Could There Ever Be a Fourth Core Character Class?

chances are if you clicked this video you've played a multiplayer game before and chances are if you've played a multiplayer game before you've played a team game before and chances are if you've done both of these things you've noticed that a lot of Team games create role diversity or player expression in very similar ways in a team game every player has a job to do and every player's job has to be important to helping the entire team in order for that player to be having fun as such many team games try to create a sense of role diversity creating jobs that only a few players are allowed to do that need to get done in order for the team to succeed this is very commonly seen in team Shooters RPGs and even more unique team experiences like overcooked and while games like overcooked do have unique team roles due to the incredibly unique concept of the game itself more combat focused team games tend to Trend to three roles that hold up the pillars of the experience [Music] offense this is your damage dealing archetype I'm talking about your warriors I'm talking about your DPS your assault your standard Mages these characters exist to dish out the damage numbers required to take kills and win fights through whatever means necessary they're very often kitted with highly aggressive tools but are left lacking the tools to defend themselves when they're pressured by a more dangerous threat this of course is where defense comes in defense is exactly what it sounds like this is your standard protecting role I'm talking tanks your big boys but I'm also talking other defensive roles like your engineers and your controllers characters that serve their purpose defending the Squishies by diverting fire and soaking damage in the case of a tank or by creating choke points and setting up reinforcements traps and general area control in the case of your engineers this role is just as necessary as offense to ensure the opposing team can't Blaze right up into your damage dealer's face and take them out in one Fell Swoop but if the opposing team just slowly whittles down your defenses until your tanks are dead and your turrets are destroyed then what do you do this is where the support comes [Music] in I'm talking your Medics your healers your supports again a lot of games call this support and that's because it's exactly what they do this Ro's job is to support your team from a safe space whether that be healing load low Health teammates applying helpful Buffs to keep your team engaged for longer repairing dwindling defensive structures or helping the team access more advantageous positions these three roles form the groundwork for almost any class-based gameplay and it seems that no matter how hard you try to rename rework or rebalance the team based video game structure they stick around like flies to honey so the question is could we ever have a fourth main role something that makes its way into multiple games and eventually becomes a staple just like the offense defense and support role triangle we have already there certainly have been attempts to do such a thing and I wanted to discuss this aspect of Ro diversity here in today's video to see if there is grounds for the introduction of a brand new core class to our team game [Music] theory one of the most frequently practiced methods to help promote further role diversity seen in team games is that of the subass subclasses exist as a helpful and satisfying way to split the already existing Three core roles into smaller more Niche ones that can let a player feel more freedom when picking who they want to play an amazing example of this would be Pokemon which has these subclasses baked directly into their core stats every single one of these three roles has three standard variations that build up the groundwork for Pokemon stat-based gameplay that being the physical and special attack system in Pokemon attacks are split into two types physical and special this means absolutely nothing on its own but within the game's context these two attacking types behave in very different ways there are tons of moves that interact with only one stat raising or lowering it moves that only trigger if you're hit with a physical or special move abilities that impact one of the two attacking types in a unique way types that have higher powered moves for one side of the coin compared to the other this creates a dynamic that introduces three subclasses for any Pokémon that a player must consider before adding them to their team if you want an offensive of Pokémon do you want a physical attacker to Target physically weak mons a special attacker to Target specially weak mons or a mixed attacker to Target both at slightly reduced Effectiveness this applies to tanks as well you can have a Pokemon with lots of physical bulk lots of special bulk and a Pokemon with both supportive Pokemon also have this train but they get broken up a little bit further because of how complex Pokémon's move in type system can get at a competitive level supporting a team can mean a lot of things a good support Pok could be a Healer but the subclasses in Pokémon tend to go even deeper the flow of a battle can be impacted in lots of ways and supportive Pokémon tend to have the most readily available access to these types of momentum shifting moves stuff like access to moves that control turn order redirect enemy attacks debuff opposing