WoW is a Complex Game
After a lot of discussions about Class vs. Skill for characters in MMO's before the AGC, and a few follow up's since then on balance, I thought it would be worthwhile to point out what I thought was pretty obvious from playing WoW. Anyone who plays WoW competitively will know that the game is not simplistic. Rob Pardo's speech tried to underscore the importance of having a small set of classes to enable balance, enhancement, internationalization and "polish". Those all don't depend on simplicity, at least for WoW. Let's review why.
WoW has 9 classes. There is no advancement beyond them. You can only ever be one of those classes. That keeps things simple, but there is extra complexity. There's 3 talent trees, three areas of specialization and extra abilities that come with each class. Each class has 3 inventories a player can choose from as they advance. The point is that these talents enable players to specialize in certain areas of performance. For example, the Paladin talents are divided into "Holy", "Protection", and "Retribution". One tree gives improved healing, defense, and attack. These talent decisions then become very important. Since there is a small number of classes there is always a limited number of tactics a group has to have to overcome important (raid) encounters. This means that the composition of a group with certain classes sometimes has to have certain talent specializations as well. Good example are Druids who have a specialization in "Feral" (for tanking) or "Restoration" (for healing) -- depending on how a player has specialized they will get invited to certain groups for certain encounters. A more recent and funny example is Cartman's disgust at Kyle's "arcane/fire" specialization as a mage.
9 classes with 3 talent categories with 51 points available from levels 10 to 60. So that's 9 areas of first possible choice, and then there's 3 areas of choice with 51 individual decisions possible from within those categories. We can compute a lot of permutations from that. So advancement is rewarded with choice, with customization. That's another Blizzard insight.
But it doesn't end there. As players advance they can choose the specialization their class will have, respec if they wish (there is a cost to throttle this choice too many times), but once someone has hit 60 this complexity would seem to end. But of course for a lot of players that's when the game begins at 60. The end game of raid encounters is underpinned by a new game of equipment acquisition. The raid gear rewards are the best in the game, and the collection game really sustains people's further advancement. Players want to next work at collecting entire sets of equipment. And this becomes an other level of choice. To gain access to certain raid zones a player needs to already have collected sets of high end gear. A lot of raiding guilds will not accept new members who can't already arrive fully equipped. Getting the right gear, choosing the right raids... this equipment collection is not just an end game but it's an other way of customizing a person's character. Equipment is an other way of playing and enabling future play in the game for a player. Equipment is an other kind of decision. And of course there is more with factional reputation and quest access ("attunement") all sorts of mechanics to keep the game moving with a lot of variety.
If you think about it WoW follows the whole design of rewarding advancement with increasing customization. Having 9 classes and sticking to a design of just "classes" may enable balance, enhancement, internationalization and "polish", but it wouldn't guarantee a fun game. By letting players improve their characters through customization and specialization from advancement -- making complexity itself a reward of the game -- this fosters a complex game. EQ and EQ2 does this with Achievement points and equipment somewhat, and Eve does it as well sort of. But the real superiority of Blizzard's design is that complexity is available through advancement. It's gradual. "Easy to learn, difficult to master" is how Blizzard/Pardo have characterized their design philosophy and it's throughout their whole advancement model.
posted by Tide @ Monday, October 09, 2006
3 Comments:
Perhaps. But compared to something like Shadowbane, in terms of character building/templating, class balance, combat, and resource management, WoW is child's play.
I have to disagree, and even wonder how much WoW you've played? I mean that as an honest question, I haven't been around your blog for very long.
No one I've heard would use the word "customization" in a positive sense about WoW. Blizzard has done a great job of giving gradual rewards and complexity in encounters, but customization? If anything, characters become increasingly the same as they progress.
The talent system is great, but it's about min/maxing, not customizing. People really enjoy seeing how much value they can get from different talents, but in the end there is strong agreement as to what talent specs are "correct", and with good reason.
Gear is even more so. In a recent talk, perhaps the one you reference, Blizzard themselves spell out how the tier gear sets are intended to give immediate feedback as to how far a character has progressed. Collecting gear, particularly in raids, is a straight and unbranching path. Almost every item has an optimal class and every class has an optimal item for almost every slot.
For any given level, any stage of end-game advancement, a well read player can spell out exactly what talents and gear you should have, with only minor variations. You can certainly choose to go your own way, but as someone who does I can tell you that I know I'm sacrificing a lot of character capability. I do it in spite of the game mechanics, not because of them.
Blizzard didn't "miss the mark" on customization, they deliberatly chose to prioritize accessibility, tactical transparency and above all a never ending stream of crystal clear goals. And whether you think that's a good thing or a bad thing, at least they did it *well*.
yeah you're right -- as people advance they get their options narrowed. My whole point was to highlight from earlier arguments by other people in late Aug. that the Blizzard model is not simplistic. It's not just 9 classes, and no skills or limited player expertise. There may not be great customization, like you're suggesting, but there is a lot of choice available. And that choice may be narrowed but there are several decision points that increase in number as you advance. It may be a min/max thing, like old SWG, but that's still something players can modify as the game changes. They can flip their talent set to FOTM, like Rogue's recently did. You don't have that scope of choices in other games like CxO or GW, at least IMO. And I don't disagree, about their implementation. Thanks.
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