Broadly I agree, but I want to make some personal notes:

- I feel like Hand-2-Hand should be its' own weapon skill line or guild skill line imo? It should be a thing you can just do - if it requires weapons, handwraps shouldn't be that hard and could even be outright invisible.

- I'd also say that it might actually be better to - at least to an extent - go back to the style of the original classes and not have things *wholly* locked into "This is the DPS line/This is the Healing line/This is the Tank line". That's just me though.

That said, a Dwemer Delver class has a *lot* of potential both as a pure class and a subclass setup:

Tonal Magic, like you said - mostly healing and buffing abilities based around sonic magics could easily help people working for a Bard theme, but are also internally coherent with...

Dwemer Constructs - A pet skill line based around summoning well... Dwemer Constructs. (Please, at least some of them be perma-pets...)

Devices - Utility kit based around adventuring gear - some with Dwemer tech, some more generic; maybe a whip that can snag enemies and draw them to you; a deployable dwemer Cuirass for defense, oil slick bottle that can be set on fire with fire or shock damage... you get the idea

So if you're a pure class, you're basically an Indiana Jones/Mad Scientist mashup who plumbs the depths of the numerous Dwemer ruins and uses their ingenious treasures for their own ends.

If you're a subclass preferrer, you can have pet robots, adventuring tools or sonic magics

That's just IMO of course! Not meant to invalidate your idea, just putting my own two cents in.

Interesting point actually, because pre subclassing I was of the opinion that Warden is a very disjointed class. The skill lines are cool and enjoyable, but they don't mesh that well together at all imo. Winter's embrace especially sticking out like a sore thumb - "I'm a druid who's into animals and nature! Oh and now I'm a frost mage."

But with subclassing it's actually the class that offers the most variety and has something for everyone. So yes, I guess there needs to be a different approach to class design, now that subclassing is here. That is if classes happen anymore at all. For the same reasons, devs might decide that making only separate skill lines is the way to go forward.

Gladiator class with incredibly strong blunt force physical damage skills who can literally slap weapons out of your hand while simultaneously splitting your skull in half... please.

I do prefer a consistent theme, but I just want a new Class.

Although I do find it interesting that your example of Tonal Magic, Dwemer Summons, and Unarmed already has two of the three lines nicely linked in an Artificer. I'd just swap out the damage line to involve traps and grenades and you have a great themed class there.
(sidenote, that could also bring something new. Summons as a tank line where you can pop up pets that either attack like the Sorc scamp or tether heal like the Necro ghost, and then putting in a summonable armor are all things from other lines - good idea for a Dwemer artificer tank line, but nothing really new. Same with a bunch of AoE buffs/debuffs that a tonal line could bring. But we really don't have anything that acts as a trap fighter in any classes yet - I'm envisioning a settable trap that you can trigger with a button press, instead of the traps we currently have in the Sorc and NB and guild lines which trigger when an enemy steps on it.)

I'll keep saying it though: what people want from a Monk class is an unarmed weapon line, not a Class. Everyone's envisioning a martial artist who could realistically have any other Class' powers (Templar for light, Warden/DK/Sorc for elemental stuff, etc). They're not envisioning a heavily-armored beast with a greataxe who practices feng shui. A Class in ESO needs to allow players to use any armor and any weapon.

The thing about a new weapon though, particularly the ideas of unarmed or 1H only, is that both are already possible in the game, if ineffective. That would probably mean that if either was made into a weapon line (which they should eventually!) that it would need to be a free update like Subclassing was. A Class, however, can be a paid exclusive DLC thing, since the three Classes so far have all been.

TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »

Better idea: Do not add new classes, just add Skill Lines that everyone can make use of.

But now with Subclassing, everyone can make use of them.

Adding a new Class is essentially adding three skill lines, and also a way to allow people to start from scratch if they choose to, but also slot those lines on existing characters if they choose to.

mistformsquirrel wrote: »

- I'd also say that it might actually be better to - at least to an extent - go back to the style of the original classes and not have things *wholly* locked into "This is the DPS line/This is the Healing line/This is the Tank line". That's just me though.

This! Those dedicated role lines make it far too easy to push the limits. If you spread your tools and passives across the lines you'd have to make trade offs when subclassing. But with the dlc class design it's simply "you're dps? take the dps lines and be better off than before"

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I do prefer the basegame version of the Classes having a consistent theme, but not being strict on roles.

Even then, base game Classes have different themes in each skill line that contribute to a similar identity. For instance, Templar — Aedric Spear is about using spears and shields of light, Dawn's Wrath is about burning enemies with sunlight, and Restoring Light is about using Restoration magic. All three share a similar color scheme and contribute to the same general idea, that being a "paladin" type who is all about light.

I do agree that maybe future Classes should be less strict about which skill line is best for which role. Using the example from Templar, you can use Aedric Spear for tanking (Sun Shield), damage dealing (Puncturing Strikes), or healing/support (Spear Shards). Compare that to Arcanist's skill lines, which share common themes between each skill line, but each skill line is strictly dedicated to just one role.


As long as our 8th Class can do all three roles with the three skill lines it's given, there's no reason to assign just one role to each skill line. After all, Winter's Embrace is both a tanking and a damage dealer skill line, just like Aedric Spear.

Jestir wrote: »

Nah

The worst thing about the warden is it being a thematic abomination

They should make an Ice mage theme as the new class and swap out the Frost skill line of the warden with something new.