What could have been a fourth role for players in WoW apart from support?

[mickybrighteyes]

the definition of a role changes in a given medium. Support in wow has turned into healer main.

utility? they either took pressure of a healer or a tank... and never got used except for a niche moment or got turned into a cooldown for the tank or healer.

Wow sort of hosed itself for teh sake of simplicity in balance.

[Magistrate]

3 roles is the best way to go. If they added a 4th role, that class would be 100% mandatory or pointless. And given Blizz's whole "bring the player, not the class" ideology I doubt they'd shoot themselves in the foot like that

Yeah. They'd have to make sure there are several options for the new role as soon as it's available, too, which could necessitate developing multiple classes or new specs, or completely changing specs to suit it, which I doubt players would like.

[Hashtronaut]

However, if you were in the dev team and it were decided to include a new role, especially for PvE, what do you think could have filled this spot?

Now, I do want to leave the support role out because mainly it's too broad.

D) I want to spark thoughts for more creative routes


This thread isn't about asking if a fourth role is needed. It most probably isn't needed at all.

hmmmmmmm there really isn't many other options tbh...

But for the sake of argument or "sparking thought" the only way this works as you described is if we remove tank or healer and then make them one into multiple rolls. For instance, let's say that the damage dealer not only deals damage but tanks as well. Or bosses can be cc'd. Once we change the game of WoW then we can open up more rolls. But, currently as the game is there really aren't any options giving the choices you laid out.

My idea for a fourth role would be something along the lines of a summoner...they don't really do damage directly or heal or tank but summon minions that can either be played by other players or fill a missing role. Adding to this say WoW now involves being a platformer this summoner class could also summon earth (terrain) or objects to be used.

[The Man in Room V]

I don't get the problem with support. People often play a certain spec only to raid or PvP. Not every character has to be a jack-of-all-trades main (as opposed to an alt).

It would be fun to play a buffer/debuffer that has to actually maintain them and juggle them as needed, like, you know, a bard. Something like this https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Chanter would be really fun to play in a social RPG like WoW.

[Speaknoevil]

There are a lot of missing playtypes in WoW, unfortunately we will never see them. Everything in a game like this one has to be able to do some damage, so lets start there. Blue exists, red does not.

DPS: Melee
DPS: Ranged
DPS: Midrange, 20y-ish range and a deadzone.

DPS/Support: Obstruction, a lot of AoE damage that lingers a very long time in one location, CC and utility abilties. Enchants the battlefield, armour and weapons in combat, creates magical fortifications etc.

Tank: Melee
Tank: Ranged
Tank: Pet

Healer: Ranged
Healer: Melee

[ddengster]

How about a construction/builder role? Imagine that you have to defend a builder or something while they're building something that can stop bosses from one-shotting or getting too overpowered.

Create a style of raiding where the bosses are actual players and the mechanics are spontaneous and unpredictable. The player wouldn't be able to control the boss or who it attacks, but it can control when it does mechanics such as aoe, single target, soak, more adds, dodge etc. That sounds more entertaining than a new role.

Sounds more like a gimmick mechanic for a single boss fight. Part of the fantasy of raiding is that you and other significant gnats get to take down giant, intimidating bosses. If you have a device that makes you become a boss to take on all bosses in the raid, that fantasy is gone.

[Super Kami Dende]

Literally Support is the only possible "4th Role" since anything under the "increases the parties ability to fight" is Support.

Support wouldn't work with WoW either, since as soon as your group was good enough to not require a half Dps/Healer/buffer to keep their party going you would just replace the Support with a DPS class like in literally every other game I've played with a support role. Either they Buff the Support to a point where it can basically just be a DPS or Healer on it's own or the Class brings such minimal extras to the group that you can bypass it completely in lieu of a class that just does one aspect.

[Lefeng]

There are a lot of missing playtypes in WoW, unfortunately we will never see them. Everything in a game like this one has to be able to do some damage, so lets start there. Blue exists, red does not.

DPS: Melee
DPS: Ranged
DPS: Midrange, 20y-ish range and a deadzone.

DPS/Support: Obstruction, a lot of AoE damage that lingers a very long time in one location, CC and utility abilties. Enchants the battlefield, armour and weapons in combat, creates magical fortifications etc.

Tank: Melee
Tank: Ranged
Tank: Pet

Healer: Ranged
Healer: Melee

We had melee healers - MoP mistweaver monks.

[Speaknoevil]

We had melee healers - MoP mistweaver monks.

My mistake, I didn't play in MoP.

Having said that, the PvP talent Way of the Crane is kind of what I'm talking about but it is just a CD atm.

[MrKnubbles]

I'm actually a big fan of having support as a role but I see it more of like the jack of all trades model. You can deal some damage, heal some and buff others to also increase their damage and healing. A Bard could fill that role nicely.

