How to make tanks more fun to play (devs please read)

[Grizzlebeard]

I have not only played multiple MMOs for three decades, but in the past I worked professionally as a game systems designer on a long running MMORPG.

Not to detract from your ideas, as I feel constructive feedback should be encouraged, but three decades playing MMOs is a little misleading considering MMOs didn't surface until the late 90's (UO '97 / EQ '99) so at most you could have been playing them for 17 years.

Having your friend sit by your side while you played Adventure on the Atari back in '79 doesn't classify as MMO either.

[therpgfanatic]

Not to detract from your ideas, as I feel constructive feedback should be encouraged, but three decades playing MMOs is a little misleading considering MMOs didn't surface until the late 90's (UO '97 / EQ '99) so at most you could have been playing them for 17 years.

Having your friend sit by your side while you played Adventure on the Atari back in '79 doesn't classify as MMO either.

MMOs have been around since the late 70s, beginning with MUD1 in 1978. So they've been around for nearly four decades.

[Grizzlebeard]

MMOs have been around since the late 70s, beginning with MUD1 in 1978. So they've been around for nearly four decades.

MO's (MUDs) =/= MMO's. Big difference there. Namely the size and nature of the end user. The audience size of the early games were limited by access to technology let alone the facility to actually get online. As such the limited playerbase were generally programmers making games for other programmers not a paying public. Wasn't until the early 90's that some games offered an online facility but it never really became huge until Ultima Online and then Everquest where the genre gained momentum.

Claiming you have 30 years gaming experience, even online gaming experience, would have been less misleading. Your post would have stood on its own without having to resort to using that as a stamp of credibility to be honest.

[Wadoka]

Not to detract from your ideas, as I feel constructive feedback should be encouraged, but three decades playing MMOs is a little misleading considering MMOs didn't surface until the late 90's (UO '97 / EQ '99) so at most you could have been playing them for 17 years.

Not so. For example, the very first truly popular online RPG was the original "Neverwinter Nights", on AOL in 1991, back when AOL was still pay-by-the-hour and you maxed out (most people did this for PvP effectiveness) as a 10/11/11 F/CL/MU. I played a few hundred hours of NWN as "TP Matthew" (I was in "The Protectorate" guild) back in the day. Then, there wasn't a Trinity of roles because we all ended up playing the same exact class and the same skillset

And there were several VERY popular subscription-only TEXT-based RPG. I also played Gemstone III on GEnie (Gemstone I started in 1988, and could be played over a TELNET connection!), and DragonRealms back then - and Simutronics (Play.net) is still going as far as I know, with Gemstone IV.

My left wrist doesn't work so well any more because of all the hours I spent outside Wehnimer's Landing (GS3) or east of the Crossing (DR), typing ATT TR (attack troll) over and over and over...

[Grizzlebeard]

Not so. For example, the very first truly popular online RPG was the original "Neverwinter Nights", on AOL in 1991

I already covered this in a follow up post but, keeping it brief, the OP cited 30 years of experience with MMOs when the genre didn't come about till '97 with Ultima Online. Yeah, you could play NWN online, it was an MO, not an MMO. In the same way text-based games, Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) weren't MMOs. Yeah, it seems a minor consideration but when you're proposing radical class changes on the basis of a misleading statement then it becomes relevant.

As an aside, I used to raid in Everquest in the early days on dial up and can't even begin to fathom how I managed with a 30 minute disconnect. We used to prep for a raid and I'd often log back in surrounded by corpses because someone had accidentally aggroed the boss while I was frantically dialing up to get back online.

[ZephyrK]

I already covered this in a follow up post but, keeping it brief, the OP cited 30 years of experience with MMOs when the genre didn't come about till '97 with Ultima Online. Yeah, you could play NWN online, it was an MO, not an MMO. In the same way text-based games, Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) weren't MMOs. Yeah, it seems a minor consideration but when you're proposing radical class changes on the basis of a misleading statement then it becomes relevant.

As an aside, I used to raid in Everquest in the early days on dial up and can't even begin to fathom how I managed with a 30 minute disconnect. We used to prep for a raid and I'd often log back in surrounded by corpses because someone had accidentally aggroed the boss while I was frantically dialing up to get back online.

I've been playing MMOs for millions of years. Time is a flat circle.