Role-Playing or Playing a Role?

[froma]

Before every major role-playing game, be it online or the ever diminishing single player, half of the pre-release hype is about what types of characters players want to be. After seeing this time and time again, I began thinking about this process of preselection derived from pure speculation. How do people, including myself, know what class they want to play while knowing hardly anything about a game? How many of us actually follow through with this choice? Where do we start first, class or race?

It seems like class selection is the most important, as it is the more particular of the two. For the most part, I would say that there are two key reasons (neither being more “correct” than the other) for picking your class; who you are and who you want to be. The latter is rooted within the very foundations of these games, role-playing. The appeal of any good RPG is finding oneself in a fantastical situation with a different pair of shoes on. Those who thrive off of these situations often generate characters that are, at times, quite different than themselves to exaggerate the fantasy world they are playing in. No, not all Shadow Knights are amoral beings who practice the dark arts, not all female characters are truly female - despite what some want you to think - and not every Shaman in WoW is overpowered in real life. On the other side of things, there are players who consider their personality, play style and interests to choose a specific role. Patient players may tend towards the meditative casting classes while those who are possibly more action oriented will most likely choose a straightforward melee class. If one is more interested in helping others as opposed to harming anyone, they may be the most content playing a healer. By no means does this imply that the (class) decision making process is black and white, but I’d like to think that one of these two factors forms the groundwork of our selections more than the other.

The choice of race tends to fall into those to categories as well.

I find myself more of an advocate of the second example when it comes to picking my class. I primarily think of how I want to interact with a group before deciding on what specific profession accomplishes this goal. My main has almost always been a “light fighter,” usually a rogue. I enjoy playing these types of characters very much but have always felt that I was missing something. What attracts me to this class is the fact that I find myself to be somewhat of an opportunist in life; I tend to wait for the right moments to strike, metaphorically speaking, efficiently. To this end, I switched from raiding as a rogue to raiding as a priest early into my WoW career due to vacancies in my guild. I felt a little out of place with the role but I found it to be an enjoyable experience. Having now played both ends of the spectrum, both the healer and the mana sponge, I must say that I am rather bored with playing any character with a straightforward role. This notion, combined with the preexistent feeling of incompleteness with my class selection, has led me to the conclusion that I fit best within the “jack-of-all-trade” type classes. The variety of options, usefulness and level of difficulty (when played properly) associated with these masters of multitasking keep me on my toes at all times. I thoroughly enjoyed the druid that I played in WoW and have recently begun revisiting the bard in EQ. My choice of race is of little consequence though I tend to avoid playing humans - I already play one IRL - and gravitate towards those of short stature. This is most likely because of the fact that J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” was my introduction to fantasy literature... a book full of short people!

Needless to say, I am going to be playing a Halfling (or hopefully Gnome) Bard come Vanguard's release.

With all of this in mind, I’d like to hear from the rest of you as to how you make your decisions. Can you trace any particular set of events that helped you reach your conclusion?

[Greymain]

Nice subject

I will try to be honest in my process of character/class creation.

First my aim. I don't want to be me or rather more like me in my youth.

Problem is I can't play like I did in my youth, I am bit slower nowdays.

So my class must not depend solely on manual dexterity, Tanks and Damage dealers will not be my main characters class. Mages and clerics both tend to require more thought than constant movement. Clerics tend to be put upon and required to stick around till the group/raid disbands and I don't want to be committed to 8-10 hour sessions. other classes are usually easier replace in a group.

In vanguard the druid class appeals most.

As to Race and sex of my character.. Well they got to look good and move well. My Female char in AC2 had a nice sexy walk . I have no hang-ups playing a female char, in fact enable others to excuse my limitations.

Don't read this wrong I am not saying Females are sub standard players rather that male players have problems cutting slack for other male players but can role play doing so for a male players female alt.

But mostly it comes down to appearance. I might go for an old human Druid or young Female Half-Elven druid.

For some reason animal characters have no appeal nor do small or giant races.

I like being good rather than evil which I suspect is another age thing.. I no longer feel the need to rebel or be bad.

When playing my character I do not want a stream of questions on my real life situation. for this reason I may well opt for a RP server (for the first time) As long as I am not forced to go all "olde worlde" call people "thee" an "thou".

[Cobalt Katze]

Great topic froma, I'll contribute my two cents.

