(01-10-2014, 03:50 PM)Ildur Wrote: Each player has different tastes; what is asinine for some isn't for others. Specially when the 'asinine playstyle' is what differentiates that class. If a player doesn't like it, he has other 7 classes that will hopefully do what he wants to do in a way he actually enjoys. Or...well, other four classes because we are talking about damage dealing.
Either I was just really unclear, or you're not understanding what I'm saying. Â I'm not saying that some players won't like a playstyle. Â I, for instance, really don't like Melee. Â I'm not very good at it, and I don't have the twitchy reaction time in most games (not this one, since everything is telegraphed before it happens, but most games) to really be effective at it. Â I prefer ranged - well, I really prefer healing, and I guess I'm being silly since I have played Melee healers doing a DPS rotation on a mob/boss and been fine at it.
But that's not what I'm talking about. Â The suggestion was made that the Melee playstyle is harder because they have to "do more" to get the full DPS out of their classes. Â I maintain that class design that requires players to jump through hoops to stay even with other classes is bad design. Â Every class should have about the same skill floor, and about the same skill cap.
A good example of bad design is the way Feral Kitty Druids were treated for years in WoW.  You basically had two types of Feral Kitties - the type that were completely worthless (because they couldn't master the ridiculously complicated playstyle necessary to put out good DPS), and amazing godlike players.  Were the godlike players amazing and wonderful?  Hell yes!  Did you want one in your raid?  Absolutely!  But the fact was, finding one of those players was like looking for a bloody unicorn, and the majority  of players were never able to reach that level.  Which meant that their DPS wasn't just mediocre - it was terrible.
But eventually Blizzard figured out that this was bad design, and they overhauled the spec to leave players at about the same skill floor as every other class, and with the same skill cap as every other class. Â Does this mean that Feral Druids play like every other class? Â No. Â No they do not. Â What it means is that players don't have to jump through ridiculous hoops to generate the same DPS as an equivalent class. Â This is good class design.
And yes, I find it asinine when devs expect players to do ridiculous things to break even with other classes, regardless of whether there is some amorphous "great reward" at the end.
Quote:I think TERA did that. It was hilarious, but in that game archers did more damage the closer they were to the target (something I hear happens in ARR's PvP). You could then play safely, staying away from your target, only having to worry about lunges and long range skills, kitting and basically being safe. Or you could get into the enemy's face and deal full damage while also having to worry about dodging the melee attacks and everything else.
If I recall correctly, mostly everyone went the safe route.
Okay, but did TERA even have raiding? Â Like, from everything I've read and heard, TERA's PvE was mediocre at best and they didn't have any serious raiding to speak of. Â FFXIV is attempting to have a legitimate endgame, and they are building this around the Holy Trinity model, similar to EQ, WoW, Rift, SWTOR, etc. Â And from everything I've seen in Coils, I don't see the huge risk that Melee take by being, well...Melee.
Maybe from Ballast. Â Maybe.