Traska wrote:Okay, why did the player choose a rogue scholar?
What did they expect a rogue scholar to be able to DO?
It seems to me two problems are occuring -
A: the players in your example don't know what the hell role they want their character selection to forfil
B: There is only one role present - damage dealing
C: Because thats the only role present, the player who has a mental void as to the role he wants his rogue to forfil, decides its that one. Pretty stupid, but it has a dumb logic - there are no other roles to fill.
Okay, that was three probs but you get my point. Is this actually the problem - one role + players with no clue?
An important thing to keep in mind is that in a tabletop game, he GM usually sees to it that the less powerful classes have their shining moments. At least, a good GM does. i.e., they come into a town, and there's a virus that has infected it, and half the town is dead already. The player characters aren't infected, mostly because it takes prolonged exposure over a period of weeks and they just got there.
The Glitter Boy is useless... his boom gun can't kill a virus. The mystic can heal the townsfolk, but their spells can't cure them, just stop them from dying at the moment. The borg is equally useless. The rogue scientist, however, knows a thing or two about bio-chemistry. After a week of research and testing, he finally comes up with a cure. THe townsfolk rejoice, his companions cheer for him, and for the moment, *he* is the main character and his party are the supporters. That's why people play what are, in essence, the flavor classes. They enjoy the rare shining moments rather than always being there dishing out damage.
But an MMO has no such moments. It has no over-arcing GM ensuring that everyone is having fun. The problem is that an MMO is radically different from a tabletop game.
Pftt, rubish.
You've just described a role. Roleplayers think their all imagintive - you can't imagine this role being needed in combat?
For example, say in a combat killing all your foes gives you 50 victory points - but 50 victory poitns only gets you 50% XP. What if there was another role to be forfilled that was needed to get the other half. And, using your imagination, you took your idea and somehow that role was it, implemented in just the same way combat is (a bunch of moves todo this research somehow, just like combat is a bunch of moves). It's not some bugbear of an issue to add.
The object of an MMO is onefold: to get more powerful. You want to explore? Get more levels to make travel less dangerous. Want to do crafting? Get more crafting levels to make more stuff. Want to be better in combat? That definitely requires more levels. In an MMO, it's all about the numbers. Armor, hit points, mana, but most especially level. The difference between one level and the next could mean the difference between a cleric that can heal and a cleric that can ressurect.
That's where the two games differ the greatest, and that's why balance is key: because as long as experience is the main goal, it will be the mission of most players to increase that number as quickly and efficiently as possible.
And how is that a problem?
If your only getting half the experience because your a killing crew - that isn't efficient. Get a rogue scholar on board!
By setting up victory points or something like it that divides up the possible XP earnt as if it were a pie, it ensures that rogue scholars and other less combat powerful characters are VITAL.
Balancing out characters so a rogue scholar is as powerful as a glitter boy (cause his GB gets stolen every five minutes) is just lame. It's just false advertising "GB's are cool...though I've secretly coded them to be lame to balance out - so really their just the same as everything else"
Do you want to talk about how that XP pie can be split over various roles?
" -Killer Cyborg
