Classless vs Class system - What do you prefer?

[letssee]

Im curious what people think an ideal class system would be?

would u prefer the game be classless where for example you pick ur character but then u can be anything, if u want to be a mage that uses a bow u can be that or have mage skills as a warrior etc... like runescape or other games

or

would u prefer it as it is today in wow or the majority of games where theres a base class and thats it?


forogt to add poll so here u go https://www.strawpoll.me/18674205

[Malikath]

depends how expansive the skill-sets are, if you go classless but end-up with the depth of say rift then you might aswell quit and save on server costs.
inversely classes with the depth of D3 can do the same sudoku.

like nioh for example is a classless RPG done well, nioh 2 looks to be taking that further by expanding each skill-tree into a FF10 sphere-grid style skill-map.

[Estravolt]

Class, but one where a single character can have them all is the king.

[letssee]

Class, but one where a single character can have them all is the king.

how would that work ? , but i agress that i think classes work better

[Khaza-R]

Class, but one where a single character can have them all is the king.

That sounds moronic for an MMO

[Estravolt]

That sounds moronic for an MMO

how would that work ? , but i agress that i think classes work better

See FFXIV

One character can be all classes (one at a time ofc)

Keeps all classes under one name, makes gearing them less of a pain as some are bound to share gear.

[Schattenlied]

how would that work ? , but i agress that i think classes work better

Think he means like FF14, where you can level every class on one character. The character starts as one class, and after a certain point you can swap them to another class, but they have to start over from lvl 1 (progress as previous class is saved), so you can have every class at max level on one character, but you still have to level each class individually.

I don't remember what the process is for switching classes though, but I do remember it being fairly easy.

[Shakana]

See FFXIV

One character can be all classes (one at a time ofc)

Keeps all classes under one name, makes gearing them less of a pain as some are bound to share gear.

Well but that's FF init, wow would lose a bit identity if did the same

[Estravolt]

I don't remember what the process is for switching classes though, but I do remember it being fairly easy.

Pretty much just like you'd change spec in Retail wow.

[Shakana]

forogt to add poll so here u go https://www.strawpoll.me/18674205

OP you can put a poll here also in advanced options when you edit post

[horbindr]

let's be honest, in a classless system there are still classes, since you can't do everything at the same time.

this is more a question of "how alt friendly should a game be?" or "how much should be account wide vs character/class/etc specific".

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how would that work ? , but i agress that i think classes work better

it's like skyrim, where you eventually have everything and the fun dies.

[Budong]

Im curious what people think an ideal class system would be?

would u prefer the game be classless where for example you pick ur character but then u can be anything, if u want to be a mage that uses a bow u can be that or have mage skills as a warrior etc... like runescape or other games

or

would u prefer it as it is today in wow or the majority of games where theres a base class and thats it?


forogt to add poll so here u go https://www.strawpoll.me/18674205

Classless. Star Wars Galaxies had a pretty good system however. Pick professions and fill out skills in each. You could create interesting hybrids. My Ranger/Rifleman was my favorite character of all mmo's.

Current games I guess FFXIV has the best for me. Not having to make alts to play different classes is great. Plus you can learn all crafting professions on one character as well. I feel it's superior in all regards to any other system on the market right now.

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let's be honest, in a classless system there are still classes, since you can't do everything at the same time.

this is more a question of "how alt friendly should a game be?" or "how much should be account wide vs character/class/etc specific".

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it's like skyrim, where you eventually have everything and the fun dies.

No the system they're referring to is FFXIV. It's doing fine and no fun casualties that I've seen I have never gotten close to learning everything, plus you can only play one job at a time that is switched out with your weapon.

I imagine a skill based system would have limits to how many and what tiers of those skills you could learn, giving you choices.

[Lochton]

I'd take class-form.

ArcheAge style.

https://archeagecodex.com/us/calc/

220 class combinations

[horbindr]

Classless. Star Wars Galaxies had a pretty good system however. Pick professions and fill out skills in each. You could create interesting hybrids. My Ranger/Rifleman was my favorite character of all mmo's.

Current games I guess FFXIV has the best for me. Not having to make alts to play different classes is great. Plus you can learn all crafting professions on one character as well. I feel it's superior in all regards to any other system on the market right now.

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No the system they're referring to is FFXIV. It's doing fine and no fun casualties that I've seen I have never gotten close to learning everything, plus you can only play one job at a time that is switched out with your weapon.

I imagine a skill based system would have limits to how many and what tiers of those skills you could learn, giving you choices.

yeah, ffxiv works because you can't do everything at once.
skyrim doesn't work because you can do everything at once.

[Cosmic Janitor]

My preference is FFXIV's omni-class system followed by free progression throuh the whole magic/ability system in the directions you want.

[Azerate]

I wouldn't really call FF14's system "classless". There are classes, you just don't need multiple characters to play them. And no, for those who don't play that game, you don't just get access to everything by leveling. You have to level every single job (class) by itself.

Basically that "classless" system is essentially the same as the one we have, with the difference that you don't need more than 1 character. I enjoy both games for what they are and I wouldn't like to see FF's system in WoW.

[mickybrighteyes]

This really depends on a number of factors. Just saying 'class v. no class' doesn't really state anything.


class-less styles in a similar vein to The Secret World or something like what's present in Skyrim/Fallout/ESO/etc are similar in that they don't have defined class set ups... but also are not at all the same in how they do that.

IMO class restricted systems are generally worse due to how they build the game with expected performance levels sort of like how wow designs every build to function within specific parameters (which has resulted in some builds that are very homogenized and classes feel less like classes and more like a theme slapped on a generic build).

But at the same time if everyone just does everything we wind up in the state where the idea of specialization matters less and less.

Still I'd rather have some system where I can have access to multiple playstyles on ONE character rather than having to make and remake alt characters to see something.

[Dugna]

if somebody could actually code a system that just grows "classes" by people just doing things then that would be my dream game (something like the usual trope in isekai series in manga and such) aka like if I swing enough of a stick for example I could become profecifent and create a weird job/class where I use only a stick.

[Jalham]

Depends on the type of game imo
I prefer classless in single player games and RPGs maybe even pure PvE games were balance and stuff isnt a thing.
But in MMO's i think the class system is best.

[Nathasil]

Having fixed classes was a mistake 15years ago and is to this day. There should be only specs (maybe restricted by race). The class system of WoW is the main reason (together with fixed factions) that prevents the devs from doing something actually great to many specs that are no longer used in the game and have simply outlived their purpose.

So definetly classless is where my vote goes. Eventually having >50% of the specs in the game played by less than 10% of players will not be worth it to invest dev time into them (you can clearly see that this is already the case as many specs have benn left to rot for >5 years) and at this point the entire class systems department of WoW will simply be a fucking joke that nobody at Blizzard really wants to mess with. Bandaid time. No room for change or vision.