Nov 1, 2011

Posted by in Blasters, Beggars & Credits | 14 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Should All Classes Be Able To Fill All Trinity Roles?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

One thing that’s always guided me towards my class of choice is what combat roles I could fill with it. I like options, and the more options you give me, the happier I am. In World of Warcraft I primarily played a Paladin and a Druid. With just a quick change in talents, I could go from healer to tank, or ranged to melee DPS. I didn’t like being tied to one role, and with these hybrids I didn’t have to be.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is taking it a step further. For the most part, (save high-end content) nearly every class will be able to fill more than one role ably. This allows the player to play what they want to play, and not roll an entire character for a specific for a role. Going back to the age-old MMO adage, take the player, not the class.

So the question is, do we want all the classes to be able to do everything? It might sound nice on paper, but doesn’t seem logical. Think of it this way: would you expect Darth Vader, knowing the kind of character he is, to heal you? Can you envision Han Solo tanking a Rancor while you shoot it in the ankles?

Where do you stand? Do you think all classes should be able to fill all three trinity roles? Or is it best to stick to the idea that classes have specific combat roles?

Should all classes be able to fill all 3 trinity roles?

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  1. I actually said no because I don’t think there should be 3 roles – I think there should be 4. I know this is way outside the commonly held beliefs in MMOs and RPGs, but one thing that RIFT did that I thought was novel and awesome was to add a “support” role.

    As a bard, I may not have been able to heal or dps as well as those roles, but I supported my group by healing and dps and buffing and CCing. When I played WoW, my favorite spec was the frost mage not because of great dps but because of my ability to provide supporting CC for my group. It’s a novel idea and something that I’ve always loved being able to do – to be able to help my group without being confined to the “fill up the health boxes” mentality (though I do love healing, too).

    • I wish we had an upvote system so I could push yours up even more. Rift had a few bright spots, but the support classes were definitely one (in my book). I would add that no one wants to be only a buff-bot totem, but give people some exciting things to do while adding some flavor to the buffs/group composition; there’s a large enough niche of players who prefer to do that sort of task.

      • Lotro Captain comes to mind with regards to a support role. Best designed support role in an mmo imo. Would have loved a similar playstyle in swtor.

        • Captains are great, it’s my class I play in LOTRO. It is a true hybrid class. The only thing I’d like to point out is they work because re-traiting is quick and simple in LOTRO. If re-traiting couldn’t happen it would lump the captain into a situationally useful class only.

          So not sure a captain would fit into the more ridged system TOR seems to be leaning too.

          But I agree Captains are awesome!

          • I am under the impression we will be able to respec within our AC very easily as it was in Lotro. If not, then I agree, leveling and questing..etc solo would be very very boring as a full support class.

  2. I answered no. I think there should be one or 2 classes that can perform all 3 but not all.

  3. Short question so the short answer is: yes. If all but two classes can fill all three roles, are those two remaining classes not weakened for it? To put it another way, why would you not want your class to be as versatile as the others? BioWare has already stated that all classes will be competitive in whatever role they choose. Thus, to use the common example, a “pure DPS” class will not have a marked advantage over a class that can tank, heal, and DPS. How is it illogical to put all the classes on roughly equal footing?

    Arguing about what certain iconic characters did or did not do in movies (or books) is completely counterproductive. If the question was to point out that Darth Vader was basically a Sith warrior rather than a Sith inquisitor, I agree. Beyond that, the question is meaningless.

    I could as well ask, does it make sense to allow Jedi to accrue personal wealth? Shouldn’t all their wealth default to the Order/Temple?

  4. So when you say every class being able to do all 3 roles do you mean base class or advanced class? I view the advanced classes as the real classes of the game and I think that each AC should be able to do 1-2 things.

    • No. The AC is the real class here, and not all AC’s can do 3 roles. Lets use a class that can do 3 for an example: Trooper. Sure a trooper can heal, tank, and dps…. but once you choose your AC.
      Commando: Heals/DPS
      Vanguard: Tank/DPS

      Now if I chose to be a Vanguard I can fill 2 roles. I can have a DPS spec, and a tank spec. There should be no way I can switch from a Vanguard to a Commando so I can add heals to a group.

  5. Yes and No. They should be able to fill the roles, to an extent. For example a sith warrior with marauder AC can do really high damage, but could do very minor tanking if there was no one else to. Or a consular (not sure which AC) who is fully specced to heal his/her friends, could also be minor damage dealer for PvP for example. Point and case is that they should be able to fully fulfill the three roles, but be able to fill them to a certain extent…

  6. I see it this way, the characters we create will be heroes the galaxy over. Powerful individuals with the Force/technology to back them up, so why limit what they can do? If Han Solo HAD to tank a rancor I have no doubt he could, I mean come on, its Harrison

  7. “[…]would you expect Darth Vader, knowing the kind of character he is, to heal you? Can you envision Han Solo tanking a Rancor while you shoot it in the ankles?”

    Yes I would. why not? Anakin was searching for the secret art of manipulating the midi-chlorians (art masterised by darth plagueis, palpatine’s master.), that’s why he came to the dark side in the first place. But I’m not really padme… And kitting is a sort of tanking, I did it for six years with my hunter, I can assure you it is. I can perfectly see Han tanking a rancor that way. (while running and watching behind his shoulder with a scream.)

    But yeah, I don’t really see Darth Malgus or any sith warrior helping others, specialy if they are weakened or dying (you fail, you die, that’s how it works.), that’s why I said no. Not everyone. I think bioware did the best for this.

  8. I said no, because i think maximum 2 roles for each AC, as SW:TOR is currently designed, are totaly enough. I can’t imagine a healing Jedi Knight or Sith Warrior.

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