2009-11-30, 11:24 PM
Is a character that is considered totally useless by the player base really all that useless? I'm gonna use myself as an example here, because according to the general maple player base I've made alot of useless characters.
My I/L archmage. What with Evan on the horizon, most now see archmages as totally useless branches of the magician tree. Even before Evan, bishops were favoured because of their general use in a party. How many people would miss archmages if they ceased to exist? To most, all that would happen is that there'd be a lot less level 200s cluttering up the rankings so "real" players could make their way up there. But then, why bother making a class if it has no niche in the game to call its own? Turns out, the only real reason I made an I/L mage was because they could hit 6 enemies at level 30. No other reason. Ultimately, I never planned it to have a purpose in the first place, other than to amuse me, the player.
My Shadower. Oh yay. Considered inferior to all warrior classes and lumped with Buccaneers in the "not-really amazing at anything" category. What with Aran on the way, which are hyped to be the new "supreme kings" of melee damage-dealing, there's even less reason to take on levelling a bandit. Why would you do it at all when other classes can outclass you ingame and practically all you'd get out of it is a class that everyone says they admire, but then blanks when it comes to actually recruiting players for boss runs? Once again, remembering the reason I wanted a bandit, it was because I wanted savage blow. No other reason. Once again I only made it to amuse me after school with its 6-hit maelstrom.
Last character of mine, my Corsair. Mathematically one of the hardest hitters in the game. Considered an actual attacker on boss runs (I was actually given the title "attacker" in a scarlion run at only level 128, even though my ship broke every 5 seconds and I was reduced to burst fire for most of the fight; my shadower would never be called an attacker despite have a far higher attack power due to level and decent equips) and lauded by everyone except those who felt they had been made redundant by their superior attacking power. When I made this character though, my motives were different. I made it with the explicit goal to reach level 70, then 120 and beyond not only to see how a ranged character played, but to be accepted more in boss runs. I was fed up of having people go "Ehh...L> REAL ATTACKERS LIKE NL/BM/SAIR" whenever I offered to go on a run with them.
This overwhelming desire to be "useful" on this character I feel has ultimately dampened the overall experience i could have potentially had on this character, and already I just feel like I'm just doing it to please others who will never see me and have no reason to give a damn about me any further than being a means to their end. Why should I let them take advantage of me like that? Just because it's their story doesn't mean I must bend to it, I have my own story as well. Not to say "my story" can't involve other people, but it'd be nice if they didn't just disappear as soon as we'd achieved a goal they wanted to achieve.
Didn't mean this to turn into some sort of blog post, but using yourself as an example, it's sort of hard not to. Also, mistakes. It's 3am and I'm slightly dazed. Just wanted to gather opinions on this, see what everyone felt about the worth of their characters.
TL;DR: I find more worth in characters I enjoy playing, not necessarily those that can contribute the most in party situations or are "the best" at what they were designed to do.
My I/L archmage. What with Evan on the horizon, most now see archmages as totally useless branches of the magician tree. Even before Evan, bishops were favoured because of their general use in a party. How many people would miss archmages if they ceased to exist? To most, all that would happen is that there'd be a lot less level 200s cluttering up the rankings so "real" players could make their way up there. But then, why bother making a class if it has no niche in the game to call its own? Turns out, the only real reason I made an I/L mage was because they could hit 6 enemies at level 30. No other reason. Ultimately, I never planned it to have a purpose in the first place, other than to amuse me, the player.
My Shadower. Oh yay. Considered inferior to all warrior classes and lumped with Buccaneers in the "not-really amazing at anything" category. What with Aran on the way, which are hyped to be the new "supreme kings" of melee damage-dealing, there's even less reason to take on levelling a bandit. Why would you do it at all when other classes can outclass you ingame and practically all you'd get out of it is a class that everyone says they admire, but then blanks when it comes to actually recruiting players for boss runs? Once again, remembering the reason I wanted a bandit, it was because I wanted savage blow. No other reason. Once again I only made it to amuse me after school with its 6-hit maelstrom.
Last character of mine, my Corsair. Mathematically one of the hardest hitters in the game. Considered an actual attacker on boss runs (I was actually given the title "attacker" in a scarlion run at only level 128, even though my ship broke every 5 seconds and I was reduced to burst fire for most of the fight; my shadower would never be called an attacker despite have a far higher attack power due to level and decent equips) and lauded by everyone except those who felt they had been made redundant by their superior attacking power. When I made this character though, my motives were different. I made it with the explicit goal to reach level 70, then 120 and beyond not only to see how a ranged character played, but to be accepted more in boss runs. I was fed up of having people go "Ehh...L> REAL ATTACKERS LIKE NL/BM/SAIR" whenever I offered to go on a run with them.
This overwhelming desire to be "useful" on this character I feel has ultimately dampened the overall experience i could have potentially had on this character, and already I just feel like I'm just doing it to please others who will never see me and have no reason to give a damn about me any further than being a means to their end. Why should I let them take advantage of me like that? Just because it's their story doesn't mean I must bend to it, I have my own story as well. Not to say "my story" can't involve other people, but it'd be nice if they didn't just disappear as soon as we'd achieved a goal they wanted to achieve.
Didn't mean this to turn into some sort of blog post, but using yourself as an example, it's sort of hard not to. Also, mistakes. It's 3am and I'm slightly dazed. Just wanted to gather opinions on this, see what everyone felt about the worth of their characters.
TL;DR: I find more worth in characters I enjoy playing, not necessarily those that can contribute the most in party situations or are "the best" at what they were designed to do.