Back when I first got started roleplaying, it was in a very free-form kind of way. I had eventually created my character Cobalt who has always been a feline anthro race of sorts. Now, Cobalt has never existed in a pure high fantasy setting. The most milage he's ever gotten in a roleplaying situation has been a world of me and my friend's creation where all our characters originated. It's a bit of a grimy neon present day type of setting, similar to the kind of sci-fantasy worlds that the later Final Fantasys set up (6 onwards) Cobalt, in his original incarnation, is a former assassin turned mercenary. He's a miniscule guy of 4'5" but with the proportions of a lanky human.

Now, I could ramble forever about the Cobalt that'll never happen in a fantasy setting, but that would be pretty pointless for this topic. The point is to identify the origins of my roleplaying vocabulary and see how it's taken me in the past. Oddly, despite my character choices, I've never played a rogue or assassin type of role in any MMO. I'm not sure exactly why, as it's always been my type of origin. The problem may have stemmed from my inability to create the exact realization of Cobalt in a restricted character-creation fashion.

My first MMO was FFXI, and there were some initial choices that framed what I would do for the rest of my time there. I eventually chose the Taru Taru race due to its small stature and hilarious animations. My initial avoidance of the Thief class was that, in FFXI, it was simply a pain to play. Eventually I would choose Monk due to the kind of resonance it had with me. I loved using fist and claw weapons, and eventually the kind of abilities the class learned were very entertaining. Such as the minor self-heal Chakra, the ranged Chi Blast, and an assortment of devistation Weapon Skills that demonstrated I could kick arse even at 2 feet tall.

Since then, my resolve has always been fist weapons and pure dps. In City of Heroes, I played a Claw Scrapper and Spines Scrapper. In EQ2 beta I briefly played a Brawler and a Monk. However, once I came across WoW, I hit a dilemma: No monk class, no fist weapons. In beta I played a Druid, in the flirtation with shapeshifting that appealed to me. However, after learning the hard way in my 40s that Druids had to be the healer, I grew agitated with the class. For retail, I started a Hunter for the sheer hope that since hunters could dual wield and use fist weapons, they'd eventually become prominant and I'd be able to be myself again. That never happened, of course. Some fist weapons were unfurled, but it was never an emphasis for Hunters. Rogues were benefiting greatly from some of the high-end claws, but it was too late. When I started playing again with other friends, for some reason I decided to start up a Warrior with the determination to play a different role. But I found myself wanting to not be a tank and instead DPS it out.

Flash forward to present day, and here we have the dilemma of an imminent new MMO. Here are the thought processes that parse down my options:

Race - My first stop, having originated from an anthro race, is to check out the ones available in the game and if they appeal to my aesthetic. Vulmane, to me, aren't appealing at all. Kurashasa unfortunately seem to fall into the catagory of "tall and buff" that I dislike among most western interpretations of anthro males. However, Raki look like they could be morphed into what I would view as Cobalt Katze. After seeing the customization in action at Fanguard, and seeing someone transform the model into a short and lithe guy, that'll be my first go-to for race selection. A reasonable secondary would actually be the Halfling. I usually dislike the race, since it's often exagurated as pot-bellied hairy little men that eat alot. However, Vanguard's Halflings look great and could fit my lithe youth projection.

Class - Here's where it gets difficult. Offensive dps seems to be my best bet in the situation. I would never play a Berserker, simply because that doesn't mesh with my aesthetic. However, the three that remain would all be worthwhile causes.

Monk is obviously my first choice. What I look for in the class is raw output, claw weapons, neat animations, and some ammount of chi abilities. What I like about it is the damage output that is influenced by the mind and spirituality rather than just raw beefiness. I'm not a strong person, and so that resonates well with me.

Bard is a close second choice due to the reflections of my personal self. Being a musician and composer in the realm of reality, I would be able to accurately portray such a character. The gameplay aspects of composing songs to play rather than simply twisting and multi-tasking sounds great. Especially when you tie in the possibilities of kicking just as much arse at the same time. FFXI Bards were a joy to play, but never did anything but support. Maybe a few pokes with the knife for 10 damage, but nothing substantial.

Rogue, after reading The Safehouse's writeup, is also a very very viable choice. It fits the assassin and gadgeteer role to a T, sounds challenging to pull off, and would most likely be very rewarding.

Ultimately it will come down to playing all three classes and discovering which one I enjoy the most in the level 1-10 finalization process.

