Now we have 6 pages of this and it has been consistent.
We all have our favored games, but the ones that provided the best vision of what your role in the world is, the ones with the strongest character classes, were all old games.
There's a good reason for that.
Hint: it's not nostagia.
Exactly it is not, although many insist in abusing this term.
A comprehensive Trinity system (plus utility classes) provides a challenging group content that involve strategy, communication and good coordination. Everyone has its distinctive role and if only one of the classes fucks it up, the whole group fails. It's unforgiving but that's what most people wants in their games.....some challenge.
Melee in heavy armour using halberds or 2h swords, so looked good. But, the archetype is support - it was a buffer class but really was a jack-of-all-trades class. Could do some damage, could off-tank and could off-heal as well as buff.
Due to it's versatility, it was a class that just shone in group pve, by far the deepest gameplay I've ever experienced. I'd say 75% of the classes skills were situational, so you constantly had to think on your feet. It was hard to master, but so worth it. A well played captain just made everything run so smoothly and would pick up the slack of any group member underperforming.
It did suck solo as it lacked AoE damage and self-heals so could be very slow going, but I'm a group-focused player so didn't care.
Honorable mention to Loremaster and Burglar from LotRO too - again, both dedicated support classes but focused on CC/debuffs and DPS. Not as much versatility as the captain, but better solo and in pvp. The loremaster had some especially cool skills.
From other games, I did love my black orc and squig herder from WAR. The Black Orc just looked awesome when in higher gear and had some fun builds. The squig herder had squigs! But also I just loved kiting melee players about. Also had a skill where your squig would knock you forwards but you didn't take fall damage, so used to love climbing to the top of keeps or bridges and then knocking myself off. Would go sailing through the air for quite some distance, made for some really fun escapes as occasionally the zerg would follow you off a cliff. You'd live but everyone else would die from fall damage. Sadly they nerfed the skill, but was great up until then!
EQ1 - Necromancer is the best 'class' I have played in a mmo. It had so many different things you could do with it, and fit my play style (could kill stuff many different ways, so depending on what I wanted to do, I wasn't stuck doing the same thing).
I pretty much only ever play WoW/SWTOR/ESO/FFXIV so I guess my options are pretty limited. I have played every single class from SWTOR to max level. WoW is a shorter list, pretty much only have those 3 at max at any 1 time. I only have one max level character in ESO which is my Sorcerer (Destruciton Staff / Conjuration / Dark Magic) and I only every maxed out a Lancer in FFXIV, fantastically fun burst damage class.
SWG TK/Fencer and the last few points up the pistol tree for extra dodge. I was impossible to hit, near enough, I had so much Dodge skill. Me vs 3 players and even when I got knocked down I carried on dodging, that was some funny shit.
Or the neferious Combat Medic/Rifleman combo. Solo Krayts, easy. KS Krayts from a full group? Yep, done that. So OP it was rediculous.
Now we have 6 pages of this and it has been consistent.
We all have our favored games, but the ones that provided the best vision of what your role in the world is, the ones with the strongest character classes, were all old games.
There's a good reason for that.
Hint: it's not nostagia.
Member when Dark Age of Camelot release the Trials of Atlantis.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
Now we have 6 pages of this and it has been consistent.
We all have our favored games, but the ones that provided the best vision of what your role in the world is, the ones with the strongest character classes, were all old games.
There's a good reason for that.
Hint: it's not nostagia.
Member when Dark Age of Camelot release the Trials of Atlantis.
Yes, damn where is the "ugh" button when you need it?
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Warhammer Online: Witch Hunter and Warrior Priest Heck, Warhammer Online to me, had the best classes, of any MMO, in MMO history.
I used to love the Warrior Priests when we were trying to take a keep by bashing the door just after release: the enemy above dropped oil on our ram team and I bashed the door with mt 2-HDer healing everyone.
Then they nerfed that...the bastards
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
So looking thru this thread we see an overwhelming tilt to Older games , Vanguard,EQ , CoH, AoC,SWG .. etc .. Why has class devlopment gotten worse over the years ?
All these classes folks listing , and i have played many of them were so much more involved , is that the word i want , they felt more special in what they brought to a group mechaic, than what the new crop of games offer , they had/have better utilities etc.. More fleshed out and fun ..More cohesive ...
Another thing i notice is a strong contingent of Vanguard and EQ votes , and BM had his fingerprints on both which gives me hope for the classes and experience coming up in Pantheon ...
Now we have 6 pages of this and it has been consistent.
We all have our favored games, but the ones that provided the best vision of what your role in the world is, the ones with the strongest character classes, were all old games.
There's a good reason for that.
Hint: it's not nostagia.
Member when Dark Age of Camelot release the Trials of Atlantis.
Yes, damn where is the "ugh" button when you need it?
