A few weeks ago, we did a fun Massively Overthinking on our most on-brand MMORPG classes and archetypes, the character concepts and playstyles we just find ourselves going back to over and over no matter the game. Naturally, this week we’re gonna turn it around and pick our three least on-brand MMO classes or character types – the three characters we pretty much never play, the ones that end up at the bottoms of our alt lists if they ever get rolled at all. What are they, and why do you avoid rolling them?
​Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): This one’s much easier. Straight-up DPS classes are not my thing, especially mages. DoT-based DPS, while a cool concept, often doesn’t work for me since games often have a limit to the debuffs/DoTs that can go on a mob, even in groups, so DoT classes feel too easy to screw up. I also rarely do Paladins, with GW2’s Guardian being the closest thing I’ve enjoyed as one, though I played it partially because it had super mean combos for drowning players in water, which goes with my “Mean CC” love. Other than in GW2, though, I just don’t thematically enjoy Paladins for my jack-of-all-trades classes.
Ben Griggs (@braxwolf): I don’t often play tanks, but that’s mostly due to efficiency. It takes longer to kill enemies as a tank, and since I usually play solo I prefer higher damage classes. I’m also a sucker for magical animations, which usually coincide with damage dealers or healers.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): I think what I don’t play is even easier than what I do. I seldom play…
Melee stealth rogues – I generally hate positional melee, and I hate the slow-down of stealth; put them together and I’m a big nope. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to roll a City of Heroes Stalker only to delete it again. And my Guild Wars 2 Thief only gets play now that she’s a Daredevil. (I do like stealth archers in single-player games, but they’re not as common in multiplayer, since, you know, overpowered af.)
Paladins and holy magic types – I’ve never met a paladin I actually enjoyed playing. I tend to like scrappier tanks rather than battle mages, and holy magic is too cheese for me.
Shadow magic types – The other end of the cheese spectrum for me is necros and shadow magic types. I hesitated to include because I make exceptions here. I like my Necro Mastermind in City of Heroes, but that’s really because of the specific Mastermind mechanics; I could take or leave the zombies themselves. But if the class is basically just a plain warlock or something? Pass. Now, if the magic is ghostly, like a Guild Wars Ritualist, rather than demons and shadow magic? Sign me the heck up.
Carlo Lacsina (@UltraMudkipEX, YouTube, Twitch): I don’t know how anyone can play a ranged character without being bored to tears. I love to wade into the thick of things, you know? Really get my hands dirty. Really make a nice messy mess! Whenever I play any sort of ranged character, I feel like I’m just sitting there slinging arrows. And whenever things get into melee range, it kinda kills the immersion that my character is still shooting at the aggressor with arrows.
I prefer playing melee characters, but if the option is there, I can go for a hybrid style character where they start out at range and then jump in after they’ve been softened up a tad. Some examples include the thief from Guild Wars 2 and the ninja from FFXIV. Those are really cool to play! But if it’s a ranger, unless there’s an option to go one-handed longsword, then I’m not touching them.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): Pretty much every healer class ever devised, if I’m perfectly honest. Or at least the ones that are your “classic” healers – the ones that directly manage others’ health bars without much else to do beyond that. I find it spectacularly boring and just not fun. Just not my style. Which does make me appreciate those who enjoy healing that much more.
Larry Everett (@Shaddoe): The one role I have the hardest time playing is the glass cannon. I don’t know if it’s because I cannot avoid damage or if it’s because I feel locked in one place or probably both, but I can never play it well and I can never DPS as well as others in my group. Secondly, it’s not a never, but I will very, very rarely play a healer. This isn’t because I can’t or that I don’t think I can do well. Most healing mechanics feel like whack-a-mole to me. I can see how it can be fun because it takes a lot of work and a lot of thinking to play a healer well; it’s just not for me.
MJ Guthrie (@MJ_Guthrie, blog): OK so I didn’t sneak in my thoughts on the classes I do play (healers and fire; always gotta have healers and/or fire. Healer with fire is best!), but I will toss out those classes and archetypes that I instantly toss out of consideration during character creation because I know you are all dying to know!
I do not play tanks. Nope. Don’t like it. I might be playing another type of class that ends up acting as the tank (sometimes as a swashbuckler, sometimes as the healer haha), but I do not like plate wearing sword-and-board, smash ’em up classes. Except in very rare instances, I don’t even like melee at all! I hate in-your-face fighting.
That said, the one type I dislike the most: plate-wearing clerics! Turning my healer class into a melee smash-and-basher is simply sacrilege! I do not touch those abominations. I have tried a couple of times, but they never get play time and are even the few characters that I have ever deleted.
Sam Kash (@thesamkash): My number one least played class, which really might be close to never-played, would be engineers. The class just never excites me. I know they are often the sci-fi, steampunk, cyber-futuristic version of real engineers but it’s still just too close to real life for me. I prefer my classes to be truly fantastic with super powers and magic and flying and shooting magic missiles into the darkness stuff.
Next up might be classic mages. It’s dependent on the game’s meta, and if I really need to play one, I will, but it isn’t going to be my starter choice. I just typically don’t like to be that squishy even if the squish comes with good DPS.
Third, let’s say rangers. I just want to get all up in my opponent’s face, and I can’t do that with a bow and arrow. At least, it isn’t usually the recommended way to use it. The backline shots into the fray just doesn’t feel visceral and intense enough.
Tyler Edwards (blog):Â It really depends on the execution, and any archetype can be fun with good mechanics, so I usually try to keep an open mind, even for stuff I wouldn’t normally play.
That said, when it comes to my preferences on what to play, warrior is right at the bottom.
I favour agile classes and/or those that favor intellect and magic, and a warrior is neither of those. Often they are slow and clumsy — powerful, and inelegant. Pretty much the opposite of what I like. And beyond that, they’re just… boring. You have a sword and you hit people. That’s not very exciting in games where the other classes are unleashing the fires of hell or calling ice from the sky or commanding an army of illusionary clones. If I am going to play a tanky heavy-hitter, I’d much rather be a paladin or a death knight. So much more flavor.
Other types I’m not fond of (but am more open to than warrior) are generic healbot priests, basic mages with no twists or unique mechanics, bards, and most pet classes.
But again, it really depends on the execution. I quite enjoyed playing a warrior in Guild Wars 2, and in Legion. Pet classes aren’t my favourite in most traditional MMOs, but I love them in ARPGs.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!
