It would have been nice to add the other types of players to the poll, there is more than just the trinity. You should add a "utility" player option at least.
In DAOC I played a Minstrel. Not one of the trinity. I liked Controllers in CoH, not one of the trinity.
No need to list “Other classes”. All classes are defined by the trinity. All CC classes are healers. All CC spells are damage mitigation spells, aka healing spells.
In DaoC, the Minstrel was meant to be a dual spec DPS/Healer. Data confirms that DPS players play this kind of character as a DPS. Healer type players play it as a Healer. There are no other or “Utility classes”.
Same is true for CoH / Controller. Meant to be a healer by designers, but played as a DPS by players. Not a utility or other class.
I will just respectfully disagree. For example, the Mini in DAOC was needed for its speed buff. Is that healing? Or DPS? The mini's pet could tank or do DPS, or both, so which is it?
A controller in CoH could have pets, which tank, do DPS, and CC. So is that DPS? healing? tanking? And what about a resist debuff? The net effect is the target takes more damage. So it's DPS? or healing? My controller in CoH had no healing abilities at all. He had stuns and pets, with no way to boost anyone's health.
What about a movement slow? The enemy does the same dmg, takes the same dmg, but just moves more slowly. Is that DPS? Healing? Tanking?
Or just a simple life drain spell? It takes life away from your target (DPS) and gives it to you (healing). So which is it?
I still maintain that some classes are "utility" classes, that can do healing/tanking/dps'ing or any mix of them at the same time. That's what makes them fun, they can do what is needed at the time, and are not fixed into any simple trinity role.
It took me awhile in MMOs to drift into what is my most natural role of Tank. I most like being a tank using mobility, CC, where you really feel you are protecting the team actively by your actions.
DPS can get too boring unless it is also able to CC or something more.
I am told I am an outstanding healer in PvP but in PvE I get too unfocused and bored fast.
ive always been DPS, but on this poll i chose to Show the results because i dont like being full on DPS with zero survivability. My main focus is DPS but i work towards getting crowd control and certain level of healing so i can stay alive on my own, support other people with occasional emergency heals and crowd controls while still putting out good damage. I dont play healers, i dont play tanks.
The item level system on WoW really put me off because it forces specific builds for group content. I dont care about 100k crits or 80k dps to impress nobody. So i hope new mmos dont copy that system. The amount of damage shouldnt matter, ever. Learning your class should always be more important than how much damage you can do as a DPS..... When that happens (your game is more about numbers instead of class mechanics) your game turns into Math:The video game. Booring.....
None of the poll options apply to me - I don't avoid games with a trinity going on, but I generally take the fourth option, a balanced class suited for soloing. A pet user class, for example, is a tank unit and a dps/healer unit working together. In some cases a summoner and their summons are a whole troop of units under the control of one player. A caster that can actually pin down an enemy and keep it at range for the whole fight, or a caster that wears heavier armor and has less range, are other examples of a balanced class that I'd choose over any trinity class.
I want to help design and develop a PvE-focused, solo-friendly, sandpark MMO which combines crafting, monster hunting, and story. So PM me if you are starting one.
It would have been nice to add the other types of players to the poll, there is more than just the trinity. You should add a "utility" player option at least.
In DAOC I played a Minstrel. Not one of the trinity. I liked Controllers in CoH, not one of the trinity.
No need to list “Other classes”. All classes are defined by the trinity. All CC classes are healers. All CC spells are damage mitigation spells, aka healing spells.
In DaoC, the Minstrel was meant to be a dual spec DPS/Healer. Data confirms that DPS players play this kind of character as a DPS. Healer type players play it as a Healer. There are no other or “Utility classes”.
Same is true for CoH / Controller. Meant to be a healer by designers, but played as a DPS by players. Not a utility or other class.
Originally posted by Psychei I have been playing mmo's for 14 years and have been healing for the last 10. I guess I prefer watching health bars and buffing over kicking butt and taking names.
