Monday, June 21, 2010

Bioware solves the healer / tank shortage

I finally got around to watch the E3 videos about Star Wars: The Old Republic. Looks solid, but very much like every other MMORPG out there: I watched a Sith go on a quest to kill 12 troopers, plus a second quest which involved killing the trooper's officer and clicking on some container behind him. Combat involved targeting enemies and clicking on buttons on a hotkey bar. How exciting! Wait, no, that's what I've been doing the last 10 years already.

But the videos also talk about classes, and that reminded me of a remark a friend of mine once made about SWTOR: This will be the only game out there in which everybody wants to play a tank or healer, while there is a shortage of dps. Of the 8 classes announced, the 4 non-force users are the dps classes, while each side has one Jedi / Sith tank and one Jedi / Sith healer. I think it is safe to assume that more people want to play lets say a Sith than a Stormtrooper, which ends us up with more tanks and healers than damage dealers. Well, maybe Bounty Hunters and Smugglers will end up being popular too and everything balances out, but I can't really imagine SWTOR having a tank / healer shortage. Very nice social engineering there, Bioware!

Now how are you going to prevent everybody choosing the Dark Side of the Force and your PvP being completely unbalanced?

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