I was trundling around playing on my Lord of the Rings Online server the other night when someone advertised for a Burglar for some dungeon run or other, and someone else shot back the old classic “said no one ever.” And this topic was born in my head because I also have a low impression of Burglars. I mean, I like the idea of Burglars (especially of the Hobbit flavor) and there’s cute appeal in burgling. And my husband’s original toon at the old cap was Burglar, and he loved it. But my impression is that they don’t offer nearly as much as any other class in the game and are in serious need of design love to make them competitive.
Now, I’m not a huge fan of rogue classes in MMOs to begin with, so that does color my opinion, and I fully expect to be burgled in the comments, and that’s fine. But I don’t think LOTRO is the only game that neglects stealthy toons (or over-suppresses their power for balance reasons). City of Heroes, for example, has a Stalker class that’s been the subject of pity for closing in on two decades. It’s one of those “do one thing well” classes, and it does that one thing very well! But the game has moved on from privileging that thing, and so you have to mentally prepare yourself for that disappointment.
What’s the most unloved class in your favorite MMO, and how would you fix it?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
