This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Raposa: I suspect the reason why Co H Defenders don't want to be known as healers is because most healers are relegated to the role of 'healbot' or 'pocket healer', where that's all you do. It's boring. Also, not every defender moveset includes healing abilities, even if most of 'em do. Defenders do have a lot of positive buffs and can throw down Ao E damage that isn't Blaster level, but isn't unimpressive, either.
Sunder The Gold: So, we've got to mention somewhere how classes with the better Healing or Tanking abilities can suffer (and will react poorly to) pidgeonholing.
Co H defenders are Healers, with a capitol H. Mostly, at least. T He Capital H is to distinguish something; They don't usually need to heal. Not if they're doing their job. But their job generally is done with buffs. Kins do it with combo buffs/debuffs, mostly. Rads do it with Buffs and some debuffs. Both of those, mostly affect the party with the buffs, because the buffs will last much longer then the debuffs in pretty much any situation. FF, Empath are straight Healers, no question; They're entirely buff-based, in terms of primary abilities. Anyone who tells you that the previous Co H Defenders are not Healers (In that they are buff-based, primarily) is bitching about the very, very large internet backdraft that the Defender Archetype made itself famous (and easily trollable on the official boards) for. Now, Trick Arrow, Storms, and Dark Miasma are probably closest to the Mezzer archetype. They're mostly based on lockdown and debuff, with minimal buffing or healing capacity. So just note the three Mezzer Powersets, and the other Defenders as Healers, with the explanation that you don't call them that, and that they prefer the term buffers or debuffers.
And yes, the note on.. what was it, pidgeonholing? Is sensible. From both perspectives. On the one hand, it /does/ suck if something in that class appealed to you besides the pidgeonholed role in that one class. On the other, it sucks for someone to invite you to do the one thing, only to find you don't do something remotely similar. I've seen abuse/vitriol from unreasonable people on both sides.
Sunder The Gold: There's an anime example of the Defender Archetype not functioning as The Medic of a party in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Arf and Zafira are Barrier Warriors (so, primary powerset, Force Fields) whose sole purpose in combat is to keep their masters/allies from dying. Instead, the original medic of the show fit the Controller Archetype, and didn't even have Empathy (straight-up HP-recovery) as his "secondary" — Yuuno was instead more like Chains/Barriers, with the small Medicine powerpool as a tertiary. The later medic, Shamal, was also like a Controller (given that her sole offensive power did no conventional damage but could completely shut down a target), but actually did have Empathy as her secondary.
dkellis: Is it just me or is the Asheron's Call entry a bit too confrontational? Specifically the bit about putting WoW's greens system to shame or some such.
Morgan Wick: Is it worth it to examine how this might apply to standard fiction, especially those based on the games in question, like Order Of The Stick for D&D (not to mention the Dungeons And Dragons TV show) or {{8-Bit Theater}} for Final Fantasy? I don't read 8BT (which is usually only a four-man band anyway) and only know of the D&D show from this wiki, but OOTS has six characters, so it should fit easily, right? Not so fast:
- Tank: Pretty much Roy (the "meatshield"). Interestingly, despite both of his classes described in the article as ideal for it, Belkar is never used in this role.
- Healer: Durkon, and I'm not just saying that because I think he's undercharacterized.
- Nuker: Pretty clearly V, despite Durkon drifting into this category on occasion and Roy once threatening to drift into a Thief-style "close-range Nuker" role with the starmetal sword.
- DP Ser: Now things get interesting, because OOTS really has two: Haley as a ranged DP Ser and Belkar as a melee DP Ser. Which makes things really interesting for the last two...
- Mezzer: Now we start seeing some interesting signs for what we could see as the story advances. The article places bards in the Jack role, but pre-Dashing Swordsman Elan is pretty clearly a Mezzer. However...
- Jack: Elan's Dashing Swordsman abilities arguably makes him a second melee DP Ser, and at one point I thought that as he was getting better at his illusions that that was pulling him into yet a third, non-Mezzer category. And if Elan isn't the Jack, who is? V has elements of the Mezzer, Haley drifts into other categories on occasion, Belkar was a Healer once
and is arguably drifting into the Mezzer while restricted by the Mark of Justice. And what does it imply if Elan IS the Jack? For one thing, who does that make the Mezzer? (Can Elan be the Jack if he also fills a more specific role?) For another, does that mean the other characters are going to drift as well?
dkellis: Hard to say. Likely the story will end up subverting the roles at one point or another, and the examples might get a bit unwieldy (he used to be this, but now he's this, except that he's not). In class-based MMORPGs, the roles are usually there by necessity, or at least convenience (and ease of critter-killing); a nuker can turn into a tank, but will require going against the game mechanics, and won't be as good a tank as the actual tank anyway. In standard fiction, the only thing preventing it is author fiat.
