For a long time I’ve been trying to decide which class to play in Star Wars: The Old Republic.  And the decision-making has flagged up, yet again, one of the dilemmas in playing MMOs.   I’ll be playing what is a group game, but for the great majority of the time I’ll be playing it solo.

My ideal class in a group is one which has a clearly defined role, is useful and wanted in groups, and isn’t too hard to play.   My ideal solo class is one which is tough, fast, fun and versatile.  The difficulty doesn’t matter too much as I’m only letting myself down if I get it wrong.

In groups I love playing (in order of appeal):

1. a straightforward tank
2. a straightforward healer (I’m OK at healing, but bad at doing healing along with something else)
3. a support class, with crowd control and tricks
4. ranged dps
5. melee dps

Solo, in order of preference, I like to play:

1. First equal, hybrid classes and pet classes.   I love to be able to self-heal and to have a pet act as tank/support
2. Ranged dps
3. Melee dps
4. Healer
5. Tank

Of course, it depends on the game.   I’ve put tank at the bottom of my solo list because I got so bored grinding my guardian through LOTRO.  Never again.  Meanwhile, I’m sure my WoW paladin tank would have been fun solo.   But then, I see a paladin as more of a hybrid.

I was very excited about Rift because the classes were so customisable.  Given my choices above, a rogue was ideal.   I could tank or do a bit of healing in instances, along with the ranged dps (and melee dps if I wanted a change).   I could just switch to play whatever role was missing in the group.  Solo, I had my choice of pets.

Although I still think the Rift class system is great, in practice, it didn’t work the way I’d hoped.  Changing spec was like learning a whole new class.  I tried soloing with the riftstalker (tanking) tree, but I couldn’t get to grips with it, and wouldn’t have had the confidence to try it in a group.  And when I did instances with my guild, we always had a tank, so there was no need.

Now, I’ve been trying to work out a ranking system for the different classes, to help me decide.  For instance, I could give points to a class that can tank, because that’s my number one choice in a group.   However, I suspect that the reality is that I’m not going to tank.   There are others in my guild who might like to tank, and have more time to commit and are, frankly, better at it.  And I could give points for a pet class, but in a way, I feel that all the classes will be pet classes because of their companions.    Then I thought that perhaps the most important aspect was versatility: the ability to try out different roles and change when I find the one that suits.   But from what I gather, at some point with any class I would have to specialise and would lose that versatility.

What I’d planned to do, in this post, was work out a formula which took account of the advantages of each class for me as a group and solo player, and decide, through a points system, which was the optimum choice.  But I know that it’s not going to go like that.  I know that Bounty Hunter would probably win.  And yet, I’m not particularly drawn to Bounty Hunter, even though I think it looks fun.

In the end, I’m probably going to decide on the basis of less quantifiable things.   Things like the look of the character, the voice acting, the starting story, the companions. For instance, I’d like to play an Imperial Agent simply because I like playing less popular classes.  And “Bounty Hunter” just doesn’t sound as good as “Sith Inquisitor”, does it?

I haven’t been playing the beta, so it’s only now that the NDA has been lifted that I’m starting to get more of a feel for the different classes.  But even things like talent calculators don’t get me to the nitty-gritty of “Will I love this class?”.  It’s a gut feeling, and I think I can only find out by playing.

And the solo/group dilemma?   Two things.   First, because I will be solo so much of the time, it’s probably best for me to find what I love playing solo and then adapt to make that work well in a group.  Roll on dual specs.   Second, I have a cat who likes to walk on the keyboard, catch my mouse and sit in front of the monitor.  Whatever class I play, I’m going to be a liability in a group.   As a mum, I’ve been used to working game time around a child’s sleep times.  To my consternation, it turns out that cat sleep times are not quite so predictable.   Cats are like children in one way, though.   They are able to sense when you’re doing something engrossing that doesn’t involve them and then do their best to be the centre of your world again.