Alchemy and Enchanting Could Solve the Melee Tax

One of the biggest disadvantages of playing a melee class in Monsters & Memories is what I'd call the "melee tax." Without access to Gate or Spirit of Wolf (SoW), melee players are significantly more dependent on other classes for basic travel and mobility.

I think Alchemy and Enchanting could help solve this problem while creating much-needed money sinks, strengthening the player economy, and preserving the social interaction at the core of M&M's gameplay philosophy.

1. Gate Potions — Tiered Cooldowns

Gate potions could be a staple of Alchemy, with progressively shorter cooldowns depending on the potion's tier.

For example:

Tier 1: 24-hour cooldown
Tier 2: 12-hour cooldown
Tier 3: 6-hour cooldown
Tier 4: 3-hour cooldown

This would give melee classes a way to return to their bind point without always needing another player.

Gate classes would still have a significant advantage, being able to cast whenever they need to without spending money on consumables or worrying about lengthy cooldowns.

2. SoW Potions — Scaling Movement Speed

I understand that a SoW potion already exists at the higher end of Alchemy, but the ingredients required make it extremely expensive and impractical for regular use.

Rather than having one prohibitively expensive SoW potion at the end of Alchemy, I'd like to see multiple tiers of movement speed potions available throughout the leveling process.

Just as castable SoW improves as classes level, Alchemy could offer progressively stronger movement speed potions.

For example:

Tier 1: Minor movement speed increase with inexpensive ingredients.

Tier 2: Moderate movement speed with slightly more costly materials.

Tier 3: Improved movement speed requiring rarer ingredients.

Tier 4: Movement speed comparable to high-level SoW, requiring expensive or rare materials.

This would give Alchemists useful recipes throughout their progression while making lower-tier potions affordable enough for players to use regularly.

One concern is that these potions could become too powerful and reduce the incentive to seek out or tip players who can cast SoW.

A possible solution would be to disable the potion's movement speed bonus for 5 seconds whenever the player takes damage.

This would make potions useful for traveling but significantly less reliable when escaping dangerous situations. Castable SoW would remain the superior option, giving players a reason to continue seeking out those classes.

3. Enchanting — Scrolls as an Alternative

Enchanting could provide similar utility through consumable scrolls, including Gate, SoW, and potentially other useful spells.

Higher-tier scrolls could require Enchanting materials alongside rare components obtained through other tradeskills.

For example:

Enchanting materials for the magical properties.
Alchemy reagents or rare herbs.
Special parchment created through another profession.
Rare drops from specific enemies or zones.

This would create interdependency between tradeskills, encouraging players to buy, sell, and barter materials rather than having every profession operate independently.

4. Preserve Social Interaction While Creating Money Sinks

One of the things that makes M&M special is its emphasis on players needing one another. I don't think that should change.

The goal shouldn't be to eliminate player dependency. It should be to create more ways for players to depend on one another.

Instead of only seeking out someone to cast Gate or SoW, players could also seek out Alchemists and Enchanters to purchase consumables.

Those crafters would depend on other players for rare ingredients, materials, and components.

Suddenly, crafting a single potion or scroll could involve multiple players trading, bartering, and building relationships.

Higher-tier consumables could also require expensive vendor-supplied materials, creating a consistent money sink while stimulating the player-driven economy.

We're not removing social interaction. We're expanding it into the crafting economy.

5. Give Casual Players More Freedom to Explore

I think this is an especially important benefit for casual players.

Not everyone has four or five hours to dedicate to a single session. Some players might only have an hour or two after work or family responsibilities.

If you're playing a melee class without Gate, venturing too far from civilization can become a problem.

You might spend 30 minutes traveling to a distant zone, another hour exploring, and suddenly realize you have no reliable way to get back before logging off.

Do you spend the rest of your playtime running home? Log out somewhere dangerous? Or simply avoid exploring altogether?

Players shouldn't feel discouraged from exploring the world just because they don't have enough time to deal with the return trip.

A Gate potion with a 24-hour cooldown wouldn't trivialize travel, but it could give a casual player the confidence to venture farther into the world, knowing they have a limited emergency option to return home.

The world should still feel dangerous and enormous, but players shouldn't feel like they need an entire evening available just to justify leaving town.

Final Thoughts

I don't think the solution to the melee tax is giving every melee class more abilities or making everyone self-sufficient.

I think the solution is giving players more options at a cost.

Alchemy and Enchanting could accomplish several things simultaneously:

Reduce the frustrations of playing melee classes.
Create consistent money sinks and a stronger player-driven economy.
Encourage interdependency between tradeskills through rare materials and crafting components.
Preserve social interaction through player trading, bartering, and relationships with crafters.
Give casual players more freedom to explore without worrying about being stranded far from home.
Preserve class identity by making actual class abilities the superior option.

Social interaction is at the heart of Monsters & Memories, but that interaction doesn't always have to come from needing a specific class standing next to you.

Sometimes it can come from tracking down an Alchemist, negotiating with an Enchanter, or trading rare materials with other players.

That's still social gameplay, and I think it's an opportunity to make the world feel even more interconnected.

Curious what others think. Would tiered Gate and SoW consumables undermine class identity, or could the costs and limitations make them a reasonable compromise?