WoW/new MMOs should have 5 classes.

[Bobdanjoe]

In-case you guys haven't watched the TED Talk on the Paradox of Choice, I suggest you check it out. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM)

I think MMOs should go to a core of roles without variation. There should simply be the tank class, healer class, melee DPS, caster DPS, and ranged physical DPS. (Maybe one additional slot for a character type that's basically a buff-bot.)

I also think talent choices should be removed and everything about the classes should be standardized.

True, you give up the choice of some 30-40 play styles that are currently in WOW, but for that you gain 5-6 unique classes that can be perfectly balanced among each other. The tank would have exactly what it needs, the healer would have exactly what it needs, and the DPS could be perfectly balanced against the others.

People would know exactly what they're getting when they make their characters. A healer and tank are group centered roles; you will level slower than dps classes, but you will be in high demand for group content.

I know some of you are altaholics like me, and of course there are some of you who have rocked the same mains for years. Personally, this Paradox of choice really hit home with me. It killed a lot of my fun in WoW when I would gear out one spec, only to realize the options another spec had but with a different gear set. Then when I would exhaust that, I would think about the benefits of another class and reroll. It was a never ending cycle, and I would never just stick to one character. For people like me, which I would argue is much of the population, I think if we removed so much damn choice that the player-base in general would be more happy.

I would rather Blizzard could balance the game in a few hours with limited classes, and then dedicated massive amounts of times to content than I would have them reinvent 40 classes every expansion at the cost of less content to explore and conquer. Think about all the changes in Mists...if Blizzard only had to revamp 5 classes, it could probably have twice the content. The wonderful thing about the content is it's not choices that need to be made, it's conquer everything to win. Not "I didn't do this, and this looks a lot more fun - I've wasted my time."

Just my opinion. I think a more baseline MMO would be more enjoyable. I thought I liked all the choice for years, but in my older years I think I'm realizing I would rather have a polished game where I know I'm the best (character ability wise) tank or healer in the game and that no archetype is better than be in any situation simply by virtue of their class choice.

[General_Typhus]

I think the whole trinity is getting tired

[Deleted]

the whole problem with that is, people get bored with a certain role and wanna play something else for a change. and lots of people dont wanna relevel an entirely new char just too be able too play a different role sometimes when they get bored with their main.

[Hipnos14]

So, basicly you want things to be easier because you don't want to inform yourself first and then choose something? I don't think the same way that the guy from the video, It's better to have more options so you can have the thing that fits better for your personality, phisic, etc... It looks like that man only wants someone to choose things instead of him.

The thing is that some people are too lazy to inform themselves before doing or buying something, the man from that video is one of them, he talks about expectations...well, first inform yourself and then your expectations are gone because now you KNOW what you are buying/doing.

About the balance thing, I want to have variety instead of 5 boring clases so I can choose more precisely the one that fits the things that I like, To balance that is so easy as creating a specific effect of every ability when it's used against other player and normalizing gear in Arenas, BGs and PvP zones, something like the thing that GW2 does.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

There will always be a class. Even if it's just through how you chose minor glyphs.

If every DPS shot a bow then the game would get old by the time you hit level 30. As they say, variety is the spice of life.

[Deleted]

this system would shoo away people suffering from chronic alti-itis.

Also, I think that removing choices isn't too good. Personally, I'd add even more choice, but make these choices completely redundant for actual gameplay. Just my 2ct though

[Draahl]

I think the whole trinity is getting tired

GW2 ftw :P

[Yig]

If one thing can be certain about Titan, it's that it will be simpler and more elegant than WOW. WOW was made to be accessible and simple for people who don't usually play MMORPGs in the early 2000s, it's just ironically hilarious to see elitist WOW players acting like the game is being "dumbed down" when that was what WOW was made for in the first place. Blizzard wants simple and ergonomic design that get's more complex for advanced players, but not too complex.

[Porimlys]

I think the whole trinity is getting tired

I definitely disagree, I think the trinity allows for some really creative encounter design that you just can't have without the roles.

[Shampro]

I think the whole trinity is getting tired

Disagree, without trinity, Encounters are basicly Zerg Fests 99.99% of the time. Trinity allows for smarter and more crative encounter design.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

If one thing can be certain about Titan, it's that it will be simpler and more elegant than WOW. WOW was made to be accessible and simple for people who don't usually play MMORPGs in the early 2000s, it's just ironically hilarious to see elitist WOW players acting like the game is being "dumbed down" when that was what WOW was made for in the first place. Blizzard wants simple and ergonomic design that get's more complex for advanced players, but not too complex.

If WoW is the simplest MMORPG then Titan is not an MMORPG and yet be simpler than WoW.

[Nightsshade]

Plenty of games have tried this and died... static choices are boring and players never stick to games like that.

Games have to decide where to strike the balance between complexity and balance... yeah you can balance everything by giving each class one spec with the exact same skills as other classes (Champions Online), but the game will quickly become boring. Yeah you can allow players to choose to have 3 choices of 9 tress in 4 classes with 8 tiers of talents each... But then the game becomes too complex for many and impossible to really balance (Rift - tho they do a decent job with it imo). Imo, - wow struck a solid balance from the start and thats a big part of its success. If you dont like the way it plays maybe wow isn't the right game for you?

