My favorite character Archetype of all time thus far is from AD&D, way back when...
It is the Bard that was relegated to the appendix of the Player's Handbook. You started out as a Fighter. Once you got between levels 5 and 8, you switched to a Thief. Once you got between levels 5 and 9 as a Thief, you finally made it to Bard-dom, now training as a Druid at the Bardic College. Bard's had a smattering of Fighter, Thief, and Druid abilities, not great in any one of them. Just my cup of tea
In MMOs, my archetype tends towards nature lovers like Rangers and Druids. I really enjoyed the shape changing ability of WoW's Druids and the taming of pets for their Hunters (Rangers). I enjoy the wilderness much more than the city. Using nature as my ally is a huge plus for me.
Magic Spell use is also fun for me, but not my first choice. It is a little more difficult for me to be good at, but I can get into it. I like the knowledge/lore aspect of magic users.
Healing is another archetype I have come to like. At first, my concern was healing my character. Then I found out how awesome it feels to keep group-mates alive. And how devastating it is to me when they die. I always took that as a personal failure.
Pure melee archetypes do not interest me much. It is just not my play style. Throw in some cool abilities like a Paladin or Guardian and I can enjoy them.
[EDIT] PS: I forgot about races
Like others have said, I like to play races I can relate to. Your Centaur example may be the limit to my acceptable non-bipedal races I could relate to. Otherwise, bipedal races for me The more human-like, the better.
Orcs and trolls and undead are not the type of race I pick, though will play. I did have fun with WoW's Tauren race.
Humans (and variants) and elves would be my first choices. Shorter races, like dwarves and gnome-like races are not my first choice, either.
That being said, I will try any race available, but my connection to the character will vary greatly.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse. - FARGIN_WAR
I love the idea of Elves - a graceful, spiritual race steeped in magic and lore. I love playing the Cleric type - a holy warrior, a protector, a healer. I also love druids - as in the sense of being wardens of nature.
Sorry for coming back so late, Fire Emblem Awakening is a blast.
It's funny I never really understood players interest in Bards, they seem to be the role of roleplayers, classic ones, who are more interested in having a unique identity rather than a specific orientation as a combatant. And even moreso in many game depictions where playing music is utilized to deal damage and buff allies, thought a worthwhile explanation can place it with any other kind of magic in the game.
I think this has to do with my personal experience with fighting and weapons practice, the idea of picking up an instrument and singing just doesn't ring any bells for me XD
What exactly does a bard do or how do they behave in combat, per your interest?, do they have another role or behavior I'm unfamiliar with?
I can see where you'd like centaur based on your beast and nature attunment, even as second choice, after a few years of the same old nature classes, centaur draws on some extra points for originality.
As for Elves, I originally found them interesting, but they wern't he kind of interesting that I'd like to see over, and over, and over again. I remembered their role in Record of Lodoss War, a Japanese interpretation of DnD, but I don't care to see them all the time and always. There are many ways to do an aristocratic and advanced race, the Human race could occupy this role for once, Vampire nobles also make a good sophisticated alternative. i would probably still like elves if I only saw them once in every 20 or 30 games of fantasy genre... but legolas seems to be all over the place.
Anyway, thanks again, and if anyone can return to my earlier inquiry and share more about Dwarf advantages, I'd appreciate it.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if they get angry, they'll be a mile away... and barefoot.
Jack of all trades, master of none type. Hard as hell to play correctly, but when it is, it makes the people you were in a group with make one as their alt afterwards.
Not really interested in playing as a beast, though I enjoy the ability to morph into one for access to specific abilities. I play both genders and though I usually make a toon attractive, I have made very ugly or unattractive toons as well.
I tend to prefer caster or caster/melee classes, and historically rolled a healer or heal/dps hybrid. These days, I play solo more often than group so look for hybrid builds that are flexible. I tend to avoid tanking classes, as I find tanking more stressful than healing.
I seem to remember stairs being a big issue when dealing with creatures that have a vertical and horizontal component to their skeleton. The animations just seem to never come out right when traversing stairs or areas that have a noticible incline/decline to it.
