06-27-2005, 09:10 PM
My theory is that n00bs are either born or created. The mechanics and atmosphere of each class can greatly affect the percentage of n00bs to solid players in each class.
Some n00bs are born. The person sitting at the keyboard is an asshat who doesn't care about being a better player. They woln't listen or take advise. Born n00bs (BNs) will choose a class based on sterotype, and then they might reroll to something with flashy abilities or a reputation for being overpowered.
Some n00bs are created, or more acurately some classes do not force the noob we once were to be better players. We were all inexperienced once, but the best way to learn is swift and painful death when you make a mistake. It is better if the same mistake that gets you killed while questing is the one that kills you while instancing. Also, if you are playing an overly popular class, you simply get LESS groups, and therefore less chances to learn.
Classes that attract a lot a lot of BNs right off the bat:
Warriors - people like to think of themselves as big and strong
Rogues - antisocial types like sneaking around
Mages - pretty obvious archtype
Pallys - strong and can heal sounds like easy mode, plus it might attract alot of people who played Pally in another game
Classes that don't:
Priest - selfish players don't usually like to play a class that is clearly about helping others
Shaman - not alot of direct analogues in other games, description sounds like druid minus cool shapeshifting
Classes that attract BNs because of cool abilities / rumors of uberness:
Rogues - being stunlocked makes you want to reroll a rogue to get back at the bastard
Shaman - <sing> The hills are alive with the sound of "NERF SHAMMY" </sing>
Pally - those bubbles SEEM overpowered (not saying they are, just they seem that way)
Now for the classes that fail to make good players out of their n00bs:
Warriors a little bit, because zerk and zerg is ok for solo. However it is a high profile position, and people should help explain how to tank and manage aggro. Also, they are in demand for 5 person groups.
Mage about as much as Warrior, because solo play is about killing things fast. However a few deaths with the rest of the group /laguhing at you usually teaches them how to do it. Medium demand, its nice to have one atleast, but there are alot of them.
Druids not at all, because seeing the game from the MT, healer, secondary healer, and sometimes even DPS position (all in the same battle) should give you a good perspective on how all those spots should play. Usually in high demand, especially since they can fill so many roles.
Warlocks minimally, they are used to playing with a tank, just sub the warrior for the walker, and bring out the imp/sucubus. Medium demand, there's not a lot of them competing for spots, but they aren't particularly necessary either.
Priests not at all unless you are exceptionally dense and don't leave shadowform. 99% of priests got into it cause they like to heal. And of course they are always in very high demand.
Hunters there are alot of, relative to their utility. Still, it doesn't seem like they have an exceptionally complex roll in groups, and not super different then their roll in solo play.
Rogues are tough for me to analyze here. It's often nice to have one around, but there are usually 7 clamoring for that spot. And people often don't like them because they are so high on the BN scale above. I don't know much about how their abilities play out solo compared to in groups.
And that leaves Pallys and Shammys, two classes who's jobs change radically in groups. A big part of the problem is that in a smoothly functioning group, they contribute relativly little. They both add a little melee DPS, they both do a little buffing, and are just along for the ride on 95% of pulls. Then all of the sudden things get hairy, and people expect them to instantly and expertly pull out some of their rarely used tricky spells, which there are a lot of. Also, bad shammy/pally play will only be really exposed when things are going south, and usually there is someone else to blame. Mob gets away from the Tank and eats the priest? It might be the Shammys fault for blowing all his mana on shocks, but he could just as easily blame the priest for using GH instead of renew and not hitting fade fast enough, or the warrior for not locking the mob down properly. Lacking that immediate feedback of "I made a mistake, and it is completly my fault we wiped" makes it tougher to learn. Add that to the fact that there are a LOT of both of these classes out there for the BN reasons above, and you end up with people who have an incomplete picture of what their class entails.
I know I have one glaring defencie here: I have no explanation for the popularity of hunters. Is there some sort of coolness here I'm missing? They grind up levels very well, I'd say just about the best, but they are really tricky to dual with. Anyone out there have a good explanation for their popularity?
This is not ment to start a flame war. You'll notice I've cast as many stones at my own class as any other. We all know a good class X is better then a bad class Y, and you party with Z player of class X and he saves your bacon frequently. We are talking about generalized pubbies here.
I hope this can continue the discussion from the jacked CTF thread in a civil manner. I look forward to feedback, as the shaman is the only class I've capped, though I've played everything else atleast 20 levels, sometimes quite a bit more.
