Alliance Class Poll Least Populated Class

[Verene]

So, it's the 10th of June and with 3635 votes into the poll so far we are looking to be the least played class at launch (if the game launched tomorrow and everyone was telling the truth and the forum users who took the poll were actually representative of the true player base which of course it aint).

Only a paltry 96 votes have so far gone to us followed closely by the Bright Wizard on 97 and the Hammerer on 99.

Oddly enough the class with the most votes at the moment is our mirror class the Goblin Shaman with 249 which together with the fact that we share the bottom of the list with Order's main nuking class leads me to the conclusion that the poll isn't worth the drive space it's stored on. Not that I expect the Archmage to be a popular choice come launch by any means. Weak, proud, healer/caster type, skinny, thin wrists - makes me wonder why I chose them at all.

Any thoughts?

Link to the poll here (http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38841)

[Krowen]

Marauder > Archmage. Thin wrists.

[Daldek]

I think the general reason is because the Archmage just isn't a "cool" class.

Alot of people wanted a powerful elven mage class that will rain destruction down on the battlefield. High Elves are meant to be the most powerful wielders of magic correct?. But instead they got a healer / mage combo. Meaning that the damage output of the Archmage will be limited to balance their ability to heal. So there will be no real raining of destruction going on from this class.

The Goblin Shaman fits the role of a goblin shaman so well from a IP standpoint, and the new gork and mork heads just make it seem like a really fun class to both play and RP.

[Ev1xx10n]

WHATS WRONG WITH THIN WRISTS?

Sorry Iam not fat

[BigBeerBellyMan]

Plus, one of the reasons why the shaman is so damn popular is because a lot of people looking into warhammer are coming from WoW, and shaman is the only class they are familiar with. We will probably see a lot of them at release, but most likely their numbers will drop after people realise its not like playing a WoW shaman.

[ColdPhoenix]

Plus, one of the reasons why the shaman is so damn popular is because a lot of people looking into warhammer are coming from WoW, and shaman is the only class they are familiar with. We will probably see a lot of them at release, but most likely their numbers will drop after people realise its not like playing a WoW shaman.

Actually, I had never thought of that, though I hope that most of the people who are reading these forums realize the difference.

That said, Archmage and SW are the only classes that I am still considering for my main. I was thinking about SM for a while, but I read somewhere that it was a class that was somewhat easier to play. And, with the apparent rarity of people who like the Archmage... Well, I've almost always played healing class of sorts. Sounds like I may end up doing that yet again. :) And now with periodically awesome nukes!

[Ferriun]

Currently it seems as if the Archmage stand in the back and shoot off heals and "arcane blasts", which sounds a bit bland to me. I mean the ranged/DPS career (Shadow Warrior), seems more action packed for a distance killer. Maybe the Archmage is meant to be the ultimate support career, able to pick up the slack when the SW decides to the more tricky stances and combos. We had better get a AoE and close-range mastery path. :(

[Kaeldor]

I don't think this poll is telling us much. Last time they made one, we had a lot of Archmages. Those polls always reflect the last new information the devs release, at least to an extend. Then, here Destro players outnumber Order players, which at least explains the difference to the Shaman a bit. Also the Shaman just got covered.

In conctrast to that, the last thing we heard from the AM is, that their mechanic doesn't really function, and that they are not really fun to play.

I bet this all balaces a bit once we get some new info on the AM (it's very likely that they get the same mechanic as the Shaman has now).

But still a nuker/healer might not be what so many people want to play in the end. I might also change to SW if the class turns out to be lame. At the moment there is just not much to get exciting about the AM. Which we can also see on these boards, almost zero discussion, because there is nothing to talk about. Sadly they also gave them absolutly nothing to make them cool in any way. The only thing we hear is that's they are a copy of the Shaman. Yeah, YAY ... .

The AM sounded much more interesting when they released him first as a drain magic specialist.

But on the other hand, some things I have seen from beta leaks look really nice, so maybe in the end the AM trurns out to be a more fun, and therefore popular class.

I think we'll see many changes once the game goes live and people really can see how the classes work, which classes are fun to play etc.

[Silas]

I wouldn't be surprised if polls give completely different results two months after release. Still would be nice to play the least-played class in the game though :)

[Simonious]

I can't say I think that poll is especially accurate. There's no way Shamans are most popular, especially with all these Chosen I see running around the forums.

[Kalea]

I'm not bothered if there aren't many around. Buying kit might be cheaper :P

[Linell]

I think poll was decently precise. Thing is that people visiting forums of beta game are all but casual players - so when game launches and casual gamers approach, order side will get more filled up or maybe even overtake destruction. And in the process archmage should become more popular.

For some reason "mature", "hardcore" or "serious" players mostly pick "evil" side - I guess they think they are way cooler that way. :>

[ColdPhoenix]

I have been hoping that destruction stays more popular with the casuals as well. To draw another line from my time with WoW. I played on an RP-PvP server for my last year of playing before I quit. The server came live about 2 weeks before the release of TBC. I went with the Alliance because I was tired of the Horde's superiority complex and had never tried the Alliance. We were ludicrously outnumbered. Initially it was well over 3 to 1. It did balance out over time to 2 to 1.

My point is that if the perception is out there from WoW that the evil races do better or are better or what-have-you, that players who come from that playerbase or who have experience with that playerbase may bring those conceptions with them into WAR. I still don't doubt that order will be the more common choice with MMO newcomers, but it is my hope that the more immature element follows the "evil is better lulz" attitude. Just give me a good guilds worth of order RP-OpenRvR players when the game is released and I would be absolutely thrilled.

[Kaeldor]

I think poll was decently precise. Thing is that people visiting forums of beta game are all but casual players - so when game launches and casual gamers approach, order side will get more filled up or maybe even overtake destruction. And in the process archmage should become more popular.

For some reason "mature", "hardcore" or "serious" players mostly pick "evil" side - I guess they think they are way cooler that way. :>

Well, even if we get more Order players, that doen't have to mean there are relatively more Archmages. Not sure if a healer type is that alluring to casuals.

And the WOW thing, Alliance outnumbering Horde had a lot of reasons at first. Better beginning areas, better pve stats, etc. The Horde was also not really appealing to many people who like to play the bad guys, because much of the Horde is actually flower-power tree huggers (Orks and Tauren). I bet that if they just had the Death Knight as a class for Horde from the start, that alone would have done a lot to balance things.

A lot of people don't care so much about the race, but play what works well. You can see that with all the undead players on pvp servers.

This is a toally different game.

[Empty Field]

well i vote shamen but i am 50/50 atm on shamen or archmage

[Estebar]

I think once that article revealing that the Archmage can now both Nuke, Nuke, Nuke, Nuke, HEAL and Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal, NUKE gets a little more widespread, the Archmage's popularity will rise.

[Linell]

Well, even if we get more Order players, that doen't have to mean there are relatively more Archmages. Not sure if a healer type is that alluring to casuals.


