Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-110.146.149.161-20150813074512/@comment-25555436-20150901185906

Game balancing? Since when does eliminating the possibility to opt for a more versatile route counts as game balancing?

If you got a mage, it should be capable of using everything a mage can do, provided they know how. They balance themselves since by not specializing, they would be weaker in specific areas than someone who did, and yet are not at a disadvantage since versatility gives them an edge against a greater variety of situations.

Hell, if you don't want someone to be capable of throwing fireballs and giving support, just divide the 2 things on different classes of magic, or in other words, making each School be available to a different class.

Put Elemental, for example, for the control of the elements for damage and CC along with a bit of support, Psionic for mind-related abilities like mind-control or telekinesis, Natural for nature attacks such as plant control and healing, Divine for Light or Dark based magic along with some buffs/debuffs, and Anormal for magic that doesn't fall under the other schools and provides a variety of effects such as turning someone into a frog or become invisible.

Note: Not saying they should be named as such.

In practice, each class would only be able to use 1 School, but would be capable of choosing wether to specialize in 1 thing (Pure-Damage Elemental Mage) or not (Damage+Support Elemental Mage). That way, they would be limited only by the reasonable limits of their chosen school, and not because of some ass-pulled attempt at balancing.

Really, it's so simple.

Hybrid classes can be there to offer an even less specialized but more versatile option. A mage would never be good with a sword, but a Swordmage can. While on the other hand, a Swordmage will never beat a Mage at magic.