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I usually go for the healer role or Healer/Hybrid role in most MMOs, I was a white Mage in FFXI, I was an Empathy controller in CoH, a shaman in EQ, a Priest in WoW.

I love being the glue that a team is based around, maybe it's ego, maybe I just like being a hero in my own mind, lol.

For the first time ever, I'm trying a dps/tank hybrid (DeathKnight) I really enjoy it, but I don't see it keeping me from playing a healer in the next MMO I play.

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I love the melee dps role, but since there usually is alot of dps classes I've rolled a few tanks lately. I normally tend to play whatever my guild needs at the time.

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I favor melee/dps or scout class, really enjoy the Witch Elf/Mauler though over White Lion/Witch Hunter, but currently in WAR, Shadow Warrior and Squig Herder are my two highest leveled. Honestly in WAR haven't tried a class I don't like yet all have proven to be fun to play.

Straight up dps I tend to find boring after awhile, tanks I can/do play but not my first choice. CC and support classes are enjoyable too for a change of pace.

Oh and always, always have an alt healer (keeps me humble and no complaint-fest to healers then - lol!)

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I almost always play both DPS and HEALER classes and never really do the tank thing. In the end I usually lean toward the healing classes. The desultory task of paying attention to multiple targets while avoiding trouble is fun for me.

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Generally I am a Tank, favorite class. Though I have tried healer before and it wasn't to bad.

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in WoW healers are hard to find on my server anyway and get a group can be day long tast. So I did roll a healer.

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I play them all but my favorite is crowd control (CC) like an EQ/EQ2 Enchanter, DAoC Bard or CoH/CoV Controller/Dominator.

Personally, I believe everyone should try *all* of the roles at least once just so they can appreciate how each contributes to the team. Debuffers and Warders ("shields" instead of healing), in particular, are commonly underappreciated because their contribution is not as easily noticed by their allies.

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Usually I love DPS, generally the melee kind. However in the past 2 MMO's I have played I opted to go for the healer hybrid class (Tempest of Set in AoC and, more recently, Warrior Priest in WAR).

I'm surprisingly better at healing then I thought...

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Explorer.

I guess the archetype-origin would be Aragon from Lord of the Rings, in his Strider persona.

The Ranger, spending time getting to know the nooks and crannies of the wilds, interacting with the wildlife and flora. Spending time away from the populated places, but always visiting them occasionally to sell wares/trade-items, repair gear, visit the inns, etc.

I'm a ranger/monk in Guild Wars, I played a Ranger in Star Wars Galaxies when that was possible (dabbled a bit in the creature handler profession as well), and of course a hunter in LOTRO.

Strangely, my WoW choice has been the Paladin, and my WAR choice, similarly, the Warrior Priest. But my hunter (and witch hunter :p) is a valued alt.

I suppose the purity and cleansing theme does have some relation to the nature theme, though...

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I started off as a caster DPS class but quickly changed to healer when I found our guild had almost no reliable healers online for dungeon running. I had great fun joining PUGs but got little help in leveling outside of dungeons and group quests. By the time I hit level cap I had the whole guild talking about where we could go.

Cutting a long story short I become the most known person in my guild and felt godlike keeping good players alive in PvP. Not a bad tradeoff :)

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If a tank character can also solo effectively, I will choose a tank. Tank/DPS hybrids are especially attractive to me.

I do so not so much out of love of tanking, as much as dislike of frustration. This makes characters built for survival attractive. Of course, the game actually has to deliver on the promise of durability.

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Tanks. Always have been, always wil be. The more armour the better. Being able to wade balls-deep into battle and face anyone toe to toe is a great feeling.


Thouhg I've never understood why they recieved the nickname "tanks". Obviously the person who coined that term knew nothing about military combat...considering Tanks have been the most OFFENSIVE element of the battlefield for over 80 years. Sure they have lots of armour, but they also can drive a wedge into and pretty much obliterate any objective in sight. I suppose the nickname "punching bag" or "meatshield" wasn't cool enough.

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Mages. WAR's sorcerer is 'da best'. :) I prefer fast-moving heavy-DPS classes - it's my idea of warfare. If only I could melt in shadows to strike down my unaware enemies with magic... :) Most MMORPG mages has no invisibility or their invisibility can't be utilized in combat how I want it to.

