Only 5 Classes?

WellzyC · April 2018

I was interested in playing this (really because it is the ONLY mmorpg coming out this year, besides maybe Crowfall.)

But after watching some YouTube videos about the Steam release, It would seem the only classes available at the Steam launch are the Zerk, Guardian, Ranger, Mage and Pally.

Since groups are 5 man, there is literally no variation in group composition, unless you have duplicate classes of course.

5 classes just doesn't do it for me, it feels very.. shallow and generic.

Albatroes · April 2018

WellzyC said:

I was interested in playing this (really because it is the ONLY mmorpg coming out this year, besides maybe Crowfall.)

But after watching some YouTube videos about the Steam release, It would seem the only classes available at the Steam launch are the Zerk, Guardian, Ranger, Mage and Pally.

Since groups are 5 man, there is literally no variation in group composition, unless you have duplicate classes of course.

5 classes just doesn't do it for me, it feels very.. shallow and generic.

"Supposedly" there's going to be some kind of stance system or whatever that allows for some "diversity" in terms of how you play each class while assassin and mystic get some kind of rework post EA launch. I highly doubt it'll be anything like Rift or ESO in terms of class versatility where you're able to play every role as each class. Honestly, the only selling point this game really has is the monster taming aspect which still some games might do better. But who knows, the devs are self-publishing so one might say this will allow for changes to be made more routinely as time progresses if demand is there.

Scot · April 2018

Just part of the easyMMO, tinyMMO trend we have seen over so many years. Less classes, less class features, less world size, etc. etc. etc.

You will find those who defend this as "streamlining" getting to the core of the game and dishing up concentrated helpings.

For me its downsizing, gameplay restricting, dumbing down of everything from controls to gameplay.

So not for me, but so many do enjoy it, so good luck to them.

MidPrincess · April 2018

Scot said:

Just part of the easyMMO, tinyMMO trend we have seen over so many years. Less classes, less class features, less world size, etc. etc. etc.

You will find those who defend this as "streamlining" getting to the core of the game and dishing up concentrated helpings.

For me its downsizing, gameplay restricting, dumbing down of everything from controls to gameplay.

So not for me, but so many do enjoy it, so good luck to them.

I remember when I stopped playing WoW, right before WoD when Blizzard started that "skill pruning" and I always said, "pruning" was little more than a euphemism for "dumbing down" and/or "simplifying."

Simpler is NOT always better. I get that some people would rather only have one action bar with 3 skills on it and no cooldowns to manage. I get that grandma would love to get in on the endgame content, and that many people's attention span is not exactly great. But I always felt, why even remove the option of having skills at your disposal? I mean, some folks can walk and chew bubble gum and talk at the same time, and I was never intimidated by a larger list of skills; just the opposite, in fact.

I agree with you though, being so limited on classes, skills, options, and so forth is a disturbing trend now. It seems that learning curves are no longer acceptable, and that asking "what is meta?" in chat has become the norm of educating oneself about the intricacies of a game.

ConstantineMerus · April 2018

Years ago when they released their first video I remember they announced this game has like 14 classes or so. Bless-Source.com (the old version) had like 10 or 12 classes. I'm guessing that's out of the picture then aye?

Theocritus · April 2018

Yeah not an impressive selection there.

Scot · April 2018

"I get that grandma would love to get in on the endgame content, and that many people's attention span is not exactly great."

Don't forget what the former boss of EA said "Our aim is to make games your mum could play." That is the design philosophy that has taken over gaming not just MMOs.

Rhoms · April 2018

I like to think that they aren't intentionally dumbing down the game. Instead, perhaps they simply aren't satisfied with the mechanics of the other classes at the moment, so we will need to wait a bit.

Sovrath · April 2018

Rhoms said:

I like to think that they aren't intentionally dumbing down the game. Instead, perhaps they simply aren't satisfied with the mechanics of the other classes at the moment, so we will need to wait a bit.

Also, since they are remaking the combat mechanics, I imagine that it's better to concentrate on core classes and then expand from there.

Albatroes · April 2018

Scot said:

"I get that grandma would love to get in on the endgame content, and that many people's attention span is not exactly great."

Don't forget what the former boss of EA said "Our aim is to make games your mum could play." That is the design philosophy that has taken over gaming not just MMOs.

EA also made the top 5 most hated companies last year so I'd like to think many game companies would like to pull away from their examples starting then, since they have publicly stated that they only care about getting as much money out of a customer with as little effort as possible (which of course is business 101 but you dont tell your customers that, which is also business 101).

Jacobin · April 2018

Aside from the P2W and optimization, a big part of why Bless has failed for 4 years is that it is a completely generic cookie cutter setting.

Since everyone will be running the same 5 optimal builds the only differentiation comes from gear checks.

ButeoRegalis · April 2018

12 classes were 3 each do the same and just differ in the amounts of boobs shown is not better.

Scot · April 2018

Albatroes said:

Scot said:

"I get that grandma would love to get in on the endgame content, and that many people's attention span is not exactly great."

Don't forget what the former boss of EA said "Our aim is to make games your mum could play." That is the design philosophy that has taken over gaming not just MMOs.

EA also made the top 5 most hated companies last year so I'd like to think many game companies would like to pull away from their examples starting then, since they have publicly stated that they only care about getting as much money out of a customer with as little effort as possible (which of course is business 101 but you dont tell your customers that, which is also business 101).

