gofortheko said:
Warhammer - Warrior Priest - Loved the whole good melee damage, to funnel health into the party.
I played a Disciple of Khaine in Warhammer Online. (Which is the Dark Elf version of a Warrior Priest for those of you not familiar with the game). The DoK had a similar but not exact same kit of spells and abilities, and they dual wielded swords instead of a hammer. I really enjoyed the meaningful melee damage as well, with passive healing to your defensive target. It was really a unique idea for a healer class, at least in my experience. There was also an option to gear for pure "caster" and spam a casted group heal that was a bit more like a traditional healer, no single target casted heal though from what I remember.
I was really a big fan of the way Warhammer Online did their classes in general. Each faction (Order and Destruction) had "mirror" classes that were similar, yet had some differences. So it was generally balanced, but each class felt unique and tailored to the race it belonged to. Another good example would be a Chaos Magus vs a Dwarven Engineer. The magus summoned stationary demons and the Dwarf crafted stationary turrets, each serving similar functions.
Everquest - Woodelf Ranger: We were garbage prior to Planes of Power but those of us that carried the bow and swords continued to persevere until we came into our own with Endless Quiver and Archery Mastery. The class has gone from melee to physical ranged back to melee. THrough all these different phases of the EQ ranger, I always felt happy when logging onto my toon. Maybe it was the endless "Ranger Down!" comments or the countless hours LFG when we were a horrid DPS class, but those memories of pain really made me grow attached to this underdog class.
Easily Summoner and Blue Mage in Final Fantasy XI. I would never want Pantheon to try to emulate them, because they are so quintessentially Final Fantasy in concept; but man the act of going out and slaying the avatars to win the chance to summon them, or alternatively going out and hunting down the hundred different beast spells was such an amazing levelling experience.
Wood Elf Ranger in EverQuest. There was a certain pride in being chosen to take the DTs...lol. I really only played before PoP, and while I'll admit things were rough before Kunark, I was really pleased with my Sizzling Swords of Ownage (also known as Earthcaller and Swiftwind). Once I got those, I really felt pretty powerful. I was then able to solo (carefully) for EXP thanks to my slow proc and ridiculous haste. I also started stacking STR/ATK at that point and found my DPS was pretty good...just hard to DPS when dead, and it took some skill not to pull aggro. I've long since moved on from Rangers (unless Pantheon's Ranger blows me away), but I'll always remember my first love.
Necromancy-specced Cleric in DDO. I loved being able to both give and take life. I was the one that decided who lived and who died. I could kill most mobs before they even had a chance to damage my party, but if they did, I'd be more than capable of recovering the lost health.
So many MMOs, with so many classes! As I got more and more analytical about classes, I got more stringent on what I enjoyed and what mechanically made a class enjoyable. Was it something that was fun for 15 minutes, or was it fun for hours on end? Was it enjoyable when soloing? What about in groups or raids?
Shadow Knight (EverQuest) – I look back at the class now and groan a little bit, but at the time and with the lore provided, it was great. Even though I ran ranger fan-sites in the past, the shadow knight was my first EverQuest class I played. Having spent countless hours in Diablo, I wanted to play a character in heavy armor, but I also wanted access to spells. I fought so hard to reach level 9 (I was 12 years old at the time), and was so happy when I got my first lifetap. It felt incredible.
Having played on P1999 over the last few years, I still enjoy the class. I can solo fairly well, and I can be useful in a group as either the primary tank or support. Need an off-tank? Need snares and debuffs? Need a puller? I can do those things. Heck, I can do a little bit of damage (bashes for 5 damage). Maybe not the best, but enough to help round out the group.
Dread Knight (Vanguard) – Taking what made the Shadow Knight in EverQuest great and cranking it to 11. Dreadful Countenance was a fantastic mechanic that I hope is replicated in some way for Pantheon. It really embodied the idea of a growing sense of fear in the enemy. Plus, blocking with a two-hander? Way too cool.
Death Knight (World of Warcraft) – Bear with me, WoW haters. Over the last 8 years, I firmly believe that the Death Knight is one of the best produced classes to find itself in an MMO. There are tons of really cool classes when it comes to lore, but many of them just don’t hit the mark when it comes to execution. The idea of a class managing two resource pools is what I loved about Vanguard – endurance and manage. Sure other games had similar features, but it was the player’s choice (typically) to decide what one needs to be used at that very moment. Additionally, managing cooldowns felt rewarding. Mess up? You’re probably going to die. Sure, nothing new when it comes to MMOs but it was the fact I had more than 1 or 2 that made it entertaining. Do I use my big cooldown, or can I use this weaker one for now? Do I need to let up on dealing damage and threat to reactively heal? Do I need to proactively heal by building up an absorption shield? So many options. And for me, options is what makes a game fun. That’s why I fell in love with the original Shadow Knight. I could fit multiple roles, and go about each role slightly differently.
Okay. Aside from “the guy in armor who may be lawful evil”, I also very much enjoyed the
Blood Mage (Vanguard) – As others mentioned, this was truly a unique class. And while I have a large affinity for those knights, the Blood Mage may still be on the top of the list in terms of fun factor. I won’t repeat what others said, but this class was a complete surprise and one of Vanguard’s secret gems.
Can't disagree with the Sith Sorc in SWTOR.... looked damn cool. But I really enjoyed my friar from DAoC. Basically a bo-staff-wielding, leather-armored, cleric-type toon, but I really like using a staff. Made me feel like I was playing a less selfish version of Matrim Cauthon from Wheel of Time, not that Matrim was really selfish, he just kind of wanted to be.
Since my favorite game ever made does not have a class system i have to say Blader in Black Desert.. i love mobility in games over everything else so rogue, ninja or monk like chars with mobility is my favorite but its not a common class so i have played alot of necros/warlocks since thats another favorite of mine..