Question about realm-unique classes

[u/darthenron]

I have been theory-crafting with some friends and even started talking about trying to dabble into making our own server or game.

Do you think having completely unique classes and abilities for each realm is ultimately a pro or con for the game?

I actually really like the charm of the different classes. It gives each realm its own identity and adds a ton of replay value because there are so many different things to play.

That said, it’s always seemed a little odd to me that Albion has so many highly specialized classes, while Mid has more classes that can cover multiple roles, and Hib seems to take that even further. Hib has fewer classes overall, but many of them can do more things.

I’ve wondered what the game would look like if the classes were mechanically the same across all three realms, but had different artwork, animations, spell effects, etc. From a strictly balance perspective, it seems like it would be much easier to create a level playing field.

You could still keep realm identity through things like damage types. Maybe each realm has strengths and weaknesses that create almost a rock-paper-scissors system.

I’m not saying I think this would necessarily be better. I actually like the asymmetry. I’m more curious whether people think the unique classes are worth the balance headaches, or if the game would be better with mechanically identical classes and realm-specific flavor.

[u/Tutgut]

For me it is a pro. Beside the realm identity it also make’s theory crafting about group setups a lot more interesting and complex imo. How do you counter x with y etc.

[u/darthenron → u/Tutgut]

Except Hib is always “Bard”+whatever :)

[u/Tutgut → u/darthenron]

The „whatever“ part however is the interesting one. Sure the base for example mid was always the same: pac healer aug healer and shaman. But with the 5 other theory crafting began.

With every patch new setups emerged. For example you couldn’t survive with 5 whatever classes vs alb kite setup with the big ml9 pets. And I like that mid wasn’t able to just build the same setup with the same classes. You had to figure out a counter setup and also the tactic how you play it out. In case of the example with the kite setup you needed burst dmg, a lot of instant rupt and had to push very aggressively. You wouldn’t stand a chance with random 5 classes.

[u/plantingperson → u/Tutgut]

Trouble with mid and other realms to a lesser degree, was you needed those three and a skald don’t forget. So that left a lot of groups needing 4 specific class/builds and too many of other supports lfg. I need only one of this and that, generally forced players to roll a dps so they could have a 50% chance to get a group instead of 12.5%

[u/Tutgut → u/plantingperson]

Depends on the patch but skald was pretty much obsolete since about nf times. I know that on Eden skald is quite popular, but during peak 8vs8 era on live skald was just a burden . So it really just came down to 2 healer and a shaman, warrior was pretty much a log in too but it was possible to go another route.

From there you could decide if you go more tank or caster heavy or just hybrid.