I'm an altaholic at heart so I tend to play everything but have my strongest ties with self-sufficient support classes or classes that can and will help the party in a way (be it tanking, healing, buffing, CCing or any combination of those things) but can still do something else on the side.
On the race part, I can play anything and everything, it depends on wether the class that I have an interest in at that particular moment feels like it fits (or clashes in an hilarious way, like a gnome warrior with an enormous two handed weapon) with the concept. Sometimes I also have a "character" in mind and will try to recreate it as well as I can given the tools of the game I'm playing.
I'm somewhat partial to 'cute' races. Smaller ones that are softer featured.
This does not usually include animal races. I'm not all that fond of playing a fuzzball, though I take exception to particular cases/aspects.
Otherwise I enjoy playing something exceptionally exotic. Like the Shardminds in D&D or a very celestial/nebular style race.
As far as classes I prefer either a more insular character that's got good flexibility and range to their skills so as to be self sufficient even if not the best performance at anything, a more support type role, or a very precision oriented character as I don't like being caught up in any one thing for a long time.
So kind of like a rogueish bardy type for circumventing many things.
A healer, because helping people is actually fun to me.
Or a sniper type, where you try for the most efficient and exact means to a solution and fark trying to slog through the mess.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
I personally would really like to play classes with a lot of pets. Now, i don't mean a lot of pet options, I mean a LOT OF PETS. Kind of like the necromancer in GW1. thats where I fell in love with pets. It was kind of like you were a steamroller. you start out slow, but as you kill, you get more and more and more and more and then you lead like 10 pets around killing and looting and pillaging!
If i could play whatever race I wanted, I would play an undead being/robot hybrid. like the Necrons in Warhammer 40k, but with a lot more flesh and machine melding. like a corpse being kept alive by machines, with a class with two different major specs, Making Large, powerful, but few in number pets paired iwth your own damage spells, or Many, Many smaller pets all where you do a lot of standing back and directly ordering them around.
Originally posted by Yyrkoon_PoM I seem to remember stairs being a big issue when dealing with creatures that have a vertical and horizontal component to their skeleton. The animations just seem to never come out right when traversing stairs or areas that have a noticible incline/decline to it.
Yeah, it would take more graphic technology to effectively render quadrepeds on inclines... Yet there are no lack of opponents, pets, and mounts featured without even remedying that concern anyway, and even fewer games that actually interact with terrain. Proper technology to depict these for games as a whole has been a long time coming, its the 21st century.
There seems to be a lot of interest in jack of all trades and self sufficient classes. Perhaps more characters should be made self sufficient in general. I know, hardly news, but it really doesn't make sense for any combatant to be incompetent in a fight just because their alone. Their specialty may allow them to produce effective synergy and cooperation in a group, but they should operate at least competently on their own. No one on a battlefield should be helpless.
Definetely some useful thoughts, sorry I can't acknowledge more at the moment, it was a chore just to quoteon this phone from work :]
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if they get angry, they'll be a mile away... and barefoot.
I tend to like fairly realistic (but with antiquity/medieval-inspired attire) humans, with some sort of mystic or esoteric abilities, like sword techniques that are neither physical nor magical in archetypal ways; I'm thinking along the lines of FFXI's samurai and ninja, or unconventional healers/casters/support types.
But as far as alternate races/species I'd like to see playable - some kind of sapient armadillo/hedgehog/mole race would be my preference. They should have the abilities to roll up into a ball to shield themselves and somersault like that into enemies (I liked Sonic the Hedgehog games as a kid, okay), and also burrow underground and possibly explore/travel that way. The same might go for some kind of aquatic race (they should be able to freely explore all bodies of water without breath issues, including underground waterways, oceans, etc. - maybe they could use sonar for various purposes, create bubble shields, etc.). And a winged aerial race that could actually fly freely...you get the idea.
Originally posted by BahamutKaiser Sorry for coming back so late, Fire Emblem Awakening is a blast.
Glad you're having fun!
