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Are you concerned with "only" one tank class?

kalvorakkalvorak Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 45
edited February 2013 in General Discussion (PC)
I just had a quick look at the "predict the most popular classes" thread and most people seem to be putting the Guardian at the bottom of the list and something just occurred to me - does anyone foresee a tank shortage? It's been a problem in other MMOs but one developer said the key is making the class/role fun to play rather than having more than one available option, which does make sense - and hopefully Cryptic have succeeded here. Certainly looks promising at least.

Interestingly I'm not as concerned about a healer shortage because my experience is that healers are more popular than tanks anyway and I'll be playing one regardless, so I'll never notice if there's a shortage :D
Post edited by kalvorak on

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  • ashrox10ashrox10 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    kalvorak wrote: »
    I just had a quick look at the "predict the most popular classes" thread and most people seem to be putting the Guardian at the bottom of the list and something just occurred to me - does anyone foresee a tank shortage? It's been a problem in other MMOs but one developer said the key is making the class/role fun to play rather than having more than one available option, which does make sense - and hopefully Cryptic have succeeded here. Certainly looks promising at least.

    Interestingly I'm not as concerned about a healer shortage because my experience is that healers are more popular than tanks anyway and I'll be playing one regardless, so I'll never notice if there's a shortage :D

    I don't actually think the combat system requires a tank (that much). They're not going to be standing in front of a boss taking the blows, they'll maneuver just like the group, but I suppose they just hold the aggro.

    Bah, we'll see. I'll probably be rolling a tank anyway. /everyonewantsme
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  • spellwardenspellwarden Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 357 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    Well, I hope to find a guild with a tanks in it. I am not interested in singleplayer content, and will be low dmg, high cc CM. So I will be needing a tank (unless the difficulty level is a joke, naturally. but the devs have stated that they are looking into that potential issue).

    Besides, they have stated over, and over again that they will be adding classes all the time. 2 extra are almost done already, and will be available post launch.

    I have high hopes (and faith) that the F2P model will promote alot of dev support and content updates.
  • rohk007rohk007 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    No....Before you know it there will probably be 10 -12 classes.....The GF is not going to be the only tank forever.....that being said, my Main will be Guardian Fighter, had alot of fun with it and I know my control wizard and cleric buddies will be happy with it.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • percadinpercadin Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 33
    edited February 2013
    after having played a guardian fighter to level 17 in the beta weekend, i have to say it was a blast. The skills are fun to use, fun to look at and hes no slouch
  • bruddajokkabruddajokka Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 447 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    I'm also under the impression that the Great Weapon Fighter will be able to Tank as well. Also we'll be getting the Battle Cleric, and Paladin at some point. Personally not that interested in either Fighter.
  • pugdaddypugdaddy Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 249 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    I love being hard to kill, so I will definitely play a Guardian Fighter.
  • firesnakeariesfiresnakearies Member Posts: 307 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I'm all for being in high demand.
  • chili1179chili1179 Member Posts: 1,511 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I don't think there will be a shortage of tanks. Just get a group of 5 people with a guardian comapnion, tada! 5 tanks.
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  • damond5damond5 Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    As im planning on playing tank, im kinda hoping for a shortage of tanks ;)
  • kingslayer74kingslayer74 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 75
    edited February 2013
    Right now a lot is going to depend on combat mechanics, as there is currently no need to have a division of roles in group makeup. You can run five Trickster Rogues together without noticing much difference from running a balanced group of Leader, Defender, Controller and two Strikers. So until that is changed no I'm not worried about only having one class build as Defender.
  • trikirantrikiran Member Posts: 122 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    ashrox10 wrote: »
    I don't actually think the combat system requires a tank (that much). They're not going to be standing in front of a boss taking the blows, they'll maneuver just like the group, but I suppose they just hold the aggro.

    Bah, we'll see. I'll probably be rolling a tank anyway. /everyonewantsme

    Same thing was said of tera and GW2 and both of those have tanks and need tanks badly. Even new shooters like defiance have found that for any high skill level dungeons you need to have a tank role to allow for playstyle that is anything but just run and gun style play. If we move away from any form of skill based dungeons we are in for the same thing GW2 is stuck in right now. They can't get out from under the "no skill to play" thus endgame becomes meaningless.

