Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mournblade94" data-source="post: 4725463" data-attributes="member: 74608">This more than anything else is the contribution that video games have brought to the game table. MMO's due to their nature absolutely have to be balanced. If people think that playing a class in an mmo is not fun, that MMO is going to suffer. I played City of Heroes for a bit, especially around 'issue 5' when they nerfed some classes and buffed classes for balance. It was needed then. The classes needed to be balanced.  In a wargame the armies need to be balanced, or at least be balanced overall. CHoosing points is another matter. In an RPG, There are many other factours to consider rather than combat. Though Mage is arguably the most powerful class, I rarely had a mage player that was leader of the party. It was usually the Fighter, or some subclass of fighter (yes even in 3rd edition) that took on the role of party leader (party leader, not leader as defined in 4e and mmo's). I have never run a game yet where a rogue or warrior felt bored. Balance only became necessary when people got used to "team games" like City of heroes or World of Warcraft. Perhaps you are correct in that "the world has moved on". I would agree but that it is an effect of MMO's. The fact you are practically required to play on a team on an mmo is what turns me off to them incidentally, they should allow for solo play but that is another topic. Video games that are not MMO's do not necessarily need balance. Oblivion Warriors suffer the same drawback that D&D warriors suffer. In Mass Effect a tech character is far less effective than a soldier. These video games however provide oppurtunity or "Face Balance" as I think cadfan coined. There are plenty of things you cannot do in mass effect if you do not have a techie, and likewise many places you cannot go in oblivion or morrowwind if you do not have a thief.  Other than the internet, I have never heard of a player not having fun because of class choice. I have heard of it in cases where the DM forced a class upon them. I know in my group nobody ever wanted to play cleric. I made my game extremely faith oriented, so when I DM a game it is less of a problem with them. The fighting classes just about everyone wanted. Perhaps thats anamolous. I would definitely NOT have fun playing a sucky class. I do not think though, that the balance of D&D as it was really made non casters all that bad.  The only balance I ever strived for in D&D was making sure that my encounters were challenging to the PCs. I managed to make some perfect encounters where about half the party is down and the ones left standing have less than 5% of their hit points left. That is balance as I see it.</blockquote>

Verification