Would you like new roles added to the game?

[MisterSheep]

The holy trinity of the mmorpg genre is certainly a staple in tons of games, with most grouped content requiring at least a tank, a healer and a few dps.

But wouldn't it be better if it was further expanded? Adding more roles and diversity and allowing players to have different tasks in an encounter could breath fresh air into the game. They could split some pre-existing roles or create new ones.

Here's some ideas:

Controller: Guy who's main purpose is to apply crowd control to adds so they become easily manageable and burned down quickly. Ex: Druids could shape the environment to block enemy paths or force them down another. A mage could freeze a pack of mob, etc.

Off-Tank: More than just a secondary tank, this guy deals damage and excels at tanking little adds while the main tank takes care of the beefy boss. They help protect ranged characters and healers. Somewhat a hybrid between a tank and a dps. Ex: A fury warrior who enrages the more there are enemies around him, increasing his damage outputs as he shrugs off the pain.

AoE DPS vs. Single target DPS vs. Ranged DPS: Sure, some class already excels at one or the other, but they could further increase the gap by making some class inherently better at dealing damage to one priority target, while other classes are better at burning down multiple foes at once. Ex: Rogue that assassinates important adds while a warlock melt the cannon fodder and the marksmanship hunter kills archers on a balcony

Buffer/Debuffer: Someone who actively tries to find a way to increase damage received by the boss, or increase the damage dealt by his allies. Ex: Elemental Shaman that throws a fire totem near the boss, which creates a lava pool under it and make it vulnerable, and throw an air totem near melee dps, which imbues their weapon with thunder. But he must throw thunder bolts to power the air totem and lava burst to the fire totem when they deplete.

''Skill Monkey'': Not sure how else i should call this one, but it's the guy who can give you an advantage before the fight even starts, their utility in a fight might be limited, but the utility they bring to the group that makes it worthwhile. Ex: A rogue who disarms traps that would otherwise reduce your max health by 25% for the remainder of the dungeon/raid and then unlocks a bonus chest at the end, a survival hunter that scouts ahead and give knowledge of the enemy to the group, increasing everyone's damage by 10% against scouted enemies while also marking incoming enemies on the map.

Sure, some of these might exist to a lesser extent, but they could expand over these ideas and create new encounters, dungeons and raids which are more elaborate and lively.

WoW has always been a war about who has the best dps, who's the best healer and can tank the best, but if each class had their own unique utility (other than just unique buffs) suddenly their dps/hps output matters a lot less.

Also each of these roles would be secondary and not mandatory for most content except maybe high end content. They'd offer different ways for a player to participate in a group. Much like pen and paper rpg like Dungeons and Dragons. You sure can build a pure tank or be a rogue skilled for the trade, but none of these are actualy a requirement for a group. Everyone can bring something to the table while not competing against each others for who performs the best.

Tell me what you guys think!

Also i've somewhat been inspired by the mmorpg Neverwinter which has seven distinct roles: tank/off-tank/healer/controller/single target dps/AoE dps/support

[effs]

The first thing that comes to mind when we think about adding new roles is how will pruning affect it. Having aoe dps as a new role will probably cause other specs like havoc lose some of their aoe potential. We could end up with even less to press than we do now.

[glowpipe]

WoW has always been a war about who has the best dps, who's the best healer and can tank the best, but if each class had their own unique utility (other than just unique buffs) suddenly their dps/hps output matters a lot less.

Oh, you mean like in vanilla when we had support classes and even designated ressers that stood out of combat ressing, only a few had interrupt, only a few had cc. Horde the only faction with totems and bloodlust,

Guess why its not like that anymore. Because people didn't care for it. Support classes whined daily about their role and now they do more dps than pure dps classes.

[MisterSheep]

Oh, you mean like in vanilla when we had support classes and even designated ressers that stood out of combat ressing, only a few had interrupt, only a few had cc. Horde the only faction with totems and bloodlust,

Guess why its not like that anymore. Because people didn't care for it. Support classes whined daily about their role and now they do more dps than pure dps classes.

