by Savanja on Sep 07, 2006
By: Savanja
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It's always been an important aspect in MMOs to be able to feel that your character is unique from everyone else's characters. This is no easy feat! I mean, developers can only make so many character options in game that work towards giving your character it's own flavor. Has EverQuest II done enough in this realm? What more can be done to make us feel as though our characters are not cookie cutter avatars.
The first aspect of making your character your own, is within it's birth. I have always been vocal in regards to my opinion that while the creation process of character models are okay, it certainly did not meet up with it's full potential. And I hate to draw that same old comparison, but it is a must in this topic. Stars Wars Galaxies. It has a character creation process unlike any MMO on the market, and while it wasn't enough to save a clearly dying game, when I first stepped into that game, it was the first (and last) thing I was wowed by. And more recently, the famed superhero game City of Heroes, has an amazing character creation process. In fact, I spent more time creating super hero avatars than I did actually playing the rather boring game!
This says to me that game designers have the tools available to them to really hit character creation right out of the ballpark, and yet, the designers of EQ2 held back. We have sliders, but the variances as so minimal that when I stand my barbarian next to other barbarians, they all look far too similar for my comfort. I find this to be a terrible loss. One thing that EQ2 excels at is graphics. This game is just downright beautiful. So much more could have been done with the character skins that were being placed in this amazing world, and I feel like the developers just fizzled.
Race and class choices in EverQuest II are pretty above average for the current MMO community. I think one of the best moves that they made was allowing players to set their class upon character creation, rather than using the tiered "Archetype--->Class---> Sub-Class" combo. This gave players, just stepping onto the island, more of a feel of uniqueness. When the changes first hit test, I hopped on there as fast as I could and made a monk, and I was just tickled. I really wish this had been the plan from day one! I had personally grown tired of leveling characters to 20, just to get a feel for a class. And since the changes, I have made many alts just to try out each one, and I love that I can see the future of the character, and get a grasp of my comfort with it, from level 1.
Race choices echo those from EverQuest I, obviously. This was certainly no surprise. Another smart move was implementing all race/all class. If any of you have played EQ1, you are aware that certain races could only play certain classes. It made sense on a lore level, but it didn't suit the changing tide of the MMO player base, and the devs of EQ2 recognized this.
The only thing I miss from EQ1, is race specific attributes. These were always an area of contention amongst players, but they were such a nice addition and gave each race a difference beyond their skins. I doubt we will be seeing those in EQ2, but one can always hope.
APs were added, I believe, to give the high end characters something to strive for beyond adventure and crafting levels. These give some decent advantages and mild variances amongst the classes, and are very nice to have. One of these days, I really start working on mine more!
In a perfect world, where everyone did as Savanja wanted, class specializations in EverQuest II would mimic that of Dark Age of Camelot. Yes, yes..as my good pal Tallika pointed out, balance is desired in EQ2, and class balance was a sham in DAoC. But still, I loved being able to pick and choose the progression of my class in such a way, that I could make it completely different than someone of the same class. For example, in DAoC, I played a cleric, but I dumped a lot of points into my smites, so while I still had the decent ability to heal, buff, and rez, I still could dish out some decent damage. And while not everyone found smiting clerics to be all that desired, (after all, if you want damage, you can just go grab a mage!) -I- found it fun and interesting, and that was ALL that counted.
But alas, the world is not perfect, and not a darned person listens to me, so I guess I have to live with the current AP system. Which really isn't a bad system. You earn your APs and you spend them, either dumping them all into one line that you feel useful for your play style, or you can spread them out as you please. And you can respec, which is a very good thing, because I wasn't really paying attention in class when APs were explained, and I think I did not so good things.
But Sav! When it comes down to it, isn't every race/class combo the basically the same? Why yes! They basically are. But there is a reason for this. I've grown tired of class balance. I think it's sucking all the joy out of MMO gaming, particularly when developers focus soo hard on it. However..
Balance is important. We've learned that over years and years of MMO gaming and creation. Without class balance, we get screaming masses, poking devs with lit torches and pointy pitchforks. "Mr. Developer? Why is my fighter not as cool as his fighter?? I want a cool fighter too!!!". Unfortunately, it is a losing battle. There is no such thing as perfectly balanced classes, and our developers will ALWAYS be working to keep things in check. Constant changes and nerfs will always be happening because when you change one teeny aspect of one class, it throws off the entire "balance" of all other classes!
This brings me to the whole idea of parsing. I had actually never heard of parsing until last year. Silly me, I always played MMOs to have fun and was never really very concerned about my damage output. If my monk managed to hold aggro and not die, then I thought I was doing dandy, anything beyond that was information that I did not need. But now, everyone parses! And they are using this info to beat the devs over the heads with numbers and stats that might conflict with those that the developers get. I find this amusing. Ever hear of armchair psychiatrist? We have armchair developers! This brings to mind Lockeye vs. The Rangers. This struggle between player base and developer had parsing numbers coming out the nose! What I found amusing, is that while stats were flying about, it never seemed to occur to anyone that balancing the class is Lockeye's job, and that he -might- just know what he's doing a little bit better than people that have never developed a game. But again, that's just silly ole me being reasonable.
In the end, while I feel all these aspects are the foundation of what makes a good game, people need to let go of the ideals of what they think their race/class should be like, and enjoy what they have before them (within reason, since even developers make mistakes sometimes too). Not everyone will like EverQuest II. Not all games are for everyone! There may come a day when a change within the game causes me to leave it, you just never know. But while I'm here, I will accept and enjoy what I have and use it to it's full entertainment potential. I love my Barbarian Monk. I wish she had longer hair, a smaller rear end, less freakish breasts, and more damage output, but she's my monk, and she's special.
Questions? Comments? General complaints because I stepped on a toe? E-mail me!