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General: Editorial: Evolution of Classes
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Thomas Mortensen debuts his editorial stylings with this new article entitled "Evolution of Classes". He looks at where this classic construct is headed.
| The MMORPG genre has changed a lot since the early days of Meridian 59 and Ultima Online, but the games still relies on the basic classes introduced back then. Most MMORPG still use the Fighter, a heavily armoured close combat character that can take lots of damage. Having to rely on short-range weapons and relative low damage his fights may last long. Thus he will need the healer, whose job is to heal the party and make sure they stay alive. A second role of the healer is to buff the party by adding temporary enchantments, which make the party stronger, faster or more resilient. The mage is the most fragile character, but he can deliver large amounts of ranged damage through arcane magic. Though the games do not always use the same names for the character classes they are always build on one of these arch classes or a mix of two of them through hybrids like the Bard, Paladin or Battlemage. |
You can read more here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
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, wit 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.
2c
/flame suit on
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
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.
This is not an anti SOE rant, just a comment on how it was the best system and as far as I can gather has not been replictaed anywhere.
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.
I agree with you. The Class / Level System is old and uneventful. The best 2 mmorpgs i've played were Ultima Online and SWG (early on). Neither had neither class restrictions or a level system.
You could literally make any type of character you wanted. Crafter/Swordsman, Entertainer/Rifleman etc. So many possibilities. The skill based systems were much more fun to tweak your character with.
Since they didnt have leveling, anyone could join the game and not feel far behind. In UO once your characters were set you could then enjoy playing and interacting in the world. New players could catch up within months and there was no need to have to player 24/7 just to keep up with guys at lvl 60. Your werent buying expansions to gain from lvl 60-70 and then 70-80. You bought the new expansions for new content that was geared at making the world more interesting, not increase the grind.
See the Class system goes with a leveling system. Its tough to have one without the other. However a skill based character without restrictions on what professions you can choose allows for a more open world without a leveling grind.
IMO Skill based characters without a leveling system is much more enjoyable and allows for a less stressful player base. New players can catch up quicker and don't have play ever second of the day to enjoy the game.
You dont want to work on making a 50 lvl fighter. You want to have your character set and then concentrate on the content the game provides. Whether it be quests, wars, raids, pvp, pve etc. Thats the type of game I enjoyed the most and feel most would prefer. I just don't see the thrill in leveling a guy from lvl 1 to 90. Who cares what level you are. I just want everyone to have their characters set and capable of interacting with everyone else.
I think the author is mistaken in listing only 3 core classes. There have always been 4 core classes. Along with the fighter, cleric, and mage, there have always been rogues. Rogues have been part of these games from pen and paper, through MUDS, and into today's MMORPGs. I dont understand why the author thinks the rogue class is somehow new.
As for the level system vs. the skills system discussion above, I would have to say I would opt for the level system if I had to choose one over the other. However, I would prefer a combination of the two, whereby each level grants you a certain number of skill points to spend.
-eosa-
i am going with the anti-class club here.
another detial is that classes are the main reason we have levels in games (because that determines how good you are AS that class), a factor which usually breaks any PvP expirience:
once you know the end of the fight before it starts (just be seeing who has the higher level), then PvP, a potential exciting expirience, becomes a hirarchy of griefing: people killing people in lesser levels.
this is less of a factor in large scale wars, but still is.
the combination of those two classic D&D factors, classes and pvp, just don't transilate into mmo. they are the major reasons for terms such as "end game content" (when the game isn't soppose to have an end), people thinking about pvp as a griefing tool instead of a gameplay expirience, and ofcourse, the worst notion of all: the tredmill.
Errr...I am sorry but...this writter...he doesn't seem like mastering his topics to me, no offense meant.
Rogue, a new class? Rogues have always been a vital part of old EQ, not to mention that Thiefs have been a part of old D&D and thereby they have been in all type of MMOs, with rogues names variation and so on (a rogue is an offensive melee character while a thief is usually not very melee at all).
He also fails to mention any form of non-healing, non-damaging, non-tanking supports class. Again, in old EQ, the enchanter class was the second most popular class just after cleric, yet there was far more clerics than chanters available, which result in groups fighting over the chanters ressources.
Pets class, he favors automatically beastmaster-type...*shrug*. I think the writer play a LOT of WoW and very little of others MMOs, or that he forgot them. EverQuest is hardly new and was the most popular MMO in the west for a LONG time.
The fact many newer MMOs seems like they don't have place for buffers class doesn't mean it isn't there and available for any devs team looking to have variety in class. Variety leads to different grouping experience, which in turn increase the replayability of the game a LOT. Not only on the aspect of what a player can play, but also on what a player can experience. WoW take an approach figuring that 6 or 7 class was plenty, as the player will not create more than 6 or 7 characters, this is completely ignoring and discounting the fact that peoples will group only with that little amount of variety, which in turn means far less variations in groups type (a smaller group size help this approach a lot, imagine groups of 6 or 8 with only that amount of classes). I want to underline again, in red, just how nice the buffing system in DAoC was (maybe incomplete, but I saw the basics and honestly, that is the single feature from DAoC that I remember the most clearly as been nice).