Sure, people didn't care for it because it was poorly implemented.

Of course it would suck if your class did less dps than the others just because you passively buff everyone's damage or because you can press bloodlust every ten minutes. Of course it would suck if your dps was subpar just because you are able to throw a heal here and there once in a while.

But would it suck to sacrifice some single target dps knowing you'll top the charts whenever a pack a mob spawns that you can AoE down faster than anyone because that's your specialty?

Wouldn't you like to be the artist controller who puts order in a hectic fight, gathering enemies that were running around everywhere, chasing your allies, and clumping them in a nice little group so the previous AoE specialist can burn them down quickly?

Aren't you annoyed whenever another class is buffed and becomes better at their job than your class, and even worse, you get benched because X or Y other class has 5% higher dps than yours, and you don't have enough utility to make up for the loss.

[Battlebeard]

Sounds good, but I have played mmos with this many roles. Bosses would become extremely depending on some of these, like buffer/debuffer, and generally in other games, such roles are extremely boring. Finding people for groups would be a nightmare.

[Super Kami Dende]

Many games have tried it. Support classes generally complain they don't do enough DPS. DPS classes complain they don't have enough utility. They give them both what they want and Support/DPS just blurs together again anyway.

[Lochton]

Uhm, none of those, really... If a new role were to be added, I would've expected, Support (Basically, a support is a lot of off sides, like, CC, healing, buffing/debuffing, etc)

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Many games have tried it. Support classes generally complain they don't do enough DPS. DPS classes complain they don't have enough utility. They give them both what they want and Support/DPS just blurs together again anyway.

ArcheAge managed to open the page for useful support builds, with their what, 128 specc combinations between their classes.

[FelPlague]

off tank as you say is a role, some tank specs are better at holding groups of adds, things is most fights these days are just tank swap... less one boss tanks boss well other tanks adds



i would say i do miss 3.3.5 demo lock... my fave spec by far... i miss it and have played on.. well... yeah to go back and play it again, as it was so fun being a average dps, but also provide your healers and casters with tons of spell power

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Many games have tried it. Support classes generally complain they don't do enough DPS. DPS classes complain they don't have enough utility. They give them both what they want and Support/DPS just blurs together again anyway.

^^^^^^^^^ all this, my favorite spec demo lock in end of wrath was super amazing, but the issue was
A. the people playing complained that their dps looked bad, even if their overall dps because of the spellpower they gave to other casters and healers was amazing
B. you could only have 1 demo lock per raid or else it could cause overlap and issues...
C. other people would kick yo ubecause they would see bad dps, and not track how much Sp you were giving...


i got kicked from alot of groups because i whent PURE Sp, everything SP, and gave SO MUCH Sp, but i myself did alot less damage, i would be like 4th lowest dps, but would increase all casters dps by about 15-30%(depending on procs and timing) and healers by 20%

[Armourboy]

I'd love a true support character. I'd be happy to settle for less DPS to be able to buff/debuff/CC etc. Problem is I'm not entirely sure the rest of the player base would come along and you wouldn't get this crap where they constantly piss and moan about not being able to be equal at DPS.

The other issue is to make them worth it is you gotta make them super needed in progression otherwise they are the first thing to get dropped once things get on farm in lots of guilds. This game unlike any other I've ever seen is less about fun and more about maximizing every dang thing.

[Deleted]

The holy trinity of the mmorpg genre is certainly a staple in tons of games, with most grouped content requiring at least a tank, a healer and a few dps.

But wouldn't it be better if it was further expanded? Adding more roles and diversity and allowing players to have different tasks in an encounter could breath fresh air into the game. They could split some pre-existing roles or create new ones.

Here's some ideas:

Controller: Guy who's main purpose is to apply crowd control to adds so they become easily manageable and burned down quickly. Ex: Druids could shape the environment to block enemy paths or force them down another. A mage could freeze a pack of mob, etc.

