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plonqMy undead warlock, tauren druid and troll mage are all on temporary hiatus while I work on my latest character: an undead priest.
I joined The Pod People (coolest.guild.ever) and, on learning that they had a dearth of priests, I decided to take the plunge and see what that class was like. To quote![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
atara, "priests are squishy." Let's just say that it was a real trial getting her through the first 18 levels. A low-level priest ain't bad in a group behind a couple of tanks, but as a solo character, I think a more apropos model for the character would be one that is blue and three apples high. She suddenly became fun to play when she hit level 18 and got enough DPS and damage-resistance spells to give her a chance against most critters. I managed to roll the counter over to level 20 last night, and though I haven't had a chance to try them yet, some of the level 20 spells look like fun. Now I just need to round up a group for WC so that I can try them out.
I have chosen to take her down the shadow tree, which means that she will be a bit less effective as a buffer or healer (though still a better healer than any other class out there), but she should be melting faces by level 60. She's definitely not a priestess of one of those light, airy gods who watch over new mothers and harvests. I picture something more along the lines of one of those reptilian temples where the black-shroud priests sacrifice virgins on a stone altar overlooking a pit of flaming brimstone.
Which raises a whole 'nother issue; why are people so reluctant to play a villain?
I admit that in my early RPG days, it was fun to play the shining hero who would vanquish evil and then ride into the liberated village in a parade of rose petals so that the thankful citizens could shower him with praise, and raise statues in his likeness. It was fun... for awhile. Lately I've found that there is also satisfaction in playing the part of a Saruman - an evil overlord who has no qualms about raising a fell army and enslaving all the decent folk. After all, if it wasn't for the Sarumans, the heroes would have nothing to do. When I built my warlock, I concentrated on the corruption tree. While I am building my priest, I am concentrating on the shadow tree.
From looking at game statistics and talking to people, though, I have determined that I am in a rather small minority. In WoW, the alliance outnumber the horde by a 2:1 margin in the game because people want to play "pretty" characters, and want to avoid "evil" characters. Even on the horde side, when I look down the list of players in our guild, there seems to be something of a bias toward warriors. Everyone wants to be Conan, but nobody wants to be Raistlin.
I admit that I have a soft spot for villains and antiheroes. That doesn't mean that I don't like heroes, or that I want Superman to fail, but I prefer the insane genius who honestly believes he is doing the right thing when he sets his army of mechanical nightmares marching across the plains to turn hapless townsfolk into quivering blobs of protoplasm. He just has more character, IMO.
Does anyone else out there like villains?
I joined The Pod People (coolest.guild.ever) and, on learning that they had a dearth of priests, I decided to take the plunge and see what that class was like. To quote
atara, "priests are squishy." Let's just say that it was a real trial getting her through the first 18 levels. A low-level priest ain't bad in a group behind a couple of tanks, but as a solo character, I think a more apropos model for the character would be one that is blue and three apples high. She suddenly became fun to play when she hit level 18 and got enough DPS and damage-resistance spells to give her a chance against most critters. I managed to roll the counter over to level 20 last night, and though I haven't had a chance to try them yet, some of the level 20 spells look like fun. Now I just need to round up a group for WC so that I can try them out.I have chosen to take her down the shadow tree, which means that she will be a bit less effective as a buffer or healer (though still a better healer than any other class out there), but she should be melting faces by level 60. She's definitely not a priestess of one of those light, airy gods who watch over new mothers and harvests. I picture something more along the lines of one of those reptilian temples where the black-shroud priests sacrifice virgins on a stone altar overlooking a pit of flaming brimstone.
Which raises a whole 'nother issue; why are people so reluctant to play a villain?
I admit that in my early RPG days, it was fun to play the shining hero who would vanquish evil and then ride into the liberated village in a parade of rose petals so that the thankful citizens could shower him with praise, and raise statues in his likeness. It was fun... for awhile. Lately I've found that there is also satisfaction in playing the part of a Saruman - an evil overlord who has no qualms about raising a fell army and enslaving all the decent folk. After all, if it wasn't for the Sarumans, the heroes would have nothing to do. When I built my warlock, I concentrated on the corruption tree. While I am building my priest, I am concentrating on the shadow tree.
From looking at game statistics and talking to people, though, I have determined that I am in a rather small minority. In WoW, the alliance outnumber the horde by a 2:1 margin in the game because people want to play "pretty" characters, and want to avoid "evil" characters. Even on the horde side, when I look down the list of players in our guild, there seems to be something of a bias toward warriors. Everyone wants to be Conan, but nobody wants to be Raistlin.
I admit that I have a soft spot for villains and antiheroes. That doesn't mean that I don't like heroes, or that I want Superman to fail, but I prefer the insane genius who honestly believes he is doing the right thing when he sets his army of mechanical nightmares marching across the plains to turn hapless townsfolk into quivering blobs of protoplasm. He just has more character, IMO.
Does anyone else out there like villains?
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Date: 2005-11-29 06:39 pm (UTC)Just so. Every Holmes needs a Moriarty. The problem is that nobody wants to be Moriarty these days.
It's not that I don't like playing the part of the shining knight who rides into town on a white horse and saves the day, but when everybody else is playing that same role, it makes one wonder just what the town is being saved from.
Since I can't afford to build my own Skullcrusher Mountain and reign down terror and despair on the world, the least I can do is play one of the ugly, evil characters in an RPG to balance things out a bit.