For example, in old EQ, having 2 characters of the same class was something uncommon. Having 4 characters in two class or 3 in 1 class in the same group was extremely rare. In WoW, having 2 characters of the same class is frequent. 3 characters of the same class is merely uncommon in WoW. This leads to far less diversity, far less replayability. Combine with a smaller grind (nothing wrong there) it make sure that the replayability of the game is much smaller than a game like EQ.
Personnally I believe in the class system, be it in a way like WoW/EQ/DAoC or in a way like CoH. Skills are good and I will not turn away from a MMO with skills, but...class have many grouping edges. First, everyone know what are your basic abilities, which help a LOT to build a group. Second, everyone specialised into a role they personnally enjoy, which helps create bond and friendship...and interdependancy (even if solo is great).
Finally, as to the comment a fighter is dealing low damage, that is true in the MMORPGs, but that is not true in the RPGs at large, where the fighter deal a LOT of damage in the conventional RPGs.
And I didn't even bring the "hybrid" portion, which is nearly completely out of a game like WoW.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
3 archetypes are nice. really. but only as a presets for new players unfamiliar with all skills.
the skill system of "The Elder Scrolls" serie and it's leveling system is the best I've seen
btw I personally think 3 archetypes are not fighter/healer/mage, but fighter/rogue/magic-user instead
imagine 3 coordinates in 3D space - fighting skills/magic attunement/stealth skills and a player subset of skills he uses - like a point in that space. so one can be jack-of-all-trades but with limited skills in each area or pure class with unparalleled capabilites.
The four classic fantasy arch-types are fighter, mage, thief, healer.
One big advantage for devleopers in using classes is they can be modelled and balanced using spreadsheets, which is something you cant do for a class less system. So that makes it a lot easier to balance a game for PvP using classes.
In addition as someone else mentioned classes fit people into roles, so if you need specific roles for specific missions you know who to look for. It also means people know generally what their role is and to some degree what other people will expect them to do.
Having levels provides goals for people to work towards, and a yard stick for them to compare themselves to others.
There are ways to provide more freedom using classes - you can have a dual class system (aka Guild Wars, Heroes Journey) or a hybrid class/skill system where you can develop certain skills within your class and you choose which skills to develop.
Mages not being able to wear platemail is not a fault of the class system, its a fault of how games implement their equipment. Take a look at Heroes Journey - you will be able to have mages in platemail, warriors in rags if you want.
I should point out now - that playing pen & paper role-playing games - my favourites were Runequest and Call of Cthulu both classless - skill systems. Both great games.
One big problem I see in class games is this kill monsters to get loot and experience. I think class systems in general would be way better if there was no experience from killing monsters, and the only experience was from quests.
I also think MMORPG's in general would be better if monsters dropped realistic treasure - hides, bones etc instead of gold, bows swords (unless of course those monsters are using bows and swords).
Online I havent played a game with a skill only system. I have played Guild Wars - and find its dual class system very flexibile and providing many different ways to play the same class due to the skill selection.
Heheh totaly right. Rogues ( or dont forget they started as thieves in original D&D) where always there.
Basically in newer MMO's they are just > close combat - hight damage dealer - low armor , opposed to fighter ( tank ) close combat - low damage - high armor
In today MMOs you actually have this specific evolved generic classes
Tank , ranged damage dealer , healer , buffer/de buffer , pet class and close combat damage dealer ...
rogues ability to stealth (again taken from original thief class) is proving dificult to cope with for many MMOs
also traps disabling and scouting seems to be largely ignored aswell (to much to code i guess)
Like everybody i largely agree on classless system with no levels - but the main reason why mmos go Class/level is the balancing game. The game designers are just not good enough to manage to balance game without it.
Lastly i would like to add Guild Wars to the list of evolved class systems.
In GW levels almost make no diference. And ability to multiclass is so developed there is almost no end to posibilities...
"Before this battle is over all the world will know that few...stood against many." - King Leonidas
Having a skill-based system makes group-building tedious. It makes character building a choice between a gazillion skills most of which you might have no clue what they do. And you have to pick skills that work well off each other, that have a meaningful combination.
In a class-system the designers have made a choice of skills that work well and they had the option of polishing the gameplay and the skill interaction.
That may not be desireable by people who want to delve into a deep, broad system. People who want to learn it all and make their own choices.
But in classless systems, how often do you have people picking a template from a forum, because they can't handle the choices, effectively going back to classes? Only player-created ones, with no additional polish, no special consideration from the dev side.
There is a place for classless systems in today's MMO market, but make no mistake, there is also, and will always be, a place for class-based systems.
