A lot of those choices have to do with character creation.

AC is applauded for its skill based system as opposed to a class based
system.

By making Spec. mean... well, NOTHING, you remove some of the wonder of AC.
You remove some of the choices. You remove a lot of the customizability of
the game.

And, you do a disservice to your customers who thought that the game was
well thought out.

I've played a lot of RPG's from pen and paper AD&D to Thunderscape to
Baldur's Gate to whatever. And its clear the Turbine staff... hasn't.

Specialization in any system means that you sacrifice flexibilty for narrow
power. You do not get to pick locks, or appraise weapon, or cast spells if
you Specialize in one or two particular areas.

You have it tougher in some areas so that you have it easier in one area.

In Asheron's call, this is not the case.

If you specialize, you are as handicapped as if you did not take item magic.
You are a broken character. You have made a design flaw that cannot be
rectified.

Because, to put it bluntly, charcters who specialize are, plain and simple,
weaker than their counterparts that did not specialize.

If you specialize - the exact opposite of what should happen, happens. You
are made weaker for no gain.

You are made weaker for assuming that the developers knew how RPG systems
work.

In some cases, it is clearly obvious. A four school mage is clearly, in
every conceivable way, superior to a mage with only three schools and one of
those is specialized.

In other ways, it is not so obvious. But still clear that spec. is no where
near equal to the expenditure in skill points.

Two warriors are in a room where an Olthoi Noble spawns. They have identical
weapons, are the same level. All their primary attributes are the same.
Lets just pretend that neither has item.

One is spec in their weapon and melee defense, the other is not.

In a well built system, the one spec in his weapon and melee defense would

a. consistently get loot rights on the noble.

b. take less damage.

And you know what?

a 10-20 point difference in skill in both of these areas makes not a whit of
differnce.

if you were to do 1000 fights, you might see a small, barely noticeable
difference in the two fighters.

But certainly not enough to justify the 12-18 skill credit expenditure.
Certainly not enough to say in any other game system "See, this guy is a
SPECIALIST!!!"

And once the fighting is done? One of the fighters can probably pick locks
in another part of the dungeon, identify the armor and weapons he got off
the noble, and avoid arrows better thanks to his worthless missledefense he
was able to take.

Its pretty simple.

The patch does nothing to fix Spec. And therefore, the word should get out
that Spec is worthless, and much like the Vagabond, shouldn't be played. You
are severly handicapping yourself if you specialize in anything but very
cheap things, like Arcane lore.

Which means less diversity in charcters, less choices at startup, and less
originality in everyone.

Thats a bad thing.

later

Jamie
Ranter
Druss