Prestige Classes
 

I imagine folks have given thoughts to creating custom classes. I know one would have to make changes then compile the world.exe. What I am wondering is ideas on creating more powerful versions of current classes with additional cross class features and not enabling the new classes until say max level with X AA then reset the character to level 1 with 0 AA in new classes.

You cannot create new classes as they would not work with the client.

You can! What makes a class, a class? There are many answers but for now I will will use a simple definition: the ROLE that character plays. Role could be defined by the abilities (spells, disciplines and skills) available. All of this can be modified to some degree without touching the source.

Using Perl or Lua you can control what spells a character has.

Once Wrath opens Enlightened Dark again, check out some of the awesome things he has done with custom classes.

Wrath has actually modified the source I believe, but no, you cannot create a class from scratch as the Sony developers did with Berserker or another class.

/facepalm
I am starting to think you are just a troll with amount of misinformation you spew.

Misinformation? You cannot create a class from scratch because you cannot make beyond a 16th class, you'd have to re-make the client to allow for a 17th, or nth class. How am I trolling by saying you can't create an entirely new class?

Read what the OP said again. They are not asking for a 17th class. Everything he/she wants to do IS possible. I believe the reason you think this requires a 17th+ class is a lack of knowledge.

Actually, no, I was just stating that it's impossible to create a 17th class, are you insulting me out of anger or something? Because it's rather childish.

Or you're just very very fucking stupid.

This is my last post towards you sir. I suspect you are immutable. If you were insulted by someone pointing out that you are wrong then I hope you come to get past that.

With enough time and effort someone could create a patch to add more classes, so you are now wrong on all counts. Go learn about game modding, people modify game code all the time to make all kinds of cool things happen.

Drajor is right, also, could possibly inject patches, or build a standalone client.

Sorry to cause a fight in forums. You both answered my question. I want to make an improved version of each class to replace original once character reached a set of conditions. What I picked up is yes I could update a class but I would not be able to access original class so my end goal is not feasible or at least not easily feasible. Thank you.

There is many ways to approach this. Without fully exploring it here is roughly what my first attempt would be.
- Add an extra field to character_ or other table that has an association with a character. Call it class2.
- When a character reaches max level, give them a choice of next classes, store this in class2.
- Modify combat/spell code to handle things differently depending on class2.
- Spell/Disc learning would most likely need to be handled via server/script and would again look at class2.
- Equipment will be the hardest to do well. But again there are heaps of options. You could add a new field to the items table to constrain items to certain class2 types. The client will not know about this data so it will allow players to equip things that do no belong to the class. However, on the server you can look at how stats/bonuses are calculated from a characters inventory and put class2 checks in there. Another way would be to hijack the diety system and use that to both constrain the client and make bonus calculation easier on the server side. (There may also be a way with required skill on items .. I don't know much about this yet).

More knowledgeable folk then me may know more elegant approaches as well.

It is completely possible yes. How I personally went about it was completely changing the available classes into something different. As stated above, yes I did change the source around some to adequately achieve what I wanted. I simply used the original bit types of the 16 classes and changed them into what I wanted. Example monk = bit type 64, which is my Myrmidon class, an ascension to the Champion. I wanted both the champion and myrmidon to have the berserker frenzy ability while below 20% which resulted in a source change. My original warrior class is the Assassin, an ascension of the Blackguard, which I did not want to have the berserker frenzy and thus needed to be removed. Skills were also completely changed, allowing some of the original caster type classes the ability to DW or double attack.

Just playing with the 16 original slots gives you endless possibilities. Some of the original casters for me are now viable tanks, dealing great damage and taking hits accordingly with the change of softcaps. Just revamping the AA abilities into something new will also give you the ability to implement cross class features.

What Drajor said holds 100% true. A class is defined by the ROLE you want them to have. This can be done as simply as changing spells, skills and AAs. The only thing you would want to keep in mind is their innate source coded abilities such as berserker frenzy below 20%, innate crit %s, avoidances, archery damage and etc. With a little bit of ingenuity and imagination there are endless possibilities with what's available right now.

On DiabloQuest, we have done the same thing. We have taken the original 16 classes and modified them and changed them to fit the Diablo theme. For example we changed Beastlord to Amazon and Shadow Knight to Barbarian. Doing this we also were forced to change the skills as well. It is a long, sometimes tedious process, but if your willing to sink the work into it, it can go a long way.

As for changing the class once a character hits a certain level, we did it differently, we went the Diablo III route, and award "Paragon" levels at that point.