First of all, I thank you for the level of criticism here, especially when it can further open discussion. I like compliments, but honest critique is what I really wish to see.
That being said, I don’t ‘throw anything together’ without some amount of forethought,but if you really want to know the What, How, and Why, then I’d be more than happy to provide it. In order:
What? As a Jeweler: to maximize the efficiency of a role.
How? Improve the most customizable aspect of an equipment set; the rings.
Why? Encourage accessory variety; they typically are used for defense or health boosts, and many UT rings’ boosts are too small to be noticed. Furthermore, it improves the often scarce boost provided by some weapons.
What? As an Oracle: Increase the survivability of players without boosting health or defense.
How? Make it easier to dodge projectiles.
Why? Making other players take damage less frequently allows them to do their job without needing to retreat, increasing the pace of the game without putting too much risk on other players.
What? As a Dryad: Allowing safe movement
How? Create defensive barriers.
Why? To create ‘breathing room’ in active fights without disengaging combat outright. Furthermore, allowing ease of traversal in high-risk terrain by nullifying damage or speed drops.
What? As a Bird Tamer: Crowd control without inflicting slow or paralyze
How? Long-distance tanking and offense
Why? There are already two other bow users who affect enemy movement; this class nullifies the offensive capabilities instead of movement, while still dealing decent damage over time.
What? As an Apothecary: Crowd control that focuses towards players rather than enemies
How? Long distance healing
Why? To assist a crowd of players even while far away from combat, as well as to protect them from gaining status ailments briefly.
What? As a Gambler: Highly variable damage that is not wasted if it inflicts little damage.
How? Utilizing Frenzy.
Why? Since the Gambler is the slowest dagger class and has the lowest dexterity, their kit allows them to inflict a lot of potential damage very quickly without needing to stay for very long. If this variable damage is very low, the Frenzy might at least inflict potent damage on non-targets.
What? As a Wyrm Rider: Safely approach and attack mobs with a short-range weapon.
How? An ability that closes the gap very quickly and dampens their damage.
Why? Sword classes all help neutralize enemies as quickly as possible, and the Wyrm Rider’s whip lets her attach herself to an enemy, while also making all her shots pierce enemies.
What? As a Tactician: Help players approach enemies.
How? Increase player’s range
Why? Players won’t need to be as close to enemies to inflict damage, and they will also have more space to retreat.
What? As a Lancer: A heavy damage dealer that can escape quickly.
How? A powerful charge attack that armors the user.
Why? There are many classes that attack with a projectile in a line, but none make use of that as a movement option.
What? As a Valkyrie: A magic-support class that does not outright heal magic, and is also usable on its own.
How? Decrease the cost of ability items, and decrease enemy attack power.
Why? Recovering magic is an excessively tricky thing to balance, as pets have proven. Decreasing item cost makes it easier to use frequently, but it still must be used wisely because mana recovers at a normal rate. With no other factor, this would be useless on its own, so decreasing enemy attack power makes her worthwhile alone.
What? As a Banneret: Encourage players to huddle close, and benefit them for doing so.
How? Reduce their damage taken while within the ability’s radius.
Why? By staying close together, they are much easier to heal, apply status buffs, etc. This can also take advantage of fights where players would be in close proximity anyway.
What? As a Ronin: A katana class that best utilizes heavy armor.
How? An ability that does not improve movement, but instead attack power.
Why? The class does not need to worry about staying too long in combat, and can capitalize on this with continuous fire. This is why their ability creates a slash that is shorter than the equipped katana; because the heavy armor comes with a playstyle that is better equipped for it.
What? As a Ritualist: A katana class that best utilizes robes, and can find use in wearing the Tlatoani.
How? Damage sharing and healing.
Why? The decreased defenses of robes is a secret boon that increases the possible damage that can be inflicted, while the heal allows for the Ritualist to return to battle more quickly. The healing is not solely player-focused, because that is not really necessary in a co-op game like Realm.
What? As a Mimic: A katana class that can utilize no armor, as well as one that fits as the ‘final’ class
How? First by utilizing magic as a health pool, and second by allowing her to copy the abilities of other players.
Why? Her poor defenses can be mitigated with a shield that inflicted magic damage, protecting her immensely against burst damage. Furthermore, with 28 characters and 3 armor categories, there would naturally be one remainder; it makes thematic sense for this last character to somehow be able to utilize any armor, without directly equipping it.
The reasons that they are made were a lot more specific than the ones for your Kyoshi class (which I would personally recommend be the “Kabuki” class, as “Kyoshi” is pretty clearly based on Avatar characters), but they were most certainly there before the classes themselves were made, as was their playstyle. I would argue that most characters do have a definitive playstyle and that UTs are there specifically for them to assume a new, yet similar, role. But that’s the subject of another long and rambling essay.
That being said, I’m happy that you brought it up so that I could spend way more time than ever was necessary to break down every single character. I’m also happy that you like my sprites; I mean, I do still like compliments. I’d also like to know what parallels you find with TF2 or Overwatch, especially since I’ve never played the former and play the latter very often.
So, yeah.
