tanks posts

The Daily Grind: What's the most important part of the trinity?

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 14th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Classes, Game mechanics, Grouping, Opinion, The Daily Grind

While the structure of the jokingly-named "holy trinity" in MMOs -- tanks, healers, and damage dealers -- isn't universal, it's certainly common enough to be recognizable. Even in games without pre-defined classes, such as Champions Online, have a group structure oriented toward the three roles.

But you can't have classes without a struggle between them, and there's always a discussion in relation to the trinity about which part is the most important. Tanks point to their relative scarcity and the pressure of their job, Healers point to their relative scarcity and the importance of their job, and DPS points to the fact that healers and tanks can't keep their stunts up forever if nobody is killing the target.

So where do you fall in this debate? Which part of the trinity do you think is the most important to a group's success, and which one is the most superfluous? Do you think that (by astonishing coincidence) the role you play most frequently is the most important one, or do you think it's lower on the scale and you play it for other reasons?

Tags: class-mechanics, classes, dps, grouping, healers, holy-trinity, tanks, tdg, the-daily-grind, world-of-tanks, wot

The Mog Log: Those grapes were probably sour anyway

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 13th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Game mechanics, Grouping, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log

So, guess what beta I didn't get an invitation for. You can go consult with the instant replay if you want, I can wait.

I know that everyone is stunned. I certainly was. Of course, I assuaged my sadness by telling myself that I didn't really want to be in their stupid beta anyway, because I bet it smells bad and it sets my computer on fire. That line of reasoning worked real well. I don't honestly think my column got me kicked from the running for a Final Fantasy XIV beta slot, but it's a bit more reassuring than the idea that I just didn't get picked for some other reason. (I'm putting money on Square-Enix not knowing I exist, for the record.)

All things considered, I can live without the beta, even though I'm chomping at the bit to play the game. But I'm not the only person, place, or thing not currently darting about the world of Eorzea. And as long as I'm on a streak of making long-winded predictions, why break with formula? There are three other things that I suspect aren't in the beta either, and I intend to make a guessing game out of seeing how close I am to the truth.

Tags: beta, dps, featured, ff, ff11, ffxi, ffxiv, final-fantasy, final-fantasy-11, final-fantasy-14, final-fantasy-xi, final-fantasy-xiv, game-mechanics, grouping, groups, healers, parties, party-structure, partying, square-enix, statistics, tanks, testing, xbox-360

World of Tanks rolls onto the MMO battlefield

by Seraphina Brennan Feb 18th 2010 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Historical, New titles, News items, War, MMORTS

Who needs a human avatar when you can just roll around in a tank all day? That's the idea behind World of Tanks, a new MMO wargame simulation that's putting players behind the pedals of over 130 tanks in World War II.

While the game has just been announced, their website is already featuring a swath of in-game screenshots and their first contest -- design your own tank motto. Players can submit mottos for the tanks at large, or for specific models. If their motto is chosen, they'll win an unspecified gift from the World of Tanks crew.

The game appears to be another hybrid title, meshing a tank simulation with an RPG, as you can upgrade and modify your tanks to your heart's desire. Up to 60 players can roll across an instance at once, and the game will feature a territory control system that sounds like Global Agenda's conquest mode.

For all of your tank information, check out the game's main website. Also, because no post on tanks isn't complete without a bad pun, "Tanks for reading Massively.com."

Tags: contest, mottos, simulation, tanks, upgrade, wargames, wargaming.net, world-of-tanks, world-war-2, world-war-ii, wwii

The Daily Grind: Do you stick to the same class?

by Krystalle Voecks Sep 19th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Classes, Opinion, The Daily Grind

With all the choice in MMOs in terms of who and what you can do, it seems like some of us are inexplicably drawn to the same classes over and over. For example, our own Features Editor, Dan O'Halloran, absolutely loves Druids. When he found out that there were going to be Druids in Runes of Magic, he offered to write the Druid class overview for them himself. My particular guilty pleasure is Rogues. Even though Fallen Earth has a classless system, I'm still running around with a couple of shivs and a length of pipe - enjoying that up-close stabby-stabby (and wishing for stealth options). Others we know are almost always Hunters, still others love to play Priests.

