Tanks and Healers and DPS! Oh my!

A problem I’ve always had with MMOs was deciding which character(s) to play. I’m not really sure I feel “at home” with any particular archetype, and they’ve all got their ups and downs.

Melee DPS are at a disadvantage in larger group battles where there is a stand-off – both sides face each other but neither of the groups’ tanks and melee DPSers make any moves or charges, there is only ranged DPS. And there is a whole other issue with keep sieges and defenses. In smaller group battles melee DPS, I’ve found, do quite well.

Ranged DPS seems to be the opposite. I’ve found them to be effective in large group battles and much less useful in smaller battles where there is no tank line to protect them from melee. On the plus side, I was able to assist in taking down keep doors without having to worry about having oil dropped on my head, as well as pick off enemy ranged DPS lined up on the keep walls. During keep defenses it’s satisfying to attack anyone who strayed too close to the keep and easy enough to back off out of line-of-sight if I was focused.

It can be strangely satisfying to deny the enemy their kills, which makes playing a healer archetype enjoyable. Playing a healer also gives a sense of self-sufficiency – Too often when playing a tank or melee DPS class I find myself silently praying for a heal. Invariably the heal comes, but there is still the panic. The obvious drawback is that I’m usually staring at allies’ health bars and making them go up, instead of watching enemies’ health bars and making them go down. It’s often more satisfying after a hard day’s work to watch health bars go down instead of up.

Tanks offer a refreshing perspective. They’re meant to take damage so they’re great for charging into enemy groups, especially when accompanied by other tanks and melee DPS. They’ve got a lot of support abilities in the form of Guard and Hold the Line. Knights of the Blazing Sun have even more support abilities with their Battle Commands.

So, how do you choose which class to play when you know you can appreciate the roles each archetype is given? Do you choose the class that looks the coolest or most bad-ass? Do you do research or ask around and see if any particular class or archetype is lacking numbers at endgame? Or do you choose one or two of them at random and just shelve the characters later on if you start to think you don’t like them anymore?