Comments on: Thought of the Day: Is your judgement of a game based on how powerful your favourite class is?

By: Kaly

Kaly — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:37:19 +0000

I play what I enjoy, and for some reason that has always been Frost… So i went from the Diablo Sorceress with Ice lance to a BE Frost Mage. I obviously don’t feel OP.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:17:07 +0000

Seconded. Of course, I have to like the underlying mechanics and game design, too, but if those are good, I won’t mind a class being an underdog or powerhouse.

By: Klepsacovic

Klepsacovic — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:01:29 +0000

Stabs, I know this isn’t the most greatest argument, but I have to ask, how popular were those games? Everyone has some sort of expectation. Falling under that might mean “challenge” or it might mean “frustration”, depending on the person and how weak the class is.

By: Randomessa

Randomessa — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:36:27 +0000

Undoubtedly. My first class in a multiplayer online game was a cleric in StrangeMUD, who later remorted to Paladin and specced Crusader.

At max level I had access to all the hexes, buffs, alignment-depended nukes, 5 elemental pets I could send in to tank for me, and I could create food and water as well as heal myself and others.

I’ve been looking for that class in every game I’ve played since. No wonder I’m excited about Rift!

By: Stabs

Stabs — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:32:04 +0000

I like alting and I like min-maxing. To me a large part of the fun is understanding the class mechanics of each class. I’m the person who ends up with a max level character of every class.

In a new game if I felt my class was poor I’d just swap classes.

By: Stabs

Stabs — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:30:28 +0000

Afterthought: oh and if you think that sounds bad, back in the early days of AD&D a first level wizard would have one spell per 4 hour session. On paper they had less than an even chance against a house cat in combat.

By: Stabs

Stabs — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:28:21 +0000

@ Kleps I think you might be amazed at how low those expectations can be if you’re starting fresh. Back in the early days of SWG fighting even a simple low level monster was a struggle where you could easily die. After you beat it you might have to spend 2 minutes sitting to recover health and mana or even have to go back to town to heal otherwise unhealable damage that slowly built up.

By: Klepsacovic

Klepsacovic — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:28:23 +0000

Let’s think about this a bit more. Let’s say level 60 is the level cap, the ‘win’, since a new player might not be thinking a lot about raiding. Let’s imagine that it takes all your mana to kill a boar and you need to kill ten. That gets you a third of the way to the level. Great. But the next level is slower. And slower. And slower. If it keeps requiring a full mana bar and ten seconds of drinking to kill a boar, that player will get frustrated.

Even new players have some idea of fast and expected: the previous level was faster. If any given level gets too much slower, they will likely give up. Or if the original speed was too slow and gets even slower, they will likely give up.

So no, it’s not purely academic. Players always have expectations, even new ones.

By: leah

leah — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:54:15 +0000

personally, I prefer specific game styles to levels of power. As long as I can kill stuff without dying every 5 seconds? I’m good to go. To me, success of the game depends on whether I want to keep playing it regardless of the class I’m playing.

so despite the fact that my preferred class in WoW actually got a lot more powerful (elemental shaman) and got some very shiny new toys to play with, I couldn’t enjoy it anymore because the game play itself was no longer working for me (and yeah, people suck too )

By: Hugmenot

Hugmenot — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:51:48 +0000

I think it’s human nature to remember and retell the successes more than the failures.

Talk to any golfer and you’re much likely to hear a story about the birdie he made on the 8th hole than the story about the quadruple bogey he made on the 12th hole.

I believe he enjoys the game because he enjoys some degree of success (however he defines it) and the right anount of challenge (however he defines it).