In one of the recent steams, Joppa clarified that each class will be able to flex into 1 secondary role. With that in mind and making the following 2 assumptions:
That there will (eventually) be 3 classes for each primary role, except damage which will have more than 3
That each of the 3 classes for each primary role will have a different flex role
I tried to determine how this might play out. Here are my thoughts:
Tank Primary:
Warrior: flex into support
Paladin: flex into heal
Dire Lord: flex into damage
Heal Primary:
Cleric: flex into tank
Shaman: flex into support
Druid: flex into damage
Support Primary:
Necromancer: flex into heal
Bard: flex into tank
Enchanter: flex into damage(?)
Damage Primary:
Rogue: flex into support
Monk: flex into tank
Ranger: flex into support(?)
Summoner: flex into tank
Wizard: maybe flex into support(?)
I think the primary tank and healer flex roles make the most sense. Paladin has heals, so flex into healer. Dire Lord would likely be the most damage oriented tank, so flexes into damage. Warrior has banners and formations, so support. Cleric is wearing plate, so flexes into tank. Shaman have historically been about buffing in many MMOs, so support. And damage makes sense for the Druid to flex into.
After that things get more speculative. I would think the Necromancer would be the most likely support class to be able to flex into healing. Bards will have the best armor of the support primary classes, so flexing into tank makes some sense. Enchanter flexing into damage is something that has never really been discussed, but makes more sense than healing or tanking (maybe charming something makes it harder for the Enchanter to perform their support role? Thus flexing into DPS while using charm).
We already know that Rogues will flex into support. A Monk flexing into a tank role is logical. Also, a Summoner's earth pet flexing into tanking seems reasonable too. Beyond that things get really hard to guess. It seems that none of the damage primary classes would have any ability to flex into healing. I guess it would be possible the Summoner's water pet might be able to heal the party instead of just other acramentals, so that could be their flex role instead of tank. Rangers have some healing in many other MMO's, but I don't see that listed in this one. Rangers have some abilities that could be considered support listed on their class page, so I'm leaning towards that. As for Wizards, I have no idea. Both tanking and healing seem out, so support I guess, but there is nothing on their class page that would indicate even that.
Disclaimer - my second assumption might be completely wrong, in which case this whole process is a complete waste of everyone's time. Sorry in advance if that turns out to be the case.
Anyone have any thoughts on this as a concept? Or thoughts on why a particular class should be able to flex into a specific role?
Well to start, and I may be wrong or remembering a different stream, but I believe Joppa said that "some" classes will be able to flex into a different role, for a very short period of time.
That said, we're all just waiting around for Alpha (or Beta or Release) and this has been a popular subject for theorycrafting, so you're not really wasting time as long as you enjoy it :)
An interesting way to group the Classes for me is to define 3 Primary Ranged Damage Classes and 3 Primary Melee Damage Classes (just to keep the trio theme working). I just include Ranger in both groups, since he can do both. Theoretically, with equal viability.
So, I agree with your breakdown of the Tanks best flex choice.
I also agree with your choices for all the DPS Primary Classes. (Wizard actually has some support abilities)
And with your choice for Cleric. I disagree with your roles for Shaman & Druid. I would reverse them.
I base my choice on the abilities we know about, rather than their historical roles. Currently, I believe Shaman has nearly twice as many 'harmful' abilities if you count offensive debuffs and putting an enemy into a vulnerable State, than a Druid has. He also wears heavier armor and can wield piercing weapons as well as bludgeon weapons like the Druid. Additionally, Druid has 1 (or maybe 2) Roots that also do damage to the rooted mob. Shaman has no CC that I know of.
I agree with you on Enchanter. But I'm not so sure about Bard or Necro. Of course we know the least about them.