[vsb]

It's hard to imagine something new. But I think that currently many classes perform some non-typical roles for them, for example combat res is not really tank job.

So new role (I would call it support, because I don't have better word) could: combat res, buff, debuff, dispel, shield, help with all roles (a bit of damage, healing, tanking). For example discipline priest would be perfect example of such a support given few additional tools. Of course those tools must be removed from other classes. With those changes it would be viable in any content without any changes, and new encounters could be designed specifically with those supports in mind.

[meroko]

3 roles is the best way to go. If they added a 4th role, that class would be 100% mandatory or pointless. And given Blizz's whole "bring the player, not the class" ideology I doubt they'd shoot themselves in the foot like that

well considering that ideology is now offically dead according to Blizzard dev's, I wouldn't count out a 4th role being introduced at some point. My take is it will end up being a support, a hybrid class that provides either healing or damage but is more supportive with buffs and whatnot so their damage isn't competitive but the support they bring is needed.

- - - Updated - - -

There are a lot of missing playtypes in WoW, unfortunately we will never see them. Everything in a game like this one has to be able to do some damage, so lets start there. Blue exists, red does not.

DPS: Melee
DPS: Ranged
DPS: Midrange, 20y-ish range and a deadzone.

DPS/Support: Obstruction, a lot of AoE damage that lingers a very long time in one location, CC and utility abilties. Enchants the battlefield, armour and weapons in combat, creates magical fortifications etc.

Tank: Melee
Tank: Ranged
Tank: Pet

Healer: Ranged
Healer: Melee

Monks and pallies are melee healers

[Better]

There are a lot of missing playtypes in WoW, unfortunately we will never see them. Everything in a game like this one has to be able to do some damage, so lets start there. Blue exists, red does not.

DPS: Melee
DPS: Ranged
DPS: Midrange, 20y-ish range and a deadzone.

DPS/Support: Obstruction, a lot of AoE damage that lingers a very long time in one location, CC and utility abilties. Enchants the battlefield, armour and weapons in combat, creates magical fortifications etc.

Tank: Melee
Tank: Ranged
Tank: Pet

Healer: Ranged
Healer: Melee

Both ranged, and pet tanks don't really work with how bosses work in WoW. A ranged tank would cause wild movement in raids, and probably get your melee killed more often than not. Pet tanks would just be a positional nightmare, and would sometimes just not work. (Imagine both your raid tanks despawning when Avatar broke the floor)

Additionally there's a reason they removed deadzones for hunters. It really didn't play well when the raid leader called to stack under the boss, and now for however long you were stacked you dealt massively reduced damage.

[Doffer]

Like others have mentioned, a hybrid role would fit the most, being able to cover offhealing, offtanking and a dps role, as well as bring powerful temporary buffs to the party. However I'm not sure if any existing specs should be re-designed to fit this role. Honestly I really want a fourth spec added for all classes, and many of them could fill such a role.

For instance they could bring back Gladiator for Warriors, being a tank/dps hybrid that passively provides a damage reduction to the party and have abilities that redirect damage to him, without being the party's designated tank.
Another could be a spellcaster paladin spec that is a healing/dps hybrid, having holy abilities that damage enemies and spreads the holy power to heal his teammates. I think this spec could also have inspire abilities that gives the party short-lived blessings only available to this spec.

I would love to see a role like this get added, it would add more complexity to the game.

[Segus1992]

Buffer/Debuffer: Light damage to enemy but debuffs the enemies so they take more damage, are slowed, attack slower. Buffs group to attack quicker, light heals, take less damage, breaks stuns, increase stats, etc.

Not saying all of those but mix and match for balance. Maybe call it a Bard?

So a standard support. Do you think this idea is unique?

[Slyme]

What about a commander role? not sure how that would look like but i'm thinking like it worked in BF2 where you call down artillery and summon supplies and give directions to a team, sort of like a raid leader i suppose.

[Deleted]

Well, WoW was made in Lineage 2 era, so:

Tank
Support (Healer, Buffer)
Damage Dealer (Slow but steady)
Nuker (Casters that dish out a lot of damage in short time)

[Deleted]

The Moral Support Class. Their abilities force compliments of love and kindness through players speakers

[ingsve]

It's hard to imagine something that isn't already in the game in some way so it would probably have to be some role that exists in other classes that would be lifted out and made into a class identity. One thing that could possibly be designed around is some type of CC/kite/ranged tank class. You can add more mechanics like Mages tanking on High King Maulgar or warlocks tanking Illidans demon phase and kiting Striders on Lady Vashj. You could make tanks only be effective on single target leaving any add fight to be handled by the CC-class.

[Ichology]

A class similar to Bard in Rift. Does much better dps than say Disc Priest, but brings on use shout style buffs to the raid that give significant raid and healing buffs. Would have to be an option though, wouldn't work very well as the center of any class spec.