The funny thing is, you're doing the exact same thing as a DPS, only instead of spamming your skills on the boss or trash, you're spamming them on your party/raid members. I've done both roles, and they are identical short of the targets.
This is like saying that driving a C6 Corvette around Laguna Seca is the same thing as driving a Ferrari F430 around Monza. Yeah, they're both cars, they both have a clutch, brake, and has pedal, and a steering wheel. But thats about where the similarities end.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
My true role is support. Buff, Debuff, CC, shield, that kind of thing. Divination and Abjuration and the like. But if I had to pick between the 3(ugh! Disgusting!), it would go sth like this:
1. Tank(because of control and because of it only)
2. Healer(I am not that keen on following others around like a puppy, but there is sth fun in Healing-especially proactive Healing{Purifier, prot monk, balance priest and their ilk}!)
3. DPS(just ugh! I mean itis fun to play sometimes while soloing, but in a group? Please!)
Rofl, none. Because it may have those options but they are so pathetic and arbitrary that I find grouping in GW2 the worst experience in any MMO to date. Nothing but chaos and not fun at all. So I just play the game solo and have a bit more fun but only for a day or 2 every month as the game's lack of true trinity and endgame progression make it not worth putting time into it.
As to the OP's poll, I chose one of each because I do like to mix it up a bit and play a tank, healer or dps depending on my character mood/mode for that day/week/month. I usually lean back on DPS though because I get the most fun, solo play, and less stress playing that role.
My true role is support. Buff, Debuff, CC, shield, that kind of thing. Divination and Abjuration and the like. But if I had to pick between the 3(ugh! Disgusting!), it would go sth like this:
1. Tank(because of control and because of it only)
2. Healer(I am not that keen on following others around like a puppy, but there is sth fun in Healing-especially proactive Healing{Purifier, prot monk, balance priest and their ilk}!)
3. DPS(just ugh! I mean itis fun to play sometimes while soloing, but in a group? Please!)
2. DPS tank(it's fun to DPS while tanking{blood dk fe} or DPS with DoTs)
3. Pure tank(is still good)
4. Tanky healer(warrior priest and his ilk-you get both for the price of one! )
5. Lifetap healer(or DPS Healer -idk There's definitely sth fun about this)
5. Tanky DPS(kinda meh)
6. Pure healer(it can work, I guess)
.
.
.
n. Pure DPS(fun in solo, especially if you've got a Henchman swtor style, but in groups? ASURYAN SAVE ME!!! <-good enough description? )
There are only 3 roles (Tank/Damage/Healing)
and all classes perform a single or combo of those 3 roles in some format of combat.
No, there aren't. Or are you trying to imply that:
A Dominator/Mesmer is the same as idk, an Elementalist? Perhaps a monk? Or a Warrior?
This "there are only 3 play styles" drivel reminds me of MBTI drivel. Who said that there are only 3 playing styles(or 16 psych types)? Blizzard(what's its name )? To quote the ever fascinating Jung:
"...for all we know there could be dozes upon dozens types out there. Hundreds even! I strongly suspect that only the sky is the limit..."
The same applies to MMOs. Who says that there aren't "dozens upon dozens" playstyles? And these hybrids are only the part of it all. Wanna hear an absurd thought?
"Complex is the path of simplicity"
Mesmer , Ele, Warrior all do damage in their own way (Dot, DD-Ranged, Melee, etc)
Paladin, Druid are both healers but in their own way (one is a damage-to-healing converter, other a HoT master, etc)
They all perform the one or a combo of the 3 trinity roles Tanking- Damage-Healing
Blizzard WoW community only noted 3 roles because those are the three parent roles of any group. All other subroles are a just that, a subrole of the three main trinity roles.
Tanks control mobs, and damage mobs, and debuff mobs and shields allies.
Healers boon allies, and shield allies of damage, and damage
Damage, controls mobs, and debuffs them, and damage and boon allies.
