It seems that most skills in different cities are simply mirrored all around. I think it would be nice if a guild's skills were TRULY unique, this would make being in one guild a really unique experience, and it would make combat much more interesting. Another suggestion would be for every guild to have certain resistances/weaknesses to other guilds, buts thats another topic.

I think they're more different than you're giving them credit for, actually... and I think it's fair to say that some guilds -do- have certain resistances/weaknesses to others.. it's just not explicitly stated - it's what ends up happening.

pretty much, i know wiccan's and guardians have a weakness to wounding warriors, but then again most warriors are easily webbed and mana drained.

Judging by your post count, it looks like you're relatively new to the forums and/or the game. I'm not sure of how much you know so I'll just say some random stuff.

Every novice skill is shared by another guild. Novice skills are the skills you have access to in the beginning like Cosmic, Nature, Totems, Knighthood, etc. However, when you reach Master rank in the skill (about 180 lessons or so), you get the option to choose a "specialized" skill which is most of the time unique to your guild depending on what it is. Aquamancers get Aquamancy from Elementalism; Shadowdancers get Wicca (the shadowy version) from Nature; and warriors get to choose out of four weapon specializations (although these are shared by all warrior guilds).

Yes, some skills are mirrored like Drawdown in Moon and Nightkiss in Night, but there are many, many others which are different.

I have had much time, I just never used the forums. I just seemed to notice and wondered what all of you thought about this.

You noticed incorrectly.

Taking a peek at your character's honors, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the skills you have and the skills of similarly equipped opposing characters are going to be mostly identical, just because you're using mostly pre-spec skills.

Otherwise, no. Warriors function very similarly across the board. Aside from them, Celestines and Nihilists along with Hartstone and Blacktalon have fairly similar mechanics. Step beyond that and the similarities drop away fast.

Let's take your guild, the Aquamancers, and the guild that shares your archetype, the Geomancers.

They both have demesnes. That's a characteristic of the archetype. Your demesne splits up groups, strips away defenses, stuns, and freezes (which contributes to the possibility of an instakill on your part). The geomancer demesne hinders movement like mad, deals significant damage, and causes hunger (which prevents prolonged combat in the demesne unless well prepared). Aquamancers rely almost solely on damage kills. The geomancer staff has a more resisted damage type, but they have a time-based instakill to support them. Really, once you get past the "demesne" label, you'll find they're very different in practice. If you don't buy it, then you can extend the comparison to the other demesne holders, the druids, and be hard pressed to find similarities beyond "demesne" (extremely different in this case) and the ability to attack from a distance.

I know who Kinosh is The skills in each guild mirror each other in some aspects, but differ in their 'theme'... at least, I think for the Aquas and Geos. Like the Aquas don't have as many damaging attacks and have more healing, and the opposite is true for Geos. Well other then that, it'd be too late to change the skills at this point in the game. The guilds just have to work on their 'rp' to make themselves truly distinctive.

You just said they were opposites.. doesn't that make them distinctive?

For those that don't know, we are having our first ever Envoy Summit this weekend as we are going to enter an extended period of focusing all our coding resources on balancing player combat. If you have suggestions (and I know you do!), I strongly suggest you contact your Envoy and give him or her your opinions and ideas.

Whats an envoy summit as apposed to the normal envoy routine?

They all gather together and chat, rather than simply work from the envoy reports?

damnit, I just know all my suggestions and the suggestions I like are not going to be brought up...

I hope someone at the summit is able to remember all the small seemingly less important changes that people in the excitment of the bigger discussions that will be going on.

Just make sure to let your envoy know what you want brought up, and what you feel is most important.

Or you could check project 117, which I'm keeping relatively up to date with all the suggestions people care to give me (that aren't completely outrageous, at least!)

Pleeeease adress Runes!

Oh goody.. I was told project 117 was the Melanchthons old stuff that was allreayd submitted... Prepare for messages!

We kill all the envoys and use their bodies for a mountain.

I'm much too easily amused, the mental image I got of that made me laugh for a good five minutes straight.

Do all the cities/communes have their envoy suggestions/reports up in a project for public viewing?

This is the sole discretion of each envoy, and they're usually only set up in projects for their own guilds if the envoy decides to do so.