Support classes and Bikini Wax
Kill Ten Rats has a great post up comparing support classes to Bikini wax: suffering you subject yourself to so you can bring enjoyment to others. Analogies like that keep that site high on my must-read list.
There’s some truth to what he says- choosing a class that’s great for teams but lousy by itself can be a painful experience- subject to the whims of others in whether you’ll have a productive night teaming or a rather dull night searching for a team (or in a team that’s overburdened by support classes.) I, like KTR, also love the City of Heroes’ corruptor class’s good balance of the two.
That said, as more couples go online together (a trend that’s been on the rise) the pain may not be as bad anymore. My wife’s a ready companion for my support characters, so I’ve never experience much pain playing Chase Arcanum, and she while playing Forsaken Pyra.Â
That ready-made duo might be where support classes really shine.
November 30th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
I hear you on the wife thing. In WoW, my heal-focused priest goes along with my wife’s warrior and it works perfectly. A permanent duo has done wonders for my MMO enjoyment level.
December 1st, 2006 at 12:13 am
Wait, I also play the supporting role while my wife is all about hitting things with swords. Aren’t we supposed to make sexist jokes about bringing along the wife/girlfriend as a healer? Where is our gaming machismo?
December 1st, 2006 at 12:27 am
Don’t look at me. My Chase Arcanum (Illusion/Kinetics Controller- about as “support” as you can get) teams with my wife’s fire/fire blaster, Cinder Flame. The combination is rather lethal, but when I solo, my battlecry is “Don’t make me get my wife….”
December 4th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
I love playing support classes. Well let me rephrase that - I love playing support classes akin to the EQ Bard. I like being able to do a little of everything and to really rock at some small things, but things that are important. One raid I was on, we tried an event that we hated, I bugged a friend in another raiding guild and snagged the strats from him. We jumped in raring to go when we realized that we only had one chanter left. In response, the bards focused their attentions on mezzing the little buggers. When we go things back under control, a few of stayed around to help with CC while the others went off and did their normal boost damage/stats role.
I suppose I like the idea behind most groups not realizing just how beneficial a class can be until they see a decent/good one in action and then actually come to fully appreciate the skills of said class.