Normally I start a game off healing. Seems once I settle in a bit I switch to tanking. I love both to be honest. The last time I really enjoyed a dps class was back in BC WoW.
Originally posted by Dibdabs The Trinity was the worst game mechanic ever introduced into mmorpgs. It leads to uninspired gameplay where everyone sticks to their comfortable little niche like a limpet, terrified of thinking out of the box. It's why I like to play solo instead of grouping up and playing a set role that is apparently carved in stone.
I agree 100% about the trinity being the worst game mechanic ever created. It was created to hide the fact that technology was nowhere near ready to give mobs the AI they needed so we have a stupid ass mechanic where the best armored and armed person in the group does the least damage and instead hurls your momma jokes and mobs keep hitting them even while they are decimated by DPS and the healer sits back and keeps the tank alive to keep hurling those insults.
A heavily armored and armed "Tank" should be the deadliest thing going for one on one melee combat, the mages should rain down hell and ice at range, but drop faster than a girls dress on prom night if anyone with a real weapon gets close. A ranger should be deadly with a bow and very capable with a sword close in, and the thief types should own anyone from the shadows especially if attacking from behind.
Combat should be chaotic and so much so that good, constant, and effective communication is required to succeed against any strong target or the group/raid should wipe. I shouldn't be able to complete an entire dungeon without anyone in the group ever uttering or typing a word in chat. That isn't combat, its a bloodbath purposely slanted in the players favor so they feel like they are L33t gamers while most can't recognize telegraphs anymore, but they are top notch gamers cause (insert basically any AAA MMO's name here including GW2) tells them they are.
In games where a healer isn't a glass canon, I tend to play a healer. They need to be able to not be utterly worthless solo somehow. I don't like the cloth caster type healer.
In games where a tank can actually do SOME damage, and not be 1/5th the speed of a dps class solo, and in games where they don't foot the entire bill for armor repair in a group, I play a tank.
If the game does the worst of the two above tropes, then I play DPS. I also play DPS if I am "tired," and the MMO is probably not one that I am going to be spending years in. PVP can also push me to DPS if tanks and healers are worthless in PVP (if you are a tank you can never close range and/or are ignored for the flea biter you are, and if you are a healer you will be slaughtered first without mercy and never get off any heals) and PVP is an important part of the game.
I play all three but for me each shines in different situations:
Raids: DPS - I love the DPS meter race. For some reason healing meters are not the same and tanks usually have no one to compete against
Dungeons: Tank - I like setting the pace for dungeon pulls and a competent tank is usually the difference between a wipe or a a successful run
PVP: Healer - mostly because healers just don't heal in PVP, they also do CC, interrupts or do some DPS to help with a kill. Plus a competent healer or healers usually seems to be the deciding factor between a loss or win in a BG
In guild wars 2 there is only DPS. What are people going on about?
It seems like the only role I don't enjoy is dps. I find it too boring. I played a healer for a while now I am more inclined to play a tank.
In vanilla WoW I played a resto Druid. My only role was to press healing touch twice, run out of mana and spam inner ate on the real healers - priests. What role is that? Mana bot?
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Originally posted by Kinchyle II don't care....and 99% of the friend I have don't either....so keep posting your trinity threads...and we still wont care...
Seems kinda silly to post on a thread you don't care about.
As far as GW2 is concerned, I really didn't care for the everybody does everything type of game mechanic. I generally prefer relatively dedicated roles. I find I like being good at a few things, rather than ok in many things.
I really doubt this poll... or its filled with trolls (not surprised considering this is mmorpg.com)
27% healers!? 24% tanks!? so 51% of the total people plays the 2 most uncommon and hard to get classes on the trinity? cough... bs...
What you are finding out is that the typical poster here and the typical player of an MMO are not the same group of people. It does make polls like this one skewed. In essence you are asking the hardcore, very interested in the games, segment of the population. Of course we would tend to gravitate towards classes that actually have a use in the endgame. If you were to ask those who are not registered on any of these boards and just play, the number of tanks and healers would be far less represented.