Oh, and rolled pet master a couple of times - first in LotRO, loremaster. I know, everybody warned me that it's NOT a mage. Well... I didn't believe. :) Managing agro between char and pet was quite fun experience. I was impressed by CC abilities also.
Second was AoC necromancer - these grim guys mean business, I say. Especially when you have about dozen of pets.

Most of the time I'm magic heavy-hitting fragile fella, running around. :)

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MMOs with NPC sidekicks / offline party-based RPGs :
Ranged DPS - they usually get the biggest numbers, broadest flexibility and have a wide range of offense, on account of having little-to-no defense & support skills.

Other MMOs :
Tank or Minion Master - basically whichever of the 2 has best ( / least demanding ) solo capability.

I find it easier to Tank in games when I haven't been spoilt experiencing the awesome warth of Ranged DPS classes, but at the end of the day I always gravitate to whichever class minimizes my dependency upon other players - even if it plays less excitingly than the alternatives.

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Gimme "other." Love my hybrids. Note: I play City Of Heroes, so its pretty forgiving when it comes to mucking around with things.

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All of 'em. Mostly because I don't believe in grumbling about other peoples' incompetence until I've walked in their shoes for a bit. :)

(Of course, if I manage to do a better job than them as a complete newb to the class, then *hem* my eyes start rolling a little.)

And because I like to understand team roles and synergy and it's a change of pace to switch up every now and then.

I lean towards a melee preference - so I'll normally sample tanks and melee DPS first. Gives me an idea right off about the highest defensive capability and highest offensive capability of a game, melee-wise.

Not so comfortable with stealthers, I'm not very sneak-oriented. Next role of preference is ranged DPS, leaning towards nature/bow/hopefully with pet stuff or firefirefire, because of the theme and look.

Crowd control / buff/debuff / utility comes next. It suits my tanky mindset to manipulate mobs in some fashion, but getting used to squishiness and staying at range takes a bit of doing.

I'm least comfortable with healers as a role. I can do it, and think I do a pasable job at it, but I can't do it for long. The stress of whack-a-mole with health bars and chasing people with no situational awareness around gets to me after some time. The general need for grouping up also irritates me as I like to be an independent soloist 75% of the time.

But I find it valuable to walk in their shoes now and then to remind me to be nice to any dedicated healers I meet, bodyguarding them, remembering to take aggro from them (especially archers!) and what not.

One variant I quite like are the hybrid healer/offenders that built to go into fairly close range and decent soloists. I ran a dark/dark defender in City of Heroes, and felt uber both solo and grouped, debuffing everything, providing heals, blowing stuff up and I had a pet to boot.

I also run a melee healer (DoK) in WAR as an alt, and ironically, I find I do a lot of healing because I take the 'healer' role seriously. I just like having the option to run near someone (harassing a zealot, say) and THWACK him with my swords.

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I prefer a character with ranged attack and blocking/interrupting skill. In Guild Wars a Ranger/Mesmer that. These professions require a great amount of skill and patience of staying out of trouble.

Healing seems like a chore to me, and tanking is boring and not much of a challenge to me.

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In EQ2 I really enjoy the versatility of the Warden class. Being a Druid, it's a mixed bag. I get fast travel options, regenerative healing, and I get to deal a bit of damage too. Healing takes a lot of aggro, but it's quite good that I am a leather wearing class instead of cloth wearing mage class.

And that's a problem for tanks - making sure you have the best mastercrafted or legendary class armor is extremely important to increase your groups survival chances. You can't be a tank with treasured or handcrafted gear.

Another problem for tanks is that you automatically become the group leader, as you'll likely be body-pulling huge mobs around every other corner. This means that you are expected to know where to go in new and unexplored dungeons.

I'm giving the tank class a shot, but I'm only a Lv5 Guardian, whereas my healer is Lv42. I'm just letting you guys know what the 1-9 chat says :P

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I prefer hybrids. My main character is a WoW druid. Even though she's exclusively feral and has been for quite some time, the knowledge that I *could* respec into healing or spell damage is comforting. I get bored with "pure" classes that can only fill a single role.

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I'm usually a healer, but not in wow (which happens to be the mmo I've played the most of). In wow, mage is the only class I can play. I've tried every class, it just doesn't stick. I have no idea what the deal is there...

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