With all that said, this morning we thought we'd ask you - is there a particular class archetype you find yourself gravitating towards? Do you prefer to tank up front, with a huge sword and shield? Is your particular passion the ability to hurl magical damage at your opponents? Can you not resist playing any pet classes available? Do you have an archetype you like to play? Or do you just jump in and look for whatever suits you best in each particular game?

Tags: classes, druids, magic-users, priests, rogues, tanks, tdg, the-daily-grind

Significant aggro changes on the way for EQII

by William Dobson Jan 21st 2009 at 10:30AM

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Classes, Game mechanics, Patches, Grouping

There's a fairly hefty set of changes to EverQuest II's hate/aggro system currently being ironed out on Test, and they aren't to everyone's liking. Due to the the complexity of the changes, developer Chris "Aeralik" Kozak has offered up a summary for players to wrap their heads around. We'll attempt to boil it down even more for you, at the cost of including some of the finer details.

The problem with the aggro system begins with the fact that hate has scaled linearly as the game has progressed, and damage has scaled exponentially with gear and new skills, making it hard for designated aggro-holders to keep control of mobs. One of the changes on Test has given taunts the chance to hit critically, just like damage spells, and there will be a base and normalized amount of threat from taunt abilities.

Tags: aeralik, aggro, berserker, bruiser, chris-kozak, eq2, eqii, everquest, everquest-2, everquest-ii, fighters, guardian, hate, monk, paladin, shadowknight, soe, sony-online-entertainment, tanking, tanks, test, test-server, the-shadow-odyssey, threat

The Digital Continuum: December updates for WAR

by Kyle Horner Oct 18th 2008 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Warhammer Online, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

Warhammer Online has its flaws that like to run up and slap you in the face from time to time -- it can put a damper on the fun. Lucky for us, one of the strengths found in Warhammer Online actually comes from its design team, Mythic Entertainment. These guys (and gals!) have been stringing together a daisy-chain of updates and just yesterday announced their first big content release only one month out of launch. The update seems all good, but I do have a couple of gripes.

Tags: black-guard, ea, electronic-arts, featured, joystiqfeatures, knight-of-the-blazing-sun, mark-jacobs, mythic, mythic-entertainment, open-pvp, rvr, scenarios, tanking, tanks, the-digital-continuum, war, warhammer, warhammer-online

A look into the psyche of a tank player

by Kyle Horner Sep 9th 2008 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Classes, Culture, News items

In a highly interesting look into the psyche of a longtime tank player, The Escapist takes us on a short, two-page journey down the rabbit hole of an MMO player's outlook on his hobby. We always appreciate a more heady approach to the how and why of class choice and this feature definitely delivers. It's a subject that can bring about lengthy time-passing discussions. What does it say about a person who always plays a healer? Why do they constantly choose to even be a healer? Everyone will have a slightly different set of reasons for playing the class that they do, which makes it such an interesting group discussion.

We also have to approve of the message the article sends out at its conclusion: A positive outlook on the social aspects of playing an MMO and the feel-good nature of the guild experience. It's always nice to see someone espousing an honest take on why they enjoy the genre.

Tags: city-of-heroes, cox, eq, eq2, everquest, everquest-2, ffxi, final-fantasy-xi, tanks, the-escapist

Age of Conan's Guardian put under the microscope

by Chris Chester Nov 12th 2007 at 4:45PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Classes, Interviews

Following on the heels of their report on the Dark Templar, TTH has another interview with Funcom product director Jørgen Tharaldsen, this time focusing on Age of Conan's Guardian class. The Guardians are part of the soldier archetype, their most prominent characteristic being the full plate armor that they bring with them to battle. To quote Tharaldsen, "Guardians are the unassailable rock upon which the waves of battle break." They go on to discuss how Guardians are more than just the AoC equivalent of WoW's prot-specced Warrior; they can switch up their maneuvers on the fly, exploiting enemy weaknesses by taking higher DPS approaches as the situation calls for.

We had hoped that they would choose to mix up the class list a bit more for this running feature. It feels a little redundant for them to be talking about two of the primary tanking classes so close together, when there are other interesting classes like the Bear Shaman or Ranger that they could throw in to add some variety to the gameplay mechanics they discuss. Oh well.

Tags: age-of-conan, AoC, funcom, guardian, Jørgen-Tharaldsen, soldier, tanks, TTH