Interesting thoughts on interdependence

[sahmiam]

I was browsing mmorpg's news this morning and read this piece:
Article

It got me both thinking and thankful for wildstar. Wildstar is a return to a class based game. Sure, each class can fill two different roles, but it's still a choice. In many of today's games that choice is gone. One person can do everything, and I for one don't think that's a good thing!

I love having a group of people I can rely on. A short list of close friends who smash things together, and a longer list of guildies and acquaintances that expand my network of people.

Whatcha think?

[Nyogtha]

I was browsing mmorpg's news this morning and read this piece:
Article

It got me both thinking and thankful for wildstar. Wildstar is a return to a class based game. Sure, each class can fill two different roles, but it's still a choice. In many of today's games that choice is gone. One person can do everything, and I for one don't think that's a good thing!

I love having a group of people I can rely on. A short list of close friends who smash things together, and a longer list of guildies and acquaintances that expand my network of people.

Whatcha think?

I totally agree with you. I wouldn't have a while ago. Part of the appeal of GW2 for me was getting away from classes. Well after a while I realized why there needs to be something there. Something to give importance to people. If not classes, then something else. I realized that I was no more or less important than the next guy and that groups just felt like a bunch of people flailing about. I remembered back to COH when I was a badass healer and was a hot commodity. People wanted me in the group! If you were a good tank, people wanted you! If you knew how to number crunch your DPS, people wanted you. If you knew how to CC like a champ, people wanted you. With everyone being able to pretty much accomplish everything, you're just part of the zerg. So yes, bringing back the trinity is a good thing right now. The idea that you can switch it up and have a choice is even better. If you already have a solid trinity, instead of joining that group as yet another tank or healer, you can switch over to the dps side...or if you've been soloing as DPS heavy, you can pop into a group as a tank or healer. I think it will work very well.

[sahmiam]

For me, it is even deeper than that.

For instance, in ff14:arr I wanted to be one type of crafter. I did not want to be the other types, nor the other type of gatherers. I tried, and tried to expand my network of suppliers in vain. Most everyone was like "Just level the other ones, everyone can do everything".

Flash back 10 years... (yeah, I am that old) to Dark Age of Camelot and I tried the same thing. I was wildly successful. I had a network of other crafters that I worked with on a regular basis to turn out products. Wildstar is bringing this back.

WoW crafting started this way, and then got watered down. I am hoping wildstar sticks to it's guns, so to speak.

[Acha]

I have to fully agree with this. Arr and GW2 fill their niche, but their design decisions have issues with certain areas. The 'classless' system of GW2 makes for no possibility of raiding and less coordination in other areas of PVE and PVP. The 'everybody can do everything' approach of ARR weakens the global economy and strengthens the requirement of self-reliance. Some people are into these traits, as for me I am not.

I like having my character that fills his niche in gameplay and in the economy. I like sometimes being that go-to tank or whatnot, or being the guy who discovers a particular pattern that nobody is selling and make a fair take off the market due to no competition.

[NightAngel]

Finding a niche roll can be a lot of fun. Going back to your example of DAOC, it meant something when you hit LGM in crafting. You did kudos and props if you played well and the server recognized you for it. Sometimes the other servers recognized you as the bane of their existance. HEHE but it all meant something.

[Phantom]

IMO there is a lot more to the crafting in games like daoc...it wasn't just interdependence, the crafting actually meant something due to time/difficulty/expense invested AND the fact it was key in actually gearing out your character unlike most everything else these days that's just a dungeon/gear grind that completely overshadows crafted items.

Sadly, I imagine Wildstar will be more of the same in that regard with their raiding, I doubt crafted gear will really compete ultimately. But with that said, they do have some good concepts for crafting and I will likely enjoy it. And something in particular reminded me a lot of DAOC's spellcrafting, but they are building that into making the item instead of doing it after the fact. So that's pretty cool. Love that kind of customization through crafting.

[Nyogtha]

I hope their crafting is interesting. I have yet to find a game where crafting didn't feel like a complete chore.

[todmcfly]

I hope their crafting is interesting. I have yet to find a game where crafting didn't feel like a complete chore.

I agree with this. And I have tried. Numerous games I have tried to focus on crafting but it never lasts.. I would love to give it another go

[Raille]

IMO there is a lot more to the crafting in games like daoc...it wasn't just interdependence, the crafting actually meant something due to time/difficulty/expense invested AND the fact it was key in actually gearing out your character unlike most everything else these days that's just a dungeon/gear grind that completely overshadows crafted items.

Sadly, I imagine Wildstar will be more of the same in that regard with their raiding, I doubt crafted gear will really compete ultimately. But with that said, they do have some good concepts for crafting and I will likely enjoy it. And something in particular reminded me a lot of DAOC's spellcrafting, but they are building that into making the item instead of doing it after the fact. So that's pretty cool. Love that kind of customization through crafting.

It's been a good while since they discussed crafting at all in W*, but they implied getting BIS gear involved a mix of crafting and raid gear. Very much could have changed since this way back in CB2 or 3 I believe. They didn't go into great detail, but they talked about having to break down raid gear into components that had the stats you wanted to create the perfect piece of gear you wanted. That all sounds more grindy than I like, but interesting none the less.

[bbates024]

I really think people are over dramatizing the fact that people can go hybrid. In every game there a ton of classes that can hybrid. I cant count the times as a dps I had to do some quick heals or pick up a boss for a second if the tank died. Was it optimal no but you could help out if you had to.

I think most dps are going to put 1-2 healing/utility abilities on their bars, maybe just one if they add in something like they showed on the spellsinger that only does massive dmg under 30% or if you have to keep a cc on your bar for boss interrupts. Adding something to your bar doesn't mean your going to tier it up or do anything else but it will save your heal so time if you eat a huge telegraph and just pop yourself a small heal before going back to the boss, or your armor right before you can't get out of of a telegraph. I don't think dps will be adding to many utility abilities with the limited action sets.

On the other side I have the feelings tanks or healers won't be adding to many dps abilities to their bars. I think as a healer depending on skill you would at least carry one dps ability.

That's just my two cents. I also love crafting and can't wait to see how it plays out.