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Character builds and depth
miahq
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This is partly a bit of a philosophical discussion on where rpg character builds have gone over the years-- to more simplicity-- but also a bit of a friendly suggestion at the same time I suppose.
Over the years I've been playing RPGs-- and this is the first mmo I've liked-- it seems that in how you craft your character, at the same time style options have increased, choices that add to the substance of the character have vanished as the mechanics have simplified.
We've gotten rid of things like strength, endurance, willpower. Even between oblivion and skyrim there is a HUGE gap. But is that always such a good thing? Now in eso destruction magic for instance is gone. Instead some classes are basically mages using those particular elements, and everything else has been simplified into the staff. But doesn't that detract from depth?
If you want to start as a sorcerer, why not start with a few basic skills and have others earned through specific quests or unlocked through experience? Destruction has it's three elements and you can chose to learn skills in all, or master a few. You add far more variety to a character than by simply giving them the skills and saying we'll limit what you can use at one time (which, I like that mechanic, I'm not arguing against it)?
Or why fit people into such a narrow range of classes to begin with? Oblivion allowed you to create your own build, and to learn more skills or spells you had to do it out in the world. Why not let it be the same in eso? If people want to be dk they can go to the temple and do the quests to join. If you also decide then you want to be a sorcerer and specialize in fire magic, you can go to the college and join to learn to be a fire Mage.
It's not just that I don't understand this in eso, I don't understand this trend in games in general. Because you can say it's about simplifying things, but I could then make the same argument about character creation-- that it's too complicated. Besides, simplification isn't always good. And I don't understand that mentality that says it is. The only explanation for eso setup I can see is that, well that's what mmo's are like. OK... why? Who said they have to be that way? When did we decide that all mmo's must follow the same setup and mechanics?
It's true that with the current setup you can still have dozens of character builds: 2h sorcerer, staff wielding templar, dk archer. But, you could have hundreds. Why limit it to a few classes to try and fit the same tired old archetypes of every other mmo when you could make building your character just as in depth as designing the way they look?
Over the years I've been playing RPGs-- and this is the first mmo I've liked-- it seems that in how you craft your character, at the same time style options have increased, choices that add to the substance of the character have vanished as the mechanics have simplified.
We've gotten rid of things like strength, endurance, willpower. Even between oblivion and skyrim there is a HUGE gap. But is that always such a good thing? Now in eso destruction magic for instance is gone. Instead some classes are basically mages using those particular elements, and everything else has been simplified into the staff. But doesn't that detract from depth?
If you want to start as a sorcerer, why not start with a few basic skills and have others earned through specific quests or unlocked through experience? Destruction has it's three elements and you can chose to learn skills in all, or master a few. You add far more variety to a character than by simply giving them the skills and saying we'll limit what you can use at one time (which, I like that mechanic, I'm not arguing against it)?
Or why fit people into such a narrow range of classes to begin with? Oblivion allowed you to create your own build, and to learn more skills or spells you had to do it out in the world. Why not let it be the same in eso? If people want to be dk they can go to the temple and do the quests to join. If you also decide then you want to be a sorcerer and specialize in fire magic, you can go to the college and join to learn to be a fire Mage.
It's not just that I don't understand this in eso, I don't understand this trend in games in general. Because you can say it's about simplifying things, but I could then make the same argument about character creation-- that it's too complicated. Besides, simplification isn't always good. And I don't understand that mentality that says it is. The only explanation for eso setup I can see is that, well that's what mmo's are like. OK... why? Who said they have to be that way? When did we decide that all mmo's must follow the same setup and mechanics?
It's true that with the current setup you can still have dozens of character builds: 2h sorcerer, staff wielding templar, dk archer. But, you could have hundreds. Why limit it to a few classes to try and fit the same tired old archetypes of every other mmo when you could make building your character just as in depth as designing the way they look?
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