08-15-2005, 07:47 PM
For many WoW gamers, the end game is the raid game. This is actually pretty debateable, since the Battlegrounds addition has enabled players to make PvP the end game and get equivalent item rewards to high-end raiding. But from a PvE standpoint, raids are where its at.
This begs the question: since there are 9 classes in WoW, what are they all for? Did Blizzard successfully implement all nine classes so that they have a utility for a raid or 5-man party, and did they eventually turn out to be what Blizzard originally wanted them to be?
I guess that's two questions, huh?
A look at the nine classes and what they bring to parties:
WARRIOR: main tank. This is the classical tank archetype and it does the job. Clearly Blizzard's intention. Warriors are excellent party leaders and can control the pace all by themselves. If you like leading parties and taking charge, it's easiest to do it with this class than any other. Not that *I* ever try to do that while playing other classes...*whistles innocently*
PRIEST: main healer/debuffer. Blizzard did a good job of making the Priest the "best" overall healer, but by a slim enough margin that other healing classes are not marginalized. This was clearly their intention - to avoid there being only one healing solution in the game. Else, they would have given Priests the ability to cure poisons, remove curses, and resurrect in combat.
DRUID: secondary healer. I still don't have enough Druid experience to determine if it's the un-viability of non-healing Druids that forces them into the healing role end-game, or simply because since they can heal pretty well it's what people want them to do because there's always a shortage of healers. Ever see a bear or cat form Druid in raids?
PALADIN: secondary healer/buffer/debuffer. Was this Blizzard's intention? Why does Paladin gear seem to shift from tank-like bonuses to caster-like bonuses as they get higher in level? Was this because Blizzard realized over time that they couldn't make these guys be super-tankish and keep game balance?
SHAMAN: secondary healer/buffer/debuffer. Horde equivalent to Paladin, although has no pre-conceived notions of being a tank getting in the way. Seems a straightforward design and intended to be this way by Blizzard.
ROGUE: pure DPS Monkey. Only catch seems to be that Blizzard wanted dagger Rogues to be a more viable end-game choice, but otherwise functioning as intended.
HUNTER: ...DPS? Something tells me that Blizzard never quite had a handle on this class. Remember that it was introduced WAY late in the game, the last class to be introduced by quite a few months. They had grand notions for how pets would work, and the system wound up getting simplified down massively. Hunters are "fill in" slots for groups when you can't find anything else. What was Blizzard's intention for this class - the one thing that would get them invited? Pulling? That seems implied with the tracking abilities and feign death, but in practice it can make a tank's job more challenging in many situations. Imagine if Hunters had the ability to pull things better - such as a "reduce social aggro range" ability and the power to shift aggro from themselves to a party member, like the opposite of Taunt. They'd be wanted by parties constantly.
MAGE: AE damage king/crowd control. Not the ultimate single-target damager, which deservedly belongs to classes that have to get up close and personal to do damage; however, against multiple targets, the Mage rules. I believe this was Blizzard's original intent, although I remember the days when Mages had invisibility and they could basically do *everything* solo, with SLEEP instead of sheep, massive damage, ability to walk invisibly past any mobs, you name it. Then they took it all away, and eventually added sheeping back to give them something.
WARLOCK: DPS/utility. Warlocks have so much utility it's crazy. Many players who have never played Warlocks still haven't the faintest notion of how they work. The problem is, 90% of their utility never gets used in a raid. Soul shard system is still poor because Blizzard needs the system to balance out the Warlock's power by limiting their soul shard capacity. I'm not sure what Blizzard figured Warlocks would do end-game. As it stands they become mostly summoning "whores" and DPS machines. Probably more DPS than Blizzard would like.
Anyhow, those of you with more end-game experience, feel free to correct anything I got wrong or expound on it. Do you think (insert class here) has its end-game role down now in the way that Blizzard foresaw it when originally designing the class? If not, what changes post-release have shifted its role, and what can Blizzard do to shift it back (see my writings on the Hunter)?