Probably not, but percentage of archmages will increase relatively to complete population if we presume newcomers will mostly play order. So while we have now about 2.6% that will probably rise to 3.5% or whatever other number.

[Mortissia]

I haven't even voted. I have no idea what an Archmage does. Ok ... I know they have a milktoast nuke and they can heal. I am presuming they do something else as well. If all they do is nuke and heal them I'm not interested. If they turn out to be the WAR equivelant of a DAoC Mana Eldritch (debuff caster) that can heal then I will be sold.

Once Beta gets a lot more people for a good duration (probably open beta) then a poll might reflect how the release day crowd will roll. It is the "healer" classes that are really up in the air. What utility do they get to play with?

[Estebar]

Given that the Shaman, AM's Destruction twin, is one of the most popular classes according to that poll, I'm quite surprised.

[Verene]

The poor performance of the class in the poll is most likely part to do with being perceived as the weakest/nicest/most prancing/dancing class of the weakest/nicest/most prancing/dancing race in the game and also to do with the fact that there's little to no information, particularly new information available.

Part of the Shaman's popularity in the poll can be attributed to the current batch of beta testing being focussed on Greenskin areas and we can have no doubt that those numbers will change given time.

If the Archmage does turn out to be a lemon in the end despite being the mirror for a class that is apparently so popular I might be persuaded to switch... on second thoughts being surrounded by hundreds of smelly, sweaty Orcs spouting that endless gibberish orc speak doesn't sound so appealing after all.

I guess I'm going to be a proud, stuck up, self righteous High Elf no matter what.

[Formosus]

There are probably some benefits to being underplayed, if the poll turns out to be true at at launch (which is unlikely). It means people who play Archmages will have low supply, but high demand (being at least a partial healer class).

[justsomeguy]

Archmages were alot more interesting the less about them we knew. Now that they have been pretty much confirmed to be a mirror class to the Goblin Shaman, people have good reason to lose much of their initial interest in them. The Archmage, conceptually, has lost a lot to become a balanced class, the Goblin Shaman, not so much. "High Magic" is pretty much just Warhammer jargon that we are supposed to croon at, as it is spilled forth by the Barnett hype-machine, even though in game its just a gimmick mechanic that is pretty much uninteresting. Yay, a free heal? Wipe the spit from video lens, nothing to get that worked up over.

[Mandy]

Hello!

I have a habit of at -least- trying most, if not all, caster-type classes in MMOs so I know the AM will get a bit of a try out of me. All I can hope for is some more info about this class! The ability to heal + nuke sounds intriguing but who can say if their abilities really will be worth all the while...

Besides, High Elves are cool ;( The only other class that's piqued my interest for that race is Shadow Warrior but eh, we'll see.

[Kaeldor]

Hello!

I have a habit of at -least- trying most, if not all, caster-type classes in MMOs so I know the AM will get a bit of a try out of me. All I can hope for is some more info about this class! The ability to heal + nuke sounds intriguing but who can say if their abilities really will be worth all the while...

Besides, High Elves are cool ;( The only other class that's piqued my interest for that race is Shadow Warrior but eh, we'll see.

If you look at all the shaman info out there, you can get a pretty good idea how the AM is going to look like. If they don't differ from the other class pairs, even the skills will be similar, just not "green 3 second main heal" but "white 3 second main heal". We'll get a healing mastery, a damage mastery and a buff/debuff mastery line etc.

I just really hope the devs give them some kind of flavour, which makes them interesting on their own.

[Odiamh]

Plus, one of the reasons why the shaman is so damn popular is because a lot of people looking into warhammer are coming from WoW, and shaman is the only class they are familiar with. We will probably see a lot of them at release, but most likely their numbers will drop after people realise its not like playing a WoW shaman.

I have had a similar discussion with a few guild mates on WoW and our thinking was that the Archmage would be popular since it is similar to a Shadow Priest and I see quite a few running around lol.

[Celestian]

I think poll was decently precise. Thing is that people visiting forums of beta game are all but casual players - so when game launches and casual gamers approach, order side will get more filled up or maybe even overtake destruction. And in the process archmage should become more popular.

For some reason "mature", "hardcore" or "serious" players mostly pick "evil" side - I guess they think they are way cooler that way. :>

I agree with the first comment but the second I think is just a bit of emo/dark hero mentality.

I don't really think most of the hard core go to evil, hard core go where things will be "best" for them... be that more popular or more powerful classes. Hard core don't care about evil, they care about stats.

[Robbie11r1]

Plus, one of the reasons why the shaman is so damn popular is because a lot of people looking into warhammer are coming from WoW, and shaman is the only class they are familiar with. We will probably see a lot of them at release, but most likely their numbers will drop after people realise its not like playing a WoW shaman.


You are so wrong its not even funny, you're not even close, seriously just stop.

[Robbie11r1]

I can't say I think that poll is especially accurate. There's no way Shamans are most popular, especially with all these Chosen I see running around the forums.


Chosen came in 2nd for most played with 14 less than shaman currently.

[Valrin]

Haha good. I like being in the minority. It makes the career more sought after, since the buffs/utility abilities of said career will be in shorter supply.

[Valrin]

The poor performance of the class in the poll is most likely part to do with being perceived as the weakest/nicest/most prancing/dancing class of the weakest/nicest/most prancing/dancing race in the game and also to do with the fact that there's little to no information, particularly new information available.

Part of the Shaman's popularity in the poll can be attributed to the current batch of beta testing being focussed on Greenskin areas and we can have no doubt that those numbers will change given time.

If the Archmage does turn out to be a lemon in the end despite being the mirror for a class that is apparently so popular I might be persuaded to switch... on second thoughts being surrounded by hundreds of smelly, sweaty Orcs spouting that endless gibberish orc speak doesn't sound so appealing after all.

I guess I'm going to be a proud, stuck up, self righteous High Elf no matter what.
being a proud, stuck up, self righteous High Elf is fun, considering they have the skill to back it up ;)

[Bierzgal]

The less popular your class will be the better for you guys. The less Archamges there the more they will be wanted in the groups for PvE/RvR. It's fun and PROFITABLE playing a not-so-popular class imo.

[Kaeldor]

The less popular your class will be the better for you guys. The less Archamges there the more they will be wanted in the groups for PvE/RvR. It's fun and PROFITABLE playing a not-so-popular class imo.

Except if the reason is that the class it's an unintersting, not fun to play class. I think many people have that fear atm, hence not many want to play it.

I hope the open beta will show otherwise though.

[Mandy]

We'll get a healing mastery, a damage mastery and a buff/debuff mastery line etc.

I just really hope the devs give them some kind of flavour, which makes them interesting on their own.