If that's fine, though, then I obviously have no objections.
Sunder The Gold: If a strong enough pattern can be found between the Five-Man Band and the "traditional" classes, I'm all for it. And might I also mention how I like the idea of the Tank (The Big Guy) and the Healer (The Team Mom) serving as the Father and Mother of a team, passing leadership back and forth according to the situation?
Also, the image behind a Mezzer's powers could be charismatic and tactically-sharp leadership. His "indirect and hard-to-understand buffs" are the benefits of his leadership. His debuffs are his ability to out-strategize the opposition. Against minor threats, his team can do alright, but against major threats they need the organization and coordination that he encourages in them.
Vulpy: You know, this reminds me of a discussion a friend and I had about our City Of Heroes play experience. We were debating over what Archetype (i.e., "character class") would be the best leader. The Tanker usually becomes the de facto leader in our game experiences, but that is largely because Co H tactics revolve around sending in the toughest guy first. Then, everyone else can just cut loose doing what they do. The comics upon which Co H is based often reflect this: Superman is the alpha male in the Justice League, for instance. But after some debate, we decided...
The Controller ("mezzer") can be a good leader. They will know from painful experience what enemies are most problematic for themselves and their teammates, and they have the ability to remove those threats selectively from battle. (cf Charles Xavier)
The Defender ("healer," but don't dare think making green numbers appear is all they do) can excel as leaders by understanding their allies' strengths intimately. They will either possess the ability to selectively alter the battlefield dynamics. They will know when they have fully prepared their team, or neutered the enemy. Storm, for instance, took turns at leading the X-Men in the field and did quite well.
The Scrapper walks the line between Jack-of-all-Trades and DPS, much like the setting-specific Kheldians. On teams, they evolve into "everything men", troubleshooters that can quickly respond to any emergent threat (like, say, a giant rock-monster eating your Defender). Consequently, a Scrapper could lead by example, but will depend on disciplined teammates to not simply "follow the leader." Good Scappers are mobile. Good Tankers are not. Robin led the Teen Titans in this way.
The Blaster, being damage on top of damage with no form of self-protection, knows—again, from painful experience—how quickly a situation can fall apart. A well-played Blaster constantly looks downfield for anything that can kill them; a simple paradigm shift goes to "looking downfield for anything that can kill my teammates." Much like the Mezzer, a Blaster could fill a leadership role by removing enemies from play. Permanently. (Blaster's creed: "Dead enemies deal 0 damage per second.") Cyclops is a weak example of a Blaster being a leader (he's more well-rounded than most Co H Blasters).
Bottom line? Any of the Co H Archetypes could be a leader, depending on the setup. Now, if you scrape off the Co H words and put in words from the main page, and replace "leader" with "The Hero," you get back to the points already raised above: really, being The Hero can be a value-neutral thing. You can be an Anti-Hero with your Lancer being The Cape. Furthermore, we've already beaten subversions on The Smart Guy and The Big Guy into the ground. A mezzer might even be a "mental giant," in the appropriate setting. So...I think we can draw comparisons, but with the caveat that such comparisons would be loose. Of course, settings based on games and gaming would be tighter.
Sunder The Gold: You know how we have a Love Triangle page, and then a Triang Relations page linked to it that explores the various kinds of Love Triangles? I propose taking this interesting essay about each Class as a Leaderm, and make a similar subordinate page out of it from An Adventurer Is You. Call it, A Leader Is You perhaps.
Raposa: As I recall, in Co H play, the leader was whoever could get together a team and keep them pointed in the same direction. As a regular group, though, it tended to be the tanker. For a similar reason, in Wo W, the tank is often the preferred leader of a group, simply because grouping is all about managing aggro, and they're the ones with the best perspective on it as it happens. The whole team hangs on the tank's ability to keep monsters mad at him and not the squishies. So, the tank marks out pulls based on his ability to keep the attention of the bad guys, and everybody adjusts to that.
BT The P: Re-categorized TF 2 in light of the new category. I realize FPS classes aren't good fits to RPG categories, but the scout and Demoman are definitely skill positions that have specialized purposes and odd abilities, not straight DPS kits; the scout is really only for capping points and intel, the demo for laying traps. And the engineer is probably the purest petmaster ever, at least as he's commonly played, with the caveat that his pets are not mobile. So he's like a basset hound owner or a chia-summoner.