-Bolty
This begs the question: since there are 9 classes in WoW, what are they all for? Did Blizzard successfully implement all nine classes so that they have a utility for a raid or 5-man party, and did they eventually turn out to be what Blizzard originally wanted them to be?
I guess that's two questions, huh?
A look at the nine classes and what they bring to parties:
WARRIOR: main tank. This is the classical tank archetype and it does the job. Clearly Blizzard's intention. Warriors are excellent party leaders and can control the pace all by themselves. If you like leading parties and taking charge, it's easiest to do it with this class than any other. Not that *I* ever try to do that while playing other classes...*whistles innocently*
PRIEST: main healer/debuffer. Blizzard did a good job of making the Priest the "best" overall healer, but by a slim enough margin that other healing classes are not marginalized. This was clearly their intention - to avoid there being only one healing solution in the game. Else, they would have given Priests the ability to cure poisons, remove curses, and resurrect in combat.
DRUID: secondary healer. I still don't have enough Druid experience to determine if it's the un-viability of non-healing Druids that forces them into the healing role end-game, or simply because since they can heal pretty well it's what people want them to do because there's always a shortage of healers. Ever see a bear or cat form Druid in raids?
PALADIN: secondary healer/buffer/debuffer. Was this Blizzard's intention? Why does Paladin gear seem to shift from tank-like bonuses to caster-like bonuses as they get higher in level? Was this because Blizzard realized over time that they couldn't make these guys be super-tankish and keep game balance?
SHAMAN: secondary healer/buffer/debuffer. Horde equivalent to Paladin, although has no pre-conceived notions of being a tank getting in the way. Seems a straightforward design and intended to be this way by Blizzard.
ROGUE: pure DPS Monkey. Only catch seems to be that Blizzard wanted dagger Rogues to be a more viable end-game choice, but otherwise functioning as intended.
HUNTER: ...DPS? Something tells me that Blizzard never quite had a handle on this class. Remember that it was introduced WAY late in the game, the last class to be introduced by quite a few months. They had grand notions for how pets would work, and the system wound up getting simplified down massively. Hunters are "fill in" slots for groups when you can't find anything else. What was Blizzard's intention for this class - the one thing that would get them invited? Pulling? That seems implied with the tracking abilities and feign death, but in practice it can make a tank's job more challenging in many situations. Imagine if Hunters had the ability to pull things better - such as a "reduce social aggro range" ability and the power to shift aggro from themselves to a party member, like the opposite of Taunt. They'd be wanted by parties constantly.
MAGE: AE damage king/crowd control. Not the ultimate single-target damager, which deservedly belongs to classes that have to get up close and personal to do damage; however, against multiple targets, the Mage rules. I believe this was Blizzard's original intent, although I remember the days when Mages had invisibility and they could basically do *everything* solo, with SLEEP instead of sheep, massive damage, ability to walk invisibly past any mobs, you name it. Then they took it all away, and eventually added sheeping back to give them something.
WARLOCK: DPS/utility. Warlocks have so much utility it's crazy. Many players who have never played Warlocks still haven't the faintest notion of how they work. The problem is, 90% of their utility never gets used in a raid. Soul shard system is still poor because Blizzard needs the system to balance out the Warlock's power by limiting their soul shard capacity. I'm not sure what Blizzard figured Warlocks would do end-game. As it stands they become mostly summoning "whores" and DPS machines. Probably more DPS than Blizzard would like.
Anyhow, those of you with more end-game experience, feel free to correct anything I got wrong or expound on it. Do you think (insert class here) has its end-game role down now in the way that Blizzard foresaw it when originally designing the class? If not, what changes post-release have shifted its role, and what can Blizzard do to shift it back (see my writings on the Hunter)?
-Bolty
Quote:Considering the mods here are generally liberals who seem to have a soft spot for fascism and white supremacy (despite them saying otherwise), me being perma-banned at some point is probably not out of the question.