Sony Re-envisioning Classes

[Iskandar]

Brenlo posted this yesterday:  http://eqforums.station.sony.com/eq/board/message?board.id=Crier&message.id=62#M62


The EverQuest development team continues the process of evaluating class roles, class definitions, and class desirability to ensure that each class provides value in group and raid situations.   Moreover, we have found that the term "class balance" is a term that means many different things to different people and we believe that it's more accurate to define our goal in another way.   

We believe at its core, each class should be fun and have a desirable role in raid and group situations and it is to this standard that we will hold our evaluations as EQ continues to grow and evolve.

We have begun the process by looking into group roles.  We plan to take a look at raid roles after we have finished with groups.  We are looking at what each class has to offer in a group setting, how useful and viable that role is and finally, how well they perform these duties.  The team is currently reviewing extensive data from live servers to make sure that the conclusions we make are as accurate as possible.  Once we have data that we can share, we will ask for your input and insight on our conclusions. 

Our goal is to identify the underlying reasons behind any problems we uncover and we may find it necessary to make fundamental changes to the game to address them.  As we move forward with this process, we will keep the community apprised of our findings and gather their input on the changes we feel need to be made to make players of all classes in EverQuest feel useful as they fulfill roles that are interesting and fun to play.  We would like you to be part of these discussions and help us to determine the shape of classes in EverQuest's future.   

Thank you for you time and for being a part of this wonderful world that is Norrath.  As an initial step in this process, while we are gathering data, we're going to host a live chat between players and the developers to begin this discussion.  We will announce the time and date for the chat in the next few days.

The EverQuest Team.

Message Edited by Brenlo on 01-05-2005 05:17 PM

Brenlo Bixiebopper
Community Relations Manager


Discussions are being held in this forum:  http://eqforums.station.sony.com/eq/board/message?board.id=Veterans&message.id=52376#M52376

Should be entertaining :)

[bham]

Hey Tastian,

Do you have any extra information att all about this Re-envisioning of Classes?

Do you have any idea on time-lines?

Do you know if they are going to cut back on or increase the individuality of classes?

Are they going to break the strangehold of the trinity? or are they just going to make it so any class can fit in the trinity?

Any ideas on which way beastlords will go?

Anything at all?

[Tastian]

No, No, No, Don't know, don't know, no...uhhhh nope-a-roni lol

Sorry, wish I had more, but I really don't have anymore information on this than everyone else has.  I know it's something they seem interested in doing and is a pretty big deal, but I haven't heard anything other than what has been posted.  Likely the information will come right from a dev or brenlo on this as more information becomes available.  I ask for updates here and there and throw out little tid-bits and issues we have to make sure they are considered in this process.  As for what will happen though I'm just as anxious to find out as everyone else hehe.

[bham]

So they are planning on making "fundamental" changes to EQ without consulting the class reps, or anyone else.

And they are interested in our response to their changes, but they dont seem interested in what we think those changes should be.

I certainly hope they dont go the way that EQ2 has been explained to me. Where every fight is the same and every class fits neatly into one of 4 roles. Tank, healer, DPS and CC; with CC being unneccessary if you have enough DPS. While every class needs an effective role, I love the diversity of the EQ classes and I hope they dont remove this in an attempt to balance them.

However, I do hope that their in-game parsers are up to scratch, and that they find meaningful data on which to base whatever changes they make. I am concerned that Sony does not know how their own classes function at the moment.

[Bengali]

So they are planning on making "fundamental" changes to EQ without consulting the class reps, or anyone else.

As we move forward with this process, we will keep the community apprised of our findings and gather their input on the changes we feel need to be made

That actually says that as they gather data, they will tell the community and take input on proposed changes.  Presumably, if the feedback is overwhelmingly negative or it points out something that they missed then they will revise their proposals.  I didn't read this as saying they aren't going to consult people at all.

[Gotog Ironskull]

OK Sony made the sweeping statement in January about class Re-envisioning.  Here it is March and ????

Any one know was this Re-envisioning statement a mega miss tell?  or was this a premature attempt to stem the flow of player leaving for WoW and EQ2.  Ill give ya what ya want just do go kinda thing. 

Any one have any word.

Later

[Jzath]

http://eqlive.station.sony.com/community/dev_view.jsp?id=64032

Here it comes...

*sigh* I see the thread in campfire now!

[Strigori]

Actually, these changes(by and large) are on the classes top 10 lists, so not consulting people really isnt an issue.  Pet heals, slows, dot agro, click-off-pet-buff, all stuff right off our list.

[Helspawn]

So if we are to be able to take the place of a Shaman in a group setting then why not give us group focus spells.  I eat so much mana when I do get to play Shammy for groups buffing, they hate the long med break.  Even worse is the lack of CR Mastery.  We are a buffing class of sorts other than a monster dps machine.  I do think these changes they have listed for our class is a true step in the right direction.  Can't tell you how many times my slow just plain gets resisted and or partial or mostly in the new DoN.

[Firriann]

We are a buffing class of sorts other than a monster dps machine.

monster dps machine? maybe im missing something somehow, but i barely get 280 dps going all out un-disc'd and 350ish using disc :-/ if im lucky, i'll be getting anguish orb soon to finish 2.0 and im guessing that will add maybe 20 dps maximum to what i got now. im sorry to say this, but i dont think we're that good dps-wise :-/ at lower end of the game yeah i'll agree tho ;-) maybe now with the dot removed (when they do that) i'll be able to dps without grabbing agro as much at least. 9K ish hp still drops real fast in rift when you accidently pull agro off the tank. ah well, still cant wait to see if they'll eventally boost our dps to be more in line with other dps classes (since that is supposed to be our main role, from what i've been led to beleive since SoL)

[Hereki]

Yes, you misunderstood what the previous poster said :).  I took it to mean that we were a buffing class and not a monster dps machine; "other" usually would mean "instead of" rather than "as well as" :).