Ankh: Made some small changes. Slow, second-toughest class, and high damage output? Easily the Soldier. Spy fits Ninja DP Ser to a tee, what with cloaks and disguises for evasion and OHKO backstabs. Pyro, I'm iffy about, but setting someone on fire and watching them panic until they die is the closest an FPS can get to a Mezzer. A Scout, if played effectively, can be an amazing Blink Tank. I've seen a Scout occupy the enemy offensive for minutes at a time in Dustbowl, just by not getting hit and peppering BLU with enough damage that they have to go back to heal.
Sunder The Gold: Check out the new "The Trapper" archetype and see what you think. Also, people familiar with some of the games listed under the examples need to check to see how the recent changes have effected things.
Rutee: I feel a compulsive need to edit that mass of inaccuracy that is the description of the Petmaster. First off, they are not new. They were new a decade ago, at best, and given that Dn D has had them in Conjurers, I doubt one can claim EQ came up with them. Second, most modern games have figured out how to handle pet equipment. FFXI's Beastmaster pets are god damn powerful enough to not /need/ equipment, because they already have good accuracy, Strength, and Attack (The formermost being the king of stats in FFXI anyway, for melee), and then Puppets /do/ have equipment (Though it functions differently) Co H, given its rather.. unique setup, had absolutely no trouble fitting scaling pet 'gear' into things, inasmuch as anything can be called gear in Co H (To be fair, you can't scale their defenses or HP very well). Also to my knowledge, Co H Masterminds are the only petmaster class that /actually uses/ a horde, somewhat counter to their characterization there. Wo W's solution to the Petmaster problem was to grant the pets a portion of the master's stats (With +Shadow Damage affecting Warlock Pet +Spell Damage/Attack, and Ranged Attack Power affecting Hunter Pet +Spell Damage/Attack). That said, they can still turn out as the Tag A long kid because stupid people at the controls of a Pet Class can VERY EASILY turn a lot of situations into much more enormous brawls then necessary (Such as not recalling pets from a running foe, particularly in Co H, where that running foe is physically incapable of linking with other groups).
Angelic Monkey: But Petmasters do get added later in a lot of games. It took Ragnarok Online ages to implement the Homunculus system for alchemists. Similarly, Co H waited until Co V to add a true Petmaster class and FFXI didn't have their signature Petmasters, the Summoners until a much later patch. Three examples make it a trope. Archlord also added Elementalists, their Petmasters, in a later patch.
I think we're taking it a bit overboard with the "Devicer" Petmaster. A lot of classes can create static items that radiate an effect, but these shouldn't count as pets because they don't need any degree of control. If a class can do only that, they're just a Mezzer with slightly altered mechanics and shouldn't be in the Petmaster trope.
Rutee: FFXI had Petmasters from the start, with the Beastmaster. EQ had Pet Classes from the start, with Magicians and Necros. Wo W had pet classes from the start; Lock and Hunter. UO had Taming as an ability from the start, I'm pretty sure. Dn D has had Conjurers since Wizard Specialization, and it was perfectly possible to force a specialization on Conjuration yourself. While not the only games ever, they are, without a doubt, the 5 most definitive examples one can list on this page. You can't claim they're a late edition when they trace their roots back through to the start of the break out MM Os that each expanded the MMO market by a near exponential amount, as well as in the one of the older An Adventurer is You type games, Dn D. That said, the new article is much more accurate. The only thing I'd like to change from here is the Tag A long Kid bit. It should probably be more like "These often serve as DPS in a party situation, because pet AI is most capable of handling damage dealing, though they can sometimes serve as tanks. At their worst, they turn out to be the Tag a Long Kid; Mishandled Pets have a tendency to make fights significantly harder due to any of a number of unnecessarily complicated reasons, and it turns them into a waste of party space. As a general rule, the Petmaster is the most powerful class in solo Player vs. Environment play, with players often being derided as being in 'EZ mode'"
Or some such. It's more accurate then a blanket statement that they're the Tag a Long Kid.
Sunder The Gold: Thank you for the compliment on the re-write. Also, it bears mentioning that before Wo W, Blizzard's Diablo 2 featured hybrid Petmasters in the Necromancer and the Druid. But they actually DID hit a glass ceiling, and control was largely a non-issue. Anyway, as newer MM Os are made, the earlier problems will become a thing of the past. If we want to mention that a Petmaster class was a buggy latercomer to a particular MMO example, we can mention it in the example itself without needing to confuse the central description. So I'm going to cut it out next time.