That just reminds me of the Shadow Priest set up from WoW (not trying to downplay AM or anything, just the impression I got) but I wonder if this so-called damage mastery will be on par with other DPS classes or will it be kinda gimp with more focus on utility (as in say a dmg mastery build coupled with the buff/debuff support build to go with it). The AM sounds like a good type of class that can be very well-rounded but I'd hate for its skills to be downplayed simply because it's just considered a "support" class. That was one of the things that irked me in WoW and as an spriest; I had a good damage tree and healing tree but compared to other DPSers my output always appeared mediocre simply because I'm a Priest (and not a hunter/mage/whatever else).

[Bierzgal]

Mandy => But every self-respecting "pro" guild in WoW had at least one (sometimes two) Shadow Priests. One in the healing group and the other in the caster group. We had always 4 warlocks in each raid so it worked quite well for us.

(For people not knowing WoW => Shadow Priests restored mana in their group while dpsing. They also were raising shadow damage to themselves and warlocks by 25% + all other magical damage by 5%. Also had a decent DPS [well, at least till some time in the game]). They actually had a quite good livin' in some guilds, just like feral druids (altho ench shamans and ret paladins were a disaster so... you never know).

As for War. The AM damage tree won't be comparable to... for example Bright Wizzard dps. It can't be, it's another game. It is suppose to be a teamwork RvR game. Do you imagine that most of the healing classes will spec dps (as in WoW) and there be no healers at all? "- Ok Archamge, you'll be the main healer here. - WHAT?!?! I'm an uber killng machine dude, no healing from me!".

I learned my lesson from WoW (I was always in top3/top5 on the dps chart with my druid but... It was a looong way for my guild to even let me try). I won't risk it again (I had thoughts around the Disciple of Kain but after overthinking I decided for a White Lion). The healing/hybrids/dps always have it hard if they try to do anything besides healing... Consider it well :P.

PS. Altho I hope it will turn out well. My friend wil definitly play as an Archamge and it would be a sad image for me if he got disapointed :/.

[VeriusCarth]

I must say, I kind of forsook my identity as a future Archmage by picking Bright Wizard for the RvR scenario at Games Day.

Now, despite Bright Wizard being a horribly fun class to play (and also my second choice of class in terms of anticipation to play), I still really want to play Archmage. I ended up not doing so, partly for the fact that I didn't want to potentially ruin my anticipation for Archmage by playing it while it still had some kinks or something.
However, I did see quite a few people playing them at Games Day, and there was always at least one on the Order side of things.

Who knows? They're probably still popular, even if they're not hard-core popular.

Polls don't take into account peoples' second options.

[ColdPhoenix]

That just reminds me of the Shadow Priest set up from WoW (not trying to downplay AM or anything, just the impression I got) but I wonder if this so-called damage mastery will be on par with other DPS classes or will it be kinda gimp with more focus on utility (as in say a dmg mastery build coupled with the buff/debuff support build to go with it). The AM sounds like a good type of class that can be very well-rounded but I'd hate for its skills to be downplayed simply because it's just considered a "support" class. That was one of the things that irked me in WoW and as an spriest; I had a good damage tree and healing tree but compared to other DPSers my output always appeared mediocre simply because I'm a Priest (and not a hunter/mage/whatever else).

I must admit to playing a SPriest in WoW myself. And yes, as a good SPriest (on an underpopulated server), I would commonly get requests to do endgame raids with other guilds. Priests were rare on my server.

However, my true passion has always been PvP. In the 2v2 arenas in Season 2, me as a SPriest and my friend (that I'm bringing to WAR) as a resto shaman, we were the 4th ranked 2v2 team on our server. Mind you, that was only 40th or so in our Battlegroup, but still. Even if your DPS is somewhat subpar, if you really pay attention and have good timing, you can still be brutally effective.

I'm looking forward to the Archmage. Not because of the similarity to SPriest, but partially because of lore and partially because I've always loved playing healing classes. I most likely will not be using the damage mastery as a side note. :)

[Certhalion]

Well first off, I didn't really pick Archmage, Archmage kind of picked me. My friend and I sat down and talked about what race we wanted to be. He wanted to be a dwarf, so I decided I wanted to be a High Elf. Ok, he then decided he wanted to be a Ironbreaker, so I was thinking about being a Swordmaster.

But from WoW I had been a mage, and I decided I wanted more utility, blasting enemies AND healing just sounds extremely fun for MY style of play, it doesn't have to rock at anything, as long as it has the utility to heal and do damage.

That being said, I don't really want the Archmage to go the way of the WoW mage, where there is always another class that can do a certain aspect better than them. We used to be kings of AoE then the Warlock buff came along, we used to be good a DPS, then the Warlock and priest buffs came along. We still had Arcane Explosion, they lowered the radius range. . .

Then they gave us a food/drink table, that's when I completely knew Blizzard had forgotten completely what Mages were. . .Glass cannons.

So basically I like the fact that Archmages will have some nice utility, but I'd like them to at least have one thing that they are really good at, buffing or whatever.

[Mandy]

I also played an spriest on my WoW server (and was doing T6 content before I quit), problem for me was that I got tired of trying to stress the idea that for MY class spec utility > overall DPS; there was no way I could top the #1 mage or rogue in my group when it came to output. When it came to 5-mans I would rock the house...25 mans not so much! Maybe I just sucked too bad or something, but in the end it wore me out and I got to the point where I didn't give a damn about how "awesome" an spriest was for returning mana, health and adding good debuffs to the target to increase overall dps for other classes. Spriests are a great asset to any endgame raid, I know this, but top DPSers? Eeeeh not really.

Well I guess it appears that the answer is a bit obvious: don't play Archmage, they're a bit about versatility and utility. But that's where I'm torn between Bright Wizard and AM. I want versatile spells and abilities but to also be able to do wicked damage too. The WoW Mage used to tell that story until Blizz tried to up the DPS of every potential class (namely warlocks) and now the class has to haul to even live up to its namesake as a glass canon as stated above. There's only so much debate and info I can go on while not being in the closed beta and actually trying the class myself but what I do want is something that AM can offer to the game that's special, desirable and fun to play. In the end all there is is hoping. At least there's always Bright Wizard to go to.

[ColdPhoenix]

Ah okay, I see what you mean now. Your problem was more that you had to sell your character's overall benefit to everyone when all they could see were the DPS meters. Am I right?

In that kind of situation, my only advice would be along the lines of... "Get out!" Hehe, but seriously, a guild with people who genuinely understand the very tangible benefits that a SPriest brings to the table in endgame would probably alleviate all of your problems. I doubt very much that it's a matter of personal skill. Constantly having to try to justify your character's chosen role would wear everyone down. I'll also be the first to admit that I wasn't the best (even though I tried to be :p), I doubt that there would have been a large skill gap between you and I.

I've always had the experience that it's the people you play with that can either make or break a game. My 2v2 partner from WoW is certainly going to join me on an RP Realm, hopefully OpenRvR if that's an option. I'm in the process of trying to convince a few of my other friends to roll on an RP realm as well. If I can get my friends to all join me, well, even if my class is purely support, I know that I'll have a place in whatever we decide to do.