RP-wise, I'm always neutral ever since my first step into roleplaying. As reflects my personality in reality, I like to remain on the sidelines and be a bit of an elusive character. When I started up Cobalt, he was more of a direct opposite to my real personality. I was quiet and introverted, Cobalt was happy, chatty and extroverted. Eventually as I matured, the character and I's personalities came to a bit of a middle ground. Now it's a bit more quiet introspection, but with also a social wit and sarcasm about him. Needless to say, I like having a good time now when I roleplay. If it's all drama or tragedy or serious high adventure, it's just a bit dull.

So there ya go

[Pirotess]

Nice topic. Generally I start off my choosing my race before my class. I'll admit Im a little shallow when it comes to my characters and how they look makes a big difference in my continued interest in advancing that character. So that is generally my first concern, finding a good looking character. For some reason that almost always ends up with me picking a female since I can rarely make a male character that looks right. Perhaps thats a result of my persuasion, I dont know but thats what usually happpens. Of secondary concern however is finding a good looking character that fits my online persona. Put simply, I play a sarcastic, jaded, haughty, pessimistic character pretty much all the time. Why? Because thats who I am irl and its easy to do so. That almost always matches the description of the Dark Elven races in just about every MMO I have ever played. Dark Elven races also tend to be exotic looking and beautiful as well so 9 times out of 10 Im a Dark Elven female. Hopefully as we near release they fix Dark Elves because the ones I have seen in the character generator so far dont excite me.

So now that I know my race it generally comes down to what classes are available for that race. Given their nature Dark Elves generally have at least one mana reliant class available to them. Mana appeals to me. Its a representation of the strength of ones mind and body being used to achieve their goals. I definitely enjoy playing 'nuke' classes so sorceror is a good bet but I dont mind playing healer classes either and I must admit the Disciple and Blood Mage have piqued my interest. Unfortunately melee classes tend to spend too much time up close and personal with mobs and that makes it difficult for me as a raid leader to see the big picture and call orders to my guildmates. Healers tend to be focused on their parties health bars a little too much and so also make it difficult for me to call orders. Sorcerors on the other hand usually dont have many responsibilities besides blowing stuff up and they can do that at their leisure.

So I'd have to put money on myself being a darn good looking but sarcastic female Dark Elven Sorceror with the off chance of being a Blood Mage or Disciple instead.

[Foxeye]

Ooh,I love these sorts of conversations!

I'm also in the "race before class" crowd. This is partly because I'm very omnivorous about what class I play (though there is an exception to this...more on this below), but mostly because I usually fall in love with one race or another based on lore and/or looks. In this case, it is the Raki. In EQ2 it was the Iksar. In Lineage II it was the orcs. Once I know the race I want to be, then I just sort through the possible classes.

The exception was EQ, where you really needed to stick with one class if you wanted to get to max level. I loved rangers more than I loved the Vah Shir, so I never switched races.

So as for my reasons of picking class...well, I consider myself lucky. One, I'm not particularly worried about being badass. So I don't care if I pick a "wimpy" class. Two, I have a guaranteed game partner. So finding groups ain't so rough. Therefore I tend to pick classes on...you guessed it...lore and roleplaying.

For example, the disciple excites me because I've been fascinated by energy-based healing IRL since I was, oh, 12. But I've never been able to have a character like than in an MMO. It's always "you ask the GODS", or "I beseech the SPIRITS" or "you get it from NATURE". Never "use the force, young healer". So, for pure lore reasons, I think the Disciple is the best thing about Vanguard.

On the other hand, I've always loved the concept of the bard. Someone who doesn't just kill, but makes music. I mean...dang, a player class that brings beauty and hope to people. So if Disciple is later revealed to be in fact not what I perceived it to be, I have a backup as a Raki Bard.

And if that goes bust, I'll just keep going down the line. Anything but rogue...I really don't care for the pickpocket thing.

Anyhow, after that...I'm keeping a pretty open mind about what other race I might have for alts. I like to leave my alts up to the inspiration of the moment.

/off-topic

Somewhat related, Cobalt, since you mentioned that you like lightweight feline characters, rather than the Kura/Vah-Shir type, I wanted to confirm (because I have no long term memory) that you've taken note of the Suwari of Heroes Journey? If you look at the little white guy on the far side of the circle in this picture (http://images.jungle-fire.com/photos/hj_curlyhair.jpg), you'll note that he's a small little scrapper compared to the rest. I'm so pleased that someone finally has a cat-person race that is based on small wild cats, and not lions/tigers.

