Archmages arent melee machines afterall

[mongoose]

There were a number of people who thought that between the cinematic trailer and Pauls usual overboard hyping of the class and emphasising being able to "kick some serious with a staff" in close quarters, that Archmages would be real Loremasters (i.e. being good at healing, RDPS AND melee DPS)

Well the description from the Careers page (http://www.warhammeronline.com/english/gameInfo/armiesofWAR/HighElves/Careers/Archmage.php)tells the true story and completely contradicts that point of view:

Fighting the Archmage
As with all magic users, the Archmage is not a capable close combatant. You’re best tactic one-on-one is to quickly close the distance and drop him with powerful close combat attacks. In a group situation, an Archmage is best countered by forcing him to use his powerful healing on wounded allies early on. Unable to build up a magical reserve from casting lesser destructive magics, the Archmage will find himself exhausted and his allies will be easily overcome with a strong final assault.


Once again this proves you should take literally EVERYTHING Paul says with a grain of salt.

[Evil_Sandwich]

I agree, Paul adds a lot of exaggeration and hyperboles to his Podcasts and I feel that people are choosing the wrong man to disect words and attempt to pick up hints and clues from.

[Rowhin]

I guess most of us would have seen that already, but well. We know Paul contradicted himself a number of times in the past, and we also know that everything is subject to change at this moment, so we shouldn't take anything he says as set in stone.
But on the other hand, what do we have to speculate on but the things that the Devs tell us? ;)

[senmance]

Well, there is still a possibility that Archmages will get some staff-based melee skills. Obviously they aren't going to be a melee hybrid, but he may have been referring to that.

[Vaeronthar]

But on the other hand, what do we have to speculate on but the things that the Devs tell us? ;)
Garth's cup noodles.

[ChosenOne]

Once again this proves you should take literally EVERYTHING Paul says with a grain of salt.

You know, I dont think its limited to just Paul. These guys really love what they are doing and what they are building. When they talk about it they genuinely get excited. But sometimes that tends to lead to embelishments or saying too much about a subject that could possibly be changed in the future.

I think Mythic has done great with that now by giving us general ideas of whats coming but not details because those are subject to change but even then, what someone says today might be changed tomorrow.

[KroqGar]

Garth's cup noodles.

Who told you of the secrets of the Garthilk!?!

[marzipan]

Well, there is still a possibility that Archmages will get some staff-based melee skills. Obviously they aren't going to be a melee hybrid, but he may have been referring to that.

That's a good idea, having some getting-out-of-trouble-by-hitting-the-enemy-over-the-head-with-my-staff abilities would make sense.

[Dastion]

From what we have seen about some of the other ranged careers, while they do not have much melee capability, they DO seem to have a couple of close-range only abilities for when things get rough.

For example, if you look on warhammerinfo.com or war-resource yo ucan see that the Bright Wizard's Funnel Power ability combined with the damage add and damage shield he seems to have some usefulness for if the Bright Wizard gets into melee and is facing so much interruption he cannot cast. Sure, he's not as his best, but it allows him to use his staff to keep on fighting.

Another example is the Magus' Disc which can launch retaliatory attacks on those who fight the Magus, combine that with the ability that gives the Magus nigh invulnerability and he won't be utterly useless in melee combat.

As far as Archmages go, I would like to see some sort of defensive stance where you drain AP to increase your parry chances or else a staff strike that has a knockback, knockdown, or stun effect, ect. The Goblin Shaman has Eeek! which is great for when people start to converge on him, so hopefully we see something similar for support careers like the Archmage.

[GrandOne]

Man, that's whipping the obvious

[RX_Odhinn]

I don't expect the Archmage to be any kind of a melee fighter. If I recall, when some of the developers were asked about the melee capabilities of this class, most of them just said "Go watch the cinematic". So I'm guessing the Archmage will have some sort of parry stance they can go into for defense. I do hope however that, like the Bright Wizard, they get some kind of funnel ability to add some good magic damage to their basic staff attacks for when the distance does get closed.