Player vs. Everything: Coolest classes ever

[Tolanin]

Originally Posted by Flinch

Monk in EQ1, particularly in the way that it evolved into a tanking class that the designers hadn't intended it to be.

fixed for ya

[Duppin]

Haha, Rayne, I'd actually totally forgotten about Mongo!

Enforcer is my favorite tanking class in any MMO game, ever.

My favorite thing about AO though is still actually...PILLOWS.

[Rayne]

Originally Posted by Duppin

Haha, Rayne, I'd actually totally forgotten about Mongo!

Enforcer is my favorite tanking class in any MMO game, ever.

My favorite thing about AO though is still actually...PILLOWS.

No doubt. I have a pair on every one of my toons I'd love for a new game to just copy/paste the whole AO stat/gear system. I could spend a whole afternoon just swapping shit out for one single skill point increase to fit a piece of gear, or cast a new nano. It was a game within the game for me LOL

I have one toon on an alt account that has nothing in its bank but bags and bags of stepping imps/stat gear for every level imaginable

[Kevincheese]

Originally Posted by Tolanin

fixed for ya

Did you play FFXI?

[Tolanin]

Originally Posted by Kevincheese

Did you play FFXI?

yes and i admit the whole ninjitsu avoidance tank was awesome and maybe a little different than the monk tanks in eq because they never really became mainstream and were still ac tanks... but i was trying to be a dick with my fixed for you line so i stand by what i said ;p

Its funny i was just wishing today that some game would come out ninja/monk style char again because i just went to see forbidden kingdom or whatever this afternoon... sadly aoc sticks with the western style class and no warrior monks.

[Greyskye]

Well played manual twisting EQ bard. The end.

[Flinch]

Originally Posted by Tolanin

yes and i admit the whole ninjitsu avoidance tank was awesome and maybe a little different than the monk tanks in eq because they never really became mainstream and were still ac tanks... but i was trying to be a dick with my fixed for you line so i stand by what i said ;p

Eh, the reason I picked the ninja was cause EQ monks were already mentioned and that, if my memory serves correctly, monk tanks were nerfed. FFXI devs allowed people to play the Ninja 'as is', although from what I've heard, there have been some changes to the avoidance tank.

Plus, Ninjas were one of the few classes that relied on having to either purchase or use their own items, in a way where it was absolutely essential for them functioning as a class. Only other class like that that I know of are Ranger/Hunter/etc types who have to buy ammo.

Course now, someone is going to list off like 20 examples of classes that do exactly what I described that I've either forgotten about or don't know about, but whatever.

BTW, dick. ;p

[Foradream]

Originally Posted by Greyskye

Well played manual twisting EQ bard. The end.

Fuck yes.

[Nilden]

First I need a little disclaimer. I really wish they would take all abilities from all classes and make a skill tree system that you can pick 6-10 or whatever from the massive list for combat/magic and 3-5 skills for crafting. Kinda like Ultima Online. Sure it's a total balance cluster squirt but it would be fun! More of a Create-A-Class game!

I'd like to cover all the staple classes.

Warrior- I really don't have a lot to say they tank or whatever not a big fan.
Cleric- It heals they always add some minor utility crap and buffs
Thief- Rogue- Backstab and stealth, really never felt they had and meaning in anything other than pvp UO and Shadowbane being the best.
Ranger- Huntard- Fun stuff being a turret.
Necromancer- EQ DAOC Guildwars, it's a fun class.
Paladin- I hate them.
Anti-Paladin- what old school people called a Shadow Kight or Death Knight.
Wizard- Mage- Casters dps boom fire. I like fire.
Bards- They sing it's lame, EQ carptunnel wrist bands anyone?

There are a ton of spin off classes and I think one that got the most of my attention is pet classes. They really spice those up!

Summoner in FF11, Bonedancer in DAOC, Animist from DAOC, Necromancer in EQ, Creature handler from SWG, Warlock in WOW, Master Mind City of Villians, Beastlord from EQ.

It's hard on a more personal note to pick a favorite class. I played a wizard mostly in EQ. I play a druid in WoW and like it but they could do more with it. I laughed when I saw the mention of Valewalker I had a 50. I have a 50 ice/ice tank in City of heroes I enjoy. A lot of my characters have retired... it would be a long list of games and classes played to max.

Also screw Blizzard for only adding Death knights instead of at least one hero class for every class. Can't wait to do 5 mans with nothing but DK's! gg-

[Cybsled]

People who talked about monk tanks (in terms of raiding game) in EQ1 being the best tanks ever were the same people who believed that FOH killed Bzzzat in PoS with an army of Mistwalker equiped rangers.

Aka they were talking out of their ass. I would have loved to have seen this mythical god-like monk tank.

[Szlia]

I missed it or no one mentionned the EQ Necromancers? The class had issues for sure, but there was something pretty cool in its abbility to play with just about all the flows of a battle. Redistributing hp and mp in various ways, crowd controling in various ways, FD, pet... The bard without the wrist injuries.

[Venjenz]

I don't get any of the classes the article picks as the best.

