With the limited class selection we have one particular character build got stepped on more than any other: Heavy weapons ogryn builds.
It’s a really obvious thing to want to build around. You have an archetype that has a heap of unique heavy ranged weapons to bring to the fight, but no class that has a single perk to support this play style. The ogryn class that we have is essentially focused on melee and not much else.
When it comes to the veteran archetype additional classes would be specialists that move away from being a standard guardsman. Definitely cool and wanted, but there is no huge part of the archetype that is currently not playable at all.
Psyker is in a similar boat. While there are tons of cool ways that a psyker with different powers could be implemented, I can’t point to a single major aspect of psykers that is obviously missing right now.
With zealots it’s a little easier to point out what the archetype is missing right now, because I suspected that a lot of people were hoping for a more support based zealot who uses prayers to buff or restore toughness. Stoking fervor in others is simply part of the archetype, so I’d say that’s the next class to release after gun-lugger.
But yea, when it comes to ogryn I think there can be no argument that something that a lot of people would like to do with an ogryn character is currently not supported by the classes on offer, and that’s the hole that should be plugged first.
Maybe a gun-lugger could have an ability like “Brace” where you are rooted for a second knock back all enemies in front of you, then gain increased accuracy and reload speed until you start moving again, and a bunch of perks that concern themselves with ammo efficiency.
Oh absolutely. Ogryn is in a dire need for more weapons when compared to any other of the 3 classes that share their weapons. I would love to test out the BIG guns on him as I’m not really interested in a melee ogryn.
There is a lot of heavy weaponry in 40K that of all the characters only an Ogryn could carry such as an armor piercing autocannon (the armor piercing that ogryn lacks right now with all leaks considered).
I hope he would also get 100% ammo increase trait as well with some perks that would benefit the team such as dropping spare ammo like Bardin did in V2. I think that a 100% ammo reserve increase would suit him nicely since the other class is not only more a melee focused class but is also partially built around tanking than damage dealing when compared to the classes of zealot, psyker and veteran. A DPS ogryn with huge weapons would be a blast to play although I may be biased since as most players I chose to start my adventure as a veteran sharpshooter.
So yeah. A gun lugger ogryn checks all the bixes in terms of variety, fun factor, believability and finally practicality (to expand ogryn weapon roster that I assume will be 1/3 of the number of weapons that the other characters will be able to play with).
I can definitely point to some aspects of Psyker that are missing. For one, they’re way too heavily focused on elite killing without a real viable alternative - seriously, go watch any Psyker guide on Youtube and I guarantee you that literally any one of them will say “Your role as Psyker is to deal with the special and elite enemies.” No matter how you build yourself, a major aspect of your kit - the head-pop, warp charges, and all the talents that build off of one or the other - will be basically useless in trash clear scenarios.
For a second thing, according to the insignia leak Psykers currently only have one force staff. Even if we assume that there will be ways to change its functionality through crafting and weapon traits, that’s still pretty laughable, even compared to the Ogryn’s stock of ranged weapons.
Yea, but the problem there is not that the Psyker does too little, it’s that the Psyker basically comes with a whole third weapon that is also among the strongest anti-armor ranged options in the game. So, since you can’t change that weapon for something else you’re stuck with that role. But if you could change it for something else, why would you? You literally have one of the most useful tools in the game built straight into your character with no need to slot a corresponding weapon or make the effort to get a rare and powerful version of that weapon.
If they made a Psyker with a really strong crowd control or horde clearing ability it would simply be considered the inferior class, because other characters can handle those tasks perfectly well.
I agree on the force staff though, it’s kind of worrying that there don’t seem to be multiple versions. Hopefully there is some variety in the abilities a force staff can have, so that we’re not just stuck with Force Detonation. I really want an equivalent of the fireball staff from VT2, that thing is so much fun to use.
Why would I change it? …because I want to build my Psyker for AoE damage / crowd control? There are other characters who can handle the anti-armor elite-killing role too, like a Zealot with a Thunder Hammer, or a Veteran with a Plasma / Meltagun.
The Psyker absolutely does too little if you want to play them as something other than an elite killer. I don’t care if the head-pop is “optimal,” because it does not contribute to the way that I want to play the character. It’s worth noting that Sienna was one of the best at this role in VT2, so it’s not exactly like my expectation is coming from nowhere. In any game, one of the reasons I like to play the wizard class is for the powerful ranged AoE damage.
I mean this would be like me responding to your post by saying “If they made an Ogryn with a really strong anti-armor ranged weapon it would simply be considered the inferior class, because other characters can handle that task perfectly well.”
The Psyker is definitely the second character in need for a new class. It’s a fantasy of sword 'n spell warlock but it just doesn’t have enough in terms of variety when it comes to choosing a weapon or tactic. In higher difficulties all you’re good for is spamming your grenades/brain burst since it isn’t working as intended (seeing how peril cool off starts slow and then speeds up to incentivise the player to go back to zero and not 99% before spamming the ability again). I believe that all classes should have some playstyles to choose from that are at least somewhat viable. I hope there will be more magic staves other than the one in the beta.
I mean I full agree that Psyker deserves more variety, but Brain Burst is limiting because it’s so good that doing anything else feels like a downgrade, not because you don’t have the options.
Personally I would like to have a psyker who is straight up artillery. All about hurling hugely destructive but slow AoE attacks. Maybe the way it could still fulfill its anti-armor role would be if its attacks applied some kind of shred effect that reduced enemy armor so the rest of your team can more easily work them over. That kind of play style would also combo well with some kind of ability that can create a barrier or ground effect that stops or slows enemies so they can’t get to you.
A melee focused psyker would also be amazing. Maybe a biomancy flavored one who can do things like iron flesh to protect themselves from damage, drain enemy health at close range, or cause an aura of bio-lightning that shocks anything close to them.
I would also enjoy a really esoteric psyker class like “Divination” where you do stuff like draw the emperor’s tarot to determine the next three special spawns, and then you can redraw one of the cards to change what you will encounter during your run, with a slight possibility of getting worse encounters than what you were trying to avoid. Other powers would be like Divine Shot or Misfortune.
There are a lot of really cool things you can do with the Psyker subclass, that’s for sure. I will likely main psyker, so from a self serving perspective, sure, bring on the psyker classes quickly. But on the other hand, the Psyker we have is really strong, and the only reason its kind of one note is because it plays that note too damn well to want to do anything else with it. The options are there to spend your peril on mixing it up in melee or blasting big groups of enemies.