General: Editorial: Evolution of Classes

dragon733

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Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

The class system is dieing. It is not they way of the future. More and more MMO's need to be more open ended and allow more options for players to play they way THEY wish to play, cobbling together skills they wish to have.

The class system is also what has lead to this notion of "end game", Endgame, technically in a mmo doesn’t exist, its a lie created by players (This is what they preceive, but they have not seen all content, its just that they are gated from particapating in said missed content becouse of level or power restrictions) . For some reason, developers are feeding this term.

More open systems of play, with more options on how you wish to play with be the future of mmo's. Levels have only ever caused issues with development, such as "end game" and "lack of content".
The use of a class system from DnD (PnP not online) was a mistake, in The original DnD systems the GM created the content, this was a never ending supply. In an MMO this is not the case, the content is static, and never changing regardless of the players ability or actions, hence the reason you see the "lack of content" statement. In PnP DnD this would never have been a phrase used, because that state was imposable to achieve, due to the fact that the game (The GM) would adapt to you.

The only saving grace from this is the skill based system, where instead of the game adapting to you, you adapt to the game, and the situation you are in, That cant be done with linear progression of skills and levels.

I couldn't have said it better myself!!!

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Originally posted by saker

I very much hope that you're right, I deeply dislike the class system and am hopeful that this old lame system will die sooner rather then later. I beleive people will always prefer the freedom of a skill based system. I think the only real reason the class system has existed this long is its easier on developers, and the money-men (the ruin of all good gaming) are always pushing to get that product out the door 3 months ago (and at well before it's actually ready to be shipped). But then it's also high time that the box-on-the-shelf model of selling games was thrown out the door.

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I agree with you also. I too think that classes make a game much less fun, and hope that they soon become a way of the past. I definitely like the freedom of skill systems in MMOs, and most of the people that I've talked to like skill-based games rather than restricting class systems.

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Originally posted by gooner
funny, in the whole article, no mention of SWG. Pre NGE it was the archetype of how to run characters, you could play a pure crafter fairly easily, and the image designer and entertainer became integral to the game in a unique way. coupling this to the combined auction/ vendor mechanism you had an almost perfect internal economy. The skill system worked a dream as well.

just a comment on how it was the best system and as far as I can gather has not been replictaed anywhere.

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I definitely think that the system in Pre NGE Star Wars Galaxies was one of the best. The unique and integral skills within the general and specialized classes did make the game good. The auction/vendor system did make for a good internal economy, however it was extremely difficult to sell products within a small area quickly, without having to wait for an auction/sale to end after an amount of time. I haven't seen this system replicated anywhere either, although Saga of Ryzom has definitely come up with an amazing skill-based game. However, I think that soon SoR will sink into the ranks with the dozens of the other past-their-time MMOs, making way to newer, more up-to-date MMOs. Hopefully the class system will become a thing of the past, and make way to a similar kind of system used in Pre NGE SWG/Saga of Ryzom.

dragon733

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Originally posted by _Shadowmage

Classes and levels are a real world concept carried over into games.
Most large organizations have a heirarcical structure with a few at the top and many at the bottom of the organizational structure. Eg army, navy, police, schools, government etc. Your class and level determine your pay (success).
Classes and levels in games mimic this and allow players to compare themselves, give themselves goals etc.
Where I think the games have gone wrong is by giving experience and (unrealistic) loot from killing monsters. Get rid of that and have all experience come from achieving goals and quests in game. Then the monsters become just one more obstacle in achieving your goal and not a reward in themselves. Incidentally stopping gold farmers dead in their tracks on the way through.
Of course in games you get stuck in the class you have chosen, where in the real world you can retrain and change career. The problem being you choose a class with no idea of its abilities and play for X hours then change your mind and have to start over again.
Tabula Rasa is one game that is changing this class development structure. All players start as recruits and dont choose a class path until level 10, with another branching later at level 25.

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Players want real world concepts to be carried over into the games they play, but not the class/level ideas! They don't offer players enough freedom, and often make the game a lot less fun. More open-ended skill-based games are a lot more fun and offer the players a lot more options and ways to play the game. Getting experience from achieving goals and quests is good for secondary and non-combat based skills, but when it comes to combat, realistically, how else would one get experience? The receiving of unrealistic loot from monsters is a problem, but how often does that really ruin a game for players? The way that you're describing Tabula Rasa's class system, it sounds like the same old crappy class system.