I havnt played all MMOs, so maybe there some out there that done well without the traditional Class combat design. New World is one of the newest kids on the block that has done this, but seeing how the complaints and changes are there, it clearly wasnt a success.
Even some games have classes but you mix and match them to make a class, like in Archeage. The combat was extremely boring for me and unbalanced. So many skills seem similar or useless.
But what post WoW MMO has done it in a good way in yall opinion
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
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I'm probably in the minority in saying this but I used to like how the original Secret World used to handle it. It was a bit clunky, I'll admit, but it did have a lot of potential and if you figured out a good build (for pve at least) then it was easy to get sucked into everything else the game had to offer. Plus it was a modern day themed mmorpg which is still pretty rare to this day, so I guess I give the game bonus points for that. I dont really care much for Secret World Legends however.
I also don't think much of the Legends reboot but I liked a lot about the original and especially the weapon combos for creating your own class,
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Philosophy of MMO Game Design
It's hard to say without specific data as to how SWL was received overall in comparison to TSW. Discontent is expressed with more volume and frequency than satisfaction and ambivalence. and a good many don't publicly opine at all. That minority could be larger as some suggest, or smaller than they like to believe.
One can also say that having trees can in the end restrict players far more because optimal tree choices always emerge and funnel people to that choice by subtle pressures in groups. Just because you can pick from a large number of trees does not mean there aren't clear choices that end up becoming the norm and hence limiting in its own way.
Project Gorgon is also based on skill choice if I am not mistaken.
I mean DDO might come close, but, it's a class based system, even if it has the ability to mix classes and trees, it's still, technically a class based game.
It's all EASY...... The game almost plays for you, turn it on, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the action
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Yea, it's not important... when all you play is easy content.
It all matters if striving to optimize for difficult content.