I don't actually agree with your second assumption, about each Class of a role having a different flex. So I think Necro and/or Bard could wind up in healing if they have those abilities. Or both winding up in damage, otherwise. If there's nobody else in plate, then yes tank for Bard. My experience with Bard is all from Vanguard. My Bard could put healing and/or harmful elements into his songs. So I keep that possibility open until VR tells us otherwise.
By my count, that's 10 of the 14 we agree on. Good Job!
Welcome to the forums and hope to see you ingame some day soon.
Enoden said:Tank Primary:
Warrior: flex into support
Paladin: flex into heal
Dire Lord: flex into damage
Heal Primary:
Cleric: flex into tank
Shaman: flex into support
Druid: flex into damage
Support Primary:
Necromancer: flex into heal
Bard: flex into tank
Enchanter: flex into damage(?)
Damage Primary:
Rogue: flex into support
Monk: flex into tank
Ranger: flex into support(?)
Summoner: flex into tank
Wizard: maybe flex into support(?)
If I were developing the game I would go with these similar speculated flex roles, with the exception of a couple:
I would swap SHM and DRU since "support" role in this game focuses on a combination of Crowd Control and resource (mana/stamina/essence/etc) replenishment.
I would remove Ranger from any flex "roles" since they can not just flex (temporary/limited), but actually perform at both melee and range (theoretically) - they should be a highly desired "consistent" DPS contributor for this reason. I personally would also give the RGR stealth similar to the ROG while outdoors.
I agree totally with your tank flex-role assumptions, those make sense for the class as I understand those classes with my own pre-conceived biases of those classes. Should VR come up with somehting else, so be it.
for Heal primary, I think druid should also flex into support rather than damage. I can definitely see the cleric "sacrificing" and becoming a living shield to protect everyone at the risk of themselves. Not doing any damage, but "preventing harm" in a tank capacity. Like annoying the monster with aggro so much (through dogma?) that they are inscenced and want to shut the cleric up.
Support : Bard flex into alt support. Just me, but bards- I think- should be (in pantheon) the neediest of all classes. From a player perspective they will be the hardest class to play and only played by the most astute RL players (like how the dark side, or horde was chosen by mature players in WoW or SoTWR). Can they heal? sort of, by rousing the team with inspiration they ignore their wounds- the wounds still kill but the beat goes on. Can they off-tank? not really, but they can distract for a little with ledgerdemain or...theatrics...or costume changes that frighten or amaze for a moment before the mystery is broken (like the fourth wall or frost on the screen *ahem* dont want any of that in RL)
Chanter flex into damage? yes. Psychological damage. Like a mosquito sprayed with "off", the monster finds itself repelled from itself. Or sees things in a new light m charmed etc all that good stuff.
Damage primary. Here I agree but here I think there should be hybrid and class only. By that I mean: a wizard is a wizard. Tough beans. Nothing but a glass cannon but what a cannon!. Summoner hybrid penalty? absolutely Summoner to tank and summoner to alt flex to healer for summoned i.e. summoner flexes one and a half ways and it hybridly punished for being able to do so. Fun to play, sure, but have to deal. Summoner and wizard combo? -there was a Mob there a second ago...
Monk should flex into healer. To me that just fits with my biases. In battle, alone most of the time, has to heal themselves and channel their Chi (one must not disrupt the flow of "chi" like in feng shui. I knew an IT guy named Chi once, kept saying "one must not disrupt the flow of chi" to him whenever he helped me, he didnt get it. And feng shui was a popular thing at the time!). I want to see amonk bind wounds like a Mofo in battle.
Manouk said:Support : Bard flex into alt support.
Monk should flex into healer.
These would be cool, but I believe these two are already confirmed that the BRD primary role will be support and the monk will be flex tank. Rogue flex support has also been confirmed, but the rest are speculative as far as I know (to include Bard's flex - Tank flex makes sense to me since they are confirmed to wear plate and will be the only support primary role that is melee... ENC flex DPS with charm pets and Necro flex heals with lifesteal synergizes). Of course this is all assuming that all classes will flex; which some very well may not :(