    I think the D&D world should have meaning. It should also have a high skill demand for "top end" It's not about time sinks... It's about being able to be very good and preform very high.
  • shaudiusshaudius Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I'm also under the impression that the Great Weapon Fighter will be able to Tank as well. Also we'll be getting the Battle Cleric, and Paladin at some point. Personally not that interested in either Fighter.

    ^ This. In 4E both the Guardian Fighter and Great Weapon Fighter are Defender types(Tanks). I know its a little shameless self promotion but I encourage everyone to look at the list I made in the wiki of all the builds in 4E, it gives a great idea of all the tanks you can probably expect(and other Trinity roles as well.) in the future from the game.

    That is to say if the Trinity actually becomes more important in the game, its currently not really that important, as kingslayer above me stated. At least at levels 1 to 30 as presented in the first beta weekend.
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  • trikirantrikiran Member Posts: 122 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    Right now a lot is going to depend on combat mechanics, as there is currently no need to have a division of roles in group makeup. You can run five Trickster Rogues together without noticing much difference from running a balanced group of Leader, Defender, Controller and two Strikers. So until that is changed no I'm not worried about only having one class build as Defender.


    Well all rogue runs in most games are normal, As most rogue type builds have some ability to tank via midigation and speed and also have the ability to escape. Which is why I think "tanks" should be more then just a meat shield. People are right when they talk about the issues with 3 point group roles, but I think if we had the chance to see more divirsity in those roles things would go better. A tank does not always need to be a tank just cause it has a shield and a shield does not always need to equal a tank. Dragonage made us look at sword and shield in a total new light.

    As for now if they let group make-up mean nothing now but introduce the high demands on a "tank" or a "healer" in endgame then suddenly you have a huge number of "tanks" and "healers" that have no idea how to play within those roles and that brings the lowest popular class down to almost nothing. This is seen in wow where you have 20 and 10 man raids that need 1 highly skilled tank, but you have hardmode 5 man dungeons with an equal gear/skill need for groups but you have three times as many groups needing to go threw it, that is the problem with that system atm. And depending on if we see high damage and high skilled endgame content that starts to require something that is rare among the player base. It's an issue.
  • trikirantrikiran Member Posts: 122 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    shaudius wrote: »
    ^ This. In 4E both the Guardian Fighter and Great Weapon Fighter are Defender types(Tanks). I know its a little shameless self promotion but I encourage everyone to look at the list I made in the wiki of all the builds in 4E, it gives a great idea of all the tanks you can hope to expect(and other Trinity roles as well.)

    That is to say if the Trinity actually becomes more important in the game, its currently not really that important ,as kingslayer above me has stated. At least at levels 1 to 30 as presented in the first beta weekend.

    I think most hardcore gamers want a high skill ceiling challenge. I have not fought in a high skill based fight in an mmo since lichking 25 hardmode, and that was not the hardest thing I ever fought. And once I did it I quit wow. Since then any mmo I've been in has been light on the skill challenge..... Now I find a lot of pleasure in taking really "BAD" players and gettng them to do a very hard dungeon as that increases the difficulty. I guess I like teaching a hard group. But the lack of highly skilled encounters in mmo's in the past 2 years is sad. I miss the days when thunderfury ment something. Or some of the everquest dungeons. Or the very best of the content made for PW servers in NWN1.

    Some of the best content was low level dungeon groups on PW servers with perma death in NWN1.
  • vikinggamervikinggamer Member Posts: 26 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Hmm, do I think there will be a tank shortage? You mean just like there is in every game out there? :) Heck, even GW2 has a tank shortage and that game isn't supposed to have tanks. Yet everyone clamors for a full defense spec'd guardian.

    During beta weekend we did Cloak Tower with just Rogues and Clerics and it went just fine. I am sure we will get to the point where having an actual defender is a must but at least to start with it wasn't an issue. This game also does a good job making all the roles fun. I am betting that there wont be as much of a shortage as we think.