In EQ, the necromancer and magician classes were better thought out, better developed, and better designed than the enchanter class. The enchanter class worked for that game because the game mechanics made them so important. The bard was the better designed crowd controller and support class, and I'd put the bard ahead of the enchanter as an EQ best class.

Never played LotRO so I can't say anything there.

In WoW, I think the druid and shaman are that game's best classes from a design and implementation perspective. The shaman would edge out the druid for me, simply because the totem system is unique and flexible, there are lots of ways to play and the class is real fluid, and the class quests and lore behind shaman is really well done. The druid is just too common in fantasy games, even if WoW does theirs really well. I also think (minus PVP considerations) that the paladin class is great. What makes pallies so cool is that you really have three separate classes in one depending on the spec. The Holy, Protection and Retribution trees really do make for totally different ways to play one character. To me, that's cool.

But the mention of the AO Adventurer really got me. I'd put advies in the lower third of their classes no doubt. The enforcer, bureaucrat, metaphysicist, trader, fixer and agent are all better designed and have better implemetation than advies. Advies are fun for random PVP and tower battles because thy're so freaking hard to kill, but beyond that, the advie is a feral druid with pistols. My vote would go for the MP, Crat and Enforcers.

The AO bureaucrat also makes me laugh about the article choosing the EQ enchanter as the king badass CC. For getting the most out of two spells, sure, but the AO Crat with a pet, a short charm and a long charm, along with their debuffs are about as cool a crowd controller concept as any game ever. And the enforcer class is the best tank in the history of tanking, bar none, no contest. Any class that literally lights themselves on fire for more taunt....that's so badass it defies logic. Wield a barstool, an I-beam, a chair, whatever. Just so cool. I still haven't played any class in any game that gave me more "how fucking cool is this character?" moments than my AO enforcer did.

[Elsebet]

Originally Posted by Rayne

Its odd you describe it this way. Did you play one? Doctors don't mitigate damage solely through ncu consuming self and team buffs. Doctors mitigate the majority of incoming damage with init debuffs. The difference between a mob thats unslowed and a mob that loses nearly 3k to all initiatives is tremendous.

Yup, I did play one:

Anarchy Online

I definitely didn't mean what I said to sound like those were their only mitigation abilities. Back when I played a lot (before SL), ncu space was at a premium and often there was no room for the doctor's mitigation abilities besides raw heals which consumed no ncu. In our raids we were not permitted to put hots/temp hp on the tank because sometimes it would mean he wouldn't have ncu left for his own abilities.

On normal mobs in missions, certainly it was a huge mitigation tool. On raids I mostly just participated in the CH chain, but we had so many doctors it didn't even need to be coordinated anymore and was immensely boring unless there was a lot of participant damage. Maybe it is different now, but comparing my raiding duties as Priest in WoW to a Doctor AO the Priest is much more engaged and using more tools. Just my opinion on my own experience, your mileage may vary.

[Rayne]

Originally Posted by Elsebet

I definitely didn't mean what I said to sound like those were their only mitigation abilities. Back when I played a lot (before SL), ncu space was at a premium and often there was no room for the doctor's mitigation abilities besides raw heals which consumed no ncu.

Ahh..... that explains it. Things like Yutto's and Alien ncu really helped to make the older ncu limitations a non-issue in later parts of the game. The newer armors and stuff often include ncu modifiers as well. But I think if you played a doctor now, you might see it a bit differently. Especially in a city raid, where mobs are designated to go after specific players. You never really appreciate a good enforcer until he "forgets" to mongo the crowd, and Hacker'Uri nukes your ass for 3 times your health

[Venjenz]

Originally Posted by Rayne

Doctors mitigate the majority of incoming damage with init debuffs. The difference between a mob thats unslowed and a mob that loses nearly 3k to all initiatives is tremendous.

Its especially funny with ranged mobs. One shot every 10-15 seconds LOL

Forgot about those init debuffs for docs. Now there's a truly unique thing for the MMO genre - at the highest level, the primary healer class is arguably the best solo class of a game. The 205+ doc in current AO is one serious soloer. Those init debuffs are a big reason why.

EDIT - I also forgot about FunCom and their array of anti-doc code added with Shadowlands and Alien Invasion. In SL, they gave Complete Heal something like a zonewide super aggro component.

We tested CH aggro, back when I played, on the hecklers in Penumbra, and I burned through an entire bar of nano using Mongo and single target taunt, I had a jealousy augmented Agression enhancer that I spammed, and I was in dual 1HB DPS mode. I had an advie and fixer healing me, and the doc did nothing at all during the fight until casting a CH on me at 20% mob health. It was like a summon spell that blinked the heckler right on top of the doc. Tried it again, with everyone going bonkers DPS, and the doc still got insta aggro from CH.

And the AI doc thing was awesome when that expansion released. If you didn't have an enforcer with a jealousy aggression tool and a huge nano pool for taunt, your doc was a grease stain within 15 seconds of the invasion starting up. They came out of the ship and b-lined to docs. That lasted until I think the second major patch after AI was released. And even when they "Fixed" it, docs on AI content have to be very careful with heals, because FC is always jerking around healer aggro rules.