My users and i have had VERY long conversations about skills in ta...
I had a go at a modified ta1 game, and i received a ton of suggestions.
First i'll say, that a "new" ta, similar to TA1 would not be rejected. With the improvements that you've made, i think it'd be teriffic. I'm always getting mixed reviews about modifications to the game. There's a lot of players out there that want plain old TA back. Not a new game with the same name. Personally, i'd like to see a nicely modified game, that sticks to the old principles.
Anyway, back to the point.
Have a look at
http://www.bbs.undrground.org/forum/vie ... 74b5174d2b
Lots of suggestions there. Some of which we'd coded on the old source, and the old game data files. Some are simple item changes, potions, spells, others are in depth skill changes.
Things like camoflage for hunters, a combo hide/sneak for rogues, the implementation of a surprise attack for rogues, special attacks for warriors.
Personally, i play a hunter. I've always played a hunter, i can offer a lot of suggestions for that class.
I've played a lot of rogues in other games, i can offer a lot there too.
Hunter:
Camoflage. Allows the hunter to go un-seen while standing still.
Reasonable tame level increase. How about basing tame on, you know, the hunters skill, rather than some random number, vs his level, and capped such that it becomes useless at level 14 or so.
Hunters should be able to use bows as an alternate weapon, and then archers should be ditched.
Rogue:
The skillful attack should be replaced with a surprise attack used to initiate combat. Maybe add in some combat ability to help offset the loss of the skillful attack.
The rogue should be able to hide, and in order to hide, and move, sneak should be implemented.
The rogue should also need to be hidden in order to backstab, or rob.
Dual wield? Why not give rogues, and warriors dual wield for one handed weapons?
We've also toyed with stats, and monster hp's. We removed the stat cap, and started upping stat increases, but then to compensate, we made monsters much tougher. Seemed to be working well, this never saw players though.
My TA project is pretty much dead, so i thought i might offer some of the feedback and other good ideas to you. If you can implement half of it, and present it in a package where we can build worlds, i'd be much happier building my world, on your engine. I just dont have the time or patience to chase bugs, and fix mistakes that were made in the TA code over a decade ago.