Comments on: Designing the Perfect Character http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/ MMOs and game design Wed, 22 May 2013 22:20:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: spinks http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1956 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:34:43 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1956 I don’t think anyone should beat themselves up over having class preferences! It’s like I hate shooters and like puzzle games. Some play styles just don’t really appeal. And MMOs like to offer a broad range.

I do find it funny when some people (like my mate) have such narrow preferences though :)

]]> By: Dblade http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1955 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:50:09 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1955 I usually play smaller, female type characters. I don’t seem to have an archetype of class anymore, but usually adapt to the games mechanics. In FFXI i’ve been melee, tanker, and ranged dd. I used to be a strong healer before that, but FFXI healing is not like EQOA healing, we don’t have strong HoT spells, and its harder to regen MP.

On a related note, dual wield is a plague in all MMOs and needs to die. It’s one of my most hated mechanics.

]]> By: We Fly Spitfires http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1950 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:17:30 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1950 I’m guilty of picking the same old stuff in games. I just can’t help it! I’m obsessed with being the biggest, meanest race and some sort of warrior class. It’s odd too because when I first started playing MMORPGs, I used to only play casters. Somewhere along the line though I decided melee was a heck of a lot more fun :) I’ve played EQ2 for 3-4 years and I’ve never tried a caster class for instance.

]]> By: *vlad* http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1940 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:46:56 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1940 I like the Battle Mage idea. In Stratholme (origninal) the Scarlets have Battle Mages that dual-wield, and also in Ulduar in the Formation Grounds, the Elven Battle Mages there are also dual-wielding.

]]> By: Modran http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1933 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:53:34 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1933 I know what you mean…

Every time I’m think I’m out of my archtype, he pulls me back in: The big guy with savvy (savvykind depending on the game), or the small & quick guy.

IRL, I’m pretty short. I thought that was behind me, but that does not seem so much, in the end.

]]> By: Tesh http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1922 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:11:41 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1922 The methodology of play directs my character creation. I like more tactical play, generally from range for mobility. I’ll play a Mage or Hunter with about equal affinity. I also like hybrids who can dabble in all sorts of playstyles, so I wind up playing Rangers in D&D or Druids in WoW. It’s less about what I think the perfect character is, and more about how I want to play the game.

…but yes, my approach tends to be pretty consistent. One ranged tactical character, one “jack of all trades” hybrid. I’ll dabble in other things, like my WoW Rogue experiment, but at the end of the day, if I’m playing for fun, I want to play my way, and it’s based in mechanics.

Nice article!

]]> By: ZachPruckowski http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1919 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:38:46 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1919 Frost DKs in 3.2 will be dual-wielders. They added Threat of Thassarian, a 3-pt talent deep in the tree that makes your major strikes hit with main hand and off hand. As a result, Dual-Wielding DKs will again perform decently on the damage meters, though they’ll like be Frost-only.

]]> By: spinks http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1918 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:17:35 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1918 I doubt it’s any more overpowered than having AE silence on a rogue, or tauren warstomp on a warrior, to be honest.

I won’t be surprised if they do relax a lot of the race/ class restrictions someday, I figure at the moment, nothing is completely off the agenda. And since every other race can be warriors, this would be one of the first combos I’d expect to see allowed.

]]> By: JC http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1917 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:54:21 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1917 I can’t say that I have a “perfect character.” The old-school cprgs always had me controlling a full group, so I was “everything.” When I started playing Morrowind, I tended to go with a fighter/mage type of player. In SWG I found I liked to heal and thus was a doctor, but then I also had a toon that was strictly combat (various iterations of Teras Kasi, pistoleer, commando, and Bounty Hunter) which I tended to play even more.

In EQ2 I tried about a bajillion different race/class combos. My “main” has changed over time — it was originally my SK, but then my warlock took over, then my mystic, then my fury, then my inquisitor, then my warlock again, and right now it’s my coercer. And I’m working up a dirge which I plan to play the hell out of once I hit 80 also.

Thing is, I enjoy them all, so it doesn’t really matter to me which one is “main.” And so I can’t really say that I know my “perfect” character, though I’ll admit I still do lean a touch toward healing. Even with that, whenever I start a new game, I tend to try out melee fighters 1st while I get a feel for it and the mechanics, then go back and make my “real” character. Unless I happen to like the fighter-type. . . . .

]]> By: Green Armadillo http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/designing-the-perfect-character/#comment-1916 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:43:37 +0000 http://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=1787#comment-1916 The BE racial AOE silence ability may or may not be a bit overpowered on a warrior in PVP.

It will be interesting to see whether the class/race restrictions are relaxed at some point down the line. Blizzard can be very stubborn on relatively minor points in the lore – the Dwarves of Ironforge don’t do arcane magic, so Dwarf mages have to go. Then they’ll throw the lore out the window if they think it would be fun to infect the entire world with the undead plague, which, the lore has repeatedly established, cannot be cured or reversed.

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