Pokemon set up field hazards Force switches and even more these Pokémon each have their own distinct role while all individually falling under the blanket of support Pokémon due to their lack of damage and HP in most cases and their ability to provide unique tools that significantly contribute to winning matches this type of subclassification is also clearly seen in a lot of real-time team games where range that becomes a deciding factor for the grouping Mages and warriors are both damage dealers but one deals melee damage from up close and one deals magic damage from afar in more advanced RPGs there will often be further division with stats similar to Pokémon with physical and Magic damage having different effects on different targets for a more simplified look we can look at shooter games such as OverWatch which splits its characters up into the three main roles mentioned but also subdivides based on the effective range of their characters both Genji and Widowmaker are DPS characters but one is an upclose assassin who specializes in taking out isolated opponents while the other is a ranged assassin who works well in longrange pokec comps this game also divides its characters into their effectiveness and certain styles of play with assassins like Genji working in dive compositions that Focus around jumping on one target all at once characters like Widowmaker working in poke compositions that focus on holding ground with strong longrange attacks to keep the opposing team struggling to close the distance and characters like Reaper thriving in Brawl compositions that like to scrap around close quarters and deal high amounts of up close burst damage to overwhelm the enemy and while I only mentioned DPS Heroes here every OverWatch role is subdivided among their effective ranges and compositions with tanks like Diva and Winston liking dive Sigma and Arisa liking poke and Ry and queen liking brawl supporting an OverWatch isn't quite as split as it is in Pokemon but there are specific supporting roles teams need to consider outside of ranges and compositions as mentioned for the others you of course can always keep comps in mind with supports like Anna and Zen liing poke KIRO and mo ref for dive and braking Lucio for brawl but what if you need these characters' unique supportive abilities outside of the comps they excel in if you need to be able to cleanse debuffs and you're not running KIRO you're out of look if you want to debuff the enemy themselves and aren't running onor zenyata you'll have to rely on damage over time from other roles instead and if you need to keep a particularly suicidal teammate from throwing their life away after dozens of risky engagements life weeper is the only way to go these unique advantages of each character keep every player feeling like they have a specific role to fill unique to them and only them but they're still definitely not the fabled fourth class we're looking for another similar approach we see to promote role diversity is multiclassing this is a way to help blend together roles and let players do a little bit of everything to varying degrees of Effectiveness that lets them maximize the style of play they like the most almost like turning a slider on the game's mechanics we've already Ted talked about this with Pokémon's battle mechanics as mixed attackers are exactly what I'm talking about here if you want a mon that is about 70% effective on the physical side and 30% effective on the special side you can have that if you want a clean 50/50 on both you can have that if you want pure raw power in one area we already told you you can definitely have that this is also commonly seen in traditional Fantasy games class systems and the class that's always stood out as a shining example to me is the Paladin you see paladins are your tanking class sporting large Health pools and defensive armaments to keep a team safe except they're not they also have potent damage potential with their physical attacks except they also have strong miracles to deal magic or holy damage when required except they might want to use those spell slots on healing which they can also do to keep their party alive if the situation gets dire paladins are like the perfect sampler pack of every single play style a team game offers and truly encompasses the Jack of all trade style that multi classing is so fond of and if you tend to prefer One play style over the other that's okay you can build your Paladin in any of our three directions to maximize your favorite part of playing the class so long as your team can pick up the slack for the other two paladins are obviously a Mainstay in fantasy RPGs MMOs and tabletop games but there are a select few that find their way into Shooters as well back to OverWatch for a moment Bita truly encompasses what it means to be a paladin rig is a support character by The Game's classification sporting a passive ability ility that heals in an AOE when she deals damage and three burst healing orbs that she can send at any time however she is also the only nontank to have a shield that she can use to protect herself or any compromised teammates and her burst damage at a close range is unmatched by any other support character this allows Pita to fill whatever holes may exist in the composition with her being an exceptional pair for a support like Anna who needs a mini tank bodyguard a brawl comp that needs high amounts of centralized healing