Originally posted by BahamutKaiser It's funny I never really understood players interest in Bards, they seem to be the role of roleplayers, classic ones, who are more interested in having a unique identity rather than a specific orientation as a combatant. And even moreso in many game depictions where playing music is utilized to deal damage and buff allies, thought a worthwhile explanation can place it with any other kind of magic in the game.I think this has to do with my personal experience with fighting and weapons practice, the idea of picking up an instrument and singing just doesn't ring any bells for me XDWhat exactly does a bard do or how do they behave in combat, per your interest?, do they have another role or behavior I'm unfamiliar with?
A Bard's main role is support. Their songs usually help "tip the battle" in the groups favor. In some games, a Bard can use their songs to cause damage (like a bad song. Think of mixing a Justin Bieber song with a Rush song and playing them at the same time ). Many games, though, use Bards to buff allies, debuff opponents, help control the battle with root-like songs or mesmerizing songs, maybe some kind of fear song, and usually some kind of slow heal over time song. Out of combat, EQ gave Bards a lot of interesting abilities. They could move faster, help find corpses, help to slowly regenerate health and mana, or even nullify the need for food and water.
Bards also get normal weapon attacks, though not as proficient as fighter type characters. Some games have the Bard juggling instruments and weapons, some don't. In EQ, the bard could "sing" any song they had, but their songs were more effective if they were played with the proper instrument (drum, horn, lute, flute). Sometimes, Bards get some kind of special weapon skill like duel wielding, or finesse fighting. Usually they are fighters on the fringes of the fight, taking a poke here or there while inspiring their allies or deflating their foes.
Originally posted by BahamutKaiser I can see where you'd like centaur based on your beast and nature attunment, even as second choice, after a few years of the same old nature classes, centaur draws on some extra points for originality.
The Centaurs I have always liked. Usually, they are depicted as drunken, brawling barbarians that never really interest me. In my mind, they just have a closer bond with nature than most other races and are more like Native Americans or Celts in culture. That's just my own bias, though
Originally posted by BahamutKaiser As for Elves, I originally found them interesting, but they wern't he kind of interesting that I'd like to see over, and over, and over again. I remembered their role in Record of Lodoss War, a Japanese interpretation of DnD, but I don't care to see them all the time and always. There are many ways to do an aristocratic and advanced race, the Human race could occupy this role for once, Vampire nobles also make a good sophisticated alternative. i would probably still like elves if I only saw them once in every 20 or 30 games of fantasy genre... but legolas seems to be all over the place.
Elves do seem rather similar, a lot of times. But so do most "other races." Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, and the like usually seem very familiar from game to game. Human-like races seem to have the most variety. I do find myself playing Elves with my nature type characters as they usually "fit" with that.
Tolkien often gets "blamed" for the state of Elves in MMOs. Before him, elves were thought of as small folk, like the Keebler Elves or Snap!, Crackle! and Pop! (The Rice Krispie cereal guys). Tolkien made Elves tall and elegant. Can you imagine an MMO with the shorter, rounder elves of old? That would be a twist
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse. - FARGIN_WAR
Sorry, but I like characters who are *attractive*. They dont have to be actually beautiful in the traditional way, but they need to be stylish and heroic of some sort. So the elf is fair and fragile, the mage is old and has long silvery hair, the orc is ugly but also very manly, i.e. muscular, with strong chin, and large scars, and so forth.
But that dragonboy in this thread for example instantly makes me think "wtf thats not a realistic body". That extra bone in his legs doesnt serve any purpose and the position he's having would be extremely strenous to hold, in reality. So yeah, wouldnt play that, ever.
Also, all playable races need to be believably sentient. The skull needs to be large enough for a human sized brain, their mouth needs to be sufficiently equipped for speech, etc, you get the idea.
If anyone would offer me, for example, a character like the ones from the Webcomic Twokinds, I would definitely play that. Those really look great. Not so much what Vanguard offers me - animal head on a human body, like an egyptian deity. Not realistic at all. These creatures clearly cant think and clearly cant speak. I tried playing one but after a while I just had to stop because it just felt much too absurd and I couldnt find any connection at all. TES offers something like that, though so far I havent managed to ever make them look beautiful.
