Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Ten Ton Hammer: Again looking at the description, it seems like the Soldier has a lot in common with the tank class from many other MMOs, especially the Warrior from WoW. How do you believe this class differs from tank classes in other MMOs?

Hue: The core role of a Soldier in Alganon is exactly that - a tank. They are designed to fight via melee weaponry, be able to take survive large amounts of damage from their enemies, and manipulate the enemy in order to keep the attention on themselves and away from those they are charged with protecting. When we designed the classes, we designed them with these roles in mind.

We believe that much of the fun of MMO combat lies in cooperation and interdependence. It is fun to enter a combat encounter, choose which role you want to take, and then perform that role with precision and expertise, sticking to the strategy, but adjusting your tactics as the battle ebbs and flows.

It's no fun to enter an encounter and find that you are weak at the role you've chosen, so we've designed our classes to be strong at their roles. We've designed our Soldiers to be extremely good tanks.

This, of course, means that they will have the ability to mitigate damage done to them. They will be able to control the enemy AI and make themselves the primary target. They will be able to defend their group, absorbing damage that would otherwise hit the weaker party members. For the most part, rather than designing the core of the solder class to be a "different" tank, we've designed our core soldiers to be a "better" tank. If you've played a tank in another game, there are actions you were glad you had - our Soldiers have those. There are also actions you wished you had - our Soldiers have those, too.

However, the one area where our Soldiers are very different from tanks in other games is in the Tactics specialization. Soldiers who specialize in Tactics abilities will have the ability to join a group, not as a tank or melee damage dealer, but as a support class - one that boosts the abilities of the group, rather than focusing on his own actions.

Ten Ton Hammer: There are four different "specialization" branches listed on the website. Are players going to choose various abilities in these branches to become "Core Soldiers" or "Tactic Soldiers" or does this signify something else?

Hue: Teamwork is a major part of the fun of MMO combat, so we've designed our classes to be strong at their primary roles. But, we also know that it's not fun to be locked into a single role. That's why we designed our Dual Role system. Every class has a "core" role that they advance automatically, but they also get a set of ability points they can spend towards a secondary role. Should they choose to place all their points in a single secondary role, they will be able to compete in that role at the same expert level as their core role.

Since nearly every enemy has a melee attack, it makes sense that the enemy will approach its target and fight in melee range. This means that any damage bonuses a tank has will also help a melee-range damage dealer. It was easy for us to decide that one of the secondary roles of a Soldier would be a single-target melee damage dealer. A Soldier that specializes in Weaponry will be able to target a single enemy and "burn them down" quickly and efficiently.

Fighting a single foe is very different than fighting a room full of enemies; it takes a specially trained Soldier to be able to handle both situations effectively. That is where the Protection specialization comes into play. While every Soldier, Protection or not, can handle the one-on-one boss encounter, it will take a Soldier specializing in protection to effectively keep a room full of enemies from overrunning their allies.

Some Soldiers, however, prefer to take a leadership role. Rather than spending anger on damaging an enemy or drawing attention to themselves, a Tactics Soldier will spend their anger on buffing and enhancing their party. Rather than always standing toe-to-toe with the enemy, they will find themselves zipping around the battlefield, shouting orders, providing bonuses, even reducing the threat generated by their allies, before charging back to the front lines to build anger and repeat the process.

These specializations all come without losing their core abilities. Whether they choose to specialize in Weaponry, Protection, or Tactics, a Soldier will always be able to switch to defensive stance, take up a sword and shield, and join your group as a tank.