[Mandy]

Ah okay, I see what you mean now. Your problem was more that you had to sell your character's overall benefit to everyone when all they could see were the DPS meters. Am I right?

It was more along the lines of one of our old raid leaders, who was also an spriest, and having a bogus amount of influence to come to nearly every raid and always able to get loot when she wanted due to the shear amount of DKP she'd have from attendance. She was the type to tell us to do x, y and z and yet do things her own way. That was a touch irritating ;)

In that kind of situation, my only advice would be along the lines of... "Get out!" Hehe, but seriously, a guild with people who genuinely understand the very tangible benefits that a SPriest brings to the table in endgame would probably alleviate all of your problems. I doubt very much that it's a matter of personal skill. Constantly having to try to justify your character's chosen role would wear everyone down. I'll also be the first to admit that I wasn't the best (even though I tried to be :p), I doubt that there would have been a large skill gap between you and I.

I enjoyed myself with the raid group I was in, honestly. There were many who liked me and having me come along, my only beef was with the spriest lead telling me and my other spriest friend/guildmate what to do and yet not follow her own advice. It was a situation where even if we DID complain it didn't affect anything because she was needed and they liked her DPS, even if we were a few slots below her.

It was frustrating because I had to play with a crap machine, get told my DPS was lacking (even though straight DPS isn't my spec's purpose) and have a spriest raid leader have half the she wanted handed to her simply due to being at the attendance rank she was. But now I'm just ranting :T 90% of the raid group and content was awesome, 10% of it was , but then again 25-man WoW raiding is a bunch of silly drama to begin with. Come WotLK 25 mans can kiss my butt.

I've always had the experience that it's the people you play with that can either make or break a game. My 2v2 partner from WoW is certainly going to join me on an RP Realm, hopefully OpenRvR if that's an option. I'm in the process of trying to convince a few of my other friends to roll on an RP realm as well. If I can get my friends to all join me, well, even if my class is purely support, I know that I'll have a place in whatever we decide to do.

That's the main reason I even bought and play AoC, was because WoW friends were going to play...but they're hardly around as is. I don't even feel inclined to renew my membership when my free month us up simply because I am always alone. I would love a static group to play with on an RP realm to level, quest, RP, whatever. As long as I have fun and know I'm needed and have a place to be then I'm set.

[Kaeldor]

Mandy, if you like a real DPS class, you'll have much more fun with the Bright Wizard. One big difference between WOW and War is, that in War you can't specc out of your archtype (e.g there is no shadow form). So even if you specc damage you are a support class. I'm probalby going to specc dam/debuff myself, because so far I've always liked doing damage more than healing (I played a mage for three years in WoW).

But I've also always envied the versatility of healer types in other games, like a good priest could nullify everything I did as a mage, and still did decent damage, and had nice utility. (I can also 100% relate to what Certhalion wrote above)

If you like versatility, the AM will be fun to play I guess, they'll have some decent DPS, hopefully some vicked debuffs (mana drain = AP drain would come to mind), and still can heal. So you probalby they should be useful in all kind of situations.

But of course it can always turn out, that because of min/max factors (heal is better for renown than DPS), group pressure, screwed skills, you have to specc heal and "healbot" as an AM. If it's like that in the end I'll play an SW.

Yay for "open" beta to try it out.

[ColdPhoenix]

But of course it can always turn out, that because of min/max factors (heal is better for renown than DPS), group pressure, screwed skills, you have to specc heal and "healbot" as an AM. If it's like that in the end I'll play an SW.

Yay for "open" beta to try it out.

Couldn't have said it better myself. This is exactly my plan. :)

[Mandy]

Mandy, if you like a real DPS class, you'll have much more fun with the Bright Wizard. One big difference between WOW and War is, that in War you can't specc out of your archtype (e.g there is no shadow form). So even if you specc damage you are a support class. I'm probalby going to specc dam/debuff myself, because so far I've always liked doing damage more than healing (I played a mage for three years in WoW).

I figured as such. I also played Mage in WoW as my first toon and main :) Then I got burned out on her from raiding and started my Priest, which I also got burned out on due to raiding (I never seem to learn, do I?).

If you like versatility, the AM will be fun to play I guess, they'll have some decent DPS, hopefully some vicked debuffs (mana drain = AP drain would come to mind), and still can heal. So you probalby they should be useful in all kind of situations.

That's what made spriest fun for me, the versatility. I can do just about anything on her in WoW, too bad I got worn out of the class! Hopefully I won't run into the same ordeal with AM should I choose to stick with it and do some endgame content.

But of course it can always turn out, that because of min/max factors (heal is better for renown than DPS), group pressure, screwed skills, you have to specc heal and "healbot" as an AM. If it's like that in the end I'll play an SW.

Me too; not in playing a SW but another class altogether ;) No healbotting for me. I wanna be as stress-free as possible, heh!

I wish the open beta would come sooner ._. I wanna try this stuff out already!

[Kaeldor]

One big really big difference is that the whole game is pvp based, so there won't be that much raid healbotting anyway.

Also they have things like enemy/friend targeting, which makes it easier to change from DPSing to healing, also people seem to not die as fast, which would also help.

But yeah, give us open beta ... now! ^.^

[Bierzgal]

One big really big difference is that the whole game is pvp based, so there won't be that much raid healbotting anyway.
Heh, let's stick to the WoW example cause it's good in this situation :P. Well I don't want to discourage you guys but in PVE after some argue the healing classes could try to do some damage. In PVP 75% of the healing classes HAD to heal if they wanted their raid/team to be successful. I'm an ex Marshal druid (from the good ol' days) and this was the only healing class that was suppose to spec hybrid/damage (I was hybrid due to NS instant heal). The rest... heh, if they specced dps they were mostly a bother to the raid/team and thats the truth... Retribution paladins and Ench shamans were a disaster imo (I know there were many of them there BUT if anyone knows how long can a healing paladin last while nuked will see my point). I liked to have a one shadow priest around (and did ^^) so he was quite a help (but ONE, no more).
This is about Battlegrounds (the closest example to teamwork RvR we can actually get i think = 10 vs. 10, 15 vs. 15). If the classes that could heal were healing... they were useful. Why to pick an dps paladin when he was so much worse than a wtfowningwithhisbigaxe Arms warrior :P?
That was the old days... And now? Almost ALL of the healing classes HAVE to heal in PvP (pvp = arenas). Druids, shamans, paladins, priests... damn all of them. If you want too be successful you have to spec as a healer. I was quite stubborn (+ was dpsing on the PvE raids) I stayed feral and... well I better not tell how many times I was pissed of cause of god-like-not-dying healers (a feral druids is like a rogue without Cooldowns :P). all my teammates were telling me to spec restoration heh... Good that i still owned in damage on raids :P. But here you have and example of an PvE-PvP situation. The dpsing healers were more wanted in PvE than PvP. The "PvP based game" is not such a good argument as you can think it is.
It's not about that the class will/or won't be able to give a solid nuke to the the enemies... It's about if it will have any sense. Dps healers probably do GREAT in 1 vs. 1 situations but it will be many vs. many game after all.