About what I like to play:
- Direct damage wizard
- Direct damage melee, including tanks, preferably with some magic
- Healer
- Bard/Support
What I dont like to play:
- Rogue - stealth too slow, not fun
- Druid - not fun
- Ranger - combo of the previous two classes, not fun
- Psion/Enchanter/Whatever - aka crowd control mage, too many variables, confuses me
- Paladin - not enough damage output, not fun
The races I play depend upon the game. NWN2 for example only had humans as a beautiful race. Even Halfelves have been just butt ugly. So I played a human.
Vanguard has really ugly Orcs and Gnomes. Goblins however are just right - they look ugly, but also graceful.
I also avoid races that are underpowered. Darkelves in Vanguard are very beautiful, but they have been screwed over when racial bonusses came into discussion, and then screwed over again later a second time because raiders whined about Darkelven mages who happened to be not as awful as the other professions and actually got something somewhat relevant.
If a game would offer me all races in a balanced way, and they all would look great, I would probably mostly go for Darkelf, Halfelf, Orc, and Gnome.
LotR elves are fine... For LotR, just don't like how overused they are. The Elvan in FFXI were passable I guess. Really pissed at their reuse in FFXIV, but I've accepted that square can't make good MMOs and is tanking their series.
I was pleasantly surprised with GW races, elves and dwarves were present, but limited and dismissed, while Tengu, Centaur, and gremlin looking Asura were heavily featured. Oh yeah, and Char... Way cooler than orcs, and Norn, a very cool variation of human.
As for human intelligence and speech in creatures.. many of them are larger when sentient with room for a brain, and lips are not necessary for speech, search YouTube for Lyre bird, there are many creatures, particularly birds, with wildly superior range of pronunciation. Excluding all magic alternatives, like a sphinx which can morph into a human. Wolves Rain had a very cool premise of mental projection to appear human and communicate.
As for dark and wicked creatures, how do Gargoyles and Gremlins compare? It kind of baffles me how much variety exists and is simply overlooked for the stereotypical. While Gargoyles may be naturally avoided since they can fly, in a game with flight integration it would be great.
On a final note, that third hinge is existent in most beasts legs, since their ankle equivalent sets much higher on the limb and their heel is drawn away from their paw. It's more odd because such an opposable limb ends in a huge foot, typically it would come to a narrow paw or hoof like a fawn.
Oh that reminds me, how do you like Fawns AIBQuirky?, their a perfect fit for nature and barding.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if they get angry, they'll be a mile away... and barefoot.
LotR elves are fine... For LotR, just don't like how overused they are. The Elvan in FFXI were passable I guess. Really pissed at their reuse in FFXIV, but I've accepted that square can't make good MMOs and is tanking their series.
I was pleasantly surprised with GW races, elves and dwarves were present, but limited and dismissed, while Tengu, Centaur, and gremlin looking Asura were heavily featured. Oh yeah, and Char... Way cooler than orcs, and Norn, a very cool variation of human.
As for human intelligence and speech in creatures.. many of them are larger when sentient with room for a brain, and lips are not necessary for speech, search YouTube for Lyre bird, there are many creatures, particularly birds, with wildly superior range of pronunciation. Excluding all magic alternatives, like a sphinx which can morph into a human. Wolves Rain had a very cool premise of mental projection to appear human and communicate.
As for dark and wicked creatures, how do Gargoyles and Gremlins compare? It kind of baffles me how much variety exists and is simply overlooked for the stereotypical. While Gargoyles may be naturally avoided since they can fly, in a game with flight integration it would be great.
On a final note, that third hinge is existent in most beasts legs, since their ankle equivalent sets much higher on the limb and their heel is drawn away from their paw. It's more odd because such an opposable limb ends in a huge foot, typically it would come to a narrow paw or hoof like a fawn.
Oh that reminds me, how do you like Fawns AIBQuirky?, their a perfect fit for nature and barding.
Unrealted to the topic, but interesting about the Lyre bird. In one of my bio classes a few years ago, one groupwas doing a presentation on the lyre bird and how different researchers were studying it's speech neurons and pathways.
Humans can repair (very slowly) nerves but so far it doesn't seem we can repair or regrow neurons. However the lyre bird does. Apparently every year for mating it actually grows new neurons that help it mimic sounds. They are far more advanced than we are in that aspect at least.
Just thought it was interesting.
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
I personally never get tired of the Paladin/Dark Knight duality.
