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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 8842308" data-attributes="member: 907">The big advantage of class-based systems is that you can give a class a Big Defining Trait, and do so at an early stage, and not having to worry about how it works with other Big Defining Traits. In point-based systems you either don't get BDTs at all, or they're either highly expensive or hidden behind a bunch of prerequisites.To use an example from World of Warcraft: one of the shaman specializations is Enhancement, which focuses on dual-wielding as well as mixing physical and elemental attacks. In old-school WOW, up through Wrath of the Lich King, specialization was handled by choosing abilities from a series of talent trees. So as they advanced, a wannabe enhancement shaman would pick talents that reduced the penalty for dual-wielding, added the ability to parry, culminating in the abilities Windfury (which sometimes granted extra attacks) and Stormstrike (a powerful strike mixing physical and nature/lightning damage. You wouldn't really get the abilities cementing you as a proper Enhancement shaman until level 40 or so, after playing for a couple of days, and leveling up before then was a slog. Then, in the Cataclysm expansion, they changed things so you chose a whole subclass at level 10. This let you play an Enhancement shaman pretty much from the get-go (getting to level 10 takes like an hour or so), which was made possible by locking you into a whole kit instead of letting you choose abilities á la carte.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 8842308, member: 907"] The big advantage of class-based systems is that you can give a class a Big Defining Trait, and do so at an early stage, and not having to worry about how it works with other Big Defining Traits. In point-based systems you either don't get BDTs at all, or they're either highly expensive or hidden behind a bunch of prerequisites. To use an example from World of Warcraft: one of the shaman specializations is Enhancement, which focuses on dual-wielding as well as mixing physical and elemental attacks. In old-school WOW, up through Wrath of the Lich King, specialization was handled by choosing abilities from a series of talent trees. So as they advanced, a wannabe enhancement shaman would pick talents that reduced the penalty for dual-wielding, added the ability to parry, culminating in the abilities Windfury (which sometimes granted extra attacks) and Stormstrike (a powerful strike mixing physical and nature/lightning damage. You wouldn't really get the abilities cementing you as a proper Enhancement shaman until level 40 or so, after playing for a couple of days, and leveling up before then was a slog. Then, in the Cataclysm expansion, they changed things so you chose a whole subclass at level 10. This let you play an Enhancement shaman pretty much from the get-go (getting to level 10 takes like an hour or so), which was made possible by locking you into a whole kit instead of letting you choose abilities á la carte. [/QUOTE]

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