Breaking the Holy Trinity Mold

By Zed



The holy trinity: a healer, a tank and a ‘chanter. They delivered the
best XP for effort in EverQuest, and over time the sacred three (or
some variation on that theme) became a must in many MMOG grouping
strategies. Cries of, “Healer needed!” or “Crowd controller needed!”
or, “Tank needed!” could be heard across many a land as people tried to
build groups, with the aim of earning maximum experience in the
shortest amount of (down) time possible. The pervasiveness of the holy
trinity ideal can be seen in discussions across many an upcoming MMOG’s
forums . Many, that is, except DDO.



Dungeons & Dragons Online will shatter many preconceptions about
group needs, none more holy than the trinity. Whilst I fully expect to
hear cries of “Healer needed for Quest X” I don’t expect it to be
fundamentally necessary for any quest. Why?



Run away! Run away! src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album01/DDO_runaway.thumb.jpg"
style="width: 150px; height: 125px;" align="left">An understanding of
the pen-and-paper game and its followers should give us the answer. As
an avid player in a number of campaigns, I can tell you that with the
right mindset you can get away with not having a healer, or a crowd
controller, or even a tank (although not having a tank is pushing it a
bit far).  D&D’s class system alone can change the thinking of
a player. Having a cleric – the traditional holy trinity healer – stand
toe to toe with a giant, wielding a flaming great sword and wearing
full plate armor isn’t a sight you see in many MMOG’s. Yet in D&D
it’s possible, in fact not only is it possible, but with the right set
of spells running the cleric can out tank the tank quite easily.



Now throw in href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=49">multi-classing
and you really cause confusion to those
accustomed to the traditional MMOG scenario.  Whilst some classes
don’t mix well, other class combinations do. Is a cleric 5/fighter 5 a
healer or a tank? Or is he both? If you’re looking for a healer in your
holy trinity group would you take the 5/5 cleric/fighter if he was the
only ‘healer’ looking for a group? What then if the player of said
multi-class character chose to fight through combat, buffing self and
party and not healing, or only healing after a fight is done?



Even the simplest of roles in the holy trinity, the tank, gets
confusing in D&D.   Traditionally, the holy trinity
philosophy preaches that the tank is a damage taker: a class who can
take a pounding and keep a monster’s attention away from other group
members. In D&D terms, the best tank is obviously the href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=141">fighter.
Or is
it? The barbarian has more hit points, and damage reduction to boot,
yet is impaired by not being able to wear heavy armor. Then there’s the
paladin. He has href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=202">healing
spells, Lay on Hands (a form of heal), good hit
points and can wear plate armor and wield that great big two handed
sword. What of his tanking abilities?  Multi-classing brings in
more confusion and complexity.  For instance: fighter/barbarian –
an odd combination, but build it right and you can have a pure animal
on the battle field.



Even crowd control is vague.  Whilst the wizard and sorcerer could
fill the role okay, and it really depends on the spells available in
DDO, the bard with his Fascinate song should do equally well or
better. Even a rogue with a decent use magic device skill and a wand of
Web or some other spell (Fascinate or Sleep) can act as the crowd
controller.



But is it even necessary to think in terms of holy trinity in DDO?
After all, we know that monsters won’t respawn; experience is derived
from completion of quests and not pure grinding on monsters; and of
course spell points and hit points only regenerate at rest shrines or
in taverns. With these changes to the game the reason for the original
holy trinity – most experience with the least downtime – begins to
disappear.  



However, won’t this simply shift the attitude of the players from
grinding on the best experience per kill monster to the best experience
per quest in DDO? Possibly. But will you need the holy trinity for
every quest?  Ready for a fight src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album01/DDO_fighter.thumb.jpg"
style="width: 150px; height: 125px;" align="right">



Arguably fighters, barbarians and paladins will always be employed. Not
so much for the punishment they can take but for the damage they can
deliver. However, ranged fighting through the likes of the ranger
should be equally viable in DDO if the right Feats are available. 
But the traditional holy trinity doesn’t cater to traps – and deadly
ones at that – so suddenly a rogue could be needed, or a cleric who can
cast Detect/Disarm Trap (assuming the spell is implemented in
DDO).  The
combat will no doubt be fast and furious, with the ability to Tumble
and dodge out of the way of monsters attacks, which puts more emphasis
on the player keeping himself out of harm’s way and lessens the work of
the healing classes.



Turbine has always stated that DDO will break the MMOG mold.  The
holy trinity is one mold I’m looking forward to seeing well and truly
broken in DDO.  However, whilst fundamentally the holy trinity
isn’t needed to survive, how that plays out will come down to the
community.  Crying “Need a cleric for Quest X” or “Tank needed for
Quest Y” or “looking for a Wizard with Spells A, B, C” may become
common place. However, the real challenge in DDO will be to forgo the
preconceived notion of “holy trinity wins all” and leap into the
unknown and experiment with groups of unusual combinations. And if all
else fails, just hope Use Magic Device and Wands of Cure Light Wounds
are readily available.


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

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