Btw. I REALLY hope I'm wrong and will give my apologies to all of you for posting all those discouraging things if it will turn out different :).

[murkrow]

Heh, let's stick to the WoW example cause it's good in this situation :P. Well I don't want to discourage you guys but in PVE after some argue the healing classes could try to do some damage. In PVP 75% of the healing classes HAD to heal if they wanted their raid/team to be successful. I'm an ex Marshal druid (from the good ol' days) and this was the only healing class that was suppose to spec hybrid/damage (I was hybrid due to NS instant heal). The rest... heh, if they specced dps they were mostly a bother to the raid/team and thats the truth... Retribution paladins and Ench shamans were a disaster imo (I know there were many of them there BUT if anyone knows how long can a healing paladin last while nuked will see my point). I liked to have a one shadow priest around (and did ^^) so he was quite a help (but ONE, no more).
This is about Battlegrounds (the closest example to teamwork RvR we can actually get i think = 10 vs. 10, 15 vs. 15). If the classes that could heal were healing... they were useful. Why to pick an dps paladin when he was so much worse than a wtfowningwithhisbigaxe Arms warrior :P?
That was the old days... And now? Almost ALL of the healing classes HAVE to heal in PvP (pvp = arenas). Druids, shamans, paladins, priests... damn all of them. If you want too be successful you have to spec as a healer. I was quite stubborn (+ was dpsing on the PvE raids) I stayed feral and... well I better not tell how many times I was pissed of cause of god-like-not-dying healers (a feral druids is like a rogue without Cooldowns :P). all my teammates were telling me to spec restoration heh... Good that i still owned in damage on raids :P. But here you have and example of an PvE-PvP situation. The dpsing healers were more wanted in PvE than PvP. The "PvP based game" is not such a good argument as you can think it is.
It's not about that the class will/or won't be able to give a solid nuke to the the enemies... It's about if it will have any sense. Dps healers probably do GREAT in 1 vs. 1 situations but it will be many vs. many game after all.

Btw. I REALLY hope I'm wrong and will give my apologies to all of you for posting all those discouraging things if it will turn out different :).

There's a few things you're ignoring.
Since WoW gear has given a DPS boost to healers, the druids/shamans have been able to help out in burst situations, the only reason they didn't beforehand was that it was entirely inefficient and ineffective for them to do so, in WAR the healers are designed to have some damage capability and we can assume their gear will help their damage ability scale enough to remain useful even if geared and specced as a healer.

WoW priests in arena mana burn almost as much as they heal, there is a lot more to playing an effective priest than simply healing.
WoW resto druids CC almost as much as they heal (well, a lot anyway)

archmages are designed to be a fantastic pvp healer because they will have a built up deposit of high magic (or whatever the magic you gain from healing will be called) which will allow them to help in the burst moments. Archmages who spec for damage will play a lot like priests do in wow (depending on comp), they will contribute offensively and then use their healing abilities to counter the opposing burst attempts.

[Bierzgal]

Well I was refering to damage - healing stricte situation in WoW. But yeah, it's true i did not mention about Mana burning, Fearing, Cycloning, Rooting, Feral charging etc. etc. (but that's not damage :P).
Well so or so I hope that Mythic will keep their promises and the careers won't change SO DAMN MUCH according to the talent tree that a player will chose. No matter what spec a Archamge has he is still an Archamge, not a wizzard or priest... hes an Archamage with some few other cool features from his talent tree. I look forward to this promise.

[Kaeldor]

Heh, let's stick to the WoW example cause it's good in this situation :P. Well I don't want to discourage you guys but in PVE after some argue the healing classes could try to do some damage. In PVP 75% of the healing classes HAD to heal if they wanted their raid/team to be successful. I'm an ex Marshal druid (from the good ol' days) and this was the only healing class that was suppose to spec hybrid/damage (I was hybrid due to NS instant heal). The rest... heh, if they specced dps they were mostly a bother to the raid/team and thats the truth... Retribution paladins and Ench shamans were a disaster imo (I know there were many of them there BUT if anyone knows how long can a healing paladin last while nuked will see my point). I liked to have a one shadow priest around (and did ^^) so he was quite a help (but ONE, no more).
This is about Battlegrounds (the closest example to teamwork RvR we can actually get i think = 10 vs. 10, 15 vs. 15). If the classes that could heal were healing... they were useful. Why to pick an dps paladin when he was so much worse than a wtfowningwithhisbigaxe Arms warrior :P?
That was the old days... And now? Almost ALL of the healing classes HAVE to heal in PvP (pvp = arenas). Druids, shamans, paladins, priests... damn all of them. If you want too be successful you have to spec as a healer. I was quite stubborn (+ was dpsing on the PvE raids) I stayed feral and... well I better not tell how many times I was pissed of cause of god-like-not-dying healers (a feral druids is like a rogue without Cooldowns :P). all my teammates were telling me to spec restoration heh... Good that i still owned in damage on raids :P. But here you have and example of an PvE-PvP situation. The dpsing healers were more wanted in PvE than PvP. The "PvP based game" is not such a good argument as you can think it is.
It's not about that the class will/or won't be able to give a solid nuke to the the enemies... It's about if it will have any sense. Dps healers probably do GREAT in 1 vs. 1 situations but it will be many vs. many game after all.

Btw. I REALLY hope I'm wrong and will give my apologies to all of you for posting all those discouraging things if it will turn out different :).

You misunderstood me. As I said before, you can't specc out of your archtype anyway, so yes healing is a must. What I meant is that in pvp, you have to do more than "healbotting", e.g. trying to stay alive, do some debuffing/buffing, CC, so it's less of a doing just heal, heal, heal (with heal rotations and whatnot) compared to pve. It doesn't have to do much damage, but it is often still more engaging than your typical raid (but that is true for other classes also).

Otherwise I agree with your post, and well arena specc were true for all classes sadly. I stayed a fire mage in the arena as long as it still made fun (and then stopped playing).

[ColdPhoenix]

@Bierzgal

That's not entirely true. Even in S2 I enjoyed great success as a shadow priest in 2v2 arenas (with my resto shaman friend). Not to mention, shadow priests were also (back when I quit at least) in great demand for 5v5s. The silence, mana return, minor hp return, physic scream, and mind control (most fun CC ever! :p) were killer.

But Kaeldor also brings up a great point. We won't be able to spec out of our archtype, so yes, we will be healing. And like murkrow said, priests in WoW arenas do MUCH more than just heal. For S3, I went to disc from shadow. (chastise was too fun to pass up) You would spend a lot of time healing, but you would also spend a lot of time mana burning. In fact, depending on match-ups, there were times when you would almost spend more of your time mana burning/mind controlling/etc (if you got the map with the bridge :)) than you would healing.

