Comments on: Utility is Dead (or is it?) http://procrastinationamplification.com/utility-is-dead-or-is-it/ Punditry on MMOs and games in general. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:08:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: scrusi http://procrastinationamplification.com/utility-is-dead-or-is-it/comment-page-1/#comment-53 scrusi Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:12:26 +0000 http://scrusi.de/pa/wordpress/?p=39#comment-53 I very much agree that fleshing out the trees of the pure dps classes would be a good thing(TM). A couple of players i talked to about this have told me, however, that the fun of playing DPS is in the rotations - and those are different.<br /><br />Me, I can't relate to that. I find DPS boring and wish there was more to do when playing DPS than nuking a boss down.<br /><br />About the pure utility class: Well, my suggestion would be to have a utility class that doesn't scale with the number of players in your group. That might still be an issue in 2s , since you might want to bring either a healer or enough burst to overwhelm a healer. That said, a utility class could have other ways of taking care of that healer - or boosting her dpser enough that she can burst by herself. Also, Blizzard already admitted defeat in balancing 2s ;)l<br /><br />Recent blog:=- <a href="http://procrastinationamplification.blogspot.com/2009/10/ze-items-zey-do-nothing.html" rel="nofollow"> Ze Items, Zey do Nothing</a> I very much agree that fleshing out the trees of the pure dps classes would be a good thing(TM). A couple of players i talked to about this have told me, however, that the fun of playing DPS is in the rotations – and those are different.

Me, I can't relate to that. I find DPS boring and wish there was more to do when playing DPS than nuking a boss down.

About the pure utility class: Well, my suggestion would be to have a utility class that doesn't scale with the number of players in your group. That might still be an issue in 2s , since you might want to bring either a healer or enough burst to overwhelm a healer. That said, a utility class could have other ways of taking care of that healer – or boosting her dpser enough that she can burst by herself. Also, Blizzard already admitted defeat in balancing 2s ;) l

Recent blog:=- Ze Items, Zey do Nothing

]]> By: scrusi http://procrastinationamplification.com/utility-is-dead-or-is-it/comment-page-1/#comment-51 scrusi Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:02:47 +0000 http://scrusi.de/pa/wordpress/?p=39#comment-51 I think a pure support class will be hard to balance. Imagine a pure supporter in a small bracket arena match... it would have to be very potent to do well there which would make it necessary in other parts of the game. A problem I see with the BTPNTC is that the classes that have allways been deeper with more room for good playing and more options (hybrids) are now competitive in dps as well. so you just don't get the awesomeness bonus anymore for playing a pure dps class but only have the boredom left. I also find it absolutely ridiculous that a pala has to be valid in all 3 specs while dps classes usually have only 1 spec that works and one that is semi good. where are the frostmages,subrogues,demonlocks and bmhunters in high end pve? ofc you don't need them since they all have a dps tree that works and balance is only for hybrids and not for dps classes... ofc i see the point that they have to have the option of playing 3 classes in one whereass i don't even deserve to have a 2nd valid tree for the only thing I can do. So to get to the start again why not make one of the dead trees for each class into a support tree?the whole sub tree has never been a real dps tree so why not take some of the controll/stealth/debuuf options and make them into something meaningfull? demonlocks have that potential as well. the big variety of summonable demons has a lot of space for different support roles... even mages could have a tree where they get a more defensive kind of tree that makes spells reflect or reroute them or anything else that only a master of magic would be capable of. (the whole idea doen't work for hunters at all... the players are all 15 and want to do damage or are just into the class for the cute pets. they can't comprehend the support idea...)<br /> I think something like that would be a nice addition to the game. I think a pure support class will be hard to balance. Imagine a pure supporter in a small bracket arena match… it would have to be very potent to do well there which would make it necessary in other parts of the game. A problem I see with the BTPNTC is that the classes that have allways been deeper with more room for good playing and more options (hybrids) are now competitive in dps as well. so you just don't get the awesomeness bonus anymore for playing a pure dps class but only have the boredom left. I also find it absolutely ridiculous that a pala has to be valid in all 3 specs while dps classes usually have only 1 spec that works and one that is semi good. where are the frostmages,subrogues,demonlocks and bmhunters in high end pve? ofc you don't need them since they all have a dps tree that works and balance is only for hybrids and not for dps classes… ofc i see the point that they have to have the option of playing 3 classes in one whereass i don't even deserve to have a 2nd valid tree for the only thing I can do. So to get to the start again why not make one of the dead trees for each class into a support tree?the whole sub tree has never been a real dps tree so why not take some of the controll/stealth/debuuf options and make them into something meaningfull? demonlocks have that potential as well. the big variety of summonable demons has a lot of space for different support roles… even mages could have a tree where they get a more defensive kind of tree that makes spells reflect or reroute them or anything else that only a master of magic would be capable of. (the whole idea doen't work for hunters at all… the players are all 15 and want to do damage or are just into the class for the cute pets. they can't comprehend the support idea…)
I think something like that would be a nice addition to the game.

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