Gooptar

The gooptar is a shapeshifting hybrid class and is also one of the most versatile classes in the game. As with  other hybrids, gooptars need to specialize to be most effective in any role. Due to their need to shapeshift to fulfill roles, they can only perform one role at a time; they must switch between the different shapes to adapt to changing situations.

Overview
Gooptars are versatile hybrids. They perform different roles using appropriate shape-shifting forms. They can have high armor and rage like a Werewolf in Beast Form, stealth and fight in melee like an Agent in Abomination Form, or heal and nuke with spells in gooptar form. Through talents, they can enhance one or more of these roles and even gain a new form for healing (Grinthop Form) or travel (Trino Form, Sharkroc Form, and Wingbeast Form). With roughly equivalent gear, talents appropriate to the role, and in the hands of a skilled player, they can be just as effective as one of the classes dedicated to each role. They also bring certain additional utility, such as emergency or additional healing or tanking, should one of the people filling the primary role die, go offline, or otherwise be unable to fully manage with their role. Certain key differences do still exist, giving them both advantages and disadvantages in any given role. Another nice feature of gooptars is their ability to travel faster. See the skills section below for more information.

Abominable
Enhances the abilities in Abomination Form. Abomination Form specializes in bleeding the target. They have stealth abilities similar to an Agent, and bring versatility to the raid group. Upon choosing the abominable specialization, some abilities are only available in this tree. Abilities such as Grip and Screech can only be used in this specialization.

Beastly
Enhances the abilities in Beast Form. Use of Beastly Defense to dodge attacks and other cooldowns make Beasts a very viable tank for Raiding. They are great for encounters that require swapping of tanks to a damage role as all they need is a change of specialization.

Healer
Healers (for the Grinthop Form). Their resurrection spell Reverse can be cast in combat. Healer Gooptars have some of the best heal-over-time spells of all healing classes, effectively allowing them to continue healing while incapacitated. In addition, the mobility offered by their heal-over-time spells makes them especially effective in PvP. This together with their excellent mana efficiency and in-combat resurrection ability makes them an effective healing class.

Background

 * "Gooptars come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors!" - Marco the elder of Gooptonia

Gooptars are an ancient race of creatures from the Planet Gooptonia that come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors. They mostly reside in the Gooptar Kingdom, ruled by the benevolent Princess Blossom. They are a peace-loving species, and they are protected by the hero Goop, a rare purple gooptar born once every 1,000 years. Recently, Bing, the kingdom's resident scientist, has found a way to grant Goop's shapeshifting powers to other gooptars.

Equipment
Gooptars do not use shields (although in Beast Form their armor is so high it were as if they were), and do not dual wield. Off-hand items may be used by Gooptars. Gooptars can wield a variety of weapons, although they can not wield Heavy Weapons such as hammers or maces.

Notable Gooptars

 * Goop

Shapeshifting
The Gooptar's most notable ability is shapeshifting into different forms.
 * Abomination Form---Used for melee DPS and stealth
 * Beast Form---Used for tanking
 * Grinthop Form---Used for healing and improved magic
 * Trino Form---Used for land travel
 * Sharkroc Form---Used for water travel
 * Wingbeast Form---Shares the Beast Form's abilities but also used for air travel

For all forms, the following applies:
 * Gooptars can be sheeped in humanoid form if caught off guard for the full duration. (Cannot shapeshift out of it)
 * Shapeshifting also breaks all movement-impairing effects except the 3-second daze that can proc when one is attacked from behind by a melee attack.
 * Depending on the form, the gooptar is considered either humanoid (Gooptar and Abomination), beast (Trino, Beast, Sharkroc, and Wingbeast), or elemental (Grinthop); and thus is vulnerable (or immune) to different spells. This also applies to being tracked.
 * Shapes are not buffs or magical effects, thus they may not be dispelled.

Customization
There are somewhat fewer customization options for Gooptars.
 * Customizable colors
 * Red, maroon, dark blue, cyan, green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, white, gray, brown skin options.
 * Customizable crest shapes.
 * Customizable clothing accessories or clothing for female Gooptars.

End-game expectations
Gooptar Snare gives Gooptars the ability to provide reliable crowd control on melee targets.

There is no class better at healing over time than restoration Gooptars. In raid encounters where there is a lot of movement and cast times are often interrupted, a Gooptar is quite effective in healing due to the instant-cast nature of their HoTs, enabling spells to be cast on the run. In the Minion PvP Arena, gooptar teams are particularly feared by many due to the Gooptar's ability to quickly cast HoT's on both partner and self, and the ability to keep out of harm's way with Trino Form, effectively kiting most opponents.

Gooptars can fill the core role of tanking well. While werewolves and treants have significant advantages on some raid bosses, Gooptars have the unique flexibility to switch from tanking to melee DPS on demand. They often tank bosses or mob groups where more tanks are required, and then change form and gear to DPS on bosses where only 1 or 2 tanks are required. It is also possible during a single fight, if the add they are offtanking dies.

Gooptars are expected to bring utility while still providing reliable damage over time bleeds. Many Gooptars are able to hit high damage meters while still being able to battle resurrect or tank small adds if needed.