I'm imagining that the non-healing masteries will just add some extra non-healing versatility to the class. And yes, yet again, I politely demand open beta..... now. :)

[Kaeldor]

@Bierzgal

That's not entirely true. Even in S2 I enjoyed great success as a shadow priest in 2v2 arenas (with my resto shaman friend). Not to mention, shadow priests were also (back when I quit at least) in great demand for 5v5s. The silence, mana return, minor hp return, physic scream, and mind control (most fun CC ever! :p) were killer.

But Kaeldor also brings up a great point. We won't be able to spec out of our archtype, so yes, we will be healing. And like murkrow said, priests in WoW arenas do MUCH more than just heal. For S3, I went to disc from shadow. (chastise was too fun to pass up) You would spend a lot of time healing, but you would also spend a lot of time mana burning. In fact, depending on match-ups, there were times when you would almost spend more of your time mana burning/mind controlling/etc (if you got the map with the bridge :)) than you would healing.

I'm imagining that the non-healing masteries will just add some extra non-healing versatility to the class. And yes, yet again, I politely demand open beta..... now. :)

That's why I hope we AMs get a some nice debuffs like mana drain (AP drain), because damage isn't everything. You can have tons of fun with debuffs/cc without being a DPS monster. If they can give the AMs decent DPS, good healing and some nice debuff/cc, the AM will find enough fans. PVP espcially isn't all about DPS.

I think everone who pvps a lot can recall some great moments which have nothing to do with DPS. As a mage, a good timed counterspell, sheep, frost nova, were often so much better and more fun than what you could do with your DPS (although that was also fun *cougH*).

And I wholly endorse ColdPhoenix's polite demand.

[Mandy]

I feel like such a wimp when I say I was/am terribad at PvP in WoW *sigh*. I couldn't stand being CCed to death and not being able to do anything about it! I think my only moment of shining glory was during an AB battleground match and I Mind Controlled a rogue off the cliff at the Lumber Mill. He came after me a lot after that >>...

As for Priests in pvp, namely arenas, I didn't find them very fun, cause #1 I was shadow and only did 3v3 and 5v5. And I found shadow a terribly annoying spec to pvp as since a lot of the time I was healing! Why didn't I just spec Discipline or Holy? Well I didn't like PvP that much, that's why...especially in WoW.

Which comes to the question of...why is Mandy even trying out Warhammer? I like how it looks, the lore, the promise this game has. I'm not here for the pvp in specific however I have hopes that it'll help me enjoy it. I want to enjoy pvp and WAR seems to be the only hope I got right now.

Oh and yeah, go AM! Open beta nao plz!

[murkrow]

well...

you're going to be healing if you play an AM so...

have fun?

[Mandy]

I better have fun; if Mythic isn't going to try and get past the "healer type = healbot" stigma then WAR will face the same lack of healer power MMOs have simply based on the fact that healbotting is not fun for (most) people. Granted I have my doubts that AM will be forced into such a mold because of how it's stressed that AM will be a versatile class, you can't honestly say until playing it.

If it simply comes down to AM = too much healing for me, I'll pick something else. No loss.

[murkrow]

I better have fun; if Mythic isn't going to try and get past the "healer type = healbot" stigma then WAR will face the same lack of healer power MMOs have simply based on the fact that healbotting is not fun for (most) people. Granted I have my doubts that AM will be forced into such a mold because of how it's stressed that AM will be a versatile class, you can't honestly say until playing it.

If it simply comes down to AM = too much healing for me, I'll pick something else. No loss.

coming from playing AoC waiting for WAR, I hope they back down a bit on the whole "no healbotting" thing. Healbotting worked just fine because the few (like me) who really do enjoy healing can do it while the rest can DPS, giving healers the ability to DPS as well as heal means that you're likely to have tonnes of "healers" refusing to heal in groups as well as a very hard time balancing the support classes with others.

[Kaeldor]

coming from playing AoC waiting for WAR, I hope they back down a bit on the whole "no healbotting" thing. Healbotting worked just fine because the few (like me) who really do enjoy healing can do it while the rest can DPS, giving healers the ability to DPS as well as heal means that you're likely to have tonnes of "healers" refusing to heal in groups as well as a very hard time balancing the support classes with others.

Well, I hope not, because if this class will be just a healbot, then I won't play it, and probalby quite a few other think like that, which means you get even less healers.

I also can't see why someone who want's to do other things (like DPS) with their healer would automatically not heal at all. If the mechanic works your damage will make your heals better, and therefore you could contribute with your healing, not as much as a healer specc AM, but good enough.

Healbots would mean, that the AM wouldn't have anything really interesting in the damage and debuff mastery lines, which would really suck.

I'm pretty sure you can healbot if you want to play your AM like that, but that shouldn't be more efficient than someone who plays the AM as a nuker/healer.

[Verene]

If anyone's interested the poll has now exceeded 4000 votes and it's safe to say that the bulk of the voting is long since over.

Archmage is still the lowest rated class with 105 votes, 2 votes behind the Hammerer - a class that isn't even playable in the beta test at the moment, 5 behind the Witch Elf on 110 and 7 behind the Bright Wizard on 112. Shaman still tops the poll with 271 votes.

As we've already been over the results mean diddly squat.

...
<self indulgent banter>
Used to play Warlocks in WoW actually, 55 Gnome and then 60 Undead when I switched to the EU servers. This was long before any expansions, before any buffs to the class and before (as I frequently encountered) anyone knew what the hell the class was capable of. Which was nice, since it meant that anyone who tried to gank me while I was exping suffered a quick death, usually repeatedly... gankers don't tend to be good at seeing patterns.
</self indulgent banter>

<more self indulgent banter>
The point of the above is that the thing I enjoyed about the above mentioned class is that the utility allowed the player to outsmart their opponents which is what I hope to gain from this class. I want to have an answer to every challenge not in the form of some singular ability that allows me to grind each and every opponent down without thinking but a complex set of solutions to each problem I face. I want to deploy them one at a time, perhaps forcing the enemy to waste a crucial ability at the right moment and then turning their mistakes back on them until they weaken and fall. I want to be able to use my abilities to the full, to use every ounce of power fighting my foe so that should I die I'll know that I couldn't have done anything more.
</more self indulgent banter>

Actually the Warlock was always a bit broken and overpowered even then, there just weren't enough of them around for it to have been a major problem. I had basically one strategy worked out and people rarely seemed to have an answer to it - CC, 6 sec casting nuke + all my instants, CC, wait for timer to run down a bit, nukes, CC, DD+dot, other dot, instants if available. Summon a voidwalker, sacrifice it for a shield.

Ok, I'm done.

[wellsy]

coming from playing AoC waiting for WAR, I hope they back down a bit on the whole "no healbotting" thing. Healbotting worked just fine because the few (like me) who really do enjoy healing can do it while the rest can DPS, giving healers the ability to DPS as well as heal means that you're likely to have tonnes of "healers" refusing to heal in groups as well as a very hard time balancing the support classes with others.