[Halicia]

Plenty of games have tried this and died... static choices are boring and players never stick to games like that.

Rift found a way to limit character choices and 'alt-itis', while still having an amazingly robust degree of choice and customization.

[Huehuecoyotl]

I definitely disagree, I think the trinity allows for some really creative encounter design that you just can't have without the roles.

i think its actually the other way around. i honestly think having to build everything around 2 tanks, a certain amount of healing and a required level of dps actually limits what you can do with boss design. think how many fights have unavoidable raid damage. why is that? because otherwise good guilds would cheese the healer requirements knowing their players were good enough to avoid anything that could be avoided, and stack dps. which then throws off the dps requirements for the fight. how is that more creative?

[yjmark]

i think its actually the other way around. i honestly think having to build everything around 2 tanks, a certain amount of healing and a required level of dps actually limits what you can do with boss design. think how many fights have unavoidable raid damage. why is that? because otherwise good guilds would cheese the healer requirements knowing their players were good enough to avoid anything that could be avoided, and stack dps. which then throws off the dps requirements for the fight. how is that more creative?

And what do you suggest is a more creative way to do it?

[La]

i would rather have more classes and have them ever changing each expansion, because it gives me the feeling of a new and fresh feeling that is nice. the biggest reason i`m playing a monk aside from it being incredibly fun and enjoyable is because I can tank, heal and dps on it.

if WoW was nothing but a PvP game, then sure, you could let it have 5 classes and work hard to balance it in that way. as for PvE, obviously balance isn`t as big of an issue. people enjoy tanking, others healing, others dpsing, if you remove two of those or even one, you`re taking away from quite a few peoples enjoyment of a playstyle.

[Zoneseek]

Pure pvp games should have minimal classes, look at UO there was no classes or races just human with a pool of skill points. That was the best way to balance that part of the game. (Yes I understand there was plenty of imbalance based on what skills you raise).

Pure pve games should have tons of classes and just forget it. I loved in DAOC that vast variety of classes and wish WoW had more. Funky stuff like the Animist was awesome to have but made pvp balance extremely difficult. Rift has a ton of choices too and I think they actually do the best job yet at balancing it. Eventually I will find my way back to that game for awhile, after the gw2 novelty wears off.

Games like wow are in the middle and I think wow does a fair job at balancing it, I wouldn't like to see a reduction in classes but I don't think it needs any more either. More specs, as others have mentioned, would be more desirable for me in an expansion.

[Huehuecoyotl]

And what do you suggest is a more creative way to do it?

for me, a better boss design would involve less scripting, and more reactionary gameplay. using gaming techniques that you build up as you play the game, then apply to boss fights. so, for example, you could say that stacking on another player is ALWAYS bad. so you could bring in mechanics that drive players towards each other, and they need to use skills to stay apart. bosses could focus on a random player, and other players could have means of dragging them away to save them. you have a group of abilities that you would need to learn to recognise, that could be used ANY time during a fight. learn the signs, and judge when to use your own abilities to save yourself. then set dps requirements that need everyone involved to do their job; which as a by-product would mean that scaling a fight (for example for anywhere from 10 to 25 players) would be easier.

thats just off the top of my head.

[yjmark]

for me, a better boss design would involve less scripting, and more reactionary gameplay. using gaming techniques that you build up as you play the game, then apply to boss fights. so, for example, you could say that stacking on another player is ALWAYS bad. so you could bring in mechanics that drive players towards each other, and they need to use skills to stay apart. bosses could focus on a random player, and other players could have means of dragging them away to save them. you have a group of abilities that you would need to learn to recognise, that could be used ANY time during a fight. learn the signs, and judge when to use your own abilities to save yourself. then set dps requirements that need everyone involved to do their job; which as a by-product would mean that scaling a fight (for example for anywhere from 10 to 25 players) would be easier.

thats just off the top of my head.

All those ideas sound like bits and pieces from existing fights. Nothing that a holy trinity limits, and nothing really new. In fact, taking your ideas, and adding holy trinity roles to it would actually makes them more complex...wouldn't it?

What I'd really like to see is just more things to do in a fight. One thing I really dislike about a majority of current raid designs is that lack of required tanking. Most every fight is either taunt swap or single tank. That is pretty lame imho. I much preferred the multi-tank design where each tank actually does something different. Same for DPS, and healers.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

i think its actually the other way around. i honestly think having to build everything around 2 tanks, a certain amount of healing and a required level of dps actually limits what you can do with boss design. think how many fights have unavoidable raid damage. why is that? because otherwise good guilds would cheese the healer requirements knowing their players were good enough to avoid anything that could be avoided, and stack dps. which then throws off the dps requirements for the fight. how is that more creative?

If you abolish tanking you can create some really insane fights, because you can assume members will be dying en masse.

Because abolishing the trinity abolishes all roles except DPS. Everybody will be able to pull aggro and survive for a short time, then they just run back and return to fighting. If you know people will die, why even add healers?

In the end you create some really flashy fights, but don't make anything tactical.