The Lord of the Rings books got me to love the Aragorn concept of Rangers. I always loved the idea of being intimately familiar with the wilderness and being a stealthy ranged hunter who is also proficient in melee combat when push comes to shove. Ranger was my main throughout my time playing FFXI.
The versatile shapeshifting Druid has become my absolute all time favorite class since playing WoW. I tend to miss my druid more than I miss WoW these days.
I absolutely love the Bard concept. Buffing, raising morale through speech and song, yes please.
I'm absolutely in love with the Elementalist in GW2 at the moment. While the idea of mastering the various elemental magics is intriguing, the Ele's constant attunement shifting gameplay is what really keeps me hooked. It provides the same level of interactivity that I got from druids in WoW. I've noticed my favorite League of Legends champions--Nidalee, Elise and Jayce--have the same essential mechanism. So there's definitely something to be said about a type of gameplay when determining what I like to play in a game, which transcends the lore or image of any particular archetype.
Originally posted by BahamutKaiser Oh that reminds me, how do you like Fawns AIBQuirky?, their a perfect fit for nature and barding.
hehe I had to look up "Fawns." I know them, better as Satyrs
They would fit well with nature and barding, yes. For my tastes, they don't really interest me as a player character. They are a touch too bestial for my tastes
Fawns/Satyrs are a good example of creatures that are kind of rare becoming more commonplace. Of course that will depend upon on the game's mythos.
I feel I should admit that my favorite part of Fantasia is the "Pastoral Symphony" scene Centaurs, Fawns, and Pegasus' (Pegasi?) are all present.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse. - FARGIN_WAR
Human or near human. (think Irathient from Defiance) Female. Archer, Holy spell user, marksman, bard, Sword in one hand and spell in the other. Its kinda hard tbh.
Playing: FFXIV, DnL, and World of Warships Waiting on: Ashes of Creation
I prefer plate melee 2-hand or light-chain mail Ranger with some melee capablities. Unfortunately I can rarely play this charcter because of balancing issues with either tanks, casters, or sneaky dick-assed thiefs.
Comments
Enter, Grimm Reaping Squirrel of DOOM!!! Invisible, invulnerable, one shots all things, and stops time :P
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, if they get angry, they'll be a mile away... and barefoot.
My favorite character Archetype of all time thus far is from AD&D, way back when...
It is the Bard that was relegated to the appendix of the Player's Handbook. You started out as a Fighter. Once you got between levels 5 and 8, you switched to a Thief. Once you got between levels 5 and 9 as a Thief, you finally made it to Bard-dom, now training as a Druid at the Bardic College. Bard's had a smattering of Fighter, Thief, and Druid abilities, not great in any one of them. Just my cup of tea
In MMOs, my archetype tends towards nature lovers like Rangers and Druids. I really enjoyed the shape changing ability of WoW's Druids and the taming of pets for their Hunters (Rangers). I enjoy the wilderness much more than the city. Using nature as my ally is a huge plus for me.
Magic Spell use is also fun for me, but not my first choice. It is a little more difficult for me to be good at, but I can get into it. I like the knowledge/lore aspect of magic users.
Healing is another archetype I have come to like. At first, my concern was healing my character. Then I found out how awesome it feels to keep group-mates alive. And how devastating it is to me when they die. I always took that as a personal failure.
Pure melee archetypes do not interest me much. It is just not my play style. Throw in some cool abilities like a Paladin or Guardian and I can enjoy them.
[EDIT]
PS: I forgot about races
Like others have said, I like to play races I can relate to. Your Centaur example may be the limit to my acceptable non-bipedal races I could relate to. Otherwise, bipedal races for me
The more human-like, the better.
Orcs and trolls and undead are not the type of race I pick, though will play. I did have fun with WoW's Tauren race.
Humans (and variants) and elves would be my first choices. Shorter races, like dwarves and gnome-like races are not my first choice, either.
That being said, I will try any race available, but my connection to the character will vary greatly.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
Sorry for coming back so late, Fire Emblem Awakening is a blast.