[Flagg]

Well for me I start off by reading every piece of info I can get my hands on conserning the lore and classes of a game I am interested in. Form the little info we have abotu vanguard though it is hard to tell what sounds to my liking. One of the major things that help me choose is the how helpful will I be to group if I pick this class. The reason I play these games is to play with other and I want to be helpful to other so as to be able to have a great chance to group with them. So for my main I always pick a class that will be needed and sounds fun at the same time, lucky enough for me the cleric doesn't sound just like a heal bot in this game and I be trying one.
As for roleplay I don't go all out and make a back story to my toon or anything, but I don't speak dude, or leet, or even about the real world I will pretend that vanguard is the the real world while I am in it and that my cleric, pladin, necromancer or whatever is me.
As for class I stick to most tradional fantasy ones dark elf, dwarf, high elf those sorts unless soemthing like vulmane, which tempts me bigtime, comes along.

[Cobalt Katze]

Originally Posted by Foxeye

Somewhat related, Cobalt, since you mentioned that you like lightweight feline characters, rather than the Kura/Vah-Shir type, I wanted to confirm (because I have no long term memory) that you've taken note of the Suwari of Heroes Journey? If you look at the little white guy on the far side of the circle in this picture (http://images.jungle-fire.com/photos/hj_curlyhair.jpg), you'll note that he's a small little scrapper compared to the rest. I'm so pleased that someone finally has a cat-person race that is based on small wild cats, and not lions/tigers.

/offtopictoo

Yeah, I love Heroes Journey's cat race. They're exactly what I picture Cobalt as. Unfortunately, I'm not nearly as interested in the game as I am in Vanguard. The instanced adventures just turns me off a bit, though their character creation sounds really great. Totally different approach to the MMO scene.

[canardvc]

Hello there, nice thread

I generally pick the class before the race and it is generally a melee class : Warrior, rogue, Shadow/Dread Knight, but no paladin. I even prefer a mix between a cleric and a warrior rather than a paladin. I don't know why I have a "Holy" repugnance for this class.
Back to subject, I usually tend to play a warrior because i love melee combat especially when I tank and as Flagg I like to play classes of vital importance, classes that are often played in a group. I mostly use dual wield, I find those moves smother and more relating to martial arts than with a shield but most of the time I have no choice : shield is prescribed for tanking, this is one of my main depressions, but let it be, I still can solo with dual wield.

I choose a race in relation with my play style : Slight, agressive, sneaky (but not too much ) and arrogant. That's why Dark Elves fit me well, i fall in love with them a long time ago. Their skins are generally beautiful, especially the females.
I mostly play males when i pick the warrior class cause I like the "unstoppable machine" aspect : females are sexy, but males look more merciless.

In vanguard I'd choose the dreadnight if he is effective with dual wield. He represents well the aspect of chaos I love, as can do Nurgle army in warhammer or grand-britons (is this the exact translation ?) in Hawkmoon (Mickael Moorcock) saga for example.
But Shadow/Dreadknights are predestined 2hand sword handlers in most of MMO since the beginning, I hope it is going to change with vanguard
If I can't play a dual wielding Dreadknight my main character will definitly be a warrior. For alts i'll pick more exotic combinations ...

[Nil]

I figured I should chime in here, not only because it's a great topic, but because the board is shaming me for not posting in awhile.

I definately fall into the role-player section. My choice is nearly always based on the lore of the game I'm about to play. While it's true that I am nearly always a rogue (because it's the most fun class - obviously), the race, and the type of character is built around the lore and what sounds most fun. Sometimes it's the swash-buckling hero, other times (rarely, because it's so overdone), I play the viscious assassin, and most recently, the free-spirit, which lends itself well to the rogue-archtype.

I imagine that I'll probably make a break from this philosophy with Vanguard, though it pains me to say it. I'll likely make a cleric or some kind of healer so that I can have an easier time of getting groups. I just don't have the time to play anymore. I'd rather spend my hour and a half playing than shouting "LFG!" (not that I did that, specifically, but you get the point).

[Jaeth]

LFG... Uck! Sounds to me like you're coming from WoW?

Welcome aboard, by the way!