Pretty much the standart route of class>race>coolness.
Only if a race drives me do I choose race>class but that's quite rare, as usually I value a good gameplay before anything else. Even as a roleplay I have a hard time roleplaying a character I don't play or I don't like to.
First I decide on a class Im interested in, then I look into the available races. From those I weigh the looks vs racial abilities. For instance, Im not a fan of this iteration of halflings so unless theres some major amounts of change I can do for character creation I wont be playing a Halfling Druid unless the racials are excellently paired for that combo, but I must be able to make a look that isnt displeasureable. At this stage I would choose an Elven druid if that were my chosen class. Im also an alt-whore so I tend to not want say, all elven alts, If I chose Wizard Elf, I would go Gnome Enchanter but that would depend on their racials and if they enhanced the classes ability to perform the role more adequately.
Another factor I forgot was, sometimes I just want a challenge. In EQ1 I was used to every main tank being an ogre or a troll, so I decided to roll a halfling warrior to prove that their ability to dodge would still make them an effective fighter. No one thought I would be able to MT in a raid but once our Ogre hd a real life emergency in the middle of the raid and I was off tanking, that gave me the MT role and I finished out the raid with no problems.
Mordecai said: Aesthetics and passive racials. Also wether the class is available to the race I wanna play
This ^
Not knowing the differences between the races aside from "UNGEARED" aesthetics makes my decision for determining which class to main virtually impossible for me. I quoted "ungeared" because different gear will likely appear different on the races... like chainmail will likely look decent on the large Ogre frame with their broad shoulders, but will likely look silly on an Elf/Dark Myr with their slender frames. I also can't stand playing humans or dwarves in a game where so many other cool races are available, but my RP personaility fits with the Paladin or Bard. So I'm severly torn about the Paladin... I'm seriously hoping the customization is so detailed that I could make a human to look unique from the other humans because it would be a shame to find out at end game that (when geared) there are 2 Paladins...short and tall, and you have a 50% chance to look like every other Paladin you see.
All of these things come down to having a somewhat unique Self Identity. If I look like 50% of everyone else that is playing the same class as me, that's incredibly immersion breaking for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYAljlQp2Pk
Add: I also play a class that requires a high amount of game responsibility as my main which in most games is typically a tank, or in EQ1 the Bard (which I hope will be fun to play) and an alt that I can play when my attention is divided with family or I just don't feel like gaming too hardcore.
Because I always thought it'd be cool to be a Fireball wielding Mermaid without the fins! :P
Aesthetics. Totally aesthetics.
For real though, when I am building a character I build up a persona in my head based on what I know about the race and class. Like I'll get the concept that I want to play an Ogre Dire Lord, or an Elven Ranger, or whatever. That character concept dictates my race selection more than anything else.
One thing I do *not* look at is stats. I'm way past my min/maxing days. I have yet to find a game where I needed to really do that in order to be effective, and honestly, I'm not sure I'd like a game where I had to.
I spent a few weeks catching up on my Pantheon Lore and decided to spend some time theory crafting for the "racial bonus" topic. I started working on it a few months ago but it ended up on the backburner while I was caught up with another project. Anyway, I wanted to share something with everybody that is related to this topic. It's a great question and I noticed that a lot of people have brought up racial passives as a big factor in their race choice. All theories were inspired by the lore found on the race pages or in the various reveals that have been shared in the newsletters. I would definitely appreciate feedback if anybody has any questions or thinks that there is a crazy outlier that throws everything out of wack. Here is a link to the Google Doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18DJpTEde6-G7jxrZHRfFLFhRsU07_WBN8a1WyNmiJPs/edit
I've always loved playing sadistic Dark Elf characters, so I have no option but to pick Dark Myr since they're the closest to Drows in Terminus. The ability to turn into a mermaid in water is a good plus too. Evil characters are intriguing to me and I've enjoyed the difficulty of being evil in EQ. Hopefully, this will remain true to a degree for my journey in Terminus. Being KOS by two thirds of the population of the world just seems satisfying to me.
