Multiclassing is the system in place whereby we are allowed to take more than one school in adventure and/or crafting. But, is it that simple? I think not. While crafting appears to be pretty straight forward, and admittedly my knowledge here is sketchy, adventure multiclassing can be and IMO, is very complicated.
Complicated? Yes indeed, complicated. Sure, one can level every school available to 100. What do they gain from this? Well, they'll sure enough have an adventure rating over 200 but what else? I submit that multiclassing is the system we can use to enhance and strengthen whatever school we choose to be our main adventuring school. And it is my firm belief that ANY school can be a viable main school.
Upon embarking on a career in any adventure school destined to be the main school one should thoroughly study the school as it progresses. Study how well it fares against all foes? Does it excel vs. certain foes? Does it perform poorly or not at all vs. others? What are the school's strengths? Its weaknesses? These questions must be answered to effectively improve the school through multiclassing with a goal of being able to do whatever it is the player wishes to do.
In an attempt to illustrate further I'm going to explain in detail how I built my toon.
Kwinn started as a mage. His offensive abilities were adequate and as I became more familiar with the spell selection offered to a mage I realized they were potentially tremendously destructive. The weaknesses of mage I found to be many and in some cases glaring. No healing ability, no buffs, and armor best described as a Playtex Living Full Form Body Diaper and a wholesale inability to avoid being hit in melee.
To address the lack of healing ability I took Healer school to level 100. This also provided the gift and raise lines of buffs and as a bonus an excellent Focus stat. Two holes closed. Next I felt the need to address the armor issue. While Mage gets 10 Armor Use per level, the armor used isn't worthy of the name. I saw only one real option, Battlemage to level 100. Others might have chosen Chaos Warrior or Guardian. Good schools but, I saw Battlemage as a more appropriate choice once I looked into the abilities offered. Reflect Attack and Shimmer Field give a damage shield and added Dodge and Parry. Another hole closed and a 4th partially closed. At this point I also realized that Mage as a main school was not going to satisfy my needs and Battlemage took over that role.
I thought I had it all then. Good armor, good spells, healing and buffs. But as time went on I found I was still getting hit far too much and my damage output wasn't all I thought it should be. Another round of new school leveling loomed. To address the damage output concern I took Conjurer, Sorcerer and Wizard to level 100, and got all of the offensive capabilities I could hope for and many nice bonus abilities mostly in the form of stuns and mezzes. To address the getting hit too much? Monk, Spearman and Berserker. Improved evasion, dodge and armor rating were the results. Monk I took to level 100. Berserker and Spearman only went to level 44 of each as I saw no advantages to be gained beyond the 44 levels that would offset the time and effort expended to go any further.
I had it all now. Wrong! Evolved Fyakkis proved that. Spiritist and Shaman solved that little problem. Spiritist gave me Improved Spirit Bolt and Spirit Resistance V to name but 2 things I use from that school. Spirit Bolt completely ignores Harden Shell and Evolved Shell. I stopped Spiritist at level 85. This was the level needed to cast Spirit Resistance V and as my power skill was so high that Improved Spirit IV was doing sufficient damage I saw no need to take the school further. Shaman was tempting to run to level 100 but, I stopped at level 96. Those last 4 levels gave no benefit to justify the added time and effort. And seeing the advantages of some skill in those schools I looked into Druid and discovered Forest Mist. Further study revealed that 88 levels of Druid would also give Nature Ward and Nature Resistance V spells. A lot of work for just 2 spells but, they have proved their worth time and again vs. Tier 5 Oracles.
Lastly, further study of the schools available revealed the odd beneficial ability here and there that I thought would be of benefit. The Disciple schools each offered a passive ward masterable at level 56 and Cleric offered Dispirit Foe for a minimal investment.
Masterable abilities: I think this concept needs a bit of clarifying. A masterable ability is an ability that one gains in a given school but can use with ANY active school. Masterable abilities come in 2 types, Active and Passive. Active requires the player to activate the ability, to manually use it. Passive means it is there, no input required. To master an ability, first off the ability must be masterable. The description of the ability is the clue, if it says 'Cannot be Mastered' that says it all. If the description does not say it 'Cannot be Mastered" this is a masterable ability. The ability is mastered when you gain twice the levels that you needed to gain the ability. For instance: Spearman offers a Passive +20 Block Bonus at level 22, it is MASTERED at level 44 Spearman.
So in the end I was able to enhance the Mage's existing abilities and strengths and resolve the weaknesses. No, I don't have 20 schools all at level 100. I have elements of 18 schools. 8 are indeed at level 100. The remaining 10 range from level 30 to level 96. There is no need to take them all to level 100. The resulting build allows me to hunt whatever I wish, where-ever I wish. And anyone can do the same. With any school. The key is a thorough knowledge of the intended main. Then a willingness to take the time to study the other schools available. What can they offer to enhance or improve the main? How many levels to master the ability? Do I really need it?
Of course, one might ask, why multiclass? Simple, if you to be to hunt everything with a reasonable chance at success, multiclassing is indispensable. Sure, some single classed folks can make an argument that they can hunt WHATEVER they want. I would ask, "Can you hunt everything?" Golems, abominations, bugs etc those are pretty straight forward one on one fights. Wolves, treants, Aegrors, blights, vexators, undead etc those boys are social, can help each other, will help each other and often are linked in groups of 2 to 8. Sure, a single classed can survive them, mainly by running or killing the little packs of 2. 3 or more and somebody is gonna be in deep pickled Korean cabbage in a hurry. Multiclassed on the other hand, can perform much better and dependant upon the extent of multiclassing and player skill, win those fights handily.
Multiclassing is by no means the be all, end all of anyone's given hunting expectations. Player skill is the ultimate arbiter of one's success in the hunt. It takes practice, time, patience and study to develop a truly powerful multiclassed biped. Even given all of this one still needs gear. Preferably teched to a high degree of customization taking into account weaknesses in the build, strengths of the build, play style and player skill. Player skill is the probably the biggest hurdle. Being brutally honest with one's self will go a LONG way to addressing weaknesses in in-game ability.
Training Points are probably the most versatile concept we are given. We can really customize with Training Points. They can be used to enhance offensive capabilities by placing them in melee skills or spells skills. They can enhance statistics or Evasion. The choices are many and only the player can truly gauge their best use. Fortunately, if one puts Training Points in a skill and later decides they would be better elsewhere, the TP can be 'bought back' and moved.
Make no mistake, multiclassing is a chore. It is a grind every bit as mind numbing as grinding out a craft school. Endless killing, endless trophy farming. Starting a new school at level 20 and having an adventure rating over 100 is a royal pain. At this point, you get to start out the new school fighting things that can drop you like a bad habit and the damage you can do isn't exactly setting the world on fire. However, the skills mastered from previous schools really come to the fore here. They are the difference between winning and losing. Use them all, it's only matter of setting up enough hotkeys.
Multiclassing offers the biped player the opportunity to become a force to be reckoned with by any measure. One can multiclass and become a successful solo hunter, a successful group hunter or both. The system is there to use. Using it wisely will allow you create a character that will provide you with many, many hours of entertainment. Enjoy the ride! J