Some n00bs are born. The person sitting at the keyboard is an asshat who doesn't care about being a better player. They woln't listen or take advise. Born n00bs (BNs) will choose a class based on sterotype, and then they might reroll to something with flashy abilities or a reputation for being overpowered.
Some n00bs are created, or more acurately some classes do not force the noob we once were to be better players. We were all inexperienced once, but the best way to learn is swift and painful death when you make a mistake. It is better if the same mistake that gets you killed while questing is the one that kills you while instancing. Also, if you are playing an overly popular class, you simply get LESS groups, and therefore less chances to learn.
Classes that attract a lot a lot of BNs right off the bat:
Warriors - people like to think of themselves as big and strong
Rogues - antisocial types like sneaking around
Mages - pretty obvious archtype
Pallys - strong and can heal sounds like easy mode, plus it might attract alot of people who played Pally in another game
Classes that don't:
Priest - selfish players don't usually like to play a class that is clearly about helping others
Shaman - not alot of direct analogues in other games, description sounds like druid minus cool shapeshifting
Classes that attract BNs because of cool abilities / rumors of uberness:
Rogues - being stunlocked makes you want to reroll a rogue to get back at the bastard
Shaman - <sing> The hills are alive with the sound of "NERF SHAMMY" </sing>
Pally - those bubbles SEEM overpowered (not saying they are, just they seem that way)
Now for the classes that fail to make good players out of their n00bs:
Warriors a little bit, because zerk and zerg is ok for solo. However it is a high profile position, and people should help explain how to tank and manage aggro. Also, they are in demand for 5 person groups.
Mage about as much as Warrior, because solo play is about killing things fast. However a few deaths with the rest of the group /laguhing at you usually teaches them how to do it. Medium demand, its nice to have one atleast, but there are alot of them.
Druids not at all, because seeing the game from the MT, healer, secondary healer, and sometimes even DPS position (all in the same battle) should give you a good perspective on how all those spots should play. Usually in high demand, especially since they can fill so many roles.
Warlocks minimally, they are used to playing with a tank, just sub the warrior for the walker, and bring out the imp/sucubus. Medium demand, there's not a lot of them competing for spots, but they aren't particularly necessary either.
Priests not at all unless you are exceptionally dense and don't leave shadowform. 99% of priests got into it cause they like to heal. And of course they are always in very high demand.
Hunters there are alot of, relative to their utility. Still, it doesn't seem like they have an exceptionally complex roll in groups, and not super different then their roll in solo play.
Rogues are tough for me to analyze here. It's often nice to have one around, but there are usually 7 clamoring for that spot. And people often don't like them because they are so high on the BN scale above. I don't know much about how their abilities play out solo compared to in groups.
And that leaves Pallys and Shammys, two classes who's jobs change radically in groups. A big part of the problem is that in a smoothly functioning group, they contribute relativly little. They both add a little melee DPS, they both do a little buffing, and are just along for the ride on 95% of pulls. Then all of the sudden things get hairy, and people expect them to instantly and expertly pull out some of their rarely used tricky spells, which there are a lot of. Also, bad shammy/pally play will only be really exposed when things are going south, and usually there is someone else to blame. Mob gets away from the Tank and eats the priest? It might be the Shammys fault for blowing all his mana on shocks, but he could just as easily blame the priest for using GH instead of renew and not hitting fade fast enough, or the warrior for not locking the mob down properly. Lacking that immediate feedback of "I made a mistake, and it is completly my fault we wiped" makes it tougher to learn. Add that to the fact that there are a LOT of both of these classes out there for the BN reasons above, and you end up with people who have an incomplete picture of what their class entails.
I know I have one glaring defencie here: I have no explanation for the popularity of hunters. Is there some sort of coolness here I'm missing? They grind up levels very well, I'd say just about the best, but they are really tricky to dual with. Anyone out there have a good explanation for their popularity?
This is not ment to start a flame war. You'll notice I've cast as many stones at my own class as any other. We all know a good class X is better then a bad class Y, and you party with Z player of class X and he saves your bacon frequently. We are talking about generalized pubbies here.
I hope this can continue the discussion from the jacked CTF thread in a civil manner. I look forward to feedback, as the shaman is the only class I've capped, though I've played everything else atleast 20 levels, sometimes quite a bit more.