Laura said:
I've always loved playing sadistic Dark Elf characters, so I have no option but to pick Dark Myr since they're the closest to Drows in Terminus. The ability to turn into a mermaid in water is a good plus too. Evil characters are intriguing to me and I've enjoyed the difficulty of being evil in EQ. Hopefully, this will remain true to a degree for my journey in Terminus. Being KOS by two thirds of the population of the world just seems satisfying to me.
Dark Elves are my favorite too. Its still hard for me to accept they are not in Terminus.
oneADseven said:I would definitely appreciate feedback if anybody has any questions or thinks that there is a crazy outlier that throws everything out of wack. Here is a link to the Google Doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18DJpTEde6-G7jxrZHRfFLFhRsU07_WBN8a1WyNmiJPs/edit
Wow, great job! I would not be surprised if alot of these are closely implemented into the actual game. Although, some of these i think feel a little unbalanced.
Valorous1 said:Wow, great job! I would not be surprised if alot of these are closely implemented into the actual game. Although, some of these i think feel a little unbalanced.
Thanks Valorous1! Balance was definitely a big consideration but more than anything I just wanted to work it out where each race would have something fun/flavorful and unique. I purposely avoided sharing cooldown timers because I think they are something that could be used for balance purposes. I have learned over the years that if you propose something with exact details it will often come off too rigid. I prefer a more fluid approach that gets the general idea across without locking into something that isn't flexible. I'd like to hear your feedback on which abilities you think are unbalanced. I had dozens of takeaways floating around in my head while I was working on this and they are the only reason I was able to finish it and feel pretty satisfied overall.
Class avaliability. After that, I usually pick the race/gender combination which running animations I find the most pleasing. I'm unsure what exactly constitutes a good animation but usually I will know from looking at them, at other times I end up rerolling because the animations start getting on my nerves.
I look at available stuff character can do or needs in game
Then compare that to racial limitations/passives- that usually gets me choosing which class and direction. how I will play the game depends on what I think is cool and what limitations or passives I am happy to deal with.
Kilsin said:What is the deciding factor in how you choose a race for your main character? #MMORPG #communitymatters
Dwarf, always have Mained a dwarf, will always main a dwarf, usually find race passives unimpactful and shouldn't be a decided factor in character selection, it one leads to many people picking a lot of the same class/race combos like in eq with ogre/warrior, ogre/shaman due to frontal stun immunity, so I understand that races should have passives of their own but should be minimal to where if someone who would want to be a druid ogre they should be able to be a druid ogre instead of feeling like if they are one they handicap themselves by pick one cuase their wisdom/passives are inferior to another race, granted I'm not to worried bout the wisdom stat more of the passives themselves, wisdom can be dealt with through gear.
oneADseven said:I spent a few weeks catching up on my Pantheon Lore and decided to spend some time theory crafting for the "racial bonus" topic. I started working on it a few months ago but it ended up on the backburner while I was caught up with another project. Anyway, I wanted to share something with everybody that is related to this topic. It's a great question and I noticed that a lot of people have brought up racial passives as a big factor in their race choice. All theories were inspired by the lore found on the race pages or in the various reveals that have been shared in the newsletters. I would definitely appreciate feedback if anybody has any questions or thinks that there is a crazy outlier that throws everything out of wack. Here is a link to the Google Doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18DJpTEde6-G7jxrZHRfFLFhRsU07_WBN8a1WyNmiJPs/edit
Read all of it, and it looks great. Just have 1 thing i do not really like and thats the ogre passive - unpredictable ends. Lore wise it is perfect to be honest, but for playability its far from. Ogre's are limited to playing druid / shaman which are healer types or dire lord / warrior, which are tank types. If they would go ballastic when near death, this could mean death for the entire group as they cannot receive beneficiary spells. Last i checked a heal is rather beneficiary. This trait alone would prevent me from grouping up with an ogre as they become unrealiable in heated situations.
For the gnome, the passive trait - power hungry. I can understand it and don't have too much trouble with it. But from a lore point of view this class is awesome for enchanters. With this trait however when near their death could cause death when all power / mana is consumed from 10% and downward.
