What are the must-have classes for a new MMO?

[Deleted]

Bards would be good, or 'Muse' as a class. (A Muse would be non-physical being that controls a physical being - A bit like a wow hunter, but if your pet dies, you lose yourself as you're bound at a spiritual level. Your abilities control and bolster the 'humanoid' pet).

[sacrypheyes]

if there is no class, there can't be class imbalances... just to say...

as for cookie cutter builds, there will always be, thing is to make it they're so specialized it'd be a double-edged sword that leaves you open to counters.

also, why would MMOs always be about 100% fighting? how about infiltration? information gathering? diplomacy? etc

[Pool of the Dead]

Warrior, Rogue, Cleric, Mage, Necromancer. The 5 main archetypes of many many RPG's.

[Deleted]

if there is no class, there can't be class imbalances... just to say...

as for cookie cutter builds, there will always be, thing is to make it they're so specialized it'd be a double-edged sword that leaves you open to counters.

also, why would MMOs always be about 100% fighting? how about infiltration? information gathering? diplomacy? etc

Well, you'd think that, but unless everyone had the exact same skills, without any choice (like seven standard abilities that every player has, no more, no less) then it's pretty hard to avoid having classes in some form. Even in games that claim to be 'class-less', where characters can earn any ability and choose their skills, you still have some kind of classes, just without the labels. All that does in regards to balancing is allow devs to more easily get away with saying 'if you think it's not balanced, then you didn't pick the right abilities' and not have to worry about setting a balance themselves so much.

So yeah, while you can have a game with no classes and therefore no imbalances, it would be quite boring for something in the fantasy MMORPG genre if everyone were to be (for instance) the same warrior.

I'd love a truly class-less MMORPG, but I really don't think it can be done unless players are limited in their choices.

[ambigiouslynamed]

no classes whatsoever. eve online is great since you can do anything you want on a single character if you invest the time into it

[wdmshmo]

A dude with a big sword, a dude with 2 small swords, a dude with a shield and a sword. A dude with a dagger and a dude with a staff. And a dude who uses a Gun. Who the hell brings a Gun to a sword fight anyways?

[Wynnyelle]

The only ones that I think are absolutely necessary in a fantasy setting are warriors, rangers, and wizards/mages. It would just be odd to not have those three archetypes. The rest don't matter quite as much, and I like that not all MMOs have the same classes because variety is the spice of life.