Off-Tank: More than just a secondary tank, this guy deals damage and excels at tanking little adds while the main tank takes care of the beefy boss. They help protect ranged characters and healers. Somewhat a hybrid between a tank and a dps. Ex: A fury warrior who enrages the more there are enemies around him, increasing his damage outputs as he shrugs off the pain.

AoE DPS vs. Single target DPS vs. Ranged DPS: Sure, some class already excels at one or the other, but they could further increase the gap by making some class inherently better at dealing damage to one priority target, while other classes are better at burning down multiple foes at once. Ex: Rogue that assassinates important adds while a warlock melt the cannon fodder and the marksmanship hunter kills archers on a balcony

Buffer/Debuffer: Someone who actively tries to find a way to increase damage received by the boss, or increase the damage dealt by his allies. Ex: Elemental Shaman that throws a fire totem near the boss, which creates a lava pool under it and make it vulnerable, and throw an air totem near melee dps, which imbues their weapon with thunder. But he must throw thunder bolts to power the air totem and lava burst to the fire totem when they deplete.

''Skill Monkey'': Not sure how else i should call this one, but it's the guy who can give you an advantage before the fight even starts, their utility in a fight might be limited, but the utility they bring to the group that makes it worthwhile. Ex: A rogue who disarms traps that would otherwise reduce your max health by 25% for the remainder of the dungeon/raid and then unlocks a bonus chest at the end, a survival hunter that scouts ahead and give knowledge of the enemy to the group, increasing everyone's damage by 10% against scouted enemies while also marking incoming enemies on the map.

Sure, some of these might exist to a lesser extent, but they could expand over these ideas and create new encounters, dungeons and raids which are more elaborate and lively.

WoW has always been a war about who has the best dps, who's the best healer and can tank the best, but if each class had their own unique utility (other than just unique buffs) suddenly their dps/hps output matters a lot less.

Also each of these roles would be secondary and not mandatory for most content except maybe high end content. They'd offer different ways for a player to participate in a group. Much like pen and paper rpg like Dungeons and Dragons. You sure can build a pure tank or be a rogue skilled for the trade, but none of these are actualy a requirement for a group. Everyone can bring something to the table while not competing against each others for who performs the best.

Tell me what you guys think!

Also i've somewhat been inspired by the mmorpg Neverwinter which has seven distinct roles: tank/off-tank/healer/controller/single target dps/AoE dps/support

It wouldn't work for WoW.

Controller - this would require that every fight would have adds that need controlling which isn't always the case or always needed. To enable this you'd need to have the adds and then something that ensures that the adds are dangerous unless crowd controlled. There really isn't a reason to bring a controller to a no add fight nor is there a reason to bring one to a fight which doesn't require CC constantly i.e. every 5-10 seconds as the CC can be handled by RDPS in the group. Removing CC from ranged classes will only make the game worse both PvE & PvP wise.

Off-Tank - the off-tank would need to get 2-3 shot by the boss in order for them to not always be picked. As per the previous role this would only be picked in fights where there are a lot of dangerous adds constantly that can't be CCed. As soon as adds can be CCed they will get burned down by DPS so an OT will be useless.

Buffer/Debuffer - primary concern with this is gameplay. For one solo content on this would be harder when compared to other classes as they naturally need to do less DPS than DPS classes in order not to just stack buffers/debuffers in groups. Other than that not very many people enjoy a playstyle where your usefulness is dictated by other people(see ret paladin BoM).

'Skill Monkey'' - Traps that affect a whole raid/boss that can only be disabled by this role aren't a good idea if we're looking at somewhat important "traps". At that point this becomes mandatory which fucks with groups. If the traps aren't important taking this over any other role would be pointless as they obviously need to do less damage to compensate for the "buffs" they bring.