The passives sounds cool and all but some seem quite strong like with dark myrs I see like 80% of the player base wanting to play a rogue would play a dark myrs for both its passive and active, and I'm not saying that's nesscary a bad like but I don't really want to see a dark myrs and go I bet 60% chance hes/she's a rogue either.
My first main character was a wood-elf warrior. Oh what a horrible choice that was. My thought that the agi bonus would decrease the number of hits but the lack of str (plate armor was super heavy, even the 'small' pieces) and the fact that sta was king for warriors meant it was a horrible choice.
I have found that I lean toward smaller races. I am tall IRL and i guess it's a part of me that wants to see things from a different perspective (literally). Be it a wood-elf warror (eq/eq2) or a fae paladin (eq2).
From that i was really considering a halfing warrior for pantheon; but from my eq days i'm really concerned that that is not a viable option. TBH i can't play a dwarf (sorry, just not my style) and i am leaning paladin so human it is.
I'll get my halfing fix with an alt bard =D
I first choose the class I will play then I pick the best race for that class. What race has the best attributes for that class or the best racial traits. I play a clothy so I could lean toward any racials that can be used as escape mechanics ( always nice to have an Ace in the hole).
decarsul said:Read all of it, and it looks great. Just have 1 thing i do not really like and thats the ogre passive - unpredictable ends. Lore wise it is perfect to be honest, but for playability its far from. Ogre's are limited to playing druid / shaman which are healer types or dire lord / warrior, which are tank types. If they would go ballastic when near death, this could mean death for the entire group as they cannot receive beneficiary spells. Last i checked a heal is rather beneficiary. This trait alone would prevent me from grouping up with an ogre as they become unrealiable in heated situations.
For the gnome, the passive trait - power hungry. I can understand it and don't have too much trouble with it. But from a lore point of view this class is awesome for enchanters. With this trait however when near their death could cause death when all power / mana is consumed from 10% and downward.
The Ogre passive only triggers when they take lethal damage. More than anything it buys them some additional time on the battlefield when they would otherwise be dead. I think that ability would be really useful for both tanks and healers. The main reason I decided to make them immune to beneficiary effects while that passive is active is because druids could use Hirode's Chrysalis on them during that time. In my experience, these sort of "death-prevention" abilities usually have a limited duration. Very much a risk vs reward type ability where you can land a well-timed death-prevent or end up losing your cooldown for nothing. I'm not sure if that's how Hirode's Chrysalis is supposed to work but if it is, the Ogre passive would make it much easier to time that perfectly. It's possible that I'm wrong about that ability and that there wouldn't be any conflict between the two at all, in which case, the "immune to beneficiary casts" stipulation could be removed. (I do think their max HP should be limited to 1 for the duration of the effect, though.) The important takeaway from this ability is that it only triggers when the Ogre dies -- because of this, I don't really think a recovery should be possible, but I suppose it could be okay if the conditions are really tight and difficult to pull off.
As far as the gnomes are concerned I have received similar feedback from others. Losing that final 10% of mana would certainly sting for the gnome itself, but it could still end up being highly beneficial for their group. The reason I was able to justify a strong situational risk/reward mechanic for the gnome passive is because of their active -- they have a built-in mana regen mechanic to begin with. It wouldn't be fair if gnomes were truly limited to 90% of their mana pool and I think having access to their very own mana regen mechanic makes up for the difference. It may need to be reworked a little bit (can use on any NPC rather than on corpses only) but all in all, both of those abilities were designed to compliment each other while staying true to the lore.
oneADseven said:
Skar passive/active look pretty lackluster, personally. Being the most savage and seemingly aggressive race I would imagine their racials would reflect that.
Something like: (Passive) Desperate Offense = increased attack/cast speed by x% when below 10% hp -or- Blood Sense = Foes lower than x% HP excite the Skar, increasing their movespeed by y% to chase down fearful prey.
As for active I would imagine something like Bloodthirst = In a frenzy the Skar will attempt to cannibalize their foe while they still live - X% of all damage dealt for Y seconds will heal the Skar.
I don't know, just something more savage/aggressive.