WRUP: It's all so beautiful in my head edition
For those of you who managed to miss it: Jagex is apparently going to be developing the Transformers MMO for the stateside audience. This is a good thing, and I have no doubt the team will do a fine job. I also have no doubt that the game will be set in the current continuity alongside the Transformers: Prime cartoon.
However, if I might be so bold? You guys could always go for the "insanely obscure" and set it in the IDW continuity pre-All Hail Megatron. Galaxy-hopping cold-war antics? Autobots against Decepticons in disguise across countless worlds in a slow game of move and countermove? Or the Animated setting would be good, too. I'm just saying, there are options.
But there are other things to consider at the moment outside of my usual fandoms. It's time for this week's WRUP, and with no conventions on the horizon, we've all got plenty to do. Plus, we've decided to answer a bit of a big-ticket issue for our bonus question, asking what the staff thinks about the holy trinity of tank, DPS, and healer. Follow on past the break for our answers, and let us know what you'll be up to in the comments!
Beau Hindman (@Beau_Hindman): I will be finishing up my time with Monster Forest Online and will be moving on to my next Rise and Shiny game — which I have not decided on yet. I need to hit level 20 in Lord of the Rings Online, finish my magic quests on Silan in Ryzom, figure out my meditation situation in Darkfall (I'm really enjoying running around with melee this time around — no bothering with arrows,) enjoying a 10-day return back to Dark Age of Camelot, checking out the lag situation in Xsyon, and saving up some gold for my mount in RIFT.
Brandon Felczer (@bfelczer): This weekend I will be venturing through the lands of Telara as I play RIFT. This is the second MMO I have ever really played and I am having a blast! As always, I will also be playing Star Trek Online and helping out with some fleet events, including melee-weapon-only PvP.
As for the holy trinity, I think it plays an important part in the game, but I prefer if I can customize it a bit — I like ranged DPS but don't mind being able to heal as well.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna): Might get to play some RIFT this weekend... we'll see. I've been having a bit of fun in Lord of the Rings Online and Guild Wars on the side.
The trinity doesn't bug me much in modern games. I prefer skill-based to class-based games, anyway. What bothers me more than the trinity is the growing overreaction to it: games that strip away all choice-making and let all characters be all things on a whim.
Eliot Lefebvre: Let's see... I'm finished with Dragon Age II (which was a blast), Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV are both off the table at the moment, and I'm not really in the market for a new game just at the moment. That leaves me with some City of Heroes and... well, I don't know what else. I could learn how to be a potato farmer. Everyone always needs potatoes.
The holy trinity setup isn't inherently bad, but it winds up showing its age from a design standpoint as games move away from requiring party play at all times. That's a trend I endorse, but it does mean that we need to come up with more interesting roles for people to play when in combat, both in a group and solo. I'm not sure if the Guild Wars 2 route of removing the whole setup is necessarily the right way to go, but it does acknowledge the issue.
Jef Reahard: If I can free myself from the clutches of Civilization V, there will be a good amount of Xsyon in my weekend, despite the fact that I was recently mauled by a lag-assisted bear while fishing and generally minding my own business. I'll also be rolling up a new Age of Conan toon for my Hyborian CMA miniseries.
I guess I'm meh regarding the trinity. I'm bored with games that rely on it, but I don't think it's especially realistic to expect the AAAs to abandon it.
Jeremy Stratton (@Jeremy_Stratton): Spring Break! I'd love to give a PSA here, but let's move on to games, shall we. I'll be enjoying my break with long sessions leveling my main character in Runes of Magic. Apart from Runes of Magic, I plan to jump around through Battleforge and Perpetuum, see whether I still have a plot of land in WURM Online, and do whatever else catches my fancy.
I don't have much of an opinion one way or the other on the holy trinity, but maybe it's because I haven't been playing MMOs as long as others. Many different designs all have pros and cons depending on the particular way they are implemented. I view RoM as using the holy trinity but stretching it greatly with the ability to dual-class and drastically modify gear. I don't feel restricted or that the MMO should steer towards restricting the classes even though there seems to be constant pressure for the game to choose a specific direction. I think RoM's incredibly fun for what it's done so far.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster): A dish of Lord of the Rings Online and a dash of RIFT, stirred with two cups of Dragon Age II... mmm, that's good gaming!
As for the holy trinity? Yes, please get rid of it. PLEASE. It's a relic of an olden time long since gone, and there are better and more creative ways to get us to group and cooperate. Nobody likes playing health bar whack-a-mole, game devs! Nobody! Even the ones who say they do are silently screaming on the inside!
Krystalle Voecks (@Krystalle): It's more DC Universe Online for me this weekend since I've got some different builds I want to play with. Outside of that, it's chores galore, lest things wind up reaching a state of kipplization. Woo! Exciting, I know!
As for the trinity, ehhh. I don't hate it; I don't love it. I do think it would be nice to get away from it and let people do whatever the heck they want to do, but there's always that one minmaxing theorycrafter somewhere...
MJ Guthrie: I plan on digging into Xsyon... some Xsyon... and some more Xsyon. There is so much I want to do and the time is much too short (too bad I can't just give up my day job and camp out in there for the next few weeks!). I am really enjoying building from the ground up and find that the time just flies by. I will also be trying to squeeze time in for Aion as this double AP event has brought a return of the smaller-scale skirmishes and they are a blast!
As for the "trinity" — I prefer games to expand beyond the standard three designations. I cannot stand gaming where people get stuck on the group having to be the "perfect set-up"; so many good gamers are left out and fun, successful times missed because of this narrow-mindedness. I prefer a variety of skills and even hybrids, not to mention players using their own minds as a skill to play. While the functions should exist, the stand-alone classes should not.
Patrick Mackey (@mackeypb): I have been messing around with Global Agenda lately, and the emphasis on player skill is very refreshing.
The holy trinity is a critical element of online gaming, and I don't think that its elements should be removed. However, I do think there should be an expansion of roles and more loosely defined roles, such as those in Guild Wars. If there's anything Guild Wars has shown us, it's that building around predictive buffs and reactive defense creates a very exciting and interesting game. Some of us like playing health bar whack-a-mole, but there are quite a few roles that can be put into a game to make it interesting and challenging without grouping people into tanks, healers, and everything else. The "everything else" is the poor design element there, really.
At the start of every weekend, we catch up with the Massively staff members and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" (Otherwise known as: WRUP!) Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game — and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!