So I'm primarily interested in class design and specific classes in mmo's.
Basically I want to know:
1) How do devs create classes? How do they think of them and their skills and calculate formulas and decide on which mechanics to implement and various roles?
2) We're used to the warriors clerics rogues mages archetypes. Are there any like crafting only rpgs? What classes would be present in those rpgs? What other class-based games/genre can there be?
3) What else is there to look at regarding class/character design?
4) Can every set of roles or individual things be associated to rogues warriors mages and clerics in some way? Like for example phoenix wright.
Both in video games and in the real world? Are there sets that don't?
5) so what else is there to read/research/learn about class-design and class system in video games? ?
6) how do you differentiate between mages and other classes?
Ultimately my mian goal is to be able to relate rogue and warrior classes to other things.
Basically, I like rogue and warrior classses the most. So I want to learn more about them and about class design and the fundamentals and history of it in general.
How exactly do you figure out if something fits in the rogue/warrior category?
Do you look at everything including stats attributes AND role? And is it also true that stats and attributes generally define the role? Since the role is not consistent at all if you look at guild wars 2 and hte professions. In addition I've seen warriors play dps and tank and even support and rogues as dps and dodge tanks and utility roles as well.
thanks.
This is what I think so far:
isn't the goal of the game and the available mechanics the primary determining factor of the classes setup? Well, when I'm referring to crafting classes, let's make a better example, the world in which we live in lol. In order to keep the economy going and keep technology advancing we have different professions/classes/archetypes which contribute to the economy and work as a whole. For example, we have engineers, scientists, teachers, bankers, accountants, businessmen, policemen, etc. which all work together to keep the economy going. Each archetype works on the disadvantage of another archetype and attempts to solve what it can't do. Like in the holy trinity, dps is squishy, so the tank draws aggro to solve that problem. And the tank can't live forever, so the healer is there to solve the problem. It's just that our world is far more complex with so many different mechanics and variables that we need a ton of professions/archetypes to solve different problems. And based on the available mechanics, the devs attempt to create a system of the least classes possible needed to fully take advantage of those available mechanics and create a efficient working system.
Another example, of this would be easily visible if we look at another theoretical game. For example, a game where the goal isn't in every single mmorpg which is to lower health bars. let's say we were attempting to just land a single hit on an enemy. Then the entire class system would change. We wouldn't use the traditional rogues warriors clerics and mages anymore. We would have classes like the striker or the class that supports to help the striker easily hit the enemy or given more mechanics another class that aids in defending the striker. The system is different but similar to the holy trinity because it still revolves around combat. However, mechanics do matter a lot imo. Say we allow building towers, that would allow far more complexity to the game and allow the entrance of new archetypes such as engineers and construction builders.
Thus, if we deviate from the goal of the game and mechanics, wouldn't our set of classes be totally different from the traditional warrior rogue cleric and mage that we see in every game?

then again I'm only referring to the roles. So would the traditional archetypes rogues warriors clerics and mages still be applicable in other genres.
thanks.



Lol if you don't want to read any of the above at all here's what I want to say in short:
Basically I like rogue and warrior classes. My main goal is to learn about them and about class design and the fundamentals and history as stated above. In addition, I also seek to relate the many genres of rpgs stretching from fantasy to futuristic rpgs mainly through the classes.

a bit of TL;DR for me--but if you look at WoW for example, that "d&d core 4" varies with the priest/cleric.  d&d, they can wear heavy armor and cast spells, a pretty good combination.  in WoW, cloth wearers only.  imagine my surprise when i went to play one (and the only time, lol).

I don't know, but i think i'm seeing a trend.

Seems like Rogues/Thieves used to be more stealth/trap monkeys. Now they are becoming your primary dps class, i think in an attempt to make them viable in combat.

At the same time, Warriors seem to be going away from "hitting things with chunks of metal" to being "meat shield". They've always been meat shields, but with the rise of the Rogue as the primary damage class in some games, i think i'm seeing Warriors role as fighter shifting toward guard.