With all these new roles content would need to be nerfed quite a lot to make the easier content available to groups regardless of group makeup i.e. Tank/OT + Healer + DPS + any other role. The reason the current roles work is that because they are similar in what they need to achieve and are reasonably balanced. There are better choices for certain fights but at a heroic raid level they are meaningless. To account for the existance/lack of buffs that increase damage/increase health/decrease damage taken/etc. content that is meant to be completed at a more casual level will end up being hit with the nerf bat so as to not make any of the new roles mandatory. Assuming mythic remains consistent in difficulty(i.e. you can balance it around having close to the best setup) you will end up with a significant gap between HC & mythic.

[Flurryfang]

The holy trinity of the mmorpg genre is certainly a staple in tons of games, with most grouped content requiring at least a tank, a healer and a few dps.

But wouldn't it be better if it was further expanded? Adding more roles and diversity and allowing players to have different tasks in an encounter could breath fresh air into the game. They could split some pre-existing roles or create new ones.

Here's some ideas:

Controller: Guy who's main purpose is to apply crowd control to adds so they become easily manageable and burned down quickly. Ex: Druids could shape the environment to block enemy paths or force them down another. A mage could freeze a pack of mob, etc.

Off-Tank: More than just a secondary tank, this guy deals damage and excels at tanking little adds while the main tank takes care of the beefy boss. They help protect ranged characters and healers. Somewhat a hybrid between a tank and a dps. Ex: A fury warrior who enrages the more there are enemies around him, increasing his damage outputs as he shrugs off the pain.

AoE DPS vs. Single target DPS vs. Ranged DPS: Sure, some class already excels at one or the other, but they could further increase the gap by making some class inherently better at dealing damage to one priority target, while other classes are better at burning down multiple foes at once. Ex: Rogue that assassinates important adds while a warlock melt the cannon fodder and the marksmanship hunter kills archers on a balcony

Buffer/Debuffer: Someone who actively tries to find a way to increase damage received by the boss, or increase the damage dealt by his allies. Ex: Elemental Shaman that throws a fire totem near the boss, which creates a lava pool under it and make it vulnerable, and throw an air totem near melee dps, which imbues their weapon with thunder. But he must throw thunder bolts to power the air totem and lava burst to the fire totem when they deplete.

''Skill Monkey'': Not sure how else i should call this one, but it's the guy who can give you an advantage before the fight even starts, their utility in a fight might be limited, but the utility they bring to the group that makes it worthwhile. Ex: A rogue who disarms traps that would otherwise reduce your max health by 25% for the remainder of the dungeon/raid and then unlocks a bonus chest at the end, a survival hunter that scouts ahead and give knowledge of the enemy to the group, increasing everyone's damage by 10% against scouted enemies while also marking incoming enemies on the map.

Sure, some of these might exist to a lesser extent, but they could expand over these ideas and create new encounters, dungeons and raids which are more elaborate and lively.

WoW has always been a war about who has the best dps, who's the best healer and can tank the best, but if each class had their own unique utility (other than just unique buffs) suddenly their dps/hps output matters a lot less.

Also each of these roles would be secondary and not mandatory for most content except maybe high end content. They'd offer different ways for a player to participate in a group. Much like pen and paper rpg like Dungeons and Dragons. You sure can build a pure tank or be a rogue skilled for the trade, but none of these are actualy a requirement for a group. Everyone can bring something to the table while not competing against each others for who performs the best.

Tell me what you guys think!

Also i've somewhat been inspired by the mmorpg Neverwinter which has seven distinct roles: tank/off-tank/healer/controller/single target dps/AoE dps/support

It is some cool ideas, but it would require for Blizzard to make 2 new classes or have every class in the game get a 4th/5th spec to fill the space of a or 2 new roles. It would require an insane amount of work to push in a new role and it would complicate the already well estabilish raiding/dungeon culture in the game.

If Blizzard ever wanted to add a new role, they would pretty much have to make a WoW 2, where they could create a new role-base from the ground up. Scooping in a new role for a new expansion would really change the game too much even for an expansion. Alot of players would either feel overwhelmed or aliennated, because the game would not be the same anymore. Many players also play sololy for the high-end raiding experience and small changes up there can have devasting consiquenses.

So would i like new role in the game? Not really.