The nostalgia hit you kind of hard on that one? hahaha
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
Now we have 6 pages of this and it has been consistent.
We all have our favored games, but the ones that provided the best vision of what your role in the world is, the ones with the strongest character classes, were all old games.
The older mmos used to have classes that really stood out from each other. I remember people didn't care if you top the dps charts if you were buffing/debuffing, controlling etc. as needed first.
I think the hardest aspect for unique classes is the conditioned belief of balance between classes. I hope to see an mmo someday that takes the ideas of past mmos (class diversity) and creates content that actual requires more than just 3 roles. I don't want them to abandon the trinity. I would just like to see it expanded on.
Comments
A comprehensive Trinity system (plus utility classes) provides a challenging group content that involve strategy, communication and good coordination.
Everyone has its distinctive role and if only one of the classes fucks it up, the whole group fails.
It's unforgiving but that's what most people wants in their games.....some challenge.
Melee in heavy armour using halberds or 2h swords, so looked good. But, the archetype is support - it was a buffer class but really was a jack-of-all-trades class. Could do some damage, could off-tank and could off-heal as well as buff.
Due to it's versatility, it was a class that just shone in group pve, by far the deepest gameplay I've ever experienced. I'd say 75% of the classes skills were situational, so you constantly had to think on your feet. It was hard to master, but so worth it. A well played captain just made everything run so smoothly and would pick up the slack of any group member underperforming.
It did suck solo as it lacked AoE damage and self-heals so could be very slow going, but I'm a group-focused player so didn't care.
Honorable mention to Loremaster and Burglar from LotRO too - again, both dedicated support classes but focused on CC/debuffs and DPS. Not as much versatility as the captain, but better solo and in pvp. The loremaster had some especially cool skills.
From other games, I did love my black orc and squig herder from WAR. The Black Orc just looked awesome when in higher gear and had some fun builds. The squig herder had squigs! But also I just loved kiting melee players about. Also had a skill where your squig would knock you forwards but you didn't take fall damage, so used to love climbing to the top of keeps or bridges and then knocking myself off. Would go sailing through the air for quite some distance, made for some really fun escapes as occasionally the zerg would follow you off a cliff. You'd live but everyone else would die from fall damage. Sadly they nerfed the skill, but was great up until then!
Squigs i loved killin
#2: Havoc Demon Hunter (WoW)
#3: Sith Assassin / Jedi Shadow (SWTOR)
#4: Retribution Paladin (WoW)
#5: Mercenary / Commando (SWTOR)
#6: Fury Warrior (WoW)
#7: Sorcerer (ESO)
#8: Lancer (FFXIV)
I pretty much only ever play WoW/SWTOR/ESO/FFXIV so I guess my options are pretty limited. I have played every single class from SWTOR to max level. WoW is a shorter list, pretty much only have those 3 at max at any 1 time. I only have one max level character in ESO which is my Sorcerer (Destruciton Staff / Conjuration / Dark Magic) and I only every maxed out a Lancer in FFXIV, fantastically fun burst damage class.
Or the neferious Combat Medic/Rifleman combo. Solo Krayts, easy. KS Krayts from a full group? Yep, done that. So OP it was rediculous.
Member when Dark Age of Camelot release the Trials of Atlantis.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
necro on GW2, but just barely made it
sorcerer on BDO (I just griped about the game, but I did like that class)
Just to question the philosophy. Army of Socrates.
Heck, Warhammer Online to me, had the best classes, of any MMO, in MMO history.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Then they nerfed that...the bastards
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Vanguard: Warlock
I self identify as a monkey.
WoW - Death Knight
DCUO - Hard Light DPS
TR - Grenadier
..because we're gamers, damn it!! - William Massachusetts (Log Horizon)
AoC - Herald of Xotli
Swtor - Assassin
Why has class devlopment gotten worse over the years ?
All these classes folks listing , and i have played many of them were so much more involved , is that the word i want , they felt more special in what they brought to a group mechaic, than what the new crop of games offer , they had/have better utilities etc.. More fleshed out and fun ..More cohesive ...
Another thing i notice is a strong contingent of Vanguard and EQ votes , and BM had his fingerprints on both which gives me hope for the classes and experience coming up in Pantheon ...
The nostalgia hit you kind of hard on that one? hahaha
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
DAoC - Paladin
Vangaurd (beta) - Necromancer
SWG - droid engineer with blaster skills
UO - mace fighter . . also. . I know I know
I think the character I loved the most ever though was my warrior in The Realm. . but for the best class I would go with druid in wow.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
I think the hardest aspect for unique classes is the conditioned belief of balance between classes. I hope to see an mmo someday that takes the ideas of past mmos (class diversity) and creates content that actual requires more than just 3 roles. I don't want them to abandon the trinity. I would just like to see it expanded on.