It's funny I never really understood players interest in Bards, they seem to be the role of roleplayers, classic ones, who are more interested in having a unique identity rather than a specific orientation as a combatant. And even moreso in many game depictions where playing music is utilized to deal damage and buff allies, thought a worthwhile explanation can place it with any other kind of magic in the game.
I think this has to do with my personal experience with fighting and weapons practice, the idea of picking up an instrument and singing just doesn't ring any bells for me XD
What exactly does a bard do or how do they behave in combat, per your interest?, do they have another role or behavior I'm unfamiliar with?
I can see where you'd like centaur based on your beast and nature attunment, even as second choice, after a few years of the same old nature classes, centaur draws on some extra points for originality.
As for Elves, I originally found them interesting, but they wern't he kind of interesting that I'd like to see over, and over, and over again. I remembered their role in Record of Lodoss War, a Japanese interpretation of DnD, but I don't care to see them all the time and always. There are many ways to do an aristocratic and advanced race, the Human race could occupy this role for once, Vampire nobles also make a good sophisticated alternative. i would probably still like elves if I only saw them once in every 20 or 30 games of fantasy genre... but legolas seems to be all over the place.
Anyway, thanks again, and if anyone can return to my earlier inquiry and share more about Dwarf advantages, I'd appreciate it.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, if they get angry, they'll be a mile away... and barefoot.
Jack of all trades, master of none type. Hard as hell to play correctly, but when it is, it makes the people you were in a group with make one as their alt afterwards.
EQ bard comes to mind.
Not really interested in playing as a beast, though I enjoy the ability to morph into one for access to specific abilities. I play both genders and though I usually make a toon attractive, I have made very ugly or unattractive toons as well.
I tend to prefer caster or caster/melee classes, and historically rolled a healer or heal/dps hybrid. These days, I play solo more often than group so look for hybrid builds that are flexible. I tend to avoid tanking classes, as I find tanking more stressful than healing.
I'm an altaholic at heart so I tend to play everything but have my strongest ties with self-sufficient support classes or classes that can and will help the party in a way (be it tanking, healing, buffing, CCing or any combination of those things) but can still do something else on the side.
On the race part, I can play anything and everything, it depends on wether the class that I have an interest in at that particular moment feels like it fits (or clashes in an hilarious way, like a gnome warrior with an enormous two handed weapon) with the concept. Sometimes I also have a "character" in mind and will try to recreate it as well as I can given the tools of the game I'm playing.
I'm somewhat partial to 'cute' races. Smaller ones that are softer featured.
This does not usually include animal races. I'm not all that fond of playing a fuzzball, though I take exception to particular cases/aspects.
Otherwise I enjoy playing something exceptionally exotic. Like the Shardminds in D&D or a very celestial/nebular style race.
As far as classes I prefer either a more insular character that's got good flexibility and range to their skills so as to be self sufficient even if not the best performance at anything, a more support type role, or a very precision oriented character as I don't like being caught up in any one thing for a long time.
So kind of like a rogueish bardy type for circumventing many things.
A healer, because helping people is actually fun to me.
Or a sniper type, where you try for the most efficient and exact means to a solution and fark trying to slog through the mess.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
I personally would really like to play classes with a lot of pets. Now, i don't mean a lot of pet options, I mean a LOT OF PETS. Kind of like the necromancer in GW1. thats where I fell in love with pets. It was kind of like you were a steamroller. you start out slow, but as you kill, you get more and more and more and more and then you lead like 10 pets around killing and looting and pillaging!
If i could play whatever race I wanted, I would play an undead being/robot hybrid. like the Necrons in Warhammer 40k, but with a lot more flesh and machine melding. like a corpse being kept alive by machines, with a class with two different major specs, Making Large, powerful, but few in number pets paired iwth your own damage spells, or Many, Many smaller pets all where you do a lot of standing back and directly ordering them around.
I play MMOs for the Forum PVP
Yeah, it would take more graphic technology to effectively render quadrepeds on inclines... Yet there are no lack of opponents, pets, and mounts featured without even remedying that concern anyway, and even fewer games that actually interact with terrain. Proper technology to depict these for games as a whole has been a long time coming, its the 21st century.