If it's a pug I'm normally the one not breathing through my mouth, and wondering what the fuck everyone else is doing.. I didn't see that opinion on the poll ?
It varies for me based on the mechanics of each game. I've played all different roles in many different MMO's. All things being equal, I'd probably choose healing/support. But that role isn't very fun in most games so I don't always play it.
Comments
I will just respectfully disagree. For example, the Mini in DAOC was needed for its speed buff. Is that healing? Or DPS? The mini's pet could tank or do DPS, or both, so which is it?
A controller in CoH could have pets, which tank, do DPS, and CC. So is that DPS? healing? tanking? And what about a resist debuff? The net effect is the target takes more damage. So it's DPS? or healing? My controller in CoH had no healing abilities at all. He had stuns and pets, with no way to boost anyone's health.
What about a movement slow? The enemy does the same dmg, takes the same dmg, but just moves more slowly. Is that DPS? Healing? Tanking?
Or just a simple life drain spell? It takes life away from your target (DPS) and gives it to you (healing). So which is it?
I still maintain that some classes are "utility" classes, that can do healing/tanking/dps'ing or any mix of them at the same time. That's what makes them fun, they can do what is needed at the time, and are not fixed into any simple trinity role.
------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
It took me awhile in MMOs to drift into what is my most natural role of Tank. I most like being a tank using mobility, CC, where you really feel you are protecting the team actively by your actions.
DPS can get too boring unless it is also able to CC or something more.
I am told I am an outstanding healer in PvP but in PvE I get too unfocused and bored fast.
ive always been DPS, but on this poll i chose to Show the results because i dont like being full on DPS with zero survivability. My main focus is DPS but i work towards getting crowd control and certain level of healing so i can stay alive on my own, support other people with occasional emergency heals and crowd controls while still putting out good damage. I dont play healers, i dont play tanks.
The item level system on WoW really put me off because it forces specific builds for group content. I dont care about 100k crits or 80k dps to impress nobody. So i hope new mmos dont copy that system. The amount of damage shouldnt matter, ever. Learning your class should always be more important than how much damage you can do as a DPS..... When that happens (your game is more about numbers instead of class mechanics) your game turns into Math:The video game. Booring.....
CC is a Tanking role or Debuffing (Damage)Role.
Tanks control mobs.
Damage & Tanks debuffs mobs
CC is a form of Control and Debuffing.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
This is like saying that driving a C6 Corvette around Laguna Seca is the same thing as driving a Ferrari F430 around Monza. Yeah, they're both cars, they both have a clutch, brake, and has pedal, and a steering wheel. But thats about where the similarities end.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
There are only 3 roles (Tank/Damage/Healing)
and all classes perform a single or combo of those 3 roles in some format of combat.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
funny picture but Control is Tanking not support.
Tanks control mobs with some form of mechanics, usually with aggro mechanics, but mainly with skills that control the movement and position of mobs,
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Rofl, none. Because it may have those options but they are so pathetic and arbitrary that I find grouping in GW2 the worst experience in any MMO to date. Nothing but chaos and not fun at all. So I just play the game solo and have a bit more fun but only for a day or 2 every month as the game's lack of true trinity and endgame progression make it not worth putting time into it.
As to the OP's poll, I chose one of each because I do like to mix it up a bit and play a tank, healer or dps depending on my character mood/mode for that day/week/month. I usually lean back on DPS though because I get the most fun, solo play, and less stress playing that role.
Mesmer , Ele, Warrior all do damage in their own way (Dot, DD-Ranged, Melee, etc)
Paladin, Druid are both healers but in their own way (one is a damage-to-healing converter, other a HoT master, etc)
Void Knight, Warrior, Paladin, (Magical Tanking, Physical tanking, etc)
They all perform the one or a combo of the 3 trinity roles Tanking- Damage-Healing
Blizzard WoW community only noted 3 roles because those are the three parent roles of any group. All other subroles are a just that, a subrole of the three main trinity roles.
