All classes have some degree of utility. But the Dire Lord is primarily a tank class. They specifically specialize in tanking against magic-based encounters. So if you are up against a Wizard boss, then yes, people would probably be wondering why you're not tanking. Otherwise, an off-tank might suit them. Although I'm sure most DLs would be capable of tanking almost any encounter if you play it right. With that said, DLs do a bit more damage than the other tank classes. They are able to use their abilities by drawing as much blood out of their enemies as possible, which means they need to do a lot of damage. They will almost never use shields and instead either dual wield or use a 2H slashing weapon. Again, it might not be as much as a dedicated DPS class. You'll usually be going head-to-head with the enemies, but at least you can feel like you're doing more than just absorbing hits while doing it.
Grimseethe said:dorotea said:It is quite basic to class design that you should not have any class significantly better than other classes that perform the same role. If a heavy armour class takes less damage but also does equal or more damage why would anyone want to play the medium or light armour classes?
Turning to direlords - I think you can expect major problems finding groups if you take a class that hopefully will do lower damage than any of the damage classes and trying to be a damage dealer. Using classes in ways that aren't intended and that make your character significantly weaker can be fun - many of us do that from time to time - but it goes far better in solo content where you aren't dragging a group down and maybe causing wipes and death penalties.
I hope that there will be enough solo content to let you do that (yes this is a group-focused game but there will also be solo content and raids) but trying to force a low-DPS class into groups as a damage dealer may not end well for you.
I just want something that is the equivalent of a warrior in WOW.Duel weild melee dps that isnt a rogue.
Warriors in WoW are far from balanced. Once upon a time (Early Burning Crusade) they were just tanks. Granted they had a DPS stance but they usually were not great DPS (despite having a few moments in the sun). They hold a mob's attention while everyone else kills it. But then enough tank players complained that they couldn't solo effectively so Blizzard buffed tanks' and healers' DPS alike. Don't expect that same treatment in Pantheon. Tanks are tanks, DPS are DPS, healers are healers (and Enchanters are pure awesome).
Akilae said:Grimseethe said:dorotea said:It is quite basic to class design that you should not have any class significantly better than other classes that perform the same role. If a heavy armour class takes less damage but also does equal or more damage why would anyone want to play the medium or light armour classes?
Turning to direlords - I think you can expect major problems finding groups if you take a class that hopefully will do lower damage than any of the damage classes and trying to be a damage dealer. Using classes in ways that aren't intended and that make your character significantly weaker can be fun - many of us do that from time to time - but it goes far better in solo content where you aren't dragging a group down and maybe causing wipes and death penalties.
I hope that there will be enough solo content to let you do that (yes this is a group-focused game but there will also be solo content and raids) but trying to force a low-DPS class into groups as a damage dealer may not end well for you.
I just want something that is the equivalent of a warrior in WOW.Duel weild melee dps that isnt a rogue.
Warriors in WoW are far from balanced. Once upon a time (Early Burning Crusade) they were just tanks. Granted they had a DPS stance but they usually were not great DPS (despite having a few moments in the sun). They hold a mob's attention while everyone else kills it. But then enough tank players complained that they couldn't solo effectively so Blizzard buffed tanks' and healers' DPS alike. Don't expect that same treatment in Pantheon. Tanks are tanks, DPS are DPS, healers are healers (and Enchanters are pure awesome).
Honestly you should revise your history.
Warriors were great DPS from classic to now when they implemented bloodthirst as an ultimate skill tree, all they needed was good gear because back then most classes scaled linear with gear while the warrior had an exponential scaling. That made them pretty shitty undergeared, balanced with an average gear, and dominating with bad gear, all this due to crit synergy with damage and rage generation, and raw damage scaling on rage generation as well.
It's not the main subject however, as it made them paper tanks to focus on DPS gear. I think the post you quoted intended "EQ warrior" more than wow warrior, where you would just tank with any weapon set and shields weren't favored until much more later.