There seems to be a lot of interest in jack of all trades and self sufficient classes. Perhaps more characters should be made self sufficient in general. I know, hardly news, but it really doesn't make sense for any combatant to be incompetent in a fight just because their alone. Their specialty may allow them to produce effective synergy and cooperation in a group, but they should operate at least competently on their own. No one on a battlefield should be helpless.
Definetely some useful thoughts, sorry I can't acknowledge more at the moment, it was a chore just to quoteon this phone from work :]
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, if they get angry, they'll be a mile away... and barefoot.
I tend to like fairly realistic (but with antiquity/medieval-inspired attire) humans, with some sort of mystic or esoteric abilities, like sword techniques that are neither physical nor magical in archetypal ways; I'm thinking along the lines of FFXI's samurai and ninja, or unconventional healers/casters/support types.
But as far as alternate races/species I'd like to see playable - some kind of sapient armadillo/hedgehog/mole race would be my preference. They should have the abilities to roll up into a ball to shield themselves and somersault like that into enemies (I liked Sonic the Hedgehog games as a kid, okay), and also burrow underground and possibly explore/travel that way. The same might go for some kind of aquatic race (they should be able to freely explore all bodies of water without breath issues, including underground waterways, oceans, etc. - maybe they could use sonar for various purposes, create bubble shields, etc.). And a winged aerial race that could actually fly freely...you get the idea.
Bards also get normal weapon attacks, though not as proficient as fighter type characters. Some games have the Bard juggling instruments and weapons, some don't. In EQ, the bard could "sing" any song they had, but their songs were more effective if they were played with the proper instrument (drum, horn, lute, flute). Sometimes, Bards get some kind of special weapon skill like duel wielding, or finesse fighting. Usually they are fighters on the fringes of the fight, taking a poke here or there while inspiring their allies or deflating their foes.
The Centaurs I have always liked. Usually, they are depicted as drunken, brawling barbarians that never really interest me. In my mind, they just have a closer bond with nature than most other races and are more like Native Americans or Celts in culture. That's just my own bias, thoughTolkien often gets "blamed" for the state of Elves in MMOs. Before him, elves were thought of as small folk, like the Keebler Elves or Snap!, Crackle! and Pop! (The Rice Krispie cereal guys). Tolkien made Elves tall and elegant. Can you imagine an MMO with the shorter, rounder elves of old? That would be a twist
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
But that dragonboy in this thread for example instantly makes me think "wtf thats not a realistic body". That extra bone in his legs doesnt serve any purpose and the position he's having would be extremely strenous to hold, in reality. So yeah, wouldnt play that, ever.
Also, all playable races need to be believably sentient. The skull needs to be large enough for a human sized brain, their mouth needs to be sufficiently equipped for speech, etc, you get the idea.
If anyone would offer me, for example, a character like the ones from the Webcomic Twokinds, I would definitely play that. Those really look great. Not so much what Vanguard offers me - animal head on a human body, like an egyptian deity. Not realistic at all. These creatures clearly cant think and clearly cant speak. I tried playing one but after a while I just had to stop because it just felt much too absurd and I couldnt find any connection at all. TES offers something like that, though so far I havent managed to ever make them look beautiful.
About what I like to play:
- Direct damage wizard
- Direct damage melee, including tanks, preferably with some magic
- Healer
- Bard/Support
What I dont like to play:
- Rogue - stealth too slow, not fun
- Druid - not fun
- Ranger - combo of the previous two classes, not fun
- Psion/Enchanter/Whatever - aka crowd control mage, too many variables, confuses me
- Paladin - not enough damage output, not fun
The races I play depend upon the game. NWN2 for example only had humans as a beautiful race. Even Halfelves have been just butt ugly. So I played a human.
Vanguard has really ugly Orcs and Gnomes. Goblins however are just right - they look ugly, but also graceful.
I also avoid races that are underpowered. Darkelves in Vanguard are very beautiful, but they have been screwed over when racial bonusses came into discussion, and then screwed over again later a second time because raiders whined about Darkelven mages who happened to be not as awful as the other professions and actually got something somewhat relevant.
If a game would offer me all races in a balanced way, and they all would look great, I would probably mostly go for Darkelf, Halfelf, Orc, and Gnome.