You said it yourself; there are only a few people who enjoy healbotting.

The very idea of "no healbotting" isn't to stop or discourage people from healing, but to encourage them to do things beyond healing. You can healbot, but that means you won't be as good as someone who throws out a few nukes and debuffs, letting them get their buffs and heals more easily, and vice versa.

Essentially, it's a balance. You can spec in whatever way you like, but what I like about the Archmage is that they are the best at everything. Everything. They don't need to just heal - you really kick the lore in the crown jewels if you do that. Remember, Archmagi are the most proficient users of magic, second only to the Slann. In this game, that means they've got to do more than just heal. I don't want them to throw around DPS all the time either; their major strength is their versatility. They can combine the winds of magic in whatever way they please, for they are its masters.

Don't gimp the lore, and don't gimp the playing experiance of others, just to satisfy yourself. You can play your Archmage in whatever way you want, but I want to be able to balance myself, and become that annoying little thorn in the enemy's side that simply won't go away.

[murkrow]

You said it yourself; there are only a few people who enjoy healbotting.

The very idea of "no healbotting" isn't to stop or discourage people from healing, but to encourage them to do things beyond healing. You can healbot, but that means you won't be as good as someone who throws out a few nukes and debuffs, letting them get their buffs and heals more easily, and vice versa.

Essentially, it's a balance. You can spec in whatever way you like, but what I like about the Archmage is that they are the best at everything. Everything. They don't need to just heal - you really kick the lore in the crown jewels if you do that. Remember, Archmagi are the most proficient users of magic, second only to the Slann. In this game, that means they've got to do more than just heal. I don't want them to throw around DPS all the time either; their major strength is their versatility. They can combine the winds of magic in whatever way they please, for they are its masters.

Don't gimp the lore, and don't gimp the playing experiance of others, just to satisfy yourself. You can play your Archmage in whatever way you want, but I want to be able to balance myself, and become that annoying little thorn in the enemy's side that simply won't go away.

I have never at any point advocated a pure healer with no other utility. I want my archmage to be able to do damage. But I do not want archmages to have comparable damage output to DPS classes. If an archmage is given DPS equal to a DPS class then he will be forced to give up his crowd control/buff/debuff capabilities to preserve game balance. I have every faith in the devs to produce a set of well balanced classes and that is why I am pushing for a somewhat lower damage capability for the archmage. I am more than aware of the lore surrounding high magic, and that is part of why I want archmages to be doing quite a bit less damage than DPS classes, high magic is characterized by a control over magic, and I don't want the control capabilities of the archmage to be sacrificed for the cause of those people unable to be content without huge damage capability.

[Kaeldor]

I have never at any point advocated a pure healer with no other utility. I want my archmage to be able to do damage. But I do not want archmages to have comparable damage output to DPS classes. If an archmage is given DPS equal to a DPS class then he will be forced to give up his crowd control/buff/debuff capabilities to preserve game balance. I have every faith in the devs to produce a set of well balanced classes and that is why I am pushing for a somewhat lower damage capability for the archmage. I am more than aware of the lore surrounding high magic, and that is part of why I want archmages to be doing quite a bit less damage than DPS classes, high magic is characterized by a control over magic, and I don't want the control capabilities of the archmage to be sacrificed for the cause of those people unable to be content without huge damage capability.

You said something different in your first post "healbotting worked just fine for me". And no one advocated huge DPS, or DPS on a the same level of a BW anyway.

[wellsy]

I have never at any point advocated a pure healer with no other utility. I want my archmage to be able to do damage. But I do not want archmages to have comparable damage output to DPS classes. If an archmage is given DPS equal to a DPS class then he will be forced to give up his crowd control/buff/debuff capabilities to preserve game balance. I have every faith in the devs to produce a set of well balanced classes and that is why I am pushing for a somewhat lower damage capability for the archmage. I am more than aware of the lore surrounding high magic, and that is part of why I want archmages to be doing quite a bit less damage than DPS classes, high magic is characterized by a control over magic, and I don't want the control capabilities of the archmage to be sacrificed for the cause of those people unable to be content without huge damage capability.

We are in agreement over damage output (it shouldn't be anywhere near that of a DPSer). However, you did say healbotting is your preference, and that was what I responded to. And to me, healbotting indicates a desire to heal with little to no other utility.

Perhaps it means differently to you. No matter. We've not seen much substance on the Archmage since its reveal.

Maybe the upcoming newsletter might yield some info on the recluses of Saphery.

[Howley]

tbh at this point i just want the archmage to play similar to my druid in DAOC :) negating spell effects, interrupting or hassling other support/casters and ofc keeping my grp alive and knowing i played well to keep them all alive!

/cry i miss my druid! ;)

[Karelian]

So, it's the 10th of June and with 3635 votes into the poll so far we are looking to be the least played class at launch (if the game launched tomorrow and everyone was telling the truth and the forum users who took the poll were actually representative of the true player base which of course it aint).

Only a paltry 96 votes have so far gone to us followed closely by the Bright Wizard on 97 and the Hammerer on 99.

Oddly enough the class with the most votes at the moment is our mirror class the Goblin Shaman with 249 which together with the fact that we share the bottom of the list with Order's main nuking class leads me to the conclusion that the poll isn't worth the drive space it's stored on. Not that I expect the Archmage to be a popular choice come launch by any means. Weak, proud, healer/caster type, skinny, thin wrists - makes me wonder why I chose them at all.

Any thoughts?

Link to the poll here (http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38841)

I'd say the poll means nothing, the amount of people in the poll wouldn't even fill a server, let alone tell you the full results.

But more importantly, the people in the poll are ones who have been following the game for a long time and most likely have seen nearly everything released so far and Mythic has been hyping Destruction in general and Greenskins specifically.

But once "the masses" get into the game, I believe Order will be very popular and High Elves among the most popular races in the game as a whole.

[Gure]

looking at the poll a week later it looks pretty balanced to me i mean no one is more then 5% ahead of anyone else and with 4000 votes and nearly 800,000 beta applicants i doubt this is accurate to the voice of the whole WAR comunity

[Howley]

but we are last by 0.2% which i think i like atm seen as they seem to be a big support char if specced that way and also dish out the damage if specced dps ..

[Dastion]

Keep in mind that that poll was rather silly. I mean, it's asking a group of people who choose a "favorite" out of a list of options most of them have never experienced first hand. You really can't base much off of that, especially when the Archmage was given such a poor career/mechanic description (The one on WarhammerOnline.com) It's a complaint I had long before getting into beta so I'm not basing it on any actual knowledge. Actually, my complaint was more like, "WTF happened to Drain Magic?" (I'm sure my thread is still around here somewhere heh).

Meanwhile, you have careers with awesome descriptions, the mutating marauder, the melee DPS with a pet (something I've only ever seen in EQ1), and, of course, the Melee Healers that appeal to the masses of DPSers who want the ability to heal themselves and support their allies(Or not support them, another rant I've had for a long time).

