User blog:Taldin/Styles and Class Thoughts

These are _not_ suggestions. If I want to improve the code, there are other things I have on my 'to do' list to add first. This is just me thinking out loud and being inspired for the day.

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=========================One of the things that's always struck me as odd about Habitica is the way that classes are visualized. Having to audit a comment about having your playstyle changing least when you pick Warrior made me revisit this idea.

I've been all four classes at this point; I usually pick what the group needs the most and run that. So I'm definitely less than dedicated towards a 'play style' so much as a 'play utility'. But then again, when I play in any sort of RPG, I say, 'what is the group missing?'  And play that. Underneath the hood, all classes work exactly the same. You have Dailies and To Dos and Habits. You have two attack classes (Mage and Warrior), one healer class (Healer) and one treasure hunter class (Rogue).

In Boss Battles, you definitely want an attack class, and a healer if people miss their dailies.

In Collection battles, you want a Rogue or two to keep the party's Perception up.

Simple. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best, because it's easier to wrap your head around short and sweet mechanics instead of bogging things down with systems and synergies and statistics.

Setting aside the 'headspace/mindset' thought, any class is useful in the right situations. Being a Mage doesn't make you that much squishier than a Warrior; it's a measure of fractional points. Not being a Healer just means that you can't rectify the damage your partymates are taking. With the new 'you only take one day worth of damage' change we've had, a partymember can go away for a month and not kill the party upon their return. (I know we're looking at putting that setting back in, but for now it's removed the motivator from one of my partymembers; we'd get on their case if they didn't sign in for a couple of days, because the damage got pretty fierce, but now they're fine not signing in for a week.)

Mind, I'm coming from the headspace of someone who played their first D&D game in fourth grade. So I've always been enamored of systems and sorcery and skill stuff. And once you get past level 14, you have all of the skills you'll ever get in the game; it's a long way to level 100 from there. Having talked to one of the devs, I get that the point is to keep people interested early, that if you can keep them playing for the first dozen levels or so, they'll 'get' the notion of the game and keep coming back for the long haul, even though they aren't getting extra skills.

There's a lot of potential lying out there, in that space between 14 and 100, though. Assuming that the core mechanics (click task, get points) can't be changed, what else could we add? Higher powered versions of the skills we get at levels 10-14, so you don't have to cast them repeatedly? Maybe some sort of 'Ultimate skill' at level 50 or something?

Warriors:

- Have a skill that reduces the redness of a task. How about a skill that resets a single task to yellow?

Rogues:

- Guaranteed collection drop skill. Might cost you all of your Mana though.

Mages:

- Freeze the party's streaks.

Healers:

- Reduce the Rage meter on a boss.

I know, I know, 'wait til the refactoring is done.'  :)   Like I said, I'm just thinking out loud here.

What I really want to know is this: What is your playstyle? Do you see your class as mattering a lot based on what you do, or how it makes you feel? (I do love the commercial, by the way.)

Taldin (talk) 19:14, January 19, 2016 (UTC)