LotR elves are fine... For LotR, just don't like how overused they are. The Elvan in FFXI were passable I guess. Really pissed at their reuse in FFXIV, but I've accepted that square can't make good MMOs and is tanking their series.
I was pleasantly surprised with GW races, elves and dwarves were present, but limited and dismissed, while Tengu, Centaur, and gremlin looking Asura were heavily featured. Oh yeah, and Char... Way cooler than orcs, and Norn, a very cool variation of human.
As for human intelligence and speech in creatures.. many of them are larger when sentient with room for a brain, and lips are not necessary for speech, search YouTube for Lyre bird, there are many creatures, particularly birds, with wildly superior range of pronunciation. Excluding all magic alternatives, like a sphinx which can morph into a human. Wolves Rain had a very cool premise of mental projection to appear human and communicate.
As for dark and wicked creatures, how do Gargoyles and Gremlins compare? It kind of baffles me how much variety exists and is simply overlooked for the stereotypical. While Gargoyles may be naturally avoided since they can fly, in a game with flight integration it would be great.
On a final note, that third hinge is existent in most beasts legs, since their ankle equivalent sets much higher on the limb and their heel is drawn away from their paw. It's more odd because such an opposable limb ends in a huge foot, typically it would come to a narrow paw or hoof like a fawn.
Oh that reminds me, how do you like Fawns AIBQuirky?, their a perfect fit for nature and barding.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, if they get angry, they'll be a mile away... and barefoot.
Picture says it all,Duck warrior,your a¤¤ is mine big fellow and my world is bigger than yours ! !after the fight i will go to swimming.
challenging classes / races mostly,if possible.
Let's internet
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, if they get angry, they'll be a mile away... and barefoot.
Unrealted to the topic, but interesting about the Lyre bird. In one of my bio classes a few years ago, one groupwas doing a presentation on the lyre bird and how different researchers were studying it's speech neurons and pathways.
Humans can repair (very slowly) nerves but so far it doesn't seem we can repair or regrow neurons. However the lyre bird does. Apparently every year for mating it actually grows new neurons that help it mimic sounds. They are far more advanced than we are in that aspect at least.
Just thought it was interesting.
I personally never get tired of the Paladin/Dark Knight duality.
The Lord of the Rings books got me to love the Aragorn concept of Rangers. I always loved the idea of being intimately familiar with the wilderness and being a stealthy ranged hunter who is also proficient in melee combat when push comes to shove. Ranger was my main throughout my time playing FFXI.
The versatile shapeshifting Druid has become my absolute all time favorite class since playing WoW. I tend to miss my druid more than I miss WoW these days.
I absolutely love the Bard concept. Buffing, raising morale through speech and song, yes please.
I'm absolutely in love with the Elementalist in GW2 at the moment. While the idea of mastering the various elemental magics is intriguing, the Ele's constant attunement shifting gameplay is what really keeps me hooked. It provides the same level of interactivity that I got from druids in WoW. I've noticed my favorite League of Legends champions--Nidalee, Elise and Jayce--have the same essential mechanism. So there's definitely something to be said about a type of gameplay when determining what I like to play in a game, which transcends the lore or image of any particular archetype.
Melee - Bleeds / Poison melting my enemies. (Not the biggest fan of rogue/stalker, but I'll pick that if the brute class have no bleeds or poison)
Ranged - Archer (No pets, I personally dislike pets, I want my bow to do the damage, not my pet)
The races I like depends which of the 2 classes I go with, If archer, I usually go human, if melee, I usually go for evil looking race, brute style.
They would fit well with nature and barding, yes. For my tastes, they don't really interest me as a player character. They are a touch too bestial for my tastes
Fawns/Satyrs are a good example of creatures that are kind of rare becoming more commonplace. Of course that will depend upon on the game's mythos.
I feel I should admit that my favorite part of Fantasia is the "Pastoral Symphony" scene
Centaurs, Fawns, and Pegasus' (Pegasi?) are all present.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
Whow, talk about poor choice of words.
I wanted to say they had something heroic about them. They didnt looked like drunk criminals who dont care about their looks at all, like the orcs do.
Playing: FFXIV, DnL, and World of Warships
Waiting on: Ashes of Creation