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Monday, September 16, 2013

Have I Been Doing It Wrong?

No, the title of this post does not refer to my faction grind with the Minmatar Republic.  Over the weekend I managed to draw two security storyline missions and a mining storyline mission and my standings are now at 9.79.  While getting a mission to gather 8,000 units of kernite was disappointing I'm happy overall with my progress.  What I'm starting to wonder is if my selection of characters in MMORPGs has hindered my enjoyment of the genre.

The heretical thought that I could possibly make a mistake came up while I played Neverwinter over the weekend.  In EVE I'm heavily concentrating on the grind so I head over to Neverwinter for some easier, more relaxing play.  Neverwinter is a pretty good game.  The combat is more action oriented with no tab targeting or click targeting but I'm able to bumble through the fights okay.  The multitude of currencies in the game lead to some interesting possibilities that I haven't fully explored because Neverwinter was originally intended as a second game to play while waiting on EverQuest Next and Wildstar.  And the crafting mechanic is much like Star Wars: The Old Republic's except it doesn't serve as big of a money sink.  Did I mention Neverwinter has a website that you can do in-game transactions and manage your crafters from outside the client?  Pretty cool stuff, although I do wonder about the security.

But the biggest difference was when I deleted my Trickster Rogue, a DPS class, for a healing spec Devoted Cleric.  The Devoted Cleric just feels right.  For those who don't play, the Devoted Cleric does ranged DPS and healing is done, at least up to level 23, using heals over time and placing debuffs on mobs that heal anyone who attacks them.  In combination with my NPC tank companion I'm having a lot more fun than I did with the Trickster Rogue. 

That got me to thinking about the way I play EVE when I decide to run a security mission, which I generally hate doing.  I dual-box, with my combat main Rosewalker providing DPS against big targets in a battleship while my industry pilot Wandering Rose provides fleet bonuses/gang links and anti-frigate support.  Over time I've started to prefer Wandering Rose over Rosewalker, even to the point of doing the faction grind with her.

I then thought back to all the games I spent any significant time in (sorry Warhammer).  In World of Warcraft I played a paladin, which involved a lot of healing.  I still remember one fight when I was grouped with a rogue in the Plaguelands that probably lasted 5 minutes because a houseful of mobs respawned on us in the middle of a fight.   That was a satisfying fight and he was impressed.  In EverQuest 2 I got off the support wagon when I was invited to a guild on my ranger and so that became my main in EQ2.  I leveled the ranger up to 80 and just played DPS for over 3 years.

I've spent some time in other games since moving over to EVE Online as my main game 4 years ago, most notably Star Wars: The Old Republic.  In SW:TOR I played a Smuggler up to level 37 and an Imperial Agent into the high teens before abandoning the game.  Both of those are DPS classes.  I'm beginning to wonder if I had played a healing class, even if the story wasn't as good, if I would have actually stuck with the game.  Sure, SW:TOR has problems, but was the tipping point that I'm just not a damage dealer trying to play damage dealing classes?

Right now I'm having so much fun in Neverwinter that I'm considering joining a guild.  I probably won't because in a couple of weeks I plan on starting my new character PvP experience in EVE and that will involve joining a corp.  Joining two player guilds/corps at the same time is probably not a good idea and EVE takes priority.  But I think on my EVE mains I should move Logistics V up in the skill queues just to feel more comfortable.

5 comments:

  1. Welcome to the pleasure of being support characters. We have several people in corp who will undock a logistics ship before anything else, every single time.

    One of my regular arguments about 'solo PvP' and a future comment on DPS ships is that I run tackle and the very last thing I think about is using my guns. Instead, I'm focused on springing the trap and holding things down while other people kill them. Its a pure support role that I enjoy.

    So yes, you may be doing it wrong. However, Demons may not eat you this time for it.

    :)

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  2. I did my warcrack experience completely as a paladin. I started in the days of the only good pally was a holy pally" At that point i was a tank pally when I could, but I did go holy in Bc because the guild neeeded holy paladins. Healing, succeeding at keeping someone up that people would have left for dead, putting out those numbers... In short it rocked. Failing, knowing that i did something that caused the wipe. those moments were horrid. Just as bad as tanking was once paladins became awsome tanks.

    Really it comes down to burnout. Logi sounds like tons of fun, but the pressure is greater, and the burnout quicker i would think.

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  3. I ran a Scimitar A LOT against the russians/PL when they wiped out NC, a couple years ago.

    Running logi in a massive fight, and even more so in a small fight, is far more nerve-wracking than flying a DPS boat, but far more rewarding as well (assuming you don't care about km's and if your corp does not have a quota).

    An additional DPS ship cannot usually turn the tide in a small battle, but an good logi pilot sure can.

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  4. Healing your way through all the content is a tried an tested method in pretty much all MMO's.

    Want to see everything a themepark MMO has to offer including the 'hardcore' endgame content? Roll a priest/monk/healer/cleric/whatevertheycalled it. Get halfway decent at it, and you're pretty much set.

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  5. I'm similar to you, but my main spec is usually of the tank. Unfortunately, there's really no tanking role in EvE. Or maybe the bait.

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