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  • bruddajokkabruddajokka Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 447 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    You know I'd forgotten Warlords when I'd listed possible classes that could Tank. Which would mean there are three classes that should be able to tank, as well as one build from Players Handbook 1 alone. Battle Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, and Warlord. That's a pretty good variety. Not including the classes from PHB 2, and 3.
  • kingslayer74kingslayer74 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 75
    edited February 2013
    You know I'd forgotten Warlords when I'd listed possible classes that could Tank. Which would mean there are three classes that should be able to tank, as well as one build from Players Handbook 1 alone. Battle Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, and Warlord. That's a pretty good variety. Not including the classes from PHB 2, and 3.

    And Protecting Paladin will likely be another Defender build I'm guessing. I haven't played 4E.
  • trikirantrikiran Member Posts: 122 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    You know I'd forgotten Warlords when I'd listed possible classes that could Tank. Which would mean there are three classes that should be able to tank, as well as one build from Players Handbook 1 alone. Battle Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, and Warlord. That's a pretty good variety. Not including the classes from PHB 2, and 3.

    Not to mention races that can tank. Which is where cryptic is dropping the ball imho in what races bring to the table. I miss the days when rolling a certin race set the foundation of what your class and character could do. I believe that races should play a stronger role.

    For example a "mechanic" that can be used for tanking could be as easy as looking at some of the old roles and simply adding them to fit the new mechanics. A half Nymph race could be a great tank due to racials such as
    •Dazzling Beauty (Ex): This ability affects all humanoids within 30 feet of a half-nymph. Those who look directly at the half-nymph must succeed on a Fortitude save or be dazed for 1 round and dazzled for the duration of the encounter (save DC Charisma-based). A half-nymph can suppress or resume this ability as a free action. Those who save against the half-nymph's dazzling beauty are immune to its effects for 24 hours.
    •Blinding Beauty (Su): A 7 HD half-nymph who has chosen her fey heritage gains her mother's supernatural blinding beauty. This ability affects all humanoids within 30 feet of the half-nymph. Those who look directly at the half-nymph must succeed on a Fortitude save or be blinded permanently as though by the blindness spell. A half-nymph can suppress or resume this ability as a free action, and may use it a number of minutes per day equal to her Charisma bonus (minimum of 1 minute per day). The save DC is Charisma-based. It is not an illusion effect, but a temporary transformation of the half-nymph's body and spirit into an incarnation of the wild beauty of nature.


    Both of those racials can be moved to an mmo setting to allow for an aoe "taunt". Past that you have the wide option of tough races that can take a hit.

    There is No need to be limited by just classes. This is D&D... It should be as limitless as imagination. Within the bounds of the roots of D&D.
  • firesnakeariesfiresnakearies Member Posts: 307 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Anyone who played in the first beta weekend knows that at least up to level 30, for now, tanks aren't actually needed for the group content. Nor are healers. And that may well persist up to level 60.

    But I suspect that whatever "hard mode" or "endgame" group content they have at level 60 will probably require a real tank and a real healer to successfully complete. (At least for the vast majority of groups.)
  • keirkinkeirkin Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    But I suspect that whatever "hard mode" or "endgame" group content they have at level 60 will probably require a real tank and a real healer to successfully complete. (At least for the vast majority of groups.)

    One can only hope. Potion swilling my way through dungeons makes me a sad panda.
  • kalvorakkalvorak Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 45
    edited February 2013
    Just in case anyone hasn't seen it, TotalBiscuit has a decent video up where he runs through the first instance with a couple of Cryptic Devs (one of which was Andy Velasquez, Lead Designer) and they discuss dungeon difficulty a bit. It certainly sounds like Cryptic want it to be hard, but it's going to be a gradual learning curve while you level to let players ease into it. Andy Velasquez did seem a little surprised at how easily they completed the instance though.

    I guess it remains to be seen but I certainly hope roles are required otherwise Guardians might feel a bit neglected.
  • xnargrothxxnargrothx Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    You <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> better be playing tanks, because for once I have decided to actually play a healer *instead* of a tank (which I typically play).
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