A game where the class determines gameplay

(I am not sure whether to put this in videogames or writer's block)

Ok I'll more clear, depending on what class you choose you will either be playing an FPS, TPS, RTS, or actionbar RPG (like World Of Warcraft).

There is no videogame that I know of that has this as a selling point. I've played games like Nuclear Dawn but that only somewhat scratches the surface.

Imagine playing a World Of Warcraft Warrior class complete with the respective game's gameplay. Now you are up against an opponent who is playing the Soldier from Team Fortress 2. And the two of them are about to be ambushed by a Starcraft player control several units. That is what I am envisioning here.

I am not sure how it could be balanced but if it could be balanced it would so awesome.

edited 6th Aug '13 12:21:12 PM by Worlder

From this first post, it does seem more suited for discussion in the Video Games section.

Was there a heavy writing angle to this idea?

Not really just wanted to do some gushing.

Ha, well, it seems like a neat idea, but you'd probably get a larger and more directed response in the video games section. You can probably PM a mod to move it.

EVE Online and DUST 514 are an MMORPG and MMOFPS set in the same gameworld, where players from both games can interact and assist each other.

edited 6th Aug '13 9:32:36 AM by Prime32

That seems like it would be a cool idea. But I doubt any developers are willing to put in the frankly massive amount of effort it would require.

Dungeon Defenders inches towards this.

Savage: Battle for Newerth and Savage 2 combine TPS and Hack and Slash gameplay (depending on what unit you choose to control directly) and also allow some players to control units in a RTS fashion.

Having all types of gameplay in a single MMO is iffy, though. Action bar gameplay like that of World Of Warcraft (especially vanilla World Of Warcraft) isn't really compatible with free target (or non-target) hack and slash, for example, and the limited Fo V of a FPS character would be a massive disadvantage against the improved situational awareness of one using TPS or top down perspective.

Brütal Legend is pretty close. It's also really fucking awesome.

Honestly it seems like a terrible idea since it makes it that much more troublesome to create an interesting experience while not actually adding any real value to the game. Certainly not impossible to make good, but is there really a point in bothering when you could use that same amount of time to create truly polished gameplay in one area alone?

edited 6th Aug '13 4:39:23 PM by Clarste

Siding with Clarste here. It's a nice novelty and that's all it is. There's little practicality to doing that.

Though the basic underlying idea in the opening post (the part about FPS soldiers facing someone controlling units in an RTS) could be possible on the Wii U thanks to the game pad. That's kind of the entire point of its asymmetric play.

I came up with this dream game because I've hated the ridiculous need for custom keybinding for World Of Warcraft's Pv P and the fact that it has terrible backpedal speeds. So I was wonder what if World Of Warcraft was more like TF 2.

Then I just decided to skip any middle ground and go with the idea of they are playing a game with limited mobility and needless complexity, and I am playing a game where I outrun and outflank the competition.

edited 6th Aug '13 4:58:16 PM by Worlder

There's always minigames. One idea I think would be cool to see is, for MMO "guild raids" include some first-person turrets with fixed stats that anyone can use; it lets the low-level players help out the high-level ones.

Some MMORP Gs (not just MMOFPS like Planetside 2) already have siege engines and such that players can use in guild PVP. As far as I know GW 2 has the most varied and effective static defenses of any MMORPG but other devs are starting to pick that element up too.

RPG: My spells are more powerful than your missiles!

FPS: You take 5 seconds to cast. By that time, I would've filled you with lead.

RTS: Together you are but two bodies. I alone am twenty!

edited 6th Aug '13 11:34:53 PM by Worlder

Actually, I can see a good ground for FPS vs. RTS - if one had a game which was structured like a 'horde' mode in an FPS, except the horde is busy being micromanaged by the last player.

edited 7th Aug '13 2:25:19 PM by Plumbum

A good FPS player would be able to mow down any size of horde that an equally good RTS player could control and if the RTS player was allowed luxuries like hard disables and hitscans (which are anathema to old school FPS players) then the FPS player would be utterly helpless once cornered.

What about an actionbar RPG player?

He doesn't need to worry about aiming, and he can often charge to the location of say the FPS player with as much precision as the programming dictates.

Oh and a Charge spell would be just one of many spells depending on what fantasy RPG class we are talking about.

edited 7th Aug '13 9:30:51 PM by Worlder

@Plumbum: I played an online game like that before...forgot its name though...one side is group of several TPS players playing humans defending objectives or such while the other side is 1-2 player playing bug horde trying to squash human players on RTS perspective...and no, I'm not talking Natural Selection...

edited 7th Aug '13 10:08:47 PM by onyhow

A good FPS player can pop the head of a traditional MMO character from far beyond the targeting range of any of the latter's skills, but at the same time a traditional MMO character who had no limit on how far away a target can be selected would be rather overpowered.

I once had a dream where The Old Republic was massively retooled. Jedi / Sith played like the Jedi Outcast games. Troopers played like Star Wars Republic Commando , Bounty Hunters played like...Star Wars Bounty Hunter (Or maybe FPS but are on their own with no squad but can FLY) and Agents and Scoundrels played like stealthish TPS like Uncharted or Splinter Cell.

Of course that would cause the budget to skyrocket into unknown waters and make PVP impossible....

But thats why they are called dreams.

edited 8th Aug '13 1:37:41 AM by Thorn14

^ Aww man that would be AWESOME. But yeah, dream and all that...

Technically, Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 tried to do variable FPS/RTS gameplay.
The AI was crap, though, which made it easier to play it FPS style.

However, Battlefield has it's Commander Mode, where two people on each team have a top-down view and abilities to support the team, which can be disabled by guys on the ground.