I wonder if they couldn't actually do what a Jack does, and fill in for someone who suddenly falls down. But I guess I need to edit "Healing Pet" to "Nuking Pet" as I've never actually seen evidence or heard mention of a Healing Pet.
Pteryx:
- But I guess I need to edit "Healing Pet" to "Nuking Pet" as I've never actually seen evidence or heard mention of a Healing Pet.
There is such a thing as a healing pet in FFXI. It's called the Soulsoother puppet. Additionally, a handful of Summoner's Blood Pact: Wards are heals, but you can't really main heal a party based solely on an ability on a one-minute timer.
Sunder The Gold: Not quite enough to write a tendency about, though, especially as it doesn't warraunt a mention even in the FFXI example. The trend is still largely Tank, DPSer, Nuker.
Rutee: I'll agree that while healer pets occasionally make their appearance (FFXI Wyverns could heal passably for /small/ parties. Not the standard XP Party, but 3 people grinding high Ts, f'rex, would love a Wyvern Healer) they're not common enough to mention in the main bit. Tank isn't /that/ common either, but it's common enough. Also, I editted the Co V bit to note that Masterminds are pretty much straight Petmasters. Not sure why it didn't say that before.
Sunder The Gold: Because the example was around before the page recognized Petmaster as a class separate from Mezzer, and no one had gotten around to editting it yet. But, I'm glad we finally have the Petmaster section sufficiently described.
Dancingrage: Adding 2 pence to this discussion: Back in 2001, Anarchy Online released and therein could be found what may or may not be one of the first true 'healing' pets, as well as the first pet I've ever heard of that was dedicated to Crowd Control as well. Dunno how that stacks with other games in terms of 'who did what first' but the precedent's there in AO. Also interesting in that it's one of the early MM Os that had multiple pet control as well with pet AI being relatively simple. Personally, this is the reason why I tend towards AO vs other MM Os is because 'pet profs' usually have only one pet, and dammit, I want to control 3 or more!
Wyvernil: Should we make this page less MMORPG-specific, so that the classes from offline RPGs could be better integrated?
Sunder The Gold: While I would be thrilled if Single-Player [=RPGs=] started mimicking these Classes more with their characters for some fun tactical considerations, currently it's just not the case. Not enough to include them in the article. (Or at least it wasn't the case back when I played more [=RPGs=].) Without Aggro and Tanking, you just have tough characters, not Tanks.
Wyvernil: In the earliest days of [=RPGs=], before the MMORPG introduced Aggro, the "Tank" was simply the class with the most HP and the best armor. Tanking was done through simply standing in the front of the party in order to receive the brunt of the attacks. As such, these early tanks were frequently more Mighty Glacier than Brick Wall, able to deal damage in their own right.
With the more complex AI (Aggro) which let the enemies know to aim for the squishy characters first, more complex forms of aggro management were needed, and the modern "Tank" class was born. Because of the Pigeon Holing of class roles in the online RPG, the tank's offensive abilities were often downplayed in favor of his defensive abilities.
Just because many single-player RPGs don't have the same tactical depth as an MMORPG, doesn't mean the rudiments of the class roles aren't there.
Rutee: Alright, I see the previous discussion yielded nothing conclusive. I looked over the Mezzer bit about a month ago and /there is nothing about mezzing/. My big long notes are at the end of the discussion on top, but in summary: Crowd Control first, Debuff second, and then the third priority is different based on game.
Sunder The Gold: Believe it or not, I actually worked on that. But my draft is on another computer, and my zip-drive went missing. Very frustrating. I think I'll go ahead and do something about that. EDIT: Okay, done. Also, I made a YKTTW for the Trapper, which should replace the Device Mezzer as a complete and separate archetype. Go check it out.
I'm also thinking we should move the Mode-Shifting part of the Jack into its own category — since Mode-Shifting happens with Hybrids as well as Jacks. Theoretically, it can also happen with "purebred" archetypical Classes.
Finally, I'm going to remove the mentions of masochism or Tricksters-ism from the Tank. The other archetypes get away without alluded personalities traits, so the Tank should as well.
Pteryx: Indeed, Sunder, Scholar is a mode-shifter by design, between white magic and black magic modes. In Light Arts it's a Healer and mass-buffer, and in Dark Arts it's a Nuker and the only serious crowd-controller in the game.