Really, in a situation like that how does essentially saying "He's an elf that's really good at magic..but he's a healer and not actually any more powerful than other casters" match up? It takes a unique sorta person to be able to read between the lines and to keep up with the gamesday information in order to get a better idea what the career will be like.

A poll like that should really have waited until the NDA was dropped, I'm sure Garth will do another once people can form a more informed opinion.

[Azerael Daemon]

The more i learn about the game, the more i find myself attracted to the High Elves. It's likely others will do the same.

[Dostum]

I don't mind. My best possible server is a server with few in my class, where Order are outnumbered by 2:1 and the server should be with a high population. Always more fun to lose/win with less numbers.

Being over-populated would suck.

[KaosShaman]

AH the archmage is third to last in front if WH and WitchElf

[Enelysios]

AH the archmage is third to last in front if WH and WitchElf

I understand the witch elf, i think destruction will be hurting anyway because of all the gender restrictions (All orcs, witch elves, chosen. half their careers are gender locked) but why is the witch hunter so low? I mean, awesome hat, jackets and he wields a rapier and a gun. if I didn't dislike playing MDPS so much, he would be my dream class. people clearly don't mind melee DPS either, they always seem to be the most common characters.

[Exacerberus]

I understand the witch elf, i think destruction will be hurting anyway because of all the gender restrictions (All orcs, witch elves, chosen. half their careers are gender locked) but why is the witch hunter so low? I mean, awesome hat, jackets and he wields a rapier and a gun. if I didn't dislike playing MDPS so much, he would be my dream class. people clearly don't mind melee DPS either, they always seem to be the most common characters.But come on!!: if they weren't given that horrible Hat, I wouldn't even remember that they exist!! :D
And this, is the only stealth ability they will ever get. :p

[Enelysios]

But come on!!: if they weren't given that horrible Hat, I wouldn't even remember that they exist!! :D
And this, is the only stealth ability they will ever get. :p

A flintlock and a rapier is officially the best weapon combo in any MMO ever made. Ever.

[iusedtoplayWoW]

From what I've seen Bright Wizard is the least played on most polls.

[Dakkar]

I understand the witch elf, i think destruction will be hurting anyway because of all the gender restrictions (All orcs, witch elves, chosen. half their careers are gender locked) but why is the witch hunter so low? I mean, awesome hat, jackets and he wields a rapier and a gun. if I didn't dislike playing MDPS so much, he would be my dream class. people clearly don't mind melee DPS either, they always seem to be the most common characters.


Its more than likely due to the fact that Mythic has finally gotten the support and casting aspects of the game right. With the huge variation of classes and the innovative mechanics behind caster classes its no surprise that melee dps is less popular than in preceding titles (namely WoW) where classes such as rogues reigned supreme.

I for one am elated by Mythic's creativity in that they finally got everything to mesh so well that a player will feel free to try any number of classes as they will not be restricted by mindsets or mechanic familiarity.

Bravo to you Mythic for putting so much into this game. We can only hope that the class balance lasts well into release.

[Verene]

It wouldn't be unreasonable to credit this post for the raise in rankings of the Archmage, since the poll has essentially ended for everyone else and anyone viewing it from here would be more likely to vote Archmage.

One thing that is amusing about the poll is that the top 6 are all Destruction classes with more than 200 votes each and not one of the Order classes has yet to break 200 votes. This is due to the Order votes being more even across all the classes and there being more of a skew in the destruction voting towards certain classes but still, it's good to feel like the underdog sometimes.

[Awok]

Marauder > Archmage. Thin wrists.

Ill CC you to Death :P ! and Use lewt hacks ! and stuff

[McLoven]

Comming from AoC, playing a Tempest of Set (Archmage class) I am scared to play an Archmage. ToS was way OP at release and have been nerfed into a healbot. Hope War is different, I will roll an archmage alt and a ruinpriest main

[Exacerberus]

Comming from AoC, playing a Tempest of Set (Archmage class) I am scared to play an Archmage. ToS was way OP at release and have been nerfed into a healbot. Hope War is different, I will roll an archmage alt and a ruinpriest main<--- I'm surely gonna roll one of those too :|

[Awok]

<--- I'm surely gonna roll one of those too :|

Bleh hahaha TOS was never nerfed to ... people just couldent deal with the Stormfield nerf...

Speaking of Archmage... yea i gotta agreee there but its not gonna be a healbot... after AOC mythic can feel the stench of failure... so they are busting thier arsses off to make sure works... be course most people who played AOC are giving this a try...

to be to be polite lets just say they are less durable this time ;)

[Gish]

That poll is in no way indicative of what people are going to actually play, and even if it was it won't affect your gameplay experience as an archmage, I hope we will be valued highly actually!

[Awok]

That poll is in no way indicative of what people are going to actually play, and even if it was it won't affect your gameplay experience as an archmage, I hope we will be valued highly actually!

i tottaly agree....

[CaelumArisen]

the poll is wrong... there are a ton of every HE class

[Celd]

After playing in DAOC RvR and reading the recent preNDA article over at Massively, I think the Archmage is going to be a real fun class. Healing is great, but dotting on the run with instas ;) Anyone who played DAOC will tell you that in RvR/PvP being able to cast while moving is always a plus. Just look at the first five levels in that article...lev 2 Insta Dot, Lev 4 Intsa dot..and they stack. In massive battles you can go around applying dots to every enemy you see...or take a look at lev 5 spell concentration type dot...you see an enemy tank fighting one of your own tanks...Dot, Dot, Concentrate dot and at level 5 you just did 439 damage to the enemy tank in 6 secs and some dots are still running after that if the enemy is even still alive. If this ramps up with level then I think this will be a fun class with DD, Dots, Heals, and some debuffs/buffs. I plan on def trying this class out in beta. I also like the Engineer and Ruinmaster, and for that matter Brightwizard and WhiteLion...so many good interesting classes so I am hoping beta will give me the time to narrow everything down.

[Celd]

After playing in DAOC RvR and reading the recent preNDA article over at Massively, I think the Archmage is going to be a real fun class. Healing is great, but dotting on the run with instas ;) Anyone who played DAOC will tell you that in RvR/PvP being able to cast while moving is always a plus. Just look at the first five levels in that article...lev 2 Insta Dot, Lev 4 Intsa dot..and they stack. In massive battles you can go around applying dots to every enemy you see...or take a look at lev 5 spell concentration type dot...you see an enemy tank fighting one of your own tanks...Dot, Dot, Concentrate dot and at level 5 you just did 439 damage to the enemy tank in 6 secs and some dots are still running after that if the enemy is even still alive. If this ramps up with level then I think this will be a fun class with DD, Dots, Heals, and some debuffs/buffs. I plan on def trying this class out in beta. I also like the Engineer and Ruinmaster, and for that matter Brightwizard and WhiteLion...so many good interesting classes so I am hoping beta will give me the time to narrow everything down.