When you have a boss who thinks he is the new business gaming messiah, the odd comment slips out.

Getting rid of Riccitiello was the best thing they have done, but he changed the mentality and direction of the company and his disciples seem to be rather too prominent for there to be real change.

Phry · April 2018

Once the game has launched, added a few more classes and have a better idea of how the PVE is in the game, i think thats when i will likely check it out, there is no shortage of decent games around after all.

Wizardry · April 2018

Yeah but a stance system is just taking a whole class and dividing it down into 3 smaller pieces instead of giving you the whole class.
To me that is not improving it that is making it worse.
Like i have been saying for a long time the sub class system is by far the best system for versatility and longevity but instead of moving towards a better design they are taking few classes and giving you less of.

Really this to me is a lame attempt at pretending to do something different by calling them a STANCE.This is something i would expect from Anet a play with words doing in essence nothing different.

We already have stances in games,you can play as a dual wielding tank or a sword and board or even as a Paladin casting magic or as a Ninja tank using blink shadows and in a game like FFXI,you can switch between all stances anytime you feel like it,yes even going Paladin and blink shadows on the same character.
So yes as one poster puts it,this is a shallow design,another rushed attempt.

Octagon7711 · April 2018

Some games start off with a few classes so they can slowly add more over time so people can pay extra for them.

Theocritus · April 2018

Phry said:

Once the game has launched, added a few more classes and have a better idea of how the PVE is in the game, i think thats when i will likely check it out, there is no shortage of decent games around after all.

Single player games no shortage, decent MMOs major shortage.

F2Plague · April 2018

MidPrincess said:

Scot said:

Just part of the easyMMO, tinyMMO trend we have seen over so many years. Less classes, less class features, less world size, etc. etc. etc.

You will find those who defend this as "streamlining" getting to the core of the game and dishing up concentrated helpings.

For me its downsizing, gameplay restricting, dumbing down of everything from controls to gameplay.

So not for me, but so many do enjoy it, so good luck to them.

I remember when I stopped playing WoW, right before WoD when Blizzard started that "skill pruning" and I always said, "pruning" was little more than a euphemism for "dumbing down" and/or "simplifying."

Simpler is NOT always better. I get that some people would rather only have one action bar with 3 skills on it and no cooldowns to manage. I get that grandma would love to get in on the endgame content, and that many people's attention span is not exactly great. But I always felt, why even remove the option of having skills at your disposal? I mean, some folks can walk and chew bubble gum and talk at the same time, and I was never intimidated by a larger list of skills; just the opposite, in fact.

I agree with you though, being so limited on classes, skills, options, and so forth is a disturbing trend now. It seems that learning curves are no longer acceptable, and that asking "what is meta?" in chat has become the norm of educating oneself about the intricacies of a game.

While I can agree with some of what you are saying.

WoW is a bad example. Without skill pruning at this stage in the game you would need 7 skill bars for all your skills. And would only actually use 2 of them.

Any game that requires more than 3 skill bars is idiotic. Especially when half of those skills are SOOO situational that you forget you even have them.

Albatroes · April 2018

F2Plague said:

MidPrincess said:

Scot said:

Just part of the easyMMO, tinyMMO trend we have seen over so many years. Less classes, less class features, less world size, etc. etc. etc.

You will find those who defend this as "streamlining" getting to the core of the game and dishing up concentrated helpings.

For me its downsizing, gameplay restricting, dumbing down of everything from controls to gameplay.

So not for me, but so many do enjoy it, so good luck to them.

I remember when I stopped playing WoW, right before WoD when Blizzard started that "skill pruning" and I always said, "pruning" was little more than a euphemism for "dumbing down" and/or "simplifying."

Simpler is NOT always better. I get that some people would rather only have one action bar with 3 skills on it and no cooldowns to manage. I get that grandma would love to get in on the endgame content, and that many people's attention span is not exactly great. But I always felt, why even remove the option of having skills at your disposal? I mean, some folks can walk and chew bubble gum and talk at the same time, and I was never intimidated by a larger list of skills; just the opposite, in fact.

I agree with you though, being so limited on classes, skills, options, and so forth is a disturbing trend now. It seems that learning curves are no longer acceptable, and that asking "what is meta?" in chat has become the norm of educating oneself about the intricacies of a game.

While I can agree with some of what you are saying.

WoW is a bad example. Without skill pruning at this stage in the game you would need 7 skill bars for all your skills. And would only actually use 2 of them.

Any game that requires more than 3 skill bars is idiotic. Especially when half of those skills are SOOO situational that you forget you even have them.

Wow had started to do something smart in WoD (even though most people probably dont remember by now) by adding more passives that altered existing skills instead of just flat out giving more skills which I think is the better idea to go about things vs just removing/combining skills all together. Passives you can have infinite amounts of and still give people a consistent carrot to chance instead of what they are doing now which is just fanning 5-10 abilities out over 100 levels with only 5 or passives and locking the rest of "progression" behind cap enabled systems which are going to be reset every expansion anyway. Imagine grinding out AAs in EQ/II or merits in FFXI only for a new expansion to drop > raise the cap > delete said progress literally from the game > and add an identical system to the game the next expansion just so you can do it all over again. The idea of the Artifact/Heart of Azeroth post cap progression system is good but the only reason why AAs/merits worked was because they were built upon not just reset everytime something new came out.

Strathdor · April 2018

I won't complain much easier to balance less classes then it is to balance more.

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"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey