. In this case, we have Illuminated. Illuminated is a debuff with a relatively simple purpose; be applied by some skills and consumed to power up others. Our first iteration of this had it be applied through area-of-effect spells (Luminous Impulse, Word of Law) and consumed by single-target spells (Flash, Judgement) to increase their damage.
While the damage-dealing aspect of the class was now better, we also wanted to address healing. Healing often felt dissatisfying to do when compared to dealing damage, so we created the Blessing passive to bridge that gap. Now, any healing spells would additionally apply Blessed to healed allies, which granted them additional healing based on damage done by the Lumimancer that applied it. Now a Lumimancer can apply buffs and deal damage, apply regen and Blessed before damage is even taken, and keep allies healthy while still dealing damage.
This iteration of the class is what we brought to AVCon 2024, but there were still some pain points. Luminous Impulse was far too strong, being the correct choice for damage 90% of the time. Some skills such as Holy Ward were barely used, given the value that regeneration brought in comparison to a defense buff, and Flash was basically never used as people opted to use Luminous Impulse for damage and Sacrament for healing.
We want to shift the power around a bit without damaging the fantasy of the class; Luminous Impulse feels really good to use, and seeing massive damage numbers when Judgement hits an Illuminated target feels amazing. So, the changes we're currently testing involve weakening Luminous Impulse at base by lowering its damage and removing its ability to apply Illuminated. Instead, Flash will now apply Illuminated, alongside the more restrictive line AoE spell Word of Law, while Luminous Impulse, Judgement and Shining Jail will consume Illuminated to deal more damage (and extend the duration of Jailed for Shining Jail).
Illuminated now also increases accuracy against the affected unit, and allows the aforementioned spells to bypass accuracy checks when targeting Illuminated targets (guaranteeing they hit). This allows us to be a bit harsher on the base accuracy of Luminous Impulse and Judgement if we need to, giving us more ways to balance the spells once we get down to fine-tuning them. We also buffed Holy Ward, granting additional Block Rate (% chance to halve incoming damage) as well as defense.
We'll be testing these changes in the coming weeks, and you'll likely see some iteration of them when we hold the beta (soon). I know this is a pretty dense update, but I enjoyed talking through our design choices and the evolution of one of our most iconic classes. I had to leave a lot out, including a wide array of cut skills and spells, but I hope you enjoyed this inside look into how we iterate on our class design! Thanks for tuning in!