and as an anti-dive killer who can deal high amounts of burst damage to squishy assassins and yet almost all of these characters still fall into varying degrees of offense defense and support if we called it offense defense support and allrounder we wouldn't really be introducing a new Dynamic of gameplay just breaking things that already existed into smaller pieces so why is it that try as we might to create unique character roles and player responsibilities we always seem to end up with three overarching categories well it's probably because these three core archetypes interact with the way standard game Mechanics Work in Irreplaceable ways in a world where almost every video game has some sort of HP or a mechanic where if a certain amount of bad things happen you lose mechanics that interact with said bad things generally HP are a standard to keep gameplay interactive if HP gets low a player dies so you want a character to deal as much damage to the enemy's HP so they die that's offense but I don't want my guy's HP to get low what if we made it so that we can protect our our HP and give those protected players an advantage well that's defense but what if those doing the protecting get low on HP we can't always have a bigger bulkier Defender to help them can we and that's what healers solve this back and forth conversation between the roles where DPS deals damage tanks prevent damage and healers heal damage is so core to the principles of a team game format that it's extremely hard to imagine a way to interact with HP and damage that doesn't involve with either dealing it healing it or stealing it there have been plenty of games that remove pieces of this triangle to push towards a more specific game feeler strategy Rainbow Six Siege is a Tactical Team based shooter that due to its One-Shot headshot mechanic doesn't really have traditional tanks outside of characters using riot shields and it instead focuses on different types of area denial Intel and movement to Define its playable characters if you want to create a frantic or stressful atmosphere one where the players have to carefully walk a tight rope of danger throughout a match removing the ability to correct mistakes with healing is a frequent approach and while removing an offensive damage dealing role isn't a step devs frequently take there are certainly games that remove emphasis on aggression and instead focus more on strategy and the management of HP like a resource through clever positioning of defense and support so what have developers tried in terms of creating new and interesting pillars to build their characters up fromont well we've occasionally seen a movement oriented class to not only reposition yourself but help teammates to position as well definitely most notable is Apex legends skirmisher class filled with characters designed to help your team engage and disengage from fights get to inaccessible map locations and allaround position better in a game environment built around a constantly changing Battlefield characters like Pathfinder can set up a zip line for the whole team to use wraith can set up a teleporter octane a jump pad Horizon a gravity lift and Valkyrie a second chance to air drop Revenant remains as the only character character in this role who doesn't have an ability to affect his teammate's movement instead keeping that for himself which brings about the question as to why he should beat this role in the first place but that's not what this video is about and while there is no clearcut speed or movement control character in OverWatch a number of characters have abilities unique to them that offer movements on their team Lucio can activate a speed boost good for engaging the enemy and starting with a positional Advantage from spot make and place temporary walls behind enemies that trap them as punishment for ere extending symmetra can place a teleporter to send her whole team to a new position quickly and life Weaver can place lifting platforms to help his team reach previously inaccessible High ground or protect low Health teammates now I'd personally argue that movement and positioning Falls a little too closely to the support category to be considered its own distinct separate thing especially not a thing worthy of becoming a mainstate character class and I think it falls out of place entirely in games that don't emphasize quick and snappy movement so I don't believe we should be awarding the title of core class to it anytime soon so is that it is it completely no way noow straight up impossible to manufacture a new way to interact with game mechanics unrelated to offense defense or support no or at least I don't think so because a game isn't only about what you see on screen you can have all of the shields in the world the most professionally trained cold-blooded killers on damage and your Allstar wallf flowers on support but if everyone's playing with their monitors off you're bound to get swept that means we actually need one more thing for a successful team information information is absolutely one of the most frequently used tools to impower a specific character archetype or class seen in video games that doesn't interact with the HP stat knowledge is power and knowledge of your enemy can be more than enough to shift a previously hopeless battle into your favor characters that are able to safely relay enemy positions defenses team compositions or resource usage have been a