Choosing your Class…
Sep18
In approximately half an hour, those who have pre-ordered Aion will be able to take part in Preselection.
Starting 12:00 p.m. PDT (more) on September 18, 2009, eligible players will be able to start their game clients and log in to create a total of two characters ahead of everyone else. You can name and create these two characters through the standard character creator and be ready to play with these characters right when the game Head Start Program begins (but not beforehand). Preselection will end 9:00 a.m. PDT on September 20, 2009 (more).
Of course, preselection begins at 5am for me, so right now I’m still asleep and have zero plans to interrupt said sleep to make my characters. Unlike when I began in WoW, when I simply had to have the name Akasha as that was what I was known by on The Warlocks Den, there is no requirement or urgent need to grab a name before someone else does. In fact, I’ve not given much thought as to what I will use for names at all apart from the “maybe I’ll just use the same names I had in WoW for my respective classes…”
Which of course brings me to my first dilemma. I know, the games not even live yet and already I suffer from internal struggles. The big question…
Having come from a Warlock background in WoW, it would seem only natural to lean towards the Spiritmaster class, right? A Daeva born under the Star of Spirits, the Spiritmaster is able to control spirits of Water, Fire, Earth, and Wind. It can call upon these spirits to attack directly, but it can also use indirect tactics such as borrowing the strength of the spirits to weaken an enemy or to inflict fear.
So basically a Mage like class that has pets? So… a Warlock.
The thing is, the Spiritmaster just doesn’t
grab me. There’s no “oooh I wanna do THAT” aspect to it. While yes, the pets look really cool (see some of them in this video here), I’ve played a Warlock many times over in WoW courtesy of faction and server changes. And I also played my Mage for a while as well. No, I think I’ve had enough of the caster/pet classes for a while.Which brings me to the first real possible candidate for my chosen class – The Ranger! Fighting off the memories of pansy Wood Elves dressed in tights (EQ), the Rangers of Aion look a lot more intimidating and a LOT more fun!
Check out this video of the Ranger in action – how cool do some of those abilities look?!
There’s only one real thing in the ‘con’ column for the ranger. Check out what the official wiki says about them:
A Ranger is a Daeva with exceptional archery skills. Not only can a Ranger expertly wield a bow, but can make good use of a sword and dagger for close combat. The Ranger is also a master with various traps, making it both a formidable opponent on its own and a valued member of any group. Being skilled in both short and long range attacks combined with the ability to manipulate traps makes the Ranger able to adapt easily to nearly any situation. However, arrows and especially trap ingredients can become costly, making the Ranger one of the more expensive classes.
Expensive classes are no problem when their an alt, ie they have a higher leveled, well kitted out main character to support them. As a first class however, it can make life a little harder than it should be. Depending on the cash flow of the game however, it could be a case of choosing between arrows and say, food. Or it could just be a case of missing out on a few luxury extras. At this point though, I just don’t know…
Of course, the only other class that is even in the running at the moment is the Cleric – a class that while great in groups, can apparently be quite hard to play solo. So then it becomes a choice of no money vs painful leveling. Hrm… But wait, I am a female player, don’t we just get coin thrown our way? lol…
I’ve always loved the healing classes. I played a Priest in WoW for both Alliance and Horde, although my Horde one never seemed to make it high enough to count – dieing a lonely death at level 62. I love that healers are never (normally) short of group invites, and since I will be playing this game without my husband beside me, I’m going to need to be able to make it on my own. No longer will I have the luxury of riding in on his coat tails to what ever groups he manages to find.
I have to mention too, that in itself is a little bit scary. Ok, a lot scary. I don’t remember the last time I played a MMO without him in game. Oh wait, yes I do, it was The Sims Online and I don’t think that really counts lol.
Back to the Clerics, you can watch a video of them in action here. Personally, I find that example really boring. Granted it’s only 41 seconds, which really can’t do a class that much justice, but if it’s not enough to really grab me in that short time, then maybe that’s a sign?
The Cleric is a sub-class of the Priest. The other sub-class is the Chanter, a class I previously dismissed upon description alone. Tonight though, I watched a video of them in action and suddenly, I’m wondering if I settled on the wrong part of the fork too early… check this out.
That doesn’t look half bad do
es it? The Chanter’s main abilities are healing and fortifying magic, though in addition they have melee abilities with great offensive potential.
So healing
and damage? That’s good.If you continue reading the official page however, you discover that the Chanter’s casting ability is limited to
lesser heals than that of a cleric and some lesser direct-damaging spells than that of a cleric. In comparison to the Cleric, Chanters exchange some of their magical ability to melee prowess.So basically, they’re not really
good at anything, but are ok at everything? Hrm…Ironically, I find myself sitting here wondering, out of the Cleric and Chanter, which class, and how many of each, would be required for high end groups and raiding? Would people prefer the superior healing of Clerics with just a few Chanters to back them up? Which means I might get screwed out of positions if I chose the Chanter?
Or are people going to want more Chanters with just a few Clerics so they can do damage and back up heal? Which means of course, I get screwed if I chose a Cleric?
I find that line of through
really amusing. Because let’s face it, when am I going to have time to raid lol?! I have a toddler who doesn’t like to sleep and just WAY too much stuff going on. Still, it’s a nice thought to think that in 6 months to a year when I finally do make it to what ever the max level will be at that time, that I might be able to see the big bad raiding bosses. So I do have to weight up these factors…At the moment, my gut is telling me to start with a Ranger and play her as she can solo well. And then when hubby caves and joins me in game, which I know he will eventually, I will make a Cleric to follow him around and heal. After all, that’s been our roles in the past – him the big bad protecting Warrior, me the dainty yet slightly aggressive Healer following his every foot step.
