(04-01-2014, 05:19 PM)Melkire Wrote: All the trinity system does is impose cooperation on players by pigeon-holing them into certain tasks based on the class they chose when they started. Lack of trinity doesn't mean lack of cooperation, it just means that instead of Joe Schmoe performing task X every time, maybe he swaps out with Mary Sue for a particular encounter because Mary Sue's player happens to excel at said task for that particular encounter.
But sometimes Jow Schmoe really likes performing task X, a task that Mary Sue wouild hate to do and feels uncomfortable doing. If you take away the trinity, what you'll get is that Mary will have to perform task X, the task she hates and that Joe would prefer doing anyway.
I don't know how a game without the trinity would perform. Taking it away pretty much means leaving only one role in. You can't take away dealing damage, as most MMOs are based around the murdering of mobs. That leaves you taking away tanking (no ways to reliably alter the mob's aggro lists) and healing (maybe by giving the players unreliable healing skills, with long cooldowns or that don't heal much or that heal only when outside of combat or whatever). Which means Joe Schmoe, who really likes tanking, can't tank, and Mary Sue, who really likes healing, can't heal.
The trinity doesn't force people into roles. No game (that I know of, anyway) will force a player into being a tank class if he doesn't want to: he can always choose the rogue or the priest. It gives distinct combat roles so that people may specialize in them and pick the one they like the most.
The only problem I see with it is that healers and tanks are always on higher demand, meaning getting parties is always on the "let's wait half an hour or more" side of things for damage dealers.