Oh yes — that brings up another point. Crowd control is definitely not priority one for a Mezzer in FFXI. There, buffs get you invited; however, in the end, Red Mage is a debuffer first with a few key buffs plus healing ability, Bard is a buffer first with some minor debuffing ability, and Corsair is a buffer first with some minor Ranger-style DP Ser ability and some nukes that boost other people's debuffs (meta-mezzing!). Crowd control (which used to just mean "sleeping") is a tertiary concern except in special cases.
Rutee: I'll admit that it's been a REALLY GOD DAMN LONG time since I played FFXI, but in Dynamis, BCN Ms, and Expeditions, Bard and Red Mage were usually there to sleep the hell out of things (Or not there at all. I loved the game to death, but it had.. issues with ideal parties). XP/Merit is more common, certainly, but it's so much easier that I don't genuinely care. That still doesn't change that FFXI would be the outlier for Mezzers, not the norm, if we used only the case for exp parties there.
Dangermike: So can someone tell a nongamer what "global targeting" is?
Dancingrage Marking this page so when I have more time tomorrow I'll put in a largish entry for Anarchy Online.
Dancingrage: This is gonna be a rather large entry, simply due to several factors:
- Professions tend to have a mix up of various abilities from the list (several nuker profs, several profs that can tank, etc)
- The game itself has it's own 'system' of classifying professions that aren't Shade (ninja DPS) by the sorts of symbiant they can use:
- Infantry: Front line melee fighters of all types: Keeper, Martial-Artist, Enforcer, Adventurer.
- Artillery: Ranged fighters of all types: Soldier, Agent, Fixer, Trader, and Adventurer. (Advies have options on a melee or ranged build)
- Support: If it can heal in some way, it has access to this particular type of symbiant: Doctors, Adventurers, Meta-Physicists, Martial Artists, Keepers, Fixers, Traders.
- Extermination: If it can throw nukes, it has access to this symbiant: Nano-Technician, Meta-Physicist, Bureaucrat.
- Control: If it can either charm enemies into following it or cast it's own pets, it falls here: Trader, Bureaucrat, Meta-Physicst, Engineer.
Dancingrage: Done with part the first: Comparing the list to the current listing, part the second will probably be inserted in later.
Pteryx: I note that the current Mezzer writeup does a fantastic job of describing debuffing, but where did the buffing part go? All I see is a passing mention of buffing as a possible way to hybridize Healer and Mezzer; the Mezzer section itself seems to no longer mention buffing at all.
Sunder The Gold: That would be my doing (though I went back and emphasized the buffing aspect of the Mezzer/Healer). The very basic job of the Mezzer is to Mezz — which is to lock down the enemy. Just as Tanks and Healers technically don't need even a basic attack to be what they are, neither does a Mezzer need to buff to be what he is, so buffing doesn't seem to be intrinsic to the Mezzer archetype. If there are many, many Classes out there that combine Mezzing and Buffing in one package, that only means that the Mezzer/Buffer hybrid formula is particularly popular. Nuker/Mezzers must be just as or nearly as popular, but Mezzing ability isn't considered a basic ingredient to the Nuker archetype, so why should buffing be basic to the Mezzer? At least, this is my understanding — I'm open to counter-arguments.
Pteryx: Well, with no archetype left that has buffing as a major focus, where does that leave FFXI's Corsair and Bard, which are versatile buffers first (and definitely not Preservers; that's how high-level Scholars main heal)? Bards are known for raising attack strength, attack speed, attack accuracy, and granting Mana regen; Corsairs are known for increasing mana regen, resting efficiency, magic attack, and having front-line buffs as difficult to settle on as pizza toppings. It could be a whole new subsection, though; that only really complicates the case of the Red Mage.
Sunder The Gold: (No response to my reply at the top of the page?) Other than FFXI, where does one find major Mana-regeneration effects as a major feature? Or at least as a somewhat major feature? I haven't seen any examples. As to offensive group buffing (as opposed to defensive group buffing), it just doesn't seem to come up quite often for the "Offensive Buffer" to count as a self-contained archetype. Offensive buffing is usually just an additional feature given to Classes of existing archetypes. —- I don't want to shut you down on this — I'm interested in finding where these apparent oddballs fit, and discovering if they aren't quite so alone as they seem.
