I think this class system should more accurately be called Weapon Proficiency. From what was shown in the preview, defeating monsters with a specific weapon grants weapon proficiency points, which you can spend to unlock powerful weapon skills and weapon passives. In that sense, it is not really a class system. I mean no disrespect to the dev team; these are just my observations. In my opinion, a true class mechanic should only manifest its distinct class identity once you master a certain weapon.
The Six Factions: I could not see any faction synergy demonstrated in the video. What I saw instead was a list of weapons grouped under each faction. To unlock certain weapon skills and passives, you need to complete faction quests. What I hope to see instead: each faction has 4 associated weapons, and equipping/using weapons from two weapons of the same faction triggers faction bonuses. For example, if I belong to the Handless Covenant, I strike enemies with a dagger first, then finish them off with a scythe. This finishing blow would get a 20% damage boost to the execute skill. That would make factions feel meaningful — faction weapons should grant mutual buffs, that’s the whole point of factions.
These thoughts are not made in bad faith, merely my opinions on the Class System preview for No Rest for the Wicked.
1. No, if you actually watched the class system showcase, you’d know that your playstyle isn’t simply determined by your weapon.
Classes have traits, runes, and other elements that define how you play.
In the showcase, you can see that even while wielding daggers, you can still use the Dragoon’s Skyward and continue playing like a Dragoon. Does an Assassin necessarily have to use daggers to be an Assassin? If you’re sneaking around, turning invisible, and silently assassinating enemies with a one-handed sword, aren’t you still playing as an Assassin?
The abilities that let you sneak around, check enemy detection ranges, and turn invisible are all obtained through the Assassin class, not from a weapon.
You can no longer equip multiple main weapons, so I think it’s safe to say weapon swapping is gone as well.
However, the developers said they’ll share more details about the improved loadout system later.
Because of that, I don’t think synergies between factions are really necessary, especially if they just amount to something like “increases skill damage by X%.”
Hello friend. I understand you mentioned that multiple weapons can be swapped, but in reality, the character can access passive runes from different weapons. Ideally, the devs could turn these into class traits: allowing two offensive traits, two defensive traits, one support trait, and one enhancement trait.
However, this would create an undesirable dynamic. During early progression, players would gravitate toward weapons with overpowered runes—whether that weapon’s passive runes or its active runes. For example, if the spear has a strong active rune: once you level up spear proficiency enough to unlock that active rune, you can later switch to a dagger while still using the spear’s active skill. This would make levelling dagger proficiency far easier. This design is problematic because it pushes new players into locking themselves into a small set of meta weapons right from the start.
I also have a question about golden gear. Normally, golden items come with four fixed runes. From what I’ve seen in previews, characters have 8 active rune slots total. Does that mean golden gear keeps its four fixed rune slots, while the remaining four slots are free to equip class skill runes?
If that is not the case, and each individual weapon is still capped at only four rune slots, then golden gear would not be able to make use of class skill runes at all. (When I say class skill runes here, I am referring to active skills.)