recent Trend in team games that break free from this trichotomy communication between teammates has always been a core principle in team games and these characters serve the purpose of making communication better easier and faster developers have been realizing this need for information spreading and dedicating a portion of their characters to this role with with games like Rainbow 6 Apex Legends and valorin being standout examples we commonly see characters with cameras that can relay enemy positions from a safe distance such as Rainbow's Valkyrie who sets up hard to spot cameras across the map to find and dispatch would be attackers apex's crypto can fly a drone across the map to spot enemies and relay that information to his team and an Cipher can set up cameras and trip wires to Halt enemy progress and dulge enemy push locations this information doesn't just have to be position based overwatch's Sombra can hack enemy teammates and while this mainly Services her assassination ability as a DPS hero she gets to see if hacked opponents have their ultimates ready or not helping the rest of the team keep track of the enemy's ultimate economy Blood Hound from Apex can scan areas around him for enemy positions but will also detect any loot or clues in the area a mechanic unique to him that and passively see enemy footsteps when doors or chests have been interacted with recently and when certain enemy abilities have recently been used up creating gameplay around information gathering also allows developers to create unique counter Intel characters Rainbow Six Siege has a ton of these naturally due to how much Intel Gathering equipment is in the game in the first place mute is a Defender who can place Jammers that will stop enemy drones in their tracks deny the activation of electronic breaching tools and stop enemy intel Gathering abil ities like doab be's phone calls for a more mobile look at counter Intel gameplay rainbow also has vigil and knock characters with a resource-based ability that lets them appear completely invisible on cameras for Vigil this allows him to roam in areas the attackers believed to be completely safe after reconnaissance and assassinated any stragglers walking through the area for knock this allows her to walk straight through the enemy defenses slowly disabling traps and cameras for herself and her team so that she can take a surprise angle on a group of enemies preoccupied with a much louder threat this information oriented gameplay is great for slower more tactical games but it's easy to understand why it's not in everything damage healing and tanking have much more extrinsic rewards and keep players engaged in a more tangible way than information gathering it's hard to know if a good call on an enemy position or resource usage won your team a fight because you didn't actively participate in the physical act of fighting in a frantic fast-paced game like Call of Duty a cameraman who watches from the sides isn't a good fit simply because of how action oriented the game is even in more tactical games like OverWatch information gathering is a core character role is missing because team fights happen fast and anyone can keep the enemy's current coold Downs or positions in their mind if they think hard enough Recon as a class only truly works in the most tactical of Team experiences usually games with perade death or something close to it is where this class shines its brightest when movement needs to be quiet calculated and precise is where reconnaissance is at its best slowly finding and picking out enemy offenses spotting and disabling traps revealing the tools the bad guy brought to the fight and spotting loot to empower your team is this roll's area of expertise that's not to say Recon can't work in a fast-paced game while there's only one character that even comes close to Recon Sombra certainly puts in work calling out out of position enemies to begin a dive the Scout from Deep Rock Galactic is the only only character able to Grapple up to heart to reach places to spot or in enemy locations and can use his flare gun to light up dark places for him and his team to see and support characters and RPGs who specialize in learning enemy move sets remaining HP weaknesses or abilities can work if that information is explicitly designed to be ambiguous to even the most informed players so is Recon the perfect fourth class we were looking for no but also yes in games that emphasize information and the lack of it as a core principle of their gameplay then it can absolutely work just as well as its offensive defensive and supportive friends but it struggles to find its footing in games that don't hide much information from the player or in games where the speed is so high that information tends to feel less rewarding than straight up going for a kill but what do you think could Recon ever join the ranks with the big three character classes could something else that I didn't even mention let me know what you think in the comments below and especially let me know if you liked this video Al together it is my first compl completely non-fighting game related piece of content after all with that out of the way this has been adventure and I hope to see you in the next one peace

Channel: Eddventure

Views: 839,220

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Id: IcZeFfT9ycM

Length: 21min 23sec (1283 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2024