Rutee: I answered this question in the top discussion; If your primary job is buffing, you're a Healer with no heals. That may seem counterintuitive, but the fact is that almost every single game has made the healer the pre-eminent buffer as well, so much so that I can't see saying a buffer is its own archetype, because it's just generally not. I could name a few isolated examples, mostly confined to City of H Eroes, and their fanbase certainly likes to pretend that being invited for buffs is vastly different from being invited for heals (To be fair, the former lets you nuke, the latter generally does not), but it's just a different way to reach the same end. So if Corsairs' primary use is their buffs (Which IIRC, are much shorter duration then White Mage ones.. haven't played since Co P, but I kept up a bit), then they're healers that can't replace White Mages. Red Mages, as mentioned above, are mezzers, even if mezzing isn't needed in exp/merit; But then, any idiot can do exp/merit with little more then 4 dpsers, a tank, and a melee, it's just not very efficient. As to mana regen, it happens in a lot of games, as a buff (EQ Enchanters/Necros, some Co H Defenders, etc), but it's not generally a role to fill like it is in FFXI..
Pteryx: The only buffs that White Mage has that are long-lasting and apply to party members are Protect(ra) and Shell(ra), which directly help ease the healing burden and prevent characters from dying — definitely Preserver-type buffs. The Bard and Corsair buffs that see a lot of use only 1) strengthen the DP Sers or 2) let the Preservers (and Nukers) do their jobs more effectively. They can heal and protect a little, but not well enough to make the abilities worthwhile in most cases, let alone replace a Scholar (which at high levels plays as a Barrier Warrior-type Preserver). Instead, they have their own slot which they and Red Mage compete for. Basically, while a Red Mage (or other Mezzer) tips the scales by weakening the enemy, the Bard or Corsair (or other character of this type) tips the scales by buffing allies — two sides of the same coin, and that coin is not keep-alive. As for other characters that can do this, the closest thing that comes to mind is Dungeons And Dragons 3.x. While its Bard can heal somewhat as part of its Jackishness, its bard songs (and even some of its spells) consist primarily of different buffs.
Rutee: Ah, right, Bards. Totally forgot about them despite their common-ness in MM Os (Not just EQ/Dn D, also others like D Ao C). Basically, you're trying to give the offensive buffers a role. That might actually fit, now that you reminded me of Bards (And Skalds, and Kins, and and and). Most of the recent games I'm keeping up with didn't include offensive buffing as a separate role (P Refering instead to make most offensive buffs self-only), and Co H, as mentioned above, you generally just need 2 defenders who do different things (Not two F Fs, but an FF and a Storms, even though both are keep-alive folks), but I think I can see something. Perhaps we can change "Healer" to "Support", place "Healers" as what is, by far, the most common type, then mention the Bard, who is the offensive buffer? Then again, maybe the Bard deserves its own mention, since "Support" could, in a broad sense, include device masters, Mezzers, and the folks that aren't DPS and Tanks. Anyone got a name here?
Pteryx: Having sat on this one for a while, I'm inclined to think that if The Bard isn't liked as a name, The Empowerer might work — after all, the core of this archetype is making the party more powerful. ("Buffer" could too easily get confused with proactive Healers.)
Pteryx: Super-Empowering type 3 seems to be roughly what The Bard/Empowerer I'm trying to propose here is all about.
Rutee: Removing this bit of inaccuracy from the petmaster section: "The Petmaster's best strategy in group play is to not summon his pet at all — the DP Ser role that the pet usually plays is being handled already, and better, by the other players, so the Petmaster just uses their Healer/fire-support/Mezzer powers to help out the players doing the job his pet normally would. This turns the Petmaster into a Jack for purposes of group play. Not as good as having dedicated Healers, Rangers, and Mezzers around, but on the other hand, the Petmaster only takes up one slot and is actually pretty good at those roles. " This is pure.. I'm sorry, idiocy. If you suck and can't handle your pets, yes, put your pet away. Good players (almost) always can, always will be able to use their pets. You may, in raid situations, need to acknowledge that the pet will /die/. If a particular boss or enemy doesn't specifically have anti-pet mechanics (For example, there was one boss in Wo W who gained massive amounts of HP if he landed a kill of any sort.. including pets), there is no point in putting the pet away. I will grant that there can be benefits to putting away your minions in Co H, but that is solely because /everything/ has mass, so your pets can block doorways. Or you could just walk last in line.
Skarmory The PG: Blaster - Either Nuker or Ranged DP Ser, with the latter often referred to as "blappers".
Umm no. Blappers are explicitly Blasters who use their secondary powers to Scrap, IE fight in melee to maximise their own DPS.
