The Altoholic: A Matter Of Class

By Brad Nelson | January 4, 2010 | | Filed under: Editorials | Tags: Aion: The Tower of Eternity, EVE Online, Massively multiplayer online game, NCSoft, video games, World of Warcraft

Brad Nelson is our latest contributor. This is his debut editorial for The MMO Gamer. Have a read and join the discussion!

Anyone who has ever played an MMO knows that the decision to play one class or another can be a big one. Do I want to DPS? What about this armor set? Should I roll a tank?

Class choices affect more than just your appearance. Your role in a party changes dramatically, your playstyle while soloing will sometimes be unique to your class, and some players may treat you differently. In some games, some classes are looked down upon because of their tactics or their inability to mesh into a team successfully. Usually this is not the players fault, but rather a flaw in the design of the game. It’s not a decision that can or should be made frivolously, especially if you’re new to the game. For the inexperienced player, it’s usually best to roll a standard archetype, such as a warrior, to get the basics of the game. You can then try out different characters, eventually finding what toon suits your style.

I tend to base my character choices on how interesting I think the character is going to be to play. When I played WoW I started as a Warrior, quickly changed to Warlock, experimented with a Mage, Paladin, and Death Knight. Some of these toons have seen themselves to level 80, some haven’t.

The underlying reason for this is because of my playstyle. Like most gamers, I enjoy certain classes and don’t find others to be as much fun. Some people will find their true calling as a armor-plated warrior, while others enjoy the subtleties of a rogue. Most MMO players have found their favorite class, while others, like myself are shameless alt-o-holics. The only problem with leveling a bunch of toons is that you don’t get to see the endgame as quickly and after several times through the same quest grinding areas, it can get a little boring. Sadly, endgame in most MMO’s can get a little dull as well, one can only raid the same dungeon so many times. Endgame PvP is a little better, giving you intense one-on-one combat with an opposing faction member, or charging into battle with an army beside you, facing down a equal force of enemies.

I recently put WoW on hiatus while I tried other MMO’s. I bought Aion and played it for about three months. While Aion is a wonderfully textured game, I found that it was even more grind-oriented than WoW was, so I let my subscription lapse. I found that only being able to use my wings in certain zones made the offer of flight seem more like a gimmick than a game dynamic.

Next up was Eve Online. I was very impressed with the graphics, and the character progression is much different than other games I’ve played. I’m still playing Eve, and plan on exploring the different subtleties of it. Be warned, if you’re not interested in a steep learning curve, Eve is not the game for you! At first it can be a little overwhelming, but if you ask questions and explore the game yourself you might find it to be a refreshing change from your standard “Walk around and kill things” MMO.

I’ll be trying out many more games in the future, and I’ll bring you reviews as I play them. I’d like to hear from you, your experiences, insight and recommendations, so please take a few minutes and leave your thoughts below.