Friday, April 8, 2011

Tanking is stupid

You need to kill something, you need to damage it. Well, if you are going up against something really nasty, you want to wear armor to protect yourself, right? The idea of "tanking" something in a role-playing game is pretty stupid. Anybody going up against a fire-breathing dragon is fair game and could get killed. Besides, dragons are smart, so they're going to go after the guy firing magic missiles at them, maybe. But the problem is, you can't protect the mage, can't keep him alive long enough. The dragon has to attack the "tank". Sure, okay. But the mage, as well as the priest, and the rogue, and the hunter,shaman,druid, etc. can't be getting hit because they will die. They will die because they can't use the best armor. Well, there's the problem. Who decided that? Just because Gary Gygax said that the magic-users can't wear plate mail, well screw him and the horse he rode in on. You think about it. You can cast a spell. You're going to fight a dragon. You're going to wear more than a bathrobe and a magic ring. You will find a way to make it happen. Wizards could wear armor in Michael Moorcock's books, and it made sense. My MMORPG should make sense, too. No more tanking. Everybody wears lots of armor. The warrior may have more stamina, but the wizard might have a ring of +5 protection and better saving throws. Who the hell knows, but stop with these weird and stupid rules where one player cons the boss mob into only attacking him(or her).

2 comments:

  1. Even if the mage can't wear plate... he's able to cast offensive spells. One could imagine something like a... defensive spell. :)

    And dragons are intelligent but arrogant... Dragons are about the only race where I can see taunt working. :)

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  2. Yeah....actually I like the taunt mechanic. A warrior tricking a monster or using its arrogance against it is a fun concept. I think it would be more fun if it was something a plate-class character could do once in awhile instead of it be a character's main job to get the monster to stick like glue. Kind of like how most dps can do an interrupt now and then. Oh well, maybe some day.

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I'm getting old but I don't want to grow up. I love coffee but it screws me up. I am a morning person. I value silliness and honesty.