Meta - Will it be a thing?

ArchivedUser

As a player, who always loved being unique and playing the underdog classes, i am very curious if there will be a "meta" in AoC. In most MMOs, it is crucial to adjust to the meta and play along it, if you want to be competitive against other players or in a progress-focused guild. Do you think every player will be able to play the game the way he/she likes to, or is it possible that in the future there will be certain "cookie-cutter-builds" that will be accepted as the best way to play a certain class?

ArchivedUser

They are designing against it, but then again, with 64 classes to choose from its hard to deliver.
I predict there will be a meta, that will keep constantly shifting due to updates and patches.
Intresting topic!

ArchivedUser

@Needletail I agree.

There are ALWAYS going to be the number crunchers who min/max builds and find builds that are better than others in specific roles.  It will be absolutely impossible to account for all variation and balance it perfectly.  There will be meta's.  It's not my favorite thing, but there's a reason we've never seen a game with perfect balance, especially with this many classes.

ArchivedUser

I dare say there will be a META because streamers and forum min/maxers will publish builds accommodated with videos of them whooping content. Hopefully with 64 possible class combos, players will think outside the box about what truly suits their game style because copying a build by the best player on the server doesn't make you the second best player. If there isn't a META then that will be one other aspect of this game that I will marvel at.

ArchivedUser

It will be awhile before finding the "cookie cutter" class/spec surfaces. 64 possible class combinations is insane, and will take a while to sift through.

ArchivedUser

They said in a previous video that alpha and beta were going to be closely watched for balancing. I'm pretty sure they're the kind of team that thought these things through.

ArchivedUser

Kwivur said:

They said in a previous video that alpha and beta were going to be closely watched for balancing. I'm pretty sure they're the kind of team that thought these things through.

That's exactly what I'd expect them to say though. I do believe you're right however and Steven won't let an imbalanced mess go live.

ArchivedUser

There will be a meta so long as players who enjoy min/maxing exist. *cough cough*

ArchivedUser

Meta's exist because a very small number of people find them. it's not just "oh look, an update, I know what to do" for everybody.
Meta's are made from those that work hard to find the small increased powers of the perfect combination from skills/abilities/perks etc, it's all about finding the strength that compounds.

Healers might benefit more in certain rols by going Cleric/mage as, though they have less healing spells they have more powerful versions of them.
or
Rogue/summoner because someone randomly finds out that you can use a summoner spell to hasten the cooldown on your stealth/vanish ability so you can summon then go invis. 
Little things like this and the shear number of combinations will make it hard for the devs to keep on top of the balances. I hope they don't I like the challenge of fighting the "Meta" myself.

Good luck man, and fight hard.

Edit: side note, i'm not informed on this, but I hope primary and secondary class matters. 
As in, I hope Bard/Rogue is different to Rogue/Bard for whatever reason.
Would really make the game awesome to have such variety.

ArchivedUser

It's gonna be a nightmare for meta build design but you always have those people that instantly post videos that say something like... OMG MOST OP BUILD EVER IN ASHES!

When that shows up people watch then say hey that looks really OP cause they only show the best video they caught lol. As for a real meta I think that'll be hard to come across. Specific patterns don't seem like their actually going to be required in the first place.

Sure you need heals and maybe the occasional rogue support for traps/locks etc. But generally speaking I think their plan is "every build will have it's uses." So sure a pure mage/mage might have the best dps in game with a specific combo but it really won't matter at all in the grand scheme of things.

A simple example might be two forces in a siege the defenders are tanks with a few healers and archers. The attackers are mostly the "meta" of the month or the mage/mage perfectionist build. Odds are pretty good the defenders will win if balance is properly done. Simply because tactics/skill > wannabe OP builds.

ArchivedUser

To me it's about play style and what makes you happy.  What works for one doesn't make it ideal for another.  Do I look for advice?  Often yes. But like everything else in life there are more ways then one to skin a dorf! 

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

ArchivedUser

There probably is going to be one but there may not, however it really doesn't matter to me cause I have never been one to follow the meta. I try and break it instead

ArchivedUser

Ninja Shadow said:

I have never been one to follow the meta. I try and break it instead

Almost sounded like the mother of dragons then 

ArchivedUser

I think this will always be a personal choice. In terms of following cookie cutter builds. 

If the devs makes primary class swapping impossible or very difficult we will naturally see less of a meta shift. People will naturally have to play the way they like because they're more or less stuck with their build. Heh. 

ArchivedUser

I'm just  here to change the world not the meta 

ArchivedUser

Kratz said:

Ninja Shadow said:

I have never been one to follow the meta. I try and break it instead

Almost sounded like the mother of dragons then 

Cept I would be a not so good looking chick

ArchivedUser

Ninja Shadow said:

Kratz said:

Ninja Shadow said:

I have never been one to follow the meta. I try and break it instead

Almost sounded like the mother of dragons then 

Cept I would be a not so good looking chick

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

ArchivedUser

Kratz said:

Ninja Shadow said:

Kratz said:

Ninja Shadow said:

I have never been one to follow the meta. I try and break it instead

Almost sounded like the mother of dragons then 

Cept I would be a not so good looking chick

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

True but I hold no bees

ArchivedUser

In my gaming experience Guild Wars 1 represents the strongest model of diverse class arrangements along with normative methods of maximizing those classes. In my opinion it was done really well in GW1 as there were a lot of different kinds of builds rather than the typical conceptions of how to play a class.