Tanks control mobs, and damage mobs, and debuff mobs and shields allies.
Healers boon allies, and shield allies of damage, and damage
Damage, controls mobs, and debuffs them, and damage and boon allies.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
I agree 100% about the trinity being the worst game mechanic ever created. It was created to hide the fact that technology was nowhere near ready to give mobs the AI they needed so we have a stupid ass mechanic where the best armored and armed person in the group does the least damage and instead hurls your momma jokes and mobs keep hitting them even while they are decimated by DPS and the healer sits back and keeps the tank alive to keep hurling those insults.
A heavily armored and armed "Tank" should be the deadliest thing going for one on one melee combat, the mages should rain down hell and ice at range, but drop faster than a girls dress on prom night if anyone with a real weapon gets close. A ranger should be deadly with a bow and very capable with a sword close in, and the thief types should own anyone from the shadows especially if attacking from behind.
Combat should be chaotic and so much so that good, constant, and effective communication is required to succeed against any strong target or the group/raid should wipe. I shouldn't be able to complete an entire dungeon without anyone in the group ever uttering or typing a word in chat. That isn't combat, its a bloodbath purposely slanted in the players favor so they feel like they are L33t gamers while most can't recognize telegraphs anymore, but they are top notch gamers cause (insert basically any AAA MMO's name here including GW2) tells them they are.
In games where a healer isn't a glass canon, I tend to play a healer. They need to be able to not be utterly worthless solo somehow. I don't like the cloth caster type healer.
In games where a tank can actually do SOME damage, and not be 1/5th the speed of a dps class solo, and in games where they don't foot the entire bill for armor repair in a group, I play a tank.
If the game does the worst of the two above tropes, then I play DPS. I also play DPS if I am "tired," and the MMO is probably not one that I am going to be spending years in. PVP can also push me to DPS if tanks and healers are worthless in PVP (if you are a tank you can never close range and/or are ignored for the flea biter you are, and if you are a healer you will be slaughtered first without mercy and never get off any heals) and PVP is an important part of the game.
I play all three but for me each shines in different situations:
Raids: DPS - I love the DPS meter race. For some reason healing meters are not the same and tanks usually have no one to compete against
Dungeons: Tank - I like setting the pace for dungeon pulls and a competent tank is usually the difference between a wipe or a a successful run
PVP: Healer - mostly because healers just don't heal in PVP, they also do CC, interrupts or do some DPS to help with a kill. Plus a competent healer or healers usually seems to be the deciding factor between a loss or win in a BG
It seems like the only role I don't enjoy is dps. I find it too boring. I played a healer for a while now I am more inclined to play a tank.
In vanilla WoW I played a resto Druid. My only role was to press healing touch twice, run out of mana and spam inner ate on the real healers - priests. What role is that? Mana bot?
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Seems kinda silly to post on a thread you don't care about.
As far as GW2 is concerned, I really didn't care for the everybody does everything type of game mechanic. I generally prefer relatively dedicated roles. I find I like being good at a few things, rather than ok in many things.
I self identify as a monkey.
I really doubt this poll... or its filled with trolls (not surprised considering this is mmorpg.com)
27% healers!? 24% tanks!? so 51% of the total people plays the 2 most uncommon and hard to get classes on the trinity? cough... bs...
What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
What you are finding out is that the typical poster here and the typical player of an MMO are not the same group of people. It does make polls like this one skewed. In essence you are asking the hardcore, very interested in the games, segment of the population. Of course we would tend to gravitate towards classes that actually have a use in the endgame. If you were to ask those who are not registered on any of these boards and just play, the number of tanks and healers would be far less represented.
All Time Favorites: EQ1, WoW, EvE, GW1
Playing Now: WoW, ESO, GW2