Actualy this class is no new addition. The rogue has been a part of the party since D&D tabletop in the 1970s. Our fighter takes the agro, and the rogue stands behind the foe, adding large amounts of DPS. Everquest had the rogue in this more basic form, WoW perfected it for the MMO genre.
ENCHANTER-
Now this is a newer class to join the ranks of support, born out of necessity to the MMO combat situation. The Enchanter (or Controller, in CoH) has the duty of crowd controll. Keeping the adds at bay so the party can focus on a specific enemy without having to take on more than they are ready.
The Class based and the Skill based systems of character development have been in existance since before you all owned computers. These are basicaly the only two forms that a tabletop rpg falls into. There came a time in the late 80s/ early 90s that if you tried to invent your own RPG for publishing, editors stopped looking at it, because it was just more of this same two archetypes with different pictures in the books.
All of this can be traced back directly to its origins in the ancient art of miniature wargame rules, and the stats to be found representing the different ranks andn classes of little men made of led doing battle across hand-painted scenery. It is essentialy the foundation of the game, and as such, it won't be dissapearing any time too soon.
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The darker side of the evolution is the trend towards smaller and smaller differences in what the classes or skill combinations can do. In the name of making toons solo viable or game balance, game companies are making the classes more and more alike. The tricky part is they don't necessarily look alike, and they might have different graphics for their attacks or actions, buts thats all just packaging. Its really hard to forge a role in a community or guild when everyone can do almost the same thing. We need more seperation between classes and skill sets, not less, but thats more effort than the game developers are willing to shoulder atm. And if they package everyone to look unique maybe we'll all be fooled anyway right? 6 million toons in WoW are sure falling for it atm.
Buck
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
SW Galaxies had a good skill based system when it began. Unfortunatley all the crafting, cooking, slicing, dancing and hairdresser skills would not let you enjoy the quests or stories in the game. You had to a be fighter of some skill.
As far as level advancement and PvP, City of Heroes does it well with zones specifically for PvP that make everyone the same level. This means a lvl 20's attacks are just as potent as a lvl 50's attacks. Blancing the class powers are another story, but at least level doesnt mean anything.
Give a man fire and he''s warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he''s warm the rest of his life.
i am reminded of a thread i made here... or at list i think it was here, somewhere in this forums... asking if character advacement is importent..
my answer to this question is still no. it is just there to distract from the game when usually that means "distracting you from the big shallow nothingnes which is the game".
it is not the advancement which is importent, it is however the flexiblity of your character (being able to be unique), and the fact the game reacts to your actions in at list some minimal way...
this is easily acomplished in a skill system: you do something, you get slightly better at it. something in your expirience has changed cause of your action...
but there could be many ways of doing this, and skill systems aren't the only way.
classes however, have no role in a game, only in the tredmill that distracts from it.
I've long preferred skill systems myself; I prefer the fine control over my character.
On the other hand, I understand just wanting to know your role in combat so you can quickly form pick-up groups and jump into the action. Classes built around roles support that goal.
So lately I've been wondering: Why can't these two goals be combined? Why not allow both classes for those who want them and specific skills for those who prefer that approach to character management?
Example 1: Start with a pure skills system, but conveniently group skills into prebuilt "classes" that can be selected with a single mouse click at character creation time.
Example 2: Build a dual system -- combat classes and non-combat skills. If you plan to kill stuff, you can choose a particular class and look for things to kill for XP to level up. Alternately, if you're more into defining your own story rather than following a path that's predefined for you through a class, you can cherry-pick skills and decide for yourself how your character will play.
Does either of these make sense? Or is there some other way to offer both approaches?
--Flatfingers
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.
I'm glad the "new rogue class in MMORPGs" thing has already been discussed, as I came here just to point out the fact that it isn't new at all! One of my favorite online characters was a rogue I played in Gemstone III (and that was the mid-90s!), where hiding, sneaking, and ambushing was nothing short of brilliant
One of my favorite class systems was (or perhaps still is) in use in Gemstone III, now Gemstone IV -- go go Simutronics! A MUD yes, but still one of my favorites. It's a hybrid of some of the current systems in use, granting players a certain number of training points at the beginning of each level based on your stats. Those points are distributed between physical and mental aspects, to be used in training skills of your chosen profession. However, you have the option of limited multi-classing, but the skills that are out of your core competency are much more expensive and therefore require you to make some tough decisions on how you want your character to play out. The traditional (and some not so traditional) classes were definitely defined as such, but you had a lot of options open to you. I see Talents (in WoW) and Alternate Advancement abilities (in EQ) as a somewhat twisted form of this today.
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
SWG is a modification of the Warhammer Fantasy game. So if you want to look at the evolution of classes, look to your nearest gamestore. Morrowind/Oblivion is unique, but all the systems above have their limitations, with classed systems only redeeming value is "its easy to play". I think a "classless" system with excusionary skills to keep players from being Uber is the way of the future.
Krieghandt