So imagine instead of expecting newbs to understand what races are good at when they make their character, or reroll a character they may (and should) have some level attachment to once they discover it's unviable at the build they want to play. The game gave you some tooltips on race creation to give you a general indicator of what a race is good at.
It breaks down some major archetypal roles and tells you everything a race can be expected to do well. Here's a list of roles that are a bit more flavorful than standard community terms, and will likely make more sense to a newb.
Warrior - A melee-focused combatant. Some warriors also can use a bow to decent effect. (Currently known in the community as foot-fighter)
Mage - A magic-focused combatant.
Skirmisher - A high-speed warrior-esque build. Some skirmishers are just lighter/faster melee-focused builds while others have a greater focus on archery.
Battlemage - A warrioresque build that also employs magic or magical build that is competent in melee (What the community currently calls hybrids)
Arcane Skirmisher - A light warrior or archer that also employs magic.
Beastmaster - A warrior or skirmishers that can control pets.
Dominator - A build that contains both magic and dominated minons.
Plus:
Mounted Warrior, Mounted Mage, Mounted Skirmisher, Mounted Battlemage, Mounted Arcane Skirmisher, Mounted Beastmaster, Mounted Dominator (I'm sure you can figure out what those are)
Now make a list of "Strong Builds" and "Viable Builds". For each race. "Strong" meaning a reasonable argument can be made they are not objectively weaker than any other race at that build. Viable means it's hard to reasonably argue they are the best-in-class, but a skilled player wouldn't feel at TOO heavy of a disadvantage for that race.
You can do this one of two ways. Either list the roles with the strong and viable builds underneath, or list the races with their strong and viable builds. This is obviously a huge amount of theory-crafting so you can post partial lists and stuff. But be prepared to defend your choices if someone questions why you listed a certain race as strong/viable or disagree that one is.
It breaks down some major archetypal roles and tells you everything a race can be expected to do well. Here's a list of roles that are a bit more flavorful than standard community terms, and will likely make more sense to a newb.
Warrior - A melee-focused combatant. Some warriors also can use a bow to decent effect. (Currently known in the community as foot-fighter)
Mage - A magic-focused combatant.
Skirmisher - A high-speed warrior-esque build. Some skirmishers are just lighter/faster melee-focused builds while others have a greater focus on archery.
Battlemage - A warrioresque build that also employs magic or magical build that is competent in melee (What the community currently calls hybrids)
Arcane Skirmisher - A light warrior or archer that also employs magic.
Beastmaster - A warrior or skirmishers that can control pets.
Dominator - A build that contains both magic and dominated minons.
Plus:
Mounted Warrior, Mounted Mage, Mounted Skirmisher, Mounted Battlemage, Mounted Arcane Skirmisher, Mounted Beastmaster, Mounted Dominator (I'm sure you can figure out what those are)
Now make a list of "Strong Builds" and "Viable Builds". For each race. "Strong" meaning a reasonable argument can be made they are not objectively weaker than any other race at that build. Viable means it's hard to reasonably argue they are the best-in-class, but a skilled player wouldn't feel at TOO heavy of a disadvantage for that race.
You can do this one of two ways. Either list the roles with the strong and viable builds underneath, or list the races with their strong and viable builds. This is obviously a huge amount of theory-crafting so you can post partial lists and stuff. But be prepared to defend your choices if someone questions why you listed a certain race as strong/viable or disagree that one is.
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