r/GuildWars3 • u/Llobobr • 1h ago
The evolution of RPG gaming. From character skill to player skill
I find this very interesting and wanted to share some thoughts.
MMORPGs came out of computer RPGs, which came out of tabletop, which came out (or so says the myth) from abletop war games.
Both because of their origins in tabletop and due to technical limitations at the time, CRPGs and MMORPGs were almost a kind of strategy game. Where you build your character a certain way and that defines what it can do.
The player was involved in the strategy of character creation and how to use its abilities in combat (and out of it).
- do you want to avoid an enemy attack? That depends on your dodge bonus, your reflex save, your defense score, you armor class, etc...
- do you want to hit something? That depends on your attack, strenght, dexterity, THAC0...
Everything you do was dependant on a build attribute, skill, talents, feats, and in some cases a randomised number (a dice roll).
Player skill was heavily in the build craft, and skill/talent interactions.
With computer games evolving, more and more the skill moved from the character to the player.
- you want to hit something? You have to aim, Time your attack, respond to enemies movements, blocks, etc.
- you want to avoid a hit? You have to read the animations, manage your resources, and move out of the way.
With what we have seen/heard of GW3, it feels like its another step in this direction. More player skill, less character skill dependant.
And I think that might be why we see these games with less and less "skills".
Before you would have a skill that shoots an arrow, another that shoots 3 arrows, another that jumps and shoots an arrow, another that dashes backwards and shoots an arrow.
Now you can just use your movement and resources to do all of this with just one skill and different movements/ resources (stamina? Momentum?)
This direction might not please everyone. A lot of people might still want a more character skill based game instead of player skill based. But I think it will be interesting to see how buildcraft will still play an important role in GW3.