Weapon-class restrictions

[Recoil]

Why only ranged classes can wear bows, only mages can wear staves, only warriors can wear shield?

I do not understand.

If a barb or knight is rooted with ivy or some other immobilize spell, why not switch weapon to bow and fire away rather than stand there like a banana ?

If a mage is retreating or advancing to a different position (like to a fort wall) under a rain of enemy arrows/fireballs, why not equip a shield, heavy god damn full plate armor and deflect a good part of them ?

I do not see any reason for these restrictions.

Please comment.

ADD: also for example items with cast speed, spears, axes, whatever. If there exists a 7% cast speed 1-handed axe it is pretty pointless at this moment, but if class restrictions are removed some spellcaster could make good use of it, even while being unable to perform ranged attacks...

[Gabburtjuh]

because u should have ad and disadvantages per class, if everyone could equip everything u only have to choose what skills you want, so for example you could be a ao1ed archer, or an camoed lock.

[Saltor]

Originally Posted by Gabburtjuh

or an camoed lock.

/me shudders in horror at the very thought.

[Recoil]

Originally Posted by Gabburtjuh

you could be a ao1ed archer, or an camoed lock.

No, I am not talking about skills, just about items restrictions.

[VandaMan]

Originally Posted by Gabburtjuh

because u should have ad and disadvantages per class, if everyone could equip everything u only have to choose what skills you want, so for example you could be a ao1ed archer, or an camoed lock.

Just because a warlock puts on leather armor and holds a bow doesn't mean he can camo... I think the idea is that you should be able to use the gear of other classes, but perhaps not as effectively.

Edit: Lumi beat me to it :P

[Shwish]

lots of games have this option, however the respective classes arent as effective as they could be when having foreign weapons equiped. If you watch the pro's on guild wars you'll see most of the mages wielding a spear+shield combo for basic spells and switching to thier staffs to cast enchantments. Also you see rangers(archers) running around with staff casting necromancy drains. It really brings alot of tactics and thoughts into the game. If applied we'll see alot more players having shields on thier skill bar for running away purposes. Also mages only really use staffs for a vessel to carry thier cs bonuses (unless they're SM mages), we'll see alot more mages with a high cs 1h sword/spear/axe and shield combo, or even a high cs bow for harder hits from range and fast spell fasting, provided that they lose thier range on the 0m spells but can switch to thier staff for that. Imagine a SM mage with thorkuls shortbow(with a +7as gem) and arcane acceleration and all those cc's... or even a slow hammer with all those elemental damage buffs... SM warjurer with steel skin, a shield/fast sword and a zarkit, maybe sancuary too. it would certainly make the game more interesting but not in a good way. Infact the only thing i see happening is warriors being extinct for good.

Another observation from another mmorpg was an archer class that wasnt able to attack with a bow/xbow from point blank range, but had the ability to wield a sword+dagger or 2 handed sword for close range fighting. they were even given a tree full of melee skills. To add to this, all non-mage classes had the ability to weild a bow/xbow however they needed to stop to fire unlike the archers who could fire normals on the run. I remember ngd brainstorming about giving archers melee weapons and not able to attack from close range with a bow, but it was an idea that never took flight and i hope it never does.

All these ideas for "improving" regnum are nice and new and all but im happy with how the mechanics of the game in terms of weapon wielding works as they are. All this would complicate things and make classes even more reliant on gear than they already are and totally do away with class roles

[Isemon]

I know other games where you can use all the items you want, you just get a malus if the items is not for your class. For example if a mage get an axe he will have something like 10% malus attack speed or something, because a mage is not strong like a warrior and makes more effort to move an heavy weapon.

[Gabburtjuh]

i just dont agree, class is class, so u just shouldnt be able to equip other gear, for armor it would be even worse, mages with full knight armor, a staff and a shield >.>, this would not only help them, it would also stop some ppl from targeting, since knight aint preffered targets. It could help warriors, but i think there would be much more trouble as benefits.

[Recoil]

Originally Posted by Gabburtjuh

a staff and a shield >.>

I think all of the staves are two-handed.

[Greyman_tle]

You need to go back to when RPG's were born (insert wavy lines for flashback)

Fighters carried a variety of melee weapons and metal armour, but were too thick to use magic.

Archers mostly used bows (the odd sword was allowed) and ran around in leather and tights.

Mages wore dresses (armour shorted out the magic), couldn't use any weapon cept a dagger or a staff (mostly to help them walk, but could fry your ass with the right words.

everything else came as mixtures/extensions of these 3....evolution in progress but the basic rules are the basic rules

Blame people like the Wizards of the Coast.